PART SEVEN

Collected From the Four Corners of The County

Histories, Documents, a Diary, Some Newspapers

This final part started out with one or two documents, then began to grow, taking on a life of its own. It's kind of like an Appendix because it explains or supplements things in other parts of the book. But I don't like the word Appendix, so it became and remained Part Seven. We start off with the story of some Marines in a heavy artillery battalion who used to be forgotten.

A Battalion of Marines fought on Tulagi, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Eniwetoc, and Guam. They rated five Battle Stars and two Unit Citations and yet they called themselves "The Forgotten Battalion." They claimed, with good cause, that nobody in the States ever heard of them. I say, let's fix that here and now. With the help of Sergeant Bill Miller's article published in Leatherneck (a magazine of the United States Marines) loaned to me by Stan Holloway, here is a short essay to help us remember The Forgotten Battalion.

THE FORGOTTEN BATTALION

The Forgotten Battalion's story began on January 1, 1941. An Artillery Placement Battalion was organized on the West Coast early in 1941, then shipped out from the States in July of 1942. The newly formed unit was equipped with 75-mm pack Howitzers which they used on Tulagi, Guadalcanal, and Tarawa. They then became one of the first Marine units to be equipped with 155-mm Howitzers, which they received just before they entered the Marianas operation. They were again redesignated as the 2^nd 155-mm Howitzer Battalion, 5th Amphibious Corps on April 29, 1944. The Battalion continually diminished in number of surviving original members while its ranks expanded in a progression of names to identify it.

Among other distinctions, in addition to decorations earned, they rightly claimed to have fired the opening artillery round in the first U.S. offensive of World War II. That round was fired at a Japanese sniper position in the treetops of Gaomi. The day after that opening volley they fired the first artillery preparation from Tulagi against Makambo. They had gone ashore on Tulagi on Sunday morning, August 9, 1942 and set up to shell Makambo at a one thousand yard range. They fired a ten-minute preparation under section control. The Marine infantry later found three Japanese and one dead pig in Makambo. After that small beginning the Artillery Placement Battalion supported every Marine division that saw action in the Pacific during World War II, as well as several Army units. They were the only artillery troops to fight on both Saipan and Guam.

After organizing defensive positions in which their 75s were set up to fire on the Japanese fleet if it came in range, the battalion had ringside seats for all the air and naval battles that took place over and between Tulagi and Guadalcanal. The action they witnessed reinforced their respect for both Marine flyers and the U.S. Navy. The Battalion spent six harrowing months on Tulagi and Guadalcanal, a tour few outfits could match. They fired thirteen thousand one hundred and forty-five rounds between December 22 and January 7, 1943, finally pulling out for R & R on January 31. Nearly every man had malaria, dengue fever, or dysentery, a situation calling for heavy replacements.

Following intensive training and troop buildup on New Zealand, they left with the Marine 2^nd Division, headed for Tarawa. They supported the 6^th Marines in a mop-up of the Tarawa atoll, which included a march of twenty-two miles across a chain of islands and coral reefs. They moved their artillery with them and finally set up positions on the furthest tip of the island group.

One of their number won the Silver Star after acting as Scout Sergeant for a Naval gunfire shore party. He waded four hundred yards to shore carrying radio equipment and his own gear while men all around him were throwing away their packs in the deep water and in the face of heavy fire. He set up the radio, laid wire to the front line position, and prepared to deliver fire wherever it was requested.

The Forgotten Battalion had sweat out twenty-eight months in the Pacific by October 1944. They saw a lot of salt water over the rails of a lot of ships as well as seeing Tongatabu, the Fijis, Tulagi, Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, New Zealand, Efate, Tarawa, the Hawaiian Islands, Eniwetok, Saipan, and Guam.

During their extensive tour of the Pacific Islands, they once went twenty-two days without rations when supply ships were pulled out of the Solomons after the Forgotten Battalion had gone ashore with only seventy-two hours rations. Each gun section had to organize its own mess, their diet consisting of wormy rice and taro roots. The first day their cooks removed the worms before cooking the rice, but after that they cooked worms and all, and the men ate the rice, worms and all, calling it meat and rice. The scant diet caused many to drop out from exhaustion when they had to carry ammo up the steep Tulagi hills to their gun positions. That experience certainly gave support to the name they gave themselves. They were even forgotten by their supply ships.

On a lighter note, one Captain William G. "Wild Bill" Winters, who liked to scout ahead of his outfit, came back from the front one day looking for a jeep. He hitched a trailer to it and drove up through the lines. He returned with the trailer loaded with Japanese beer which he proceeded to distribute among the men of his battery. Wild Bill also stopped an adjacent outfit from firing indiscriminately at night by setting up four .50 caliber machine guns in a strategic spot and issuing an ultimatum stating his men would return any fire coming in their direction. He also methodically destroyed each Japanese gun in a battery that tried to destroy his position. He got each one by making precision adjustments, a skill by which the Forgotten Battalion was well known.

Heavy artillery seldom moved so fast and so far under such conditions as the 2^nd met on Saipan and Guam. They did such a good job that no one man could be singled out for commendation. Each man carried in his record book a letter of commendation by Brigadier General Pedro del Valle, Commanding General of 3^rd Corps Artillery on Guam, plus a letter from his own CO.

The outfit was beat up but proud when they disembarked from their ships in New Zealand for R&R. They packed their gear on a little train to take them to their rest camp. Captured Japanese flags flew from the engine and from every car. The only thing missing was the sound of the cheers the Forgotten Battalion rated from every man, woman, and child in America.

Andy Chesnut provided us with some brochures and a book titled This is The American Legion…. I drew the following article from that material.

THE AMERICAN LEGION

The American Legion, one of the nation's largest and most respected organizations of wartime veterans, is made up of men and women who continue to serve America by serving their communities. The preamble to the Constitution of The American Legion clearly states its aim. It says its members associate together to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, to maintain law and order, to foster Americanism, to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to community, state, and nation, to combat autocracy, to make right the master of might, to promote peace and good will, to safeguard and transmit justice, freedom, and democracy, to consecrate comradeship, and to preserve the memories and incidents of the great wars.

The Legion found its roots in early European history when both Greek and Roman veterans of war remained active in civic affairs. In the 13^th century two powerful veteran organizations formed of returning Crusaders were among those who pressed King John of England to compose the Magna Carta, the first written by-laws of a free nation. In America both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars birthed veteran groups and then in 1919 at the close of World War I the largest society of veterans ever formed in any age in any country was established. That society would become known as The American Legion.

Twenty officers of the American Expeditionary Force, formed during World War I, met in February 1919 to consider how to improve conditions among returning veterans who had survived the trench warfare of the War to end all war. Under Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.'s, enthusiastic leadership, the idea of an association of American veterans of the Great War met with approval of those gathered. The new organization was to be based on three concepts: it would include all who served in American uniforms overseas or at home; it would be a civilian organization, devoid of rank; and it would operate in a democratic fashion. After many meetings and lengthy discussions wherein the Legion was built from the ground up, the United States Congress passed an act incorporating the American Legion on September 16, 1919.

From its incorporation on, the Legion focused on caring for disabled veterans and veteran's widows and orphans, encouraging the government to provide hospitalization, rehabilitation, and employment programs, as well as paying disability payments to those injured in the war. Having seen so many Americans unfit for service in World War I, the Legion also promoted physical education and child welfare.

The stock market collapse in 1929 saw the Legion rally to prevent financial devastation among veterans and non-veterans alike. While the Economic Act of 1933 slashed more than four hundred million dollars worth of veterans' benefits from the national budget, by 1943 that position was reversed. President Roosevelt announced an assurance to the men and women in the Armed Forces that the American people would not let them down when the war was over.

World War II saw the Legion energetically maintain their programs, even though about one hundred and fifty thousand Legionaries were back in uniform. More than seventy percent of draft-board members were from the Legion, four hundred thousand served as air-raid wardens, three hundred thousand as volunteer policemen, and fifty thousand as volunteer firemen. Hundreds of Legionnaires served in the Civil Air Patrol, and hundreds of posts recruited men and women for the Armed Forces.

The Legion was also instrumental in one of the most important veteran programs ever conceived, the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly called the G.I. Bill of Rights. It was the Legion's greatest single legislative achievement and will stand for all time as an example of Legion statesmanship. The G.I. Bill authorized the government to pay for tuition, books, and fees for all eligible veterans seeking an education. It also provided a subsistence allowance for those veterans who returned to school or vocational training. Under the G.I. Bill, seven million eight hundred thousand veterans, nearly half of all who served, received an education at colleges and universities, trade and tech schools. Some increased their job skills through on-the-job training, or combined classroom studies and on-farm training. Because of its lifetime-eligibility feature, the loan program in the G.I. Bill enabled returning veterans to acquire homes as time went by.

