"Now I don’t know a lot of you by name, but I know you. We met at Isurava. We fought there..."

“Now I don’t know a lot of you by name, but I know you.
We met at Isurava. We fought there together and every step of the way here.
Now we are relieved and we will leave the battle.
And every day the enemy supply line stretches further. He suffers now as you have suffered.
The battle we fought for the track may have just saved your nation. At Imita we will stop him.
Brigadier wants you to know…your gallantry, your courage, your fortitude are an inspiration.
And I want you to know that you are some of the finest soldiers that I have ever seen.
You have seen things in this place that no man should witness.
Some of these things you must forget. But history will remember you, and in the years to come others will wish that they had your conviction.
And remember…remember the glory is not the exhortation of war, but the exhortation of man.
Mans nobility, made transcendent in the fiery crucible of war.
Faithfulness and fortitude.
Gentleness and compassion.
I am honored to be your brother.”

- Lt Col Ralph Honner’s speech to the 39th Australian Imperial Battalion