G.I. JUNGLE

Reprints from The New Yorker, this makes a good series of selectee's experiences in active service. Here is the troopship, Australia, the monotony and lack of privacy, the novelty of the first American task force for the Australians, the differences in money, movies, people, hospitality, the difficulties of spending their money, the importance of mail from home; then their first forest camp and adjustment to flora and fauna; New Guinea and the aborigines, the transportation of supplies, Port Moresby, Southern Papua, the strange contrasts of life, establishing bases, the hitherto unrecognizable durability of the men and their ability to make do and get along without; jungle housekeeping and the natural antagonism of the jungle; Buna and what it meant to the men is the field -- and return to the U.S.A. ""The jungle was tough, and the Japs were tougher, but the Yanks were toughest of all"". No coyness, broad humor, but quiet, intelligent, aware covering of individual as well as group experiences. Excellent reading.