Forward to Finschhafen! (26)

Members of the 92nd Evac board the ship, not knowing where they are going (after all, "Loose lips sink ships"!)

March 24, 1944 - Friday
     Here I sit in the wheel house, and the darn boat is pitching before we're out of the harbor!  Oh me!  We are to eat about 0830 and 1630.  Mess is set up on the forward deck.  This is a Liberty ship [a cargo ship that was cheap and easy to build, and became a symbol of pride in the wartime industrial ability of the U.S.] and never intended for a cargo and troop ship.  The 218 F.A. Bn is with us, with 155 mm howitzers [a cannon-like piece of artillery], weighing 7 tons each!  All the junior officers have to sleep out on the deck.  It will be cold and maybe wet.  This is certainly a nice spot.  I can watch the compasses, steering (last night I had my clothes hung on the wheel!) and engine speed.  All we have to do is keep things cleared away.  I didn't get to mail my last letter to Beth - a V-mail.  Our last mail was the 22nd.  I have to set up a dispensary on board for our men.  ...

Wake of the Francisco M. Quinones

March 25, 1944 - Saturday
     Awakened at 0530 to attend one of our men who fell down the after hold - fortunately nothing broken.  Groping along a wet deck, in complete blackout, and a strange deck at that!  A blacked out ship is an eerie thing.  Reminds me of the movie or play "Outward Bound" [a supernatural drama that concerns a disparate group of people who find themselves sailing to an unknown destination on a ship constantly shrouded in fog].
     We're on the "Francisco M. Quinones [launched Nov. 1943, scrapped Sept. 1968].  We should reach Townsville  [on the Australian coast north of Rockhampton] by 5 or 6 P.M.

March 26, 1944 - Sunday
     We've been at anchor in the harbor of Townsville over 24 hours and no sign of leaving.  ...

March 27, 1944
     Finally left Townsville at 0300.  Cloudy.  Turned NE off Cairns and went thru the Barrier Reef into the Coral Sea.  Not at all spectacular.  Just a line of surf breaking along the horizon.

Sunset on the Coral Sea

New Guinea is, after Greenland, the second largest island in the world.  The interior is blanketed with dense, unexplored rain forests.  The highest mountains are over 14,000 feet.  Rainfall in some areas is 300 inches a year.  Parts of the interior are still in 2012 largely unexplored.

Tropical diseases in the 1940's were rampant in the area due to the hot, harsh climate and coastal swamps.  Malaria, respiratory diseases, dysentery, frambesia (yaws), tropical ulcers, hookworms, and filariasis were common.  The people of the area were not homogenous.  The ethnicity of the natives varied according to the tribal area, but cannibalism, headhunting, and tribal warfare occurred regularly.  Hundreds of languages and dialects were spoken.  The Japanese were mainly interested in using New Guinea as a protective barrier for their southern flank and as a base from which they could threaten Australia.  The Allies, Gen. Douglas MacArthur in particular, were interested in using New Guinea as a jumping-off point for recapturing the Philippines.

Before the Japanese invasion, the island of New Guinea was separated into three political divisions: Papua (formerly British New Guinea), which was the southeast quarter and administered by Australia; North-East New Guinea (formerly German New Guinea), which was the northeast quarter of the island, part of the Australian-run Mandated Territory of New Guinea; and Dutch New Guinea, which was the western half, and part of the Netherland East Indies.  Finschhafen was located in North-East New Guinea, and Hollandia further northwest along the coast just barely into Dutch New Guinea.

In January 1942, Japan invaded New Guinea.  Their control was never complete due to the dense jungles, but key ports and airfields were seized, and more airfields were built.

Finschhafen was re-taken by American and Australian forces from the Japanese on October 1, 1943.  The 92nd Evac headed for Finschhafen on March 28, 1944.

Gene continues in his diary:

March 28, 1944
     Beautifully nice morning but 84º at 7 A.M. and sticky.  We have the coolest spot on the ship in the wheel house.
     I slept fitfully, with the hydrophones [for detecting submarines] buzzing over my head at night.  We are well out on the Coral Sea.  Last night there was gunnery practice and are these young Navy squirts are good!  They launched large red balloons (about 2' or 3' in diameter) and let them get 3 or 400 yards away and up.  Then they cut loose with 20 mm tracers, about 4 guns at different places along the port side.  They hit 4 out of 6.  Then the 3" on the bow fired a few explosive shells but didn't connect.
     A plane circled us several times today.  On patrol, I suppose.  Also we saw a sub-chaser.  These darn latrine seats!  They are the Johnny Jump up kind which follow you up with a surprising sort of feelling.  This is the first day I've kept my flotation bladders in my pocket.

March 29, 1944
     ...  At anchor in Milne Bay by 1030.  This place is certainly lousy with every kind of vessel up to and including cruisers.  The passage thru the China Strait began about 0700.  I saw the first coconut plantation.  There were a few nice-appearing red tile-roofed houses.  The Owen-Stanley Range was visible.  High hills begin at the water's edge and go right up - extremely rough-looking country.

March 31, 1944
     Arrived Buna about 1:30 A.M.  Certainly lots of shipping coming and going.  All had their riding lights on.  ...  Almost hit a ship when we turned east at Lae during night.

