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Guam
Guam
In a lot of Pacific War histories, Guam is swept aside and banished as insignificant. How soon they forget, many might say.
In Tokyo, soundtrucks festooned with World War II colors still extol those lost in a gallant defeat. In America, elders like Louis H. Wilson Jr. and George Tweed would never forget.
Masashi Ito and Bunzo Minagawa spent young manhood into middle age in the tropical underside of an island that tourists now praise as a paradise. They were holdouts, soldiers who refused to surrender and would forage for
survival for 16 years.
Soichi Yokoi, before and after
The last known Japanese survivor, Shoichi Yokoi, held out until 1972, captured by chance as he ventured out to empty a fish trap. Yokoi had never crept out of dense cover to hear the happy shouts of Japanese tourists and honeymooners. Nor had he walked the lobby of the Hilton or the Cliffside.
Luxury hotels swarm over the beachfront and jungle growth has covered the faint traces of war, and Guam gets only a passing nod as a battlefield beside Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Okinawa and Leyte. Thirty-six years ago [now it is 76 ½ years ago] shellfire plowed across Guam. Some 18,500 Japanese were trying to pry loose the fingerhold that many more thousands of American soldiers and Marines had fastened on beaches and cliffsides.
Many of the Americans barely had a respite between battles, having first seized Saipan to pull the keystone of the Marianas archway. Guam was almost a point-of-honor afterthought. The island was an American possession until a handful of Marines, soldiers and Guamanian militia made a no-choice surrender only three days after Japanese bombers pounded Hawaii.
The III Amphibious Corps and the 77th Infantry Division are not going in blindfolded that July 21, 1944. Eleven days before the landing, as American warships savage Guam’s coastal defenses, a tall figure sprints down a beach and plunges into the surf, swimming with desperate strength until he is within hailing distance of a destroyer.
George Tweed
George Tweed is pulled aboard and tells an astonishing story. He was one of the 288 men on the island as 5,000 Japanese surged ashore, ignoring the flea-bite firepower of a few .30 cal. machine guns as they overwhelmed the thin garrison and forced the Naval Governor, Capt. George J. McMillin, into quick submission.
Tweed and five others slipped away, hunted by Japanese who probed the underbrush with bayonets. Only Tweed survived, living on land crabs and coconuts, warily evading the patrols that shook every palm tree and banyan for him. Tweed saw his pursuers far more often than they saw him, and his sketchpad mind has taken it all down — every gun emplacement, trenchline and fortified cave. The Japanese failure to capture or kill this ragged stray will cost them dearly.
Exacting naval gunfire singles out visible and concealed coastal guns – all but a few. As the 3rd Marine Division and the 1st Marine Brigade board barges that cut paint-stroke wakes toward the western side of Guam, sharp flashes burst along the coastline. Barges turn over like crumpled buckets.
“You never get it for free,” an older Marine mutters as the barges push ashore — the division between Adelup and Asan Points and the brigade wedging between Point Bangi and the town of Agat. Beachheads are “tightly fastened and the coastal guns erased.
There are already wolfish shouts from the jungle along the coastline. Fierce counterattacks tear into the Marine lines and one lunge rips through the brigade. It is contained after a desperate brawl with bullets, blades and even fists.
The Marines begin moving inland, slowly closing a gap between division and brigade as hey crush across Apra Harbor and Orote Peninsula, squeezing
the defenders between them. But the Japanese put no markdown price tags on anything, heaping fallen defenses with Marine dead. As the two Marine forces grasp .hands, another enemy rush pours forth — the futile bravery of 500 Japanese sailors who die in an inferno of shellfire.
Capt. Louis H. Wilson Jr. is a company commander in the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines. He thrusts ahead of the others to take high and important ground, holding it against human-avalanche counterattacks.
His Medal of Honor citation will stiffly relate that Wilson “contributed essentially” to the success of the assault, passing over the fact that he was wounded three times and fought aside agonized delirium to rally his Marines.
Capt. Louis H. Wilson Jr., USMC
Soldiers of the 77th, fed slowly into the advance, must do the deadly, mop-and-dustpan work in southern Guam as the Marine advance lunges on. The suicidal determined Japanese will tear tiny leaks and large gaps in the line, and the effort to repulse them will often get down to hand-to-hand piecework.
The advance will spider all over the island, with Guam declared secure as Marines reach the northernmost tip on Ritidian Point. Everything is back under American colors by Aug. 10.
The past will be wiped away over the years. Wreckage will be swept aside. Foundations for posh hotels will be sunk along the beachfront. Andersen AFB and Agana NAS will assure a stronger military presence than those unfortunate few of late 1941.
Strangers will be strafed by stiff expense but nothing else.
