Herbert Jaffa, a 21-year-old signaller with the U. S. Military Forces, was stationed in Townsville from April to December, 1942. Whilst in Townsville he met and became engaged to a Townsville girl, Dorrie Dinsmore, but she ended the engagement when she became ill with the kidney disease that was to later end her life in 1955, at the age of 33. Jaffa took part in the New Guinea campaign and served in the Buna-Dobodura area, where some of the heaviest fighting occurred. He was hospitalised in Port Moresby in 1944 suffering from malaria, dysentery and tropical ulcers and eventually returned to Australia. Dorrie was in hospital in Brisbane and Jaffa managed to visit her there, where he saw her for the last time although they corresponded until her death.
Jaffa's experiences in Australia led to his interest in Australian literature. His publications include Kenneth Slessor and Modern Australian Poetry, 1920 - 1970: A Guide to Information Sources, as well as numerous articles in Antipodes. In 1980 Jaffa, by then Emeritus Professor of the Humanities at New York University, returned to give a series of lectures on Slessor at James Cook University for the Foundation for Australian Literature. His memoir, Townsville at War: A Soldier Remembers, grew out of these lectures. The book recalls his time in Australia and New Guinea, juxtaposed with his return to Townsville more than thirty years later. The papers relating to the lectures and subsequent book are held at James Cook University.
