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Showing posts with label killing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label killing. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Leonard's Story: April 26, 1945

The Times Pony edition was printed for members of the U.S. Armed Forces overseas beginning at the end of 1942. Div CP would mean Division Command Post.
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                                                                                               Philippines
                                                                                               26th April

Dear Arnold,

     Received your V-mail of 6th April.  After what campaign?  We were
going to get a rest, but the situation changed  and here  we are kicking
the Japs around with everything or anything.  They are about as hard to exterminate
[ARROW] as cockroaches in a good old Calif home.  I am going up to work with the
Guerrillas, as an intelligence officer.  It should prove interesting.

[from ARROW above in margin]
but we are just the guys who can and are liquidating them

     Although the rest did'nt pan out we did get ten days of perishable
rations, and have had fresh meat and eggs for breakfast practically every day
day now for the last seven days.  However, it will soon be back to bully
beef and spam again.

     At present we ar set up in a coconut grove, near an ex-town ( completely
destroyed by the Japs).  The weather is hot and muggy, but it is better this
way than if it was raining all the time.  I sure hope we finish this deal
up before the rainy season starts.  I don't want to have to go through another
nightmare like we had on Leyte.  Of course we would be there during the
typhoon season, and I have never been wet so much for so long in my life.
We use to have to stand in ankle deep mud even in the chow line, and keeping
dry feet was just impossible, in fact keeping dry was impossible.

     We have had a little rain here, and I can see that this place will be a
regular mud hole too, when the rains come.  It rained just as much or more
on Bougainville, but the ground quickly absorbed the water.  Also it would
usually rain about the same time every day for a week or so, and then change
the schedule.  In Leyte is just rained all the time every day.

     Say I want to thank you again for the pen and pencil set, it is now one
of my prized possessions.  I don't know how I got along without it before.
Also thanks for the Air mail edition of TIMES Pony, that is something that
is hard to find around here, and they are always read to death.

     I have lost a lot of weight, and you probably would'nt recognize me now.
Things have been rough, and I am glad that you won't have to got through any-
thing like this.  It is no fun, believe me.

     A while back when we were at a certain extown, we had a bit of excitement
right in the center of the Div CP.  It so happened that I was duty officer
this particular morning, when I heard the guards open fire.  Now this in its
self is not uncommon, in fact I was cussing tthem out, because the bullets
were wanging around, and the only things they seem to hit are horses or dogs,
or just the ozone.  Suddenly a man came running up and said that they wanted
me to go over and search a Jap that they had killed only about a hundred yards
down the road from the G-2 office.  Now the interesting thing is that this Jap
was armed with a US .30 caliber carbine, and upon checking the number it was
discovered that it belonged to one of our men, and had been stolen from the side
of his sack while he was asleep earlier in the morning.  In the dim pre-dawn
light this Jap was thought to be a guerrilla, and was finally killed walking
down one of the main roads only about 100 yds from the center of town.

     Well I'd better close now, write soon.
                                                            love
                                                  [signed] Leonard



Saturday, June 14, 2014

Leonard's Story: March 24, 1945

OB would be "Order of Battle". Not sure if CBI is "China-Burma-India" theater.  SWPA is South West Pacific Area. Look alike their cousin Edwin died and Len is concerned about Edwin's mother Laura.
___________________________________________________________
                                                                                   Philippines
                                                                                   March 24

Dear Arnold,

     I am sorry I have'nt written you for such a long time, mainly
due to plenty of work.  In addition to being Order of Battle Officer,
my main job, I now go out about every/other day on G-2 liaison work.
This means every night that I come in I have to check over OB stuff,
and by the time I am through I am too tired to write anything else.
I guess you have been reading alot about this unit in the papers
upon occasion, its a damn good outfit, and probably the toughest
fighting unit down here, bar none, including the Rangers.  However
a personal situation has arisen between myself and the G-2, and I
think it best that I try to transfer, as I have the feeling that
a knife is constantly ticking me right between the shoulder blades,
and at the first chance it will slip in.  So far I have'nt offered
him that chance.  If I stay here I will probably get a section 8,
as I am fast becoming a nervous wreck.

