Lists and Final Thoughts (97)

     Gene was a list-keeper.  I am including some of the lists he kept in his diaries, and will end this blog with a few final thoughts, although I plan to post occasional articles from magazines or newspapers that Gene or Beth saved, and more of Gene's photos.




DATES

3 July '42 - Reported to Fitzsimmons, Denver
25 June '43 - Left Camp Stoneman APO 4580
27 June '43 - Left Frisco
13 July '43 - Arrived Brisbane, Camp Ascot APO 4580
22 July '43 - Left Brisbane
23 July '43 - Arrived Rockhampton APO 926
23 March '44 - Left Rockhampton
24 March '44 - Left Gladstone
1 April '44 - Landed at Finschhaven APO 322
19 April '44 - Left Finschhaven
23 April '44 - Landed Hollandia APO 41
27 May '44 - Left Hollandia
28 May '44 - Landed Biak APO 920
12 June '44 - Moved to Owi
24 Dec. '44 - Left Owi & Biak
13 Jan. '45 - Arrived Lingayen Gulf, Luzon
17 Jan. '45 - Landed at San Fabian APO 70
21 Jan. '45 - Moved to Malisiqui
28 Jan. '45 - Moved to Guimba, Nueva Ecija
12 March '45 Moved to Agoo, La Union
3 May '45 - Moved to Baguio, Mountain
1 July '45 - Moved to Caba, La Union
5 Aug. '45 - [Gene to] 120th Gen. Hosp. Manila APO 1011
23 Aug. '45 - back to unit at Caba
25 Sept. '45 - On board APA 90 - the O'Hara
27 Oct. '45 - Landed on Japan at Nagoya APO 713
16 Dec. '45 - [Gene] went to Repl Depot at Okazaki
23 Dec. '45 - Sailed on Adm Rodman
3 Jan. '46 - Landed at San Pedro

ADMISSIONS

Desert, USA - 8 months                                              10,310
Rockhampton, Qsld., Aust. - 7 months                         7,466
Hollandia, Netherlands E.I. - 2 weeks                             760
Biak and Owi, N.E.I. - 6 months                                  11,963
Guimba, Luzon, PI - 6 weeks                                        2,520
Agoo, LaUnion Prov., Luzon - 6 weeks                         3,990
Baguio, Mtn. Prov., Luzon - 2 months                           3,048
Caba, LaUnion Prov., Luzon - 1 1/2 months                 1,800
                                                                                    41,857

BIAK AND OWI, CASES HANDLED [by Gene]:
MORTAR, ARTILLERY, GRENADE, RIFLE, MACHINE GUN)

Head - 60
Ocular [eye] - 19
Face - 41
Chest wall - 37
Chest (intrathoracic) [chest cavity]- 18
Abdominal wall - 17
Abdominal cavity - 22
Shoulder - 60
Arm - 45
Hand - 42
Buttocks - 36
Thigh - 67
Leg - 120
Foot - 29
Neck 31
Back - 36
Scrotum - 6
Misc. - 39
Total - 646

OFFICERS 3 JULY '45 - CABA, LA UNION, LUZON

Niemeyer, Williamson, Varley, Huey, Armstrong, Adams, Latum, Klockman, Coshak, Gentry Donovan, Swartz, Davis, Yount, Mancuso, Herrill, Jensen, Benesette, Vinicor, Dreiling, Nigg, Mihalick, Nethery, Burroughs, Colvin, Bernard, Free, Gray [and Pfile]; attached from general hospital - Connolley and Soll; had returned home in April - Neeb, in June - Ivers
[later] home on leave  in Aug. - Donovan, Dreiling, Adams, Burroughs, Mihalick

OFFICERS [in the desert?]

