Hot Zone (39)

June 13, 1944  Setting up in nice area. [They don't realize they are in a scrub typhus hot zone!]

June 14, 1944  Receiving patients.

June 15, 1944  Not too busy, but lots of patients - 200 today.

June 16, 1944
     ...  Owi [is] about 2x3 miles large.  It is much quieter here and the area will be O.K.  But golly the patients!  This morning we had over 500 having received 200 yesterday and some today.  Most are medical [fevers and such, not surgical] but there are still a lot of casualties.  The Portables, and 116th Med. Reg. [the Medical Regiment with the 41st Infantry Division] are fixing up a lot before sending them to us.  The Mokmer Strip is capable of receiving planes but the Japs can still shell it so it is no good.  Our troops are meeting stiff resistance and taking heavy losses, even after 3 weeks of steady fighting.  They are at the edge of the 2nd airfield.  A small fighter strip is being built behind us [on Owi].  We heard the glorious news that B 29's bombed Japan in a real raid.  Maybe we won't have such a tough time now.  Jap reinforcements have been intercepted and driven off, 3 times.  If they landed in real force, we'd be in real danger.
     One of my patients told me that in taking some Jap pill boxes they had to use the "Eichleberger [sic] Method"  [referring Gen. Robert Eichelberger, hard-hitting head of I Corps] - bayonets and grenades.  The men are becoming terribly tired.  Gen'l Fuller of the 41st asked to be relieved and I Corps and Eickleberger [sic] took over. [Actually, according to Robert Ross Smith in U.S. Army in World War II: War in the Pacific: The Approach to the Philippines, (which has a play-by-play description of the whole Biak situation) Gens. MacArthur and Krueger were not happy with the way Gen. Fuller was handling the Biak attack, and sent Gen. Eichelberger to replace him, a difficult situation for Eichelberger since he was friends with Fuller from West Point; Gen. Fuller sent a letter to his men saying it was his failure, not theirs, and left.]
     In the first 3 weeks we admitted 2000 patients!

Japanese bunkers in the cliffs over the
beach road on Biak

     We no longer have black out except during alerts, and we are only 4 miles [across the water] from a pocket of Japs in cliffs along the beach road where they still fire at vehicles using it.  We even had a movie this evening.  We have alerts every night but no bombings.
     I had 2nd class mail from February with magazines and a box of cigars from the Rowlands [Gene's aunt and uncle].  Fine!

The terror of constant bombardment has receded, so Gene doesn't need to calm his nerves by writing.  The drudgery of heavy work operating and caring for patients in the wards continues.  Gene was presumably too tired to make more than brief entries for two weeks.

June 18, 1944  No more blackout here.

June 26, 1944  Japs bombed the strip [on Owi].

June 27, 1944  Steak, to celebrate anniversary [of leaving the U.S.].

June 28, 1944  Biak and Owi - over 2500 patients in a month.

June 29, 1944  1 bottle of Jap beer to celebrate 1 yr Overseas [technically a year earlier he was on the high seas].

July 1, 1944
     Here it is D+32, and the fight goes on!  2 days ago the 34th ran into a trap and were plastered with mortar fire, giving about 30 casualties for us.  A graves registration fellow [bodies of many American soldiers were registered and buried, then after the war, dug up and taken home] said there were 753 already buried (reports conflict - another said between 4 and 500) and more missing.  The airstrips are in use but patrols are constantly running into trouble.  They sent in to us 5 wounded Japs found in a cave, half starved.  It cost 4 of our boys to get them out - t'ain't worth it.  Of course it was the 34th Regiment that did it.  They'll learn in time not to take prisoners. [To the Japanese, becoming a prisoner was very shameful.]
     Our place is nicely set up.  Sparky [Adams], George [Christie], Hiram [Armstrong] and I are in the so-called nurses area [the nurses hadn't arrived because it wasn't yet, and maybe would never be, deemed safe].  Some night we're apt to look under our beds and find a nurse!  Previously on Owi I lived in a tent on the beach, then back of surgery - a foxhole had to be dug at each place!
     We celebrated our anniversary of 1 yr from the States with steak, and 1 bottle each of Jap beer a few days later, ice cold, it was, and tasted fine.  Yesterday I received a package mailed Mar. 22.  Mail is better, but still slow.


Lt. Joe Davis watching Sgt. Ahern sort the Owi mail

     Rumor has it that another evac Hosp. is coming and that we'll be on our way again.  I hope the footlockers arrive first!  I've no film at all.
     The airports are certainly busy.  3 or 4 nights ago Japs dropped some bombs across the island from us but did not damage.  The Mokmer strip got it about a week ago, with some casualties.  We still have alerts, since the moon is waxing, but seldom hear a plane.  They are probably dropping supplies to their men.  On June 10, 200 Jap reinforcements were landed from barges on the NW corner of the island.
     3000 patients in 5 weeks.



2July '44
Dear Folks [Mary X and John],
     The Nat'l Geographic is catching up with me.  A lot of us enjoy it.
     Several natives (men) are just going down the road, and what an assortment of clothes.  One has a gee-string [a narrow strip of cloth held up by a waistband] and army garrison cap.  The other a pair of white GI shorts and undershirt.  They've been trading - small gnarled root bracelets and shells.  I want to trade for a comb.  At Finschhafen there were some nice ones of bamboo with long teeth.  I drew a crude picture.  "No got" was the answer.  [Gene ended up getting a root bracelet].  These natives are so much more primitive and poor than those I've seen elsewhere.  Their canoes lack the elaborate and artistic carvings that I saw in Hollandia.  Contrary to the usual idea of the abundance of food on a tropical isle, these natives are hard-put to get enough to eat, and reflect it physically.  They all (anywhere) prefer to receive "kai-kai" [K rations] such as crackers and canned goods, in trade.  We've had several in the hospital that were wounded in booby traps or investigating grenades.
     The message on the picture postcard was purely facetious - it's what all travelers or vacationers write! [Perhaps it said "Wish you were here!"]  I enjoyed the booklet of jokes (which I received a few days ago) of World War I.  Humor scarcely varies.
     I'm doing fine.  Things are quieter, but some fighting still continues.  No more bombs have landed near us!
     Love, Eugene

July 3, 1944  2 years [since Gene registered at Fitzsimmons] [I'm now] on Owi, Schouten Islands, NEI [Netherland East Indies].

July 5, 1944
     A Lt. from the 205 FA Bn [field artillery battalion] told us what a bad time they had of it about May 30th when it looked as though the Japs were going to break thru the 162.

July 6, 1944  Mokmer strip bombed.

July 7, 1944
     2 Jap planes bombed the airstrip near us [on Owi], with 10 casualties.  Night before they bombed Mokmer.

July 14, 1944  My footlocker arrived (after 3 months).  Now I have film!

July 21, 1944  Bed roll arrived - canvas partly rotted.

July 24, 1944 Scrub typhus cases pouring in [a month and a half after "setting up in a nice area"]

July 25, 1944  5 nurses arrive.  We moved to beach area.  More foxholes to dig!  Air raid.  No damage.

Now the nurses' area will actually be for the nurses!  The following article in the Denver Post reported on the the arrival of the Colorado nurses.
    

