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Salute to the Women in Uniform
American women played important roles during World War II, both at home and in uniform. Not only did they give their sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers to the war effort, they gave their time, energy, and some even gave their lives.
The utilization of women in an organization such as the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) offered a “golden opportunity” to solve manpower shortages. So recognizable was the opportunity that Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall himself told the War Department in November 1941, “I want a women’s corps right away, and I don’t want any excuses!” Urgent wartime demands necessitated the use of all able, willing citizens, regardless of gender. In recruiting women, the Army assured them that they would be doing “unusual and exciting work” and that their service “in making available technically trained men for combat service will be of great value in winning the war.”
Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers (R-MA) introduced a bill to establish the WAAC on 28 May 1941. She cited two rationales for such an organization: to ease the shortage of able-bodied men and “to answer an undeniable demand from American women that they be permitted to serve their country, together with the men of America, to protect and defend their cherished freedoms and democratic principles and ideals.” WAAC/WAC veterans later recalled this strong desire to be of service. Mary Robinson, for example, said, “I just thought it was the sensible thing to do. The British had done it in two wars.”
The 77th Congress eventually did establish the WAAC with Public Law (PL) 77-554 on 14 May 1942, after much heated debate.
Nearly 350,000 American women served in uniform, both at home and abroad, volunteering for the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs, later renamed the Women’s Army Corps), the Navy Women’s Reserve (WAVES), the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPARS), the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS), the Army Nurses Corps, and the Navy Nurse Corps. General Eisenhower felt that he could not win the war without the aid of the women in uniform. “The contribution of the women of America, whether on the farm or in the factory or in uniform, to D-Day was a sine qua non of the invasion effort.”
Women in uniform took office and clerical jobs in the armed forces in order to free men to fight. They also drove trucks, repaired airplanes, worked as laboratory technicians, rigged parachutes, served as radio operators, analyzed photographs, flew military aircraft across the country, test-flew newly repaired planes, and even trained anti-aircraft artillery gunners by acting as flying targets. Some women served near the front lines in the Army Nurse Corps, where 16 were killed as a result of direct enemy fire. Sixty-eight American service women were captured as POWs in the Philippines. More than 1,600 nurses were decorated for bravery under fire and meritorious service, and 565 WACs in the Pacific Theater won combat decorations. Nurses were in Normandy on D-plus-four.
At the war’s end, even though a majority of women surveyed reported wanted to keep their jobs, many were forced out by men returning home and by the downturn in demand for war materials. Women veterans encountered roadblocks when they tried to take advantage of benefit programs for veterans, like the G.I. Bill. The nation that needed their help in a time of crisis, it seems, was not yet ready for the greater social equality that would slowly come in the decades to follow.
Women today still proudly wear a uniform, as demonstrated by our very own fellow blogger, Cindy Bruchman, seen here after she graduated boot camp!!
Cindy Bruchman, US Navy
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Current – 14 August – National Code Talkers Day
Code talkers’ Monument
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Jessie Adams (100) – Riverdale, UT; US Army WAC, WWII, PTO, nurse
Vera Bernard – Ridgewood, CAN; RC Womens Army, WWII
London Monument to the Women of WWII
Linda Dietsche – Elmira, NY; US Army, Vietnam, Captain (Ret. 20 y.), nurse
Valerie Ferguson – Waikato, NZ; QSM WAAC # 809924, WWII, Northern Signals, 9th Regiment
Eileen “Kelly” Finch – Brighton, IL; US Navy, SeaBee
Barbara Graham – Philadelphia, PA; US Navy, Korea, nurse
Patricia Hamlin – Seattle, WA; US Navy WAVE, WWII, machinist
Lottie Manley – Hughesville, PA; US Coast Guard
Winifred Pickering – Lebanon, ME; US Navy, WWII
Judy Terry – Brookhaven, MS; US Army, nurse
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June – 11th Airborne (continued)
11th Airborne w/ 81mm mortar on Luzon
The 11th Airborne battled the Shabu Forces on a 75 mile hike in 120 degree heat to connect up with the Connolly Task Force. The combined goal was to prevent the enemy from escaping into the Cagayan Valley and out to sea. Lt. Col. Burgess met Gen. Beightler, on 26 June, and received a rather snide remark about how his men had saved the 11th A/B. Burgess became quite red-faced and replied that he was under orders to save the 37th Division. Gen. Swift, standing off to one side, laughed and said, “Well, you SOUND like one of Swing’s boys.”