April 1, 1944 April Fool's Day
     What a day to arrive [land] in New Guinea.  Arrived at Finschhafen and finally unloaded troops about 15 miles S. of Finsch.  I came ashore in a Duck [actually a DUKW (D=designed in 1942, U=utility, K=front-wheeled drive, W=two powered rear axles)- a six-wheeled amphibious truck].  They are the darnedest things - waddle up and out of the water just like a duck.  We drove to Finsch. in trucks - terrible dust though fairly smooth dirt road.  We put up in a temporary area in a coconut grove - a mess.  If anyone had told me a few yeas ago that I'd sleep in a jungle hammock, slung between coconut trees, I'd not believed it.  There are coconuts galore.  Right off I cut the husk off the end and tried the milk - clear but not as sweet as I expected.  Then I cut it open with my machete.  The meat tasted fair.

Hammocks slung in coconut grove in Finschhafen

A Short Break (25)

     Before travelling With Capt. Pfile to his next destination, I'd like to share a chapter from a gem of  a book I discovered in the flea market yesterday.  It's entitled C/O Postmaster by Corporal Thomas R. St. George, and was published by Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, in 1943.  Cpl. St. George was shipped to Australia in 1942 and sent a number of articles and drawings about his experiences from the time he left San Francisco until he left Australia in 1943 to the San Francisco Chronicle, which were later published as a book.  This is from a chapter entitled, "The Everlasting R--n":

"Probably the only thing that we really disliked about our first few weeks in Australia was the weather.  That we didn't like the weather, that we thought the weather was miserable, that the weather was interfering with our plans and training, that the weather spoiled many a precious pass were all bad enough; but what was worse, we couldn't write home and complain about the weather.  You see, they told us, there are only about three places in Australia where it ever r---s, and if you write home that it is r-----g the Japs will know where you are.  That, of course, was taboo.  But, we wondered, if there are so goddamn many places in Australia where it doesn't r--n, why don't we move?  They told us we mustn't worry about that.  Where we moved, or didn't move, was something G.H.Q. would decide.  We had visions of G.H.Q., diabolical monsters, all colonels no doubt, hunched over a report of mean annual rainfall of Australia, gloating at the spot they'd found for us.
     To add to our disgust, what mail we received, though welcome of course, added little to our appreciation of the climate.  Most of our letters had been written while we were still playing Hearts on the broad expanse of the Pacific, at which time our friends knew nothing except that we had left Frisco.  But did any of them imagine that we might possibly have 'arrived safely' in Alaska and console us accordingly with promises of hand-knitted sweaters or useful brown mufflers?  No!  To a man, and to a woman, they were convinced that we had or would shortly arrive, not where it was cold and damp, but where soft tropic breezes would play softly through our hair.  Some of them became positively lewd concerning our supposed existence on a secret base in the South Pacific Seas.  Where clothes were sheer absurdity, dusky native lasses a necessity or a luxury depending on the point of view, and gracefully waving palm trees laced a tapestry across the sky and protected us from the glare of the tropic sun.  (The above was lifted, practically intact, from The National Geographic and forwarded to me by a young lady with whom I immediately severed all diplomatic relations.)
     The gracefully-waving-palm-tree myth had already exploded right in our faces.  There were some palm trees near camp, but they didn't lace any tapestries to speak of.  They stood around in the rain with the rest of us and looked cold and miserable and out of place, like nudists in a gooseberry patch.  Obviously, we decided, the mere presence of palm trees does not necessarily insure a sub-tropical climate.  And how I wished, those first few weeks, that Josie knew as much.  Nor did these palm trees at any time protect us from the glare of the tropic sun.  If one of us so much as saw a small patch of pale wintry sun, he staked a claim on it.

     The natives insisted that the weather was all 'very unusual,' but we'd heard that before (in California, for one place) and expected to hear it again, wherever we might go.  We ignored them unless they became too insistent or too loud or harked back too far ('the winter of 1810,' for instance) in their efforts to remember a similar season and convince us that the weather we were experiencing was truly an experience for all but the very oldest of settlers.  In fact, a phenomenon.  Then we asked them, 'If this is so goddamn phenomenal, why do you build your houses eight feet off the ground?'
     We suffered and cursed the exigencies of the service that demanded we live through 'Two winters in a row!'  Our camp being more or less paved, we had no mud to contend with, only
r--n and the everlasting chill.  The former (the r--n) had an ugly habit of coming at night when we were inside anyway and therefore had nothing to gain.  During the day it usually held off until some optimistic lieutenant got a hike well under way, caught us with our pants down two miles from camp and drenched us till we treaded water.  The everlasting chill worked a twenty-four hour shift, seven days a week, being heart and soul in somebody's War Effort, just whose we could only suspect.  Particularly this chill cut us down at Reveille, and on one occasion provided the background as a macabre bit of humor as ever appealed to Nero.
     Louis, a thin shanky sort of youth, one of Spotlight's luckless platoon and the unwilling recipient of a good share of Spotlight's decidedly heavy-handed wit, was standing more or less at ease preparatory to 'falling in.'  I say more or less.  His bony shoulders were hooped against the wind, his whole attitude indicating that here was a man on the verge of collapse.  Worse than that, he had his hands in his pockets, a place where 'good soldiers' wouldn't be caught dead with their hands.
     Spotlight, always disgustingly full of vim, verve, animal spirits, and according to most, bologna, even at 6 A.M., saw Louis, surged up to within four inches of that hapless young man's pinched face, roared, 'Are you cold?'
     Louis stammered y-y-yess, he was cold.
     'Well,' roared Louis' leader, 'GET WARM!' "
     

