Authors: James Campbell
Tags: #World War II, #Asian History, #Military History, #Asia, #U.S.A., #Retail, #American History
———,
Old Soldiers Never Die: The Life of Douglas MacArthur
, Random House, New York, 1996.
———,
There’s a War to Be Won: The United States Army in World War II
, Ballantine Books, New York, 1997.
Powell, A.,
The Third Force: ANGAU’s New Guinea War, 1942–1946
, Oxford University Press, 2003.
Rankin, Brig. General F.,
Medical Department, United States Army in World War II
, Office of the Surgeon General, United States Army, Washington, D.C., 1962.
Robinson, P.,
The Fight for New Guinea: General Douglas MacArthur’s First Offensive
, Random House, New York, 1943.
Rogers, P.,
The Good Years: MacArthur and Sutherland
, Praeger, New York, 1990.
Ryan, P.,
Fear Drive My Feet
, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1974.
Sakai, S., with M. Caidan and F. Saito,
Samurai
, Dutton, New York, 1957.
Shapiro, K.,
Poems of a Jew
, Random House, New York, 1958.———,
Selected Poems
, Random House, New York, 1968.
Sharpe, G.,
Brothers Beyond Blood: A Battalion Surgeon in the South Pacific
, Diamond Books, Austin, 1989.
Shortal, J.,
Forged by Fire: Robert L. Eichelberger and the Pacific War
, Univeristy of South Carolina Press, Columbia, 1987.
Sides, H.,
Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II’s Most Dramatic Mission
, Doubleday, New York, 2001.
Souter, G.,
New Guinea: The Last Unknown
, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1957.
Spector, R.,
Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan
, Free Press, New York, 1985.
Spielman, A., and M. D’Antonio,
Mosquito: A Natural History of Our Most Persistent and Deadly Foe
, Hyperion, New York, 2001.
32nd Division, “Les Terribles,”
32nd Division Association, Turner Publishing Co., Paducah, Ky., 1993.
The Story of the 32nd Infantry Division: Red Arrows Never Glance
, Public Relations Office, 32nd Division, Wisconsin State Historical Society Press, Madison.
Toland, J.,
But Not in Shame: The Six Months After Pearl Harbor
, Random House, New York, 1961.
———,
The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936–1945
, Random House, New York, 1970.
Trogdon, W.,
Out Front: The Cladie Bailey Story
, Backroads Press, Mooresville, Ind., 1994.
Turnbull, S. R.,
Samurai: The Story of Japan’s Great Warriors
, PRC Publishing, Canton, Ohio.
———,
The Book of Samurai—The Warrior Class of Japan
, Arco, New York, 1982.
———,
The Samurai and the Sacred
, Osprey Publishing, Oxford England, October 2006.
United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific
, Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C.
Vader, J.,
New Guinea: The Tide Is Stemmed
, Ballantine, New York, 1971.
Vandegrift, A. A.,
Once a Marine: The Memoirs of General A. A. Vandegrift
, as told to R. Asprey, Norton, New York, 1964.
Waiko, J. Dademo,
Papua New Guinea: A History of Our Times
, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2003.
Whitcomb, E.,
Escape from Corregidor
, H. Regnery Co., Chicago, 1958.
White, O.,
Green Armor
, Norton, New York, 1945.
———,
Parliament of a Thousand Tribes
, Bobbs-Merrill Co., Inc., New York, 1965.
Whittaker, J. L. et al,
Documents and Readings in New Guinea History: Prehistory to 1889
, The Jacaranda Press, 1967.
Willoughby, C., and Chamberlain, J.,
MacArthur, 1941–1945: Victory in the Pacific
, McGraw-Hill, 1954.
Yomamoto, T.,
Bushido: The Way of the Samurai
, Square One Publishers, New York, 2002.
P
RIMARY
S
OURCES
Assorted ATIS diary translations, National Archives, College Park, MD.
Boerem Force journal, National Archives.
DiMaggio, S., “I Never Had It So Good: The Autobiography of Samuel J. DiMaggio” (as told to J. P. DiMaggio), privately held.
Edson, Pvt. A. Edson’s letters.
