Ghost Mountain is the name given by U.S. Army servicemen in 1942 to Mount Obree, a mountain in the

Owen Stanley Range The Owen Stanley Range is the south-eastern part of the central mountain-chain in Papua New Guinea. Its highest point is Mount Victoria at , while its most prominent peak is Mount Suckling. History Owen Stanley Range was seen in 1849 by Captai ...

in the southeast of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. Known locally as "Suwemalla," Ghost Mountain rises to a height of . In October 1942, the U.S. Army's first intended offensive operation in the Pacific Campaign of the Second World War was across the

Kapa Kapa Trail The Kapa Kapa Trail is a steep, little-used mountain trail that stretches from the Kapa Kapa village (an English mispronunciation of Gabagaba) on the south coast of Papua New Guinea, across the extremely rugged Owen Stanley Range, to the vicinity ...

. Members of the 2nd Battalion, 126th Regiment, 32nd ''Red Arrow'' Division were ordered to flank the Japanese in a march on foot across the Owen Stanley Range, including crossing near Ghost Mountain, considerably east of the more well-known Kokoda Track. The Kapa Kapa Trail across the Owen Stanley divide was a 'dank and eerie place, rougher and more precipitous' than the

Kokoda Track The Kokoda Track or Trail is a single-file foot thoroughfare that runs overland – in a straight line – through the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The track was the location of the 1942 World War II battle between Japane ...

on which the Australians and Japanese were then fighting. Ghost Mountain earned its name from the eerie phosphorescent glow given off at night by moss-covered trees in the forests on its slopes. The mountain also claimed the lives of a number of U.S.

5th Air Force The Fifth Air Force (5 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is the U.S. Air Force's oldest continuously serving Numbered Air Force. The organiz ...

air crews during the conflict, and a civilian aircraft since then.

References

Mountains of Papua New Guinea {{PapuaNewGuinea-geo-stub

See also

Further reading

References