Charles Woodcraft of Wooloowin, Queensland contacted respected author and Journalist John Pinkney to recall an account of a dead combat buddy who helped him during World War II's darkest days.

'I was a wireless operator with the RAAF:. Id done my eight months training at Laverton with my best friend, Ray. 'When we graduated, he was posted to a squadrom in England and I wound up in Singapore. In the chaos of the war, we lost touch with each other. However, our contact was eventually resumed in a very strange way. in 1942.

"At that terrible time, the Japanese were driving the Allied forces down the Malay Peninsula. Along with three other RAAF men, I was making my way back to friendly territory, from behind Japanese lines. To avoid capture ,we were following jungle paths. At one point, we came to a large area of swampy ground. 'The track seemed to fork and follow each side of the depression coming together again at the far end. We'd just started down the right hand branch, when Ray (wearing RAAF uniform) suddenly appeared beside me. 'Very clearly (and I can still hear his voice today) he said "TAKE THE LEFT HAND BRANCH" Then he vanished. 'I know it sounds weird, but I was completely unsurprised by Ray turning up from nowhere then disappearing. Taking his advice completely for granted, I casually called out to the other three that Id meet them at the far end. Then I went left. 'To my horror, the other three men walked into a Japanese machine gun position and were all killed. I got back safely. 'Four months later I called on Ray's family, back in Brisbane, to get news of him. Only then did I learn that he'd been killed over in Europe 3 months before Japan entered the war. The news was a terrible shock. But I was comforted by knowing that somwhere, in some way, Ray was still alive.