IT’S 1942 and the Japanese Imperial Forces have swept all before them in the South Pacific.

They seemed unstoppable.

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Darwin has had more bombs dropped on it than Pearl Harbour, Townsville was under attack and Broome fell victim as well. Submarines were in Sydney Harbour and Newcastle was fired on. Coastal shipping also fell victim to Japanese torpedoes. Singapore had fallen and some 15,000 Australian soldiers were prisoners of war.

In New Guinea, Aussie diggers were the first to turn the tide along the Kokoda Track after an overland invasion force came within eyesight of Port Moresby.

General Douglas Mac Arthur, the vain US commander, failed to give credit to Australian troops, referring to the victory as an ‘allied operation’.

Ben Wertz was a young American GI at the time and saw much action during the New Guinea campaign and in the Philippines. Indeed, he was the sole survivor of his platoon.

Returning to the US, Ben, a devout Christian, then married, and in a vision, God asked him to return to New Guinea and open a mission.

This he did in 1953 at Gono, a remote highland tribal area many miles distant from the regional town of Goroka.

Ever since then, a flourishing Christian community has taken root, with support from the Tanilba Baptist Church along with Mallabula’s Jacqui Wood, who was ‘adopted’ by Ben Wertz and his wife Tilila.

Jacqui has assisted the Gono community in many ways.

Initially she imported containers of coffee beans, roasted and ground them in her Lemon Tree Passage base and marketed them under the ‘Ethica’ label.

She returned the empty containers packed with donated school furniture to fit out a school.

She has also played a major role in helping to educate the young, particularly girls, and provides assistance to the poor and disadvantaged.

As a former businesswoman Jacqui now feels she has found her niche in life, is at peace with herself and perfectly content in her newfound role.

To mark the 70th anniversary of the Mission, Tanilba’s Pastor Anthony Gentle has just spent two weeks in Gono.

He said that the Christian influence has brought together the once warring tribes into a more harmonious relationship with one another.

“I preached, through an interpreter, at a ‘Youth Awake’ rally attended by some 300 young people from around the district,” Mr Gentle said.

“The Mission is really going well with its educational programs and in the training of Christian leaders to spread the teachings of the Bible,” he added.

By Geoff WALKER