As early as 1942 Congress amended the Legion's charter, making World War II veterans eligible for membership after honorable discharge or termination of hostilities. A new membership drive began after September 2, 1945. In 1946 membership doubled reaching an all-time high of three million, three hundred thousand, five hundred and fifty-six in more than fifteen thousand posts across the nation.

Their programs continue to reflect the interests of American Legion veterans. Over the past fifty to sixty years World War II veterans joined their comrades from previous wars to help needy children, award scholarships to deserving high school students, assist local charity campaigns, and provide emergency aid to veterans. Legionnaires also gave of their time, volunteering about two million hours each year helping veterans who are patients in Veteran Administration (VA) medical facilities. The Legion also sponsors American Legion Baseball, Boys and Girls State and Nation, High School oratorical competitions, and Boy and Girl Scout scholarships. Whitman County residents who enjoy seeing flags fly on their streets and in cemeteries on special holidays, can appreciate that since 1919 the Legion has been our country's leader in the observance of patriotic holidays, providing flags and assuring proper posting in public places. These are but a few of American Legion's programs sponsored nationally.

The American Legion's motto is "Still Serving America." That is what Whitman County men and women did in World War II, and what they still do six decades later.

The Aleutian Front likely has had the least written about it of any of the campaigns of World War II. It has been mentioned several times in the stories in this book but we interviewed no one who was stationed there in a combat unit for the entire duration. Those few who remember the war at all don't recall hearing or reading much about what went on in Alaska and on the Aleutian Islands. It seems the strongest contender in that particular area of the war was the weather. A copy of the Winter 2000 edition of National WW II Memorial, a newsletter of the World War II Memorial Society, recently came into my hands. It contained an article about that campaign which I have summarized here.

THE ALEUTIAN FRONT

Stretching more than twelve hundred miles across the northern Pacific, from Alaska to Siberia, the Aleutian archipelago seemed an unlikely setting for conflict due to both its isolation and its terrible weather. It was a decision by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese combined fleet, that brought war to that inhospitable island chain. Yamamoto's decision to attack the Aleutians in June 1942 seems now to have been more of a diversionary tactic to draw the American fleet out of Pearl Harbor, and away from Midway, rather than to secure a staging area for a mainland assault on American land. Whatever his intent, the diversion failed. U.S. Navy intelligence had broken the Japanese war codes and knew of the movement of their fleet. The attack at Midway became a disaster for the Japanese Navy, and a turning point in the war.

At that point Yamamoto, in an apparent effort to save face, ordered his northern fleet to continue its operations in the Aleutians. His fleet had launched an air attack against Dutch Harbor, Alaska on June 3, 1942, just before the Battle of Midway. They then turned their attention to Attu and Kiska islands at the western end of the archipelago. Encountering no opposition, Japanese landing forces controlled both islands by June 7. Originally Yamamoto planned to occupy those tiny islands during the short summer months only, but instead he decided to establish permanent airfields and naval facilities to harass American forces building up in that Theater of Operations.

Those Japanese installations were militarily insignificant, but they stirred considerable concern on the American home front, fanned by media speculation that an attack on the United States from the north was likely. To allay those fears it was deemed necessary to clear the enemy from the Aleutians. However, Major General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., Alaska Defense Commander, in defining Alaska's being hopelessly unready for war, said, "We're not even the second team up here - we're a sandlot club."

Not until the spring of 1943 was the U.S. able to collect needed forces and supplies to assault the islands Japan had occupied. The 7^th Infantry Division from Fort Ord, California was assigned to retake Attu Island, the first objective. There were thought to be only five hundred enemy troops on Attu, but it was later learned three thousand were garrisoned there.

After several days of the inevitable weather delays, the 7^th landed unopposed on cold and foggy Attu on May 11. Enemy fire began to rain down from the island's jagged hills. After more than two weeks of hard fighting in harsh weather, the battle ended when eight hundred Japanese troops launched a last ditch charge against the American lines. The battle began the night of May 29 and by morning the enemy had been completely defeated and the U.S. Army had taken possession of Attu. The battle left only twenty-eight Japanese to surrender, while the Americans lost five hundred dead and one thousand one hundred wounded, plus the poor weather sidelined two thousand one hundred American troops with non-combatant injuries sustained because they had come unprepared for extended combat in extreme cold conditions.

Three months later the U.S. Army committed troops to Kiska against approximately five thousand Japanese, subjecting them to continual bombing raids and heavy naval bombardment. The enemy decided not to fight, but, aided by an almost continuous fog, managed to evacuate their entire garrison in less than a day on July 28, without the invading Americans being aware of that move. When U.S. forces landed on the island August 15 they assumed the Japanese had moved inland. It was not until August 22 that they realized the island was deserted.

Despite its limited impact on the overall war, the Aleutian campaign furnished several important lessons in amphibious and poor weather operations that proved valuable in later campaigns in the European and Pacific Theaters, as well as providing combat experience to unseasoned American troops. For the American public the Aleutian victory secured the nation's northern flank and eased fears the island would be a launching pad for an invasion against the mainland.

Darwin Nealey loaned me Brian Garfield's book The Thousand-Mile War -World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians to educate me on the only war front that included on-going combat on American territory. The following poem, printed in Garfield's book, is included here in memory of The Whitman County men who served on land and sea and in the air in the Aleutian Theater of War.

ALEUTIAN SUMMER OF 1943

By Warrant Officer Boswell Boomhower

A soldier stood at the Pearly Gate

His face was wan and old.

He gently asked the man of fate

Admission to the fold.

"What have you done," St. Peter asked,

"To gain admission here?"

"I've been in the Aleutians

For nigh unto a year."

Then the gates swung open sharply

As St. Peter tolled the bell.

"Come in," said he, "and take a harp.

You've had your share of hell."

One of the biggest issues to be dealt with on the home front during the war, besides a pervasive fear of a massive invasion of our shores, was rationing of certain items, not the least of concern being sugar, the first commodity to be limited. While we were compiling information for this book I found a booklet in my mailbox, a gift from a secret prayer pal who obviously knew my interest in things of World War II. Here's a recap of what was in that booklet, following a brief AP wire story out of Washington, DC published early in January 1942.

SUGAR RATIONING

Under the headline "U.S. WILL LIMIT USE OF SUGAR Pound a Week for Person Is Goal of Federal Rationing Program" the following article came out of Washington on January 24, 1942: "Government rationing of sugar, it was announced tonight, will begin early next month with each person limited to about a pound a week. Announcing the program, Price Administrator Leon Henderson said it was proposed, too, to recover excess stocks from persons who have hoarded supplies. The prospective allowance of one pound per person a week compares with average per capita home consumption of about 1 1/2 pounds a week in 1941. Henderson said there was an actual shortage of about one-third in the sugar supply, and that this, rather than hoarding, necessitated this first foodstuff rationing of this war. Rationing books have been designed and printing of them will be started in a day or two, he said."

As an almost immediate follow-up, the booklet titled "Victory Begins at Home! Recipes to Match Your Sugar Ration," and dated May 1942, was prepared jointly by the Bureau of Home Economics, United States Department of Agriculture, and the Consumer Division, Office of Price Administration. The copy that came to me had been originally postmarked "Portland Oreg. May 29 1942 3pm," clear evidence the material was considered worthy of being sent out in a timely manner.

Inside the front cover the following message set the tone for the information to follow: "Sugar rationing is here! For most of us it will mean little change in eating habits. For others it will mean cutting down on those sweets that food experts say aren't too good for us anyway. It is going to mean more fruit desserts. Use fresh fruits liberally in place of desserts that call for sugar. Dried fruits are rich in sugar and can be used to sweeten many cooked foods. Baking and cooking of other desserts can be done with less sugar. The recipes in this bulletin will show you how. Many of these recipes call for no sugar at all. Others call for only small amounts. And for those who happen to have sugar substitutes on hand, such as maple products, sorghum, or cane and corn sirup (sic), this bulletin will tell how to use them in place of sugar, in preparing the family's favorite desserts."

The text also contained a grim warning, "The amount of sugar that will be available for home canning is not yet certain.”

A couple of pages later some good sugar-saving rules to follow at all times were listed:

© Serve cooked fruits hot to enjoy their fullest flavor and sweetness.

© Save sirup from canned fruit to sweeten other fruit, pudding sauces, or beverages.

© A pinch of salt increases the sweetening power of sugar in cooked food.

© Be sure all sugar is completely dissolved to get its full sweetness.

