The diary ends on about 8 December 1943. We can only presume what happened to Tamura after that time. Tamura's family received notification that he was killed in battle in March 1944 at Biliau, New Guinea.

In late December 1943, the 41st Division was moved from Wewak to defend Madang. Historian John Miller's account of the march details the terrible conditions the Japanese troops had to endure:

The fact that 20,000 set out, with only 10,000 completing the march, provides some clues to the enormous difficulty of the manouevre. An Australian report of the Finisterre range states that ‘The country in the Finisterre Range is rugged, steep, precipitous and covered with dense rain forest. It rains heavily almost every day thus making living conditions uncomfortable. By day it is hot, by night three blankets are necessary. There is, therefore, a constant battle with mud, slush, rain, and cold’. Miller concludes:

The Allied forces lost some 12,000 troops during the war in New Guinea. Around 223,000 soldiers and sailors of Imperial Japan perished as a result of artillery bombardment, strafing, and bombing by the Allies but also from starvation and exhaustion by the roadside, where their bodies were left. Having made the arduous journey from Wewak to Madang, over the very mountains which we saw were a source of contentment for Tamura, we can only contemplate that Tamura perhaps finally received the ‘glorious’ death in battle to which he had aspired. This study, by its nature, can only provide the information that Tamura's diary gives.