Monthly Archives: April 2018
CBI Theater – March 1945 – part two
FILL ‘ER UP !!
C-109 at Kurmitola, India
USE RUSSIAN VODKA FOR LIGHTER FLUID
HQ., CHINA WING, ATC – An officer, just arrived at one of the India-China Division’s China bases, was relaxing in bed at the close of his first day of duty.
It was then that he received lesson number one on how to get along in China. As he watched, his roommate removed the cork from a large bottle of colorless liquid and carefully filled his lighter. A few minutes later, after he had finished shaving, he rubbed his face briskly with lotion – out of the same bottle. Then he took down a pair of trousers and removed two spots – still using the same magic fluid.
Once dressed, the officer opened a can of fruit juice and poured it into two glasses, adding generous slugs out of the bottle. The newcomer looked at his drink doubtfully, but his roommate reassured him.
“It’s okay,” he said, “pretty fair vodka made by a Russian in town. Up here in China, everything does double duty.”
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MGen. Howard Davidson
HQ., 10TH AIR FORCE, BURMA – A Tactical Air Communications Squadron of Maj. Gen. Howard C. Davidson’s 10th Air Force has a simple way of letting Squadron Headquarters know when they have entered a town in Burma. They simply ship back a dog.
This Air Corps outfit, the only one of its kind in the Theater, accompanies virtually all of the Allied Ground Forces to direct 10th Air Force planes in bombing and strafing in joint co-operation with ground attacks. Since these teams accompany the forward infantry elements, they are usually among the first to enter captured towns and villages.
Their custom is to grab the first available dog after entering a town where heavy fighting has been encountered, name the dog after the place, then send it back as a mascot. Since they have been in about every major operation in North Burma, the number of dog-mascots has grown to be a major feeding problem.
The prima donna of all the dogs is one called “Commedation,” so named after the boys were given a unit commendation by the Commanding General of the 19th Air Force.
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INGENUITY
3 new crew chiefs of the XX Bomber Command display Bronze Star Medals awarded for efficiency in maintaining B-29’s operating in the CBI. M/Sgt. Kenneth Day, Waban, Mass.; M/Sgt. William Kolynych, Clifton Heights, Pa.; and M/Sgt. Bruce Mahler, Seattle, Wash.
BENGAL AIR DEPOT – “You might think my boys were all jewelers or precision instrument men before the war. Actaully, most of them are Army trained.”
The source of this quotation was T/Sgt. Jim Glynn, section chief of the Ordnance instrument repair shop at Bengal Air Depot. Glynn, who formerly worked for an electrical power house equipment firm, is convinced that Army training is capable of producing craftsmen as skilled as any in civilian life.
When he received greetings from the President, T/4 Murray Waldron was in Boston. Besides working for a BS degree in physics, Waldron was getting some time experience with the Polaroid Optical Co. Special jobs that have come his way include making color filters for movie cameras used by combat photographers and the replacing of the original plastic washers on binoculars by ribber ones. The latter job provides an air-tight seal protecting delicate parts from dust and moisture.
Lake Placid, N.Y. is the hometown of T/3 Frederick Smith, a college student before he became a G.I. Smith lends his talents to telescopes. A contribution he has collaborated on was the finding of a suitable method of cleaning fungus from prisms. Nitric acid provided the ultimate solution. A wooden clamp to hold small parts in the hand while working, modeled after the diamond setter’s ring holder, has proved to be another time saver.
Pfc. J. W. Miller hasn’t wandered far from his former job of lens grinder since slipping into the khaki. India, as far as the job goes, isn’t much different from Austin, Tex. Pressure for production has necessitated using medical soap jars for acid containers, medical atomizers for dispensing alcohol in cleaning lenses, and the manufacture of a cleaning machine that does 5 watches at once.
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Military Humor – CBI “Strickly G.I.” by Ehert
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Farewell Salutes –
Eugene Chernoy- Santa Monica, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO (Borneo), 6th Army AF Combat Camera Unit (13th AF), TSgt., Purple Heart
Richard Eckert – Chicago, IL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division, bugler
Angel Flight
Frank Fariello – Bronx, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 41st Fighter Sq., Lt.Col. (Ret. 20 y.), pilot (187 combat missions)
Robert Hair – Wainuiomata, NZ; RNZ Navy # 692000, Warrant Officer (Ret. 21 y.)