After fourteen pages of recipes using little or no sugar, and lengthy instructions on how to substitute corn, cane, or maple sirup, or sorghum sirup, or honey for sugar, the Consumer Division, Office of Price Administration, Washington, D.C. invited the reader to write for additional copies of that bulletin in a well-planned effort to reach home-makers all over America with information to help win victory on the home front by reducing sugar consumption.

Not only was sugar needed in the war effort to add carbohydrates to rations and preserve rations prepared for shipment to our troops overseas, but at that time sugar was largely an import product that had to be shipped to the United States, and all merchant ships were needed for the war effort. Sugar was indeed a big issue and concern, one that prompted the United States Department of Agriculture to embark on a public educational program that was very effective and productive.

Not only was there a Forgotten Battalion, there was an entire "Forgotten War" during World War II. While seeking material from which we could write a brief summary about what has been termed "The Forgotten War," Gil Low, a regular at the Pullman Senior Center, asked me if I would like to borrow a book titled The World At Arms, a Reader's Digest History of World War II. In all of the book's four hundred and eighty pages, only seventeen pages were devoted to "The Forgotten War," a telling detail. But those seventeen pages were enough to give us the following essay. Bob Clegg read it for me and made some adjustments, for which I thank him.

THE FORGOTTEN WAR

In the jungles, mountains, and plains of China, India, and Burma, American troops waged a tough and lonely war, a war of numbers finally won by time.

British troops had been in no shape to hit back in 1942 when the Japanese mounted an attack down Burma's Arakan coast, rimming the Bay of Bengal. However, the 14^th Indian Division of the 1^st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers set out from India moving southward through malarial swamps and leech-infested creeks, their goal being the Japanese Akyab Island airfields from which the invading Japanese could bomb Calcutta and Chittagong. Torrential rains impeded their progress somewhat, but the cleverly planned defense mounted by the Japanese stopped the 14^th in its tracks. Eight months after starting out on their southward campaign the 14^th Division was back where it started, a failure that forced a change in leadership.

The British reorganized and retrained their Indian Army and by the fall of 1943 work had begun on four new all-weather roads in northern India, one of them designed to run from Ledo over the Hump through Burma to the Chinese frontier. The Japanese, facing stiff opposition in the Pacific, halted their invasion on the borders of India, convinced their position there was secure for the time. That decision gave the Allies opportunity to mount an offensive against an entrenched, non-moving target.

Brigadier Orde Wingate, leader of Britain's 77^th Indian Infantry Brigade created early in 1943, believed a small force of fast-moving guerrillas could seriously hamper Japanese operations in Burma by operating behind enemy lines with supplies dropped from the air. His three thousand men were called Chindits, taken from the Burmese word meaning mythical lion. Their task was to attack Japanese outposts, cut railway lines, and blow up bridges. Their attack took the enemy by surprise, but the Japanese mounted a counterattack that left the Chindit trying to get back to India, weak from hunger, exhaustion, and disease. Wingate did get back to India on April 29, 1943 with two thousand one hundred and eighty-two of his original three thousand men, but only six hundred of those returning were fit to fight again. Although they had gained little in material terms, they had begun to disprove the myth of Japan's invincibility in Burma.

To the north, the Japanese had virtually eaten up China, but they could not digest it. By mid-1942 most of the area they occupied was run by compliant local landlords. Even so, six hundred and twenty thousand Japanese troops were on duty in China. America sought to keep those troops engaged by the Chinese Army to prevent their invading India or joining the battle in the Pacific. The U.S. supplied Nationalist Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek with money, arms, equipment, and military advice, the latter of which came initially from Major General Joseph W. "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell. Stilwell was appointed in January 1942 to head a military mission as Chiang's Chief of Staff, however there was a definite conflict of interest between Stilwell and Chiang.

The Japanese had driven Chiang deep into west China, where he established headquarters in Chungking. The Chinese armies were disorganized, badly trained, and ill equipped. The Japanese had taken China's arsenals and industrial centers and had cut the Burma Road link to India, causing China's overland supply route to disappear. Work on a new road had begun at Ledo in Assam, India near the 28^th parallel in December 1942, a road which was to wind east into Burma, then angle off to the southeast through Myitkyina (pronounced Mitch-in-awe) and Bhano to meet the Burma Road just south of the China-Burma border a bit north of the 24^th parallel.

The U.S. Tenth Air Force quickly established a base at Chabua, in Assam, India. One of the most spectacular airlifts of the war began, that of flying materials over the flank of the Himalayas, or "the Hump." It was not an easy flight since some of the mountains ranged twenty thousand feet high and Japanese fighter planes patrolled the area from northern Burma. Yet, air supply to China increased from three thousand seven hundred tons in 1942 to nearly thirty five thousand tons in October 1944 alone. While that was substantial, still it was insufficient to maintain China's army, let alone its population. Those supplies did enable the Flying Tigers' successors, Channault's U.S.- China Air Task Force and the U.S. Fourteenth Air Force, to extend their operations over Chinese air space, somewhat loosening Japan's hold on China.

Chinese military tactics were of the stand and defend variety, rendering them incapable of reconquering their homeland. They critically needed training, which was a significant part of what the U.S. brought to that Theater of the Operations. Chiang's greatest handicap was his obsession with defeating his own Communist countrymen, the Reds. He saw them as a threat greater than Japan. Mao Tse-tung and his followers did little to allay those fears.

Bombs fell on Tokyo in April 1942 when Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle attacked that city with planes operating from the American carrier Hornet. Soon after the bombing attack on Tokyo, the Japanese suspended all-out offensive operations in China and withdrew some men to reinforce their troops in the Pacific theater. But, over half-million Japanese troops were still in China in 1945.

The Japanese thought Doolittle's bombers might have come from the other side of the Hump, where the Flying Tigers were based. The Flying Tigers were a group of about ninety American pilots, men released or retired from the US Army, Navy, and Marines before World War II, who fought as mercenaries for China. Their leader was Colonel Claire Lee Chennault who drilled his men endlessly and devised brilliant tactics enabling their Curtiss P-40 fighters to destroy nearly three hundred Japanese aircraft in just six months when they became part of the U.S.- China Air Task Force.

The Allies' second thrust into the Arakan region of Burma coincided with a fierce Japanese offensive, ending with the Japanese being out-fought and out-thought, and their myth of invincibility irrevocably destroyed. Three highly individual Allied forces then focused on northern Burma, and fought to take Myitkyina, a town that was the key Japanese stronghold and air base over the Hump in northern Burma. The three were Stilwell's Chinese troops, Wingate's Chindets, and Merrill's Marauders. All three had been tested almost to destruction. They knew that Myitkyina had to be taken because it lay in the middle of the route planned for the Ledo Road, an absolutely vital supply link that had to be built and maintained for any hope of victory in the India-China-Burma Theater of Operations.

"Vinegar Joe" Stilwell saw the advance on Myitkyina as a headache, but he was committed to pushing through the road which could carry supplies from India to the Chinese army in western China. In late February 1943 his sparsely manned road-building crew got stuck on the India Burma border. The Japanese began an attack northward toward the head of the road, being stopped only about fifty miles south of the road's starting point by Stilwell's Chinese 38^th Division. A stalemate ensued until October when new engineers pushed the road along behind the probing 38^th Division which was proceeding down the Refugee Trail. When the Japanese counter-attacked, Stilwell showed up in person driving the Chinese troops into aggressive action. As soon as he left, however, the stalemate set in once again.

Stilwell returned in February 1944 with a new card to play: an American independent infantry unit soon to be known as Merrill's Marauders after their leader, Brigadier General Frank D. Merrill. Hardened Pacific war veterans, only three thousand strong, they started a series of actions in March thrusting flanking attacks deep behind enemy lines while the Chinese battled down the Hukawng Valley pushing back the Japanese. Stilwell and Merrill then headed for Myitkyina with about seven thousand men, part Marauders and part Chinese, arriving at that stronghold on May 17, 1944. They were not to rid the area completely of Japanese control until early August.

Meanwhile, Orde Wingate's Chindit expedition into Burma had gotten him promoted to Major General. He and his six brigades, twenty three thousand men, were briefed to support Stilwell's drive. Wingate was supported by a "private air force" consisting of the USAAF Number One Air Commando: twenty-five transport planes; twelve medium bombers; thirty fighter-bombers; one hundred light planes; and two hundred twenty-five gliders. His orders were to draw off enemy forces, prevent reinforcements reaching them, and create havoc behind enemy lines. In the ensuing on-going battle Wingate was killed when his B-25 bomber crashed. His Chindits came under Stilwell's command. Stilwell proved to be a harsh taskmaster, rejecting all requests that the men be relieved. When the second and final Chindit operation was over, the force had lost five thousand killed, wounded or missing.