“Robinson Crusoe, USN” by: George Tweed
Tweed will write a book, “Robinson Crusoe, USN.”
Wilson will become Marine Corps Commandant.
Battle histories will little note nor long remember Guam.
But Wilson, Tweed, many Americans and a few Japanese, will always share a thin fund of private memories.
From the Archives of the Stars & Stripes, August 10, 1980
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Military Humor –
‘Howitzers at dawn.’
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Farewell Salutes –
Howard Buescher – Cleveland, OH; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Andrew Caneza – New Orleans, LA; US Army, WWII, PTO
Mead Clark – Joliet, IL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, 17th Airborne Division
George Fry – St. Paul, MN; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Ed Guthrie (102) Omaha, NE; US Navy, WWII, electrician’s mate 2nd Class, USS Banner, last known Pearl Harbor survivor
John Harris – NY & FL; US Navy, WWII, Korea & Vietnam (Ret. 28 y.)
Glen Kloiber – Milwaukee, WI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, 791st AAA Battalion
Dallas Lehn – Elba, NE; US Army, WWII, PTO, Purple Heart
Michael D. Miller – OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII
John Rudberg – Minneapolis, MN; US Navy, V-12 Program
Pre-Christmas post from Star and Stripes – 75th Anniversary
In The Past
1964, a Vietnam Christmas for Bob Hope
Bob Hope brings Christmas cheer to troops in Vietnam
1964 | BIEN HOA, South Vietnam — Bob Hope brought some laughter to a place of war Christmas Eve.
Residents of an outer island of Palau retrieve boxes from the U.S. Air Force’s 1999 Christmas drop.
Airmen prepare for annual Christmas gift drop to Pacific islanders
2005 | ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam — Airmen geared up to deliver items to Pacific islanders who can only dream of department stores.
Santa Claus hands out presents to the men of Detachment 35, Company B, 5th Special Forces Group, in Vietnam at the end of 1968. The Air Force lent Santa six C7 Caribou cargo planes for his deliveries in Vietnam. The planes enabled him to visit some 50 isolated outposts – such as this Special Forces camp in Nahon Cho, 80 miles northeast of Saigon – from Dec. 24th until late in the afternoon Christmas day.
JAMES LINN/STARS AND STRIPES |
Eight deer traded in for 6 ‘Santabou’ in waning days of 1968
1968 | NHON CHO, Vietnam — Santa’s reindeer were constantly bogged down in mud and his sleigh broke on the bumpy, snowless airstrips. The Air Force lent Santa six C7 Caribou cargo planes for his deliveries in Vietnam.
In The Present
Staff Sgt. Hector Frietze, right, and Senior Airman John Allum, left, 36th Airlift Squadron loadmasters, wave to the people of the Island of Angaur, Republic of Palau, during the first bundle airdrops of Operation Christmas Drop 2020, Dec. 6. OCD is the world’s longest running airdrop training mission, allowing the U.S. and its allies to deliver food, tools and clothing to the people who live on remote islands in the South-Eastern Pacific region. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Gabrielle Spalding)
SE PACIFIC – OPERATION CHRISTMAS DROP
Deployed
Service members serve on all seven continents — there is one service member in Antarctica — and on all the seas. Military personnel serve in more than 170 countries.
Service members deployed around the world during Christmas:
- Afghanistan: 14,000
- Bahrain: 7,000
- Iraq: 5,200
- Jordan: 2,795
- Kuwait: 13,000
- Oman: 300
- Qatar: 13,000
- Saudi Arabia: 3,000
- Syria: Unknown
- Turkey: Unknown
- United Arab Emirates: 5,0000
Sailors will man their ships from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Mexico. Navy officials maintain that roughly a third of the Navy is deployed at any one time.
Air Force missileers and airmen are in the silos, by the planes and in the command centers ensuring the nuclear system is ready if needed.
And Please remember the military families !
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Military Christmas Humor –
Humor from deployed Marines
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Farewell Salutes –
Bennie Adkins – Waurika, OK; US Army, Vietnam, Sgt. (Ret. 22 y.), Green Beret, Silver Star, Purple Heart
Bon Nell Bentley – Russellville, AR; Civilian, riveter / US Navy WAVE, WWII / USN nurse / Civilian, nurse w/ Veterans Admin. (Ret. 30 y.)
Pedro ‘Pete’ Coronel – Hereford, AZ; US Army, WWII, PTO, 7th Cavalry, Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Lee E. James (106) – Spearman, TX; US Army, WWII, CBI, Colonel (Ret. 27 y.)
