Leonard's Story: June 5, 1945

MG probably means machine gun. A defilade is a defense configuration

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                                                                                             Philippines

                                                                                             5th June

Dear Arnold,

     Sorry I have'nt written to you for such a long time Bud.  I have'nt

done much letter writing in the last month and a half or so, for several

reasons.  Mainly I guess I was just too damn lazy to overcome the

difficulties involved, and consequently I am very much in arears on my correspondence.

However, now that I am no longer in a "fighting outfit" I expect to regain

my reputation as a prolific purveyor of typewritten nonsense.  I suppose that

you have already  noticed that have a new return address, yes, I am almost

a Base Commando now.

     Back in the latter part of April the situation between me and the Colonel

got to the point that I decided I could no longer continue in his services

and retain my sanity, so requested immediate action.  Some time before that

I had disscussed transferring down to one of the line outfits with him, and

he promised that it would be done, but inasmuch as there were several other

transfers floating about in his section he put it off, as he did'nt want

the General to ask why so many officers were trying to transfer out of his

section.  The whole matter was temporarily solved by sending me out to work

with the Guerrillas, to run down their reports that 500 or more Japs were

raising hell in their area.  I spent about amonth with them, and had quite

an experience.

     I did quite a bit of patrolling, finally tracking down one large group

of Japs down to place where I was able to bring an US Inf Co in on them, and

we bagged 150 of the little bastards.  I guess I might as well tell you the

whole story.  In fact since I have'nt written to you for some time and owe

you several letters, and since you have indicated that you like to hear

about these things, I tell ya what I'm going to do, I'll tell the whole

story, and we'll call it even, and you can write to me again real quick like.

Since this is going to require a lot of space, I think that I will put it

on a separate page and use the back of this page for the fourth page.

Confusing I'll admit, so remember look for page two, but you won't find

it on the back of this sheet, silly si'nt it.

[page 2]

     Since this little action happened over a month ago is all cleared up

now, and probably does'nt make much difference anyway, I am going to use some

of the place-names (most of them are'nt on the map nayway), as I understand

from the Base Censor that this is permissable.  Well as I said before the

Guerillas in this particular area had been reporting contacts with large

groups of Japs, and in some cases as many as 500 Nips.  Now we had previously

received a report that 300 Japs had evacuated a little island off the coast,

and had landed somewhere on the shorts of CAVITE Province (north shores), but

nobody had since reported sighting them.  So we figured that possibly these

were the same Japs that the Grls had been reporting.  I was sent out to check

on these reports, and to try and clarify things.

     One of the Inf Cos of the Div had also been sent out to help the Grls

dispose of the said Japs.  Well we started to check down the reports, and

found that the Grls were basing their reports on rumors that the civilians

had told them, and after hiking over steep mountain trails in the hot tropical

sun for several days without contacting the Japs, and finding that the rumors

probably originated from a small group of stragglers we were quite PO'd at

the Grls.  Finally we get a hot report in, "The Grls are fighting the Japs

at MAGALLANES, all civilians reported evacuating towards MARAGONDAN."  An

A/B 75mm Btry was brought up as close as possible, and the next morning the

Inf Co started out to attack the Japs.  Unfortunately there were no roads

to the Barrio of MAGALLANES, and the trail ran perpendicular to five steep

gorges.  It was rough going, and many of the men carrying heavy equipment

(81 mortars and HMGs) became sick from the heat and vomitted along the

way, which slowed thing sup considerably (you must remember that these men

had been in steady combat for three months, and were a bit shot).  Finally

we crossed the last gorge and started to approach the barrio.  We noticed that

the natives were working in the fields as if nothing had happened, and upon

questioning found that they had heard reports of Japs being four or five Kms

away.  Inside the barrio we foudn no Japs, no Grls, only the local inhabitants,

who reported that there had been no Japs in the barrio, and the only ones

to evacuate were the Grls, but that they had heard that there were Japs about

4 of 5 Kms away.  I went out with a patrol to investigate and after a couple

more hours of hiking, questioning, and searching we finally found where the

Japs had bivouaced two days before, and estimated their were about 50

of them.  Naturally everyone was most disgusted.

     Upon return to Grla Hdqs, I found another report that the Japs were

now a little place called DALIG (five nipa huts) on MT CARILAO, and that

the Grls were in contact with them.  The next day a platoon from the

Inf Co went up their and took a forward observer with them.. They found the

Grls firing on a hill about 1000 yds away (even with tommy guns), and so they

had the artillery shell the area.  The Grls refused to advance so they sent

out four American soldiers who looked over the hill and reported no Japs.