Lt. Col. Mathewes (Stanley W.) - Regular Army
Lt. Col. J. Sims Norman - Pueblo
Lt. Col. James F. Mason
Maj. Robert Sterling - Pueblo
Maj. Omer Rathman _ Billlings, Mont.
Maj. Paul M. Ireland - Pueblo
Maj. Merrill W. Michaels - Pueblo
Maj. Albert M. Tipple - Pueblo
Maj. Edwin W. Varley, Jr. - Pueblo
Capt. Hiram E. Armstrong - Pueblo
Capt.Edward A. Hagmann - Billings, Mont.
Capt.Conrad A. Lochmer - Oregon
Capt.Arthur H. Meade
Capt.Ernest A. Born - Prescott, Ariz.
Capt.Leland M. Evans - Sierra Madrea (Pasadena), Calif.
Capt.John Mihalick - Colo. Springs
Capt.Irwin I. Schatz - Pueblo
Capt.Richard H. McIlroy - Pueblo
Capt.Ward C. Fenton - Lamar
Capt.George C. Christie Canyon [sic] City
Capt. Harold J. Beck - Pueblo
Capt. Francis S. Adams - Pueblo
Capt. Arnold C. Niemeyer - Pueblo
Capt. Alton S. Hansen - LaJunta
Capt. John F. Terstegge - San Francisco
[Capt. Eugene F. Pfile - Trinidad]
Lt.William N. Baker - Pueblo
Lt. Monte N. Black - Seattle
Lt. Harold F. Harper - Ft. Riley, Kans.
Lt. Fergus R. Pingrey - Durango
Lt. James D. Salmon - Chicago
Lt. Joseph H. Davis - San Francisco
Lt. Edward S. Powers - Los Angeles, Cal.
Lt. Harley S. Fremming - San Francisco, Cal.
Lt. Walter S. Johnston - Pueblo
Lt. Carl W. Swartz, Jr. - Pueblo
Lt. Louis A. Motchan - Hollywood, Cal.
Lt. Raymond A. Nethery = Pueblo
Lt. A.L. Swanson - Pueblo
Lt. John Dykstra
2nd Lt. MAC Tatun
2nd Lt. MAC Klockner
2nd Lt. MAC Farmer
Lt. Gatauer [?Glautauer] MC - Swiss??
Lt. Lessner D.C. - Brooklyn
Lt. Mancuso MC - New Orleans

Gene on the beach at Owi

     Doctors are supposed to heal, and the doctors of the 92nd evacuation Hospital worked long and hard to fulfill that obligation.  Ed Gray, a supply officer with the 92nd Evac., recalled a scene at the 50th reunion: "In the tent, Black Jack was wrapping the broken body in plaster.  He was wearing a surgical hat and mask, dog tags, jock strap and GI boots.  Sweat was running down his back and around the sores from skin disease and jungle rot.  Brown streaks ran down his legs as it washed the residue of diarrhea from his backside.  The lights flickered and he swore at me and I resolved that we would never have lousy equipment again." 
     They worked hard and saved many whose descendents are alive today because of their dedication.  But they could not save all.
     Father Kilian Dreiling was the chaplain for the 92nd Evacuation Hospital for much of their time in combat.  Joseph S. Smith, son of  an enlisted man with the 92nd Evac., wrote a book about Fr. Dreiling (2004), Our Padre: the Inspiring Life and Stories of Fr. Kilian Dreiling, C.PP.S WWII Army Chaplain.  One job of Fr. Dreiling was to comfort the soldiers the doctors were trying to save.  Another was to prepare the dead, those they were unable to save, for burial.  In a sermon later in his life, he related "...the gory task became a holy task. ... Often the blood of my comrades  reached all the way to my shoulders.  As I carefully washed the sacrificial blood into the ocean, a tremendous flood of sadness and compassion  encompassed my entire body ... The blood now mingled with the eternal ocean, became the ultimate and total sacrifice my dead soldier would, and did, give me and his country.  It signified his life, the whole of it, offered in conjunction with the terrible sorrow of his mother, relatives and friends, it identified totally and completely with our Lord's saying 'Greater love than this no man hath than to lay down his life for his friends.'  It beautifully summed up : compassion, love and sacrifice."
     I dedicate this blog to the Greatest Generation.  May we learn from their lessons and sacrifices.  May we try to do what is right and good.  May God bless us all!

Sunset on Owi

Final Days, then Home! (96)

     Gene had spent several days waiting in Denver before his orders came through to go to California for training, and he spent several weeks in Nagoya, Japan waiting to go home.

Japanese paper money in 1945

December 3, 1945  Mailed sword, 48¢.  Obtained new large Jap binoculars.  Heard that points will drop to 77 by end of week.

December 4, 1945  Discriminated against!  [A man with] 75 ASR [Adjusted Service Rating, or "points"]  goes [leaves] the 7th, except for MC's and DC's [medical corps and dental corps]!  [ASR score was the number of points needed for discharge; they were granted as follows: one point for each month in service, an additional point for each month overseas, five points for each combat award and 12 points for each dependent child under 18; Gene must have had about 75 points.]  Cool and rainy this evening.
...