Lipa Airfield, Luzon
The Gypsy Task Force marched away to the 37th’s Headquarters to request C-47s to transport the unit back to Lipa. Burgess was denied and told to counter-march to Aparri and have the trucks take them south to Manila. That would mean they would still need to march another 55 miles from Manila to Lipa. Instead, the men bribed the C-47 pilots with Japanese swords, guns and various other paraphernalia in exchange for a flight back. (Necessity is the mother of invention.)
Bold headlines exploded in the Australian newspapers: U.S. Paratroopers Land In Northern Luzon – “After the 11th A/B Division made their air-borne landing near Aparri on June 23rd., using their gliders for the first time, carrying howitzers, jeeps and mobile equipment. Each trooper jumped with 100 pounds of gear strapped to his body.”
In the 26 June 1945 issue of The Army News – “On Saturday, from 600 feet into paddy fields, the 11th Airborne dropped near the port of Aparri in a surprise move against the Japanese forces in northern Luzon. They used their gliders for the first time in the southwest Pacific…”
3 July, General Swing made an official note stating that he had implored the higher echelon of the Sixth Army two months previous with a plan to drop the entire 11th Airborne Division onto northern Luzon back when Gen. Krueger’s men were having so much trouble with the Japanese in Balete Pass. He expressed his frustration that his own plan to attack Aparri had gone unheeded. The Japanese had been given the opportunity to withdraw just enough to unite with reinforcements.
According to the US Government’s booklet on Luzon,
On 30 June 1945 Krueger’s Sixth Army was relieved by the Eighth Army, whose task was to mop up scattered Japanese positions. [There we go with that “moping up” terminology again.]
Technically, the battle for Luzon was still not over when Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945. On the northern part of the island Shobu Group remained the center of attention for the better part of three U.S. Army divisions. Altogether, almost 115,000 Japanese remained at large on Luzon and on some of the southern islands.
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Current News –
The remains of 2 Civil War soldiers will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery…
AND….
WWII firearms and swords were found under a Tokyo elementary school….
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Robert Bochek – Milwaukee, WI; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Daniel Cremin – Sydney, AUS; RA Air Force, WWII, ETO, KIA
Joseph Garron – Brooklyn, NY; USMC
Terrell J. Fuller – Toccoa, GA; US Army, Korea, Cpl., D/1/38/2nd Infantry Division, KIA
John Kain – GloucesterCity, PA; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
William A, Larkins – Pittsburgh, PA; US Army, Korea, Sgt., A/503 Field Artillery/2nd Infantry Division, KIA
John Magnon – New Orleans, LA; US Navy, WWII
Robert L. Martin – IA & IL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Tuskegee pilot
Edward Ranslow – Melville, MA; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
Francis Sapp – Weston, FL; US Army
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June – 187th/11th Airborne Division
Jump at Aparri, Luzon
With his thoughts still focused on his R&R in Australia, Everett “Smitty” Smith landed back at Lipa City, P.I. only to discover that a mission was scheduled. The last remaining organized Japanese group, the Shabu Forces, were hold up in the northeast corner of Luzon and General Swing had organized the Gypsy Task Force to take them out. On his orders, the unit would include “all Camp MacKall veterans.”
This unique unit would include men from the 187th Infantry, the 511th, the 457th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, a platoon from the 127th Engineers and two platoons from B Company. Despite Gen. Krueger’s disapproval, Lt. Col. Henry Burgess, now 26 years old, would be the commanding officer. (Smitty was at the ancient age of 30, one of the oldest paratroopers besides one other soldier and a few of the officers.) Col. Lahti (31) would be CO for the reserve unit.
