Len Rice

Today we remember Bruce Rice, a cartographer on the treacherous Kokoda Trail. Bruce’s younger brother, Len, explains that accurate mapping of the dense jungle exposed them to enormous risks, but it was critical to the fighting effort.

Len Rice audio file (MP4 23.97 MB)

Len Rice audio script

75th Anniversary of the End of the Second World War

Audio actuality

“Fellow Citizens, the War is over” — (The Hon J B Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia)

On the 75th Anniversary of the End of the Second World War, Australia remembers Bruce Rice, one of our cartographers on the treacherous Kokoda Trail.

Accurate mapping of the dense jungle exposed them to enormous risks, but it was critical to the fighting men, as Bruce’s younger brother, Len, explained.

Len Rice

Of the cartographers, they had possibly one of the most dangerous things to do, is to map the area each day ahead of them, so as their men could move up.

He did tell me that these things … he said, sometimes it would take him almost a day on his stomach to wriggle through the jungle maybe only 50 metres, and to try to work out the terrain. They were under great danger from Japanese sentries that used to shoot them that were up in the trees.

And of 21 cartographers went to New Guinea, only three returned. He was one.

Saturday, August 15 marks the 75th Anniversary of the End of the Second World War. Let’s pay our respects to that amazing generation of Australians.