December 6, 1945  Went to Inuyama to a #1 Geisha house for sukiyaki dinner ¥ 70 ($4.66). [Capt.?] Max [Vinicor] went to Kyoto to find why and wherefore.

December 7, 1945  Bought a red vase with green chrysanthemums for ¥500 or $33 1/3.  No news except that we should get the bronze stars soon and be able to leave.

December 8, 1945  Still no word.  Inspection of hosp - quasi official, by me, the "Old Man" [i.e. Gene is the commanding officer].

December  9, 1945  Went to Inuyama to take 2 rolls of color pictures.  Clear day.  Revert to I Corps, removed from the 25th Div.

View from the balcony of the Inuyama Castle

An orchard on the road between Nagoya and Inuyama

December 10, 1945  No word on the bronze star.  I'm going to Kyoto to see!

December 11, 1945  Went to Kyoto by train.  No luck in hurrying it up!  It will take a week.  Stayed at the 135 Med Bn (Col. Draper).
...

December 13, 1945  In command a month today.  But the message came thru to send out the 75 pt. MC's!  Oh happy day - the 17th!

December 14, 1945  Getting a verbal release from I Corps was like pulling teeth.  Later - they called and said they had to write my orders!

December 15, 1945  I sent [Capt.? Maj.? John] Yount to get my orders.  He returned from Osaka with the orders, about 7 P.M.  Was I relieved!
...

December 17, 1945  Some doctors with 77 points have been here 12 days!  More discrimination against doctors.
...

December 19, 1945  Snowed about 6" last night.  Max got our stars, so now I have 80 points.  Hope it will help me get home.
...

December 21, 1945  Thrills!  I'm on orders with a group of 100 to Ft. Logan [in Denver]!  Saw it this A.M. after a brisk walk with Max on the frozen ground.  Should be the Admiral Rodman [ship].

December 22, 1945  Up at 0400 (called an hour early by mistake!)  Stood in the cold an hour.  On train by 0800, on boat by 1030.

December 23, 1945  Sailed at 0730.  I'm Senior Med. Off. [officer] with 10 docs and 6 dentists to do the work.  What a job organizing things!  A little seasick!
...

WESTERN UNION
VH2 INTL=F OKAZAKI VIA MACKAYRADIO
EFM MRS E F PFILE=                                                       1945 DEC 26 AM 8 12
          800 PARK ST TRINIDAD COLO=
EXPECT TO BE HOME SOON DONT WRITE FURTHER.  WILL CONTACT YOU ON ARRIVAL
LOVE AND KISSES=
          EUGENE

WESTERN UNION
VH69 10=CAMPANZA CALIF 3 400P
MRS E F PFILE=                                                                1946 JAN 3 PM 6 26
          800 PARK ST TRINIDAD COLO=
ARRIVED LA GOOD TRIP WILL PHONE YOU IF POSSIBLE LOVE=
          EUGENE

January 3, 1946  Passed Catalina Island. Docked at San Pedro at 1023. 5543 nautical miles - 12 days. Went to Camp Anza, Riverside, by bus. Called Beth. Happy Day!

January 4, 1946  Left Camp Anza at 1730 by Union Pacific [Railway] for Salt Lake City.  Day coaches!
...

January 8, 1946  Thru processing at Ft. Logan at 1330.

     There and back again.   Gene was home, one thousand two hundred eighty-five days after he left!  He was relieved from active duty on April 6, 1946, and remained a reserve officer until April 1, 1953.  My final post will be lists of various sorts that Gene kept: number of admissions, types of injuries he treated in Biak and Owi, etc.  I appreciate any comments you might have.

Home, Boys, Home, with a Sigh from Gene! (92)

     Gene and Maj. (?) Nigg went from Kyoto to Osaka before returning to Nagoya.

October 29, 1945  Went to I Corp Surg. at Osaka.  Left for home at 1, arrived at 7 P.M. in dark.

