Ahead of ANZAC Day this year the NSW Swifts visited the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway at Concord in the inner west of Sydney to meet Reg Chard, a 100-year-old World War II veteran who served in Papua New Guinea over 80 years ago.
Chard, who despite braving and surviving the many horrors that come with conflict, has always rejected the idea of being called a hero. For him it’s those who didn’t return that deserve that honour.
In an ironic twist of fate, it was the Kokoda Trail that would save Reg many years after he survived combat with Japanese invaders as well as bouts of dysentery, scrub typhus, and malaria.
When Reg, who was an apprentice baker before enlisting as an 18-year-old, returned from PNG he married Betty, whom he’d fallen in love with before the War broke out. They raised a family and were inseparable for 66 years.
When Betty passed away it left Reg, a great-grandfather, heartbroken and without the will to live. Were it not for overhearing some passers-by wondering about the stories behind the diggers displayed at the Memorial Walkway, Reg may not be with us today.
Since that day, Reg has made education his calling card and is now one of the custodians of the Kokoda legacy. He has a new purpose to educate people of all ages by giving guided tours of the Memorial Walkway.
Swifts co-captains Paige Hadley and Maddy Proud, as well as head coach Briony Akle, take part in a virtual reality experience at the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway.He is also passionate about enshrining the memories of not just the men who never returned, but the many female nursing sisters who also put themselves in harm’s way.
What really stands out about Reg, however, is his compassion. In spite of the horrors he endured he’s always understood that war claims innocents on all sides.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald in 2022 he recalled an occasion when a young Japanese-Australian schoolgirl feared Reg wouldn’t like her because her grandfather had fought for the aggressors in World War II.
“I said, hang on, you were born in Australia, weren’t you?” Reg asked her.
She said: “Yes, but my great-grandfather did terrible things in the war.”
Reg responded: “I said: ‘I have got two sons and they don’t get blamed for the terrible things I did, so why would you get blamed for something when you weren’t even born?’
“A week later I got a letter from the parents of this young girl. It said: ‘We don’t know what you said to [her], I won’t give her name, but since she came home she has been a changed girl. She’s so happy to run around and do things now.’”
Swifts head coach Briony Akle said meeting Reg was a moment she will never forget, not only because of the stories of bravery and valour, but the empathy he elicits.
“Meeting with Reg was an unbelievable experience because he is someone who really played a key role in saving our country,” she said.
“I have a son the same age that Reg was when he shipped off to war and that makes it really hit home about how much people like him went through.
“What I came away with was Reg’s message that people come first and you don’t leave your mate behind. To hear him tell his story is something that will live with me forever.
“The work that Reg and the team at the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway do is fantastic and is not just an activity for schoolkids.
“I would encourage netball teams of all ages to make a visit and hear first-hand accounts of one of the most important chapters in our history.”
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