Ben Love experienced some of the worst conditions of the war from the front lines at Sanananda. He was positioned in ‘No Man’s Land’ and it was there that he believed he had his first taste of ‘mud and blood’. In trying to march through the mud he slipped on several occasions and ended up face down in the deep mud and slush. Even worse, though, was the stench of the decaying bodies that filled the air. The smell was so bad that the native boys covered their faces with cloths to minimize the odor. The native carriers were not unappreciated though, as Ben was full of nothing but praise for their courage and hard work in the most unpleasant circumstances.
For Ben it was not so much the mosquitoes that were the menace, but the tropical rash and sores that also troubled most of his brigade. The rash was irritable and itchy and the only treatment offered was plenty of washing with soap and water. Given that at times he was unable to have a proper wash down for ten days this was not much of a solution for his problem.
Ben spent a lot of time in small groups in isolated trenches very close to the enemy lines. Nighttime was the most distressing though. When it, “became darker all of us swore we could hear noises- first on one side then the other. My God it’s a nightmare alright laying there in total blackness, waiting, listening and expecting.” At one stage only forty yards separated Ben from the Japanese. Consequently the shrapnel from shelling the Japanese was also a danger for him. Ben never could understand how the Japanese withstood the shelling, rain and lack of food after their supply line from the coast had been cut.
Towards the end of the campaign there were only thirty-seven men left in Ben’s squadron and with one hundred and ten cavalrymen they were holding the front line. The decimation of his squadron gave Ben considerable experience with the trauma of losing companions. Ben was highly sympathetic toward one of the men who struggled to deal with the death of his best and lifelong friend from the first day of the attack. As the squadron had been so weakened in numbers they were eventually replaced and held in reserve. Their new task was clearing up- salvaging guns and ammunition and burying the dead. They became the 7th Division Undertakers Unit and Ben hated it. “[R]ummaging around amongst dead bodies looking for souvenirs” did not appeal to him at all.
Buna–Gona–Sanananda:
Overview text Longer text Images Ben LoveClick images to enlarge.
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