Colorado Nurses on Owi Island

     Owi Islands, July 25 (delayed) - (A.P.)  Five khaki garbed young nurses bundled up their knitting and stepped off a transport plane at this advanced base today.

     They were the first feminine contingent to be based in the Schouten Islands, 800 miles from the Philippines and are closest of all the nursing corps to the islands where a number of their corps fell in the defense of Bataan.

     Three hours after they arrived Japanese airmen staged a raid but their bombs dropped harmlessly in the sea.

     In the group were First Lt. Leona Cote, Chicopee, Mass., and Second Lts. Louise Huston, Denver, Colo., Judith Ann Hughs, Grand Junction, Colo., Verna Loomis, Colorado Springs, Colo., and Francis Brown, Cambridge, Mass.

     "We've been overseas 13 months," Lt. Huston said, "and we're not the least bit nervous in the service."

Since the fighting was still going on, surgeon's were still needed, even though they were swamped with scrub typhus cases.  And nursing care was definitely needed!

July 29, 1944  I have 2 wards and am on surgery.

August 1, 1944  for 4 weeks straight we've averaged 113 admissions daily.

Cynical Laughs (38)

June 8, 1944  [Thursday] An ill-timed move!  We were called back to help on Biak.

From an unidentified newspaper article:

YANKS WIN JAP FIELD OFF GUINEA:

Mokmer Drome Is 880 Miles From Philippines

Advanced Allied Headquarters, New Guinea, June 8. - (A.P.) - Mokmer airfield on Biak island was in American hands Thursday, a prized base from which to launch air assaults against the Philippines.

     The coastal coral strip, Allied goal since the May 27 invasion of the island off northern Dutch New Guinea, fell into American hands Wednesday at 11 a.m.
     A Yank column, battling its way westward down island ridges from the invasion village of Bosnek, stormed Japanese position from behind and took the field.
     Then the force continued west toward Biak's two other landing strips, Borokoe, an inland drome two miles away and Sordio, a coastal field three and a half miles distant.
     Another American column striking along the coast had been halted five miles east of Mokmer.  Southwest Pacific headquarters announced that this Japanese block was widely encircled by the inland column which struck from the rear to take Mokmer.
     "Surprise was thereby attained and the enemy's forces were routed with light losses to ourselves," the communiqué declared.
     From Mokmer and other air fields which readily may be constructed on the flat, low-lying southeastern two-thirds of Biak island, Fifth air force fighters could control all western Dutch New Guinea and to the Philippines, only 880 miles distant.
     On Biak island, 135 miles east of Manokwari, American forces rushed to repair work on Mokmer strip which they seized from the Japanese Wednesday morning.

Mokmer Airdrome

June 9, 1944  More casualties coming in.

June 10, 1944
     Things have quieted down a bit as air activity against us is concerned.  That is, we haven't been bombed or straffed [sic] lately.  But not professionally.  3 days ago I went over to the small island of Owi to superintend the setting up of surgery.  It will be a fine place - after several months of work!  It will be in a run-down coconut grove with high undergrowth between the trees.  I slept in Sterling's tent, right on the beach.  It is fine there.  There are more mosquitoes than on Biak, but more shade.  He even has the nurses' area planned for [the nurses only join a hospital after the nearby fighting is over]!
     But such an ill-timed move right when the fighting is going on continually!  All surgery is needed in one spot - not part of it an hour's travel (though only 4 miles) away.  Maybe the bombs on Biak got Sterling's goat so much he just wants to run, for he is staying on Owi!  Anyway they sent for me and the surgery boys next morning.  I worked all day until 1:30 AM.  Then the next day we received 50 or 60 more.  Fortunately the LST's were in the day before and we sent out a lot of minor stuff without even re-dressing them.  They will be fixed on the boat.  When we had the 2 surgeries with 6 tables going, we could really turn out the work.
     This morning I had my first bath in 4 days.  That's another thing - no water on Owi!  I'm certainly doing lots of surgery.  Dick [McIlroy] and I fixed up a badly lacerated (Jap sniper) perineum scrotum and penis with severing of the urethra.  The boy (Mexican) will have a slant to the S.W., I fear!  I did my first cystostomy suprapubic [a new connection to drain the bladder], of which I should have done some in private practice.  Under [Capt. Ed] Power's guidance I opened a belly and found a hole thru the upper pole of the Rt kidney and a large retro peritoneal hematoma [a collection of blood behind the kidney].  We used a small pack in the kidney and brought it out thru a stab wound in the flank.  I've amputated a leg, fingers and toes.  Lots of compound [broken in more than one place] and comminuted [splintered or crushed] fractures - tibia and fibula [lower leg], femur [upper leg], radius and ulna [lower arm], humerus [upper arm], scapula [shoulder blade], skull, ribs, hands, feet, vertebrae.  I've assisted on brain, sucking chest wounds [air enters the chest and the lung collapses], intestinal wounds, colon perforations, and every sort of soft tissue wound.


Japanese bunker on Biak

     We certainly get some cynical laughs hearing MacArthur's communiqués about this operation.  According to him, a few days ago we secured the Mokmer air strip and were clearing out pockets of the enemy.  Actually we still hold only one side and the Japs the rest, plus the ridges over looking it [our side of the strip] from which they shell the beach and our other positions with mortars, mountain guns, dual purpose AA and coast defense guns.  The 186 trying to come in from behind is meeting terrific resistance.  The Japs in their caves have almost perfect protection and have not suffered much from the tons and tons of shells and bombs.  We don't even know where their main bivouac area is, so we haven't been able to shell effectively.  Our losses must be several hundred killed and a thousand wound[ed].  I heard of one company (200 men) that tried to hold a ridge with a captain and 18 men.  The rest were killed, wounded or sick from exhaustion.  But at that, malaria, psychoses and exhaustion have caused more non-effectives than battle casualties.  But they are gradually going ahead and gaining ground.  There are few pill boxes that the tanks can get at to blast the beach at Mokmer drome.  Some casualties were treated by the first aid and it was 2 or 3 days before they could be brought back by buffaloes and ducks [semi-aquatic means of transport].  The Negro duck drivers proved themselves real heroes, going right thru the toughest kind of mortar fire.  Last night the 12th Portable was to try to land there.  Another one had been shelled off the beach a few days before.  The 162 is on that beach and the 186 back of the drome - only 2000 yards apart but they can't break thru and join up.  Col. Shaw said another Jap convoy headed here, was broken up.  Lord help us if they get one thru.  In a Jap home broadcast and reported by a listening station in the US, they said Biak is of vital importance - that if they lose it their whole N.G. and Dutch East Indies section will fold up and the Philippines put within easy bomb range.  So the Japs are really making a fight for it.
     The 41st has now had 2 solid weeks of the toughest kind of fighting and is entering the 3rd.  If an airstrip can be secured and used, it will help a lot.


June 11, 1944
     It's calm and peaceful, following a quiet night.  In church this morning we could hear the distant boom of the guns in the mad symphony of war.
     Some time back the 49th Fighter Squadron was bombed, about a mile from us.  18 killed and 36 wounded.  They had no foxholes, or weren't in them!

Gene wrote at the top of the following article from an unidentified newspaper, possibly the Montana Standard, "I treated this chap (Comstock)."