Edwin Forrest Harding diary.
Emerson, Capt. M., 32nd Division QM in New Guinea, “Comments on the Buna Campaign by a Quartermaster,” H. Baldwin Collection, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Ky.
Grose diary, Colonel J., Grose, Milner file, National Archives, College Park, Md.
Hollenbeck, S., The Diary of Lt. Colonel S. W. Hollenbeck during the 1942–1943 Buna Campaign, Wisconsin Veterans Museum.
Hunt, Lt. J., Trail notes and letter to Herbert M. Smith, privately held.
Jungwirth, C.,
Diary of a National Guardsman in WWII
, Poeschl Printing Company, Oshkosh, Wis., 1991.
Kelley, H.,
Born in the U.S.A. Raised in New Guinea
, self-published.
Lutjens, Sgt. P., Diary, privately held.
———, Lecture on the Papuan Campaign and Co. E, privately held.
Medendorp, Capt. A., “The March and Operations of AntiTank and Canon Companies, 126th Infantry (32nd Division) in the Attack on Wairopi, 4 October–28 November 1942, Papuan Campaign, Personal Experience of a Patrol Commander,” Published by the Ground General School, Oct. 1949, Library Army War College Carlisle Barracks, Pa.
———, Untitled collection of personal memories.
Nankai Shitai, War Book of the 144th Regiment
, translated by F. C. Jorgensen, Australian War Memorial.
Odell, Lieut. R., Narrative, December 42, 12th Sta. Hospital, Milner File.
Okada, S., “Lost Troops,” translated by S. Shiagiri, Australian War Memorial.
Pokrass, G.,
The Red Arrow Division in New Guinea
, Milwaukee County Historical Society, Wisconsin Veterans Museum, Milwaukee, 1983.
Schauppner, W.,
Papuan Campaign-Buna Area, 127th Infantry
, Wisconsin Veterans Musuem.
Sill, L.,
Buna & Beyond
, self-published, Wisconsin Veterans Museum, Madison.
Smith, H.,
Four Score and Ten: Happenings in the Life of Herbert M. Smith
, Heins Publications, Eau Claire, 1995.
———,
Hannibal Had Elephants II
, Heins Publications, Eau Claire, 1995.
———,
0-241957: The Early Years of World War II
, Heins Publications, Eau Claire, 1995.
Steensstra, Sgt. H., Diary, privately held.
Thayer, L.,
My War,
Palmyra, W. I. Palmyra Historical Society, Wisconsin Veterans Museum, 2003.
Wada, K., “I Am Troubled,” quoted in full in Paull,
Retreat from Kokoda.
Warmenhoven, Lt. Colonel S., Warmenhoven’s letters, privately held.
Yoshihara, K., T. Yoshihara and N. Yoshihara,
Southern Cross: An Account of the Eastern New Guinea Campaign
, translated by D. Hart.
D
OCUMENTS AND
A
RTICLES
Archer, J., “Why the 32nd Division Won’t Forgive General MacArthur,”
Man’s Magazine,
July 1958, Vol. 6, No. 7.
Baldwin, H., “Doughboys’ March a High Point in War,”
The New York Times,
May 7, 1944.
Brett, Lieut. General G., “The MacArthur I Knew,”
True,
Vol. 21, October 1947.
Chagnon, Capt. L., The Actions of a Left Flank Security Patrol During the Operations of the 32nd Infantry Division at Buna, 16 December 1942–4 January 1943 (Personal Experience of a Patrol Leader) for Advanced Infantry Officers Course 1949–1950.
Doherty, T., “Buna: The Red Arrow Division’s Heart of Darkness,”
Wisconsin Magazine of History,
44:2, 1993–1994.
Drea, E., “A Very Savage Operation,”
World War II Magazine,
September 2002.
Durdin, T., “The Grim Hide-and-Seek of Jungle War,”
The New York Times Magazine,
March 7, 1943.
Eichelberger, Lt. General, R., Report of the Commanding General Buna Forces on the Buna Campaign, Dec. 1, 1942–Jan. 25, 1943, MacArthur Archives, OCMH, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.