William Kinney – Toledo, OH; US Navy, WWII
Levi A. Presley – Crestview, FL; US Army, Sgt. 1st Class
Louis Pugh – Courtdale, PA; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT, 2 Bronze Stars, Purple Heart
Jesse O. Sandlin – Granby, VA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, pilot, 8th AF / Korea, Lt. Colonel (Ret. 28 y.)
Owen Tripp – Tacoma, WA; US Army, WWII, ETO, Bronze Star
Donald Urquhart – New Orleans, LA; US Army, WWII, 81st Infantry Division, Purple Heart
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1951 Japanese Surrender
1951 Japanese surrender
A group of stranded survivors of a Japanese vessel sunk by the American military found their way to the island of Anatahan, 75 nautical miles north of Saipan.
The island’s coast line is precipitous with landing beaches on the northern and western shore and a small sandy beach on the southwest shore. Its steep slopes are furrowed by deep gorges covered by high grass.
This brooding cone jutting from the sea floor is a large, extinct volcano with two peaks and a grass covered flat field, the final resting place for a B-29 Superfortress that crashed upon returning from a bombing mission over Nagoya, Japan on January 3, 1945 killing the aircraft’s crew.
Anatahan/Mariana Islands
By 1951 the Japanese holdouts on the island refused to believe that the war was over and resisted every attempt by the Navy to remove them.
This group was first discovered in February 1945, when several Chamorro from Saipan were sent to the island to recover the bodies of the Saipan based B-29, T square 42, from the 498th Bomb Group, 875th Squadron, 73rd Wing under the command of Richard Carlson Stickney, Jr.
The Chamorro reported that there were about thirty Japanese survivors from three Japanese ships sunk in June 1944, one of which was an Okinawa woman.
aerial view of Anatahan
Pamphlets had been dropped informing the holdouts that the war was over and that they should surrender, but these requests were ignored. They lived a sparse life, eating coconuts, taro, wild sugar cane, fish and lizards. They smoked crushed, dried papaya leaves wrapped in the leaves of bananas and made an intoxicating beverage known as “tuba”, (coconut wine).
They lived in palm frond huts with woven floor matting of pandanus. Their life improved after the crash of the aircraft. They used metal from the B-29 to fashion crude implements such as pots, knives and roofing for their hut. The oxygen tanks were used to store water, clothing was made from nylon parachutes, the cords used for fishing line.
Japanese soldiers surrender at Anatahan
The springs from machine guns were fashioned into fish hooks. Several in the group also had machine guns and pistols recovered from the aircraft. Personal aggravations developed as a result of being too long in close association within a small group on a small island and also because of tuba drinking. The presence of only one woman, Kazuko Higa, caused great difficulty as well. Six of eleven deaths that occurred among the holdouts were the result of violence.
One man displayed thirteen knife wounds. Ms. Higa would, from time to time, transfer her affections between at least four of the men after each mysteriously disappeared as a result of “being swallowed by the waves while fishing.”
American seamen, Anatahan
In July 1950, Ms. Higa went to the beach when an American vessel appeared off shore and asked to be removed from the island. She was taken to Saipan aboard the Miss Susie and, upon arrival, informed authorities that the men on the island did not believe the war was over.
Meanwhile, officials of the Japanese government became interested in the situation on Anatahan and asked the Navy for information “concerning the doomed and living Robinson Crusoes who were living a primitive life on an uninhabited island”, and offered to send a ship to rescue them.
The families of the Japanese holdouts on the island of Anatahan, were contacted in Japan and requested by the U. S. Navy to write letters advising them that the war was over and that they should surrender.
Japanese say goodbye to Anatahan
In January 1951, a message from the Governor of Kanagawa Prefecture was delivered. The letters were dropped by air on June 26 and finally convinced the holdouts that they should give themselves up.
Thus, six years after the end of World War II, “Operation Removal” got underway from Saipan under the Command of James B. Johnson, USNR, aboard the Navy Tug USS Cocopa. Lt. Commander James B. Johnson and Mr. Ken Akatani, an interpreter, went ashore by rubber boat and formally accepted the last surrender of World War II on the morning of June 30, 1951 which also coincided with the last day of the Naval Administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
Click on images to enlarge.