     The other day I received the wings you sent me, and today I
received the pen and pencil set (the thing I needed most, as I had
lost mine) and the pajamas and slippers, which will also come in
very handy.  Thanks very much, things like that just can't be had
out here.

     We are still at it, with no breaks.  Its a tough life, especially
for the kids in the Infantry Companies.  I have'nt had any close
calls lately, in fact I am starting to become a little less anxious
about rushing right up and looking at things, too many people are
collecting insurance on deals like that.  Its too bad about Edwin,
he was the type that would get right up there and really mix it up.
I hope Aunt Laura won't take it too hard.

     I guess you will be fixing up to come overhere soon now.  If
you are ask to accept another job in the states, take it.  I guarantee
you won't be crazy about being in CBI or SWPA.  Frankly I am ready
to come home now, who isn't, but that is'nt the way it works. I
guess the best way to figure is this; If you go home now the job
won't be really done, so its best to stay out here until it is
done correctly, even if it takes two more years. [ARROW] The only thing     (What
I am worried about is after we do a good job out here of knocking                 am I
off the Japs to the proper proportion and into the proper attutde,                   saying!)
will the boys in the marble buildings at home do a good job on
the peace?

     I am tired tonight, and I think I will go to bed.  I will try
to finish this tomorrow.

[handwritten]
     Well Bud I am going to wind this
up and get it off you you  Inclosed
you will find a description of our landing
Notice it was written 5th Feb I came
across it straightning up my files, and
found that I never had a chance to mail it.
The censoring was done by me, although
actually what I cut out has been
said in the papers (and more too). Write
soon.
                           love
                              Leonard

P.S. Thanks for the card(s)
     Thanks for the TIME SUBSCRIPTION



Monday, June 9, 2014

Leonard's Story: December 21, 1944

This letter is a retelling of the previous letter but with the details of the Japanese counteroffensive. S-2 refers to military intelligence, as in collecting data on enemy movement and battlefield deployments. Knee mortar is likely a 30 ounce grenade launched from a grenade launcher called a leg mortar. G-2 refers to Army intelligence but it is unclear what a ghoal is. The Lodger is a 1944 horror movie, based on Jack the Ripper and starring Merle Oberon, George Sanders and Laird Cregar. 
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                                                                       Philippines
                                                                       21st Dec

Dear Arnold,

     I just received your letter of 30 Nov today.  I have
received others since, and I don't know what the mix up
was.  Incidentally your letter and some clippings sent to
the 37th Div on the election, is the first mail I have receiv-
ed in over two weeks.  I hope I get some later mail before
Christmas.

     You mention the snow and the white barreness.  It is
beautiful in a bleak, cold white way, it will give you a
real White Christmas.  I'll never forget one day at Ritchie
when we had to go out on a map problem.  There was about
eight inches of snow on the ground, a sharp bitter wind was
blowing, bringing the temperature down below zero.  I would
take off a glove write a few figures or a few lines of a
sketch and then put it on before my hand froze.  We had on
hoods and masks with only our noses and eyes sticking out,
I thought my nose would freeze and fall outff.  It is hard
to imagine when spring comes that something so beautiful
and green could be so bleak and cold.

     Now it can be told!  At 1838 on the evening of the
6th of Dec, during a customary air raid, about twenty one
or more planes suddenly came roaring over at about 800 ft.
The strange thing was that they were Jap transports.  They
held their formation beautifully, and flew on without a break
or falter through a sky filled with flak.  Then to our rear
and right flank paratroopers came pouring out the doors.  In
less than thirty seconds they were on the ground and the
planes had disappeared in the distance.  Imagine the excite-
ment and confusion.  I will never forget that night.  Only a
few of themen had bothered to dig foxholes, but you should
have seen the scramble for shovels.  We dug them around and
in our G-2 tent.  Three of us were working together on one,
and it is quite an experience to dig one in pitch darkness.
Before we could finish the fireworks started.  Bullets were
wanging around everywhere, mostly our own.  Two men were shot
ten feet from me in the tent by our own fire.  This firing
kept up all night, and it rough spending the night in a
little foxhole with two other men.  There were no Japs
shot right in our immediate area, however the trigger happy
bastards were able to get some of our men, and would quite
a few more.  The next day or I should say that morning I
was assigned as acting S-2 or a mixed regiment formed to
protect a nearby airstrip.

