Monthly Archives: December 2021
CHRISTMAS
TO ALL THOSE THAT BELIEVE IN FREEDOM AND PEACE: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
FROM: PACIFIC PARATROOPER!!
PLEASE! REMEMBER ALL THOSE THAT FOUGHT FOR US IN THE PAST…
THOSE THAT FIGHT FOR US TODAY…
AND FOR THOSE SPECIAL PEOPLE WHO WAIT PATIENTLY AT HOME…
TO ALL THOSE WHO DO NOT CELEBRATE THIS HOLIDAY … I WISH YOU THE WARMTH AND PEACEFUL CONTENTMENT THAT IS REPRESENTED BY THIS SEASON !!!
TO READ MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS POEM... CLICK HERE!!
MILITARY HUMOR –
CHRISTMAS FROM: BILL MAULDIN
OOPS!!!
CHRISTMAS FROM: BEETLE BAILEY
Now – Don’t wake me up too early!!
FROM: MARYlOU @ NATUURFREAK.COM…
Closing 1944 with General Kenney
Gen. George C. Kenney
Being as the 5th Air Force, especially the 54th Troop Carrier Group, were operating so close to the 11th Airborne for so much of the war, I chose to finish up 1944 with the first-hand account from their commander….
General Kenney, Commander of the Fifth Air Force reported:
Sky Lancers
“Just before dark on 26 December, a Navy Reconnaissance plane sighted a Jap naval force of 1 heavy cruiser, 1 light cruiser and 6 destroyers about 85 miles NW of Mindoro {Philippines], headed toward San Jose. We had available on out 2 strips there, 12 B-25s from the 71s Recon Squadron, the 58th Fighter Group (P-47s), the 8th Fighter Group (P-38s and the 110 Tactical Recon Squadron (P-40s).
“Every airplane that could fly took off on the attack, which continued until after midnight. The Japs kept on coming and the planes kept shuttling back and forth, emptying their bomb racks and ammunition belts and returning for more. In addition to the difficulty of locating and attacking the Nip vessels in the dark, the enemy made the job still harder by bombing our airdromes at intervals through the night.
“In order to see what they were bombing and strafing, some of our pilots actually turned their landing lights on the Jap naval vessels. With neither time nor information for briefings during the operation, it was every man for himself and probably the wildest scramble the Nip or ourselves had ever been in.
“At 11:00 P.M. the enemy fleet started shelling our fields and kept it up for an hour. Fires broke out in our gasoline dumps, airplanes were hit, the runways pitted, but the kids still kept up their attack. The P-47s couldn’t get at their bomb dump because of the fire, so they simply loaded up with ammunition and strafed the decks of every ship in the Jap force. They said it was “like flying over a blast furnace, with all those guns firing at us.”
“Shortly after midnight. the Jap fleet turned around and headed north. They had been hurt. A destroyer had been sunk and a cruiser and 2 destroyers heavily damaged.
“The attack had saved our shipping at San Jose from destruction, but it had cost us something too. Twenty-five fighter pilots and B-25 crew members missing. We had lost 2 B-25s and 29 fighter aircraft. During the next few days we picked up 16 of the kids who were still floating around the China Sea in their life rafts. I got Gen. MacArthur to approve a citation for each of the units that took part in the show.
417th, Lindbergh with Col. Howard Ellmore
On the 30th, Lt.Col. Howard S. Ellmore, a likable, happy-go-lucky, little blond boy from Shreveport, LA, leading the 417th Attack Group, the “Sky Lancers” caught a Jap convoy in Lingayen Gulf, off Vigan on the west coast of Luzon. In a whirlwind low-level attack, a destroyer, a destroyer escort, 2 large freighters and one smaller were sunk.
“It was a fitting climax to 1944, which had been an advance from Finschaven to Mindoro, a distance of 2400 miles, equal to that from Washington to San Francisco. During that time, my kids had sunk a half million tons of Jap shipping and destroyed 3000 Jap aircraft. Our losses of aircraft in combat during the year were 818.”
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Military Humor –
“OKAY – You got the C-17 ON the carrier -NOW, how are you going to get it OFF?”
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Farewell Salutes –
Marvin D. Actkinson – Sudan, TX;US Army, Korea, Cpl., Co B/1/32/7th Infantry Division, KIA (Chosin Reservoir, NK)
Hugh R. Alexander – Potters Mills, PA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Lt. Comdr., USS Oklahoma, Silver Star, KIA (Pearl Harbor, HI)
Kenneth Barhite – Alden, IA; US Army, WWII, PTO, 2nd Lt.,158th RCT/Americal Division
Mary M. Bevan – Greenwich, CT; USMC, WWII
Louis Block – Chicago, IL; US Navy, WWII
Hubert P. Clement – Inman, SC; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Fire Controlman 1st Class # 2619359, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor, HI)
Clayton L. Cope – Alton, IL; US Navy, USS Eisenhower
Donald Peterson – Auburn, CA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Lt., USS Rotanin
Tceollyar Simmons – Hacoda, AL; US Navy, WWII, Seaman 2nd Class # 3115534, USS California, KIA (Pearl Harbor, HI)
Thomas Smith (100) – Early Branch, SC; US Navy, WWII, Radioman 1st Class
Harvey Swack – OH; US Navy, WWII, PTO, aircraft mechanic
Larry Virden – Edwardsville, IL; US Army, Iraq
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Leyte, eye-witness account from Gen. Robert Eichelberger
Gen. Douglas MacArthur, left, Lt. Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger, right.
“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.
Leyte painting, “FOLLOW ME!” by Col Aubrey Newman
“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.
“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.’