From: AR Gunners.com By Pierre Kosmidis
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Military Humor – 
One of Murphy’s Laws
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Farewell Salutes –
Dorothy (Carter) Ahearn – Detroit, MI; Civilian, Red Cross, WWII, ETO
Hazel Boyas – North Royalton, OH; Civilian, WWII, drill press operator
Edward Cowen Sr. – Gadsden County, FL; US Army, WWII & Korea
Robert Lents – Bridgewater, IA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Perch, POW, Chief torpedoman, 2 Bronze Stars, 2 Purple Hearts
Renee (Lupton) Rattet – New Beford, MA; US Army WAC, WWII
Gary Myers – Grand Lake, CO; US Army, Vietnam, 8/1st Air Cavalry Division, Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Charlie Pride – Sledge, MS; US Army / Country singer
Matthew A. Reluga (101) – Philadelphia, PA; US Army, WWII, ETO, rifleman/Intelligence, Silver Star, 5 Bronze Stars
Lyle Tefft – Lawrence, KS; US Navy, USS Bandera
Robert W. Young – Lewistown, MT; US Navy, WWII, PTO
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Pacific War Trials – part three
Kempeitai
The British prosecuted Japanese along the Malay Peninsula, in Borneo, New Britain, Rangoon and Singapore. In Malay, 35 Kempeitai (secret police) were tried and 29 went to the gallows. The most publicized trial involved those at the “River Kwai” for causing almost 600 deaths of the 2,000 POWs that built the Burma Siam railroad.
Shiro Ishii
Australia listed 35 separate charges, including cannibalism and mutilation of a dead body. The most famous was Shiro Ishii of Unit 731 for subjecting prisoners to horrendous experiments. These crimes against humanity were normally held in cooperation with British and American officials. One trial held on New Guinea was for a Japanese officer who ate part of an Australian POW. The defense claimed starvation as a reason for his mental demise – he was hanged.
The largest trial of 503 Japanese was held by Australia for cruelty to prisoners on Amoina and 92 were convicted. In Rabaul, New Britain, 1,000 American and British POWs were forced to march 165 miles and only 183 made it the entire route. The Japanese commander executed the survivors. The officer had survived the war – but not the court.
Michiaki Kamada
The Netherlands tried an ugly case for Vice Admiral Michiaki Kamada who ordered 1,500 natives of Borneo murdered. Four others were executed for their participation in the awful treatment of 2,000 Dutch prisoners on Flores Island. Another case involved the treatment of 5,000 Indonesian laborers, 500 Allied POWs and 1,000 civilians.
China tried 800 defendants, whereby 500 were convicted and 149 sentenced to death.
The French held the least number of trials and dealt with them as ordinary crimes. Five Japanese were given the death penalty for the murder of American airmen in Indochina. The French were still holding their trials as late as November 1951.
As mentioned previously, the Russian “trials” were held as propaganda against the West. The charges would be dismissed, due to “arrested development.” ( suggesting that the Japanese were hindered in their development since they were not subject to Soviet culture and education.) The Soviets publicly made it clear that they were “on to” Japan and her American friend’s plot against them.
Abe Koso under guard.
The U.S. Navy tried the Japanese accused of crimes on the Pacific islands. Three were held on Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands and 44 were put on trial on Guam. These were closely held in conjunction with British, Australian and Indonesian officials. Abe Koso, became the naval commander at Kwajalein and ordered the beheading of nine Marine Raiders that were left behind after the Makin Raid. Koso defended his acts by claiming the Marines were U.S. spies. The tribunal rejected his claim and 19 June 1947, he was hanged.
To be continued…
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
La Fayette A. Bronston – Springfield, OH; USMC, VIetnam, SSgt., 3 Purple Hearts, Bronze Star, Silver Star
Max W. Daniels (103) – Lake Como, PA; USMC, WWII, cook
WHAT IS A VETERAN?
Joe, Francis & Harry Doyle – Arthur, CAN; Canadian Armed Forces, WWII, KIA (in Memorandum by the Doyle Family)
James Fleming – Hawkes Bay, NZ; NZEF, WWII # 103747, NZ Engineers
Leo Hines – Albany, NY; US Army, Vietnam, 506/11/101st Airborne Division
Wally McLaughlin – Minneapolis, MN; US Army, Korea, 187 RCT/11th Airborne Division
William Schroeder – Boise, ID; USMC, Korea, B Co./1/7th Marines
Michaela Ticha – CZE; MFO Sgt. (Multinational Force & Observers), KIA (So. Sinai)
Gregory Troutman – Salisbury, NC; US Army, Korea & Vietnam, 187th RCT / Pentagon, Col. (Ret. 30 y.)
John ‘Val’ Wachtel IV – Topeka, KS; US Army, Vietnam, Green Beret
Pacific War Trials – part two
Courtroom spectators, Manila
The Allies also established the United Nations War Crimes Commission (the UNWCC) in 1943. The UNWCC collected evidence on Axis war crimes and drew up lists of suspected war criminals for Allied prosecution after the war. In 1944, a sub-commission of the UNWCC was established in Chungking to focus on the investigation of Japanese atrocities.
The major trials being held in Tokyo were presided by the U.S., Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, France, China and the Philippines and began in May 1946. General MacArthur, as supreme commander of the Allied powers, largely controlled the progress of the trials. They started with 25 defendants, but two passed away during the proceedings and another was evaluated as too mentally deficient to participate.
