OKINAWA 78 years ago Stars & Stripes – Pacific

Stars and Stripes Pacific

By PFC. WILLIAMS LAND | STARS AND STRIPES May 22, 1945

Stars and Stripes presents these archive reports as they were written by the reporters in the field. The graphic and politically incorrect language used may be offensive to some readers.

Medic on Okinawa

Editor’s Note: A fortnight ago Bill Land, one of our battlefront reporters, learned that he was a father. Back to us by radio came this story of Oki’s orphans. Unable to go home to see his own daughter in Baton Rouge, La., Bill let himself go on Oki’s orphans – being left to die by the Sons of Heaven. But the GIs wouldn’t let the kids die… 

OKINAWA – Here’s a story you could call “The Children’s Hour.” Ever since I got that radio about my new baby daughter I’ve had in mind writing a children’s story, especially since the material is so plentiful.

It is said that there are more children on Okinawa than there are goats, and, brother, that is some statement.

Very rarely does one see a woman who isn’t carrying either a born or unborn child around and most of the time it’s both.

For doughboys and leathernecks, the care of children started on the first day of the invasion, and from the way it keeps on, it looks as though “the Children’s Hour on Okinawa” will outlast Lillian Hellman’s play on Broadway.

Military government has even set up an orphanage, probably the first the island has seen.

“Since the natives showed interest only their own babies, we had to do something to care for children whose parents were killed or missing,” said Army Capt. W. W. McAllister of Iowa City, Ia., the officer in charge.

Nipples are made from surgical gloves and the orphans seem to take kindly to their new diet of canned milk through a glove.

Okinawa 1945

In another part of the island, Chief Pharmacist’s Mate Hugh Bell of Iberia, La., found himself playing the role of a mother when his outfit, a Marine reconnaissance unit, was scouting for suspected enemy installations and suddenly came upon a whole colony of natives hiding in a cave. Most of them were starving and sick and 35 children required immediate medical attention.

Bell, being the only “doctor in the house,” had all of them on his hands. For 24 hours he treated them, giving them plenty of food and feeding them canned milk while his buddies drank their coffee black.

“The kids thought I had used magic to fix them up,” he said, “and followed me around whenever I went. The headman of the group of cave dwellers told the unit command later that Bell was called “Mother” whenever they referred to him.

It is not at all a strange sight to see kids running around in cut-off GI woolen underwear or rompers made of fatigues, but Sally’s diapers made of green camouflage cloth really take the cake. Sally’s one of the orphans.

Sitting on the hard coral rock playing with the ration can, it looks as if she selected a soft tuft of grass to place her little behind on.

Pfc. John J. Stroke of Olmsted Falls, Ore., found her. She’s a two-year-old girl, and Stroke supervised her bath and sprinkled her with anti-vermin powder. Then, with the help of marine fatigues, a jungle knife and couple of pins, he went into the diaper business.

With most able-bodied Japs in the Imperial army or navy there seems a definite shortage of obstetricians among civilians and therefore many deliveries have to be performed by American soldiers and medics.

Relating his first attendance at childbirth here, First Class Pharmacist’s Mate Richard P. Scheid of Napoleon, O., warned, “I knock down anybody who calls me a mid-wife.”

Medic, Okinawa

As in the play, “The Children’s Hour,” and everywhere else, for that matter, there are good little children and naughty ones.

The other day, Sgt. Elvis Lane, marine combat correspondent from Louisville, Ky., ran across a couple of them who didn’t want to take to the American way of life at first. Dressed in a ragged Jap soldiers’ suits, they kept hoping to fight the “American devils” who were soon to be blasted by superior Japanese power.

That night, enemy units attacked the camp in which the two boys were staying and the air was filled with screams of the Jap wounded, the rat-tat-tat of machine gun fire and explosions of hand grenades. When morning came, the boys stared in horror at the Jap bodies and one of them said:

“Jap is a big liar. I think my brother and I want to be like our father – farmers.”

Marine First Lieutenant Hart H. Spiegal of Topeka, Kansas, uses sign language as he tries to strike up a conversation with two tiny Japanese soldiers captured on Okinawa. The boy on the left claims he is “18” while his companion boasts “20” years.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.

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SHOUT OUT !!!

ANZAC   DAY

MAY WE ALL REMEMBER ON ANZAC DAY

Please keep in mind that Tuesday, 25 April is a remembrance day for Australians and New Zealanders.