Henry LY – Brn: Canton, CHI; US Navy, WWII, PTO, corpsman
Jack McCaffrey – Lavender Bay, AUS; # NX320255, Borneo
John Parry – Atlanta, GA; US Army, WWII, CBI, TSgt.
Albert Schlitz – Paris, WI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI
Louis Tanner – Houston, TX; USMC, Pfc., 3/5/1st Marine Division, KIA (Palau)
Marlyn Wilcox – Gibbon, NE; US Navy, WWII, CBI
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Guest Post – It Was Hard To Keep The Good Times Rollin’ by GPCox
I hope everyone enjoys this look back to how their own family got around during the WWII era.
Kerbey has a great post that matches this one today. Go on over a take a peek!!
https://sanceau.com/2018/04/28/electro-motive-1949/
Today’s Guest Post from gpcox continues the theme of transportation started last month with information about cars and trucks. This post expands transportation to include the variety of ways to travel in the 1940’s. Settle back and enjoy a unique look at this period of our history.
Kurtz’s Gas Station – Arnold Gibson, Charlie Kurtz and Carl Wayne
filling up in Trumbull
Columnist Marquis Childs said after Pearl Harbor: “Nothing will ever be the same.” Thirty-five years later he added: “It never has and never will be.”
Since it appears that many of our readers enjoyed the previous guest post concerning the auto industry during the World War II era, I decided to remain on that same train of thought this month. (Yes, the pun was intended.) I managed to discover quite a lot of information.
We need to remember that in 1941 as much as 40% of U.S. families…
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CBI Theater in March – part one
Editorial staff of the CBI Roundup
These headlines and articles are from the CBI Roundup, newspapers distributed during March 1945.\
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The tanned men in unpressed khaki raised their right hands, were sworn in by Theater Adjutant General, Col. Frank Milani – and the Army of the United States had 10 new second lieutenants. In such a simple ceremony were enlisted men of the Mars Task Force rewarded at Theater headquarters for combat duty in North Burma that culminated in the opening of the Burma Road from Lashio to Kunming.
They were from eight states of the Union and their ratings ranged from a buck to master sergeants. But after the Adjutant General had signed their commissions, they were eight lieutenants of Infantry and two of Cavalry. The Infantrymen were with Merrill’s Marauders in the first appearance of American land forces on the continent of Asia, in the campaign that saw their objective taken with the seizure of Myitkyina. Then they joined the 475th Infantry as part of the Mars Force.
Col. Frank Milani giving the oath to 10 new Lt.’s
The Cavalrymen came over here with the 124th Cavalry, which, acting in a dismounted role, made up with the 475th Infantry the component units of the Mars Task Force. They were S/Sgt. Carl R. Hill of Hooker, Tex., and Sgt. Arnold Winkleman of Brenham, Tex.
The Infantrymen were First Sgt. Rupert E. Peters, Arlington, Neb., First Sgt. Kenneth O. LaGrange, Tucson, Ariz., T/Sgt. William McCauley, Phoenix, Ariz., M/Sgt. Hunt Dorn Crawford, Louisville, Ky., T/Sgt. Willie E. Morton, Jacksonville, N.C., First Sgt. William J. Aydt, Merchantsville, N.J., First Sgt. Bernard Block, Long Beach, Calif., and M/Sgt. Valen V. Mellin, Eugene, Ore. Mellin is the man who shot the first Jap at Myitkyina last May.
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FLYING COLUMN
The British sent a flying column out from the 19th Indian Division and these troops smashed right into Mandalay. The last reports are that the British were clearing the city, with the Nips holed up in Fort Dufferin. Combat Cargo planes are airdropping supplies to the British.