Osaka

Map modified from zonu.com showing Nagoya, Gifu, Kyoto and Osaka

29 Oct. '45
Beloved,
     Well, we got back and that's about all.  Oh what a tiresome ride!  But to go in order.  We had breakfast at 7:30 and went down to the offices at 8 and talked for about an hour.  There at 6th Army they say everyone eligible is to be sent home.  It is pitiful how messed up and ignorant of conditions Headquarters is at present.  They had been told this building [in Nagoya] was not suitable for a general hospital!  We put them straight in that and a few other things.  But they said we were under I Corps at Osaka, so we went down there (about 20 miles - mostly cement roads) and arrived at 10:30.  There we got the old run around and double talk.  The Surgeon there says we are attached to the 25th Division so we'd have to see them!  But it looks like Nigg can send the eligible ones out.  To do the work here [Nagoya] they will send in officers from a general hospital on account of the old 92nd is going on and on!  They may close others, but ours - never! [The higher-ups changed their minds -again- and the 92nd Evacuation Hospital was inactivated February 28, 1946.] Isn't that a crack [up]?  What do they need with an evacuation hospital?  Oh well, it will work out and I'm not bothering my head about it.  When my time comes, I'll get out, or else!

One of the many bridges in Osaka

     Well, we went over to the officers' hotel to eat and they wouldn't let us in because we weren't in khaki uniforms with ties!  So we went over to the casual officers' place.  It was the best deal for casual officers I've seen - Jap waitresses, white table cloths, silver, etc.  Good food, too!
     Then I went out and took a roll of Kodachrome.  It was chilly on the way back but we had blankets.  We went for 50 miles again without seeing a GI vehicle, though we passed some Jap trucks and hordes of people.  It was not quite dark when we finished the poor road and the gas was getting low.  After another 15 miles we turned into the road where we could expect to meet some GI cars.  We went a mile and ran out of gas.  We opened up some rations, I put on my wool undershirt and while I was doing that a jeep came by, stopped and we got gas!  We gave them some C rations and came on home.  We drove around Nagoya a while [getting lost, not sight seeing!], coming back to the edge of town once, and finally found our way to the hospital.  Nothing had happened here.  Everyone dropped around to the room to see what we had found out.

     Their trip and Maj. (?) Nigg got things moving.  The next entry in Gene's letter home shows the result.

30 Oct. '45
     Yea verily, this is a glum evening.  Practically all the gang left this evening.  [Maj. Arnold]Neimeyer and [?] Jensen volunteered to stay a few days.  Otherwise, [Capt.? John] Yount and [Capt.? Max] Vinicor and I are alone.  But I'm mighty glad the others got away and as it now appears, safely.  You see, the 25th Div.  and the Nagoya base are trying to set up their organization and there are so few medical officers immediately available - i.e. on the face of it.  Actually, there are 2 general hospitals sitting in the bay with a low priority for unloading.  All that is necessary is for the Div. Surgeon to whistle for 'em and they could be here.  So the soldiers won't be neglected.  Well, the 25th Div. general says he has permission from the 6th Army to hold all officers and men for a while, but he sent no direct order to us, so Nigg went ahead on 6th Army orders and sent everybody out.  Then Nigg and I went to see the Surgeon and said they were gone.  He fumed a bit but then said that what was done was done, and then started to do the sensible thing - plan to get the general hospital in soon.  Apparently this outfit will move in and take over and we will store out stuff and be attached to them.  That will suit me fine.  If Nigg gets away as he should I'll be CO of a paper work hospital - do the administrative work with the help of the non-coms (who know the ropes) and that is all!  So it should work out O.K.  But it makes me sad to see the old gang go.
     All my love, Eugene

On the Road to Kyoto (90)

     Gene is always ready to take advantage of spur-of-the-moment rides, as we see in this post.

October 28, 1945  [Herb] Nigg [an administrative officer ? who had joined the 92nd Evac in Owi] and I (and Lt. Griffith of the 32nd Field Hosp.) went to Kyoto by way of Gifu [about 125 miles].  Left 11 A.M. arrived 4:30 P.M.  What a road!  Stayed with 135 Med. Grp.