Task Force Gypsy, Aparri, Luzon
Col. John Lackey, CO of the 317th Troop Carrier Group, with very little notice, began loading 54 C-47s and 13 C-46s at 0430 hours, 23 June 1945. His plane was the first to leave Lipa airstrip and the constant rumbling of the planes soon became “Vs” in the open skies. Within the transports, every man appeared as a clone to the next. Individuality was lost among the uniforms, bundled parachutes and rucksacks filled to capacity with ammunition, first-aid, water and C-rations.
C-47 Skytrain “Gooney Bird”
Each man stood and checked the chute of the man beside him when the “Gooney Birds” lurched at 0900 hours; the smoke flares from the forward Pathfinders were spotted and green lights flashed for the paratroopers. The stick of men hooked up to the static lines and proceeded to jump into vertical development. With mandatory, disciplined silence, the traditional battle cry, “Geronimo,” is only heard within the imaginative faculty of 1,030 men. All these diverse personalities would react separately to the same experience.
Task Force Gypsy
Each man, for his own reasons, volunteered for the perilous duty that might end his life. Each man went through various stages of development and arrived at the same destination. Each man had been chosen for their good health, general toughness and honor. A jump into combat is reality in its most crystalline form.
As the ground races up to meet the troopers, they see the tall, thick fields of the sharp kunai grass, flooded rice paddies, caribou ruts and bomb craters – all would prove dangerous. The Task Force would lose 7%, two men killed and 70 wounded as they landed in 25 mph winds. The battle-hardened paratroopers collected their flame throwers, howitzers and rifles from the gliders and reassembled with “Espirit de Corps.”
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Current News – Tomorrow, 7 August 2018 is Purple Heart Day
Over 1.8 million awarded to date.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Hugh Adams – Portland, OR; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Trevor Anstey – Chesterfield, ENG; RAF, WWII
Angel Flight
Gary Bohanick – Virginia Beach, VA; US Army, Vietnam, 101st Airborne Division
Michael Gagliardi – Boca Raton, FL; US Army, 127th Engineers/11th Airborne Division
Freeman Hepburn – brn: Bahamas/Port St. Lucie, FL; US Army
Richard B. “Rick” Long Sr. – Seven Lakes, NC; US Army, Lt. Colonel (Ret.)
Samuel McAllister – Mt. Vernon, NY; US Army, 75th Ranger Regiment, Sgt. Major, (2) Bronze Stars, KIA
Christopher Nelms – Oklahoma City, OK; US Army (28 y.), Delta Force, Sgt. Major, (2) Silver Stars, KIA
Billy Sapp – Reno, NV; USMC, WWII, PTO, 1st Marine Division
Kenneth Walser – Mesa, AZ; US Army Air Corps, WWII & Korea, B-26 pilot
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I will Salute
The sentiments spoken by a true American. I hope many will follow Bob MacPherson’s example and once again revere the flag !!
Forty six years ago, I raised my right hand in a room full of strangers and pledged to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. I solemnly swore to do so while standing facing the flag that represents this country. For all of the years since then, that flag has played a central role in my life.
I watched her fly as a green recruit and came to understand she is more than just another piece of cloth. I watched her fly from the deck of many submarines and ships at bases all over the world. I listened with pride one night in Yokosuka Japan while a shipmate played Taps as we retired her for the day. I felt the crushing weight of seeing a comrade under her in a casket bound for home. I felt sadness at the deaths of so many veterans who also shared her…
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Eye Witness Account – Clearing Manila Harbor
RAdm. William A. Sullivan
This is condensed from a story written by Rear Admiral William A. Sullivan and appears in”The Pacific War Remembered” edited by John T. Mason Jr.
ship in Manila Harbor
When Captain B.S. Huie had arrived with his men, I put the gang to work on North Harbor. There turned out to be over 200 wrecks there. Huie cleaned this up and then work began on the Pasig River. For some weeks we had 40 to 60 wrecks cleaned up per week, this was around the end of May.
crossing the Pasig River
Our most important job in Manila was the opening of the main harbor entrance. The Japanese did a perfect job blocking it – far more efficient than any similar job the Germans had done in Europe. There were 5 ships sunk in a staggered line across the entrance. Four of them were old inter-island ships and one was the Luzon, flagship of the Yangtze patrol. I had the steering wheel of the Luzon taken off and sent to the naval Academy Museum.