     Once again history repeated itself, but this time there
were actually some Japs around.  The Japs threw over a few

[page 2]
mortar shells not far where I was holed up in a fortress of
stacked steel airstrip matting.  They were not knee mortar
shells, but 60mms, and Bub it is an unpleasant feeling to
hear them exploding around you.  For the few they/shot over
we dumped back a hundred fold so they finally decided it did'nt
pay and quit.  The main shooting was across the strip from
where I was situated, but the men around us did'nt let that
phase them.  I guess they thought it was the fourth of July
or something.  Every time out own troops would have somthing
to shoot at across the strip, the boys on my side would hear
the firing and would open up in any direction just for the
hell of it.  They shot one of their own men about fifty feet
from where I was.  These GIs are good shots and consequently
they usually kill what they hit.  About 0130 the Colonel sent
me out to find out why they were throwing grenades, and I'll
be damned if they did'nt almost get me.  About every ten or
fifteen minutes they would decide they needed some extra pro-
tection so some joker would toss a hand frenade out in front of
his hole.  The next morning they knocked off some snipers
nearby, but at that time I only had a .45 and they were out
of my range.  Shortly afterwards I drew a carbine.

     I have been out on four special patrols now, but I have'nt
gotten any more Japs since the first one - patrol.  In fact I
just came in from one tonight.  We went up to where one of
the transports crashed, to get some equipment.  The plane was
up on a cliff and the bodies were two undred feet below
in and on the banks of a river.  While we were up on the
cliff some of the men below got two Japs, but all I could
do was listen to the firing, I could'nt even see what was
happening.  I don't mind so much searching freshly killed
Japs, but when they get a week or two old, the odor gets
pretty bad.  I am fast becoming the official G-2 Ghoal.
I thought I was getting hardened until I heard about some
of the GIs digging the gold fillings out of the teeth of
rotting Japs.

     Well tonight we had a show, the first one I've seen for
a long time.  It was THE LODGER, fair for out here.  The sun
has come out a little in the last few days, I ate down at
another ourfit tonight and walked away with the wrinkles (not many now)
taken out of my stomach for a change, the action is going
along swell here, in fact things are almost looking up a
little.  Inclosed you will find a Jap major's insignia taken
off one of the deceased at the plane.  Write soon.

                                                  love,
                                        [signed] Leonard

P.S. Thanks for the wings, but I have'nt received them yet.



Leonard's Story: December 10, 1944

CP is probably Command Post
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                                                                    Philippines
                                                                   Sun, 10th Dec

Dear Arnold,

     How is the home front?  I have finally had a little
real combat experience, sleeping in a muddy fox hole all
night, being under fire, seeing dead of both sides, and
even killing a Jap.

     On Pearl Harbour day I was assigned (volunteered) to go
on a special / mission up to the front to search Jap bodies, recover and
capture all possible documents, and try to identify the enemy
force.  Searching bodies is not normally my duty, but identifying
is.  I was flown up to an airstrip about a milebehind the lines,
and hoofed it the rest of the way.  I finally found an officer
of the unit I was looking for and he supplied me with an ample
bodyguard, and four AA men on their day off decided to come along
for excitement.  We were on the right flank, and the road to the
main fighting area was under fire, so we had to go a long way
around.  The mud was over our knees at times, and often we became
mired and had to pull one another out, in addition we were travell-
ing in an area in which there were snipers.  We got lost once and
almost walked into the main field of fire, however we finally
arrived at an air unit which was more or less temporarily isolated
on a hill, as firing was going on in all directions around them,
in fact shortly after we arrived we neard firing in the direction
we had just come from.  They treated us well, fed us and gave
us water and directions.  We started out about noon and travelled
down a road whcih was practically one the line.  All the Japs
inside the area had already been searched, and I had to go into
a swamp fifty yards in front of the lines.  I took one of the
AA men who seemed like a reliable man.