Foster, Edgar, “All The Way Over,”
Glory Magazine.
Greenwood, J. T., “The Fight Against Malaria in the Papua and New Guinea Campaigns,” from a revised version of a paper delivered by Greenwood at the U.S. Army–Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force Military History Exchange, Tokyo, February 2001.
Harding Interview, S. Milner, The OCMH Collection, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.
Hiari, Maclaren J., “My Father’s Experiences with the Australian and American Military Forces During World War Two,” privately held.
Ishio, P., “The Nisei Contribution to the Allied Victory in the Pacific,”
American Intelligence Journal,
no. 1 (Spring/Summer 1995).
Kahn, E. J., Jr., “The Terrible Days of Company E,”
The Saturday Evening Post,
January 8, 1944.
Moorad, G., “Fire and Blood in the Jungle,”
Liberty Magazine,
July 3, 1943.
Murdock, C., “The Red Arrow Pierced Every Line,”
The Saturday Evening Post,
November 10, 1945.
Series of articles that war correspondent Robert Doyle wrote for
The Milwaukee Journal.
Series of articles that war correspondent F. Tillman Durdin wrote for
The New York Times.
Series of articles that war correspondent George Weller wrote for
The Detroit News
and the
Chicago Daily News.
Spencer, M., “2 Allied Generals Swim Half Mile,”
St. Paul Dispatch,
Saturday, November 21, 1942.
Stanley, Dr. P., “He’s (Not) Coming South: The Invasion That Wasn’t,” Australian War Memorial, 2002.
Sufrin, M., “Take Buna or Don’t Come Back Alive,”
Historical Times,
November, 1970.
Variety of articles in the
Infantry Journal
.
George Pravda’s articles for the
Daily Tribune
in Grand Haven, Mich.
Colonel J. T. Hale’s letter to Lewis Sebring, Hanson W. Baldwin Collection, George C. Marshall Research Library, Lexington, Va.
Articles on Lt. Colonel S. Warmenhoven from the
Grand Rapids Press, Sunnyside Sun,
and the
Junior Review.
Life Magazine,
January 25, 1943; February 15, 1943; February 22, 1943.
Acknowledgments
This book is a work of nonfiction based on information contained in written accounts, war diaries, reminiscences, letters, scrapbooks, memoirs, or stories related to me by the veterans or their surviving family members and friends. Every attempt has been made to reconstruct the epic journey undertaken by the men of the 32nd Division—especially the march of the Ghost Mountain boys—and the brutal battles at Buna and Sanananda as accurately as possible.
I do not pretend to have written the complete history of the Red Arrow Division at Buna and Sanananda. Consequently, countless men and their acts of bravery and selflessness are missing from these pages. It is my hope, however, that through research, I have come as close as possible to describing an experience that all veterans of this savage campaign will recognize as true.
This book has taken me three and a half years to research and write. The project has been a memorable one. I have met many veterans whom I have come to regard as friends. I have attended their reunions, eaten with them, played cards, drank beer, traded stories, visited with them in their homes, and talked with them for hours on the phone. To all of these men who opened old wounds and exhumed long-buried memories, and to their family members who stood by them with equanimity, love, and support, I am extraordinarily grateful.
The saying goes that in order to understand someone, you have to walk a mile in his shoes. In an attempt to appreciate what the 32nd Division’s soldiers went through, I walked across New Guinea in the footsteps of the Ghost Mountain boys. The trek was a grueling one. I injured my knee, and one expedition member had to be flown out because of serious leg infections. Eventually half the team came down with malaria. I saw the battlefields, the clouds of mosquitoes, and the leeches. I felt the blazing sun of the coast, the chill of the mountains, and the suffocating stillness of the swamps. Thankfully, I never had to go to war.
In New Guinea, the Red Arrow men saw hell in spades, but you would be hard-pressed to get one to talk freely about how terrible it was. Most are stoics who long ago chose silence over relating the horrific details of fighting in a place that most people had never even heard of.
At some point, as they near the end of their lives, some of the veterans of the Buna and Sanananda campaign made the brave choice not to die with their memories, but to break the silence with which they have lived for so long. I am thankful for their stories. I hope this book is a tribute to them.