USS Luzon
About this time, Doc Schlesinger advised me to get the men out of the tents they had been living in and put them in solid buildings before rainy season hit. Requisitions for lumber were ignored. The lumber was being unload by the SeaBees to build build a tremendous 7th Fleet Headquarters.
I watched them and every afternoon at 4:00 pm, they knocked off and went back to their billets. One night a lighter was not properly secured and drifted loose. I sent our boat over to it. Just what we needed! The next morning, the SeaBees returned and went to work as usual.
I turned it all over to our firefighters and the houses got built by mostly Filipino carpenters and guerrillas. No one in the Navy asked where I got the lumber. The only who asked was General Casey, MacArthur’s chief engineer. I told him I stole it from the Navy as the Army was short, so I couldn’t have stolen any from them.
We had a job which received much publicity, the recovery of silver pesos from the waters around Corregidor. I asked MacArthur about using Army divers, but he didn’t want the job of Manila Bay neglected. A week or two later, he brought the subject up again. He said the money had been removed from Manila bank before the Japanese complete take-over. The money was dumped by barges, something like 13 million dollars worth. The United States had both a legal and moral obligation to recover it.
I made up a team of divers and gave the CO of the ARS his orders and he left with an Army finance officer and a MP. They found no silver. An Army Sgt., Bataan Death March survivor, recently released POW, who had worked on the barges, marked the chart with an X. He also said the Japanese had recovered some of the silver themselves.
Dive ship in Manila Harbor
Finally after many dives, the wooden boxes were located at 90 →130 feet down, deteriorated and broken apart. The divers had to sift the silt on their hands and knees. The recovery of the silver continued through my stay. When I left the Philippines (August 1945), I believe something like 7 million dollars in pesos had been recovered.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
August Bill – Woodland, CA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Vella Gulf
Patrick Churchill – Oxfordshire, ENG; Royal Marines, WWII, ETO
Joseph DioGuardi – Mount MOrris, NY; US Army, Korea, 11th Airborne Division
Gerald Giles – Lowell, MA; US Army, Cpl., medic
Drensel Haws – Emmett, ID; US Navy, WWII
Dick Marshall – Des Moines, IA; USMC, WWII, PTO
John Reith – LA & CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, P-51 pilot
David South – Bozeman, MT; US Army, WWII, ETO, 85th Div., Silver Star, Bronze Star
Albert Trapanese – Bronx, NY; US Navy, WWII
Charles Wright – Millcreek, UT; USMC, WWII, PTO
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Gurkha Soldier – 13 May 1945
The 4th Gurkhas at kit inspection
Never mess with a Gurkha. Not everyone knows this, but then again, many people don’t know what a Gurkha/Gorkha is. Gurkhas were a branch of troops from Nepal who historically served with the British army and now serve around the world. Gurkha troops served admirably during WWI, winning nearly 2,000 awards for bravery serving in virtually every theatre of the war.
In WWII, the Japanese Empire spread through Asia and the Pacific. Americans mostly recall the island hopping and battles over patches of turf like Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. The British fight (supported by China and some Americans) against Japan centered around Burma (Myanmar) and was a terrible slugfest in the depths of the South Asian jungles.
The Gurkhas were a major force for the British in the Burma campaign and on May 13th, 1945, five days after victory in Europe, the Gurkhas would face intense Japanese assaults. Lachhiman Gurung and his detachment manned the forward-most position on the banks of the Irrawaddy River.
A little after one in the morning the Japanese led a furious assault with around 200 men. The attack was aimed at Gurung’s position as he and his comrades held a hill that would give the Japanese sweeping views and attack lanes to the rear of British positions.
Type-97 Japanese grenade
The Japanese started their assault by tossing grenades into the foxhole of Gurung. Gurung responded by calmly grabbing the grenades and tossing them back. After a couple of times doing this, Gurung’s luck ran out as a grenade exploded in his right hand as he was trying to throw it away.
The blast took off Gurung’s fingers and most of his hand. It fractured several bones in his right arm and left shrapnel wounds in his right leg and face, damaging his eye. Gurung’s comrades were completely incapacitated by the blast, and so the defense fell to Gurung.