Gene in that "unusual weather"

Shipping Out - or Are We? (24)

Camp in Rockhamton

January 15, 1944
     Today I was relieved from the admitting office and put on surgery.  I will have the Dispensary and a clean surgery ward [a ward with patients not suffering from "dirty" (infected, such as gut wounds) wounds so infections wouldn't be spread unnecessarily].  Hope I'll get to do some surgery.

January 27, 1944
     I heard that [Maj. Omer C.]Rathman and [Capt. Irwin I.] Schatz are on their way back to the States because of disabilities (?).  Lucky dogs, no matter what.

January 31, 1944
     Maybe this is the beginning of the rainy season.  Temp. this morning is 71° and humidity 50.  Census runs about 300.
     We received 2 new nurses and physiotherapist.
     24th Division is leaving for somewhere up north.  24th Portable left us and are now on hosp. train duty.  16th is going with 24th Division.

February 25, 1944
     The passing parade goes on and we stay here.  The 24th Division is just about all gone, and part of the 41st is getting ready.  We hear an occasional rumor that we may be assigned to the 6th Army and move up north.  But nothing really exciting.  My work on surgery continues to be very light.  No really rainy season.  Now it is getting hot again.

February 29, 1944
     2 days ago, Sunday, I took a prisoner patient with Cpl. Barnes as attendant, to the 105th Gen'l at Brisbane (the 2nd Howard Unit).  I borrowed [2nd Lt. Medical Administrative Corps] Klockner's gun, for I had to be armed!  The prisoner was a psychotic with suicidal tendencies.  We went down in a C-47.  I had to wait at the Archer Field  Airport [Archerfield Airfield] for 3 hours to take us the 50 miles out to Gatton [Gatton Agricultural College campus was the location of the 105th General Hospital where many of the psychological cases were taken].
     I saw [Lt. Roy A. L.] Swanson and Miss Risby.  He still doesn't know what will be done with him.  He's working there at present.  Miss Risby thinks she may go north to a small psychiatric hosp., of which there are to be 3.  I stayed there overnight.  Next morning we rode the pay car into Ipswich and took a train from there to Brisbane.  I was assigned a billet at Albert Hotel, across from the City Hall.  I bought 3 kangaroo skins for about 13/ each, but they were very thin.
     At the American Center I saw a familiar face - it turned out to be Major Walter Neely, who was in my freshman class at Elmhurst [College] and whom I haven't seen for 15 years.  I recognized his drawl, too, since he's from Asrkansas.  He's in the Inspector General's Dept.  We had quite a talk.
     I called Bob Young (of the 24th Portable) to deliver a message, and he invited me to dinner at the Gregory Terrace Officers' Club.
     I had to get up at 3:15 [A.M.], and a car was waiting to take me to the field where we left at 5.  It took just 2 hours - a nice trip.  I slept a good part of the way.  (Back by Aussie plane.)

March 1, 1944
     At 3 P.M. we had word to stop receiving patients and to get ready to unload what we have.  Will this be another dry run?

March 3, 1944
     !  End of month we'll leave?

March 4, 1944
     Packing and lots of rushing.

March 5, 1944  
     Everything being "combat packed".  Beachhead?  Admiralties?

March 6, 1944
     We seem to be picking up speed.  First we had until the end of the month to get ready.  Now we're supposed to do it by the end of this week!  The last of our patients go out by noon tomorrow.  I worked the hardest today that I have for a long time.  From 8 until 5, with about 20 minuets for lunch getting the dispensary fixed.  We have 4 MD [medical dispensary] chests.
     All this and I can't breath a word to Beth.  In a way, I'm glad she doesn't know what outfit we are to support or where we're going, because news of a "bad go" would only worry.  Now at least she doesn't know what to be afraid of!  I only wish I could let her know not to expect much mail.  I supposed that after none of the wives hear for about a week they'll compare notes and know what it means.
     We are doing everything "combat pack".  We may be getting ready for a beachhead landing.  The 29th Evac. Hosp., an outfit just like ours, had a tough time in New Britain.  They landed in the 12th wave (we heard!).  After they were set up a bomb or mortar shell landed on a surgical tent and killed a number of officers and men.  Their perimeter was 300 yds!
     Maybe we'll follow in on the Admiralty Islands!  That would be a fairly hot spot!  The way things are going, we may be on the ocean a week from tonight!  And we may still be sitting here next month.
     We've handled almost 8000 patients since we set up here [in seven months 7,466]!  A lot of stuff.
     If we make a beachhead landing, my dispensary is to be minor surgery - maybe under some tree!  Sounds interesting!  I'll be interested to see my own reactions under shell fire!
     I'm thinking of Beth more than ever, these days.  She'll soom be going back to Trinidad [Colorado].  I wonder if I'll be there with her next spring?  Hope so.