Hideki Tojo listening to testimonies.
Hideki Tojo was the most infamous face to symbolize Japanese aggression being that he was the Prime Minister at the time of Pearl Harbor. A 55-count indictment was drafted by the British prosecutor, Arthur Comyns-Carr. Every nation’s prosecutor signed the document listing: 36 counts of ‘crimes against peace’, 16 for murder and 3 counts for ‘other conventional war crimes and crimes against humanity’ for the major persons involved. These proceedings were held at the Japanese War Ministry Building and would last until November 1948. During this time, the prosecution called 400 witnesses and produced 800 affidavits.
Foreign Minister, Koki Hirota at his sentencing.
Tojo took responsibility as premier for anything he or his country had done; others argued that they had operated in self-defense due to the ABCD power’s embargo and military assistance given to China. In Tokyo, all defendants were found guilty. The death sentence was given to: Hideki Tojo; Foreign Minister Koki Hirota; Generals Kenji Doihara, Seishiro Itagaki, Akiro Muto, Hyoturo Kimura and Iwane Matsui – these sentences were carried out three days later.
Sixteen others received life in prison. Eight of the judges agreed on all of the sentences. Sir William Webb dissented, Delfin Jaramilla of P.I. thought they were too lenient, H. Bernard of France found fault with the proceedings, B.V.A. Roeling of the Netherlands voted to acquit Hirota and several others. A complete dissent came from Radhabinod Pal of India.
Tomaya Kawakita and his attorney
Another series of tribunals were held in Yokohama, Japan. These were for lower ranking officers, Shinto priests, medical personnel and farmers in association with the treatment of prisoners. One case involved the ship, Oryoko Maru, upon which 1,300 POWs died in 1944. The secret police, the Kempeitai, were brought to justice along with other spies. The trial of Tomaya Kawakita was moved from Yokohama to Los Angeles at his request being that he was born in the United States. This was a clear case of “be careful what you wish for” – the American court sentenced him to death.
American tribunals were held in Shanghai for those accused of executing American airmen under the “Enemy Airmen’s Act” due to the Doolittle raid on Japan in April 1942, when many prisoners were murdered as an act of revenge for that mission of bombing Japan early in the war.
To be continued…
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Ralph Becker – South Bend, IN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, 388th Bomb Group/8th Air Force
Alice Keller Clark – Lebanon, PA; US Army Air Corps WAC, WWII
David A. Deatherage – Independence, MO; US Army, Korea, Co. A/187th RCT
James M. Flanagan – Jacksonville, FL; US Navy, WWII, Seaman 2nd Class, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
George Homer Jr. – New Rochelle, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Medical/457th Artillery/11th Airborne Division
George La Marsh – New Haven, CT; US Army, WWII
John Price – Muskogee, OK; US Navy, WWII, PTO, PB4Y-2 bombardier
Charles ‘Chuck’ Reiner (100) – Rochester, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII / 31 y. career as volunteer, Red Cross, VA Hospital, DAV
Jack Schouten – Keokuk, IA; US Army, WWII, SSgt., 588th Signal Depot Company
Edward Wall – Riverside, CA; US Army, Vietnam, 101st Airborne Division
Pacific War Trials – part one
Yamashita at his trial.
One of the most monumental surrenders in the Pacific War was General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
General Tomoyuki Yamashita as he led his staff officers of the 14th Area Army to surrender, 2 Sept. 1945. He did not believe in hara-kiri. He said, “If I kill myself, someone else will have to take the blame.”
Just as the Japanese surrenders occurred in different places and on different dates, so were the trials. The regulations used differed and the criminal charges varied. Preparations for the war crimes started early in mid-1942 due to the heinous reports coming out of China during the Japanese invasion in 1937. The home front recollections of these proceedings might differ from the facts stated here because of the media slant at the time and sensationalism.
Trial correspondents
Often, the stories were even inaccurate, such as in Time magazine, the writer ranted about Yamashita’s brutality during the Bataan Death March. The truth of the matter was – Yamashita was in Manchuria at the time. All in all, 5,600 Japanese were prosecuted during 2,200 trials. More than 4,400 men and women were convicted and about 1,000 were executed and approximately the same number of acquittals.
Soviet trials are not included here as these were held merely as propaganda show pieces. The defendants mostly pleaded guilty, made a public apology and said something wonderful about communism and the “People’s Paradise” of Russia.
