End of a Beginning

A few U.S. Indians were among the American troops advancing along the jungle road to Sanananda. One of them was Mess Sergeant Floyd Archiquette. A Jap sniper was firing near the mess tent. "He was making a nuisance of himself," said the sergeant. "Someone had to get him. I got him."

U.S. and Australian troops mopped up the last Jap pockets. Of the 15,000 Japs who once held Papua, only a few stragglers were left. At last, 117 days after the Allied drive began, a communique announced: "Ground fighting in Papua has ceased." The end was historic: 117 Japs chose to surrender and live.

U.S. bombers continued to attack the Japs at Salamaua and Lae in northern New Guinea and at Rabaul in New Britain. By land, air & sea, troops would have to follow the bombers before the Pacific Allies finished what they had begun in Papua and the Solomons.

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