The Ghost Mountain Boys - James E. Campbell [147]
Chapter 2. A Train Heading West
For the general history of the 32nd Division, I relied primarily on three books: Major General H. W. Blakeley’s The 32nd Infantry Division in World War II; Wisconsin’s Red Arrow Division; and 32nd Division, Les Terribles. Herbert Smith’s books and division files at the National Archives also provide excellent details on the division’s Louisiana experience, the train ride, etc.
Regarding the warning signs, Brett writes in The MacArthur I Knew, “A reconnaissance picked up information of a concentration of troops and shipping at Rabaul…everything pointed to an active gathering of enemy forces. It seemed evident that they would head for some point on the north coast of New Guinea, and even attempt to go all the way around to Port Moresby. General MacArthur’s headquarters was kept apprised of the situation, but made little comment, and gave practically no suggestions or advice.” Brett, elaborating on MacArthur’s preoccupation with the Philippines, writes, “Not once, while I was in Australia, did the Supreme Commander go north to visit the advance bases…. MacArthur stuck to his desk.”
Toland writes that Churchill, when he heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor, slept well, knowing that the U.S. was now officially on his side. Toland also describes in vivid detail the simultaneous attacks on Pearl Harbor and Singapore Island. He also describes the euphoria that seized Japan.
Much of my portrayal of America immediately following Pearl Harbor comes from two outstanding books, Geoffrey Perret’s Days of Sadness, Years of Triumph and Paul Fussell’s Wartime.
Chapter 3. Arrival Down Under
Again, Smith’s books provide wonderful details of the soldiers’ experience at the Cow Palace and the three-week trip to Australia. In Gentle Knight, General Edwin Forrest Harding’s biographer Leslie Anders also writes about the experience. Clarence Jungwirth left behind a wonderful account of his experiences (Diary of a National Guardsman in World War II). Lenord Sill’s Buna & Beyond and Howard Kelley’s Born in the U.S.A. Raised in New Guinea were also very helpful.
Some of the details of the American soldiers’ relationship to the Australians and the returning Australian soldiers are from C. P. Murdock’s Saturday Evening Post article, “The Red Arrow Pierced Every Line,” E. J. Kahn’s G.I. Jungle, and Gentle Knight.
For the personal details on General Harding, I depended upon Leslie Anders’ wonderful biography Gentle Knight.
When Harding left San Franciso, his son Davis, who was finishing up his doctoral dissertation in English, wrote him. “Good luck, dad,” Davis wrote. “I like the idea of having you for a father.” Harding, Anders writes, responded with appropriate lines from Kipling:
The troopship’s on the tide, my boys, the troopship’s on the tide, O it’s “special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide.
E. J. Kahn wrote that soldiers knew so little about Australia they expected to be “met at a primitive wharf by aborigine porters on kangaroos.”
For details on the division’s training in Australia, I relied on Milner’s book, his interview with Harding, which can be found at the Office of the Chief of Military History, and Anders’ biography.
When Harding renamed Tamborine Camp Cable, Sergeant Gerald Cable’s mother wrote him, thanking him for “the high honor you have done my son’s name.”
To discuss the medical problems in the South Pacific, I used Simon Warmenhoven’s letters and a number of splendid books and articles, many written by Mary Ellen Condon-Rall.
Medical Department, United States Army in World War II, a series published in Washington, D.C., by the Army’s Office of the Surgeon General, provides both organizational studies and numerous physician-written accounts of the clinical problems encountered in the war against Japan. The Medical Department produced forty-eight books on World War II. They are divided into a number of sub-series dealing with preventive medicine, internal medicine, surgery, etc. One very