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30,000 Japanese Face Trap In Burma
As the Northern Combat Area Command troops of Lt. Gen. Dan I. Sultan drove the Japanese south, British 14th Army units virtually closed the trap on an estimated 30,000 of the enemy if the Myingyan, Meiktila, Mandalay triangle’
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CALCUTTA – Eight members of a crashed B-29 were recently “fished” from the Bay of Bengal in a strange rescue by an American colonel and two enlisted men on an Army fishing cruise in which the rescued airmen were the only “catch.”
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Home Front News
NEW YORK – (UP) – Top numbers this week on nationwide juke-boxes were Rum and Coca Cola, by the Andrews Sisters, Accentuate the Positive, as performed by Bing Crosby and the Andrews gals, and Frankie Carle’s rendition of A Little on the Lonely Side.
The Crosby-Andrews version of Don’t Fence Me In was fourth, ahead of Frank Sinatra singing Saturday Night is Loneliest, Harry James’ trumpet in I’m Beginning to See the Light and Les Brown’s orchestra playing My Dreams Are Getting Better.
I Dream of You, (T. and J. Dorsey), More ‘n’ More, (Tommy Dorsey) and Candy (Dinah Shore), filled out the leading ten.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – CBI Style
“Strictly G.I.” by Ehret
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Farewell Salutes –
Robert Bachman – Wilmington, DE; US Army, WWII, CBI, Signal Corps
Patrick Callagy – San Francisco, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Robert DeMoss – Tulsa, OK; US Army, WWII, CBI
William Graham – Hartford, CT; US Army, WWII, CBI/PTO
Albert Hillmeyer – Elmendorf, TX; USMC, WWII, PTO/CBI, radioman
John Ingersoll – Ann Arbor, MI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI, 14th Air Force
Andrew Kowalski – Lambert, PA, US Army, WWII, PTO, Colonel (Ret.)
Miroslav Liškutin – brn: CZE; C Air Force/French Armée de l’Air/RAF, WWII, ETO, Spitfire pilot, BGen. (Ret.23 y.)
Raymond Sinowitz – Bronx, NY; US Army, WWII, PTO, Pvt., POW, KIA
William Waltrip – Springfield, IL; USMC, WWII, PTO,’Edson’s Raiders’, Purple Heart/ Korea, Bronze Star, (Ret. 22 y.)
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End of March 1945 for the 11th Airborne Division
Luzon, 1945
22 March – The 187th Reg., the 674th and 675th Field Artillery units had completed their move from Tanauan to Cuenca, Luzon; taking over positions left by the 158th.
23 March – the Japanese stormed A Company’e outpost on San Jose Hill. The outpost forced the enemy back but had lost Captain Hanna who had not remained in the safety zone with the rest of his unit. The artillery forward observer was able to call in artillery fire on the enemy locations and the following morning.
Col. Pearson dispatched G and F Companies to clean out the area. Tanks battered down houses and the engineers deactivated land mines, but NW of the village, the enemy fired from concealed caves and stopped the attack.
117th Engineering Batt. searching for mines
24 March – the Japanese reentered the village of Dita during the night. Four battalions of artillery and a squadron of P-47’s made several strikes and the F and G Companies followed up with house-to-house fighting through the streets. The intensity of the Japanese machine-gun and mortar fire halted the attack.
27 March – following a mortar barrage from the 85th Chemical Battalion and airstrikes using napalm, the 1st Battalion dug in at Bukel Hill and the 2nd Battalion held position near Dita. Thus began the bloodiest and toughest battle for the 187th to date. (The 187th still exists today.)
Banzai
28 March – in a perimeter south of the Dita schoolhouse, G Company had repulsed another banzai attack. At 0500 hours, about 50 Japanese soldiers had attacked F Company and its guerrillas.
B-24s and fighter-bombers of the 5th Air Force hit Balete Pass tracts and ridges, installations at Santa Fe, and ground support targets N of Laguna de Bay and in Cavite and Batangas Provinces and B-25s and A-20s attack troop concentrations at Baguio and Ilagan. Bombers hit the Cebu City area and pound airfields on Negros. B-24s bomb Likanan Airfield. The 39th Troop Carrier Squadron, 317th Troop Carrier Group, moves from Leyte to Clark Field, Luzon with C-47s.