PRIVATE SIVULA, REPORTED MISSING, FIGHTS WAY BACK TO SAFETY
By Spencer Davis
WITH SIXTH ARMY FORCES ON BIAK ISLAND, Dutch New Guinea, June 14 - (Delayed). - (A.P.) - For 16 days Pfc. Edward Sivula of Butte, Mont., and T/4 Roger Comstock of Los Angeles were cut off behind Japanese lines.
     But the hardy soldier from Montana's copper country and the blond Californian, hardened by football, finally made their way back through the fire of mortars, enemy snipers and a concentrated American barrage.
     (Pfc. Sivula is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Victor Sivula, 459 East Broadway.  His parents have read this dispatch after having received word only Thursday that their son was missing in action.)
On May 28, the second day of the Biak invasion, they were in a forward position, observing and reporting artillery fire, when a Japanese counter-attack isolated them.  Comstock was nicked in the left arm and leg by an exploding mortar shell.
     Sivula helped his companion to a limestone cave on the beach front.  While spreading dried palm fronds over the entrance to conceal their position, he was injured in the right leg by mortar fragments.
     They remained in their hideout four days.  Once a Japanese sniper, smoking a cigarette, stepped into the cave, but he failed to see the wounded Yanks.
While fighting was still underway, they started back toward their outfit, walking two miles to a jetty at Mokmer village, then held by the Japanese.
Dodging machine gun fire they climbed into a wrecked Japanese barge.  The incoming tide flooded them out within an hour.
     The artillerymen again took refuge in a cave, subsisting on a small stream of fresh water trickling through it and on Japanese tinned meat and biscuits.
     Comstock found a water logged native dugout canoe June 3.  they bailed out the craft, stuffed rags and sticks in its holes and set out again.
     Several hundred yards offshore the canoe overturned.  A sniper on the cliffs above opened fire as the two Americans waded ashore.  One bullet struck Comstock's canteen, which was hanging on his belt, and another pierced Sivula's helmet, grazing his forehead.
     The Americans returned to their cave, hiding out for nine more days and nights, while American forces maintained a consistent barrage against Japanese positions near them.
     They made another break on the night of June 11.  Just before dawn, they cautiously approached the beach at Parai village, where they had observed the arrival of some Americans.  Then Comstock tripped over a wire.  Flames sputtered five or six feet away.  It was a booby trap which failed to explode, but they ducked for safety behind a log.
     They heard approaching footsteps, then a Midwestern voice growled: "Hey you two.  Git up, git up."
     "That GI's voice," said Comstock, "sounded like music from heaven."
     "It was the happiest moment of our lives," added Sivula.
     They were evacuated to a hospital.  Sivula was able to rejoin his outfit after a few days' rest, and Comstock's condition was not serious.

June 12, 1944.  Moving to Owi.  Maj. Schwatel from the 33rd Div. with us to observe.  He's been working, too!

The "mad symphony" goes on and on.

"I Can't Fully Tell Beth" (37)

The situation was bad.  War is, indeed, hell.

June 3, 1944
     I worked from 12 [noon] yesterday right thru until 1:30 A.M. today, awoke at 6:30 and worked until 1 P.M.  Yesterday afternoon we had quite a raid.  They claim 10 out of 14 were shot down.  Some fellows saw 6 go down.  2 pilots bailed out, one landing on the ridge right back of us (at the place where a Jap patrol tangled with some of our Infantry).  The pilot was trying to destroy his maps when they killed him.  I was working at the time and missed it, as usual.  They dropped a small bomb near the searchlight (200 yards from us) and knocked it out.  Another  landed about 400 yards on the other side of us.  They did some straffing [sic].  We had quite a few casualties and we all worked on them.  Even MacDaniels the dentist worked on some.  It was quiet except for a few alerts, the rest of the night.  When all the concentrated AA is cracking past over your head, it really makes you cringe.

A ward tent on Biak

     This noon was the worst!  these things I just can't tell fully to Beth, for it is bad and apt to get worse.  Several planes straffed [sic] and bombed.  One good sized one hit a few feet from our latrine, and about 150 yards from me - 3 tents were in between, and the kitchen.  I was working on a head wound.  When it began to sound really hot, I got down behind the wall of sand bags, keeping my hands sterile.  Even at that distance the wall bulged inward about 6 inches and rocks hit the tent.  The smell of powder, smoke and dust was strong.  I thought it hit one of the tents, but I went tight back to work on the patient though my hands weren't quite steady.  Fortunately the patient was not quite conscious!  The bomb made a hole in the soft sand about 10 feet deep and 15 across.  Luckily everyone near was in a hole and no one was hurt.  One fellow asleep in a hole about 15 feet from it was partly buried by sand.  He said he dreamt Zeros were bombing him and here they were!  [He] picked up a fragment 2 feet long and 3 to 4 inches wide, laying on the tarp of his foxhole.  It didn't even go thru.  It happened just before dinner and a lot of men were around the mess.  I saw [Col.] Sterling afterwards and I swear he had the wind up [became nervous] more than a little.  He wanted action and he's getting it!
     In the PM I had to go over the 21 patients (chiefly wounded) that had come into my ward.  Then I washed clothes and bathed in the spring on the beach.  But like an old gander, I kept my eye peeled for planes and artillery.  What casualties the Japs must be receiving!  They say some of the fighting is worse than Guadal Canal [sic] or Buna.  The 41st is really catching it.

I'm sure Gene took a deep breath and composed his thoughts before writing Beth.

3 June '44
Beloved,
     I didn't get to write yesterday for I was on from noon yesterday till noon today.  I have a ward in addition now, practically filled with FUO [fever of unknown origin] and malaria [hmm - he said "chiefly wounded" in his diary]!  So I was kept busy.  Yesterday afternoon we had some show.  They claim 10 out of 14 were shot down.  As usual I was busy and didn't get to see any come down, dang nab it!  One parachuted down landing on a ridge back of us.  Baker and some others grabbed their carbines and tore up to get him, but soldiers on the ridge had already finished him just as he was trying to destroy his maps.
     This afternoon I did some laundry [does he do his laundry just so he can talk about it in his letters?] and washed out on the beach.  You know how they picture an old gander, leader of a wild flock, standing on one leg and keeping one eye cocked on the sky!  But a fellow really feels naked, out there naked anyway.  Of course there are foxholes within jumping distance.
     We have something over here they don't have in any other theater, and that is sword wounds!  I worked on one fellow who was cut across the head and into but not thru the skull and across the scapula.  They killed the officer, of course, but it is hard to realize that the Jap Officers really use the sabers they carry.  They carry them on patrol, even, when they wrap their feet in rags.  One was killed like that the other night, and I saw the sword.  They are really curved sabers.  In the handle the history of the sword itself is kept, and how it is passed down thru the family.  Interesting, isn't it?  Certainly they are war minded!
     There is a darn gun right close to us that makes me jump even though I know it is coming!  It is a big one and fires at 15 minute intervals.  The shell does sound sort of like a train rushing along in the distance.  Boy, I'd hate to be on the other end.  Today they've been bombing the devil out of the Jap positions.  It sounds nice to hear those sticks of bombs going "womp, womp, womp!"
     We had the darnedest rain about noon.  It came down in buckets.  Our 8 inches for the month will soon be used up if this keeps on.  Again I'm so glad for the change of shoes!
     I didn't see them but I heard that some P-38's and Liberators knocked off 6 Jap planes somewhere around here today.  That's another thing I'd like to see, a dog fight between planes.  That really must be something.  Of all the flak that goes up, none of it falls around us.  That is a help.
     Next morning - during the night I heard a plane buzzing around way up.  I believe he dropped some bombs into the ocean, probably afraid to come over the guns and afraid to go home with them!  I think the Nips have a great deal of respect for our gunners.  I heard a good one about one of the fellows close [to] here who is exceptional.  A fellow talking to him said he was chewing tobacco unconcernedly and spitting.  When asked who got such and such a plane, he said (spit) "Me and another guy."  Just then a plane came along and he just sat there working his gun and chewing calmly and drawing a careful bead and not wasting his ammunition!
     It certainly is delightful how few skeeters there are here,  I haven't used a net since a week ago and I don't think I've had a bite.  The flies aren't quite as bad here either.  They claim there are lots of alligators around in large streams.  Dick [McIlroy] and I plan to go hunting sometime.
     All my love, Eugene

