Vintage Military - Part 19

World War II - Lae, New Guinea

We last saw the action in New Guinea at the battle of Buna in January, 1943.  General MacArthur's forces continued moving west to retake the Japanese-occupied north coast of New Guinea.  

In September 1943, the 9th Australian division under General Wooten landed just east of Lae, a Japanese stronghold.  Meanwhile, an American parachute regiment made a drop and secured an airfield west of Lae, allowing the Australian 7th division, under General Vasey, to fly in.  The two generals bet twenty cases of whiskey on who would reach Lae first.  Vasey won.

These photos were all taken by LIFE photographer Myron Davis, who was accompanying the troops.  The photo above, showing troops bathing in a river, has been cropped and brightened to show detail.

This photo, dated October 1943, is from a series called "Occupation of Lae."  We see more troops bathing in a river.

Here we see troops marching across what looks like a newly-constructed bridge, not to mention a soldier bathing in the river.

Note: I'm guessing that the bridge piers were designed by someone who played with Lincoln Logs as a child.  Lincoln Logs were invented by the son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1916, and American soldiers in World War II would certainly have been familiar with them. 

Two more men in the river, and two others appear to be trying to swim, but the water is only ankle-deep.  Maybe they're just cooling off.  New Guinea is almost on the Equator, and it's warm year-round.

This photo by Myron Davis of troops showering is from a series called "Troop Carrier Planes" from December, 1943.  I don't think it's from New Guinea.  By that time, Davis was with troops on islands offshore of New Guinea preparing for the invasion of the island of New Britain.

We end with a cropped version of a photo I previously posted, showing 24-year-old photographer Myron Davis in December, 1943, naked and swinging from a vine on one of those islands prior to the invasion of New Britain.