August 8, 1943 (Sunday)
Last night it suddenly struck me - the sun and moon are messengers for Beth and I. When they set for me, they rise for Beth! ...
August 10, 1943 (Tuesday)
... This afternoon I was in the Kodak shop when 2 1st Lt's from the 163rd Reg. came in to see for the first time 2 rolls of movies they had taken in N. Guinea. They showed some of the scenery, part of the Santa Anandu Trail (?) - a stretch of beach with some wrecked Jap invasion barges, and a lot of the natives, chiefly of the women and their bare breasts, including a line up at close range (!) and of the bouncing as they walked along! Also a soldier turning over a skull with his foot. I asked about that. They said there were about a dozen Jap skeletons there and that it only takes about a week for a skull to be fairly clean. He said one of their boys was shot and they couldn't recognize him in two days time! ... Another thing in the movie was a sign on their "club house" - they called it the "Lacka-Nookie Club"!
11 Aug. '43
Dear Folks,
... I forgot when I wrote last, so maybe this is repeat. Sunday afternoon I went down to the beach. This summer (or beginning next month) they are going to try to rent a house near the beach and we will take turns spending weekends there. The fishing and swimming should be fine.
... We see an interesting variety of things in our work, and really have to study a lot on the tropical things. Some of the stories these boys tell (be they true or otherwise) make your hair curl! But we'll see some of it ourselves eventually. ...
Love, Eugene
August 12, 1943
Rain yesterday afternoon and last night! The officers and nurses of the 5th Station Hospt. and nurses of the 33rd Surg. Hosp. gave a dance for us at the Officers Club down on the riverband (Fitzroy River) in town. Armstrong, Tipple and I went together. First we went to the Red Cross where they ate. I learned things about Pueblo! [Most of the doctors in the 92nd Evac were from Pueblo, Colorado.] Then at the club I had 2 drinks of brandy and soda and got enough courage to barge in and dance with 3 nurses. There were no unattached nurses, as I expected there would be. Omer had purchased a gunny sack 1/2 full of prawns (shrimp) freshly caught and cooked. These we shelled and ate at intervals. ...
Some of the 24th Division is arriving from Hawaii. They came on the Lurline. Reports varied from it dodging subs all day and towing a crippled destroyer to that of a man who was on it told me that no such things happened! 800 replacements for the 163rd Regiment have come in from the states in the last week or so. Some have only been in the army 6 months! We have some of them already - 1 with real bronchial asthma for 9 years, another with a questionable backache for 15 years. Why they don't comb them out over in the states, I can't understand! Of course, our own exam at Stoneman was a farce. Certainly it isn't an efficient way to do things.
Some of the tents have floors put in them. Maybe we'll get them, too.
These evenings are plenty chilly, but are beautiful. I wear cotton pants and shirt, pullover sleeveless sweater, field jacket, trench coat, and gloves and a cap!
Beth: 12 August 1943
My dears,
... Had another letter from Gene yesterday. I am being beautifully spoiled. This was #13 and I got #17 the day before. He writes the nicest letters! Think I'll try to type all his remarks about the country and the people and keep it separate from the personal items. ...
So much love, Elisabeth
14 Aug. '43
Dear Folks,
... I bought a sheepskin (plain tanned hide) for 4/ (64¢)! I don't know what I'll do with it, but I'll make something! I'm much happier when I have something to putter at! I get tired going down town. There's nothing there but shopping or shows or eating. I ordered a wooden chest at a local carpenter-furniture shop. It is quite substantial. I can use it to store extra things. When outfits move forward they take very little with them, storing all extras in their foot lockers and chests. And I hate to throw away anything. [Gene was known to be a pack rat!] And if I stay here any length of time I'll be certain to collect things. And if I ever get any souvenirs, I'd hate to have them stolen like yours were, Vernon! [Gene's stepdad was in WWI]
...One captain was telling me that he liked New Guinea in spite of its drawbacks. He said it rained every night, but a nice, gentle rain. And there were lots of bananas and oranges growing wild that were just delicious. Most men didn't like it there at all.
Just a year ago we were on the desert, sweltering in the heat - frying I should say. ... I read a clipping that 3 had died from thirst and heat [in the DTC] when a platoon became lost, somewhere on the desert.
... Butchers over here advertise "meat and small goods", the small goods being wieners, sausage, etc.! A "mercers" is a dry goods store, as nearly as I can make out. "Solicitors" are agents of various sorts. Darn! A mosquito just bit me, and it's cool enough to see your breath! So I'll say good night and crawl into my sleeping bag and pull the net over my head. ...