It is one that I have tried to show respect and honor to…

https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/?s=ANZAC+Day

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Military Humor – 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Thomas E. Button – NZ; RNZ Navy, CPO (Ret. 20 Y.)

Australian soldier pays tribute

Robert G. Cole – Montague, NJ; US Army, Vietnam, 101st Airborne Division, Bronze Star

Trevor Crawley – Hawkes Bay, NZ; RNZ Air Force # D80250, Flight Lt.

James Graham – Dunlap, TN; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT/11th Airborne Division

Ernest E, Hamilton Sr. – Key West, FL; US Air Force, Korea

Noah Evans – Decatur, GA; USMC, Pfc, M Co/3/Recruit Training Regiment

Peter W. Leufkens – Palm Springs, FL; US Army, Korea

William Peterson – Tamp, FL; USMC  /  US Coast Guard

Ken Potts (102) – Honey Bend, IL/Provo, UT; US Navy, WWII, PTO, coxswain, USS Arizona survivor

Robert R. Samples – Charleston, NC; US Army, Japanese Occupation, 187/11th Airborne Division, Army boxing team

Jozef Subritzky-Kusza – NZ; RNZ Army # A483345, Sgt.

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From GP –

I apologize if I happen to be missing some posts lately.  The routine here has been disrupted somewhat.

Thank you for being understanding.

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Occupying and Feeding Japan

MacArthur’s first priority was to set up a food distribution network; following the collapse of the ruling government and the wholesale destruction of most major cities, virtually everyone was starving. Even with these measures, millions of people were still on the brink of starvation for several years after the surrender.  As expressed by Kawai Kazuo, “Democracy cannot be taught to a starving people”.  The US government encouraged democratic reform in Japan, and while it sent billions of dollars in food aid, this was dwarfed by the occupation costs it imposed on the struggling Japanese administration.  Initially, the US government provided emergency food relief through Government and Relief in Occupied Areas  (GARIOA) funds. In fiscal year 1946, this aid amounted to US $92 million in loans. ($1,455,004,307.69 today)

From April 1946, in the guise Licensed Agencies for Relief,  private relief organizations were also permitted to provide relief.

Once MacArthur met with Hirohito, he had the political ammunition he needed to begin the real work of the occupation.

While other Allied political and military leaders pushed for Hirohito to be tried as a war criminal, MacArthur resisted such calls, arguing that any such prosecution would be overwhelmingly unpopular with the Japanese people. He also rejected the claims of members of the imperial family such as Prince Mikasa and Prince Higashikuni and demands of intellectuals like Tatsuji Miyoshi, who sought the emperor’s abdication.

By the end of 1945, more than 350,000 U.S. personnel were stationed throughout Japan. By the beginning of 1946, replacement troops began to arrive in the country in large numbers and were assigned to MacArthur’s  8th Army, headquartered in Tokyo’s Dai-Ichi building.

Dai Itchi Building

Of the main Japanese islands, Kyushu was occupied by the 24th Infantry Division, with some responsibility for Shikoku.  Honshu was occupied by the 1st Calvary Division.  Hokkaido was occupied by the 11th Airborne Division.

By June 1950, all these army units had suffered extensive troop reductions and their combat effectiveness was seriously weakened. When North Korea invaded South Korea in the Korean War, elements of the 24th Division were flown into South Korea to try to fight the invasion force there, but the inexperienced occupation troops, while acquitting themselves well when suddenly thrown into combat almost overnight, suffered heavy casualties and were forced into retreat until other Japan occupation troops could be sent to assist.

2 women of Sasebo

The official British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF), composed of  Australian,  British, Indian, and New Zealand personnel, was deployed on February 21, 1946.  While U.S. forces were responsible for the overall occupation, BCOF was responsible for supervising demilitarization and the disposal of Japan’s war industries.  BCOF was also responsible for occupation of several western prefectures and had its headquarters at Kure.  At its peak, the force numbered about 40,000 personnel. During 1947, BCOF began to decrease its activities in Japan, and officially wound up in 1951.

