By Gwen Strough
May 01, 2008 08:38 am
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Much of what Bill Boice knows about the life of his heroic father, Capt. William Boice, he read from the pages of an aged journal which was found in an old trunk, along many of his other personal belongings.
“I never knew him because I was only one-year-old when he left. But, I heard a lot of stories,” Bill said. He and his wife, Joyce, were at Pendleton Community Library on Saturday to tell about their trip to Australia in search of the exact location where Capt. Boice was killed during the World War II battle for New Guinea. Details of that fierce, epic struggle were recorded by author James Campbell in his recently released book, “The Ghost Mountain Boys,” which is now available for checkout at the library.
The battle
Capt. Boice was a basketball coach and history teacher in a small town near Kokomo when the war broke out. As a reserve officer with the 126th Infantry Regiment, he was activated, and boarded a ship sailing to Australia, where the strong campaign between Japanese and Australian forces in New Guinea were at a stalemate.
A strategy put into action by Gen. Douglas MacArthur entailed forging a new trail in the Owen Stanley Mountains about 30 miles south of the standoff in order to set a trap for the Japanese. Boice was assigned to the job. When his superior officer said it couldn’t be done, Boice grinned and started his grueling expedition. He took a few Americans, a few Australians, and 20 or 30 native guides who helped carry supplies.
In the foothills of the mountainous terrain, they hiked a land where high humidity, steady rain, and tropical, tangled foliage impeded their every move.
The only way to get food and supplies at 12,000 feet above sea level was by parachuting it in. Even then, it was hard to locate in the dense jungle. By the time they found it, the food was often spoiled, but they were so hungry they ate it anyway. Consequently, most of the troops had dysentery. Malaria was prevalent, and most of them contracted it, as well.
His patrol hacked their way through the steamy jungle, slipped down hills, and waded through steep mud to make the way easier for those that would follow. In the swampy marsh, their shoes rotted off their feet within four days. They used monkey vine to tie the soles to their boots so they’d have something to walk on.
Ultimately, Boice did the impossible. By blazing the new Kapa Kapa Trail, he opened the way for an allied victory in the coastal area of Buna. The battle for Buna, often referred to as “the forgotten war,” was a turning point in the conflict in the southwest Pacific, but on Dec. 19, 1942, Boice paid with his life.
“We received a telegram shortly after that, telling us he’d died,” said Bill. The following spring, he and his mother traveled to Ft. Harrison in Indianapolis for a ceremony which posthumously honored his father’s achievements. Bill still has a treasured photo of that moment when, as a very young boy, military officials pinned the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart on his lapel.
The journey
About six years ago, Bill and Joyce decided to take a trip to Australia. In studying maps and making plans, he said they began to realize how close they would be to “The Triangle,” the place where his father was killed in battle. He wondered if he could somehow find its location.
Bill began reading everything he could get his hands on in an effort to learn about what had taken place. He obtained important information from his father’s journal and some of the letters that were found in the old trunk.
When he contacted the American consulate in New Guinea, he was advised not to go into the area because it was a dangerous environment. Still, he wanted to go.
He lucked upon a detailed 1942 map, drawn by the Army, in a history book about New Guinea It showed a creek and a bridge in the area where Capt. Boice’s company had crossed. “I knew if I could find that bridge, I could find the area where he died,” recalled Bill. Soon he and Joyce were on their way.
A day after landing in Australia, Bill and Joyce arranged for a guide and a helicopter to take them across the mountains. On their way to meet the helicopter, their car was stopped by armed guards carrying machine guns. “They wanted to know why we were there,” Bill explained.
Once they finally boarded the chopper, they showed the pilot a map of where they wanted to go. The pilot told them he’d tried unsuccessfully to cross the mountains for the previous three days because a lack of navigation instruments prevented safe guidance through the thick cloud cover. He didn’t know if they could make it, but they took off for the mountains, Bill said.
That day the skies were clear and the helicopter was able to cross the mountains. They flew about 25 miles down the coastline and spotted a typical thatch-roofed village, but they didn’t see anything that looked familiar according to the map, so they decided to head back. Along the way, they saw a creek and three large open areas below them, and immediately knew it was where the battle had taken place. As they got closer, Bill said they could make out the key points. “Believe it or not, looking at the 1942 map, the terrain was exactly like it is today,” he said.
The pilot wasn’t excited about landing, but Bill persuaded him, and when they did, they saw people hiding in the trees. The pilot made it clear he was staying in the chopper. If they decided to get out, Bill and Joyce were on their own.