March 7, 1944
     More packing of the dispensary.  Hiram and I gave everyone cholera shots yesterday.  But seems now that the nurses aren't going with us - at present at least.
     The general packing goes on for about 18 hours a day.
     Last night George and I walked straight down the road to the river - about 2 miles.  We met an interesting old fellow, who lived there for 65 years!  His dog he called Woombly, Black fellow [Aborigine] for dog.  This old gent was a commercial hunter and fisherman.  He made some comment about youngsters going barefoot "as soon as they're out of the pouch!"

March 8, 1944
     George and I went hiking.

March 10, 1944
     Last evening the nurses left, bag and baggage, for Brisbane.  When we'll see them again (or rather when they'll see us!) nobody knows.  It seems that we are to take their furniture, so maybe we won't be going to such a bad place.  Also, we have our full number of 20  2 1/2 ton trucks and apparently we are to take them with us.  So it doesn't look as though we'll do any beachhead stuff.  Just about everything is packed.  I can't decide what to do with my blouse and pinks [Class A or service dress uniform]  - store here or send back to Beth to store!  Whatever I do will probably be the wrong thing later.  ...

March 11, 1944

Looking toward Rockhampton from the Mt. Archer
Pathway

     So now we start a physical hardening program, for want of something better to do.  I did about 6 miles (2 hours) this afternoon.  Sparky was our squad leader.  We went past the schoolhouse on the way to Mt. Archer Pathway.  No movement orders. 

March 13, 1944
     Is this good!  This morning I was going thru some things and discarding.  I looked at the horoscope Beth sent me for my birthday as a joke.  It says for March that I should avoid travel and danger!  And me bound for up north!
     Another 6 mile hike today, in the hot sun!  I have a pesky little head cold.

Gene now writes one of those difficult, don't-divulge-anything letters

13 March '44
Dear Folks [Mary X and John],
     Thanks so much for the [photographic] exposure guide and letter.  It came today.  I haven't had a chance to study the guide as yet, but it appears to be quite ingenious and comprehensive.  And the calendar is just right.
     The News Capsules came a few days ago and I enjoyed them very much.  Thanks!  Jack's V-mail came the same day.
     And National Geographic - Jan. and Feb. came about 10 days ago.  I don't believe that any one in the outfit has them, so they will pass through a great many hands and be enjoyed by all!
     I'm getting along very well, except for a nasty little head cold that seems to have caught me a few days ago.  But I don't believe it will amount to much.
     By the time this reaches you Beth and Mother Ferguson will probably be in Trinidad.  I hope they have a good trip.
     Things are all quiet and uneventful here [!] and I haven't been doing anything exciting.  I'm so glad that the war seems to be moving faster on all fronts.
     Again, thanks a lot for everything!  I hope you have a nice Spring!
     Love, Eugene

March 14, 1944
     Another 6 miles this morning.  Last cholera shot.

March 15, 1944
     Organized athletics this evening instead of hike.  First volleyball I've played for 15 years at least!  If my Honey could see me now!  It doesn't look like we're getting ready for a tea dance!  This evening we turned in our helmet liners and suspenders and shelter halves.  We were issued: 1) jungle pack 2) machete 3) hammock with roof and mosquito bar [it's a net and bars mosquitoes from entering!]  4) camouflaged helmet liner 5) waterproof clothing sack 6) 6 small waterproof sacks for food, etc. 7) jungle shoes 8) mosquito repellant 9) match safe and compass 10) jungle flashlight 11) fish line and hooks 12) mosquito gloves [army green woolen gloves with knit tops]  13) wool socks, jungle 14) Red Cross Brassard [armband] 15) canned heat.
     I promptly named my machete "Excaliber" [sic] although it says nothing on one side and "US Sidney 1943" on the other instead of "Take me" and "Throw me away" [like King Arthur's sword Excalibur, according to legend].
     I still feel that if we go into a hot spot, I'll try to accept it philosophically - if my number is up - O.K.  If not - that will be fine!  Above all, I have an abiding faith in God, and an abiding love for Beth!  Please God, I'd rather die than crack up mentally.
    Actually, I rather doubt that we will ever use all this stuff.  We'll probably go up north somewhere and be a plain old station hospital as we always have.

March 16, 1944
     Only 5 miles today.  Not bad.  My blister still bothers me a bit.

March 17, 1944
     More organized athletics tonight - I played volleyball.  Lots of fun.  Today we saw how the hammock is swung and the jungle pack fixed.  It holds: 1 undershirt, 1 underpants, 1 handkerchief, 1 pr. socks, waterproofed bags and bladders, jungle boots, match box, canned heat, flashlight, sheet, mosquito gloves, machete and sheath, raincoat, mosquito headnet, blanket, hammock, mess kit, huck towel [16x32" cotten towel with a honeycomb weave] and toilet articles, and rations!  Weighs about 30 to 35 #!  I hope we never have to live out of it for long!

March 20, 1944 Rockhampton
     Typical!  They got us up at 0445, breakfast at 0500, and supposed to start on a loading detail at 0530.  But nothing stirring until about 0615.  Anyway, I sit around with the hot water bottle on my axillary abcess which Niemeyer opened last evening.  They loaded our freight and shipped it to Gladstone with a guard detail.

