During the New Guinea Campaign in WWII my uncle had fought in the battle of Buna where he had received a bullet wound to his buttock. He laughed about it later saying that it was not the mark of a hero. In the field hospital they cut his trousers off in order to treat the wound and because of the situation there were no more trousers to replace his. He resorted to the use of an army blanket with a slit through it to let his head go through. He draped it like a poncho to provide some manner of clothing. Shortly thereafter the 32nd Division of which he was a part was ordered to do a flanking movement on the Japanese who were poised to attack Port Moresby on the other side off the Owen Stanley Range 120 miles away. They made the foot march over the mountains on the rugged Kapa Kapa trail. He made the trip wrapped in his GI blanket. The experience is detailed in a book entitled THE GHOST MOUNTAIN BOYS. The man who wrote the book was a friend of my uncles and introduced him to the girl who was his wife for the remainder of his life. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Mountain
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 11:18:37 +0000
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