Stilwell was equally ruthless with the American guerrillas, Merrill's Marauders. By the time Myitkyina airfield had been taken, they were exhausted and sick, Merrill himself having suffered a heart attack. They were down to less than fifteen hundred of their original three thousand men. Unknown to the Allies, the Japanese had maintained supply lines to Myitkyina and also had strengthened their garrison to thirty-five hundred men. Coming against that fresh force, the Marauders suddenly collapsed, some actually falling asleep while firing their weapons.

The original Marauders were reinforced by three Battalions of replacements who arrived shortly after those battle-weary men had fought their way to Myitkyina. The Allies gradually cut off the Japanese supply lines. The town of Myitkyina finally fell on August 3, 1943. The cost had been high on both sides. The Allies lost one thousand forty-four killed and four thousand one hundred forty wounded. Nine hundred and eighty Americans were evacuated sick, including five hundred and seventy Marauders. Ledo Road builders and Hump supply planes moved in immediately to solidify the supply lines between India and China.

In spite of the effort expended to take Myitkyina and build the Ledo Road, China was almost lost to a huge Japanese offensive employing one hundred and fifty thousand men in mid-April 1944. By mid-June a three hundred thousand strong Chinese army was reduced to a fleeting remnant and the Japanese held the Chinese railway system from Peking to Hankow. While the Chinese fought fiercely in spots, the Japanese continued to moved south putting Chiang Kai-shek's capital in Chungking at risk.

Had that city fallen, China would have been out of the war and hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers would have been free to fight in Burma or the Pacific. Fortunately for the Allies, Japanese momentum slowed, although a column of troops did push north on the railway from Indochina to link with forces at Lungchow in December, giving control of the railway from Peking into Indochina briefly to the Japanese. The Japanese found themselves spread thin, short of supplies, and facing an increasingly more resolute Chinese army. While the Chinese were not well trained, they did have numbers and were still in the war, although the Japanese persisted in holding China's railways and airfields.

Chiang Kai-shek finally had to agree to what Stilwell had been telling him for years. He had said to stop relying on the United States of America Air Force (USAAF) and to rebuild his own army.

Japan mounted three more campaigns into southern China, finally meeting their first serious defeat in China in March 1945. American successes in the Pacific and a belated declaration of war against Japan by the Soviet Union caused Japan to evacuate from south China on May 9, 1945 virtually putting to an end the China-India-Burma Theater of War. The tenacity of the American jungle fighters, the numbers of Chinese, and enough time had decided the China-India-Burma War, the Forgotten War, in favor of the Allies.

America's Chaplains spent uncountable hours counseling and guiding servicemen and women and encouraging them to persevere and endure the difficulties inherent in going to war. We included the following story, taken from The Chaplain's Prayer Manual, in honor of all the Chaplains who served the people of Whitman County in World War II.

FOUR CHAPLAINS

Most of the nine hundred troops aboard the Dorchester slept as she plowed through icy waters off Greenland early in the morning, February 3, 1943 when suddenly a German torpedo smashed into her flank. Coming out of their bunks, the troops pounded up the ladders and milled in confusion on deck. The coolest men on board were four Army Chaplains: Clark Poling, Alexander Goode, John Washington, and George Fox. They calmly led the men to boxes of life jackets, passing them out with boat-drill precision. When the boxes were empty, the four chaplains slipped off their own precious life preservers, put them on four young GIs, and told them to jump.

The Dorchester went down in just twenty-five minutes. Some six hundred men were lost, but the chaplains helped save over two hundred lives. The last anyone saw of them they were standing on the slanting deck their arms linked in prayer to the one God they all served.

First Lieutenant Clark Poling (Reformed Church of America) was the youngest of the four, and a seventh generation minister of the Gospel. Just before he sailed on the Dorchester he told his father, "I don't want you to pray for my safe return…. Many will not return and to ask God for special favors wouldn't be fair. Just pray I shall do my duty… never be a coward… have strength and courage and understanding of men... that I shall be patient… and be adequate."

Alexander Goode (Jewish) had been too young for World War I. He became a Rabbi, married, and had four children. Even with a synagogue, he felt he needed to know better how to heal men's souls and bodies. He earned a medical degree at Johns Hopkins University to that end. His wife got a telegram from him just weeks before the Dorchester went down. "Having a wonderful experience," it read. She knew he had found companionship with the men aboard ship.

John P. Washington (Catholic) had not lived an easy life, being the child of poor immigrant folks. But he loved music, loved to fight, and loved to laugh, all of which he did even after his ordination as a priest. The story has it that when the Dorchester went down he was still laughing, singing, and praying to comfort those who could not reach a lifeboat.

And then there was the oldest of the four, George Fox (Methodist.) In 1917 he had lied about his age to enlist in the Marines as a medical corps assistant in World War I. He rescued a wounded soldier from a battlefield filled with poison gas, even though he had no mask himself. He later studied for the ministry and when World War II came he told his wife, "I've got to go. I know from experience what our boys are about to face. They need me."

Those four men met on the Dorchester's sinking deck in a rendezvous with death. But it was also a meeting with God. They had been called from their churches, parish, and synagogue and brought together on that icy February morning to bring comfort to those they could reach.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania there stands a Chapel whose Sunday services are open to people of all races and religious faiths. The building also stands as a memorial to the Four Chaplains. Chiseled in the Chapels stone is this dedication:

Chapel of Four Chaplains

An Interfaith Shrine

Here is Sanctuary for Brotherhood

Let it never be violated

Rifle Company E, Second Battalion, 161^st Regiment was a Washington State National Guard unit formed in September, 1940 in Pullman . The men were from Washington, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, many of them Whitman County residents. Carlyle E. Ragsdale, a member of Company E and a native of Colfax, wrote and produced a video of still shots with sound and narration that he called The Little Picture, likely in contrast to an official Army production titled The Big Picture.

Lester Bishop, also a member of Company E, kindly loaned me The Little Picture and the following summary is composed from several viewings of it. Written words cannot fully express what the sounds, sights, and narration presented, but we offer these words as a tribute to Carlyle Ragsdale, now deceased, who spent twenty-three years putting his video together and to the Whitman County men who gathered in September 1940 for one year of peace-time service. Ultimately Company E was assigned to the 25^th U.S. Infantry Division, not to be returned to State control until after the end of World War II, five full years later.

COMPANY E

In July of 1940 President Roosevelt was given power to call National Guard units to duty in the Western Hemisphere. Washington State National Guard was not a new entity. It dated back to 1855 when Washington was a Territory and a militia was formed to protect newly arriving settlers. The modern day Rifle Company was started by some returning WW I veterans in the early 1920s. It was then called C Company, likely becoming E Company in the early 1930s. In September 1940 the newest version of the militia, Company E of the 161^st Regiment, came into existence.

In late September of 1940 twelve thousand men descended upon Camp Murray, built next to Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington. They were issued World War I field uniforms, complete with flat brimmed campaign hats, World War I helmets, bootees, wrap leggings and riding pants, plus a fatigue uniform of blue cotton. That same uniform later was used for prison uniforms, including P.O.W.s. At Camp Murray they started what was to be one year of active Federal duty, their total enlistment in the National Guard being three years.

The biggest enemy they faced was a combination of climate and weather. Referred to as the wettest camp in the United States, Camp Murray attracted rain that soaked the camp, winds that whipped their tents, and fog that settled in nightly, seeping through everything it touched. And it was cold.

Extreme cold weather brought about the use of the Sibley Stove, a relic of the Civil War. The Sibley was a metal fixture with no bottom. There was a six inch dirt-filled frame inside it on which soggy cord wood was coaxed into burning. The men had to remain alert for tent fires at all times, keeping two water buckets next to the stove in case sparks ignited their tent. They had to get the stove red hot in order to heat a tent, and then often the flooring caught fire and the stove would collapse and the tent again would go up in flames.

The men lived in those flammable tents, which were only improved as piles of lumber were freighted into Camp Murray and they could build the tent walls up with wood. Finally in April of 1941 they moved five miles through mud to new barracks. When those new buildings were painted, no one bothered to mask the windows, so the men of Company E were assigned hours upon hours of paint scraping duty.

In spite of flu epidemics through the winter of 1941, from which there was no respite except rest in one of those flammable tents, the men engaged in a rigorous training program which included a ten mile full-pack march each Monday morning and a Review each Wednesday. By May 25, the 161^st was ready to try out their infantry skills. They were loaded onto twenty-six rail cars and sent to Hunter Liggett, California for maneuvers. There they had no rain but camped among tarantulas and scorpions. The maneuvers were over the end of June, coinciding with pay day, which meant thirty dollars for each man in Company E. That was nine dollars more than they received the first three months of their enlistment.