11th Airborne field artillery on 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 post 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 –
Clifford H. Bailey – Acoma, NM; (Acoma Indian Reservation); US Army Air Corps, Japanese Occupation, 11th Airborne Division
Benjamin R. Bazzell – Seymour, CT; US Army, Korea, Cpl; HQ/57FA/7th Infantry Division, KIA (Chosin Reservoir, NK)
Chester Benoit – Putnam, CT; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 503/11th Airborne Division
James E. Cruise – Toronto, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII, Navigator/ Flight Officer
Charles W. Harpe Jr. – Ashland, KY; USMC, WWII, Korea & Vietnam, Captain (Ret. 33 y.)
Anthony F. Mendonca – Waipahu, HI; US Army, WWII, PTO, Co A/106/27th Infantry Division, KIA (Saipan)
Lawrence Overley – Los Angeles, CA; US Navy, WWII, Fire Controlman 2nd Class #3820643, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor, HI)
Robert Leslie Putnam – Mason, OH; US Army Air Corps, Japanese Occupation / Korea, 188 &187th/11th Airborne Division // Deputy Sheriff, Police Chief
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/224877961/robert-leslie-putnam
James N. Stryker – W.Nanticoke, PA; US Army, Korea, Sgt., Co. L/3/23/2nd Infantry Division, KIA (Han’gye, SK)
Morris E. Swackhammer – Binghamton, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO, Pfc., Co. C/1/143/36th Infantry Division, KIA (Fraize, FRA)
Flora Wilhelm – Evansville, IN; Civilian, WWII, aircraft riveter
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Leyte | First-hand account – Purple Heart Hill
Purple Heart Hill
Pfc John Chiesa, E Company/188th Regiment/11th Airborne and Privates Davis and Duncan were on the point going up, what would become known as, Purple Heart Hill on 26 December 1944. Chiesa recalled:
“We just got to the top of this hill when all hell broke loose. The Japs opened up with their wood peckers and rifles. Duncan got hit in the rump and he went tumbling down the hill. I hit the ground and prayed. Finally, Davis and i jumped up and went diving over the ridge. We could not see the Japs because they hide pretty good in the jungle. They were firing and we were trying to fire back, but we could not see them to know where to shoot at.
Japanese woodpecker
“Finally, our Platoon leader, Sgt. Kelly, got up on one knee and started to point to show us where to shoot. About that time, the Japs got him and he was dead. He was one hell of a soldier, believe me.
“Me, Pvt. Hodges and three other guys in our company went up to the side of the hill and we laid there waiting for someone to tell us what our next move was. While we waited, I got hungry so i turned around facing down the hill and got out one of my K rations. I was opening up the can when 20 feet from me this Jap jumped out of the bushes. He looked at me and I looked at him. I think he was as surprised as I was.
“I had an M1 rifle laying across my lap. Everything was done automatically. (Our training came in handy.) I grabbed the rifle, turned and pulled the trigger. He was doing the same thing, but I was luckier. I hit him smack in his Adam’s apple. I can still see the surprised look on his face… The thing that will always be on my mind is that if I didn’t stop to eat, those Japs woulda killed all 5 of us.
Col. Robert Soule
“When we came back down the hill, Col. Soule came to me and asked what I would do to get those Japs and take the hill. I thought he was joking. Here is a colonel, and a damned good one, asking his Pfc how to take a hill.
“I told him, ‘Just bomb the hell out of them, blow the hill up.’ We went up the hill the next morning, and after a good bombardment, we took the hill.”
The “good bombardment” had come from A Battery of the 457th. Capt. Bobo Holloway of the 188th moved within 25 yards of the Japanese position and directed the firing of the artillery, and some 105mm howitzer and 155mm guns.
On 27 December, when they stormed Purple Heart Hill, they encountered hand-to-hand combat, then proceeded to occupy the old enemy holes as the Japanese evicted them. Those of the enemy that escaped and headed north, ran into part of Col. Pearsons’ 187th Regiment, (Smitty’s unit).. The bloody battle for Purple Heart Hill had lasted for almost 5 weeks.
11TH AIRBORNE HOSPITAL ON LEYTE
Information is from “The Angels: A History of the 11th Airborne Division” by Gen. E.M. Flanagan (Ret.)
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Military Humor –
“It says: ‘I am an American with 94 points and if lost in enemy territory, Please Get Me Home”‘
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Farewell Salutes –
Robert Barnett – Philadelphia, PA; US Coast Guard, WWII
Allen J. Blake – Algona, IA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Medical/503/11 Airborne Division
Anthony Costanzo – Queens, NY; US Army, WWII & Korea
TAPS
Francis L. Coune (102) – Tampa, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, B-24 pilot
Bob Dole – Russell, KS; US Army, WWII, ETO, Colonel, 10th Mountain Division, Bronze Star, Purple Heart / U.S. Senator
Buford H. Dyer – Barberton, OH; US navy, WWII, PTO, Seaman 1st Class, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
William W. Hail – Los Angeles, CA; US Air Force, Vietnam, Lt. Col. # 553421612, pilot, 1131st Special Activity Sq., MIA (Quang Tri Provence, SV)
James L. Quong – Norman, OK; US Army, Korea, MSgt., Co. D/1/32/7th Infantry Division, KIA (Chosin, NK)
Mary Schmaelzle – Springfield, MA; Civilian, WWII, Pratt Whitney
Carl A. Scott Jr. – Savannah, GA; US Army, Vietnam, 101st Airborne Division
Richard A. Umstead Sr. – Chelsea, MI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, radioman
F. Jackson Worthington – Ontario, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII
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Pacific Paratrooper 