I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to a variety of people and sources from Wisconsin and Michigan to Washington, D.C., to Australia and Papua New Guinea. First and foremost, I would like to thank the men of Muskegon, Michigan’s Company G: Carl Stenberg, Stanley Jastrzembski, Russell Buys, Samuel DiMaggio, Don Stout, Ferrell “Bing” Bower, and Don Ritter, who has since passed away. I would also like to thank a group of veterans from the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area whose input helped me immeasurably: Bob Hartman, Carl Smestad, Martin Bolt, Erwin Veneklase, Jack Hill, Wellington Homminga, Frank Jakubowski, Steve Janicki, Ed Szudzik, Russ Prince, and Delbert Rector. Thanks also to Bill Sikkel of Holland, Michigan, and Ray Bailey of Green Bay, Wisconsin, who proved to be veritable fountains of information, and to Frank Stobbe of Berlin, Wisconsin, who even at ninety-five has a knack for telling a good story, and to Phil Ishio for his insights into what it was like to be a Japanese-American translator at Buna.
There are many other veterans of the New Guinea campaign whom I had the good fortune to interview. Although their names may not appear in this book, I relied on them to tell this story: Irving Hall, Alan Strege, Roy Gormanson, John Laska, Glen Rice, John Serio, Gordon Zuverink, Edward Doyle, Hilding Peterson, W. Lewis Evans, Harold Leitz, Dewey Hill, Robert Mallon, Don North, Don Ryan, Lyle Hougan, Roy “Soup” Campbell, Robert Johnson, Ed Cox, Ernest Gerber, and Walter Gerber, and to Bill Barnes, Charles “Red” Lawler, and Lawrence Chester Dennis, who have also passed away since I began the book.
The Ghost Mountain Boys,
in a sense, is a collaboration. Without the help of so many people, many of them family members of New Guinea veterans or of men who perished there, this book would have been impossible to write. Thanks so much to Bill and Joyce Boice who, in 2001, made their own brave journey to Buna to see where Bill’s father, Captain Jim Boice, died in battle; to Jerry and Alice Smith, Al and Dave Medendorp, Harry Keast, who lost his father at Sanananda, and Alice Brahm; to Angeline and J. P. DiMaggio, Paulette and Rick Lutjens, Wendell Trogdon, George Pravda, Art Edson Jr., Joanne Steenstra, Cornelius Warmenhoven, Walter Hunt and Amy Hunt, Katherine Schmidt-McConnell, Lloyd Fish, Terry Shima at the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA), Sandy Cochran, Susie and Tamar Walllace, Evelyn French, Walt and Pam McVeigh, Al Wiesner, Doc Sartell, Don White and the 32nd Division Old-timers gang, Lieutenant Colonel Tim Donovan, Robert Frankenstein, Bert Ramirez, Scott Renkema, Frank Boring, and lastly Katherine (Bailey) Mathews for her strength and grace, and Ann Holman and Muriel Joldersma for their courage.
A world of thanks to Abbie Norderhaug and the superb staff at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, whom I have relied on for the last three and a half years. And to Kenneth Schlessinger of the National Archives and Bill McKellin at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Thanks also to writer-historian Tom Doherty, who very generously offered his notes, research, and expertise, and his insights into the campaign and some of its participants.
I am indebted to author-historian Mary Ellen Condon-Rall for her help in portraying the situation faced by the 32nd Division’s medical staff. Thanks also to Major Lewis Barger in the office of the Army Surgeon General.
Thanks to Sarah Beyer-Kelly, National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition Saturday producer, and host Scott Simon, for their interest in this story and their patience in dealing with the myriad obstacles of trying to get a satellite connection from the jungle.
I was fortunate also to have the support of Mary Turner of
Outside
magazine. Without her enthusiasm for the story, sound editorial judgment, and general good nature, and the conscientious fact-checking of Justin Nyberg, the account of my trek (
Outside
magazine, May 2007, “Chasing Ghosts”) following the route of the Ghost Mountain boys would never have turned out as well as it did.