That same month Congress passed an amendment to their authorization to call up the Guard. They wanted all National Guard members to remain for one more year from that date, extending the Federal enlistment duty of Company E another six months.

After the Battle of California, as their maneuvers were called, they had a furlough, then engaged in the Battle of Washington in August of 1941. The idea was an invading fleet had landed and the 161^st was charged with defending the coast. That training accomplished, they returned to Camp Murray and in November joined other trained infantrymen of the 41^st Division on a eighty thousand-man truck ride to Seattle for a massive parade. The line of trucks was so long that the first ones reached the parade site while the last men were still in Tacoma.

Later in November, the 161^st Regiment was cut out of the 41^st to be sent to the Philippines as replacements for American troops stationed there who were ready to rotate home. On Saturday, December 6, 1941 the three thousand men of the 161^st were again on board a train, headed for San Francisco. The next day, as they rolled through Dunsmuir, they heard a news bulletin over the radio about a "date which will live in infamy." Suddenly their plans changed radically. On December 14 they loaded onto the Lurline and two days later set sail from San Francisco toward Hawaii, knowing nine long-range Japanese submarines were positioned off the west coast lying in wait to attack American ships. By zig-zagging their course, they safely completed a five day voyage to Hawaii. The 161^st Regiment thus became the first military unit to arrive at an overseas destination in World War II.

Over the next year the Washington National Guard men of Company E moved around on Oahu several times, mostly performing guard duty in the city of Honolulu and at transmitter sites, docks, fuel storage tanks, wherever they were needed. In October of 1942 the 161^st Regiment was released from guard duty, but assigned to the 25^th Infantry, a regular Army unit under the command of General J. Lawton Collins, who was Army Chief of Staff in the 1950s. They moved to the Kailua Race Track and started training, which appeared useless to the men of Company E because they expected to be home by Christmas. Then General Collins called them to the race track grandstand and announced, "We shall seek and destroy the enemy."

On December 6, 1942, the 2^nd Battalion of the 161^st boarded the Republic, the rest of the Regiment shipping on other vessels. The Army rarely put a whole Regiment on the same ship, so that in case of a sinking there would be a skeleton unit to start over. They set sail, headed for the Solomon Islands, target: Guadalcanal. They were told they were to land and unload supplies in the daylight hours because the Japanese mounted night raids. The Marines had captured the Japanese air field on Guadalcanal, renaming it Henderson Field. Due to land, sea, and air attacks they had been barely able to hang on. On the other hand, the Japanese were too weak to fight an offensive attack, so a stalemate formed. The 25^th Infantry Division, of which Company E was now an active part, was thrown into the fray to shift the balance of power.

The final offensive to end the fight for Guadalcanal began on January 10, 1943. E Company took up positions near Hill 52. They advanced quickly against light opposition until they reached Hill 95. At that point the 2^nd Battalion, including E Company, were pulled back into the perimeter to guard against a seeming threat of renewed Japanese effort to land more troops and try again to retake Henderson Air Field. Actually the Japanese were engaged in what turned out to be a successful effort to rescue their remaining troops left on the Canal. They were able to rescue about eleven thousand men.

After about five days in that position, the 2^nd Battalion was returned to the hills to act as security for the left flank of the Regiment as it moved along the north shore of the island. This put Company E and some other elements of the 2^nd Battalion way up in the hills, hills which were very similar to the Snake River breaks. They trudged along up in those hills for several days with inadequate food and no knowledge of where they were going or what they were doing. Somebody in the group had a radio and so they eventually knew when they were to go down to the ocean.

The area into which they were directed was the area used by the Japanese as a staging area to bring troops to the island and also to take them off the island. The Navy was aware of that concentration of Japanese troops and had repeatedly shelled the area. The result was hundreds of dead Japanese in an advanced state of decay. While camped there the Americans had to constantly shoo flies off their food, and, when they didn't succeed, they could easily get a fly in their mouth. Knowing the point of origin of those flys caused many to upchuck their meal of canned salmon served by the field kitchen. They spent the next couple of days burying bodies.

They were then moved by water to an area about fifteen miles east of Henderson Field, known as Koli Point which is located between the Nalimbu River on the west and the Metapona River on the east. They sent two patrols up the Nalimbu River, but the patrols never saw any Japanese stragglers. However, the last Japanese soldier in the area gave himself up sometime in 1947

By February 9, 1943 the island was secured by the U.S. and all Japanese resistance on the island ceased. But, there were more American men sick than well on Guadalcanal and they had encountered stronger enemy resistance than expected. In addition, their rifles were rusting, their clothes were in tatters, their shoes were rotted and falling off their feet, they had little food or water, and malaria ran rampant. However, Henderson Field, built by the Japanese, was now secure in American hands.

By April they had unloaded a convoy that arrived with supplies, but the effort of that work, the heat, malaria, dysentery, mosquitoes, and jungle life, plus constant surveillance for snipers and stragglers had taken its toll. In May a typhoon hit, driving them out of their tents and seriously disrupting their camp. But what they did on that island went down in history as a resounding defense against the last Japanese attempt to win the war in the air. In their first major defeat the Japanese saw seventy-seven of their planes go down in one battle, as opposed to the U.S. losing only six. The Japanese had made many tactical errors mostly due to their holding on to misconceptions about the Americans ability to tenaciously turn defensive duty into an active offense. The tide of the war in the Pacific had turned.

July 20, 1943 found Company E leaving Guadalcanal for New Georgia, the whole 25^th Infantry being far below combat strength. However, orders had been issued to put them back in battle in the massive attack planned to take Munda Air Field. Conditions were difficult. The only bright spot in the lives of those men was mail call, and even that was dimmed by a startling frequency of "Dear John" letters.

Bairoka, at the end of a river of mud weaving through sucking swamps, was their next target. Again, keeping supplies delivered as they moved along was an on-going problem. Attempts to air drop food and ammo were aborted when those supplies landed in tree tops that were inaccessible to the men who were sliding one step forward, two back through the jungle muck. But take New Georgia they did, at a great price in terms of lives.

General Collins, who had been transferred to the European war, was asked when he had been there for some time to define the difference between the Pacific and European Theaters of Operations. He said they were bombed much more often in the Pacific, but the Japanese were lousy bombers, unlike the precision airmen of Germany. When the Japanese aimed at an airfield, they often would miss and hit camps. The physical war was much worse in the Pacific, according to Collins, especially worse on the private soldier who had to deal with mud and jungle terrain daily. The Pacific combat zone was not civilized in the sense of there being towns, villages, or even communities where the men might find some respite from jungle life, such as the European troops found as they moved toward Berlin. His final comment was the Japanese were not skillful fighters, but they did not know when to quit, and so had to be methodically found and executed, often one at a time. There were no mass surrenders, no prisoners to take.

Company E went back to Guadalcanal after a year on New Georgia, then in November, 1943 shipped out to New Zealand for well earned R & R. When they arrived they found a place of rest in two-man wooden shacks built for them and discovered they could order beer from a town a few miles away. One of the voices on the video told of the "heart-felt, warm reception, great kindness, and hospitality" they received from the New Zealanders, people who to this day show appreciation to "Yanks" for what the men of the 25^th Division did for them during the war.

Again hearing the call to battle, the 161^st sailed in February 1944 finally docking on New Caledonia, then moving seventy miles inland to their camp which was characterized by rain and mosquitoes. At that point, February 24, the 161^st Regiment, having received replacements in New Zealand, was rebuilt up to one hundred and fifty men, only fifty of those remaining having been among those who had sailed on the Lurline in December 1941. Only nine of the original Company E were still among its ranks. The rest had rotated home or lay buried on an island in the Pacific. The rotation system sent one-half of one percent of the Division combat strength home each month. The names of eligible men were put in a drawing. The fortunate ones whose names were drawn could turn their faces homeward, otherwise the only opportunity to go home alive lay in serious illness or being critically wounded.

New Caledonia was known as a fine training ground where new replacements could "play war in the weeds." The men there were called to Parade on Sundays, drills that required them to march two miles to and from the reviewing stands.