Modified map from hhh.gavilan.edu

28 Oct. '45
Beloved,
     I was in the billiard room but it was a bit chilly there so I'm now in the lounge and it is nice and cozy.  The radio is playing.  I'm in a nice easy chair with my feet on a carpet.  No, this isn't Nagoya, it's Kyoto!  This is a former University Club and is it a dilly!  The 135th Med. Group is stationed here and we are staying the night with them.  There are large ornamental light globes and wood paneled walls - a really snazzy place, steam heat and all!  It is a long story - also a long trip!  Nigg wanted to come over to see 6th Army to see what the score is and also to find out about himself and the other officers going home.  So, since I'm apt to be the next CO [he was the highest-ranking doctor of the three in the 92nd Evac. that would be left in Japan], I wanted to come too.  We heard it was a 3 1/2 hour trip over good roads.
     We left about 11 in a jeep with a driver.  Well, we arrived about 4:30 and what a road!  Sugar, you know our difficulties in touring the USA, getting on all the wrong roads [Gene and Beth enjoyed driving around the country seeing the sights].  Well, with signs in Japanese, a map with all the towns in Jap spelling, and their highway system here.  Oy, gevalt!  We took the wrong road out of town several miles and then got to the main road.  I guess it really wasn't so difficult.  We had the large scale Army maps and would point to it and show someone and by saying the name of the town we wanted and by sign language we'd get the general direction.  The highway was cement for a ways and in fair shape.  I can see what the air force meant when they said they were running out of targets.  Golly sakes but a lot of the industrial towns and villages are burned out!
     But to continue.  We headed for Gifu, NW of Nagoya.  We took a turn off the highway because the sign said to.  About 4 miles along on a narrow, twisting road thru an almost continuous village, I knew we were going the wrong direction and finally saw a sign for Gifu pointing the way we had come.  So we went back.  But we saw the sights - bamboo groves, rice fields and raw silk places with spindles of silk that had been dyed out in the sun. 
     At Gifu we drove into town before we knew that was it.  Then we asked for Ogosi and turned back SW.  We had good roads, more or less.  Then we continued on W toward the lake.  We saw quite a range of small mountains with what appeared to be a gap.  In that town we made a false turn and looped back.  There were signs in English spelling of the towns at important turns but their directions were not always clear.  In one town we went all around Robin Hood's barn, on the proper road, however.  It was a main road, but became dirt or gravel, about wide enough for 2 jeeps to pass.  We met a fair number of Jap trucks but no army vehicles of any kind!  But the road wasn't empty!  Oh no, it was simply a stream of people for quite some distance, even in the hills!  People walking, carrying huge loads on their backs, on bicycles with huge loads or pulling great long 2-wheeled carts piled high with boxes, or bundles of brush and branches of wood or lumber - just all sorts of things!

One cart of the many from the stream of people moving down the road

     But the road - words fail me for describing a main highway!  It was just one track.  Jeeps could pass in a pinch.  It ran thru villages where houses were built close to it, between walls, up hill and down, between rice paddies with densely forested (pine and cedar) steep hills beyond.  The railroad (double track) was always near so you can take pictures, but we were in a hurry.  Quite a few houses had steep thatched roofs - thatch about afoot thick, with green moss on the north side.
     There were dozens and dozens of shrines all along the road everywhere, usually in a nice grove of pine trees, one or more toriis ... 2 or even long rows of stone lanterns, sometimes stone lions or foxes, and then the shrine proper - small wooden ones or large tile-roofed ones.  I just wanted to take pictures of each one!  They are all so interesting and picturesque.
     In the higher valleys there was timbering going on, but not even the small branches are wasted.  What loads the people were pulling - men, women and children.  In several places there were bunches of small red chili peppers drying on straw mats.  There were miles and miles of houses with straw mats right on the road, with rice or beans drying.
     They don't pound the rice in mortars here.  They do thresh it out with flails or a sort of foot peddle machine with a rotating cylinder studded with wire loops.  Then it is winnowed in the wind or in front of a hand-turned fan.  Rice is cut close to the ground and tied in small bundles.  Some is put in very open shocks.  Some is hung over racks.  Vegetables are grown on all available ground.  There were plenty of the usual fecal odors!

Preparing the rice for threshing and winnowing

     The hills aren't terraced very high along there.  There were a number of nice clean mountain streams.  The people were dressed the same as elsewhere.  Many of the women wore small white cloth head shawls [see photo above].  Some of the men had bands of cloth around their heads fastened with an odd twist.  At most places the kids waved and hollered.  At intervals there were air-warning watch towers - usually 2 long poles set in the ground like a ladder with a tubular-looking bell.  We saw no cattle, no pigs, very few dogs and cats and not many chickens.  The road was rough and was full of chuck holes in places.  It continued a rather narrow road even after we came out by the lake.  From there on, though in doubt at times, we had no trouble following it.


     To be continued.

