The move north came in January 1944, as the 35th Battalion had been earmarked for a role in the Huon Peninsula campaign in north-eastern New Guinea. Accordingly, Gibbs embarked from Cairns on 18 January, arriving at Finschhafen after a week's voyage. Gibbs' experience in New Guinea, however, was brief: the day of his arrival, Gibbs broke his left leg in an accident. After seventeen days at the 2/5th Australian General Hospital, he was transported to Brisbane aboard the hospital ship "Manunda". The break necessitated an extended period of hospitalisation in Australia, and led to a downgrading in his medical classification. Gibbs was subsequently discharged from the 2nd AIF on 28 December 1944 to resume his work with AGL, regarded as an "essential occupation" to the war effort. For his service during the Second World War, Gibbs was eligible for the Pacific Star, War Medal 1939–1945 and Australia Service Medal 1939–1945, though he did not claim his medals until 1973.