A harrowing portrait of a largely forgotten campaign that pushed one battalion to the limits of human suffering. Despite their lack of jungle training, the 32nd Division’s “Ghost Mountain Boys” were assigned the most grueling mission of the entire Pacific campaign in World War II: to march over the 10,000-foot Owen Stanley Mountains to protect the right flank of the Australian army during the battle for New Guinea. Reminiscent of the classics like Band of Brothers and The Things They Carried , The Ghost Mountain Boys 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. Theirs is one of the great untold stories of the war. “Superb.” — Chicago Sun-Times “Campbell started out with history, but in the end he has written a tale of survival and courage of near-mythic proportions.” — America in WWII magazine “In this compelling and sprightly written account, Campbell shines a long-overdue light on the equally deserving heroes of the Red Arrow Division.” —Military.com “Riveting... The Ghost Mountain Boys offers a new, harrowing world to explore.” — Richmond Times-Dispatch “The Buna campaign in New Guinea was one of the most awful slogs of World War II and one of the least reported. Now we are fortunate to have Jim Campbell’s outstanding Ghost Mountain Boys illuminate the heroes of the 32nd Division.” – James Bradley, bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys “The ragged heroes cursed to serve in MacArthur's New Guinea campaigns faced some of the most hellish fighting in all of World War II. In this intimate and at times excruciatingly vivid account, James Campbell feelingly recreates the American army's encounters not only with a fanatical foe but with more insidious adversaries like jungle rot, malaria, and the venomous creepy-crawlies of the rainforest. The result is both a classic war story and a spirited safari through one of the most exotic landscapes on earth.” —Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder “Jim Campbell's The Ghost Mountain Boys is one of those rare World War II tales that really do deserve to be retold. Thoroughly researched and expertly written, this engaging narrative will please both military historians and readers looking for an exciting odyssey of extraordinary courage and determination.” —Alex Kershaw, author of The Longest Winter and The Few  “Campbell has crafted a compelling war history, one that reads as a page-turner.” — FiftyPlus magazine “Campbell brings to vivid life one of the more forgotten, grislier campaigns of World War II, the Buna Trail campaign in New Guinea. The Japanese were trying to get a foothold on the south coast of the island, opposite Australia. The American Thirty-second Infantry Division had the job of driving them back over the Owen Stanley Mountain. It succeeded, at the cost of more than 10,000 casualties, four-fifths of them from tropical diseases contracted in the face of heavy rain, astonishing depths of mud, rugged terrain, perpetually rancid weather, shortage of supplies (including medicines), and, not incidentally, the Japanese. The most poignant part of the book consists of the letters of an army surgeon who eventually committed suicide, but every part of the book entitles it to a berth in WWII collections.” —Booklist “In this compelling and sprightly-written account — grounded in oral interviews with the dwindling list of survivors, diaries, letters, and official records — Campbell shines a long-overdue light on the equally-deserving heroes of the Red Arrow Division.” — Military.com, Tom Miller “ The Ghost Moutain Boys reads like an epic movie script, with nonstop action from beginning to end. Campbell has done a stellar job telling this remarkable story of perseverance, bravery and human suffering. For those that already know the 32nd Division's story, this work tells their tale with the sort of depth and detail that is sure to enlighten even further. For those that haven't heard of their dramatic stand, this story will be forever etched in memory.” —Martin Dugard, author of Training Ground and Last Voyage of Columbus “A gut-wrenching saga of young, unequipped soldiers bravely fighting and dying in the hellish jungles of New Guinea. Campbell’s poignant, personal accounts of the U.S. Army’s 32nd Division slogging through the ‘ultimate nightmare country’ are as relevant as today’s nightmarish headlines from Iraq.” —Charles Jones, author of BOYS OF ’67: From Vietnam to Iraq, the Extraordinary Story of a Few Good Men “The boys of Wisconsin and Michigan who crossed the hellish jungles of New Guinea and laid down their lives in MacArthur’s crusade for the Pacific–and their wives, sweethearts and children–can finally rest easy. James Campbell’s Ghost Mountain Boys is the literary monument they deserve. As riv