He brought up his rifle with his left arm and gunned down the advancing Japanese, even reloading with his left hand. Try reloading a rifle with your non-dominate hand, it’s quite difficult, even without life-threatening wounds.
Bleeding profusely in the middle of the night, Gurung held off sporadic assaults for four hours. As the sun rose, the Japanese assault faded away. Of the approximately 200 Japanese attackers, 87 of them were dead, with 31 of them laying in the immediate vicinity of Gurung’s location.
garrison hill during advancement
Gurung was immediately hospitalized where he would eventually lose his right eye. His right arm was saved, but he lost most of the use of his right hand. He would be awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions.
Gurung still wanted to serve and was allowed to return to his unit, staying with them through the liberation of India in 1947. He retired shortly after to work on a farm in his native Nepal.
Gurung had five children and eventually moved to London where he would pass away from pneumonia in 2010. The Gurkhas again served in nearly every theatre of the world war, earning close to 3,000 awards for bravery.
The Gurkhas were known for outstanding bravery in battle and their use of the fearsome Kukri blade as a utility knife and in battle.
Sir Ralph Turner, a well-known British professor, had this to say about the Gurkhas: “Uncomplaining you endure hunger and thirst and wounds; and at the last, your unwavering lines disappear into the smoke and wrath of battle. Bravest of the brave, most generous of the generous, never had country more faithful friends than you.”
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Military Humor – CBI Roundup style – 
WACs Wanted – 2 to 1
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Farewell Salutes –
Leonard Bellis – Philadelphia, PA; US Army, Captain
James Brook – OR; US Navy, WWII, pilot, / FBI
Charles H. Daman – Coeur d’Arlene, ID; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, SSgt., nose gunner, KIA
Thaylon Hobbs – Logan, UT; US Navy, WWII
Charles “Bud” Jenkins – Fayetteville, NC; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Pfc., 307th A/B Engineers/82nd Airborne Div., KIA
Robert McCooley – Patterson, NJ; US Navy, Cuban Missile Crisis
Frank Perry – San Leandro, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Robert Rusello – Massena, NY; US Army, 221 Signal Corps
John Stormer – Altoona, PA; US Air Force, historian, / (author)
Max Tadlock – Toledo, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, pilot
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OSS in the C.B.I. – 1945
In the book, “A COVERT AFFAIR”, Jennet Conant follows the OSS detachments that operated in the CBI Theater. These members of the forerunner of the CIA included Elizabeth (Betty) MacDonald, her future husband Frederick MacIntosh, Julia McWilliams and her future husband Paul Child, and many others.
From time to time, the OSS teams would report armed clashes in the area (China) as local factions jockeyed for position, “The warlords were always shooting at each other,” recalled Betty, “But we never really felt scared. We had pretty good protection, and the Flying Tigers kept the Japanese at bay.”
Betty MacDonald w/ colleagues in the doorway of the flooded MO print shop during the 1945 flood in Kumming. The fortified walls around the outpost made the OSS compound a lagoon.
Betty also reported, “the Chinese never followed the rules. Smuggling was a way of life. They brazenly peddle state secrets and are equally overt about trading everything from information to arms with the Japanese. Everything is for sale.”
Chiang’s people had to approve any proposed OSS operation. Paul Child said, “The warp and woof of war in China is complex beyond belief. The inner workings, the who-influences-who, the deals, the sleights of hand, the incredible chicaneries, the artistic venalities, the machinations and the briberies.
Julia Child & others of the OSS
“Some facts are so incredibly romantic and sinister that only hearing hundreds of verbal reports from the mouths of horses themselves finally convinces me of the dreadful reality of the under-the-sea war – the war of back alleys, back rooms, big parties, magnificent whores and equally magnificent blackmails. It almost becomes the “real” war of which the news-war is only the surface expression.”
American officers of OSS Detachment 101
The chances for honest-to-God peace in China seemed almost impossible. Even with the European part of the war officially over, the action in the CBI seemed to be amplifying. Paul Child wrote home to his twin brother Charles in dismay, “Building up, plans for months ahead, materials and personnel being striven for and allocated, and anticipated dangers faced. Perhaps you will never know what it is to feel profoundly lonely. Well, you become empty, unbased and bereft.”
