“Red Arrow Across The Pacific” is a detailed, but engaging account of the Thirty-Second Division’s World War II service, featuring training in the United States and Australia followed by intense combat in New Guinea and the Philippines and occupation duty in Japan.   Consisting of National Guard units from Wisconsin and Michigan, the Thirty-Second could be considered the spiritual successor of the Iron Brigade of Civil War fame.  Its Red Arrow name and insignia, a vertical red arrow pointing upward, commemorated its tradition of having punctured every German front line it confronted during World War I. 

After Chapter One describes the Roots of the Red Arrow from the militia of the Revolutionary War through the Depression years of austerity, the tale continues with participation in “The Battle of Wisconsin,” Guard training maneuvers in August 1940.   Mobilization for federal service in October 1940 led to their participation in the Louisiana maneuvers of the following year.  Origionaly prepared for deployment to Europe, Red Arrow’s trajectory was redirected to Australia in response to Gen. MacArthur’s plea for troops with which to defend that continent.  Travels to the West Coast and across the Pacific were preparatory to the completion of training in South Australia.  Their training completed, the Red Arrow was plunged into some of the most brutal and difficult combat of the War.  Fighting parallel to more famous encounters on Guadalcanal, assaults on Buna, Sanananda and Gona required carrying packs up steep mountain paths and through swamps, surviving insects, caimans and snakes, just to get to entrenched Japanese defenders. 

Their initial deployment in New Guinea left the Thirty-Second exhausted, ragged, hungry and diseased but victorious as it arrived at Australian locations, many in Queensland, in January and February 1943 for rest and rebuilding.  October and November 1943 brought further training at Milne Bay, New Guinea, preparatory to transfer to Goodenough Island off the Papuan Peninsula.  Being held in reserve, they combatted wildlife as high level meetings involving Generals Marshall and MacArthur took place on the island.  January 1944 saw the Division return to combat at Saidor, further up the New Guinea coast.  As a stepping stone to MacArthur’s promised return, they moved on to Morotai in the Molucca Islands, before participating in action on Leyte and Luzon in the Philippines. 

VJ Day brought an end to fighting and the return of many veterans to the United States but did not end the service of the Thirty-Second.  Those remaining were transferred to northern Kyushu and southern Honshu for the occupation of Japan, an assignment that met no resistance and comforts far beyond anything the troops had experienced while overseas.  

Throughout February 1946 units of the Thirty-Second held deactivation ceremonies.  In the words of its last commander officer, Lt. Col. Alex J. Robinett “From the farms of Wisconsin to the Hamlets of Michigan, since early September 1940, the 128^th Infantry has come to the end of a long road.”  With the final ceremony on the 28th “the glorious history of the 127^th Infantry Regiment for World War II was brought to a close…The hard earned victories at Buna, Aitape, Leyte and Luzon, together with the successful occupation of Japan mission will live forever in the history of the regiment.” 

The story of the Red Arrow was not over.  It would be reorganized as a Wisconsin National Guard unit in November 1946 and was mobilized during the Cuban Crisis of 1961, Afghanistan and Iraq.

War History Network members will find much to appreciate in “Red Arrow Across The Pacific”.  It presents a history of National Guard units in World War II.  As casualties mounted, the upper Midwest nature of the Red Arrow ebbed as replacements morphed it into a more national unit.  While histories of the European Theatre and the naval war in the Pacific are plentiful, the grind through New Guinea and the Philippines is more rarely documented.  Author Mark D. Van Ells has woven detailed and descriptive accounts into a highly readable tome.  Photographs and maps supplement the text to advantage.  Van Ellis and the Wisconsin Historical Society Press have provided a valuable addition to the World War II canon.