When the 58h-59th Battalion Association heard that their former Chaplain, Father JC (Jim) English, was building a new church at Mordialloc, they asked if a memorial to honour their comrades could be included. The 17 x 14 foot memorial in stained glass was installed on the Epistle side of the west wall. St. Michael was the subject of the window, a reference to the fight of good over evil, andwith direct references to the battalion's action in New Guinea in 1943. The Advocate newspaper report noted that contributions to the window came from members of the association 'regardless of creed'. The main figure in the window is St. Michael but the image of a line of foot-slogging soldiers in profile as they climb the mountain ridges of New Guinea is equally compelling as background to the figure of the saint. Names of the Battalion's principal battles are written into the glass as well as their colour patch among the symbols of the Christian faith.
Father James English (1913-1986) was a remarkable chaplain to the troops under his watch. In 1943 the 58-59 Battalion, had been flown into Wau and Buloto as part of 15 Brigade. The brigadeoperatedamong mountains, whichsome said were more rugged than the famous Kokoda trail, and went into the back of Salamaua over a track called Double Mountain; the mission was to attack Bobdubi Ridge. In order to minister to the men as well as bury the casualties, Fr. Jim English often walked several hours from company to company, sometimes with the Anglican chaplain but more often alone, along tracks in the jungle crossed by the Japanese. He took leave in Australia, but rejoined the battalion in time to move with them to Bougainville. On his return to Australia on Anzac Day 1945, he became chaplain at Heidelberg Military Hospital where he remained for two years. His appointment to St. Bridget's Catholic Church at Mordialloc was his first and only posting as a parish priest. He died in 1986 at the Mordialloc Presbytery after 37 years of dedicated ministry to the community.
References & Acknowledgements
Advocate, 18 October 1956, p.24; 2 May 1957, p.10; 20 October 1977, p.10; 18 December 1986, p.5; 23 April 1987, pp.10-11; Tom Johnstone, The Cross of Anzac: Australian Catholic service chaplains, Church Archivists' Press, Viginia Q, 200; Neil McDonald and Peter Brune, 200 Shots: Damien Parer and George Silk with the Australians at War in New Guinea, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2004, pp.179-181.
