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===New Guinea campaign===
{{Further|New Guinea campaign|Battle of Milne Bay|Battle of Buna-Gona}}
On 5 August, the 2/10th Battalion boarded the Dutch transport SS ''Both'' at [[Brisbane]].{{sfn|Allchin|1958|p=243}}{{sfn|McKenzie-Smith|2018|p=2292}} Seven days later the battalion landed at [[Milne Bay]] in the [[Territory of Papua]], where it and the rest of the 18th Brigade reinforced the [[Australian Army Reserve|Militia]] units from the [[7th Brigade (Australia)|7th Brigade]] that were defending the area. Two weeks later the Japanese landed a force at Milne Bay in an attempt to capture the airfields that the Allies had established there.{{sfn|Keogh|1965|pp=186–191}} The Australians and their Allies won the ensuing [[Battle of Milne Bay]] decisively. After the initial Japanese lodgement was held by the Militia's [[61st Battalion (Australia)|61st Battalion]], the 2/10th relieved them before taking part in hard fighting around a mission station known as the KB Mission, during which the battalion lost 43 killed and 26 wounded.{{sfn|McKenzie-Smith|2018|p=2292}}{{sfn|Allchin|1958|p=263}}
In October, the 2/10th was flown to [[Wanigela, Oro Province|Wanigela]], near the north Papuan coast, where they conducted patrols and defended the beach against a possible Japanese landing and helped to construct an airfield. The battalion's next major action came in late December 1942 during the [[Battle of Buna-Gona]], after being transported by sea to the [[beachhead]] front, landing just south of Cape Endaiadere.{{sfn|Allchin|1958|p=282}} Heavily engaged around the disused Buna airstrip where the Japanese had constructed a series of [[bunker]]s,{{sfn|Allchin|1958|p=283}} in a fortnight of fighting the battalion suffered 113 killed and 205 wounded in a series of ill-conceived assaults.{{sfn|AWM|2008}} It was during this battle that, on 26 December, during the advance along the old airstrip, Hughes' [[platoon]] was pinned down by Japanese machine-gun fire. Hughes volunteered to climb on top of an aircraft [[Dispersal (military)|dispersal bay]] and, despite coming under concentrated fire from three directions, engaged two Japanese posts with [[hand grenade]]s. Returning for a [[Thompson submachine gun]], he climbed back onto the dispersal bay and protected his platoon while they took cover, after which he made three sorties with the sub-machine gun and hand grenades, which enabled his platoon to consolidate its position.{{sfn|Hall|1996}}{{sfn|Smith|2022|p=107}} His conspicuous gallantry and bravery, coolness, initiative and disregard for his own safety was described as “remarkable” and a fine example to his platoon and company. On 3 January 1943 Hughes was promoted to the acting rank of corporal.{{sfn|Smith|2022|p=107}}
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