The newspapers reported on June 4th that most of the fighting was over and the U.S. forces were just mopping up.  Unfortunately, the Japanese were more desperate and dug in than anyone realized.

June 4, 1944 Sunday - Jap naval task force said to be coming to shell us!

June 5, 1944 Monday
     Yesterday morning all looked quiet. I was just catching up on my ward. At 10:30 they called in all the officers. They said part of the Jap fleet - a naval task force - was expected in about 6 hours to shell the beach, and that we had to send all patients possible to duty and take the rest up over the ridge with as much of the hospital we could, to set up another. We were to take a light pack, carbine, water and rations. I dismissed as soon as I could complete their jackets [the patient's records], all my medical patients [the ones admitted for fevers, etc.] They [the ward men?] packed a few sets of instruments, plasma and dressings and put the rest in foxholes, including x-ray, to protect it as much as possible from shelling. All but 2 ward tents were taken down and litter cases moved into 2 wards. All walking patients were sent up on the first slope, and then up the ridge. It was extremely steep, and hard on the patients. Carbines, rifles and pistols and ammunition were given out. I was sent up, with some others, to look after the patients. We were to stay put until we had definite word. Getting up the litter patients would have been a terrible job. We heard that our Navy was on the way, but couldn't arrive in force soon enough. A whole bunch of fighters and Liberators went after them [the Japanese force]. By afternoon nothing showed up, so we all breathed more easily. They brought up litters for the night, blankets, water, food and medicine. We bedded down behind an infantry perimeter. The things I didn't carry, I [had] put in a waterproof bag and put it in Hiram's foxhole. I found on the floor

Hiram's foxhole on Biak

of our tent [in the dirt on the ridge], a small waterproof bag containing an excellent Jap plane clock. The night brought more alerts.  We'd give most of the men amytal [a barbiturate that causes sedation]!  Several planes were fired at, but there was reported there were several destroyers, transports of troops and a cruiser - about 18 in all.  We are opening up again and may more to a quiet island about 3 or 4 miles south.  Today they've been shelling and bombing the very devil out of the Japs.  We had some mail when our refrigerator arrived on an LST.

June 6, 1944  More air attacks and more work.

In a letter to his 14-year-old nephew, Gene sounds quite nonchalant.

6 June '44
Dear Jack,
     Here is a Jap cigarette (from which I took part of the tobacco) and the wrapper.  Also two pieces of paper invasion money and some aluminum invasion money [this was money the Japanese used in the countries they had invaded] (3 coins).
     No, I've not been collecting my souvenirs, but I do have a good clock from a Jap plane.  It is just too much to carry things around.  I'll be glad when we don't have to live out of a pack.  It seems we've been on the move for such a long time.
     I've seen quite a few natives.  They are quite primitive, and a sorry-looking lot.  Most of the children are pot-bellied from enlarged spleens from chronic malaria.
     Things are O.K. here - a bit warm at times but none of us have been injured, unless it was by someone jumping on someone else in a foxhole.
     Love, Eugene

June 7, 1944  We are to move to [the island of] Owi.  I go over to supervise the setting up of surgery.

Map of Biak with Owi circled

Owi is about 4 miles across the water from the location of the 92nd Evac.  It is about 3 miles long and 1 1/2 miles wide.  Most of the island is covered with scrub brush that is inhabited by a particularly nasty type of chigger, the larval stage of a mite.  It attaches itself to a host, bores a hole using enzymes, then eats the skin This causes the host intense itching.  This minor irritation turns major when the chigger transmits bacteria, Rickettsia tsutsugamushi, (tsutsuga means something small and dangerous in Japanese, and mushi means creature). These bacteria cause scrub typhus.  The initial "bite", which first is like a pimple, ruptures and becomes covered by a black scab. The symptoms begin about 10 days after the bacteria get into the person's body: rather sudden chills, fever, and a severe headache.  The lymph nodes swell and the mucous membranes of the eyes get red.  The patient starts coughing, and his fever rises for the first week to about 105°.  After the fifth day the patient develops a rash, which may fade away or become brightly colored.  Pneumonia may develop.  The patient may become delirious, lose consciousness and start twitching.  The heart muscle may become inflamed.  Today it is treated successfully with antibiotics.  In the 1940's it was treated by nursing care, and was often fatal.

Diary vs Letter Home (36)

Time is a precious commodity on the front, but writing helps Gene deal with the horrors of war.  The men on the front don't want their ones back home to worry, which poses a dilemma.  If they write too much, they will worry because they know how bad it is, but if they write too little, they will worry because they know they aren't getting the whole story.   Compare Gene's diary entries with his letters to his beloved (and prone to worry!) wife:

First, the diary:

May 31, 1944
     We landed on a Sunday again - May 28, D+1.  Fairly quiet landing.  On the way in our boats shot at a Zero [most numerous and very capable Japanese fighter plane].  And we could see bombs or shells dropping around one of our LCT [landing craft, tank] or a destroyer.  We landed and were in our area about 1 1/2 miles west of Bosnek, by 10 A.M.  We set up some tents and were receiving patients by 2 P.M.  by 7 P.M. we had 110 wounded and 140 by morning.  The clearing station next to us had over 100 and all portables were swamped, as were we! 