Around Christmas of 1944, the 25^th was again on the march heading for Luzon in great strength, landing along with one hundred and fifty thousand American troops. The 25^th Division was assigned to defend the left flank of the invasion against entrenched Japanese who had set up a tank and artillery defense which they intended to man to the death. The 25^th succeeded in taking out the tanks, one by one, then proceeded to San Manuel where they struck a counter-blow leaving seven hundred eighty-nine enemy dead and forty-nine enemy tanks destroyed. Company E of the 161st Infantry Regiment, 25^th Division was under constant assault for three days at San Manuel, suffering thirty-four casualties in one day, fifty-nine in that three-day battle. All their platoons were led by sergeants, yet they went on under Banzai attacks from both tanks and infantry, engaging in hand to hand combat. By January 28, 1945, they had taken down eleven more tanks and the Japanese had sustained one of the heaviest blows of the war.

The Luzon Japanese force was smashed, a feat that caused General Douglas MacArthur to appear and offer his personal congratulations to the men of Whitman County and the rest of Company E, 25^th Infantry. Company E was also awarded a Presidential Unit Citation, it being the smallest sized unit to be so honored in the Pacific Theater. The Citation closed as follows: "The courageous stand of E Company met and turned back the first Japanese tank counterattack in the Luzon Campaign. The valor and skill of E Company, 161^st Infantry Regiment, and it attachments, and the superb courage displayed by each man, reflect the highest tradition of the armed forces of the United States."

The next target was Balete Pass that took another three months of daily, hourly fighting against an enemy hidden in impregnable caves along cliffs that stood between the Americans and triumph. The Japanese had again pronounced "victory or death, deserters will be decapitated." There were fourteen miles of rivers and hills over which American troops had to move in a chase that seemed likely to end on a litter or in a grave. And indeed there were eight hundred and five casualties recorded on that assault. A diary from that time noted "You can't stay awake when you must. Can't sleep when you should. Don't want to make new friends. Start down the trail. Will this be the day you get it? Is this the last thought I'll have?"

After Company E spent seven hours securing a small plot of hilltop land called Norton's Knob on March 18, they continued on through Balete Pass on the final seven miles to Santa Fe. On May 13 the Pass was officially pronounced free of enemy troops and open. The cost was ten thousand Japanese and American lives. The 25^th Division had sustained more deaths than any other United States Division on Luzon, some of those dead being Whitman County men.

At the end of June, the 25^th Division was relieved from active duty to train for the invasion of the mainland of Japan, scheduled for November 1945. The 25^th was to land at Miyezaki and Oyodo. They knew resistance would be high and there would be no negotiated peace. The operation would call for one last battle on the beaches. They would face artillery fire which would destroy them on the water, five thousand aircraft, and ground forces that would include women and children in an inevitable suicidal attack. The Japanese had prepared their people to believe their military training would go up well against the numbers of Americans attacking, and they were willing to put their flesh against invading steel to defend the Empire.

One United States bomber, the Enola Gay, set aside both the tactics of the 25^th Infantry and the suicidal resolve of the Japanese. A bombing run that released one bomb at 9:15 am prevented the 25^th from landing. The co-Pilot on the Enola Gay wrote a short entry in his diary that day: "My God."

President Truman said, "The world will note… the atomic bomb was used to shorten the agony of war… (we) will continue to destroy Japan's power to make war." And then there was peace.

Instead of invading Japan, the 25^th moved in as an occupation force. The people hid from them for a time until they realized the Americans were not there to harm them, and they had money to spend.

Voices on the video discussed what might have happened had the landing taken place. "We would have been murdered," said General Mullins, Division Commander. There were eight hundred yards of machine guns and other artillery pieces, hundreds and hundreds of them, set in the hills facing the beach the 25^th would have come ashore upon. There were nine Divisions of Japanese troops concentrated along that vulnerable part of Japan's shores fortified in caves overlooking the landing site. And there were airplanes by the hundreds held in reserve to attack the incoming forces. Mullins said, "It would have been one of the bloodiest battles of World War II."

On November 1, 1945 the 161^st Regiment, including Company E, was deactivated, its colors retired and sent home. There were two men left from the original Company E still on active duty. They went home to Whitman County.

The following document is the text of the Diary Bryant Smick kept from June of 1944 until April of 1945 while he was in a POW camp in Germany. It is an amazing recounting, but even more amazing is that it was not confiscated nor did he lose it somewhere along the line. His Diary was written in a very small, slim notebook provided in a Red Cross parcel. The notebook also contains some drawings he did to keep his mind off his circumstances. It in no way told all that happened in prison, since he had to be circumspect about what he committed to writing in case the Diary was found and read by guards.

Bryant Smick recently added these words: "I do remember a let down feeling and thinking to myself, here I am in a POW camp feeling very sorry for myself. Why am I here? Will people think I'm a coward for not fighting until the end? Should I have tried harder to escape? Will the people in St. John ever speak to me again? I'm tired to death. I've made it this far without being killed, maybe I can rest and sleep away this terrible feeling. Even though I'm in this drab looking camp (color it gray) and not locked in a cell I still feel the pangs of claustrophobia. Barbed wire all around, guard towers, guards we called Goons or Ferrets, some vicious looking dogs, all kind of closing in on me. I also knew I was not in a game. One wrong move and I'd be dead. I didn't come that far dodging death to get killed in such a God-forsaken place. Talk about rules. For instance, if a shutter cracked open at night before lights out, the tower guards simply shot through the window. We lost one man that I know of that way."

His Diary is reprinted here in its entirety by his permission. A few words added for clarification are placed in [brackets.] The last line was added in 2001, clearly echoing the heart-felt feelings of all Smick's generation who saw the war come to a close.

THE DIARY

June 9 - '44

Turned back on 25^th mission - Munich. Reason: #2 "turbo" bad, oil pressure on #1 dropping. Two generators out. Tried to find suitable target at Trieste, Italy when jumped by 4 or more 109s. First pass they shot out large section of left wing. 2^nd pass, shot out controls. Put ship on A5 and ordered crew to bail out. Two fires in bomb bay and left wing. Lowered wheels and again ordered crew to bail out. Ship was stalling and dropped off on left wing. Flight deck was clear of men except top turret gunner. I grabbed his feet and told him to jump when the action of the plane, in spin, threw me out and down through the bomb bay. Plane evidently exploded as soon as I left. Counted 5 chutes. I landed in water approx. 3 mi. from shore. Could not free myself from chute but finally succeeded after having been drawn under water. Taken prisoner by approx. 150 German soldiers on shore -- questioned and stood in sun for rest of day. Taken to Trieste at night and locked in old castle -- one blanket, no food or water. I was quite sick from salt water and 20mm wounds in leg.

June 10 - '44

Was on train all day until approx. 5 p.m. (1700). Then watched as town and railroad yards were bombed in front of us. Had to walk approx. 10 miles through the city in bare feet. Population of city tried to hang us but were held off by German guards. Crowd getting out of hand. I was spit on quite a bit. Noticed some Italians giving the V for Victory sign. Finally made it to another train. Had about a cup of filthy, crawling water. The first in about 48 hours. Best I have ever tasted. I had a little fever so am quite hazy as to what happened after that.

June 11 -- '44

Taken to Verona, Italy for interrogation. Put in solitaire. I don't know how long as there were no lights. Had plenty of water and some black bread. Was taken and questioned. All rings, money etc. were taken. More fever.

June ?

Spent night in beautiful, historic old Vienna in a flea infested dungeon. The urinal was evidently out of order as the whole room was about 6 inches deep so the procedure was to stand at the door and use it. Another 3 inches and they will have to find another room. Needless to say the smell was awful. Also the fleas were very bad.

June 14

Arrived at Offlag Luft III (Officers [flying] Prisoner of War Camp.) Was deloused, given bedding and some shoes - also a shirt, pants, size 36 shorts, socks, towel, some cigarettes and personal or toilet articles furnished by the Red Cross. Moved into a 12 man room which is rather crowded. The thing that gets you the most is the way the guys can make stuff out of nothing -- pots, pans, grinders, etc. are all made out of tin. The tin is literally pulled apart, flattened out and made into the various assorted articles that are needed.

June 15

Can't get over the Red Cross. They give us a box of canned food every week. This is what keeps us from starving. We get black bread, barley soup and potatoes from "Jerry". When combined with American food it isn't so bad.

June 16

Am still slightly sick from the ocean I tried to drink. Four Me 109s put on a dog fight for us. They are good flyers but their planes are not as good as ours. The planes are fairly thick but most of them are very old transports or training planes. Can't see how they still hold out.

June 17

Cold today, had to wear my new G.I. overcoat. News looks good even if it is German.

June 21

About 300 U.S. planes came over. We were all herded in the barracks with windows closed but got a good look at them -- very good for the morale.

June 22

The crabs and lice are really getting bad. The guys with lice have to shave all their hair off. Bald pates really look funny. I hope I don't get them.

