This photograph, from the 312th Bomb Group collection, depicts a column of Papua New Guinean laborers walking a rural road under the direction of an Allied serviceman. Local carriers and laborers played an essential, often uncredited role in the New Guinea campaign, hauling supplies, building airstrips, and supporting forward air bases used by U.S. Fifth Air Force units like the 312th Bomb Group as they pushed the war northward through the Southwest Pacific. Project: 218269