Yamashita’s military commission
General Tomoyuki Yamashita’s case was the most famous of the American trials and was presided over by a military commission of 5 American general officers (none of which had any legal training) and held in the ballroom of the U.S. high commissioner’s residence. The charge was “responsibility for the death and murders tolerated – knowingly or not.” The general’s defense council, Col. Harry Clark, argued that no one would even suggest that the Commanding General of an American occupational force would become a criminal every time an American soldier committed a crime – but, Yamashita was just so accused.
Yamashita speaks at his trial.
MacArthur let it be known that Truman wanted the proceedings to be completed at the earliest possible date. It became obvious that the verdict was predetermined; even one correspondent at the scene reported, “In the opinion of probably every correspondent covering the trial, the military commission came into the courtroom the first day with the decision already in its collective pocket.” Many observers felt that Yamashita was not being accorded due process as MacArthur and the commission refused to provide copies of the transcript. Proof that the general had known of the atrocities was never given, but after closing arguments, it was announced that the verdict would be given in two days. Significantly, the guilty verdict was given on 7 December 1945. The general was hanged in Manila, Philippines on 23 February 1946 because the men he commanded had committed evil acts during the war.
Yamashita upon hearing the verdict.
Hundreds of others were also prosecuted in the American trials, including Lt. General Matsaharu Homma, the man who actually did order the Bataan Death March and the bombing of the undefended “open city” of Manila. His headquarters had been 500 yards from the road the prisoners had marched and died on and he had admitted having driven down that road of blood many times. He was sentenced to hang. His wife appealed to MacArthur to spare him – which he refused, but did execute Homma by the less disgraceful method of firing squad.
Gen. Homma with his attorneys
During these trials in the Philippines, 215 Japanese faced criminal charges and 20 were declared innocent and 92 were given the death sentence. In one case, Philippine President Manuel Roxas appealed to China’s Chiang Kai-shek to spare the life of one Japanese officer who had saved his life and that of several other Filipinos. The request was granted.
Manila Hotel Annex, 1945
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Walter Morgan Bryant Jr. – Delray Beach, FL; USMC, Vietnam (2 tours), Sgt.
Sean Connery (Sir Thomas) – Edinburgh, SCOT; Royal Navy, Able Seaman, HMS Formidable, / Beloved Actor
Vincent De Magistris – Chester, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, RHQ/503rd RCT/11th Airborne Division
Jean (Love) Glass – Sokane, WA; Civilian, WWII, Boeing Aircraft
Vernon Hogsett – Lamar, NE; US Army, WWII, Bronze Star
Dave Knight – Skowhegan, ME; US Army, Vietnam, Sgt., 173rd Airborne
James Larson – Denver, CO; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Clarence Mantis – Dayton, OH; US Navy, WWII
Ronald Shurer – Puyallup, WA; US Army, Afghanistan, SSgt., Senior Medical Sgt., Silver Star, Medal of Honor
Billy D. Welch – Hendersonville, NC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Korea & Vietnam, (Ret.)
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Halloween 2020
Halloween this year has many comparisons to that which went on during WWII, but there were no episodes of mass destruction in the cities as I have seen in Philadelphia.
WWII put quite the damper on any activity as chaotic as Halloween was back in those days, people weren’t making heroes out of criminals … according to history, war shortages made everyone edgy, and towns clamped down on Halloween pranking with both curfews and notices sent home from principals and police. There was a national plea for conservation: any piece of property damaged during Halloween pranking was a direct affront to the war effort.
In 1942 the Chicago City Council voted to abolish Halloween and institute instead “Conservation Day” on October 31st. (This wasn’t the only attempt to reshape Halloween: President Truman tried to declare it “Youth Honor Day” in 1950 but the House of Representatives, sidetracked by the Korean War, neglected to act on the motion. In 1941 the last week of October was declared “National Donut Week,” and then years later, “National Popcorn Week.”)
A day for dressing up.
Halloween’s origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when it was believed the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead become blurred. It has since evolved into a holiday when spooky legends, myths and folklore take center stage—each with their own dark history.
The first Halloween during WWII was in 1942, when the nation was in full-tilt war production mode and millions of men were in uniform. Children and teenagers were suddenly set free from adult supervision, as mothers and fathers spent more time working or away from home altogether. There were widespread fears of juvenile delinquency and criminal behavior. Fear was a dominant emotion during the war years and the vandalism one might expect on Halloween now seemed to portend greater crimes. Many communities did, in fact, cancel Halloween that year.
Some folks saw the opportunity to co-opt, rather than ban, the holiday by hosting costume parties, dances, etc. to lure the would-be delinquents off the streets and into safer environments. (Still not much candy available though, due to the rationing of sugar.) It worked. Halloween vandalism feel off in 1942 and after the war, neighborhoods began hosting a kind of roving festival for kids – trick-or-treating.