     It was a messy ticklish job, in muddy, bloody water.  I
was'nt so much afraid of meeting a Jap, as having one get in
between us and the lines, and having out own troops shoot us
while shooting at the Jap.  We found some with grenades or their
weapons still clenched in their hands.  We finally reached our
last Jap.  I thought he looked in pretty good codition, and
he did'nt seem to be hit badly.  We had just finished searching
him, and while turning him over for a final check we pushed
his head under water.  The bastard was playing possum, but he
could hold his breath, and when we turned him back up he started
gasping.  He opened his eyes and looked at me, that was his last
earthly act and mistake.  I shot him in the head with my .45
at two feet, you can well imagine the effects.  He might have   ?
been helpless and merely recovering conciousness, and I could
have just as well cold-conked him, but in that one second I
forgot I was in intelligence and all I could think of was
what if he had a grenade or knife in his hands which were
below the water, it was him or me.  However I have no feelings

[page 2]
                                    [arrow, handwritten] I'll never know
about the matter, even if he was helpless, but I do which I
had taken him prisoner, we could use the information.
I got some good souvenirs; Jap flag, rifle, bayonet, watch, [arrow, vertical in margin] 
                                                                                        And a good cigarette
                                                                                        case that coincidentally,
                                                                                        see other side
other misc items.  I am going to send all home except the
rifle, which is verboten.

     That same night we had some most unusual excitement,
the nature which I am not at present permitted to disclose,
but you probably read about it in newspapers.  We had Japs
running around near our area creating a good deal of conusion,
but not too much damage.  These green troops were all "trigger
happy", and consequently those at the Division Cp hit more
of our own men than they did Japs.  Two men were hit in the
G-2 tent ten feet from me.  No Japs were found the next morning,
but some of our own wounded and dead were, shot with our own
weapons.  It is a sad situation when you are shot by your
own troops.  Some of these fools must have thought it was
fourth of July, and shot at everything and anything that
moved or made a noise and a great deal of things they imagined.
Someone would open up and everybody else would follow suit,
not knowing what they were shooting at. Consequently I spent
most of the night in my foxhole.  I have only fired oneshot
at the enemy.

     The second night I was on temporary duty with a temporary
unit guarding an object.  There were green troops again, just
brought up from the beach, and again history repeated itself.
A man was killed fifty yards from the CP I was at by a carbine
bullet.  About two AM the Colonel ordered me to go out and
find out what they were throwing grenades at, although I
crawled out on my belly, they almost got me.  Periodically
they would lob a grenade out in front of their foxholes.
In the morning we aggain found no Japs in their immediate area.
There were some Japs about three or four hundred yards away,
and we did receive some mortar fire, but I don't know if it
was from the Japs or our own troops.

     Things are almost back to normal now, and I doubt if I
will see some excitement again for some time.  For a while
the sun came out, but it has started raining again, nevertheless
despite the weather, our troops have made good progress as
you have probably been reading in the papers, and it should'nt
be long before things care cleaned up here.  I imagine in the
next operation I will have even more exciting things to write
about.  Well write soon and give me the latest news.  By the
time this letter reaches you, you will be at MIT, and Christmas
and New Years will be a thing of the past, but just the same:

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEARS FROM THE PHILIPPINES

                                                                         LOVE,
                                                         [signed] Leonard

P.S. That earthquake was convenient, I have been hoping for the
thatsame for the last three years.

[page 3]
(in pencil - very faded
                     AHN)
I was on pretty friendly terms
with our Native baggage boys
but since I killed the Jap
that I might have captured
there has been a change. Try
as I may they wont take
a cigarette from the Jap case.
                                         ?