30 Apr 2009

Australia to honour PNG WWII effort

9:44 am on 30 April 2009

Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels, who provided vital assistance to Australian troops in Papua New Guinea during the Second World War, are to receive commemorative medals from the Australian government.

The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, says the medals will recognise their service and sacrifice.

He says they will be made available to surviving angels or to their widows or widowers.

Some 55,000 people in PNG, which at the time was an Australian colony, served as civilians and carried supplies, built bases and airfields and evacuated the sick and wounded during fighting.

Mr Rudd says their contributions saved the lives of many Australians.