In the Footsteps of Ghosts

With the 2/9th Battalion in the African Desert and the Jungles of the Pacific

'You know Bill, this bloody train is full of ghosts from the last war,' said Sergeant Harry Dixon to a young Bill Spencer in the darkness and cold of a stinking cattle truck in the middle of the Sinai Desert. Carved by knives on the wooden walls were the often repeated letters 'AIF' and the names and numbers of the generation who had preceded Harry, Bill and the rest of their mates.

The soldiers of the Australian 2/29th Battalion were about to prove themselves worthy successors to the soldiers of the First AIF, who fought in the First World War. After fighting with great distinction in the North African deserts they went on to establish a record of service in the Pacific war that was to prove second to none.

Bill Spencer's story starts in the Great Depression, the economic disaster that moulded the character of the soldiers who fought in the Second World War. Bill and his mates were put to the ultimate test in a succession of battlefields from Giarabub and Tobruk in North Africa to Mine Bay, Buna, Sanananda, Shaggy Ridge and Balikpapan in the Pacific.

Bill was a young soldier who participated in these battles. He was also a keen observer. As an author he has captured not only some of the most critical Australian fighting of the Second World War, but, most importantly has provided a unique insight into the men who fought these battles and what they achieved.