March 21, 1944
     Our trucks went down this morning.  We were to leave today, but won't.  So we'll sit, again.  I washed a sheet, pillowcase, coveralls and socks this morning.  Mended a hole in my mosquito net.

March 22, 1944
     We expected to be here for several days.  George went fishing.  At 1100 they told us to pack hand luggage and bed rolls by 1400.  I had to do up George's stuff and we couldn't locate him.  We'll leave about 0400 - maybe.

March 23, 1944

Rockhampton train

     Typical!  Slept in our hammocks slung in the mess hall. What a sleep!  Up at 0330, breakfast of bologna and cheese sandwiches and coffee at 0400.  Left at 0530 for the RR siding north of town.  Train came at 0655.  Left at 0730.  Out of Rockhampton at 0800.  Gladstone and mess line at depot (Aussie run, and lousy food) at 1100.  I'm certainly glad I'm one of the first 12 officers!  We got to come on the boat about 1300.  Sparky and I took our choice as sleeping wheel house.  Aussie longshoremen are very slow and careless besides.  I was much concerned in getting my hand luggage so it wasn't stowed in the hold, for it had my camera!  Finally about midnight I got it and came up and went to sleep.

They are obviously going to nearer the fighting because the nurses aren't coming with them, but where?  Admiralty Islands?  Aitape?  Wewak?  Hollandia?  Biak?  Tune in tomorrow!

Return to Brisbane (23)

Have you ever wondered how psychiatric patients were transferred in the WWII?  What happens to their clothing, restraints and bedding?  Capt. Pfile receives orders to escort some patients to the General Hospital in Brisbane. 

A member of the 92nd Evac modelling
a straight jacket: to understand it,
try it on

November 28, 1943 Sunday

      Thursday afternoon I took 4 psychos to the 42nd General Hosp. at Brisbane, by plane. 2 of the patients had to be in restraints. We left at 4 P.M. on a C-47. There were 8 litter cases and 20 other people on the plane besides the crew. The 354 air miles took 2 hours against a slight headwind. We bounced a bit at times, flying just under the broken clouds. The patients raved all the way, but the noise of the plane was greater. We sat on bare aluminum seats (room for 40!) which I noticed as we neared Brisbane, made the trouser seats black! Next evening I washed the seat of my trousers for that and no other reason!             Aussie ambulances and women drivers met us and we took the patients right out to the hospital from Archer Field (5 miles?). There was a lot of delay at the hospital. The 40 odd patients who arrived on planes (from Townsville too) just seemed to daze them. They had no system! As a result it was 7:30 before we got rid of the patients and went to the dining hall to eat. Then it rained a terrific downpour, and hailed a lot, for a short time.  We (Capt. Casey and Capt. Koenig from the 1st Evac Hosp at Orro Bay, on the way for leave had to accompany patients from Townsville and Capt. Lacey from the 12th Station Hosp.) went to check our equipment - it hadn't been brought back! 
     I called the billeting office - no room, so we all stayed at the hospital overnight. Had a nice inner springs mattress, on the officers' ward! After breakfast, I hunted down where my 4 patients had gone and got 4 suits of pajamas and 4 pillow cases in exchange, and got credit for them. Then we (Casey and Koenig and I) went down to the 3rd Med. Supply Depot (we had to catch a ride in an ambulance) to try to straighten out the property, for it had all been turned in there and a tally out given in the name of the [Brisbane 42nd Gerneral] hospital! But a driver had the tally, so the hospital knew nothing of it! 
     After planning to meet there at 1:30, we went to the billeting office and I was assigned to the CTA - Commercial Tourist Assn on Elizabeth Street.  It was on the club style, but quite ancient [it was built in 1907].  I was assigned a room on the 4th floor - a [w]hole bedroom affair. No key for the lock, hard mattress, ancient plumbing. But at 3/6 a night I couldn't say much! Then I went by street car out to the Hq at Sommerville House and got my orders and signed the book. 
     Going back to town I met Jackson, a fellow who had worked in x-ray and transferred 2 months ago.  So I took him to lunch and we talked.  Then back to the Supply depot, who gave us a car and we went back to the hospital and finally got our receipts.  Back to town [the top of the diary (a "Queensland Exercise Book") was cut off, probably to make it fit the space available for packing, and a comment added there later can't be read].  I looked thru the stores a bit, ate at the Officers' Club, met up with a 1st Lt who was going to a show so I went along.  Then back to bed at 9:30, quite tired.

Brisbane Botanical Gardens

     Saturday morning I was up early (well 7 A.M.) and could find no place open for breakfast so back to the Officers' Club where for 9d I had 2 pancakes, honey, coffee and toast!  Food there is good and cheap.  Then I shopped around and got nothing for myself except some leather.  Then took pictures in botanical Park [see also post #17], walked on the hill above town, and finally took the train out to Ascot.  I went in to the Px and had a coke, took a picture of the green back of the grandstand [see post #13], walked around the residential [area] and took 2 more pictures.  Then back to town and had 2 malted milks (at 5d and 6d each) for lunch and went to a show.  Out in time to go to the air transport window and was very much surprised to get a ticket!  Back to the Officers' Club to eat and sat around.  I was astonished at how well my feet held out.  I used calamine lotion and it seems to dry up the areas.  Back to the room and sat around talking.