I wish to thank my good PNG friends Malum and Hula Nalu and their family for welcoming me into their home. Many thanks also to the PNG Tourism Promotion Authority and to Titi Gabi, Bill Nama, and the villagers of Gabagaba for their hospitality. For submitting to my interviews: Frank Gabi, Sir Philip Bouraga, Hare Bore, Toea Uru, Vavine Gamoga, Aria Parina, Boga Tali Boga, Raga Naime, Gevena Naime, Bala Parina, Taugau Parina, Len Sabadi, and Nanai Aria. On the other side of the Papuan Peninsula, I would like to thank the people of Buna, and in particular Wellington and Willie Jojoba. Also McCester Opusa, Peter John Bonga, Timothy Ungaia Doroda, John Marry Bundari, Henry Bedura, and David Sinama. I am grateful, too, to the fine people along the route of the Kapa Kapa trail, especially the inimitable Berua and the villagers of Laruni, Suwari, Jaure, and Natunga. And to Barnabas Orere for the loan of the book and his thoughts on how the war changed New Guinea, and to Maclaren Hiari for sharing with me the history of his father.
A hearty thanks to Erik Andersen and the POM Productions gang, Lee Ticehurst, Cal, Jack, Samu, Maryanne, and Jethro for their hospitality, the superb film and sound work, and for their companionship on the trail.
I wish to extend my thanks to the sponsors of my New Guinea expedition: BugBand, Mountain House, Helly Hansen, Gardline Communications, Air Niugini, Coral Sea Hotels, and Fontana Sports of Madison, Wisconsin.
A very special thanks to my brother Jeffrey, who has nursed a fascination with the island of New Guinea as strong as my own, and who twice has joined me on adventures there. I hope one day we can show our children the place that captured our youthful imaginations.
To my mother for her worry and prayers. And to my father and sisters for their love and support.
To my friends and fellow adventurers: Dr. Dale Fanney for his sound advice and the wilderness medical kit that we put to good use on the trail; Jon Clark for the good wishes, the pre-promotion, and the river shoes; and Tim Malzhan, who spends more nights under the stars than anyone I know, for the trusty waterproof journal.
A big, hearty thanks to my buddy and all-round wilderness man Dave Musgrave for his toughness and good humor on the trail. To old friend George Houde, who inspired by a few beers in a Chicago bar agreed to join me on the New Guinea adventure and then immediately upped the ante by proposing that we do our own documentary film on our attempt to repeat the march of the Ghost Mountain boys. And to Philipp Engelhorn, photographer extraordinaire, world wanderer, and newfound friend.
Thanks to my brother-in-law, Sean O’Conor, and father-in-law, Daggett Harvey, for the early reads of the manuscript and their suggestions. To Greg Putnam for the maps and his enthusiasm. To Ellie Harvey for her loyal support. To Chris Warrilow and Warren Dutton and to Paul Chatterton of the World Wildlife Fund. And to the staff at the Lodi Library for their assistance and forbearance.
Thanks to Dean King for his sharp-eyed assessment of the book’s final rough draft and his generosity of spirit. Thanks to my agent and advocate David McCormick for fielding my manic phone call from Hartford, Connecticut, and for recognizing instantly the book’s possibilities. To Luke Dempsey, who eagerly bought
The Ghost Mountain Boys
for Crown. And to Sean Desmond, who inherited it from Luke and rode herd on it to the end, suggesting changes that made for a better book.
A New Guinea–sized thanks to Burns Ellison, my friend and de facto editor and assistant who was with me on this book from the outset, who took time away from his own novel to transcribe taped interviews, to mine WWII books for ideas and narrative techniques, and to challenge me always to pare down my language, to make it spare and clean. It would have been impossible for me to write this story without his encouragement, help, and estimable editorial skills.
Finally, a word about the country of Papua New Guinea. War is an ugly thing, and in the context of this book, the country that I love is not portrayed very favorably. But I remain as impressed by its landscape, its diversity of culture, language, and flora and fauna, and the kindness of its people as when I first set foot in PNG nearly twenty years ago.