This was the last straw, and the next day the infantry and the artillery

pulled out and went home, and the major (US) in charge of the Grls and myself

went around and reamed the Grla Commanders out concerning their reporting

methods and combat efficiency.

     However, the story does'nt end here.  I might tell you a little about

these Grls.  Most of them had joined up after the US landing and had no

military training.  The weapons they did have were mainly .03 rifles, with

a sprinkling of carbines and Jap rifles.  They lacked heavier equipment,

such as MGs and mortars.  Although they were useful as guards and could

take care of small groups of Jap stragglers, they were inefficient when it

came to fighting an organized group of Japs armed with MGs and mortars.

I might add that there are some good Grla units, in fact we had one join us

later which was armed with US MGs, 60mm mortars, and bozookas, and could hold

their own anytime.  The Grls also seemed to be lacking in courage, although

I think it was mainly a lack of traiing discipline, and they too often let

their impulses control them, or should I say their feet.

[page 3]

     The next day we another report that there are Japs up on MT CARILAO,

so I take a patrol of Grls and some AA men and go up there.  I might explain

that there was part of a battery of Airborne AA troops at Grla Hdqs (AA now

stands for Almost Anything).  Well believe it or not there were some Japs

up there and they were armed with mortars and MGs.  Well the Grls had howled

wolf just one too often, and so it was up to them to do the job alone.

Well it was obvious tha these japs were moving down generally south, and

by plotting their route I figured that they would make another move that

night, So I picked the two main tails going down off the mountain and

set up ambushes on them.  The Japs moved alright, but they crossed the main

highway at different spots than I had estimated they would, however, one

of the Grla ambushes heard them crossing further up on another lesser used

trail and atacked them.  Here the Grlas vindicated themselves to some

extent and by killing 21 of the Japs.  Now these Japs had been moving in the

night and hiding in the day time.  When I came down in the morning to inspect

the ambushes I found that the Japs had used 2 lesser known trails and had

crossed the highway in two places and were heading towards MT CARILAO on the

other side of the road.  By now I guess that you have figured out that we

have two mountains Mt CARILAO on the north and Mt BATULAO on the south with

a main highway running through a pass between the mountains.

     I took one of the Grls and went up the road to inspect the Jap Crossings.

At the first place I saw where a considerable number of them had crossed the

road and the signs were quite fresh.  At the second place the Grla pointed

out the spot (about 100 yds away) where they had attacked the Japs in the early

predawn light, we could'nt see any dead Japs, and as I only had two US soldiers

and two Grls with me I did'nt feel like going over to investigate the area at

that time, however we did go over to a little ridge and there on another ridge

about 600 yds away I could see some Japs.  I counted 18 of them before the

column halted to take a break.  Two of the Japs heeded the call of nature,

and it rather irked me to see them squatting so arrogantly right in the open

almost up on the skyline.  So, although the range was excessive, I told one

of the US soldiers with an M-1 to see what he could do about it.  He opened

fire and one Jap pulled up his pants and dove for cover, the the other one fell

back on his pile (I could see rather plainly through the glasses), and the

last I saw of him was his shinning bare ass as he crawled up the train behind

some bushes.  Of course the rest of the Japs all hit for cover, and I decided

that it was best we move on before they open up with a MG.  When we came

back by the first crossing, we found that the Grls had returned from breakfast

and were in a skirmish line firing at the Japs, who were in as much defilade

as the Grls, and consequently nobody was getting anywhere.  Now the night before

I had requested a US Inf Plat reinforced with mortars and MGs, and had received

an answer stating that the Rcn Plat was being sent up.  So with the Japs more

or less pinned own, at least as to location, I went on back to Hdqs to get the

platton.  In the afternoon I came back with the Rcn Plat, who had a 81 mm

mortar with them, and/we found that everything was quiet near the first crossing

where the Grls had previously engaged the Japs that morning (I later found

out that the Grls had simply knocked off and had gone to lunch), so we went

down to the spot where I had observed the Japs earlier in the morning and dis-

rupted their morning toilet.  The Rcn Platoon sent out a small patrol, which

found the Japs.  They killed two and we scattered the rest with mortar fire.

Returning to the first crossing (vicinity thereof) we found that the Grls

had returned from lunch, and were busy shooting at the Japs again.  Now past

experience had taught us that the Grls usually engaged the Japs at maximum

range or greater, and when we found them (the Grls) about sixty yards down

on the forward slope pf a ridge shooting up in the air, we naturally assumed

that the Japs were either way down in the bottom of the ravine on the other

side or else on the opposite ridge about 800 yds away.  So I ordered the Grls

to move to the crest of the ridge, and the Rcn Plat Ldr, a Sgt, and myself

reached said crest first.  Meanwhile the Grls were coming up, relaying the

orders and shouting and making quite a hubahuba.  Imagine my surprise when

I reached the top and looked down the other only to see the Japs about

twenty yards away down the reverse slope of the ridge. a bit embarrassing.