Sunrise above the clouds, winging their way
 back to Rockhampton

      I had the porter call me at 3:15 [A.M.]. I was to be picked up at 3:45 but the Aussie woman driver picked up 3 others first, and got me at 4:10. Out to the field. Weighed in on the U.S. scales at 147 and on the Aussie ones at 150, 11 pounds luggage. Coffee and donuts at the Red Cross! The Ansett (commercial line) plane was a dandy - 10 place Lockheed, 2 pilots. We had only 5 and the pilots. It was 5:10 when we took off, still quite dark. We climbed gradually thru 2 layers of clouds to (I guess) about 7500 feet. It was beautiful to watch the sun come up, just like fairlyland. The clouds were scattered and not solid so we had glimses of the ground. 
     2 Col.'s of the Dental Corps were on the plane - Shuttleworth (who knew 92nd from the desert) and Snyder! The Fitzroy River certainly breaks up into a maze of passages on reaching the river [ocean?], and the tide water has innumerable criss crossing channels for miles along there. We landed at 7:40 - 2 hours 25 minutes. Nice soft seats, less engine noise - lots of fun! An Aussie female driver met us and took the Col.'s to the Criterion and dumped me out since her duty period was over! I could have called for a ride, but I thumbed one. When I returned Iwa [?] had a fit because I didn't bring back the restraining sheets. I was lucky to get even a receipt! So ended my air trip - lots of fun. If Beth could have been in Brisbane with me, I'd have been happy!

Wildlife in Australia (22)

Gene reports on wallabys, jumper ants, kangaroos, and tree toads.  A nice selection of Australian wildlife!

Capt. Pfile with the captured wallaby

15 Nov. '43
Dear Folks [Mary X and John],
     This is to all of you, but especially to Jack [their 14-year-old son] and Marianne [their 5-year-old neice] for they both wrote me such nice letters!
     One of the men caught a young wallaby (small species of kangaroo). I wish I could send you one of them, for they are so cute. They make nice pets, it is said. They also had a young kangaroo, but it got out one night.
     How is the boomerang, Jack? [In October Jack had written to Beth: "Our neighbor Mr. Grattelo is teaching me to throw the boomerang. I can make it go like this only (and he drew a figure sort of like ℓ)"] Have you learned to make it come back to you? I'm so glad you liked it.
     Marianne, I saw some "abo" children the other day, but they are civilized and didn't look a thing like the cute ones in the book! They looked just like white children who had been scorched a bit in the making.
     It is peculiar about these Aborigines. Their features are not at all Negroid, but they are very dark. There is a colony of them somewhere near here. I hope I get a chance to see it some time. Of course, some live and work in town, but these are more "native".
     The news has been a lot better lately, hasn't it? Maybe it won't be so long as some think. I most fervently hope not!
     Love, Eugene



Dear Folks,
     ... Yesterday I received a box of candy from the Gaines in Trinidad [Colorado]. Oh, I wouldn't let it sit around - the ants might get in! This morning I saw something new in ants - ones with a blue head and forepart of the body, and they jump! 2 or 3 inches, and for no good reason that I can see!  [Probably a type of Myrmecia jumping ant that is only found in Australia, and one which holds its victim with its jaws and then hits it with a powerful sting].  They do have the darnedest things over here.
     My feet are doing O.K. I haven't gone on any long walks. It is getting too hot in the day time, anyway.
     ... This morning I went down town, and saw some ducks on the river. They looked to be pretty large, too. But it is the wrong time of the year, here, for hunting! Our days are getting rather warm.
     One of the men caught a small wallaby (small species of kangaroo) and had it in a box. They make nice pets, I've heard. The 'roos are too large to be pets when grown, and the males can be downright dangerous. Their coats are soft and fuzzy.
     We've had 1 small shower. Otherwise things are quite dry. That helps the mosquito situation!
     Love, Eugene

December 25, 1943  Christmas Day!
     It hasn't been as bad as I expected.  I was a bit low last evening, but after the gang went to the dance and things quieted down, I opened my gifts and it helped a lot.  I could just feel the love wrapped up with each gift!  And to think when the packages were sent, Beth's Dad was still with us.
     [And now a bit of wild life!]  This morning I was up before 5 to go caroling around the area.  The officers didn't appreciate being awakened, but Hiram and Gus cut up like monkeys and had everyone awake and laughing by 6:30 - first time I've ever known them all to be awake so early.
     George had 1 tooth knocked out and 2 busted and his lip cut 3 days ago, playing ball.
    



