D-Day + 1, But Where? (28)

The 92nd Evac only stayed in Finschhafen a couple of weeks, then they were sent to the battleground.

April 5, 1944
     Well, it looks like we aren't going to play for peanuts.  Today we were all issued carbines and clips for 60 rounds of ammunition.  They say our forward echelon will land right with the infantry.  We won't wear red cross arm bands.  I'm glad of that for the Japs try to get any men so marked.  I just found out that I'm in the first echelon!  It probably won't be long - 2 or 3 weeks.  Well, I don't want to be a hero, but there's no telling!  If we go in on the first day it certainly won't be a picnic.  We'll be operating in bomb and shell craters.  I'm surely glad Beth doesn't know this and I hope she doesn't suspect it.

Easter services at Finschhafen were well attended

 April 9, 1944 Sunday, Easter
     Rain again this morning.  Everything is muddy and encrusted with it - shoes, pants, floors!  This scarcely seems like an Easter Sunday.  I fear the boil I have starting on my leg won't let me go to church.
     It turned fairly clear and the mud is drying up a bit.  I don't believe they ever have a completely clear day in this country.  Everyone is familiar with his carbine.  All we are waiting for is D day.  Apparently the first echelon (me included) will land D + 1, the second day.  It promises to be exciting, to say the least.  They claim they expect it to be a short action - 2 weeks.  We may stay on as a hospital.  Bets seem to favor Wewak or Rabaul.

April 12, 1944
     Finally boil is clearing up!  We turned in our waterproof bags and clothes in it.  It will land some time after we do.  I bought a heavy duffel bag for £1-0-10.

April 13, 1944
     Sitting and waiting.

April 14, 1944
     Still sitting and waiting.  Me leg is doing fine.
     No doubt it's silly, but I wrote a possible "last note" to Beth and to Mom.  But I always believe in being prepared.  I don't know why, but this comes to mind this morning - Beth introduced me to it - "My heart's in the Highland, chasing the deer.  My heart's in the Highland, my heart is not here." [Robert Burns: "My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer; Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe, My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go."]  Rather, my heart is with Beth.

April 15, 1944
     ...  Things seem to be shaping up.  I heard on the Zero Hour the Japs said the 41st Division which had carried on a previous campaign, were now preparing for another north of Wewak, but would fine them (the Japs) well prepared!  In light of that, our mail censoring seems silly.

April 18, 1944
     The first echelon is to go aboard LST [Landing Ship, Tank] #10 tonight.  Rumor indicates Hollandia - also some island N of Truk [Micronesia].  Time will tell.  Too bad we won't be able to see newspapers and tell what is going on where we will be!  ...

Finschhafen is on the right, Hollandia above, and X marks where Japan was expecting the attack (map from http://olive-drab.com/od_history_ww2_ops_battles_1943newguinea.php)

April 19, 1944
     Didn't go aboard until this morning.  Slept quite uncomfortably on a bare cot, with 1 blanket, last night.  We were called at 0330, breakfast soon after 0400, and then sat around until 0630!  Mud was fairly deep.  We were dressed in field equipment.  They came for us in about 25 jeeps and a few trucks - it looked like a scene in "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" where a flock of knights in baby Austins [automobiles] come driving over a hill [a revival of the musical by Rogers and Hart, A Connecticut Yankee came out in 1943].  We went to the beach just beyond where we had landed, and LST's were drawn up on the beach side by side.  We got aboard without too much delay.  I'm quartered in the ward room, which is a combination officers' dining room, lounge, and surgery if necessary.  There is a small OR [operating room] light over one table.  The first thing I did was to shave and wash - nice hot water!  Then I stripped and washed my muddy leggings and shoes and took a shower.  The best I've had in a long time.  We eat like officers - tables, silverware, and dishes - even soup for dinner.  Of course the piece-de-resistance was hash!  The coffee tasted superb!
     This morning I wrote a letter to Beth - my last for ? long?  No mail yesterday and no chance of any for a long time.
     We are going to convoy, 3rd in a line of LST's - 17 in all, and 5 troop ships and 7 destroyers.  It's nice to see the destroyers riding herd over us!  There is a tremendous amount of shipping all around Finsch.
     This afternoon I tried to wash the mosquito repellent (bottle spilled in my pack!) off some rubber bags.  No luck.  We had our first briefing.  We will land about Sunday (D+1) and have a mile over new road to go - walking for us and unknown amounts of small arms fire, mortars, planes and snipers all possible.  Then we dig in.  Fox holes supposed to be about 2 1/2' x 4' x 5', and with a small shovel that will be no cinch!  I brought along leather gloves.

April 20, 1944 Thursday
     Slept on a couple of flat "cushions" from the back of a couch, placed on a table.  No good!  Besides, it was hot.  Phosphorescence last night was beautiful.  I could see the wakes of the ship ahead and behind, though it was an absolutely black night.  This evening we began passing thru the Admiralty Islands, to go around N of them.  The shore was lit up like a Christmas tree.
     General quarters [call to battle stations, in this case for a briefing] sounds at 5 A.M. for the entire crew.  The darn ward room is never empty or quiet until 11 or 12 P.M., so I am disgruntled not having my usual 9 hours of sleep.
     Briefed again.  I have 5 men - Boltarez, Barnes, Boitnut, McCavie and Griffith.  We go ashore after our first vehicle and keep together as a unit for work.  Went over the maps again.  We land in Humbolt Bay, a few miles SE of Hollandia.  I read the special book on data about Hollandia.

From Reports of General MacArthur: the Campaigns of MacArthur in the Pacific: Volume 1
Humbolt Bay is circled in pink

The Cyclops Mountains, a 25-mile long chain of 7000-foot-high mountains, follow the coastline and end at Humbolt Bay.  On the south side of the mountains is the Lake Sentani Plain.  The Japanese had built three airfields in 1942 between the Cyclops Mountains and Lake Sentani: Hollandia, Sentani, and Cyclops.  The purpose of the Hollandia attack was to secure the airfields, which were referred to in the British parlance by the Allies as airdromes.  A fascinating account of the dangerous and tragic reconnaissance work carried out before the landing can be found in the chapter "Ferdinand on Hollandia" by Commander E. A. Feldt of the Australian navy in Combat: the War with Japan ed. by Don Congdon (1962).  "Ferdinand" was the code name chosen by the Coastwatchers or intelligence operatives in the south Pacific for their organization because in the children's book,  The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Ferdinand did not fight but sat under a tree and smelled the flowers.  The name served to remind the intelligence officers they were just supposed to observe.  General MacArthur planned three simultaneous landings on April 22nd: Tanahmere, Humbolt, and Aitape.  The Allies fooled the Japanese into expecting the attack to be in the Madang-Hansa area (marked with an "X" on the black and white map above.

April 21. 1944 Friday
     Slept on the couch - better!  The sky was brilliant with stars last night.  The Big dipper looked swell.  Clear and beautiful this morning.
     I wonder what Beth is doing.  I know she'll be watching the papers for news of any push over here and figure I'm in it.  How I miss her!

April 22, 1944 Saturday
     "D" Day.  I wonder how the show is going?  We're still too far out to hear the shooting.  Hard rain.  More briefing today.  No one, even myself, is much stimulated by the thought of landing.  Certainly no one has any premonition or worries about it.