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Military Humor –
Roundup’s staff cartoonist, Sgt. Ralph J. Somerville, was so overjoyed on V-E Day that he sat right down and drew up this cartoon of the situation in which Mussolini, Hitler, and Hirohito find themselves. Of course, as nay fool can plainly see, there isn’t but one title for this: Two off their War Horses and One on His Ass.
Bulletin Board: “There will be absolutely no more experiments in jet propulsion with company vehicles!”
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Farewell Salutes –
Elmer Brown – Orlando, FL; US Navy, WWII, Lt.Commander (Ret. 30 y.)
Arthur Kelm-Gelien (Tab Hunter) – San Francisco, CA; US Coast Guard, (actor)
Saman Kunan – Roi Et, THAI; Thai Navy SEAL, Cave rescue
Cidon Long – Anson, TX; US Army, WWII, homefront German POW guard
Joseph Maciel – South Gate, CA; US Army, Afghanistan, Cpl., 1/28/3rd Infantry Division, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, KIA
Helen Miller – St. Paul, MN; US Army WAC, WWII, ETO
George Ritter – Toledo, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Robert Sutcliffe – Lynbrook, NY; US Navy, WWII
Deisel Tykeson – Ross, ND; US Army, WWII, PTO
Harrison Ward – Lenoir, NC; US Army, WWII, Bronze Star
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PERSONAL NOTE: My internet was cut-off this morning, hence the late post and lack of visits to your sites. I will make every attempt this afternoon to correct this. I thank you in advance for your patience.
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CBI Theater – May 1945
B-24 Liberator, “Black Magic”, 7th Bomb Group
Outstanding mission of the period was a record bridge-busting jaunt by B-24’s of the Seventh Bomb Group, which destroyed or damaged 37 rail and road spans on the Burma-Siam railroad east of Thanbyuzayat. The Japs have been using rail cars with special auxiliary wheels which can leave the bombed-out trackbed and use the highways, and pilots reported seeing several of these, some of them directing machine gun fire at the attackers.
B-29, WWII
HEADQUARTERS, XX BOMBER COMMAND, INDIA – (UP) – Administering treatment prescribed by a medical officer by radio at this headquarters, two crew members of a B-29 returning from a raid on Japanese-occupied Burma saved the life of a third member of the crew.
When the crew member was seriously wounded by shell fire over the target, Sgt. Patsy J. Grimaldi of Brooklyn, radioed the following message to his base:
“Wounded man on board. Shot in neck. Can’t move right arm. Think collar bone broken. Advise if possible.” The radioed pulse and respiration reports continued every ten minutes during the ship’s return trip. An ambulance met the plane at the airstrip and the injured airman was rushed to a hospital where he is now recovering.
Sgt. Grimaldi, who is a member of the Billy Mitchell Group, Twentieth Bomber Command, sent back the messages as well as rendering first aid. A tactical mission report said he “is to be commended on the manner in which he discharged his duties under a trying situation.”
A XX BOMBER BASE, INDIA – The navigator who called calmly over the interphone to ask for certain information received as an answer, “Hell, I couldn’t piece these maps together if I wanted to.”
The answer came from Lt. Harold Vicory of Greenleaf, Kans., 23-year-old radio officer aboard a B-29 Super-Fortress who fortunately was not working with his legs crossed during a mission over Jap-occupied Singapore.
“Enemy fir was very thick,” said Vicory. “The Japs were really peppering us. I was at my desk with a packet of maps and charts when gunfire pierced the belly of the plane, zipped right between my legs, up through the top of the desk, through the maps, and shot out the top of the plane. It all happened pretty fast.”
After he had collected his wits, Vicory examined his maps to discover that the Malay Peninsula had disappeared in thin air.
“They wiped themselves off the map and didn’t know it,” he exclaimed. “And just about that time, the navigator called back and wanted me to give him some information.”
WACs in the CBI
WACS IN THE CBI
The War Department announced this week that 15,546 WAC’s of the Corps’ total strength of 94,000 are serving overseas, including 334 in India and Ceylon.