Map of Biak showing southern coast where all the fighting is.
(map from http://www.3rdattackgroup.org/maps.php)

     A Zero was shot down just out from the beach in front of us that evening, but I was operating and couldn't see the show.  He came along strafing.  Likewise on the morning of the 28th (before we got in) they got 2 [Zeros] out of 5.
     Surgery is a mad house.  We couldn't keep up with the work.  Last night I slept 10 hours.  2 nights before (first after landing) I slept from 5 to 6 A.M. on the ground outside surgery, the next night from 1 to 7 [A.M.].  So I had 1 hour sleep in 44, then 6 hours.
     At the end of 48 hours we evacuated 215 patients not all the lightly wounded having been taken care of.  The wounds are horrible and we've had 10 deaths.  I've no idea how many have been killed.  I've done so much surgery that I get dizzy thinking of it and stuff I'd never thought I could attempt.
     Artillery shells (75, 105 and 155 mm [the diameter of the projectile: about 3", 4" and 6"] ) pass overhead all the time, sometimes at intervals of a few minutes.  It's been raining for 2 days.
     If we are operating, we wait to duck until the nearest guns open up.  The trouble with that, the planes may be over us before we know it, not being able to see out.  The Navy is pounding the Japs.  Some of our men got right to the Mokmer air strip and were driven back by the murderous Jap mortar and dual purpose ack ack [anti-aircraft guns;  A was "ack" in WWI phonetics] and big guns.  They landed from buffaloes and advanced without opposition right into a trap, when the Jap marines shelled the devil out of them.
     On the night of D day they say about 20 men sleeping in hammocks back of the perimeter [inside the area that is guarded] were bayoneted, stabbed and grenaded.  Moral - Don't use hammocks.
     For a while on the 30th we were afraid the Japs would be able to break thru and clean us out.  But they were stopped about a mile away.  Parts of the 162 were cut off, but got out with the help of our tanks covering fire.  For a while the 205 FA Bn [field artillery battalion] were the front line, with the guns depressed and laid on trees [aiming low instead of high], with fuses cut to 2 seconds for point blank range.  Some outfits used canister shot from 37 mm guns with deadly effect on the Japs.  Up to this time the 162 and 186 have been the only combat troops.  Some of the 163 came from Wakde (where it was bad enough) as reinforcements.  They will shell for a day or so and try again.  The 186 is attempting to work up behind the air strip, several ridges behind it.

Gene didn't want to dump the fear and horror that he felt onto Beth, but he needed to write to her, and wanted things to seem normal.

31 May '44
Beloved,
     Today is Decoration Day for you.  I suppose I'll remember it in future years.  Right now our bombers are zooming over us and just beyond we can hear them bombing and strafing the Japs.  Last night big Naval guns were pounding them.  Various artillery shells keep whining over our heads.  Compared to this our last affair was a Sunday School picnic.
     Coming in our outfit fired at a Nip plane.  Then I saw some white plumes around a ship several miles off and thought it was bombs, but it turned out to be the Jap artillery.  Otherwise all was quiet for our landing.  Things had really been blasted along the shore.  Within 4 hours of landing we were set up and ready for business - and got it.  I was up at 5 that morning and worked till 5 the next morning when I lay down outside the tent for an hour's sleep.  That night I went to bed at midnight.  Last night I got 10 hours of sleep so today I'm fresh as a daisy.
     I haven't seen a plane shot down yet.  Every time one comes down I'm busy and can't watch.  Our gunners are pretty good.  They've knocked down 4 or 5 within our area.  Last evening one came by that I watched and what a hail of steel met him.  Just as he got out of sight he began to smoke and was later reported down.  When we hear the guns down the line open up we all duck.  There is a radar station right by us and they let out a yell when they spot one [notice he doesn't mention that radar station is something the enemy would like to get rid of!].  Right handy!  Our tents are either well sand bagged or set down 5 feet in the ground.  This is beautiful sub-soil - a sort of finely crushed coral and the bulldozers can scoop it out for the tents in a hurry.  Then when it rains (as it has been doing) the water running down the sides of the tent soaks right in.  We are close to the beach and to a nice spring that runs into the ocean.  Nice for baths!  Our mess was set up in a hurry so we didn't have to eat box rations.  My appetite holds up well.  All in all I'm feeling fine.   None of our boys has been hurt, except a few skinned places from diving into a fox hole or having someone else dive in on top.  Last night we had the ack ack passing right over our heads and oh boy does that make you flatten out, even though you know what it is.  I've certainly done a lot of war surgery and don't feel hesitant about saying I've been in the real thing!  When things quiet down we'll have a nice place here.  At present we are just having a lull for things are due to flare up before long.  The fellows say the Jap dead are in big piles.  We really have the advantage of air and artillery support, although the Jap mortar fire has been bad.
     I'm getting a bunch of wet dirty clothes piled up.  I'm darn glad I have a change of shoes this time.  Our waterproof bags came right with us.  My mustache is getting quite luxuriant.  I trimmed it this morning and I've taken time to shave and wash my face each morning.  I've found it most refreshing.  And I had a bath yesterday.
     I'm on straight surgery.  Mac, Baker and a few others have wards and put in spare time on surgery.  So I consider myself lucky.  I've been working on my own hook and assisting too.  Everyone is doing a fine job.
     There isn't the large amount of Jap supplies here that there was at the other place [Hollandia].  When we capture the airstrips there may be more.  There are some Japs trapped on a small island a few miles off shore [Owi, on which MacArthur wanted to build a strategic airfield] without much to fight with and are they ever getting bombed and strafed!  One thing, this division isn't cluttering up the place with wounded Jap prisoners!  And I think they are doing right.  Certainly our men taken prisoner haven't been spared in other campaigns.  These Jap marines, the fellows tell us, are big fellows and deeply imbued with Emperor love or something and fight like demons but make futile mass rushes.
     I'm curious as to where you think we are this time.  You certainly hit it the last time.
     My watch is running O.K. and my pipe is too!!
     All my love, Eugene

Everything was true, but Gene just focused on mundane things, trying to make it sound every day.  His next entry is short.

June 1, 1944
     163 Reg. came to help.  We need them!

But he waxed more poetic for Beth.

31 May - 1 June 1944
Beloved,
     We just listened to the news by short wave from Australia, called the Philippine Hour.  It certainly sounded funny to hear them talking about our campaign.  They told it straight too.  Things have been quiet all day.  This afternoon I went to our spring and washed some clothes and took the nicest bath!  The water is so nice and cool.  Things - time out for an alert, and nothing happened - Well as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, things don't get nearly so dirty here.  It is a much nicer spot.  The humidity is about the same.  Gum becomes sticky and wet inside the wrapper and a sugar cube gets very mushy.  I haven't noticed any tobacco molding.  Some of my stuff was out in the rain the other day and I didn't get it dried until I hung it over the sterilizer today.  My nice shiny hunting knife rusted but I was able to polish it with sand.  I've been wearing my cushion sole wool socks for the first time and they are really comfortable when it isn't too hot.  On the inside of the foot it is woven something like a Turkish towel.  Yesterday and today have been nice and cool.  I haven't taken any pictures yet.  I have only one roll here.  Our food has been O.K.  We haven't had any Jap stuff yet!  Just now (I'm on call tonight and am writing in the blacked out tent where we can have lights) the boys have fried up some bacon.  Quite good!  I do miss the good coffee.
     They certainly do burn a lot of ammo when they shoot at even one plane.  It is a case of "Shoot James, and don't spare the ammo!"  No doubt the air transport will begin to function in a few days.  There is a Piper cub plane down the beach a few hundred yards.  The first time I saw him land I didn't know there was a runway there and I though for sure he had crash landed.  They can darn near land on a handkerchief!
     Our Chaplain is certainly on the ball and everyone likes him.  And our trade on Tipple was to the good.
     This island seems fairly flat except for a few ridges.  It is no small coral atoll, however.  Or should I say "Atoll, at all?"!
     Last night after I wrote there were a few more alerts and once 4 flares were dropped almost over us and certainly did light things up.  The gunners shot them down.  Then I heard a yelling down the other way.  The ack ack had nailed a 2-motored bomber coming in.  Some of the fellows saw him fall but I only saw him burning.  I tell you our gunners are good!  And it discourages the Nips no end.

