March 24, 1944 - Friday
Here I sit in the wheel house, and the darn boat is pitching before we're out of the harbor! Oh me! We are to eat about 0830 and 1630. Mess is set up on the forward deck. This is a Liberty ship [a cargo ship that was cheap and easy to build, and became a symbol of pride in the wartime industrial ability of the U.S.] and never intended for a cargo and troop ship. The 218 F.A. Bn is with us, with 155 mm howitzers [a cannon-like piece of artillery], weighing 7 tons each! All the junior officers have to sleep out on the deck. It will be cold and maybe wet. This is certainly a nice spot. I can watch the compasses, steering (last night I had my clothes hung on the wheel!) and engine speed. All we have to do is keep things cleared away. I didn't get to mail my last letter to Beth - a V-mail. Our last mail was the 22nd. I have to set up a dispensary on board for our men. ...
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| Wake of the Francisco M. Quinones |
March 25, 1944 - Saturday
Awakened at 0530 to attend one of our men who fell down the after hold - fortunately nothing broken. Groping along a wet deck, in complete blackout, and a strange deck at that! A blacked out ship is an eerie thing. Reminds me of the movie or play "Outward Bound" [a supernatural drama that concerns a disparate group of people who find themselves sailing to an unknown destination on a ship constantly shrouded in fog].
We're on the "Francisco M. Quinones [launched Nov. 1943, scrapped Sept. 1968]. We should reach Townsville [on the Australian coast north of Rockhampton] by 5 or 6 P.M.
March 26, 1944 - Sunday
We've been at anchor in the harbor of Townsville over 24 hours and no sign of leaving. ...
March 27, 1944
Finally left Townsville at 0300. Cloudy. Turned NE off Cairns and went thru the Barrier Reef into the Coral Sea. Not at all spectacular. Just a line of surf breaking along the horizon.
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| Sunset on the Coral Sea |
New Guinea is, after Greenland, the second largest island in the world. The interior is blanketed with dense, unexplored rain forests. The highest mountains are over 14,000 feet. Rainfall in some areas is 300 inches a year. Parts of the interior are still in 2012 largely unexplored.
Tropical diseases in the 1940's were rampant in the area due to the hot, harsh climate and coastal swamps. Malaria, respiratory diseases, dysentery, frambesia (yaws), tropical ulcers, hookworms, and filariasis were common. The people of the area were not homogenous. The ethnicity of the natives varied according to the tribal area, but cannibalism, headhunting, and tribal warfare occurred regularly. Hundreds of languages and dialects were spoken. The Japanese were mainly interested in using New Guinea as a protective barrier for their southern flank and as a base from which they could threaten Australia. The Allies, Gen. Douglas MacArthur in particular, were interested in using New Guinea as a jumping-off point for recapturing the Philippines.
Before the Japanese invasion, the island of New Guinea was separated into three political divisions: Papua (formerly British New Guinea), which was the southeast quarter and administered by Australia; North-East New Guinea (formerly German New Guinea), which was the northeast quarter of the island, part of the Australian-run Mandated Territory of New Guinea; and Dutch New Guinea, which was the western half, and part of the Netherland East Indies. Finschhafen was located in North-East New Guinea, and Hollandia further northwest along the coast just barely into Dutch New Guinea.
In January 1942, Japan invaded New Guinea. Their control was never complete due to the dense jungles, but key ports and airfields were seized, and more airfields were built.
Finschhafen was re-taken by American and Australian forces from the Japanese on October 1, 1943. The 92nd Evac headed for Finschhafen on March 28, 1944.
Gene continues in his diary:
March 28, 1944
Beautifully nice morning but 84ยบ at 7 A.M. and sticky. We have the coolest spot on the ship in the wheel house.
I slept fitfully, with the hydrophones [for detecting submarines] buzzing over my head at night. We are well out on the Coral Sea. Last night there was gunnery practice and are these young Navy squirts are good! They launched large red balloons (about 2' or 3' in diameter) and let them get 3 or 400 yards away and up. Then they cut loose with 20 mm tracers, about 4 guns at different places along the port side. They hit 4 out of 6. Then the 3" on the bow fired a few explosive shells but didn't connect.
A plane circled us several times today. On patrol, I suppose. Also we saw a sub-chaser. These darn latrine seats! They are the Johnny Jump up kind which follow you up with a surprising sort of feelling. This is the first day I've kept my flotation bladders in my pocket.
March 29, 1944
... At anchor in Milne Bay by 1030. This place is certainly lousy with every kind of vessel up to and including cruisers. The passage thru the China Strait began about 0700. I saw the first coconut plantation. There were a few nice-appearing red tile-roofed houses. The Owen-Stanley Range was visible. High hills begin at the water's edge and go right up - extremely rough-looking country.
March 31, 1944
Arrived Buna about 1:30 A.M. Certainly lots of shipping coming and going. All had their riding lights on. ... Almost hit a ship when we turned east at Lae during night.
April 1, 1944 April Fool's Day
What a day to arrive [land] in New Guinea. Arrived at Finschhafen and finally unloaded troops about 15 miles S. of Finsch. I came ashore in a Duck [actually a DUKW (D=designed in 1942, U=utility, K=front-wheeled drive, W=two powered rear axles)- a six-wheeled amphibious truck]. They are the darnedest things - waddle up and out of the water just like a duck. We drove to Finsch. in trucks - terrible dust though fairly smooth dirt road. We put up in a temporary area in a coconut grove - a mess. If anyone had told me a few yeas ago that I'd sleep in a jungle hammock, slung between coconut trees, I'd not believed it. There are coconuts galore. Right off I cut the husk off the end and tried the milk - clear but not as sweet as I expected. Then I cut it open with my machete. The meat tasted fair.
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| Hammocks slung in coconut grove in Finschhafen |
