Gen. Robert Eichelberger Remembers
From: “Our Jungle Road to Tokyo”
I remembers a story Bob Shoe told on himself. During the hottest of the fighting on Negros, he was making a trip to the front to look over the situation. His jeep passed through a weary column of the 503rd Parachute Regiment which had been relieved after many hours of fighting and was on its way to the rear.
General Shoe is completely free of pretentiousness; he was born honest and friendly. When he stopped for a drink at a spring, he spoke to a grimy paratrooper. His question didn’t mean anything; it was merely passing the time of day.
“How are things at the front?” Shoe asked cheerfully.
The veteran paratrooper, probably 20 years old, looked at Shoe’s clean uniform and his star and his jeep with elaborate boredom and said nothing. Shoe went on to the front and was promptly shot. It was a bloody wound and the stretcher which carried him toward the rear was thoroughly incarnadined.
On the way back, his stretcher was stopped by a military traffic jam, and he found himself again among the walking 503rd. He asw the same redheaded young Pfc he had encountered back at the spring. The Pfc was friendly now. He grinned. “General,” he said, ” how are things at the front?”
***** ***** *****
I took a flying boat to Jolo, Philippines. The USS Boise dropped anchor in Jolo Harbor and I rejoined General MacArthur, who reported the Borneo expedition completely successful. After a tour of the island, we went back aboard the Boise and headed for Davao City. Gen. Kenney, who now commanded both the 5th Air Force and the 13th Air Force, was aboard. George and I spent 2 hours discussing the Philippines campaign and the problems which lay ahead.
That evening MacArthur talked to us for almost 2 hours about coming events and next morning we landed at Davao City. We went as far as Mintal, where Jack Clifford and his troops had not yet been able to end their struggle against a stubborn enemy.
But we had reason to observe that massive artillery support – now under command of Hugh Cort – was true, accurate and devastating. It was then that MacArthur told me he did not believe there were 4,000 Japanese left alive on Mindanao. The surrender figures at war end were 23,000 enemy soldiers, showed how wrong he was.
***** ***** *****
I was proud of the job the 41st Division had accomplished at Zambo when the fighting was done. They laid down their guns and went to work. They cut weeds and they cleaned out debris. They became good neighbors.
The Japanese had refused to allow Catholic Filipinos (and there were a good many in that Moslem area), to worship at the ancient shrine of Bien Bemido al Virgen del Pilar. The shrine was about the size of an American sandwich shop and was tucked into a space along a section of the Fort Pilar wall which had fallen into ruin.
GIs of the 41st Signal Company went to the work of repair and finally put up a sign welcoming all nationalities to worship there again. Before long, there were hundreds of burning candles.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Paul Anderson – Fargo, ND; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Air-Sea Rescue
Joseph Bacigalupi – Little Silver, NJ; US Army
Edwin Bullington – Prairies Grove, AR; US Navy, USS Observation Island, photographer
Harry Doty – Milford, IN; US Army, WWII, artillery
Leonard Fenimore – Cabria, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, SSgt., 11th Airborne Division
Aaron Justice – Weirton, WV; US Army, WWII, ETO
David Lessin – Newark, NJ; US Army, Major, Medical Corps
Gerald Rothaermel – Bridgeport, CAN; Canadian Air Force, WWII
Leonard Solomon – Brooklyn, NY; US Army, WWII, ATO, TSgt., 42nd Coast Artillery of Engineers
Norman Wecker – Chicago Heights, IL; US Navy, WWII, PBY pilot
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Posted on September 17, 2018, in First-hand Accounts, Uncategorized, WWII and tagged 1940's, Army, History, Military, Military History, Pacific, Pacific War, Philippines, veterans, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 90 Comments.
Thanks for your like of my post, “The Tithe – The Gift;” you are very kind.
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I enjoy your site.
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Thank. I enjoy your site too.
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I enjoyed that little story about General Shoe, GP. 🙂
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Yup, we’ve got to have some humor once in a while and this is truthful humor.
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Zoals altijd steek ik hier heel wat op met al je verhalen te lezen
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Ik weet het, ik hoop dat je je realiseert hoeveel ik dat waardeer !!