For templates to create your own military pumpkins ___ CLICK HERE!!
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Military HALLOWEEN Humor ~
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Farewell Salutes –
James Blaney – Milwaukee, WI; US National Guard, Major General (Ret.)
Eric Bunger – Sioux Falls, SD; US Army, Afghanistan & Iraq, Sgt., 82nd Airborne Division
Christopher Crossett – Philadelphia, PA; US Army, WWII, ETO, Silver Star, Purple Heart
Alpha Farrow – Lindsay, OK; US Army, WWII, ETO, Pvt., 10th Mt. Division / Vietnam & Korea, Chaplain, Col. (Ret.)
Morgan Garrett – Weddington, NC; US Coast Guard, Ensign
William Hinchey – Middletown, RI; USMC, WWII, CBI
Duane T. Kyser – Muskogee, OK; US Navy, WWII, Seaman 2nd Class, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)Rhiannon Ross – Waxom, MI; US Navy, Lt.
David Mansfield (100) – Thorold, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII
Carlisle Trost – Valmeyer, IL; US Navy, Naval Academy grad ’53, 23rd Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral (Ret. 37 y.)
Walter S. Wojtczak (105) – Newbury, NH; US Army, WWII, Major, Corps of Engineers
Pacific War in art – 1945
I wish all of the distinguished artists of WWII could have been included – here is the final year of the Pacific War…
“Battle of Luzon” by: Yorozujiro Terauchi, 1945
Mandalay, Burma, by: David Pentland, Feb. ’45
Pacific Glory” by: Nicholas Trudgian
| It is March 1945 and the P-38’s of the 475th FG are involved in a huge dogfight with Japanese Zeros over the coast of Indo-China. Flying “Pee Wee V” is Lt Ken Hart of the 431st Fighter Squadron, who has fatally damaged a Zero in a blistering head on encounter. The second P-38L – “Vickie” – belongs to Captain John ‘rabbit’ Pietz, who would end the War as an Ace with six victories. Signed by three highly decorated P-38 pilots who flew in combat with the 475th Fighter Group in the Pacific theatre during World War II. |
‘The Great Tokyo Air Raid’ by: Hashimoto Kimisuke, 10 March ’45, age 7
Raid on China Coast, By: Roy Grinnell April ’45
“Indochina Prisoners of War” by: Donald Friend
‘Ready Room’ by: Tom Lea
“Victoria, Labuan Island” Borneo, July ’45 by: William E. Pigeon
“Standing Guard” by Sgt. John Ruge, USMC, Naha, Okinawa, cover of ‘Yank’ mag.
“Surrender Flight” by: Mike Hagel, 19 Aug. 1945
‘Milk Run to Kyushu’ by: Jack Fellows
“USS Missouri Signing” by: Standish Backus, 2 Sept. ’45
Responsibility, But For What? Kyoto Street by: Barse Miller. Army WWII, 28 Sept. ’45
‘Japan Surrender’ by: Howard Brodie (veteran of 3 wars, Bronze Star)
Resources –
IHRA: for their blog and their books and prints
Jack Fellows website
Howard Brodie sketches
“WWII” by: James Jones
“WWII: A Tribute in Art and Literature” by: David Colbert
For the art of Nicholas Trudgian http://www.brooksart.com/Pacificglory.html
Roy Grinnell
https://www.roygrinnellart.com/ Barse Miller
http://www.artnet.com/artists/barse-miller/
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE AND VIEW THE DETAIL.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Lawrence Beller – Bisbee, AZ; US Air Force, Korea, 67th Airborne Reporter Corps
Jack Bray – Madison, WI; US Army, Korea, 82nd Airborne Division + 187th RCT
Adam M. Foti – Moyack, NC; US Navy, Chief Petty Officer, USS Jason Dunham
Juan Garcia – Brownsville, TX; US Army, Vietnam, Sgt. Major (Ret.), Co. E/3/506/101st Airborne Division
John Hoyt – Reading, MA; US Army, Vietnam, 101st Airborne Division
Leon Kneebone – State College, PA, US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co F/187/11th Airborne Division
George E. Lineham – Sanbornville, NH; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT
Edward C. Meyer – Arlington, VA; US Army, Korea & Vietnam, General, Army Chief of Staff, West Point grad ’51, Bronze Star, 2 Silver Stars, Purple Heart
Earl Smith Jr. – Oakland, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 2nd Lt., 80th Fighter Squadron, P-38 pilot, KIA (Paga Point, New Guinea)
John Waterman (100) – Tunbridge Wells, ENG; Royal Army, Special Boat & Air Services, WWII
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Pacific War in art – 1943
TO CONTINUE OUR MINI-GALLERY OF DISTINGUISHED ARTIST’S VIEW OF WWII ……
RAAF Kittyhawk Squadron, Milne Bay, New Guinea, by: William Dargie
5th Air Force & RAAF, Battle of the Bismark Sea
USS Bailey, Battle of Komandorski, by I.R. Lloyd