In spite of the shelling and air strikes, the enemy had been able to continue nightly banzai attacks.
Luzon, WWII
The 187th Regiment historian reported: “the Nips took a much heavier toll of the attached guerrillas who had the old-fashioned idea that tropical nights were made for sleeping.” [11 were killed and 10 others wounded).
On Luzon, fighters from the 5th Air Force attack targets in the Cagayan Valley and north of Laguna de Bay, blasting bridges and gun positions over wide stretches. B-25s, A-20s, and fighter-bombers hit Cebu targets, several of the strikes being flown in support of ground forces.
By 1 April 1945, the 187th had encircled the landward sides of Mount Macalod – it had not been easy.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
James Armstrong – Tyler, TX; US Army WWII
Franklin Bissett – Morgantown, WV; US Army, Korea, 187th/11th Airborne Division
One of the cemeteries at Tarawa.
Anthony Cooper – Jamaica, NY; US Army, WWII, 1st Inf/British 8th Army / Korea, 101st Airborne (Ret. 23 y.)
Elroy Dragsten – Bookings, SD; US Navy, WWII, 2nd Lt.
Lyle Gray Regina, SK, CAN; RC Army, WWII, ETO
Richard Hall – Portland, ME; US Army, WWII, ETO, 36th Division
Jeffrey McDougall – W.AUS; RA Air Force # 82473
Edgel Oldroyd – Springville, UT; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Tossie Parker – Tuscaloosa, AL; US Army, WWII
Albert Yamolovich – MA; USMC, WWII, PTO, Cpl., Arisan maru (POW ship), KIA
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Guest Post – When Making A Car Was Illegal – GPCox
I remember when I first wrote this – it took many readers by surprise! Hope you all enjoy it!
This is the latest Guest Post from gpcox all about the vehicles in service during World War II and a little about what the American Family had to sacrifice back home.
When Making a Car Was Illegal
After Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt ordered all car manufacturers to cease the production of private automobiles and convert the factories to produce military
Utility Truck
vehicles, weaponry, airplane engines, parts, etc. But, this would not put an end to man’s love affair with the automobile. A car manual became priceless to a private owner and a truck manual was an absolute necessity for a farmer or businessman. With the rationing of gasoline in the U.S., the “National Victory Speed” was 35 mph and driving clubs were encouraged. (Our modern day car-pools).
Automobiles were produced in massive quantities before the Great Depression and this brought the price down considerably. Then, the stock market crashed…
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Philippine Remembrance
Dioscoro Valenzuela
Contributed by: fellow blogger Elmer @ Malate in honor of his uncle.
Dioscoro G. Valenzuela was a sergeant in the Philippine Commonwealth Army when World War II erupted.
He escaped the infamous 1942 Bataan Death March — just as they were being rounded up along the road by Japanese soldiers — by fleeing with two other comrades through the mountains of Mount Natib, across Manila bay on a banca, and finally to his hometown in Bulacan under cover by an old couple in Calanate, Malolos town.
Many soldiers decided to escape on that fateful day seeing how the Japanese treated their comrades. The sick or injured were beaten up and killed.
Dioscoro Valenzuela
Eulogy in honor of DP Dioscoro G. Valenzuela:
“The Fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942 and the Island of Corregidor on May 6 of the same year was the beginning of the Japanese occupation in the Philippines.
The Japanese, while making real efforts to conciliate the Filipino people simultaneously enraged them with heatings, torture, public beheadings and humiliating orders to bow to the Japanese as they passed.
On this atmosphere of escalating anger and resentment of the Filipino people, dozens of GRLA ORGNS sprang up in the country to harass the Japanese soldiers.
At this point in time, Vet DP Dioscoro Gallardo Valenzuela, an advocate of the principle “The Defense of the State is the Prime Duty of Every Citizen”, unhesitatingly joined the underground movement of the GRLA Organizations in Bulacan.