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Great little stories that make it all seem much more real in my mind.
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Don’t they?!! Even Generals are human, eh? haha
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Eichelberger’s name in lights! LOL Dad took this shot in ’47 in Yokohama (now their Customs Building). https://flic.kr/p/9bHuaU
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Fantastic, Koji!! May I use it when we get to the occupation? I will definitely mention a big thanks to you and your Dad. Gee, I so wish I had met him. I also plan on using the video made of you in the P.I. during the ceremony!!!
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You know anything I have is yours, gpcox! Thank you.
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Still being a great friend to me, Koji. Thanks so much.
Say Hi to the Mrs. and the children for me. Jeez, they are about all grown up now, are you a grandpa yet?
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MacArthur was an arse, taking all the glory for the ideas his staff came up with. Remember, He screwed up in the Philippines before and immediately after Pearl, costing thousands of young Allied lives. He also could have strategically bypassed the Philippines in ’44 as well.
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He was definitely a glory hound, but I’m afraid I agree with the Philippines. If they had carried out the Navy’s plan to by-pass those islands, hundreds of thousands of well-equipped and trained enemy soldiers would be in their rear.
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Starving and sick enemy soldiers! Haha.
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You have a way of putting things, don’t you?!!
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GP you really drew me in with this post. Thanks for a lovely break.
You gotta watch low ranking redheads — you never know what smartassery will pop out of our mouths. 😉
The ending bit about the shrine is touching. Huge hugs.
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I’m thrilled you found it interesting, Teagan. It can sometimes be difficult keeping a war interesting, especially when you know the end – right?!! 🙂
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Ah, but there are millions of little tales within the big story. They’re interesting on their own, but we can’t see them. You shine a light so we can hear them.
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You put it so nicely, thank you.
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The first story about General Shoe is wonderful. As we like to say here in Texas, what goes around, comes around. But even more importantly, who doesn’t love someone who can laugh at himself — especially when that “someone” could pull rank, if he wanted to.
I love the story of the restoration of the shrine, too. If only we could have a little more of that attitude today. Too often, acceptance of others really means “I’ll accept you if you’ll be just like me.”
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Thank you for visiting, Linda and giving me your opinion – it seems we think alike! 🙂
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I learn something new every time I stop by.
Thank you for these great stories
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You are very welcome!
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Our dear friend GP Cox,
we really like your stories (especially the first one) and the cartoon “high risk, high gain”.
A good work you are doing. Thank you very much for your history lessons.
With warm greetings from the cold sea
The Fab Four of Cley
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Fab Four of Cley,
Words from all of you are always a welcome site and I’m very happy you found something interesting or funny.
By the way, my friend, I’m still waiting on “4321” to be delivered. I’ll let you know when I finish it – that is, if it ever gets here!! 🙂
Have a terrific week!
GP Cox
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I love the story about General Shoe.
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Once I read it, I knew I had to share it with everyone! Even Generals can be human – who knew? haha
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Thanks for more of these fascinating first-person perspectives. Fantastic “military humor” again too.
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The Military Humor was a hit this week! Thanks for letting me know.
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Reblogged this on John Cowgill's Literature Site.
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Thank you very much for sharing this history, John.
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I enjoy doing it.
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I’m glad you do!!
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That “High risk” cartoon explains Reality better than I ever could (even in many volumes~!).
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It puts it right out there, doesn’t it?!!
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I guess it proves once again that you can’t get better than first hand for a clear picture …
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Outside of being there or seeing an accurate re-enactment, I think it’s the best way to learn the story – with as many first-hand accounts as you can get.
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I like that story.
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Thank you for telling me, Lloyd.
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Love the “high risk, high gain” cartoon — it has the ring of ‘high truth!’
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haha, you noticed, eh?!!
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Great stories. Thanks, GP.
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Thank you for stopping by, John.
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I ran out of gas in your neighborhood so I thought I would stop in.
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As good a reason as any!
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Ha haha.
