Picture is David and Oscar, Brigade Hill. September 2024
David Small is amongst a group of Bravery Trust supporters taking on the Kokoda Trail this Anzac Day – standing in history to honour past heroes while raising funds to support contemporary veterans. The Kokoda Trail is one of the world’s most challenging treks, stretching 96km through rugged jungle, it marks the course of one of the most important battles for Australians in WWII.
I did the Kokoda Track last September with my eldest son Oscar (16) as part of a Parent/Son School trip with 10 of his friends from school.
Unfortunately, I injured myself Day 5 of 7 and was evacuated by helicopter to Port Moresby. Having been so close to finishing such an amazing experience I wanted to go back. The original trip had been organised by Aurora Adventures who are also facilitating this upcoming walk. I saw the Bravery Trust Kokoda trip and it resonated as a good fit for me to go back and complete the track.
My grandfather had served in WW1 looking after the horses that pulled the artillery. He passed away when my dad was 10 years old in 1955. Grandma received a lot of assistance from Legacy in raising Dad and his three siblings. Bravery Trust’s work is an extension of the work carried out by Legacy. Dad in turn served in Vietnam and has had a lengthy involvement in the RSL.
Whilst now retired many years ago, Dad still assists local veterans around Laidley and Gatton in navigating the administrative hurdles in receiving appropriate assistance and entitlements. These are some of the many areas that Bravery Trust now assist former service people with. The function of Bravery Trust to assist with getting people back on their feet as well as developing the necessary financial literacy to assist with moving forward.
The Kokoda Track is an amazing challenge in its own right and to start to understand how brutal it would have been without proper nutrition and hydration, severe illness and an enemy trying to kill you makes what those soldiers went through even more amazing. Similarly, the experience I had on the first walk with the local lads carrying the packs was truly amazing and you realise the impact that they had on the Kokoda campaign. To explain the feeling to walk in those footsteps all these years later is hard to do justice and makes me very grateful to Bravery Trust for creating the opportunity to do so.
Make a donation to support David on his Kokoda Trail challenge and let’s cheer him on to the end!
