Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

On the morning of 23 December 1942, a fighting patrol of the 36th Battalion found an Australian body lying in an enemy weapon pit at Sanananda with three Japanese corpses.  The body was brought into the Australian perimeter and a grave dug. 

Padre Anderson felt under the body's shirt for the identity disk without success. He rolled the body over and had a queer sensation that all life had not gone out of it.  He asked the soldier digging the grave, "Do you think this man is really dead?".  The sweating soldier answered, "It looks like you are going troppo too, Padre."

The Padre sent for the Battalion's doctor who took one look at the grey, still form and shook his head. However, he placed his stethoscope against the shirt and exclaimed, "Good God, the heart's still beating."

The soldier was quickly carried to the aid post where he was cleaned up and his main wound, a bullet to the head, was located. He was given a few hours to live. 

While his possible identity was being discussed, a feeble voice murmured, "I'm one of you."  Everyone spun around.  The body still lay stiff and grey, the glazed eyes staring into space, but the lips were moving - very, very slightly.

"What's your name? asked the Padre. 

"Gordon" was the weak reply by the soldier who had been posted as missing after a savage fight three days earler. 

Ken Gordon, a 19-year-old plastic moulder from Sydney, survived his wounds and was discharged from the Army on 10 July 1943.

Source: "Sanananda, A Bastard of a Place, The Battle for the Beachhead, New Guinea, 1942-43" by David W. Cameron (2024), pages 282, 283.