Setting up the Hospital in Nagoya (89)

     After all of the idleness on the ship, Maj. Pfile is delighted to take some photos, then get to work setting up the hospital.

A field near Nagoya with the air base in the background

27 Oct. '45
Beloved,
     Oh me!  Oh my!  Have I ever been flying around and getting little done.  This morning at 8 [supply and transportation officer Ed] Gray was on hand with our trucks and most of our EM's [enlisted men] came up to our building.  Then they sent back weapons carriers [jeep-like trucks] for the officers.  We left about 10 but first yours truly (and I do mean yours, Sugar!) took a roll of color pictures.  As it turned out, it was well I did, for I had no time later.  The sky was cloudless but there was quite a haze in the distance.  This is all perfectly flat around here, with mountains far off.  We certainly saw a burned out city!  We passed huge factories that were mere skeletons and miles and miles of some factory areas that were burned to the ground, with machinery all warped and rusted.  It certainly is freakish how here and there a home or building would be entirely unscathed.  They certainly have lots of cops here on the street corners directing traffic.  They wear blue uniforms with black roll leggings, white gloves and SWORDS!  Can you feature that?  Most are short swords, perhaps 18" overall, but some are long.  They appear to be on the cavalry saber style and not Samurai.  Here and there are shrines and small nooks with shrines in them.  Very few of the tall factory chimneys were knocked flat, and there weren't many bomb craters.  Rusted iron is everywhere.  They have plenty of scrap now!

A tower of the castle in Nagoya; the enlisted mens' barracks
were located on the grounds of the castle

     What a building we have!  It is 5 stories, completely modern and quite new.  One set of elevators is running, complete with floor indicator showing the floor it is at, in lights.  The outside looks rather crummy - dark and in places the smooth brick facing is knocked off.  But the inside!  The front has a marquis [marquee?] in fancy bricks, with part of the roof in glass bricks.  The floors in all halls are of this smooth stone and there are slabs of it in the walls.  There are mail chutes, light colored metal trims.  Most of the metal banisters have been replaced by wood.  The floors in the rooms are of wood (in squares) laid in cement.  The windows are large and the frames are metal.  The toilets are large - urinals and the porcelain "hole in the floor" stools, but with movable wooden seats over them.  I'm certain they were made at the [U.S.] army's orders.  The wash rooms are separate with lots of basins and large mirrors, both are rather low and you have to stoop to use them.  Showers have been added, again at army orders.  This is the pay-off - hot and cold water! and it is steaming hot.  The place must have been built with the idea of a hospital or barracks in mind, for on each floor is a large pantry with gas stoves, sinks, dining room and dumb waiters to a large kitchen in the basement!  The stoves are out, however.  There is a large built-in refrigerator.  We live on the 2nd floor.  The men have to live in some Jap cavalry barracks about a quarter of a mile away, situated in what was once a castle grounds.  There is a moat and walls and the whole area seems quite large.  They won't have such nice quarters.  The 25th Med. Bn. [medical battalion] and the 32nd Field Hosp. (a long time in Italy - a lot of their docs have been overseas 3 years) are all here but not setting up.  We have a few patients already.  The men are all hard at work plumbing and wiring.  We have lights in most of the building.
     Back to my day - we arrived a little after 11 and looked around.  There is one small building next to us and a large [one] set about 1/2 mile away, but otherwise the area is burned out.  We ate our rations about 12 and went to work.  One of the Lt.s [lieutenants] helped me part of the time.  We went to work on the inventory - gave the kitchen a quick once over, and a few other items.  A lot of it we don't need to check such as knives and forks for they are expendable.  Most of the time I spent on surgery, but it was easy.  They [whoever packed] had a complete list of their instruments, and a list of what was in each of their 100 boxes, so we went thru the lists and named off the non-expendables.  So many things are expendable - syringes, needles, supplies.  It would be something terrible to do the millions of individual items.  Sterritt [?] is doing the wards as they set up.  X-ray, dental, lab, ENT will do their own, so while it will tie me up for a few days, it won't e so bad.  Right now I'm waiting to check the receiving office.  A street car and a suburban electric go by here and the suburban's horn sounds natural.  The high point men are all hoping to leave.  I'm sure a General Hospital will take over, for this is an ideal set up for them.  I suppose they will take me over, too!  Oh, well, what's the difference for a couple of months!

