In a state of frenzy, Army Technician Fourth Grade James Lobnow, took up a hammer and smashed the buzzing bugs attacking his flesh. Deployed to Ramgarh, India, during World War II, Lobnow faced giant mosquitos, an enemy that could sting and, worse, one that carried malaria.
Nearby, an Army photographer snapped a photo of the combat.
The picture of Lobnow taking a hammer to mosquitos is now one of several in a National Archives memo that captures the lengths soldiers in the Pacific went to keep the bugs — and, more vitally, disease — at bay.
“When the falling wings and smoke of the battle had cleared, it was found that the wall had received the most damage,” the National Archives memo says. “‘Ah Mo. It’s a tough war,’ were the only comments.”
In the Pacific theater of World War II, malaria was as dangerous as an opposing army.
According to the Army Heritage Center, malaria likely played a major role in the loss of the Phillippines when it was invaded by Japan. An article on the center’s website said that “estimates from the Philippines in 1942 indicate that roughly 24,000 out of the 75,000 American and Filipino defenders were suffering from malaria at the time of the invasion.”
To put that in context, nearly a third of the defenders were laid low by disease.
And the news was no better for the 57,000 soldiers in the invading army, where some Japanese units were thought to be 90% combat-ineffective with malaria and dysentery, according to the center.
Lobnow wasn’t the only one coming up with tactics to crush the insect enemy.
According to the National Archives, service members used “freon grenades” to spray tents to repel mosquitoes. Marine Pfc. Jack Weisberg is pictured in the archives photos holding a handful of freon grenades while deployed to the Pacific, where troops would gas their tents. Not well understood at the time, freon — commonly used as a refrigerator coolant — can be toxic when inhaled, and prolonged exposure can have deadly consequences.
To keep bugs at bay, service members had to contend with dressing in layers in the tropical climate. With heavier clothes, they risked heat injuries and dehydration, but wearing light clothing risked more bites and malaria. Another picture captures Army Pvt. Carlo Recio in full uniform and wearing a mosquito netting over his head, which resembled a burlap sack. He was on sentry duty in 1942, though we wonder what his visibility was under that cover.
When insects bite you around the clock — posing a constant risk of malaria — and the threat of an enemy ambush at any time, we can understand how Lobnow went with the good idea fairy on this one. Did he make a dent in the insect enemy population? No. Did he probably feel better? We think so.
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