Smitty ~ Letter VII ~ New Guinea

Smitty reclining in front row, on the far right, with the HQ Company/187th Regiment/11th Airborne

For a period of five months the 11th Airborne Division would receive jungle warfare and intensified combat unit ground training in the primitive land of jungles and mountains and thatched huts and the native population fondly called, Fuzzy Wuzzies.  The Papua brigades and Allied forces, that fought in what constituted the Cartwheel Operations before the troopers arrived, made this landing possible.

The Dobodura area that the 11th A/B would make their home was inherited from the 5th Air Force.  The first order of business was for the 408th Quartermaster trucks to deliver the pyramidal tents.

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Letter VII                                                           Land                                                                                          6/8/44          

Dear Mom,    

Well, here we are on the island of New Guinea.  From what we can see if it so far, I know we’ll never go hungry as the coconut trees are as thick as a swarm of bees.

We started for our area in trucks after all the rumors said we’d walk and we “Oh!” and Ah’d” all throughout the trip.  Not wanting to show the natives here how smart we are, the driver proceeded on his own when lo and behold — where were we?  I don’t know, no one knows, so right away we all knew that wherever we were — that wasn’t where we were supposed to be. 

Now, of course, we weren’t to blame, as after all, this is a strange and new place to us and they didn’t give us a Socony road map or a compass reading, so no matter — drive on — come what may.  Of course, some large and strange appearing trees which grew in the road had different ideas and no matter how hard we hit them, they consistently set us back.  How they ever managed to find a road to grow in is beyond me, but then they were here before us.  Naturally, after the way they treated our truck, we gave them a wide berth, eventually leaving the road al together.

When after what seemed like hours, we finally found our area, much to the delight of the lower hind part of our anatomy.  Then, our shoulders and backs had to haul our bags around until we found our tents.  This was done very systematically: someone had the idea of first asking the captain just where we belonged and he proceeded to take us there.  We could see at once that this place was no place for us and got right down to thinking up goldbricking alibis.

Work here is the main word we soon found out, and might I add we are all still trying to duck, but it seems that as soon as one finds a spot in the woods, oops I mean jungle, the tree-chopper-downers come along and there you are not only up to your neck in work, but also find out that now your haven is so exposed as to make it useless again as a hideout.

You might wonder what all this labor is about and also expect to find out in this chapter or letter, but no, it shall never be.  I’m saving that for the next installment, which I’m sure you will be breathlessly awaiting.  Regards to all.

Love, Your son,  Everett

Click on images to enlarge.

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Military Humor –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes –

Robert Blagrove – NZ; RNZ Army # 64946, WWII, 24th Battalion, POW

Ernest Fowler – El Dorado, KS; USMC, WWII, PTO

The Big Picture…

Faustino Gonzalez – San Antonio, TX; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT

Paul Lemire – Sturgeon Falls, CAN; RC Air Force, Alouettes’ tail gunner

Warren Nelson – Lakota, SD; USMC, WWII, PTO, E/2/8th Marines, KIA (Tarawa)

Brian Rix – Cottingham, UK; RAF, WWII, ETO

Ivan Smith – Ft. Lauderdale, FL; US Coast Guard

Adam Thomas – Tacoma Park, MD; US Army, Afghanistan, SSgt., B/2/10th Special Forces Group, A/B, KIA

Martin ‘Skip’ Urso – Knoxville, TN; USMC; Vietnam, Bronze Star

Edward Zalewski – Jersey City, NJ; US Army, WWII, ETO

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