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Definitely a moral to that first story, G. I learned long ago that tired, discouraged folks don’t necessarily appreciate a cheerful word. When really grumpy people used to come into camp when I was leading backpack treks, I would greet them with sympathy and a cup of hot tea with a shot of rum. Worked wonders. 🙂
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I can see where you hand out was far more welcome!! Take care out there, Champ!
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Thanks, G. 🙂 –Curt
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An excellent story about General Shoe who perhaps didn’t really deserve such a hard lesson. I am far from being an expert on the Pacific war, but I do get the impression that he wasn’t always quite as good as he said he was.
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To be honest, I don’t really know much about General Shoe. I liked this story from Gen. Eichelberger, so I included it. But I could sure see it happening! 🙂 I didn’t much care for Gen. Krueger.
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Enjoying this series.
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I’m glad you are. War isn’t exactly an easy thing to keep reading about.
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No but I’m used to it, lots of War books in my house 🙂
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If you wish to share of the stories you know, feel free to share them.
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Reblogged this on Dave Loves History.
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Thank you very much, Dave.
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The “high risk-high gain” cartoon is a good allegory for the vainglorious MacArthur!
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I was wondering who would catch that!! I should have known!!
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Good stories.
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Thank you, Don.
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Good stories. I feel for the general in the first story.
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Yup, he really wasn’t aware of what he was asking there, was he?!! 🙂
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Great post, GP. Thanks for sharing!
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My pleasure, Michael. Thank you for coming by.
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First hand accounts like these are what make your blog so much more meaningful than all the professors’ history books.
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I think they give us a better perspective – hence a better understanding and easier to remember. I thank you very much.
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That PFC was a natural comedian. What a funny quip!
Best wishes, Pete.
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His exhaustion probably made him become the comic of the year (especially to a General!!) haha
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Just like in Mindanao, they really had no idea how many Japanese were still left behind to fight. When Eichelberger assumed control of operations of mopping up after MacArthur declared that the Leyte-Samar campaign was considered closed, Krueger told Eichelberger there were about 5,000 Japanese left. Between Christmas when Eichelberger took over and the end of the campaign in May 1945, he said, “They killed more than 27,000 Japs.”
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Intelligence isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
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The next time you hear, “how are things…” Duck!
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Somebody should have said that to Gen. Shoe!!
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I like that story about the general. Sometimes, it takes a dose of reality to send a message. On the other hand, it’s scary that MacArthur’s intelligence would be so far wrong about the number of enemy soldiers remaining. That’s usually when thing go badly.
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In this case, it sure was good on Mac’s part to have put Eichelberger in charge. Mac had to rely on intelligence, Eichelberger relied on news from the troops.
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That second sentence gave me a little pause, until I realized Negros was an island. Funny story, though.
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You see, the politically correct people have everyone edgy. Negro used to be synonymous with the category Caucasian, and it is also how you say black in Spanish.
The PC people has becoming paranoid!!
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Haha. Maybe they’ll have to rename the island, in the interests of PC.
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That is just not right. Tradition is far more important. I don’t believe in trying to erase history either. It’s already past, there’s no changing it – so learn from it and change the future.
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I think you’ve inspired me to write a post, which will be about politically correct incorrectness.
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The pro or con side of it?
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What has me intrigued is that those who are PC by a hypersensitive liberal standard are considered politically incorrect by conservatives. Whereas some of the blunt ways hyperconservatism is expressed is considered politically incorrect by liberals. All this does is polarize us and prevent communication and compromise, while giving both liberal and conservative activists fodder for making mountains out of molehills. They keep their jobs going, while the rest of us are at each others’ throats.
So I guess the con side. Hmm, looks like I’ve written half my post already.
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And frankly I don’t understand how it came about. PCers talk freedom of speech while not allowing anyone to say anything they don’t approve of. I consider myself a non-PCer, but I do curb my speech at times to respect someone’ else’s feelings. So I’ll be looking forward to your post.
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I agree. And thanks.
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More interesting stories. I particularly like the first
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I liked that one myself, Derrick!! Had to include some humor once in a while, eh?
Thanks for stopping by.
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You must love history!!
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