Other distribution includes, European Theater – 7,030; Southwest Pacific, including Australia, New Guinea, Dutch East Indies and Philippines – 5,255; Italy – 1,612; Guam and Hawaii – 206; Africa and Egypt – 596; Alaska – 103; and Bermuda, Labrador and British Columbia – 394.
Here are two Americans rescued by the 14th Army near Pegu after having been POWs in the hands of the Japanese. At left, Lt. Allan D. DuBose, of San Antonio, Tex., finds it’s the same old Army as he “smilingly” absorbs a shot from Sgt. Orlando Roberto of the 142nd General Hospital in Calcutta. After 18 months as a prisoner in Rangoon, DuBose finds that times change, but not the Army. And at right, Maj. Wesley Werner of St. Louis, happily quaffs his first bottle of beer at the same hospital in Calcutta. Werner had been a prisoner of the Nips since November 17, 1942. A former pilot with the old Seventh Bomb Group he is remembered by old timers in the Theater as the skipper of the noted B-24 Rangoon Rambler. Werner was one of the best known airmen in the 10th Air Force.
CALCUTTA – Happiest group of American soldiers in the India-Burma Theater this week were 73 prisoners of war liberated by the British 14th Army near Pegu on their drive to Rangoon.
The first group of recaptured American prisoners, mostly Air Corps personnel, was recuperating in 142nd General Hospital in Calcutta – with American beer, cigarettes, good food, candy bars, fruit juice, newspapers, magazines and everything possible that Army authorities and Red Cross would provide comfort.
Behind them was a grim memory of starvation, filth, disease and indignities administered by the Japanese to the “special treatment” group composed of flyers captured after the bombing of the Japanese homeland began.
The rescued men will also never forget the forced march out of their prison stronghold in Rangoon to north of Pegu where their Japanese guards deserted in the face of bullets and sound of artillery of the advancing 14th Army.
Two airmen, Lt. Kenneth F. Horner, New Orleans, and Pfc. Smith W. Radcliff, Dexter, Kans., had been prisoners for nearly 35 months; many others had sweated out their return since the fall of ’43 and only two of the recaptured prisoners had been missing since this year.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – C.B.I. style – 
“IS THERE REALLY A COSTUME PARTY AT THE RED CROSS TONIGHT?!”
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Farewell Salutes –
George Bezecny – brn: CZECH; British information Service & US Army Intelligence Div. / USMC
Donald Gillis – Cancouver, CAN; RC Navy, WWII
William Hare Jr. – Sylacauga, AL; US Army, WWII, ETO
Ray Jones – Chesterfield, MO; US Air Force, Sgt.
Eleanor Kruger – Pottsville, PA; civilian, War Department, decoder
Arthur Mulroy – Brooklyn, NY; US Navy, Korea & Cuban Missile Crisis, USS Antietam
John Peter Jr. – Swansea, IL; US Army, 11th Airborne Division, medic
Gary Riggins – Sawyer, KS; US Army, WWII, Engineer Corps
Michael Sklarsky – Bristol, FL; US Air Force (25 y.)
Homer Waybright – Fayetteville, NC; US Army, WWII, Korea & Vietnam, Sgt. Major (Ret.)
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11th Airborne Division – May 1945 (2)
187th HQ Company, from 11th Airborne Yearbook 1943
After the fall of Mount Macolod, the one remaining Japanese stronghold in the 11th A/B’s area of operation on Luzon was Mount Malepunyo, a welter of conical hills covered with tangled rainforest and bamboo thickets surrounded by slopes and interlaced with sharp ridges. There were no roads within the 30-square-mile area of the mountain.
Gen. Griswold felt that Malepunyo was such a formidable Japanese bastion that he planned to give Gen. Swing the 1st Cavalry to use along with Swing’s 11th A/B. But – just before the operation was to take place, Griswold would only attach the 8th Calvary Regiment .
The 187th Regiment of the 11th A/B, shorthanded and weary after fighting for Mt. Macolod, was sent to Tiaong, to prevent enemy escape on the east. This would put them around the north shore of Lake Taal. The 188th was moved to Alaminos on the south and kept the 8th Calvary at the “Grand Canyon” at the northeast and the 511th on their right flank.
