Carving a long white furrow, the Australian patrol boat prowled her designated section of the great river: a thirty-mile stretch below Ambunti. Despite the oppressive glare and hammer-like heat, her bare-chested, sunburned lookouts were on full alert, scanning the dense, riverine forest lining the banks through powerful Zeiss binoculars.

The war had ended six months ago, but there were still plenty of Japanese soldiers who preferred to rot in the jungle rather than face the shame of surrender. Operation Housekeeping was the reluctant Allied response. No one wanted to get killed rounding up fanatics but, as colonial overlords, the Australians had a responsibility to protect the locals from theft , murder or worse. Keeping our cannibals from being eaten, or so the joke went…

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