Return To Manam

MANAM Island, off the Madang coast of New Guinea, is almost entirely active volcanic mountain. But it carries a native population; and before the war, when Manam, not infrequently, erupted, recruiters hurried there hot-foot to engage native labour, before the in habitants once more could forget their island’s unpleasantness. Manam went the way of all New Guinea territory in 1942; but recently it was reoccupied— bloodlessly—by the Allies. This is how Sergeant Roy McGregor, of Madang, described the event, in a private letter recently received: “The landing was done by a single PT boat, with 10 ratings, under Lieutenant Broadhead, of Melbourne, and with my self acting as pilot. We nosed into the beach on the western side of the island, with all guns trained on the shore. A few natives appeared in response to signs and, as we almost hit the beach, we got the welcome news: ‘Not got Nippon.’

“As the PT’s nose touched the steep beach I dropped off into arm-pit deep water, followed by the rest of the party— and that was all there was to it. But we had cleared up another uncertainty, and Manam was added to our recaptured territory.

“We landed at Awar the same after noon; and landings were made at Blup Blup and Bam Island a few days later,”