Repatriated child, 30 August 1946

The Far Eastern Commission and Allied Council for Japan were also established to supervise the occupation of Japan.  The establishment of a multilateral Allied council for Japan was proposed by the Soviet government as early as September 1945, and was supported partially by the British, French and Chinese governments

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Military Humor – 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Lena Clark – Pryor, OK; Civilian, WWII, ammo plant employee

James E. Dooner – Garfield Heights, OH; US Army, WWII

Ben Ferencz (103) – brn: Transylvania, ROM / Boynton Beach, FL; US Army, WWII, ETO / Prosecutor at Nuremburg Trials

Robert Gavigan Jr. – Miami, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO

Warren Groves – Toronto, CAN; RC Army, WWII, Royal Canadian Legion

Henry Link – Buffalo, NY; US Navy, WWII

Wallace R. Nark – St. Clair, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Pilot and Flight Instructor

Harry L. Prater (100) – Richmond, CA; Civilian, Liberty ship construction / US Army, WWII, PTO, truck driver, 3744 QM Truck Co/473rd Truck Regiment

Matthew Rybinski – Pompey, NY; US Navy, WWII, PTO, gunner, USS Minneapolis, Bronze Star

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How Disney aided the troops in WWII

Disney in WWII

Just one day after Pearl Harbor, Walt Disney received his first military contract and began creating promotional reels, war bond advertisements, short training and instructional films, and other WWII materials.  Also at this time, he received requests from military units all over the world requesting Disney-designed insignia’s and mascots.

David Lesjak, a former employee and Disney historian says, “Insignia helped build morale.  Having a cartoon character you grew up with on your plane or shoulder patch helped remind you of home.  In my mind it was a happy diversion from the horrors of war.”

Hank Porter designs for Disney

One of the purest expressions of Walt Disney’s genuine patriotism during the war years was his decision to establish a unit devoted to producing customized military unit insignia free of charge for U.S. armed forces and their allies.  Headed by the talented draftsman, Hank Porter, whom Walt referred to as a “one-man department,” a unit of 5 full-time artists worked steadily throughout the war, turning out 1,300 insignia.

By far, the single most requested and used Disney character was Donald Duck, who was featured in at least 146 designs.  The numerous requests for Donald’s likeness resulted in a wealth of drawings that successfully channeled his irascibility as patriotism and military zeal, often with a comedic flourish.

Next, the character that appeared most was Pluto in about 35.  Pluto was popular and his trademark facial expressions made it easy for the artists to incorporate him into a variety of insignia.  Goofy followed in popularity at 25 insignia and Jiminy Cricket appeared in 24.

B-29 Disney design

Sometimes a unit had a special design in mind and was seeking a Disney artist’s skill to bring it to life, attaching a rough sketch to their request letter for reference.

The bulk of insignia were designed for Army units and Navy vessels, but occasionally individuals requested their own personal design.  These requested were accommodated and executed with the same level of care as an insignia for an entire ship, bombardment group or battalion.

The requested letters were often addressed simply: Walt Disney, Hollywood, California.  Once a letter was received in was placed in the queue of pending requests, and the turnaround time was usually 3-4 weeks, though a wait of several months was possible when the insignia unit was particularly swamped.

The procedure for the creation of the insignia design varied, but it typically involved a preliminary pencil drawing in which the image was established, then a full-color pencil version and finally a full-color gouache on art board that would then be forwarded to the requesting unit or party.  This would often hang in the unit headquarters and serve as a template for reproducing the emblem on aircraft, tanks, and other military equipment – as well as uniforms and letterheads.

Disney war bond

It is difficult today to fully appreciate how it felt for a serviceman to have his unit represented by a Disney-designed insignia.  For the generation that fought WWII, Disney character images possessed and iconic heft that has no analog in contemporary animation

A Donald Duck insignia boosted morale, not just because it reminded soldiers of home, but also because it signified that the job they were doing was important enough to be acknowledged by Walt Disney.

The 127th Airborne Engineers/11th Airborne Division’s first insignia was Donald Duck with combat engineer equipment and aviation goggles.

This article and information was printed in the “Voice of the Angels” 11th Airborne Division Association newspaper.

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.

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Military Humor – 

Disney humor

Tracking

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Farewell Salutes – 

Dominick Amoscato – Hypoluxo, FL; US Navy, WWII

George E. Bisk – Oaklawn, IL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Purple Heart

C. Boyd Call – Magna, UT; US Navy, WWII

George “Rudy” Greear – Kingsport, TN; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Quartermaster, USS McCoy Reynolds (DE-440)

James ‘Dick’ Hopkins – Midland, MO; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Sgt., 11th Airborne Division

Don Kepler – Massillon, OH; USMC, Korea

Donald Klein – Hayward, CA; US Army Air Corps, Japanese Occupation, 11th Airborne Division

Bernard Lipoff – Brooklyn, NY; US Army, Army basketball team

In Memoriam:  Amzi R. McClain; Chester, NJ; US Army, WWII, ETO, TSgt., Batt A/721 Field Artillery/66th Infantry Division

William ‘Billy’ Waugh – Bastrop, TX; US Army, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Green Beret, (Ret. 20 y. Special Forces and 30 y. CIA), Silver Star, 8 – Purple Hearts

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A BAD Military Monday!

