The digger of Kokoda : the official biography of Reg Chard

Resource Information

The work The digger of Kokoda : the official biography of Reg Chard represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Randwick City Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

The digger of Kokoda : the official biography of Reg Chard

Title remainder

the official biography of Reg Chard

Statement of responsibility

Daniel Lane

Title variation

Official biography of Reg Chard

Creator

• Lane, Daniel

Author

• Lane, Daniel

Subject

• Kokoda Trail (Papua New Guinea) -- Biography
• Second World War (Australia)
• Suicidal behaviour -- Australia -- Biography
• War memorials -- Australia
• Biography & Memoir (Australia)
• Wives -- Death -- Australia
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Papua New Guinea | Kokoda
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Australian
• Warfare & defence (Australia)
• Chard, Reg

Genre

• Biography

Language

eng

Summary

Reg Chard endured hell as an 18-year-old Australian soldier who fought in 1942 on the infamous Kokoda Trail in the Second World War. Ironically, Kokoda rescued Reg decades later when he decided to take his own life. After losing Betty, his wife of 66 years, the grief-stricken great-grandfather lost the will to live. But he found new purpose through educating young people, giving guided tours of Sydney's Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway. On these tours, Reg relives Kokoda every day. He sees an image on the wall of a soldier - a comrade - who succumbed to disease weeks after the photograph was taken. He feels his heart beating as his patrol chases down Japanese troops who had mutilated women in a jungle clearing. He hears the war cry of a samurai sword-wielding officer charging towards him. And he tells these stories along the walkway, preserving the memory of those who never came home. As one of the last surviving diggers of Kokoda, Reg Chard has become a custodian of its legacy. This deeply moving, healing and inspiring biography of the 98-year-old returned serviceman tells us of Reg's war in the jungle and how, 80 years after the battle that saved Australia, Kokoda still lives within him

Cataloging source

AU@

Dewey number

940.5426

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps
• portraits
• plates

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction

Target audience

adult