Bored on the Boat (84)

     Gene was lucky.  He was an officer and had been allowed to go ashore.  The enlisted men had been denied that pleasure, but they had to watch the sailors line up to go ashore every day.

16 Oct. '45
Beloved,
     Today has been nothing and more of it.  Right now we are alongside a tanker taking on oil but that doesn't mean we are going anywhere!  The rumor now has it that we may be here on the boat for 2 or 3 weeks.  Gadfrey!  I don't know how I'll put up with that!  Why we'll be running out of good food and then we will have something to howl about!  We heard that the I Corps was willing for us to get off here and to go overland but the lame-brained Gen. Mullins (and I hope he reads this!) [I could fine no information on Gen. Mullins, other than he was a major general, commanded the 25th Infantry Division from 1944 until 1948, and his given name was Charles, so he probably wasn't very important, which may be why he acted as he did] of the 25th Div. says "no", while he, the regular army ---- is on shore and at Nagoya.  He's the dim-wit who said for us to polish the rough-finished field boots.  But enough of that.  I get so hot when I think how ships times are being wasted that I sizzle!
     They are starting tomorrow to allow several hundred GI's a day to go on shore - one batch each morning and afternoon, and some officers.  Mullins, the ----, had blocked that when we first got here, curse him!  Why, these poor men just have to have something to occupy them!!  That living in the holds is no joke.  They won't be allowed to take things to trade.
     This morning we really laughed.  They line up all the sailors who are going ashore and search them - i.e. make them pull up their pants legs to show nothing is stuck in their socks and pat their pockets.l  They had been inspected and were filing down the gang plank when one started to re-adjust his white cap and 3 packs of gum fell out on the deck.  Was he ever embarrassed and all the officers standing there burst out in a roar of laughter.  He picked up the gum!

From a newspaper, copywrited by King Features Syndicate in 1945

     Yesterday in the cemeteries I noticed the "spirit gates" or I took them to be that.  Inside the open gate was a short straight wall __---__, thus.  Their toriis are quite graceful as are the slight up-curving of the roof eaves.  The tile was certainly an unusual color - almost black.  The pine trees scattered around the buildings and among the rocks were quite handsome in their effect - only it was spoiled by electric wires.  I'd scarcely realized before how ugly electric lines and poles are and how they spoil the overall effect.  We saw some Aussie officers and sailors on shore - all dressed in shorts even though it was quite chilly.  Our sailors were everywhere - dressed in whites and quite conspicuous in them.  Today I noticed they are wearing blues.  There were M.P.'s and S. P.'s [probably shore patrol or special police] only about every mile on the streets.  Some soldiers told us that when they first landed the people were very distrustful and rather uncooperative but a pat of the hand on your .45 along with a request thawed them out.  They said that often the women would cross the street to avoid them.  As soon as they realized they wouldn't be mistreated, they changed their attitudes.
     All my love, Eugene

A crane is poised over an unfinished and abandoned factory;
in the middle is a long line of GI's going to and from the ships

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

Some photos from DTC to Biak (82)

     I'm going to be on vacation for a couple of weeks, so here are some photos that didn't fit in elsewhere.  I hope you enjoy them!


From the Desert Training Center:

Near Freda looking toward the Chuckwalla Mountains

Members of the 92nd Evacuation Hospital lining up for innoculations

In Australia:

Australian soldiers riding bicycles near Rockhampton

Rockhampton train

Australian men working in the train yard in Rockhampton

In Hollandia:

Piece of a  wrecked canoe near Hollandia Gene sent through the
 mail to Beth

Carvings on the other side of the piece of wrecked canoe

Some of the enlisted men of the 92nd Evac (they look like characters in the musical,
South Pacific, don't they?)

Japanese supplies

On Biak:

Looking from the beach road on Biak up to the the Japanese
bunkers dug into the cliff

Japanese bunker on Biak

Major surgery tents on Biak

Minor surgery tents on Biak

Ward tents on Biak

Capt. Hiram Armstrong's fox hole on Biak

First Impressions of Japan (80)

     Gene finally gets to go ashore.  He is interested in absolutely everything!

