This Australian trekker made a name for himself when he stumbled across something from the Second World War that no one else had seen before. He had been hiking in the Papua New Guinean jungles when he came across the unthinkable. World War II might have happened nearly 70 years ago, though remnants of this time are still continuing to resurface. What did he find and how did the situation come to be?
Kokoda Trail
If you are Australian, we bet you have at least heard of the Kokoda Trail. This single-file footpath snakes through the mountain ranges of Owen Stanley in the wilderness of Papua New Guinea. It is around 98 kilometers or 60 miles long, and pilgrims take this route in order to pay tribute to the men who have died fighting the Japanese soldiers during the Pacific War.
Honoring Their Ancestors
Every year, thousands of Australians go on a trip to embark on this gorgeous but rough jungle trek. The pilgrimage is generally meant to be a tribute to their forefathers who fought in the war. Brian Freeman is one of these trekkers. When he got to the site, he believed he discovered a significant battlefield. “I used to stand at the site where we thought the battle was fought and brief the trekkers about it – but things didn’t add up. It was too small, it wasn’t in a good defensive position. I mentioned this to a villager one day and he pointed up the hill and said: ‘That’s our village secret up there’.” It would not take long before the mystery would be solved.