Some photos from Owi to the Philippines (83)

    Here are a few photographs from Gene's collection.

On Owi:

Lt. Joseph Davis getting his mail from Sgt. Ahern on Owi,
Dutch New Guinea

A hut on Owi, Dutch New Guinea, at sunset

Officers' tents on Owi, Dutch New Guinea

In the Philippines:

Ruined bakery in San Fabian, the Philippines (note Gene accidentally
reversed the negative)

Turnips for sale at the market in Guimba, the Philippines

Gene's washstand (a device to hold his helmet) in Baguio, the Philippines

Cub ambulance service airplane in Baguio, the Philippines: "Goldberg's Angel of Mercy sponsored by the students of Goldberg Elementary School, Detroit, Michigan"

Bilibid Prison in Manila, the Philippines

A line of Igorot girls looking for lice in Caba, the Philippines

Granary in Caba, the Philippines

A view of Mount St. Tomas from Caba in the Philippines

Last Days in Agoo (68)

Cub ambulance service in Agoo

     The fight for Baguio continued.  According to an A.P. newspaper article, the Japanese were determined to hold on.  "A civilian who came thru the lines reported the American bombing of the area was so intense that on one occasion explosions kept up for five hours with only one twenty-minute break."  With such intense fighting, the 92nd Evac and all of the other nearby hospitals were kept very busy trying to patch up the casualties.  Some of the casualties were brought in by private aircraft.  Animals were also occasionally treated at the 92nd.

K-9 Corps member who had been brought in for an x-ray of a jaw
fractured by a Japanese grenade

Then abruptly, the tide turned.

April 27, 1945  Our first light night.  I went to bed at 10:30.  We amputated a thigh for gas gangrene but the fellow died on the table.

April 28, 1945  Another quiet night!  We'll probably move to Baguio in a few days.  A lot of hosp. outfits have been angling for that spot!

28 April '45
Dear Jack [the son of Beth's sister, Mary X]
     A change in censorship regulations now permits me to send you these cancelled stamps.  Providing I make no comments.  I will say, however, that you should notice the inked-out portion of the old stamps.  Evidently the Japs continued the use of the original U.S. stamps, with the only change being the removal of the "United States".  Practical people, these Nips!
      But our side is being just as practical in that we are repairing captured Jap artillery and using captured shells, to shoot them with.  After all, why waste our ammo when theirs will kill them just as dead!  I was taking some pictures yesterday at an ordnance outfit here in out town, where they were repairing some of the Jap guns.  I saw one huge brass shell casing for a 12" gun [the diameter of the shell is 12"].  Is it ever a whopper!  Men who have heard the projectile from such a gun going overhead say it really makes a roar.
     Love, Gene

April 29, 1945  If that isn't the damnedest injustice!  MacArthur announced that the 33rd Div. took Baguio.  Actually it was the 37th! [This is the first instance Gene used "damn" instead of "darn" in his diary, and he used it because "his" men were not given proper credit.]    

Baguio, April 29 - (A.P.) - Yanks observed Japanese Emperor Hirohito's birthday by raising the American and Philippines flags over captured Baguio yesterday and by launching a new offensive northward from this summer capital.
     Contrary to Tokyo broadcasts, no Japanese counterattack was launched and the flags went up in an unmolested ceremony.
     Civilians in rags, some gaunt and sick, watched amid the war's ravages and the heavy odor of death as the American flag, which city custodian Juan Arenella hid from Japanese three years, was hoisted aloft.
     The Philippine flag followed and then both were lowered to half staff in honor of the late President Roosevelt.

May 1, 1945  We did 547 cases in surgery during April and had 17 deaths [about 3%].

May 2, 1945  Getting ready to move to Baguio tomorrow.  I'm on the forward echelon.

Majority! (67)

     Capt. Pfile continues to catalog and analyze his cases: gas gangrene in a man's leg (he says he and Capt. Nigg didn't debride (remove all of the dead or infected tissue) enough of the wounds (4 perforating (bullet passes through) and 3 penetrating (bullet remains inside)) so they had to amputate); a combined scrotal and pelvic wound; and a lacerated (torn) kidney.  Then almost out of the blue came the long awaited promotion to major.