For this extra-ordinary and loyalty to the service, DP Dioscoro G. Valenzuela earned himself the following awards and decorations:
Philippine Defense Medal with Ribbon;
Liberation Medal with Ribbon;
Presidential Citation Badge;
and lately he was accorded Certificate of Recognition by Cong. Romeo Acop-Committee CHM on National Defense and Security, during the Parade Review in Honor of the Veterans at the ROTC Hunters Parade Ground on April 5, 2017.
Overall DP Valenzuela was always a very good friend, very religious God Fearing Man, cheerful and friendly to everyone, strict and disciplinarian but a good role model. He is one of the oldest members of the Federation.”
Veterans Federation of the Philippines
Click on images to enlarge.
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Political Cartoons of 1944 – 1945 – 
NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED!!
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Farewell Salutes –
Barbara (Pierce) Bush – NYC, NY; Second & First Lady of the United States
Finley Davis – Pittsburgh, PA; US Army, Korea, MSgt., POW, KIA
Ronald Lee Ermey – Emphoria, KS; USMC, Vietnam, “Gunny” (beloved actor)
Juan Guerrero – Kennedy, TX; US Army, WWII
John Hasselbrink – Granada Hills, CA; US Navy, submarine service, USS Illinois
Alexander Latimer – Fort Saskatchewan, CAN; RC Army, WWII, Winnipeg Rifles
Bernard Newport – Hamilton, NZ; RNZ Navy # 8095, WWII, Sub-Lt., MTB-505
Carl Ragle – Talmms, IL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, G/511/ 11th Airborne Division
Matthew Sarrett – Oceanside, NY; US Coast Guard
Joseph Turner – Pitman, NJ;US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, HQ/ 188/ 11th Airborne Division
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Bombing of Hill 2380 – Luzon
XIV Corps, 11th Airborne operation area in Southern Luzon
USMC’s Iwo Jima’s Mount Ssurabachi was only 554 feet in elevation, but they called it a mountain. THE US ARMY’S ANGELS OF THE 11TH AIRBORNE AND 1st CAVALRY ATTACK a HILL 2,380 feet, this was 4 times higher than Mt. Suribachi!!
3rd Attack Group
Watch this 7-minute video to see the interaction of the 11th Airborne Division and the 3rd Attack Group….
While the fighting continued on Luzon, Gen. Kenney, Commander of the 5th Air Force, was requested to go to Washington. Plans for the operation (Olympic) to invade Japan were certainly in the works and had been for quite a while, Kenney told Gen. Marshall that they could land there any time they could get the ships to take in the troops.
Gen. Kenney, 5th AF
He felt the Allies had enough troops, Navy and air power in the Pacific, and Japan was about through. He added that he did not believe it necessary to wait for Hitler to fold nor did they need help from the Russians to beat Japan. Marshall did not agree with him and added that they might have to land in China first.
Kenney retorted that the effort to go into China could be used for Kyushu. “It was common knowledge that the Japs had been putting out peace feelers for some time and I believed they would quit by the 1st of July or by September 1st at the latest.” The end result was decided that the occupation of Kyushu would be tentatively set for December 1945!!
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Military Humor –
Stealth fighter fly over.
“STEWART, THIS LOOKS LIKE ONE OF STAN’S BAD DAYS!”
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Farewell Salutes –
Carl Aiken – Rosman, NC; US Army Air Corps, 11th Airborne Division, Recon unit
Derek Boyd – Sussex, ENG; British Navy, WWII
Joseph ‘George’ Frumkin – Bronx, NY; US Air Force, Korea
3rd Attack Group
Jack George – Juneau, AK; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Lt., B-24 pilot, 15th Air Force
Leonard Loffler – Washington DC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, P-51 pilot
Clarence Michalis – NYC, NY; US Navy, WWII, USS Hall, Lt. (Lattington mayor)
Silas Peaslee – Yarmouth, ME; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Theodore Perry – Buckfield, ME; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Anthony Silvia – Middletown, RI; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pfc, Co. G/2nd Batt/7th/1st Marine Division, Purple Heart, KIA
Murray Wallace – NZ; RNZ Navy # 5728, WWII
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Guest Post – Technical and Ground Force Coordination by GPCox
As I’ve always said – it takes an Army to keep one combat soldier on the front.
