Gen. Robert Eichelberg’s Leyte

Col. Aubrey Newman depicted in Leyte 1944, “Follow Me” H. Charles McBarron

“Eighth Army took over Leyte on Christmas Day.  There were 8 divisions fighting there when I assumed command.  When the 32nd Div. and 1st Cavalry broke through on a narrow front, GHQ described the Leyte campaign as officially closed and future operations as “mopping-up.”

“Actually, the Japanese Army was still intact.  I was told there were only 6,000 Japanese left on the island.  This estimate was in serious error.  Soon, Japanese began streaming across the Ormoc Valley, well equipped and apparently well-fed.  It took several months of the roughest kind of combat to defeat this army.  Between Christmas Day and the end of the campaign, we killed more than 27,000 Japanese.

“Many others, evacuated safely by bancas (small boats), and reappeared to fight the 8th Army on other islands.  I called these singularly alive veteran troops the Ghosts of Leyte.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur with Maj. General Joseph Swing, Lt. Gen. Richard Sutherland, and Gen. Robert Eichelberger. (US National Archives)

“I am a great admirer of Gen. MacArthur as a military strategist…  But I must admit that after 6 years serving under him, I never understood the public relations policy that either he or his assistants established.  It seems to me ill advised to announce victories when a first phase had been accomplished…

“Too often, as at Buna, Sanananda, as on Leyte, Mindanao and Luzon, the struggle was to go on for a long time.Often these announcements produce bitterness among combat troops, and with good cause.  The phrase “mopping-up” had no particular appeal for a haggard, muddy sergeant of the Americal Division whose platoon had just been wiped out in western Leyte…  Or to the historian of the 11th Airborne, who wrote:

‘Through mud and rain, over treacherous rain-swollen gorges, through jungle growth, over slippery, narrow, root-tangled, steep foot trails, the Angels pushed wet to clear the Leyte mountain range…  It was bitter, exhausting, rugged fighting – physically the most terrible we were ever to know.’

457th Field Artillery/11th Airborne Div., Leyte

The combat infantryman deserved the best and usually fared the poorest in the matter of sugar plums, luxuries and mail from home.  The home folks in America were vastly generous, but transport to the front could not always carry out their good intentions.  Ammunition and rations came first.  This – the G.I. could understand… But, it was disconcerting to find out he had only been “mopping -up”.

“If there is another war, I recommend that the military and the correspondents and everyone else concerned, drop the phrase “mopping-up” from their vocabularies.  It is NOT a good enough phrase to die for.”

This informational quote is from “Our Jungle Road to Tokyo” by General Robert Eichelberger.

Click on images to enlarge.

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Military Humor – 

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Farewell Salutes – 

John Carrington – Philadelphia, PA; US Army, Korea, 11th Airborne Division

Norman Fraser – No. York, CAN; RC Navy, WWII

Virgil Hess – South Bend, IN; USMC, WWII, PTO

Thomas Kinsman – Renton, WA; US Army, Vietnam, B/3/60/9th Infantry Div., Medal of Honor

Roger ‘Whitey’ Lebon – Pana, IL; US Navy, WWII, PTO

Anne Morrissy Merick – NYC, NY; civilian war correspondent, Vietnam

Roger Moore – London, ENG; Royal Army Service Corps # 372394, Captain, (beloved actor)

Amos Smith – Houma, LA; US Army, WWII

Richard Tuff – Salem, OR; US Navy, WWII, USS Enterprise

Joseph Valderrama – brn: SPN/NJ; US Coast Guard, WWII, ETO, USS Faunce & Breckenridge

Wayne Wills – Hampton, VA; US Coast Guard, WWII

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