The Australian Army has identified the remains of the final unaccounted-for soldier from the Battle of Kokoda, closing an 84-year mystery from one of the Second World War's most brutal campaigns. The identification allows the soldier's family to finally learn his fate and gives him a proper, named burial, bringing closure to relatives who had waited decades without answers about a man who helped lead resistance against Japan's advance along the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea.

The soldier was among Australian troops who fought fierce, gruelling battles against Japanese forces attempting to seize Port Moresby in 1942, a campaign regarded as pivotal in halting Japan's southward push in the Pacific. Forensic and historical investigation techniques used by the Australian Army's unrecovered war casualties unit enabled his remains to be matched to his identity, marking the completion of efforts to account for all Australians who died at Kokoda.