Cunningham's "Station", or ranch about 15 miles outside 
Rockhampton

January 2, 1944
     Kangaroo hunting at the Cunningham's - about 15 miles west of town.  They have paddocks totaling 600 acres and run about 1200 head of cattle. ...  I saw several calves that dingoes had injured.  Dingoes cause a lot of losses.  The true dingo has long since crossed with dogs to give a larger, fiercer, bolder animal.
     They raise some feed, though the bottom land is not apparently so rich.  "Lucern" is what they call our alfalfa.  The dry grass does not seem to be eaten by cattle or sheep, hence they burn it off so the new grass grows up.
     They gave us tea.  Then we drove out to a paddock and started.  I got the first shot at one soon after we left the car but missed.  I don't like the carbine very well - the stock seems too short, and I tend to look over the sights instead of thru, when I raise it in a hurry.  (Have to have some excuse!)  We walked on thru sparce timber open country with sharp small hills, and very little brush.  The kangaroos are not hard to see when they start moving, but are not easy to hit from 2 or 300 yards when they are moving.  If not shot at a lot, they can easily be sneaked up on, being stupid animals!  I took long shots and more than I should.  Finally I got up to about 150 yards of one.  He jumped straight up so I knew he was hit.  He went over the edge of a hill and I ran up and saw him down in the tall grass, shot again and missed and he went over another edge.

Mr. Cunningham (?) and Gene with the kangaroo he killed

  Then I shot again and put him down.  Our friend skinned him, stripping most of the hide.  Joe, Hiram and Gray and the driver had been shooting all this time, too!  Joe used a tommy gun, Hiram a converted .303 English gun, Gray a carbine and the driver a Springfield!  We went on, and saw more and I shot about 10 times more, hitting nothing.  In all I shot 26 times!  When we got back, they had tea (really supper) for us!

January 3, 1944
     I tried tanning the hide.  Terrible smell.  I gave up trying to flesh it and dropped it into dilute H2SO4 (1 lb. conc to 3 gal. water - I used 1/3) for 3 1/2 hours.


3 Jan. '44

Dear Folks [Mary X and John],

     ...  I enjoyed your letter, Jack.  That tree toad is still about.  Right now he's living in my tent mate's cadet bag!  ...

     Thanks too for the letter, Mary X!  I enjoy knowing what the family is doing.

     Love, Eugene

Resident tree frog or toad

Physician, Heal Thyself (21) (not for the queasy!)

     Rockhampton lies on the Tropic of Capricorn and has humid, subtropical weather.  Daytime highs are usually around 85º F in the summer, dropping to 75º in the winter.  Nighttime lows are around 70º F in the summer and 50º F in the winter, although on rare occasions it drops below freezing.  Conditions are usually quite pleasant for people (except during cyclones or floods), but unfortunately are also enjoyed by various fungi and other obnoxious plant and animal life that like to grow in and on humans.  The doctors from the 92nd Evac came from Colorado, so they had not been exposed to many of the tropical afflictions, and occasionally fell victim to them as well. 
     Throughout his life Gene suffered periodically from what was probably dyshidrotic eczema, a condition that caused small, itchy blisters on his hands and feet.  Although the precise cause of this condition is not known, it usually appears when a person is under stress, either physical, such as allergies or constantly damp conditions, or mental, such as pressure from work.  In the tropics, the moist environment allowed the opportunistic bacteria and fungi to establish themselves in any little break in the skin and wreak havoc.


October 20, 1943
     Trichophytids!  How they are bothering me!  My feet just about itched me to death today, and then broke open.  My hands will start soon, I fear.

92nd Evacuation Hospital in Rockhampton, Australia

1 Nov. '43
Dear Folks,
     ...  The medicine from Lilly Co. came Sunday, and I( took a shot right away.  Mind you, it was sent air mail first class (cost 72¢, which they paid) and was mailed Sept. 22nd, so it took 5 1/2 weeks!  My hands and feet really have improved a lot in the last 2 weeks from what they were for a few days.  These water blisters came up all over my feet and hands, with those on the feet opening and oozing clear serum.  The ones on my hands did not open except in a few places.  It was similar to what I had before, only then it affected my fingers much worse.  I had it once while I was interning and once 3 or 4 years ago.  I just didn't want it to be that bad this time!  ...
     Love, Eugene

November 3, 1943
     Foot began to swell.  Entered hospital.  Infection.

November 4, 1943
     Cellulitis dorsum Rt. foot [redness and heat due to inflamation, and swelling and sensitivity to the touch of the upper part of the right foot].

November 6, 1943
     Boil began on my Lt. leg [starts as a hard, painful red lump which becomes larger, softer and more painful as pus collects].

6 Nov. '43
Dear Folks,
     ...  I am temporarily in the hospital!  I have a cellulitis in my right foot, over the top of the foot.  But it is clearing up quite well.  I turned in with that Wednesday noon, and have been soaking it, off and on [remember penicillin isn't widely available yet], and staying in bed, since.  Yesterday a small boil started in my left leg just behind and above the ankle.  But that also is quieting down.  I had expected to be dismissed to quarters today, but no go.  It is still a bit sensitive when it [his foot] is down.  But I realized in time that it was not to be stalled off, and was sensible enough to go to bed.  Probably tomorrow I can go to my tent and spend a few days there before I go back to duty.
     It does seem queer - you are all preparing for winter, and we for summer.  I hope you have a mild one.
     ...  It is more interesting than ever to hear the discussions that go on about the war and engagements, here on the ward.  The fellows are not supposed to talk about it, but of course they do.  What experiences.
     ...  I was out at the beach Tuesday afternoon but I don't think that had anything to do with this infection!  I took some color pictures that should be good.  The breeze was very refreshing and the water quite warm.  Nope, I didn't see a single shark!
     Don't worry about me - I'm doing O.K.!
     Love, Eugene

November 7, 1943
     Considerable pain and swelling in the darn foot.

