Bob Smith now resides at Millrace and the man by his side Dr Dick Keatinge is not far away at Haddington. But seven decades ago they were serving at different times in the north of New Guinea.

Mr Smith said there are many young Tenterfield men in the photos hanging at the RSL Pavilion, but out of all those only Dr Keatinge and himself remain.

He was called up to join the militia as an 18-year-old, spending 12 months in the armoured division before it was disbanded. He then transferred to the AIF (Australian Imperial Force), based in Canungra as a jungle warfare instructor.

“Some of us NCOs (non-commissioned officers) told the commanding officer that we wanted to move on, and not just be teaching this stuff,” he said, “and so we were assigned to the 6th Division of the 2/3rd Battalion.”

The division was based in the Atherton Tablelands for several months before being sent to Aitape Wewak in the north of New Guinea, where conditions were pretty grim.

“It was all jungle and rain and Japs,” he said of his eight-month placement.

He was constantly on patrol on ‘search and destroy’ missions, and there was little escape from rain and warfare.

“There was no baths or showers. Instead you’d take everything out of your pockets and lie down in a running gully, with your mates around you with machine guns.”

Mr Smith was fortunate to escape injury, but did succumb to malaria which was so prevalent. It lingered on for a number of years, and even now when he gets uncontrollable shakes he wonders if it’s due to the disease.

He was called back early to Trenayr – the family farm at Mingoola – when his father died. He said he greatly regrets being back on the farm and not still in New Guinea when peace was declared.

“I would rather have been with my mates in New Guinea, and seen the Japs handing over the sword,” he said.

He considers Anzac Day to be one of great remembrance.

“But it’s sad, so many of your old mates have left,” he said. “I remember friends killed and injured in New Guinea. I was so lucky to escape uninjured.”

Dr Keatinge is another Tenterfield boy who served in New Guinea before going on to forge a great career as a local GP. 

On Anzac Day he said he remembers the folly of war, and all those young people killed.

He served in the artillery, ‘1000 metres away from the battle’.

“They were bloody big bombs,” he said.

He too returned safely and took up medicine, courtesy of the Department of Veteran Affairs, for which he’s eternally grateful.