I’m pleased to present this Guest Post from gpcox addressing how the Technical and Ground Forces all worked together to create success in their endeavors, which ultimately won the war. Without cooperation between all seven departments, nothing could have been accomplished.
As readers of my blog, pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com are aware, my father, Everett “Smitty” Smith was a sharpshooter trained as a paratrooper and gliderman with the 11th Airborne Division in WWII, this put him in the Ground Force. But, neither he nor the rest of the soldiers would have gotten very far without the Technical services as each department of the Army worked to support the other. Should one fail in the chain, a devastating domino effect might hinder or stop the rest.
The Technical Services of the Army Service Force during WWII was comprised of seven departments: The Corps of Engineers, The Signal Corps, Ordnance Dept., Quartermaster Corps…
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Back on Luzon
Mount Macolod, Luzon
Back on Luzon in the Philippine islands, we return to the US Army still fighting Yamashita’s formidable soldiers…
When General Swing, Commander of the 11th Airborne Division, moved into the stripped-down Manila Hotel Annex, General Krueger began to visit him every other day. His competitive nature tried to get Swing to back-off from pushing into Manila first by saying, “don’t stick your neck out,” but Swing replied, “It’s been sticking out a mile since we landed.”
Mount Macolod was not some minor hill to be taken, this was a major battle for the 11th Airborne. It stands almost 3,107 feet, nearly vertical. On two sides, after a 1,200 foot drop, it has three ridges descending gradually. The north to south nose was known as Brownie Ridge, the east as Bashore and the third, a heavily wooded area that connected Mt. Macolod with Bukel Hill.
Brownie Ridge was the most heavily fortified section encompassing those infamous caves and tunnels previously built by enslaved Filipinos. G-2 (Intelligence), informed the soldiers that they would be up against the Japanese 17th Infantry Regiment and the 115th Fishing Battalion (Suicide Boat Unit), under the command of Colonel Masatoshi Fujishige (Fuji Force).
Mount Macolod
For the attack, the 187th, the 760th & 756th Field Artillery Battalions, the 472nd, the 675th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, the 44th Tank Battalion and Company B of the 127th Airborne Engineers were used. (To help avoid what could become very confusing here, I will concentrate on the 187th.) They were equipped with 155mm howitzers, 105mm howitzers, sawed-off 105mm howitzers, Sherman tanks, chemical mortars and flame-throwers. Air attacks were brought in to assist. An entire squadron of P-47s made numerous runs with bombs and then proceeded to strafe the enemy sectors.
F and G Companies of the 187th began house-to-house fighting, but were met by massive machine-gun fire. The enemy was dug in too far underground. Napalm strikes were brought in which enabled the 1st of the 187th to go around to the north of Dita and the 2nd held its position near the town. This was 27 March 1945.
Both units made a frontal assault into the Macolod area the following day. The flamethrowers were used on the enemy bunkers and E and G Companies made it to the top of the crest. Their M-1 fire took out snipers and more advancement was made, but the Japanese returned with mortar fire and a withdrawal was necessary. The enemy came at them throughout the night and following morning with banzai attacks. This was a fierce and bloody battle, especially for men who have never been sent into reserve for rest.
The small islands that XI Corps had to secure were Caballo, a mile south of Corregidor; Carabao, hugging the Ternate shore; and El Fraile, about midway between the other two. The Japanese on those islands posed no threat to Allied shipping–their ordnance was too light–but, like other bypassed Japanese garrisons, they had to be taken sometime. Although the islands had little or no military significance, the operations to secure them offer interesting examples of military ingenuity and unorthodox tactics.