Now some more reality.

June 2, 1944
     Early this morning I heard a carbine and rifle fire and grenades on the ridge about 3 or 400 yards behind us.  2 Japs were killed - one officer.  A small patrol, with feet bound in sacks, carrying dynamite bundles, they cut thru the booby traps and were closing in on the perimeter guarding the beach.  Apparently they were heading for the radar next to us.  The man on guard saw one only a few feet away.  6 carbine bullets in the chest were required to drop him, and he was still alive at daylight several hours later - but not for long.  Both Japs were 6 footers.  The officer carried his sword, even on a patrol like that.  Officers always lead a patrol - they're no cowards!  They threw grenades but none of our men were hurt.  About 200 Japs broke thru the 162, further west along the ridge and there was quite a fight.
     More LST's are in this morning.  Our war is going none too well.  I heard one officer say that we'd had about 10% casualties already in the 186 and 162.  2 battalions of the 163 came in yesterday, leaving 1 at Wakde.  The whole division was under strength to start this, and there are a lot of un-baptized [first battle] replacements.
     The Japs are the 36th Imperial (Tiger) Division (some marines?) who were responsible for the capture and looting of Singapore and a crack outfit.  The 41st faced them in Burma.  They are fanatics, charging a tank with bayonets to give others a chance to set up a gun to hit the tank.  In some places along the beach road where tanks and 50's [heavy machine guns] cut them down as they charged, their dead are piled up several deep.  this is the first real tank battle in the SWPA [South West Pacific Area].  Their tanks are flimsy, compared to our M4's [also known as the Sherman tank].
     The 12th Portable Hosp. had a rough time along with the 162.  Jap mortar shells were falling so thick on them that when the 162 withdrew they had to leave their tents, litters, blankets, stoves and other heavy equipment.  That was the day that if the Japs had followed up their gains, we'd been in for it.
     Casualties continue to pour in - mostly mortar wounds.  The Japs have a tremendous concentration of mortar fire.  Last night some of our troops were about 6 miles up the beach beyond a Jap gas dump, and in shelling them the Japs set the dump on fire.  We could see the glare.  The 3 Jap strips here are not serviceable so their planes are coming from other places.  Javenese [sic] money has been found on some of the aviators.

Inside the major surgery tent with three operating tables.

     Two nights ago our AA [anti-aircraft guns] knocked down a Jap bomber about 2 miles from us.  We saw it burning.  One afternoon about 5 a Zero came along the beach, quite low, with everything blasting at him.  It seemed impossible for him not to be hit.  That was one I saw.  I thought they'd get him right in front of us, but they didn't until farther along the beach.  The 2nd evening one of our A-20's [bombers]came in low to drop photographs, depending on the radio warning,.  But some batteries hadn't the word and shot it down.  The next afternoon 5 Zeros came by and they got 2.  But again I was busy and didn't see the show.  The surgeries are sand bagged and blacked out, but don't offer much protection.  They have electric lights.  Most ward tents are set down in the sand about 4 or  feet, bulldozers having scraped it out.  The rain soaks right into the sand, fortunately.  I have no fixed abode.  My pack I keep in minor surgery.  Some nights I find a vacant bed in a ward and some nights I put a litter on the floor in surgery.  We evacuated another 50 today.  We had a census of 189 today - mostly medical.
     Sparky says a lot of his psychos have been precipitated by being fired on by our own guns or planes.  This is harder on them than enemy fire.
     This is a much better spot than the red mud on Pancake hill at Hollandia, and we are better set up.
     Last night there were 2 alerts.  We could hear the planes but couldn't see them.  They dropped several flares on two occasions - some right over us.  The AA shot down the flares.  The moonlight helps the Japs.  One night they dropped 3 bombs about 1/2 mile from us, and the plane got away.
     I can't understand why they didn't fire on our LST's when we came in, for we came past in front of their position [he stated earlier that the Japanese were planning an ambush].  Shells often go over us from our guns - some a light whistle and some with a terrific blast and then sound like a train rushing into the distance.  All in all it is some war and really fierce fighting.

And the letter.

1-2 June '44
Beloved,
     My day has been quite easy.  I did a little work this morning and then sunned most of my clothes.  They were a bit damp.  I even aired the Kodak!  It has been a beautiful day.  I've arranged to watch the nightly show from Hiram's foxhole [notice that he doesn't mention that he doesn't have a foxhole!], which is a mere 7 or 8 feet deep.  I sort of enjoy watching the tracers and then, too, I still want to see a plane go down.  Inside a tent, even though safe enough behind the sand bags, I can't see what is going on.  I took my daily bath and washed some socks today.  Funny how nonchalant we get.  From where we wash I could hear occasional bursts of small arms fire.  Of course if the Japs had any artillery to spare we'd be more cautions.  Apparently our tanks are superior to the Japs.  Today I saw some deep dents in one of ours but it had not penetrated.  They say some Japs will take a bunch of grenades and jump on the tanks for a suicide attack but it doesn't phase [sic] them [the tanks, not the Japanese soldiers, I presume].  But the 36th Jap Imperial Division or whatever it is, are fighters.  I saw some of their big coastal defense rifles that had been knocked out.  Apparently they were never able to use them.  Arnie [Niemeyer] and I started out to see the Jap bomber they got last night but found it too far away to be worthwhile [or safe!].  I spotted some nice Jap rubber impregnated silk which would make an excellent tobacco pouch so I will procure some.  Our supply, somehow, was able to get some huge rolls of it.
     Rainfall isn't so bad apparently.  It is supposed to be 5-8 inches a month.  This is the beginning of the SE monsoon season.  The NW starts in November.  Apparently a monsoon is a prevailing wind and doesn't become "excessive" here.  In fact in our Cook's Tours, Army Style, this is pictured as quite a pleasant spot!
     I saw a native today that was plenty crummy.  He had what appeared to be a scaly fungus infection from head to toe.  There are supposed to be a lot of natives on this island but I judge they consider the war none of their responsibility and cleared out until the shooting stops.  They are no dummies!
     Good fresh bread for supper!  There are two washing machines going but not for our personal use [they are probably for the operating room supplies].  We have our generators going with lights in a number of blacked out tents.  I expect to listen to the radio tonight.  I watched some of our big guns firing today.  What a terrific whallop!  Certainly it is more blessed to give than to receive!  Apparently these air fields are not serviceable for the Japs, so visiting laymen from the next closest airdromes are called to fill the pulpit each night [in other words, the Japanese planes have to come from elsewhere].
     My feet continue to be fine and I'm O.K.
     Everything was quiet last night except for some firing at a Jap patrol on the hill back of us.  These Japs are the greatest night owls.  Our guns hit a Jap ammo dump or gas dump last night.  Great stuff!

Probably writing letters looking at the bright side of things as much as possible helped Gene actually remain more optimistic.  Prayer probably helped, too.