Newly promoted: Maj. Raymond Nethery, Maj. John Mihalick, 2nd Lt. Herrill (possibly with the Medical Administrative Corp) and Maj. Eugene Pfile

April 22, 1945  Up until 3 A.M. [he was officer of the day the night before, so had to treat any casualties that came in during the night].  Today (4 P.M.) the Col. handed Mihalick, Nethery and me our promotions.  Amazing.

April 23, 1945  Troops getting closer to Baguio.

April 24, 1945  Up until 1 A.M.  Large wound of abd. [abdominal] wall, not into peritoneum though it was bared for 6 inches! [In other words, it was long but shallow.]

April 25, 1945  Up until 3:30 A.M.  Did brain case - defect in temporal area [this part of the brain is involved with hearing, and I would assume it was an injury rather than a birth defect].  160 patients admitted.  Troops reached Baguio.  None win the European war pool this month [most of the 92nd bet on the date the war in Europe would be over]!

25 April '45
Dear Jack [son of Beth's sister],
     If the war in Europe doesn't end today, I won't win the 150 guilder [about $60] "pot"!  And it doesn't look as though I will.

Zeke the monkey who for a short while was an honorary member of the 92nd Evac

     Jack, you'd certainly enjoy the antics of Zeke, the pet monkey of one of our officers.  He certainly does the most amazing things.  There are 2 pups in the area also, and of all the rough and tumble scrambles they have.  The term "monkey business" takes on a new meaning after seeing Zeke perform. [More about Zeke later!]
     Every now and then some P-51's will buzz the hospital on their way to and from "work".  I can imagine what it would be like if they were strafing us.  The bullets would be the first indication of the planes, they fly so low and so fast.
     We continue to be busy, especially at night.  But the Japs are gradually being driven back.  Jap prisoners say they really fear our artillery and planes.  They are becoming discouraged, too, because none of their own planes show up in spite of promises.  I see quite a few Illinois men [Jack and his family live in Freeport, Illinois].
     Love, Eugene

From a newspaper:
AMERICANS GET READY FOR FINAL PUSH INTO BAGUIO
     Manila, April 25 - (A.P.) - Americans consolidated their Baguio positions Wednesday for a final push into the ruined summer capital of the Philippines while far to the south, on Mindanao island, other Yanks pressed on towards the Japanese stronghold of Davao.  Maj. Gen. Percy W. Clarkson's Thirty-third division held commanding positions in the pine-covered hills to the northwest, west and southwest of mile-high Baguio.  One column, moving down highway 9 from the northwest, was little more than a mile from the city center.
     A section of the road blown up by the defending Japanese was being repaired by engineers for the movement of heavy equipment.  ...
     Gen. Douglas MacArthur reported in Wednesday's communiqué that "the enemy has as yet been unable to concentrate his forces in effective resistance."  ...
    
April 26, 1945  Up to [until] 2:30 A.M.  We did 60 odd [i.e. 60 - 70] cases

Casualties Pour In (65)

     At first, there isn't a lot of activity for the 92nd Evacuation Hospital, but that soon changes.  Easter is all but forgotten in the flurry.


March 19, 1945

Boats in Dagupan harbor

     To Dagupan shopping.  2 winnowing baskets for P 1.00 [$0.50].
     Yesterday I operated [on] a severe chest wound - 4, 5 and 6 ribs fract. [three of the middle ribs were fractured] by a tangential bullet wound [the bullet did not penetrate the chest], and a 4" rent in the pleura [the membrane surrounding the lungs].  Wired the ribs, sutured about half the pleura, closed 2 layers of muscle and fascia [fibrous tissue] to make it air tight.

March 20, 1945  Chest case fine.

March 21, 1945
     The guerrillas took San Fernando.  We are getting a few more casualties.  They are pushing the Japs in toward Baguio.  I wish we'd set up there - after it is safe!