A Japanese women on the street in Wakayama

15 Oct. 1945
Beloved,
     In later years I want you to remind me that this birthday marked my Jap beachhead!  We left the ship about 8 on an LCVP [landing craft, vehicle, personnel].  We called at another ship and then went on up the inlet.  The map showed "an old fort" and "a fort" on each side of "the creek" (for size) but I couldn't make out a thing but a small hill.  The factories which we passed (which we'd seen from the ship) are really huge affairs - possible steel mills.  We went up this inlet about a mile and landed at a sort of dock.  I talked to the crew man and he said this wasn't the regular place to land, but some Lt. Col.s wanted off there.  I was the only one not getting off there so decided I could at least stick with the others!  Besides another Major had a map!  Well, these Col.s wanted to go to Osaka 20 odd miles north.  They got a truck to go to Headquarters first and we rode along.  We ended up in the so-called Kobe Headquarters in Wakayama, about 8 miles north of the place where the regular shore landings are made.  It was across the street from an old castle area, now a reservoir.  In places there was a moat about 30 feet wide and a stone wall 20 feet height around a small hillock.  We went into the Hq. and procured more maps and found out where we were and where we wanted to go.  It was plain sailing after that - one street to follow south.  The mess officer Lt. and the other Major and I teamed up.
     The people - what a sight!  Out of thousands of women, I saw maybe 5 that wore skirts!  90% wore a variety of pants and about 10% wore kimonos.  The pants are amazing.  Imagine a cloth of gray in a pattern of squares - a kimono top with full sleeves closed at the wrist with elastic, tucked inside pants which are fairly voluminous at the waist and a very baggy seat, tapering sharply to a jodhpur-like leg below the knee, closed with elastic about the ankle!  The feet encased in white cotton "shoes" with a separate toe and wearing a wooden clog with two cleats.  Some kimonos were worn by elderly men, but most men and boys wore a variety of army uniform.  Did I take pictures!  About 30 black and white.  Mostly of people, too.

Wakayama street cobbler wearing army-like clothing

     Bicycles were everywhere - men and women riding them.  Some kimonos were made of a heavy material like the material in men's suits.  Others were every conceivable figure and material, as were the pants affairs.  I saw several slack suits, dark material and of a state side style.  Some kimonos have a sort of bustle affair - like a flat, oblong sofa pillow, tied to the small of the back with a wide colorful sash!  Babies are carried in a sling on the mother's back and seem perfectly happy.  It is alarming to see the angles their heads take when they sleep!
     The street cars (off limits to troops - no room anyway!) are crowded something remarkable.  People hang on the front and rear cornices.  They have real-sized horses (Gene objected to the small ones the Filipinos had - B [Beth added]), a few hauling long carts.  Any time you go down side streets, and often on the main streets, there is a marked odor of feces!  The honey bucket carts (drawn by hand) are prevalent and unmistakable!  There were quite a few bombed and burned out places - all interspersed with gardens, and lots of wreckage already cleared.  We saw a few modern buildings.  Some people were quite pleasant.  Only a few looked sullen.  Many just looked straight ahead.  Most of the women and girls looked discretely down at the ground.  The youngsters, as anywhere, were quite boisterous.  We came past several batches just returning from school.  They came romping along and shouted "hello" and laughed and smiled.  A few of the shop keepers would bow to us.  In all, it was hardly a conqueror-vanquished relationship!

Wakayama children going home from school

     Well, the Major had some business to attend to, so I stood outside and took pictures of people.  Then we caught a ride about 2 miles on our way (a regular army bus line from HQ. to the billets) and then we started walking.  I certainly laughed at this Major.  He has been overseas just a few months.  He's about 45 - has sons 18 and 21.  Well, he had to look into every place even remotely resembling a shop to try to buy a kimono.  We went slowly, needless to say!
     I spent most of my time out on the street looking and taking pictures.  When you stopped to look, a small crowd would gather.  It you went into a shop (just hole-in-the-wall places) they closed the sliding door and offered you seats and then the parley began.  All these shops were very, very poor - a handful of goods only.  One could do well with our Jap phrase books (Gene wrote before he left the Philippines that he had looked thru the book and decided to learn just 2 phrases - "how much" and "that's too much"! - B).  The natives could turn to the appropriate pages as well as could we!  Prices, of course, were outrageous.  Everyone had rolls of yen notes and weren't interested in selling for money.  They wanted to trade for candy or cigarettes.  The standard exchange is 15 yen for a dollar.  Well, the kids on the street would cluster around offering 10 yen for a pack of cigarettes!  The usual price was 20 or 30 yen.
    
     Gene's letter is so long and enthusiastic (and with so many photos!) that I am going to break it off here and continue it in the next post.