June 25

"Jerry" gave me back my dog tags, insignia and crash bracelet and a receipt for two rings and $45.00. The only thing missing is a pair of pinks [Army Officer pants] and a comb.

June 30

The last day of the Mo. (pay day) but that don't mean a thing as I haven't seen a cent or will see any money until I get home. Saw a 27 ship formation go over today. I think they were HE 177s. Morale low.

July 3

Saw a show yesterday afternoon - "Orchestra Wives." It was old but I don't know when I've ever enjoyed a movie more. Today we chopped firewood for our stove. I've got the blisters to prove it. Just finished reading "Penrod." Really got a kick out of it. I remember the first time Mom read it to us kids at Cottonwood School. Wish I was back there now.

July 4

Very nice day today. Was entertained to the utmost all day. Boxing matches, volley ball and other entertainment. It was ended by a very good program made up of impersonators, soloists and a very hot jive orchestra. The instruments coming from the YMCA through the R. C.

July 7

Had an Air Raid today but didn't see any of our planes. I get a kick out of the German news when they say they repressed everything but gave way a little to shorten their lines. Would give anything to hear from home.

July 18

I should, I know, keep a more accurate account of what's going on but the last few days are so damn boring. The same old routine of getting up in the morning, eating what you can and trying to find a way to amuse yourself until it's time to go to bed is really getting my nerves. I find that I'm about as short tempered as I can get. It takes all the self control a guy has to keep from "blowing your top". Not much has happened except we now have calisthenics along with morning "Apel" [roll call]. It might be better for us but I can't see burning up extra energy and that really gets important around here as the food isn't so great in quantity that a guy can do that and also play a game of baseball or volley ball without cutting out one or the other. The news is better every day for us but it seems as though it certainly is taking an awful long time.

July 21

Propwash, my old Navigator, came yesterday. Was I glad to see him -- he gave me a lot of news of everybody. He was shot down the 24^th of June. Had an Air Raid yesterday and today. The Allies are really going to town so the old morale is really up. It certainly can't last much longer.

July 26

Have one heck of a cold. Wish I could clear it up as it makes life very miserable. Nothing of interest except I just won 6 packs of cigs from Major Brown on a bet. Made a $50 bet with Prop that the war would last until October 14^th. I hope he wins. I would be very glad to lose the $50.

July 29

Big diphtheria scare around here. Guess they have it pretty well checked. This is a perfect place for a contagious disease. Also have to worry about food poisoning as Jerry pokes holes in all the cans of food and sometimes food goes bad before we can eat it all. Cold is a lot better today. I guess I better write some of my month's letters as today is the deadline for this month. Very hard to think up enough to write.

July 30

One guy down from the "plague" in our room. The rest of us are confined to the room. Hoping to heck I don't get it.

July 31

Had our throats swabbed today and they will send the slides to Breslau -- it will take about 5 days. The room gets smaller all the time and it's hard to hold onto the old temper at times. The war should be over very soon so I guess we won't have to sweat out the winter. If, per chance, we would, I'm afraid that just about one half of the camp would still be alive in the spring due to the crowded living conditions, etc.

August 7

Supposed to get out of this damn quarantine today but something went wrong so we have to stay in another day. Had an Air Raid today but didn't see any of our planes. The old urge to fly is really getting strong. We spend most of the time telling of the good times with wives, etc. I think the unmarried guys are slightly jealous. I wonder what it's like to eat all you can hold or enough, anyway, so that you're not always hungry. I can't help remembering the good food that Mom used to give us. Also the beautiful plates Marjorie used to make when we had places to cook. I now have a very nice case of "Athletes foot".

August 13

One year ago today Janet Lee was born -- a long time ago. I wish I was home to see her. I imagine she can talk by now. The inevitable has finally happened. Three planes, FW 190s, went over and one caught fire and crashed. The pilot didn't get out. Yesterday a guy in a FW 190 was showing off. The guy was trying to do a vertical snap. He stalled out and just recovered before he spun in. It was really close and it gave us quite a laugh. He really got out of here fast. The Pursuits have really been giving us the "Buzz" jobs lately. They certainly have an appreciative audience as we all would give anything to be "in the blue" again. I guess I will write letters tonight.

Sept. 19

Well, it's been a month since I last wrote. The war is still going strong. The troops are around Aachen but the "Jerry" is still holding out. We are now on half rations and I am damn near ready to starve. The reason for half rations is because the Red Cross can't get enough food to us. I met a kid named Harvey who went to St. John High School for two years. We had a lot of talk about old times. We have been having an Air Raid at least once a day or night. Saw some of our planes the other day. The room is getting worse. I personally have just about come to blows and will, probably, some day. It's impossible to live in here and not get mad at somebody. The war will be over by the first week or two of Nov. I'm sure of it. If it isn't, I will give up all hope of it being over this year. I hate to think of spending a winter in this place.

Oct. 4

There's a hell of a lot of activity going on some place. There is sort of a tenseness in the air. Whether that is due to an increase of rumors, I don't know. Still on half rations and the hunger hurts. Should get some mail and cigarettes soon -- I hope. Incidentally, there has been a noticeable decrease of the Luftwaffe around here. That's another reason for the wave of optimism.

Oct. 15

Red letter day yesterday and I do mean letter -- 26 of them. Boy, do they build up the morale. It was such a relief to hear that everyone was O.K. Won my bet from Propwash, damn it. However my date of Nov. 11 looks good. I will make a prediction -- "something big will happen in the next two weeks and the war will be over definitely by the last of Nov." Well now, I've committed myself. I have to be pretty careful of my notes as the Germans are searching for this sort of thing. We have been on half rations for about a month now. What a feeling it is to go around hungry all the time. I think about food most of the time and kick myself everytime I think of something I didn't like and wouldn't eat back in the U.S.

Oct. 24

It finally happened -- we got three more men in the room today making a total of 15. Boy, is it crowded. Still on half rations and can really feel it. We are hungry all of the time and all of us have lost about all the weight we can afford. I only hope that the personal food parcels get here from home. The Red Cross is not quite doing its duty. I guess they are telling people at home that life is a little bit too easy and as a result the boys are getting ski wax, tennis balls, golf clubs, toilet paper, soap and other stuff instead of the food they need so badly. The new men think that the war won't be over for at least 6 months. Well, I still have hopes of the last of Nov. After that I'll prepare for the long, cold winter.

Nov. 19

Just about over an attack of flu. What a place to be sick. The treatment is to hit the sack and take aspirins. The room hasn't been any warmer than about 32 for the past week. The food situation is worse as we lose two days rations this week. Also, the war doesn't look so hot. It could be over this year but I doubt it. If we only had some more food and a little heat it wouldn't be so bad. Well, here's hoping! (What the hell for?)

Nov. 30

Well, here it is the end of Nov. All my predictions have gone to hell. Incidentally, this is Thanksgiving Day. I guess the only thing to be thankful for is just being alive which isn't too much. Sometimes I think it would have been better to have "spun" on in. I guess it would have saved a lot of people a lot of trouble. I received my first food parcel a week ago but was so damn hungry I ate it up in two days. I guess my powers of resistance have diminished somewhat. Well, I for one, hope this is the last hungry T.G. day I ever spend.

Dec. 25

I take this opportunity to say this is one of the best Xmas days I have ever spent. At present I'm lying in my sack so full that I can't move. In fact my stomach hurts. All this was made possible by extra special Xmas parcels that had Turkey, sausage, candy and nuts in it. This full feeling is the best ever. On top of all this, a new rumor has just come in that the German offensive was the greatest mistake of the war and General Ike promised a speedy end. Really a shot in the arm. P.S. We also had a fire all day. What a change from the bitter cold and I do mean BITTER COLD.

Dec. 31 - Jan. 1^st, 1945

Happy New Year! My God, who would have thought that I'd have been here this long. My full stomach lasted approx. one day after Xmas and here we are - hungry as hell. What a way to welcome a new year. I just hope and pray that I won't be here next year, although I wouldn't bet on it. Just won another $50.00 bet.

Jan. 16, '45

Nothing has happened of importance. Have had no mail since Xmas. Food situation still fairly critical although it's being told around that we MIGHT go on full parcels but I doubt. It. Had one death - the first one. Can't understand it -- I thought at least half of us would be dead by now. I guess I underestimated the physical condition of the U.S. soldier.

Jan. 21

I might say that more has happened in the few days than has happened all the time I've been here. First - the camp is going on full parcels. Why, I don't know, but have the idea that they think we might need extra energy because the Russians are approx. 115 miles from here and probably a lot closer now. The war could end for us in a matter of hours but everyone made such fools of themselves during the push through France that optimism is being held down.