About that time a Jap MG burst opened up directly in front of the Sgt catching

him squarely across the body.  But he was lucky, as most of the shots hit his

M-1, however he was shot through both arms, the hip, and had his thumb knocked off,

but he lived.

[page 4]

     The Japs seeing us, and hearing the shouting of the Grls opened up with

everyth ing they had inculding MGs and mortars.  We had exhausted our immediate

supply of mortar ammunition in the previous skirmish, and so I took the wounded

man and went after more ammo.  However, the Rcn Plat Ldr soon found that he

was heavily outnumbered, and lacking MGs or mortar ammo and having another

Rcn man and several Grls wounded, decided to break off the engagement.

However, when I retu rned with the mortar ammunition we decided to shell the

Japs anyway, and proceeded to do so.

     This had developed into more words than I thought it would, so I will

finish it up quickly.  The outcome of the whole deal was that the Rcn Plat

was withdrawn and the Inf Co sent back up.  Early the next morning before

dawn I started down with the Inf Co to show them the Japs.  We found that

the Japs had come back to the main highway during the night and had marched

brazenly down the highway for four miles or so.  I took a patrol and started

to track the Japs down following their trail from the point they left the

road.  By this time it was quite obvious that there were between 100 and

200 of them.  It was still rather dark, and in the early morning fog it was

an eire sort of business.  Every once in a while we would come to a spot

where a straggler had fallen out, and had cut a path through the grass

down into one of the ravines below.  The trail followed a ridge running along

about 50 yards below the crest.  About an hour later just as the fog cleared

and the sun came up we heard some shots down in a valley about 1500 yards

away, and could see some Filipinos running.  The company commander, who was

with me, went back to bring up his company, and I went on ahead to investigate.

About fifteen minutes later my scouts signaled a halt, and I went up and found

that they had heard some Japs talking in a small ravine below.  The ravine

ran perpendicular to the ridge, and the trail passed above the head of the

ravine running about twenty yards below the crest of the ridge.  I went up

(crawled is the word), and about fifty yards or less below the trail I could

hear the Japs breaking up twigs and chattering.  I listened and watched for

about five minutes, occassionally getting a fleeting glimpse of a figure

through the thick foliage that grew along the bottom of the ravine.  I finally

decided that this was not the main body, and directed the patrol to sneak along

the trail and by-pass the Japs.  About 150 yds pass this spot one of the scouts

came back and reported Japs sleeping along side the trail.  I went up and in-

vestigated, and decided that it was best not to continue or we might find our-

selves in the middle of a Jap bivouac.  I took the rest of the patrol (5 men)

back to the first spot and posted them along the top of the trail with in-

structions to open fire when they heard me fire.  I then went up with the

scouts, figuring that we might as well shoot as many of the sleeping Japs

as possible before we pulled back.  I was in the lead, and  unfortunately passed

the first Jap without seeing him.  I was sneaking up on another group of Japs

when my scouts (Filipinos) started whispering, "uck, hoy, pss t," and I did'nt

know what was wrong so I went back to where they were, about twenty yards be-

hind me.  What they were doing was telling me that I had passed some Japs,

and the hoying and psssting woke the Japs up.  I only got one Jap here that

I know of for sure, and we did wound quite a few more.  I threw a hand grenade

in the bunch further up, and I know that I wounded at least five of them.

Of course the rest of the men in the rear opened up, and by the time the Japs

could figure out what was happening we were on our way out.  We went back and

met the Inf Co coming up the trail and took them back up and showed them the

place and they went to work.  While they were plastering the area with mortars,

I took another patrol out to investigate the original firing we heard earlier

in the morning.  We did'nt find anything and returned to where the first Japs

were.

     They were really caught in a hell of a jam.  It was like shooting rats in

the bottom of a pit.  By the time we got back the infantrymen were on the crest

of the main ridge and two secondary ridges bordering a second ravine, which

was below the point where the Japs were asleep on the trail.  This ravine was

covered by thick grass about four feet high, and every time a Jap would get

up or move to shoot we could see him.  The result was something like a multi-

ringed circus, maybe five or six Japs would be moving at the same time, and

everybody would shoot and open fire.  We were shooting Japs anywhere from 25

to 200 yards away.  Only one man was wounded and I counted 92 dead Japs in the

[page 5]

bottom of the ravine.  It was getting too late to go down in the first ravine,

so the artillery (which was brought up during the day) proceeded to blast it,

and continued by firing interdicting fire on it all night.  The next day 44

more Japs were counted in this rainve.  But we ran into a little trouble

there, and a number of men were killed and wounded, but that is another

story, and I have already spent much more time writing this than intended

to do.  However, I will tell you about one of those narrow escapes you

sometimes read about.