“Mission Accomplished”, Yamamoto shot down, 18 April 1943, by Roy Grinnell
Japanese postcard, Aleutian Campaign
The Solomons, by: Peter Dennis
IJN Amagiri ramming PT-109
‘Marine Raider’ Bougainville, by: Marc Erickson
Tarawa by: Tom Lovell
Pappy Boyington, F-4U Corsair, by: Craig Tinder
Cape Gloucester, Solomons, 26 Dec. 1943
Resources:
IHRA: for their blog and their books and prints
Jack Fellows website
William Dargie artwork
“WWII: A Tribute in Art and Literature” edited by David Colbert
Nicholas Trudgian
http://www.nicolastrudgian.com/
I.R. Lloyd
Roy Grinnell
https://www.roygrinnellart.com/
Craig Tinder artwork
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Jack D. Baker – New Salisbury, IN; US Navy, WWII, USS Iowa
Gilbert Clarin – Turlock, CA; US Army, 511th Regiment
Randall Edwards (103) – Ruskin, NE; US Navy, WWII, Pto & CBI, USS Canopus, radioman, POW
Paul Ernyei – Burton, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. A/127th Engineers/11th Airborne Division
Mary Fusselman – Davenport, IA; Civilian, WWII, military cartographer
Winston F. Groom Jr. – Fairhope, AL; US Army, Vietnam, 2nd Lt., / author: “Forest Gump”
Leslie Kessler Jr. – Columbus, TX; US Army, WWII, PTO, Marine Engineman, Co. C/593rd Engineer Boat Regiment
Jason E. Pelletier – Presque Isle, ME; US Army, Iraq & Afghanistan, 2nd. Lt. (22 y.)
Donald Stoulil – Olivia, MN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, B-17 pilot, 303rd Bomb Group
Carl L. Ware (101) – Odenville, AL; US Army, WWII, ETO, SSgt., Co. E/159th Combat Engineers
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Current News – Missing In Action
Video from the U.S. Army, filmed 2 weeks ago.
Right now, there are about 82,000 total people still missing from every major conflict since World War II. Of those, 81 are from Nevada. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is a government agency that is actively searching for all of those people.
The DPAA is working to get DNA swabs of family members related to those missing so that if and when they’re found, they can be identified. They then work to actually locate the remains of the people missing.
Last year, 217 people were found and identified. About 75% of those are former unknown soldiers. The DPAA researches what is known about the unknown soldiers, then if they are confident they can identify them positively, they’re able to do DNA testing on the remains.
The other way MIA are identified is through a search. The DPAA researches anything from where the person was last seen to where planes went down to where major battles were fought. They conduct interviews with any witnesses then determine the best area to search. Then, they bring in teams of dozens of people and dig for about a month, hoping to find any human remains. Even if it’s just a tooth, that’s all it takes to ID a person and solve the mystery of what happened to them.
The DPAA held a meeting in Henderson to update local families on their loved ones’ cases. Attendees heard updates on new technology being used to search and their own personal cases. There were also chances for family members to give DNA swabs.
For the families of the POWs and/or MIAs – CONTACT
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Robert C. Agard Jr. – USA; US Army, Korea, Cpl., 2/24/24th Infantry Division, KIA (Taejon, SK
Jacob Cruz – Los Angeles, CA; USMC, WWII, Pvt., Co. D/1/6/2nd Marine
HONOR
Division, KIA (Tarawa)
Elmer E. Drefahl – USA; USMC, WWII, Cpl., USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor)
Henry E. Ellis – USA; USMC, Korea, Pfc., HQ Co./1/1st Marine Division, KIA (Koto-Ri, NK)
Harry Gravelyn (101) – Grand Rapids, MI; US Army, WWII, Captain, Co. D/331/83rd Division
Jesse D. Hill – Highland Park, MI; US Army, Korea, Sgt., Co. C/1/32/7th Infantry Division, KIA (Chosin Reservoir)
Marilyn Mackson – Lansing, MI; US Army WAC, WWII, Signal Corps decoder
Aurekui Ortiz – San Diego, CA; US Army, Korea, HQ Co./2/187th RCT
Joseph Pincinotti – Charleroi, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. D/457 Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Jimmy Young – Johnson City, TN; US Army, 89th Artillery, 11th Airborne Division
[The MIA’s recovered from the Korean War, and gradually being identified to come home, have been made possible by the joint talks between President Trump and North Korea]
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