November 8, 1943
     Mihalick incised my infection - lot of pus, deep.

November 10, 1943
     Out of the hospital today and on "Quarters".  I entered Nov. 3, a week ago at noon when my R foot began to swell.  I couldn't figure what it was and finally admitted it was a cellulitis, probably from my athlete's foot.  I thought I'd soak it a day or 2 and it would be O.K.  It did seem to get better.  Then a boil developed on the left leg below the calf and it had to be soaked and opened.  They certainly throbbed when I'd try to walk!  Then the R foot stayed so dark red over the medial part of the R dorsum [center part of the top of the right foot] and finally got so darn hypersensitive and showed an area of softening.  It was opened and several drams [four drams is about a tablespoon] of pus and chunks came out and it began to feel better at once.  That was the 8th.  This morning it felt pretty good so I talked John (Mihalick) into letting me out.  I'll have to send Beth a wire for I know she'll be worrying in spite of the fact I told her not to do so.  Gosh but I miss her.  Evenings after the lights were out [and] we were under out nets (9 P.M.) I'd think of her until I dropped to sleep.

10 Nov. '43
Dear Folks,
     Here I am in my tent!  I'll be on quarters a few days and then go back to work.

Gene in his tent, taking it easy

     Sunday evening they opened the place on the R foot.  It had turned a deep purplish red - a spot about the size of a dollar, began to soften in the middle, and was very sensitive and pained when the foot was down.  I was surprised at what came out - about a tablespoonful of pus and stuff.  The foot began to feel better at once and my fever went down [the] next day.  It hasn't drained much since.  This morning I walked around a bit and it felt pretty good, so I talked them into releasing me.  I'll just sit around and keep my foot up and take care of it for a few days.  But it is more to my liking here in the tent.  I can read in the evening and things are handier.
     ...  What wild life we have around here!  As I sit here I can see 2 birds in the tent across from me.  They just seem to be looking around.  In another tent I just saw a mouse go scampering along.  Little lizards wander in at intervals.  Ants come and go all the time - chiefly a large red variety like the black woods ants back home.  But it is nice to hear the birds even though their voices are anything but melodious.  On the desert there were so few birds.
     I enjoyed 2 hunting and fishing magazines one of the fellows brought me.  My subscription to the Field and Stream ought to arrive soon.  I also enjoyed Wells Pocket History of the World.  It says in there that up to 100 years ago there was a race of natives in Tasmania (just off the southern coast of Australia) that were more primitive than the Cro-Magnon man [we now know this not to be true], which is usually considered the earliest true man (he doesn't consider the Neanderthal man as being an ancestor of true man, but an earlier offshoot [it is interesting to note that with present-day DNA analysis, some Neanderthal genes can be found in modern humans]).  Birds and animals still exist here which are much older in type than any elsewhere.  The soldiers who have been up north have lots of regard for the natives.  They say the natives hate the Japs - really hate them.  They'll carry one of our wounded or an Aussie 8 hours at a stretch and never set him down, and carry him gently!  But if they are forced to carry a wounded Jap, they'll have to rest every little while, and when they set him down they just drop him, and if not watched, they'll even finish him off themselves!  Interesting!
     I ought to do O.K. now.  Hope you both are too!
     Love, Eugene

November 12, 1943
     Another G-I upset.  Maybe I got a bug in the orange drink at Yeppoon.  Christie had some melena [darkening of the feces by blood pigment] today.  He said, "Should you and I plan to get into the same Veteran's Home?"  That is good!

14 Nov. '43
Dear Folks,

Beach at Yeppoon, Australia

     Here I am, back on the job again!  I was ready to start in Friday but something else came up.  Thursday afternoon some of the officers were going to the beach, so I went along.  I just sat around and took the sun and fresh air.  On the way back we stopped for an orange drink and I think that proved my undoing.  It was served by the glass.  I must have picked up some kind of a bug, for I was awakened at 12:30 by the belly ache and was I ever sick.  I thought for a while I was getting appendicitis.  I stayed in bed all Friday, having fever and diarrhea.  In the morning I was so shaky and nauseated and that sickly yellow color!  But I felt better by evening and now I'm O.K. again except for small boils - one on each calf around a hair follicle.  My feet are doing quite well.  The right foot still swells some, but that is to be expected.
     ...  Yesterday I saw a mail carrier for the first time.  [Gene's stepfather, Vernon, was a mail carrier.]  It was at the outer edge of town.  He was riding a bicycle and was dressed in shorts (low shoes and long socks), short sleeved shirt open at the throat, and slouch hat.  His mail bag was about half the size of our postmen's bags.  I imagine that their letter mail is light, and that they have little or no advertising matter and few magazines.  The uniform of the policemen is a light tan with tight military style collar, and the same type of Rough Rider hat that their soldiers wear.  They all seem to be young fellows.  They ride bicycles, too.
     The weather has not been so warm lately - very comfortable in fact.  ...
     Our Padre [Griffiths] is leaving us - being transferred.  We all hate to see him go, for he is an exceptional man.  He has the respect and esteem of the whole outfit.
     Hope you both continue to feel well.
     Love, Eugene