March 22, 1945
     An ammo dump between Damortis and San Fabian was hit by Jap bombs and burned from 4 P.M. until morning. [According to a newspaper article, a Tokyo broadcast claimed Japanese planes had started 11 fires in the area]. We saw the planes.

Modified Rand McNally map showing Agoo (92nd Evac stationed) Dagupan (Gene visited), Damortis and San Fabian (ammo dump bombed) and Galiano (heavy fighting)

March 24, 1945  O.D. [officer of the day in charge of the hospital] last night.  Patton across the Rhine!

March 26, 1945  Palm Sunday - quiet day.  My chest case of a week ago up and walking around today!

March 29, 1945  More casualties.  The fighting for Baguio is no cinch!  Most casualties taken care of by clearing co.'s [clearing companies were sometimes links between the first aid stations and the evacuation hospitals, but they weren't set up for surgery].

30 March '45
Dear Folks [Beth's sister and brother-in-law, Mary X and John],
     My correspondence has been piling up on me, for I've been quite busy.  Things are a bit tough on the front we're near.  We haven't had so many fresh casualties as we have those who have been taken care of at the clearing stations, and then sent to us.  And we've had more of the fool Filipinos - kids and adults - who insist on monkeying with dud shells and fuses!
     Your [Christmas] Bulletin is most interesting and clever, though you make me blush!  I'll be darned if I see how all of you can keep up such a whirl of activities - it leaves me dizzy to think of it.  I'm certainly proud of Jim [the brother of Beth and Mary X] and his Bronze Star [awarded for meritorious service, the fourth-highest combat award in the armed services]!  The way things sound, he may get home for a while this year [Jim was in the Quartermaster Corp, which dealt in supplies for the whole army, in the European Theater].  I'm very much afraid I won't.  Probably I'll see China and maybe even Japan before this thing is over.  Except for a cold (the second in 6 weeks) I'm doing O.K.  Our food is good, for army life.  Food and mail are certainly better this war.
     Love, Eugene

Gene continues to briefly catalog his days in his diary:

March 31, 1945  [Holy Saturday] Fiesta day in Agoo!  I saw the feeble parade. Received a birthday card mailed Sept. 20 [Gene's birthday was October 15th].

April 1, 1945 [Easter]  Removed a fragment the size of a corn kernel from the Rt. temporal region - just thru the dura [the tough membrane surrounding the brain] into the brain.

April 2, 1945  Very busy.  Census 750.  Many casualties from 123 Reg. near Galiano.

April 3, 1945  Brain case rational and doing well.  I have 75 patients!  Not many casualties today.  Heavy rain last night.

April 4, 1945 Some Christmas packages - 6 months on the way!  Census 812

     Gene continues to catalog some of his cases: a lieutenant had a clip of cartridges explode against his left thigh; a guerrilla had a sucking wound in his chest; a little girl was full of grenade holes, probably from unwisely picking it up; a hole deflated his air mattress.  He fixes them all up.

April 11, 1945  Hot rumor.  We start closing this A.M., out of a clear sky.  Our census is 805!  But we received 115, evacuated 400!

April 12, 1945  Up at 1:45 to do a laparotomy [incision through the abdominal wall] - one hole in ileum [last part of the small intestine], couldn't find one in the rectum though blood by proctoscopic [exam] [looking up the rectum using an instrument like a hollow tube].  To bed at 5:30.

     Pretty worthless "hot rumor"!  The 92nd continues to receive casualties - 108 on April 15th, 182 on April 16th.  In the five weeks they have been in Agoo, 2501 patients have been admitted.  Two days later they worked on 46 cases between 5 P.M. and 2 A.M.


      None of the doctors from the 92nd Evac are alive, and not many of the nurses and ward men.  One outstanding exception is nurse "Little Willie", Althea Williams.  Her memories and some of the memories from the 92nd Evac Reunions will make up my next post, which will be on Memorial Day.