29th August to 30th August 1942
By late August the battle storm had broken into its full fury. For four long days and nights the Australians held off wave after wave of attack.
In the late afternoon of August 29 while distributing grenades to his men, ‘Butch’ Bisset was horribly wounded by a burst a machine gun fire.
At great personal risk to mates Butch was carried clear of the area. Brother Stan Bisset heard about Butch’s wounds and that he was being brought back. At 22:00 hours (10 pm) Stan met Butch. Realising Butch was near the end, the men carried him 10 to 15 m off the track, made a small clearing and laid Butch down in the place that has come to be known as Con’s Rock. The rock is named after a medical orderly, Con Vapp, who performed an emergency amputation on a young soldier on this rock.
Stan and Butch were able to spend Butch’s final hours together. He held Butch’s hand, they talked, reminisced about their childhood and sang “Danny Boy” together. Butch passed at 4 am the next day.
Perhaps no other single death could have more deeply shocked the battalion. Butch was one of the most strongly individual men in the unit and every man’s friend. Above all he loved his men, and they returned his devotion.
On 30 August 1942, with far stronger forces, the Japanese soldiers cut the track at the rear of the Australian battalion. After losing his brother, Stan and a small party of 10 men (including three walking wounded) were cut off from the main body of the battalion. They had no option but to take to the bush on the low side of the track.
Most soldiers who lost contact with the main battalion were never heard from again. For five days and nights Stan pushed his men south. They regained the Australian lines at Templeton’s Crossing barely 25 minutes before the Japanese attacked the battalion positions along the track.