Gen. Farrell gathered 7 battalions of artillery and spread them out around the foot of the mountain. When the operation went into affect, fighter-bombers pounded the Japanese strongholds. The American paratroopers could actually see the enemy race underground and to their positions when they hear the aircraft overhead.
Major Davy Carnahan of the 187th said, “We had ambushes up and down the river for a distance of about 10 miles, endeavoring to cover every possible crossing. In those ambushes we accounted for some 4 hundred Japanese captured or killed.
“About 2400 hrs. one night, movement across the bridges was noticed. … The surprise was complete and deadly, some 100 enemy being killed and wounded, including some high-ranking officers. The strange looking objects seen on the bridge turned out to be sedan chairs that all the Japanese officers were being carried in.” [The troopers would later discover that Gen. Fujishige’s auto had broken down back in March. But the general was not being carried, he walked out leading 200 men and was not captured here.]
Carrying out the wounded, 11th Airborne Div.
At the end of May, the 187th was sent to Manila to relieve the 20th infantry. The city was in dire straits. Vast areas had been destroyed, industry was non-existent, they had very little in the way of utilities, there was no police force and dance halls were springing up on every corner.
Smitty was not here, but as part of Gen. Swing’s service staff, he would have been with his general. Plans were heavily into talks about the invasion of Japan.
According to the 11th A/B’s G-4 officer, Major John Conable, “We were to be the lead division of XVIII Airborne Corps under Gen. Ridgeway. Our division and the 13th Airborne Division were to parachute onto the peninsula forming the east side of Tokyo Bay and establish a beachhead for a couple of armored divisions…. I can remember poring over aerial photographs of the area, trying to find some decent jump fields. We didn’t find any.”
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
William Bond Jr. – Bradford, PA; US Navy, WWII
Richard Brunk – Pittsburgh, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 511/11th Airborne Division, Chaplain
Stanley Chambers – Ipswich, ENG; Royal Air Force, WWII / British Navy, pilot (Ret. 44 y.)
Peter Firmin – Harwich, ENG; British Navy, (artist)
James Furcinito – Syracuse, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Joe Gondarilla – Oxnard, CA; US Army, WWII, PTO
Kenneth Herrell – Manchester, TN; US Army
Clarence Mayotte – Webster, MA; US Army, WWII, ETO, 5th Armored Division
Ronald Spetalnick – Far Rockaway, NY; US Air Force, SSgt., Flight Instructor
Arnold Tolbert – Williston, SC; US Air Force
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July Fourth 2018
While you enjoy your bar-b-ques and fireworks – take a moment to remember the troops that made it all possible for that to happen today.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY USA !!!
Ralph Waldo Emerson‘s “Concord Hymn.” It was sung at the completion of the Concord Battle Monument on April 19, 1837.
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world,
The foe long since in silence slept,
Alike the Conqueror silent sleeps,
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone,
That memory may their deed redeem,
When like our sires our sons are gone.
Spirit! who made those freemen dare
To die, or leave their children free,
Bid time and nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and Thee.
If you are setting off fireworks this evening, please be courteous to your neighboring veterans . Haven’t they heard enough?
Take good care of your pets
Click on images to enlarge.
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Fourth of July Humor – or is it?
courtesy of ‘America on Coffee’
courtesy of: Henry Kotula
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Farewell Salutes –
Hobert Bingham – Alcorn County, MS; USMC, WWII, PTO
James Conway – Sun City, AZ; US Army, WWII, 2nd Lt.
Irving Green – Mountaindale, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, bombardier
Charles Highley Jr. – Glen Ridge, NJ; USMC, WWII, PTO
Lois Jolly – Hempstead, NY; US Army WAC, WWII, ETO, nurse
Thomas Miller – Norfolk, VA; US Army Air Corps, 152nd AAA/11th Airborne Division
Joseph Rizzi – Bronx, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, CO A/457 Artillery/11th Airborne Divsion
Ray Sarvis – Bessemer City, NC; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Harold Tor – Beach, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co F/187th/11th Airborne Division
Robert Watz – Westerly, RI; US Army, Korea, Co A/187th RCT
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