Campbell recalled hearing about an ill-fated march by a battalion of U.S. infantrymen, many from the Midwest, across the mountainous jungles of New Guinea in 1942.
The more he looked into the story, the more compelling it seemed. Campbell began interviewing surviving members of the second battalion of the 126th Infantry Regiment, some 800 of whom marched 130 miles through swamps, roaring rivers, dense jungle and up and down mountains in an effort to sneak behind Japanese lines.How tough was it? Campbell found one survivor, an elderly man in Grand Rapids, Mich., who said: “If I owned hell and New Guinea, I would rent out New Guinea and live in hell.”
Rugged terrain, no doubt about it.