Some of the 11th A/B troopers were put into a new light. There were no airdrops and no amphibious landings. They used native outrigger canoes to land themselves on Saipang Island where the enemy was using machine-gun fire on the troopers. It was mandatory that machinery to be eliminated. Therefore, at dawn, the canoes moved out. The paratroopers behaved like natives, but fought like soldiers and the small island outpost was cleared of Japanese.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Daniel Kahikina Akaka – Hoolulu, HI; US Army, WWII, ETO, 442nd Regiment, Purple Heart / Senator & Representative
Franck Bauer – FRA; WWII, ETO, underground radio broadcaster, WWII 
Warren Baum – Miami, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, aircraft mechanic
Arthur Eberly Jr. – Charleston, WV; US Army, Korea
Norman Goldstein – Brooklyn, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Carel Jan van Oss – Netherlands; RAF/Dutch Air Force & resistance, WWII
George Lawley – Bessemer, AL; US Army, WWII
Sherwood Maxwell – Henderson, TX; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, A Co./675 Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Norman Silvira – Union City, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Medical Co./187th/11th Airborne Division
Ted Young – Poole, UK; Royal Engineers, WWII, ETO
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Eye Witness Account – Iwo Jima & Guam
Seaman Sal Murino
The pages, unearthed 70 years after their origin, are stark in simplicity and detail: One young man, one typewriter, together aboard the U.S.S. Doyen.
“Hello everyone!” reads a handwritten greeting on the top of page one, followed by a single-spaced report complete with wisecracks and World War II talk direct from young Sal Murino to his family.
The long, yellowing letter from the U.S. Navy man offers a first-person recitation of the fighting from Dec. 1944-March 1945 as the devastating war finally enters its final year..
Click on images to read the letter.
page 1
page 2
“To hear one combat fatigue(d) Marine put it who was smoking an endless chain of cigarettes — said, ‘Those bastards had us surrounded and throwing everything at us.’ Incidentally, this Marine wanted to go back and fight as he did not want to leave his buddies.”
The letters were in the custody of Murino’s niece, Marie, who across the decades tended carefully to the pages that preserved an unseen slice of history. Marie’s husband Jim, a regular reader of the Daily News, convinced her to share the letter seven decades after it reached her Brooklyn mailbox.
The missive was mailed to the entire Italiano family, living on DeGraw St. in South Brooklyn. Marie’s mother had three sisters and four brothers — Sal, Johnny and Tony were all fighting overseas.
USS Doyen
Yet progress against the tenacious Japanese fighters was slow despite the firepower — and came at a price.
His description of the war’s cost: “The task of removing the wounded was another hard job … These same wounded men not so long ago came walking up the gangplank with their rifles and equipment and now, some were able to walk by themselves and the others had to be assisted not only minus their rifles and equipment but a few with (out) their arms and limbs.”
He laid out the scene on the island of Guam, another hub of intense fighting.
“During our invasion last June it was without a question of doubt a place of ‘agony and hell’ (a partial payback for the sneaky attack on Pearl Harbor),” the sailor writes. “We saw many caves in the mountains — some as large as the tunnel of love you would find at amusement places.”
But months later, the only signs of battle were “remnants of Jap tanks, large guns still remained alongside the beaches. The natives were happy to see the Americans return.
“The majority of them wore American clothes and girls were painted with lipstick,” he wrote. “Mingling with them was entirely out, due to the old baloney of ‘military secrets.’”
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Taylor Conrad – Baton Rouge, LA; USMC, LCpl., 465th Squadron/3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, KIA
Arnold Harrison – Detroit, MI; USMC, WWII, PTO, Pfc, Co. B/1/2/2nd
Marine Div., KIA (Betio)
Richard Holley – Dayton, OH; USMC, GSgt., 465th Squadron/3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, KIA
John Kiefer – Fairport, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Charles Lazarus – WA; US Army, WWII, cryptographer
Zell Miller – Young Harris, GA; USMC, U.S. Senator & Governor
Samuel Phillips – Pinehurst, NC; USMC, 1st Lt., 465th Squadron/ 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, KIA
E.R. Reece – Klondike, OK; US Army, WWII & Korea, 24th Infantry Division
Samuel Schultz – Huntingdon Valley, PA; USMC, Captain, 465th Squadron/ 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, KIA
James Vincent – No. Sioux Falls, SD; US Army, WWII / Korea, Sgt.
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Pacific Paratrooper 