     The Jps killed a BAR man, and he fell across his buddy, and covered

himw tih blood.  The Japs came up before the buddy could do anything, and

so he played dead, or rather tried to.  He said that he could'nt stop breathing,

and the Japs knew that he was till alive, but seeing him covered with blood

they must have figured that he was sure to die.  The Japs took his M-1 and

his ammunition, and then held sort of a conference, perhaps deciding whether

to kill him or not.  Suddenly he heard some of the other menm calling to him

and the dead BAR man, as they were only about thirty yards away through the

bushes, the Japs apparently decided that they would give their own position

away if they shot him, so they left him there,  He came out of the whole

thing without a scratch.  Well enough is enough.

[page 6]

     The former Order of Battle Officer here went out on a rcn flight,

and never came back.  A while back they found the place and the bodies.

Since the 11th was going into a rest, and me not getting along with the

G-2 there, they offered me the job.  Well I lose a hundred dollars a month

by coming up here, and I could have stayed with the division, but I have

seen all the combat I want to see, and in a way this is a good break.

I have been feeling pretty sick for the last two weeks, but today I

feel pretty good.  I should be back to my old self in another week or so.

     Well Bud, I have to close now, write again soon.

                                                 love,

                                       [signed] Leonard

P.S. I don't need anything in particular right now that I can think of.

        thanks anyway.

[handwritten] New address:

                  Hq I Corps

                  APO 301 c/o PM

                  San ------

GO TO NEXT LETTER

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

GO TO NEXT LETTER

Leonard's Story: April 13, 1945

[written in: 4/13/45. In 2018 I sent the prayer flag to the Obon Society for repatriation with the family of the fallen Japanese soldier, HOKA Kenichi, but I never heard back from them. — JNyF]

Arnold,

     Here is a flag that I picked up one fateful day for its

owner, a Jap by the name of HOKA Kenichi.  I have given Mother

and Dad each one.  You can do what you want with the flag.  I

could get fifty dollars for it anytime, and sailors and merchant marine

men overhere will pay $75-$100 on on up depending upon how bad

they want it.  This is one of the better silk flags, and are

hard to find.  I have been lucky I guess, because I have found

about ten of these flags.  I have given four away to the General,

Colonel, and a major (the General pulled a fast one and got two,

damnit), however I kept the best ones.  About four have been

cotton, torn and bloody, and I gave them to the GIs that were

with me and did not yet have one.  Inclosed is a translation.

                                                Leonard

[Written nearly vertically in the margin is seminary seminary, probably Arnie's handwriting after having received the note, since he was the one interested in becoming a missionary.]

Prayer Flag of HOKA Kenichi

GO TO NEXT LETTER

Leonard's Story: April 11, 1945

                                                                             Philippines

                                                                           11th Apr

Dear Arnold,

     Glad to hear from you, I have been waiting for a letter

from you for some time now, although I realize that to a large

extent I am the guilty one.  We are still kicking the Japs around

with the gong, and tomorrow we tie the theater record for number

of consecutive days or straight combat.  I guess you know from

the papers that we have been at this business for along time

now.  It becomes very boring and tiresome, and you get sick of

the whole thing.  I remember back in Leyte that it seemed a bit

shocking when somebody would come in and say that so-and-so had

been killed, but now it is accepted as a matter of fact and

eventuality or I should say with in the logical realms of possibil-

ity.  Spent the day guiding a party around who was making an

official report and investigation on some Japanese atrocities.

Perhaps you would be interested in them.  The spot I took them

too (I had been out there before) was near a little barrio up

in the mountains. There were over a hundred Filipino men,

women, and children that had been butchered by the Japs.

Most of them had been tossed into a little gully that ran down

into a ravine.  On the ledge of the gully there were hats, both

men and womens, and shoes strewn around.  In the gully there were

a pile of decomposing cadavers or parts of them.  Heads had been

bashed in, hands, arms, legs, and occasionally even a head had

been cut off.  Some of the bodies were just generally mutilated.

Here was a small head sticking up through pile, and over there

would be a little arm or leg protruding from the mass of former

human beings.  Around the edges there were bodies of male Filipinos

with their hands still tied behind their bodies.  Some of those

bodies looked as though the Japs had poured oil or gasoline over

them as part of the body had been burned, usually the upper portion.