Bombs Over Biak (35)

Map of New Guinea with Biak circled (map from

http://olive-drab.com/od_history_ww2_ops_battles_1943newguinea.php)

     Biak is the largest of the three main islands of the Schouten Island Group that was part of Dutch New Guinea.  Biak is technically two islands, Biak and Soepiori, which are separated by a very narrow strait that is the size of a stream, so they are often lumped together.  It covers about 950 square miles, or about 60% the size of Rhode Island.  In the 1940's the population of all of the Schouten Island Group was probably no more than 35,000.  There were about 80 Asiatic foreigners, mostly Chinese, and a few Indonesian government officials. 

Map showing the area of interest on Biak (map from
http://www.3rdattackgroup.org/maps.php)

     Biak, like much of the rest of New Guinea, is inhabited mainly along the coast, with the interior being dense rain forest.  It is shaped somewhat like a boot with the flat sole on the southern coast and the toe facing east.  The coast is fringed by a 200- to 600-foot wide coral reef.  Biak has no good harbors, but about 2/3 of the island on the southern coast is flat.  The Japanese had built three airfields on that coastal plain: Mokmer (the largest), Sorido 1 (the smallest) and Sorido 2, which was uncompleted and called Borokoe by the Allies.  Overlooking the coastal plains was a coral ridge that was honeycombed with caves and steep enough in places to be considered a cliff.  Atop this cliff the Japanese had cleared a site for another airfield. 
     Bosnek village, where the American landing was planned, lies east of the air fields on the southern coast, about halfway to the "toe".  It served as the main Japanese supply and personnel center.  The Dutch had built a pier 425 feet long which the Japanese had extended.  Its beach, stretching east and west, was clear and sandy.  Until the Japanese occupation travel was entirely by foot and boat, and the only major paths were along the coast.  The Dutch improved the coastal path, but other roads were limited.  There was very little of commercial value produced on Biak.  The total population of the Schoutens in the 1940's was no more than 35,000.  The foreign settlement consisted of about 80 Asiatic people, mostly Chinese, and a few Indonesian government officials.
     According to information from the U.S. government in a publication called Map Talk, a  weekly magazine with restricted distribution to the American armed forces in the Pacific theater, although the natives lived under the influence of the Dutch Reformed Protestant missionaries for many years, most natives still had little respect for the Christian virtue of honesty.  This was attributed to the fact that they were first ruled by Indonesian pirates.  The coastal natives were considered good sailors, and would often travel in their large outriggers as far as Hollandia, 330 miles to the southeast, and Sorong, 320 miles to the northwest.  They spent most of their time fishing.  The  Map Talk author opined that the women on Biak were definitely the stronger sex, and made the best carriers.
     The basis of the Biak social culture was similar to the old Scottish clans, which were called "kerets" on Biak.   Each keret was made up of members of an extended family, all of whom lived together in one large house, usually built on stilts.  Unmarried men lived together in separate houses called "Roem Seram", provided by the village.  Malay is spoken by some of the coastal groups, but Noemfoor, first encountered by Europeans on the nearby island of the same name, was the more common language.

Map Talk Vol. 1, No. 15 (published by Information and Education Section USAFFEO
ASSAULT TROOPS HIT BIAK: New Ending Marks Practical End of New Guinea Campaign
     "For strategic purposes, this marks the practical end of the New Guinea campaign."
     Thus did General MacArthur's communiqué announce that on Saturday morning, 27 May, U.S. ground forces had landed on Biak Island, principal [sic] island in the Schouten group, 210 miles west of Wakde, which dominates the northern approaches to Geelvink Bay.
     Biak's capture, however, was not yet something to be recorded in the past tense.  By Sunday it was clear that the advance to the three airfields was to be no repetition of the Hollandia episode.  Last reported to have fought their way to a point within two miles of the first airdrome at Mokmer, Infantrymen were meeting with stiff opposition and were expecting more.
     The initial landing was in the familiar SWPA [South West Pacific Area] assault pattern.  In the haze of early morning, Australian and U.S. cruisers and destroyers stood offshore and pounded installations on the southeast coast near Bosnek Village without let up for 20 minutes.  At 0600, when the barrage lifted, a strong force of Mitchells [medium bomber] and A-20's[light bomber], accompanied by Lightnings[long range fighter], took over the bombardment with a 288-ton attack on enemy gun positions.
     Backed by rocket projectors from LCI [landing craft, infantry] and guns from destroyers and cruisers, the first wave moved in at 0615.  A coral reef which almost completely encircles Biak forced troops to wade some distance in water up to their necks.  For a while they were under intense, but wild, mortar and automatic weapons fure from Japs situated on rocky points in the rear of the beach.
     With the beachhead secure, LCI's, LST's [landing craft, tanks], and troop-laden four-stacker destroyers proceeded to discharge men, tanks, and equipment at jetties along the invasion point.  The landing was unopposed from the air and only minor damage to a few ships was caused by Jap shore batteries.
     By 0935 the ground troops had gained a ridge overlooking Bosnek.  The perimeter then was quickly extended one mile east and one mile west of the village.  In the township 200 Javanese forced laborers were found and freed.  Among the quantities of enemy material captured were two six-inch, four four-inch and two three-inch guns, nine more unassembled guns, and large stores of food, wine, and chemical warfare equipment.
     In mid-afternoon, ten hours after the first troops had hit the beaches, came the Japanese air support.  Of the four tardy raiders, Allied defenders shot down one, probably more.  When six more Jap aircraft tried to strafe the Bosnek position about half an hour later, antiaircraft guns from the naval vessels opened fire, shot down four.  Yet to be confirmed is an early report that one Thunderbolt [large, heavy fighter plane] pilot had knocked out four Jap fighters and one bomber in air combat.
     Unopposed except for snipers, the east flank proceeded one and a half miles northeast of Bosnek to Soriari Kampong.  But stern, organized resistance faced the west flank, which began to advance along a coastal track leading eight miles to the cluster of airstrips, at Mokmer, Borokoe, and Sorido.  Snipers planted in the coastal ridges killed eight U.S. soldiers Saturday night, the only fatalities so far reported.

So the 92nd Evac is home free?  Not by a long shot!  Col. Kuzume Naoyuki planned to lure the Americans into an ambush and carry out guerrilla warfare from the many caves in the area.  Tune in tomorrow to see how the May 28th landing and setting up with the 92nd Evac played out.

George's Story (34)

Capt. George Christie, Gene's good friend and often tentmate, has a slightly different take on the situations encountered, and his letters to his wife, Marjorie, got passed around (edited) just like Gene's did.