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Chocolate in WWII

Chocolate is a fighting food.

Seventy-five years ago, more than 160,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasion.  And while we all know that day served as a huge turning point for the Allied cause, you probably haven’t thought much about what those soldiers carried with them to eat during and after the invasion.

Food had to be lightweight, nutritious and very high in energy; after all, these men were about to invade Nazi-occupied land.  As it so happens, the one substance that could fulfill all those requirements was a very unlikely it — a Hershey’s chocolate bar.

The Hershey Chocolate company was approached back in 1937 about creating a specially designed bar just for U.S. Army emergency rations.  According to Hershey’s chief chemist, Sam Hinkle, the U.S. government had just four requests about their new chocolate bars: (1) they had to weigh 4 ounces; (2) be high in energy; (3) withstand high temperatures; (4) “taste a little better than a boiled potato.”

The final product was called the “D ration bar,” a blend of chocolate, sugar, cocoa butter, skim milk powder and oat flour.  The viscous mixture was so thick, each bar had to be packed into its 4-ounce mold by hand.

As for taste, well – most who tried it said they would rather have eaten the boiled potato.  The combination of fat and oat flour made the chocolate bar a dense brick, and the sugar did little to mask the overwhelmingly bitter taste to the dark chocolate.  Since it was designed to withstand high temperatures, the bar was nearly impossible to bite into.

Troopers had to shave slices off with a knife before they could chew it.  And despite the Army’s best efforts to stops the men from doing so, some of the D-ration bars ended up in the trash.

Later in the war, Hershey introduced a new version, known as the Tropical bar, specifically designed for extreme temperatures of the Pacific Theater.  By the end of the war, the company had produced more than 3 billion ration bars.

In 1942, 200,000 pounds of M&M’s were produced weekly in the Newark, NJ factory, most of it going to the military. Soldiers in WWII carried the m&m’s with them. By the end of the war, the factory was producing 600,000 lbs each week. In 1946, with the war over, M&M’s was readily available to the general population. In 1947, a ¼ lb bag of m&m’s was sold for 15 cents.  Going to the tropics, now you know why they were created to melt in your mouth and not in your hand.

Along with the D rations, troops received 3 days worth of K ration packs.  These were devised more as meal replacements and not sustenance snacks like the D rations, and came complete with coffee, canned meats, processed cheese and tons of sugar.  The other chocolate companies would soon join in with the production.

Soldier with a Tropical Bar

At various points during the war, men could find powdered orange or lemon drink, caramels, chewing gum and of course – more chocolate!!  Along with packs of cigarettes and sugar cubes for coffee, the K ration packs provided plenty of valuable energy for fighting men.

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 Military Humor –

JOINING THE SPACE FORCE

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Farewell Salutes – 

C.A. “Jack” Bates – Sterling, OH; US Army, 188/11th Airborne Division, Germany

Edgar L. Mills – Tampa, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, SSgt. 816BS/483BG/15th Air Force, B-17 gunner, KIA (recently identified)

Anthony Mitchell – Ogdensburg, NY; US Navy, WWII, dive bomber pilot, USS Bennington

Charles A. Spencer – Trinidad, CO; US Air Force

John ‘Mike’ Stetson – Stuart, FL; US Air Force

FROM: the 2 Black Hawk medevac helicopter’s crash – 101st Airborne Division

Jeffery Barnes – Milton, FL; US Army, Afghanistan, Warrant Officer

Emilie Bolanos – Austin, TX; US Army, Cpl.

Zachary Esparza  – Jackson, MO; US Army, Afghanistan, Chief Warrant Officer

Isaac Gayo – Los Angeles, CA; US Army, Sgt.

Joshua Gore – Morehead City, NC; US Army, SSgt., flight paramedic

Aaron Healy – Cape Coral, FL; US Army, Afghanistan, aeromedical evacuation pilot

Taylor Mitchell – Mountain Brook, AL; US Army, SSgt., flight paramedic

Rusten Smith – Rolla, MO; US Army, Afghanistan, Chief Warrant Officer, instructor pilot

David Solinas – Oradell, NJ; US Army, Sgt., combat medic                                                                               Flag, courtesy of Dan Antion

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