Love, Eugene
August 16, 1943
We now have a floor in our tent. Such luxury! I've rigged a drop cord and reading light to add to comfort! Of course the floor isn't quite level, but it is a lot better than the dust and uneven, rocky condition we had. ... We are getting a lot of recurrent malaria cases.
TELEGRAM COMMONWEALTH FO AUSTRALIA Postmaster General's Office
VIA BEAM QSB 2210 X 270 WARRENSBURG MO 16 AU 43
EFM CAPT EUGENE FREDERICK PFILE
0-445677 AMBYDA (RTON)
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY I WISH WE WERE TOGETHER ON THIS SPECIAL OCCASION ALL MY BEST WISHES FOR A SPEEDY REUNION LOVE AND KISSES
... BETH ANN PFILE
Beth: 19 August 1943
Dear Mary X [their folks are back in Warrensburg, Missouri, where Beth is]
... Gene writes me such good letters and I just live for them. ...
Six years ago now we were both with you [when they got married in Freeport, Illinois]. I'm calmer now than then! And the atmosphere is quite different. This will be out 2nd anniversary apart. I wonder where we will be next year.
It is time to fly to the P.O. Do hope all is well. ...Send love to you. Elisabeth
August 20, 1943 (Friday)
... Last evening Griffiths, Hansen, Fenton and I attended a combined meeting of the Rockhampton [Masonic] lodges, at which was the official visit of "Most Worshipful, the Grand Master, the Right Honourable, His Excellency Sir Leslie Orme Wisdom" - Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Queensland which has 320 lodges. He is also governor of Queensland, former governor of Bombay. I never saw such a meeting - everyone in tuxedo or tail coat. ... To prepare for a toast, the toastmaster says, "Charge your glasses and be upstanding while we drink a toast to -"
Some vernacular: In greeting a person in the evening, they may say "Good night" and in saying goodbye it may be "Good-o". Instead of saying "No dumping" it will be "Persons will not deposit rubbish here". At the mine, a sign said "Warning will be 2 blasts on the big hooter", a hooter being the whistle. Steak and eggs is a dinner dish - I had some for 2/6 and tea. They have a habit of putting a big white post in the middle of the road in a sharp curve, to keep you from cutting corners.
Hansen, Fenton, Hagmann, Armstrong, Christie and I went in a weapons carrier (and 2 drivers) about 23 miles S.W. to Mt. Morgan, to go thru the workings of the gold and copper mine. It started as a gold mine, but its most important article is copper now. They had a lot of tunnels years ago, but have opened a hole down to the lowest and are taking out all the rock. We followed the ore thru various crushers, ball mills, belt conveyors, bins, flotation mills, concentrators, solutions, roaster, blast furnace, converter, to the final pigs of 250# of Cu, each containing about 1 oz. of gold. The balls (which they cast themselves) are certainly worn to a shadow. Their coal to make the electricity comes from about 100 miles inland. The mine caught fire in 1925 (the sulphide of the iron pyrites is burning), was sealed off, but still burns and the sulphur odor is strong in one place. The Bessemer converter was a beautiful sight, spouting sparks. They are adding to the blast furnace.
 |
| Admissions tent in Rockhampton |
August 25, 1943 (Wednesday)
2 months today that we left Stoneman, and here we've been working a month - we've admitted 569 patients with a census of 334!
Tonight's show was "Human Comedy". I had read it on the boat. I understood the picture and liked it a lot better than the book. Just before the show started I overheard 2 patients talking. One was telling of an attack. The order had been given to retreat and this one fellow had been left, badly wounded. So this soldier telling it, and another, stayed until they were able to get the wounded fellow out, even though they knew he was going to die. Apparently it was a fellow whom this soldier had sworn that if he ever got a chance, he'd shoot him, but he said at a time like that, you help anyone who needs it, regardless. The same way, they hated to leave anyone's body. Once they were carrying 2 bodies back to be buried in the regimental cemetery (the fellow said "You know, you think of how their folks would appreciate it!") and in the process 2 more men were killed. Another fight, 9 of their men were killed, including a 1st Lt., and they had to withdraw and leave their bodies, and they felt so badly about it. Another remark I overheard - a fellow was talking - said it would soon be Christmas and when it was, he'd wonder if he'd ever see another. It's funny, I've never thought of it that way. I wonder, will I? I think so!