Japanese plane destroyed on the ground at the Cyclops
Airdrome with U.S. ammunition on the wing

Excerpts from George's letters home: May 14: Now that it's all behind us and no danger of giving away military secrets I'll try to give you more details about our life.  I though surely when I wrote so much about having all that free time to go fishing any time I wanted to that you would realize we had shut down preparatory to leaving Australia [I think this is a hint that they again have lots of free time so ...].  There was almost three weeks when we were in the transit state and it's mighty hard to write interesting letters when you know things and can't write about them.  Anyway we were all packed up and living in the mess hall in our jungle hammocks which Gene has described, and not knowing when we would leave so I got permission to go on a day's fishing, telling when I'd be back, of course.  At the appointed time I am back to shore from up the river and none other than the colonel was waiting with his car.  I thought that was a little unusual so I asked what had been going on that day, and he said casually that everything was about as usual but when we got back I found out that they had packed up about noon and Gene had rolled up my bed roll and packed my stuff which had all gone before I got back.  Consequently I didn't have quite what I'd counted on in my hand luggage on the trip up.  There was really no hurry because it was some hours before we took our last train ride in Australia - and you really can't imagine how primitive their trains are, even from my descriptions.  When we got to our P.O.E. [point of embarkation] I still had plenty of time to do some more fishing while they loaded the boat and I caught a couple of nice ones one night and had a very delicious fish dinner.  We were on canned and boxed rations at the time and the fresh fish were really tasty.
     I guess I told you that we came up on a liberty ship.  After our trip from the states on a luxury liner it was quite a come-down.  At that, I think I got the best sleeping accommodation o the boat.  There were 12 of us in a little "dog house" on deck.  We ate in the mess line with the men and washed our mess kits in the usual GI cans.  Very few were seasick and all in all we had a very pleasant trip without excitement, although we traveled through historic waters.  We saw one of  the seven [natural] wonders of the world when we passed through the Great Barrier Reef.  I didn't think it looked so wonderful.  To be continued.
     Next morning.  It was a perfectly uneventful night.  This morning it is cloudy and is sprinkling a little.  The tide washed up a few planks last night.  I'm certain that some of the big logs along the shore are mahogany.  Too bad I can't make up a little furniture!  I'm sure there are rubber trees around here but I can't distinguish them.
     Across the bay a long white streamer of mist is lying among the hills.  There seems to be quite a lot of that when it is cloudy - about what you'd expect at timberline in our country.
     Last night I awoke about 1 or 2 A.M. and darn if some confounded crows weren't squawking.  It was bright moonlight.  They start in again before daylight.  There are the neatest, smallest swallows that flit around.  In all, I'm astonished at how little bird life there is.  I expected myriads of birds.  Strictly speaking this is the "rain forest" and not the thick jungle like you read about in Africa, etc.  It is plenty thick at that.  The number of vines trailing from all the trees and bushes impresses me most.  If there isn't a path, you have to cut your way.
     I hear the Seabees brought a movie outfit and pictures.  Maybe we will get in on a show.
     Now I wouldn't be certain but I'll bet there are pancakes for breakfast.  Perhaps I'd better go see!!

Gene's diary: May 16, 1944
     No change.  A few alerts but no bombs.  Foot is healing.  Natives brought fish, killed with Jap grenades

Former Imperial Japanese Headquarters near Lake Sentari

May 17, 1944
     Went to Cyclops air strip, Lake Sentari (rode across it in a fast out-board motor boat to I Corps at the former Imperial Jap Hq for this whole area.  Nice place!  According to plans discovered, the Japs had a marvelous defense worked out - if it had been carried out we might not have been able to take this place).  Saw some Jap planes that had been destroyed on the ground.  Beautiful lake, bordered by steep hills, some of them partly covered with grass!  Terrible dusty road and long delays.  Went to Pim (where the road starts to dromes [airdromes or airfields]) in a motor boat, going close to and in around a native village over the water.  Saw a big plantation, including Kapok trees [huge trees that might have been the source for the dugout canoes].  At the village we saw naked children.  I took pictures.  Home by 1 P.M.  coming the back road from Pim was plenty spooky [thinking about snipers, I'm sure].  The road is a regular mountain one, and newly constructed.

Excerpt from George Christie's letter to his wife Marjorie and sent to Beth:  ...  There was an interesting group coming toward us on the lake about 4-5 canoes lashed together and carrying almost 30 natives of all ages and both sexes.  They had cut enormous palm fronds and were holding them up as improvised sails to hasten their progress.  Gene got some pictures of them.

Canoes in Lake Sentari using palm fronds for sails

     Well, we had a nice bath in the lake, which had green algae in the water.  And I may say I never needed a bath more in my life - not even the time I went through the desert to that tank-train wreck.  I didn't realize there was as much open country and hills where there is no jungle or swamp, and the dust lies inches deep all along the road.
     Here were made the biggest mistakes of the day, instead of continuing back on our own, we met and joined our C.O. and Farquahar who had a jeep and rations - both of which seemed desirable.  The only catch was we had to recross the lake by boat to get to where they'd left the car and make the entire trip again by dusty road.  Suffice it to say that we were 1 1/2 hour line one place, and 3 hours in another, stopped dead by traffic and got back at 11 p.m., four very dirty and weary travelers.  Never again, we say.  But we did see some country and I'll tell you about it next time.

Gene: May 18, 1944
     More explosions from the Jap bombs and shells due to a careless fire on the beach.  A huge batch of our own stuff went up.  Immoral negligence that all the Jap bombs and shells had been left scattered around for 3 weeks, under the trucks and vehicles - everywhere.
     The coral reef is something.  Bech de mer [sea cucumbers], blue and red starfish, shells, etc.

Further excerpts from George's letters: I spent the entire afternoon out in the ocean just lounging and fooling around with an outrigger we have.  Oh yes, we spent about an hour catching minnows for fishing bait and Gene might actually get out with me this evening to try [his] luck.  He hasn't been out in the water even as yet on account of his feet, but they seem to be clearing up.  It has been very pleasant here today - about like up in Wisconsin on a hot day - but just back 100 yards from the beach where our kitchen is located on a small hill, it is hotter than hell's half acre.  The hot weather here  now is about like 98 in Chicago.  Nobody has a thermometer here but you don't need one.  Our big refrigerator is a godsend because we can have chilled water or synthetic lemonade.  Now if we just had a movie and electric lights we'd have all the comforts of home - almost.
     We have blackout from sunset to sunrise and there is usually a red alert to rock us to sleep and get [us] up in the morning.  So far there haven't been any evening planes overhead or any bombs dropped since the first week we were here.  Fortunately, nobody in our unit was hurt.  We don't know how long we will continue to have our freedom on the beach but we are enjoying it to the full at present.
     I usually get up between 7:30 and 8 a.m., make a leisurely and abbreviated toilet and wander up half a mile to breakfast.  No use burning up energy needlessly as I tell Gene.  He's an eager beaver still and even here in the tropics he is hurrying like he did in Trinidad.  This morning he came back without breakfast because the line was miles long and he forgot his letters.
     ...  Well, I really did "all dog George" because every time there is an alert at night I scurry into my hole like a Colorado prairie dog, while blasé Gene gets up and looks at the sky and goes back to bed.
     We don't even know what day it is but when we found out it was Sunday Gene and I went to church at the hospital.  Good sermon for the foot soldier and a nice communion service.  They [the chaplains] are beginning to get a better reception the closer we are to the front.

Gene:  May 24, 1944
     Rumor says Biak.

May 25, 1944
     Getting ready to go.  Probably it will be Biak.

May 26, 1944
     We leave tonight or tomorrow for Biak.  We're now on board.  This LST has a few sniper and machine gun bullet holes in it.  One gunner was wounded from the D+1 at Wakde [the Wakde Airfield was seized by the Americans on May 15, 1944]!  Hope our D+1 isn't so hit.

May 27, 1944
     We left today.