The Ghost Mountain Boys: Their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea--The Forgotten War of the South Pacific

Over the past few years I've tried to expand my knowledge of America's early struggle in WWII, before we were the arsenal of freedom. One of my focus points has been the war in the South West Pacific (for those not familiar, New Guinea). To further this effort, I picked up The Ghost Mountain Boys. The Ghost Mountain Boys deals with the 32nd Infantry Division (ID) (the 32nd ID was made up of Michigan and Wisconsin National Guardsmen who were Federalized), their training, deployment to Australia, and exploits in the battle for Buna (Buna is a small village on the north coast of New Guinea). While Mr. Campbell tells us the story of the 32nd ID, the real focus is on the 2nd Battalion, 126th Regiment and the supporting units that hiked over the Owen Stanley Mountains via native trails. The reason for this focus is the grueling nature of the hike; going from sea-level to about 10000 feet, then back down to sea-level while carrying your equipment in a tropical jungle environment was exceedingly grueling. This merged with the telling of the battle for Buna makes for an excellent read. For the New Guinea portion, The Ghost Mountain Boys covers the Japanese advance down the Kokodo and their eventual halt (due to the Australians and the 5th Air Force). In writing about the Australian contribution, Mr. Campbell relies solely on documented historical record. This is an interesting counter-point to the rest of the book because there Mr. Campbell weaves an interesting blend of documented history with oral and letters and diaries from soldier to tell this story. Most sections open with Mr. Campbell setting the stage and then bringing in the additional material to complete the story (always at the appropriate moment. This mixture paints a very desperate environment where war is at its worst; soldiers suffering from malaria and other tropical disease crawling thru the kuni grass without a machete to take out dug-in Japanese positions makes for something of a heart wrenching story (yes, it's shocking at times the conditions the men were in and expected to fight). Making matters worse was that General MacArthur (nick-named Dug-out Doug) was putting incredible pressure on Generals Harding and Eichelberger to capture Buna at the soonest (later General MacArthur said schedule was not a factor) without being aware of the situation (MacArthur never came north of Port Moresby). Rating wise, this one's a solid 4.5 star book that I'm rounding up to 5. First, this is a fairly unique subject to write on. The only other book I've read on this campaign was Bloody Buna and this one blows Bloody Buna away in many ways. This leads directly to Mr. Campbell's writing style; it's compelling, you can't wait to turn the page to see what happens next. I found myself sucked into the story of Major Stuttering Smith, Private Jastrzembski, Sgt. Bottcher and the rest. Yes, the Ghost Mountain Boys are compelling and so are the rest of the 32nd ID. The only real weakness is the maps. There're four maps, one showing the Pacific, one showing the path from Port Moresby to Buna, and two show the general situation around Buna. What really would have completed this book though is a couple of maps that showed the tactical situation where the 32nd Id was attacking and the Japanese defensive positions. Other than that though, this is a superb book documenting a little known subject in American history.

I remember as a kid my Dad talking about New Guinea. He never said much about it but I remember two things he told me - it was hot and nasty as hell and he saw them hang a man for some crime - a sight he would never forget. I bought this book because I wanted to find out more about what Dad went through in the 31/2 years he spent in the Army. This book, along with a few others I have read about the Pacific Theatre during WWII gave me a lot of insight into the hard fighting and miserable conditions our fathers went through during the war. Much is written about the European Theatre but compared to fighting the Japanese, the Germans and Italians were a cake walk. The Japanese philosophy of total war meant that the only way they knew they were defeated was if they were dead. Some tried to surrender but after the atrocities they committed to our boys there was a "no quarter" unwritten rule towards them adopted by most of our military. Not only did our troops have to fight the Japanese, but they also had to fight an unforgiving island full of crocodile, poisonous snakes and insects and disease. Some of these inflictions made our men psychotic and suicidal and the known cures, instead of helping, added to the psychosis. Add all this to our boys being poorly supplied and a commander in MacArthur who cared more about advancing himself instead of thinking about his men. My Dad never had a good word to say about MacArthur and after reading this book I have to agree with Dad's assessment of the man. Like all struggles, our military learned much from these battles. Like all good books this one was well written and flowed well and held my interest throughout. It also gave me great pause to think about what happened to our boys back then and made me both sad that our men had to suffer and happy that my Dad made it through. Like many, Dad suffered bouts of depression all his life but like guys from this era he just toughed it out because that was what was expected. Books like this one put a lot of things in perspective and help me to more fully understand my Dad's life and how he was.

Could not put it down, an excellent account of a rarely covered battle early in the SW Pacific. I'm an avid reader of the war in the Pacific, mainly the Marine Corp but found this book to be one of my favourites. It was educational and I also came away with a new appreciation for what the US army had to endure early on. 4 thumbs up