As they walked down a small trail, the two realized communication could be a problem since New Guinea is populated by hundreds of tribes, each with their own language. Very few speak English, Bill said.
“I suddenly noticed a guy walking toward me with a three-foot machete in his right hand. I showed him the map and pointed to the location of the bridge, hoping he would understand that I was looking for that bridge,” Bill explained. “He took the machete out of his right hand, put it into his left and said, ‘Hi, I’m John.’ What were the odds of finding a tribesman who spoke English?” Bill later pondered.
“I told him about my father and why I was there. He understood,” Bill said.
John led him down a trail and showed him part of an old bridge that remained. Bill realized he was catching a glimpse of what his father viewed just before he died. “I was standing where my father was killed,” he said.
All the while, Joyce stayed a short distance behind, walking with women of the tribe, and answering their questions through an interpreter. They were inquisitive about her family, how many children she had, and whether they all lived together.
“All of a sudden, I got goose bumps all over,” Joyce recalled. “ I stopped and looked up at the sky. Everything was very primitive, but also very beautiful,” she said. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks. “These are not tears of sadness, they are tears of gladness,” she told the women. “Then, Bill told me I was standing in almost the exact spot where his father had died. I knew then it was a divinely guided experience,” she said.
As they continued down the trail, Bill said they saw dug out canoes and people with spears. “They live now just like they lived 200 years ago. There is no electricity. They hunt for food and fish,” he described.
“Many of the children don’t wear clothes, and many of the women are bare-breasted. They are natives,” observed Joyce.
They were invited to stay for food and drink and a tribal dance, but their pilot came to warn them that the sky was clouding.
As Bill and Joyce flew away, they looked below and saw the tribal people waving goodbye. “They’d probably never seen a helicopter before,” Bill surmised.
As the made their way across the mountain pass, the pilot turned the helicopter 180 degrees to see where they’d been. Clouds had descended and completely covered the mountain during the previous 15 minutes. To make it over the pass as they did, he told them, “Somebody bigger than us wanted you to make that trek.”
“When I think about the fact that I used 60-year-old maps, and located a tribesman that spoke English and knew the area where we wanted to go, I felt it was God’s will that we made that trip. It was a wonderful experience,” Bill remarked.
The book
Much of the information contained in James Campbell’s newly released book, “The Ghost Mountain Boys” was taken from experts in Capt. Boice’s journal. Known for his journalistic adventure, Campbell decided to make the 130-mile trek across the mountains of New Guinea, 64 years after Boice.
When he encountered tribal people wearing ball caps and T-shirts bearing USA, he learned that the items had been sent to them from the United States by Bill and Joyce.
And when the natives urged Campbell to visit “their family” in America, he realized they were referring to Bill, the son of Boice and the subject of his research.
Campbell immediately returned to the U.S. to find Bill. And, when he saw the trunk containing Capt. Boice’s memorabilia, Campbell made the decision to write the book.
Joyce said Campbell trained for eight months with an 80-pound backpack in order to prepare for his continued research in New Guinea. His experience along the trail was much the same as Boice and the troops: swamps, raging rivers, trackless ravines, mountains that were the most rugged on the face of the earth, and the unpredictable nature of the tribes, including cannibalism.
Campbell documented every step of the way, and his camera crew shot footage as they endured the same problems that faced Boice. In that wilderness, the mud was up to their calves, and the forest canopy was so dense that no sunlight came through. It was so dark at night that they couldn’t sleep. There were sounds of animals. Campbell said he could even hear the worms. They also faced disease. All but one of his expedition contracted malaria.
“One man had to be air-lifted out because he had leeches all over his body. Jim, himself, tore up both knees, due to the mountains and ravines and had to be air-lifted out for three days to get braces for his knees so he could go back to finish,” said Joyce.
“Natives came out along the way to walk with them. One tribe had a ‘celebration ceremony’ with costumes on and bones in their nose. Meat on skewers was probably from rats or dogs,” she added.
“It took about three weeks for Campbell to finally reach his destination, even with radios and GPS devices. It had taken Bill’s dad 49 days to lead the reconnaissance crew across,” she noted.
Campbell has been traveling the U.S. for book signings during the past few months, and was in Indianapolis in January.
“The book itself is not for the faint of heart,” Joyce told her audience on Saturday, adding that it is a fascinating read.
Currently, she said, there is talk that PBS may produce a film about the war in New Guinea and the History Channel may do a documentary about the Kapa Kapa Trail.
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At a glance
The Ghost Mountain Boys, written by James Campbell, is available for checkout at Pendleton Public Library. The book can also be purchased at Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores.
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