Some of the officers who had been there, said our losses in men and planes haven't been told in the papers. He said we had plenty of our planes destroyed on the ground, just like we did to the Japs at Weewac [Wewak] recently, several times!
August 27, 1943 (Friday)
Everything went as usual until afternoon. Then they told us we would admit patients tomorrow as well as today, to even the load with the 5th Sta. I came back from supper and began to put more raw linseed oil on my footlocker box. ... Holt came to the tent to ask me what to do with the patients. Ireland had just told Decker not to admit any more patients. So I went over to see Ireland, to ask him what to do, thinking that since we were talking that we didn't have enough blankets to open new wards. We have about 360 patients. I saw Rice, who said we were closing up! That we had to pack up in about a week and leave! We might get rid of patients by train and to the 5th! No word of where we are going! When Adams was in Brisbane, some officer said, "We are going to keep you busy next week!!" He must have known! Dykstra said somebody asked him today, if we were the outfit going to Milne Bay! Maybe we are! Sparky guesses Darwin. No body knows! We still may not leave, so I won't even hint it to Beth until we are ready to roll.
Overheard at the show tonight: "Naw, you never want to try to use the sling (on a Garand [rifle], or they'll be patting you on the face with a shovel!" "One time I wished I didn't weigh but 10 pounds. Their bullets was clipping to tops off the grass! That's when they creased me across the leg."
One patient came in to get a pass today. He was going back for a ceremony at which he, among others, was to get decorated with a silver star for unusual bravery. He was just a tall, thin kid! I asked him what he did. He said I'd better read the citation, it could explain it better than he could, and handed me the slip. It said that he had been given a mission to inspect some signal equipment. The native alonside him was shot in the back and killed, so he went into a dugout and killed the 3 Japs! Then the kid said, "But I got 6 in all that day! We were just cleaning up and it was just like shooting ducks." I asked what kind of a gun he had - an '03 rifle [a rifle first used in 1905] and a .45 caliber [a semi-automatic pistol first used by the army in 1911]! That is the stuff heroes are made of!
August 28, 1943
Discharging and transferring patients.
August 29 (Sunday)
Yesterday and today I've had a workout. We discharged, transferred, or transferred for evacuation, 361 patients. In less than a month (1 day) we admitted 624 patients. Just fair! Rumor has us anywhere form Port Moresby, Oro Bay, etc.
It's difficult to write letters, especially to Beth, and not tell her. It takes me 3 times as long to write and I feel I have to chatter about this or that. I wonder if she senses it. I will try to give her a hint the last day.
Here's an example of one such letter, this one to his parents:
29 Aug. '43
Dear Folks,
I'm a little late on the letter but for a change I've been working a little! While I write this I have my feet soaking in a mixture that smells worse than Pagosa Springs [a hot springs in Colorado], if you can imagine that. I've been fighting athlete's foot and am trying something different. I've put on a vigorous campaign to clear it before the wet season starts. So far the weather has been marvelous.
No letter from you for some time now. In the last few days I've had air mails that Beth mailed July 23 and 28th. Her V-mail usually does it in 12 to 14 days, although there is some that I never have received.
It seems such a long time that we've been here, but we haven't fallen into any rut. It is interesting to talk to the fellows. Vernon, you remember that .25 caliber rifle? I had opportunity to examine a Jap rifle and bullets. They use a .25 caliber but it is a long rifle - the shell case looks just like the ones for yours, but the bullet is longer. I weighed a bullet - 132 1/2 grains as against 117 grains for yours. It must pack plenty of power!
How is the well on the place holding up during the summer? Which reminds me of past fishing trips and mosquitoes. Remember the time you and I went, Vernon? A little netting to cover the bed would have been such a simple relief! I still havn't done any fishing here, but expect to sometime.
Hope I'll hear from you soon. I'm sure you're writing. I'm doing just fine!
Love, Eugene
August 30, 1943 (Monday)
This is a Tulane deal all over again! At 4:15 P.M. this afternoon our Hq called and told us to stay and open up again Wednesday morning! Half our tents were already down! We got off our 75 patients on the train this afternoon (who had stayed with the 5th Station Hosp. over night). ...
September 4, 1943
...Golly but I miss Beth! Words can't describe it. A lump just about chokes me sometimes when I think of her! She is without doubt the most wonderful person in the world!
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