The mobile Field Hospital at Kokoda provided treatment closer to the front lines so that troops could be returned to their units in the minimum time. Minor surgery could be performed at the Field Hospital, though serious cases were evacuated to the LOC Hospital. They were generally staffed by around twenty officers, including up to 15 Medical Officers, and 250 other ranks who provided medical care and transport for up to five hundred patients. Conditions at the Field Hospital were generally fairly poor, with no beds and only limited protection from the elements. The following describes the conditions at the Kokoda Field Hospital during the Japanese advance:

After I left the wounded men, I came across a river about 10m wide. Traversing it was difficult, but a crossing had been constructed. On the other side, a 1m high wooden sign read in black ink "Field Hospital Entrance". Lined up on the nearby embankment were countless white sapling grave markers. I passed through and discovered a field hospital in the midst of the jungle. Inside, numerous small wards were lined up like pigsties. Each was constructed from thin poles with low ceilings. The blackened rotten banana leaves that formed the roof were constantly dripping. The injured and sick were packed inside like sardines.

On the floor was spread green leaves or thin saplings. There were no blankets. The patients lay strewn in their blood-stained, blackened uniforms. Large drops of water fell on their pale faces from the leaves of the surrounding trees. However, they didn’t even have the energy to avoid them. They must have also been tormented from the pain of their injuries, or distressed by high fever. Were they praying for life? Or just waiting for death? Some several hundred of these inmates were probably embraced by unbearable torment. The hospital, where not a word was uttered, had sunk to the pit of a deathly silence.

Preparations for evacuation of the injured were completed. The injured had been loaded onto stretchers by the youth of the Giyûtai [Formosan Volunteer Unit] and lined up next to the native huts. They had been firmly tied to the stretchers with vines to prevent them rolling off on the precipitous mountain road. It looked painful. Fresh branches were set up over their heads to provide shade from the sun.

The cheeks of the youths were puffed out from the strain as they gripped the rails of the stretchers. The patients’ lives were supported by these heavy rails. For how many days must they travel to overcome these precipitous cliffs and valleys? The realisation of this life and death struggle was etched on their brows.

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