About fifty yards away from this massacre behind bushes were the

bodies of women singularly located.  In every case the dresses

had either been torn off the body and were lying nearby, or

they had been pulled up exposing the lower half of the body.

Several women had apparently been killed by having their heads

bashed in, one had her leg cut off just below the knee, several

of her teeth had been knocked out, and there was a big hole down where

her vagina had been, of course part of this was due to decomposition.

One women's torso had been completely burned, her head and hair

had been severely seared, and her limbs, which were scattered

around nearby, looked as though they had been neatly severed from

the body.  The next place we visited consisted of an estimated

500 bodies, which had been thrown over the steep sloping bank

of a stream.  They had suffered the same fate as those above,

and were all male Filipinos.  The bodies ran from the top all

the way down to the bed of the stream 150 feet away.  About 100yds

away were and estimated 500 more (at least) bodies in the same

state.  We could not find empty cartridges around any of these

places, nor could we find evidence of bullet wounds.  In Leyte

I once found about fifteen bodies of women and children in a

gully, and about fifty yards away the nude bodies of four wo-

men in a large fox hole.  We are allowed to tell about atrocities

that we have seen, now, and there are plenty others that I could

tell you about.

[page 2]

                                                                                    12 Apr

          I feal rather cut down, and generally tired.  I have

     lost a lot of weight.  My waist now measures 30 1/2 inches as

     compared to its former 33 or 34 inches.  My ribs, hip bones,

     and shoulder bones actually stick out.  I guess I look alot

     older too, as a matter of fact one of the other officers

     asked me tonight if I was about thirty-five years old.

     A little rest and I will be back to my old self, only I

     hope I can keep down around this weight.

     I don't know if I disscussed it with you before, but I am

going to try to transfer out of this outfit, or at least  out

of this section.  It is a matter of personalities, and I might

add that there are three (there were four, but one got out) other

officers that have also or intend to make transfers.  This thing

has practically made a nervous wreck of out of me.  I have been a

2nd Lt for almost two years now, and I have always gotten ex-

cellent before, and then this son-of-a-bitch here screws me up.

Well thats life.  I don't like to leave this outfit, as I have

made a lot of friends and we have been through a lot together.

Also its a good outfit, I think the toughest, roughest bunch

of fighters out here, bar none.  Then of course there is a small

matter of $100 jump pay, which is'nt hay.  But I would'nt take

this shit for twice that sum, it is wrecking me.  If I can't

get another job somewhere in MI, I can always go down to one of

the line outfits here, but the big problem would be getting

transferred out of MI, which I understand is a pretty hard thing

to do unless one really screws up.

     Boy its really warm tonight, in fact its been that way all

day.  It rained like hell this afternoon for an hour or two, but

it did'nt abate the heat.  A couple more months and the rainy

season will be setting in.  I sure hope we are'nt in combat then,

as it is a rough deal.  On Leyte I would go week at a time wearing

wet shoes, and I used to dry my feet off, powder them, and put

on dry socks and shoes (if I had them), although I knew that in

fifteen minutes they would be soaking wet again.  The mud makes

transportation a major problem, it was an effort to walk 100

yards, and I have run across mud so deep that you could'nt walk

through it, in fact once you got far enough into it you would

have to get somebody to pull you out.  But here it has been pretty

dry here, except for several storms in the last couple of weeks. It

will rain in patches xxxx, that is it may be raining like hell in

one spot but 1/2 mile away the sun will be shining.  In fact in a

couple of hundred yards you can go from bone dryness to a torrential

downpour.

     Well Bud, how are things with you?  You did'nt have much to

say in your last letter.  What are you doing now?  When do you

expect to come over here?  I had several friends at Ritchie that

had had overseas duty before, and they did not want to go back over.

I could'nt understand this then, and in a few cases I actually

thought that maybe they were shall we say "a bit overcautious".

I understand their reasons now.  However when the time can for

them to got over again they reluctantly went, although in two cases

the parties could have gotten out of the army and had threatened

to do so if they were sent overseas again.  So when I tell you to

stay in the states as long as possible, I doubt if you can see why.

Don't worry you still get over here soon enough.

     I am sending you a silk Jap flag.  It is yours to do what you

please with it.  It is genuine, in fact I think it still has a spot

of blood on it.  If you want to get it cleaned I would send it to

the cleaners, as some of them fade when washed.  I am sorry that this

one has the center sewed in instead of just painted, however it is

a good job of sewing.  Well I am tired and think I will close now.

Write soon.

                                            love,

                                  [signed] Leonard

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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

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