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The Ghost Mountain Boys: Their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea--The Forgotten War of the South Pacific
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.542653
EAN: 9780307335968
ISBN: 0307335968
Label: Crown
Manufacturer: Crown
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: October 02, 2007
Publisher: Crown
Release Date: October 02, 2007
Studio: Crown
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Editorial Review:
Lying due north of Australia, New Guinea is among the world’s largest islands. In 1942, when World War II exploded onto its shores, it was an inhospitable, cursorily mapped, disease-ridden land of dense jungle, towering mountain peaks, deep valleys, and fetid swamps. Coveted by the Japanese for its strategic position, New Guinea became the site of one of the South Pacific’s most savage campaigns. Despite their lack of jungle training, the 32nd Division’s Ghost Mountain Boys were assigned the most grueling mission of the entire Pacific campaign: to march 130 miles over the rugged Owen Stanley Mountains and to protect the right flank of the Australian army as they fought to push the Japanese back to the village of Buna on New Guinea’s north coast.Comprised of National Guardsmen from Michigan and Wisconsin, reserve officers, and draftees from across the country, the 32nd Division lacked more than training—they were without even the basics necessary for survival. The men were not issued the specialized clothing that later became standard issue for soldiers fighting in the South Pacific; they fought in hastily dyed combat fatigues that bled in the intense humidity and left them with festering sores. They waded through brush and vines without the aid of machetes. They did not have insect repellent. Without waterproof containers, their matches were useless and the quinine and vitamin pills they carried, as well as salt and chlorination tablets, crumbled in their pockets. Exhausted and pushed to the brink of human endurance, the Ghost Mountain Boys fell victim to malnutrition and disease. Forty-two days after they set out, they arrived two miles south of Buna, nearly shattered by the experience. Arrival in Buna provided no respite. The 32nd Division was ordered to launch an immediate assault on the Japanese position. After two months of furious—sometimes hand-to-hand—combat, the decimated division finally achieved victory. The ferocity of the struggle for Buna was summed up in Time magazine on December 28, 1942, three weeks before the Japanese army was defeated: “Nowhere in the world today are American soldiers engaged in fighting so desperate, so merciless, so bitter, or so bloody.”Reminiscent of classics like Band of Brothers and The Things They Carried, this harrowing portrait of a largely overlooked campaign is part war diary, part extreme adventure tale, and (through letters, journals, and interviews) part biography of a group of men who fought to survive in an environment every bit as fierce as the enemy they faced.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - "Gost Mountain Boys" DVD
Good sound rendition of "Gost Mountain Boys" on CD/ROM DVD.
During his life my father, HQ Coy - Special troops, 32nd Infantry Division, He did not speak much about his service.
This DVD provides insight of the trials and tribulation
and commemorates his New Guinea service. It is a good sound rendition of the book "GhostMountain Boys".
He did not talk much about his WW2 service.
He did, however, march on ANZAC Day commemoratiomns with Australian vets he fought alongside ... Read More
Rating:  - Ghost Mountain Boys Remembered
Along with the great U.S. sacrifices at Iwo Jima, a little known action of Americans and Australians fought well dug-in Japanese forces in Papua, New Guinea. The green troops of the 32nd Division (Wisconsin and Michigan men) withstood the withering fire from the Japanese, the plague of malaria and jungle rot, and the complete misunderstanding of the state of affairs by MacArthur. They crossed over on foot the nearly impassable Owen Stanley Mountains, referred by them as Ghost Mountain, only to be met ... Read More
Rating: - The Ghost Mountain Boys
Great book. I couldnt put it down. Well written. Anyone interested in history should read this. DR
Rating: - Jungle War on a Shoestring!
This book is an easy read. I recommend it to anyone interested in how America's citizen soldiers fought in World War II. The book's style is similar to many of Stephen Ambroses works such as Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest or Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany.
This book follows the story of the 32 Infantry, the Red Arrow Division in Early World War II. The Red Arrow ... Read More
Rating: - The Reality of what these men went through.
I bought this book only because I personally met one the men in it after the book was written. I'm not a WWII buff, but this book kept me interested while I read what these GIs were thinking, saying, and doing before their time in battle and during the worst of it. I don't doubt this was an unique time with extra-ordinary men and women sacraficing for our freedoms. A good read for anyone, even if history and war are not your interests.
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