Jan. 25

"Hell is popping" -- the Russians are 52 miles east of here. We are on full parcels. Also, I'm cooking this week. We are marching 10 miles a day which hits us pretty hard, although it's a good idea to get us in shape to be marched either by the Germans or Russians. Here's hoping it’s the Russians.

Jan. 27 (Sat.) - Feb. 5

What I am about to relate is a little different from the usual run of patter. I might also say that the things I write about were a lot worse. I couldn't begin to describe the misery and pain. Sat. night about 9 o'clock the Germans said we were going to march. To be ready in an hour. We ripped up sheets, shirts, etc. and made hasty packs, throwing in all the food, etc. that we could carry. We were then given a Red Cross parcel and told to "keep up or else". We started out at the end of the line. The West Camp had to run to catch up. As a result, most of the food was lost. The first night and all the next day was march, march! Then we had a 3 hour rest at a German town where we threw away everything not necessary. Then back to marching. This night was bitter cold. I imagine about 20 degrees. Guys were freezing and dropping by the side. It was so cold you couldn't stand still a minute. My feet were bleeding and frozen so I had to give it up at 4 in the morning. I was put in a barn with about 300 guys a lot worse off than I was, I guess. We lost 4 Americans that night. Also two German guards. We took off next morning in a blinding snow storm and at about 5 o'clock Wed. morning we were taken to a factory. Waited for an hour. Told to move. Brought back after about 5 hours of standing in the streets. Finally allowed to rest for a day. Next day marched to town of Muskow where, after a long wait, we were put in another factory. From then on it was an old story of walking and sleeping in barns, etc. Pain and misery at every step. We finally reached Spremburg where we (52 men) were crowded into box cars. The European box car is about 1/3 the size of an American box car. Were given 4/5 of a Red Cross parcel with 1/2 loaf of bread. It was impossible to sleep so we didn't. I'm writing now from my sack at Nurnberg. The first I've seen since I left Stalag Luft III. I was one of the few to get one. This place gets bombed very often. In fact there is an Air Raid now and we are close to the railroad yards so I'm still uncertain! I forgot to mention that on the second day out we or the head of the column thought they were being strafed so the whole compound hit the ditch. The guards thought it was a break and started shooting at us. It took quite awhile to get straightened out and I found out what it feels like to get shot at on the ground. A few were hit. This account is very inaccurate but my physical and mental condition does and will not warrant a very good account. I don't know whether this camp is permanent or not. I know that the food situation is critical and hope we come out O.K. My impression of the march is, to my mind, comparable to the March of Batan.

Feb. 15

Happy birthday to my darling wife.

Feb. 27

Happy Birthday. Good God, this situation is sad and I remember how I used to bitch at Sagan. Our living conditions are as follows: Food - 30 tablespoons of water they call soup, per day. 1/6 of a loaf of bread/day - 6 or 7 spuds/day which has been cut in half. The camp is in one hell of a shape. Everyone is so weak and exhausted from actual starving that it's pitiful. My quarters consist of tiers or catacombs crowded together where we (the lucky ones) have boards to sleep on. The rest sleep on the floor. The lights are off most of the time which makes life more miserable. No medical supplies available. I have, I think, frozen lungs. They hurt quite a bit. Also my kidneys have been affected. My feet are just starting to heal. The worst thing of all is that we have been bombed 5 times now. Last night was the worst raid by the R.A.F. One bomb landed so close that our windows were blown out and dishes (or the one bowl per 3 men) were shattered. The daylight raids are just as bad but not so terrifying. Our food situation must improve or we have had it. Also, if the Germans don't move us soon we will be blown to hell by our own men.

March 17

Fleas, starvation, dirt, Air Raids. Situation improved somewhat by R.C. parcels hauled in by our own trucks. Air Raid last night blew the hell out of Nurnberg but missed us. That slit trench outside the window really felt good. Fleas are driving me slightly batty. I'm so damn skinny that sleeping on the boards is impossible. I guess I weigh a good 140 lbs. German rations have been cut again. 1/7 of a loaf of bread. No salt or sugar. Potatoes have been cut to almost nothing. Hope we make it.

March 28

Alert! Looks like Ike is coming. All packed sweating out what the Germans will do with us. (I love you, Marjorie)

April 14

Left the 3^rd of April on a very enjoyable trip to Moosburg. My feet gave out about half way and I've just been letting nature and the Germans take their course. I ride a few kilos and then "shack up" in a barn with other guys in my same position. I say the trip is enjoyable because the weather has been warm except for some rain. And the civilians have been so nice to us. I was taken into many a home and fed, etc, It's very nice to get away from the "wire". The Red Cross trucks have kept us fairly well supplied with food and we can get potatoes in abundance. I've even had eggs and milk. I'm now about 20 kilometers from Moosburg in an old barn. My stomach is full and I'm satisfied. The war news from what I've heard is good. There was a rumor that F.D.R. died and that Germany has been cut in two.

April 23

Arrived here at Moosburg the 18^th after a most enjoyable trip. The food here is good and living conditions are, of course, a lot better than Nurnberg. I've met a lot of old friends. "Goons" rations are fairly good also but, of course, the "Goons" will march us out again. In fact, there is talk of moving tonite. I would personally like to sweat the war our right here. It is such a relief not to be hungry and not having to go through the Air Raids. Hear today that the U.S. has crossed the Danube and are headed in this general direction again. I imagine we will be going South again but I must say they better hurry up and move us or we might be liberated. I often wonder what it would feel like to be "Free". I wonder what my baby looks like. I've even forgotten what Marjorie looks like. I only remember that I love her very much. I guess people that have loved like we two never forget.

April 29

I don't know yet but I think we are "LIBERATED". This morning we dodged a few bullets and shells. But what the hell, it was worth it. I just saw "Old Glory" waving over Moosburg. What a thrill!! Now to get out of here and go home.

I had just seen 10,000 men cry as Old Glory

was raised over Moosburg.

I'll never forget that as long as I live.

One of the people I interviewed and asked for a picture for this book asked me in return if I would put my picture in the book and tell my story. It seemed only fair, I guess, so here it is, a child's view of what WAR meant.

A CHILD'S VIEW OF WAR

I was born in Camas, Washington in 1937 just fourteen months after my brother Keith had come upon the scene. I spent the first year of my life in Skamania. Our parents were Ed Yettick, a Columbia River dam construction worker, and Grace Conrad Yettick, a one-room school teacher raised in Touchet. Mom gave up her job when she married, but she didn't quit teaching. Our family moved to California when I was three so my dad could work on Shasta Dam. When my brother started school I got to spent many hours alone with my mom. She taught me to read by the time I was four years old. One of the things available to read, besides library books, was the newspaper, which my mother taught me to "sound out." When Pearl Harbor was bombed, I very soon sounded out the word WAR, and learned from my mother what that meant.

A military training base quickly sprouted at the air field on the outskirts of Redding, the town where we lived when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Often my dad picked up men in uniform and gave them a ride to town, sometimes even bringing them to our little home for a meal and some conversation.

There came a day when I realized war was something closer to home than I imagined. My mom told me there would be a truck coming by that day to collect tires and other used rubber and metal products for the war. We had very few toys, but my dad had found two rubber dolls in a trash can at work. They had one dress between them and were pretty well worn, but they were good dolls and made great footballs to toss back and forth with my brother. My mom told me I should think about giving one of them to the rubber drive to help the war. I picked the larger of the two, then stood by the street and waited for the rubber truck to come.

Dad had left a couple of worn tires to donate, so the truck stopped right in front of our house. After the man threw the tires up on top of the pile he already had accumulated, he looked at me hesitantly. Slowly I handed him my doll. He looked at it, then at my mother, who nodded. He tossed it up on top of the tires. As the truck drove off I watched my doll bouncing around on top of those dirty old tires and wondered whatever the war needed with my doll. But, I felt good about doing my part, like my mom had told me everyone had to do.

The Yettick family moved further south in California to Los Altos in the San Francisco Bay Area where my dad took a job working swing shift or graveyard as a hammerhead crane operator. He loaded magnesium on flat bed rail cars at Permanente Magnesium Defense Plant where they mined and shipped that crucial mineral twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I knew magnesium was used to make bombs and often wondered what would happen if my dad dropped a load of that metal.

I started kindergarten in the fall of 1942. I remember well the day the radio and papers announced the news that President Roosevelt had died. And I also remember the day at school when my teacher asked everybody what nationality they were and I announced we were German. Before I got home from school that day my parents had been visited by two men in uniform from nearby Moffett Field. They had inquired about our connections to Germany. Dad told me in no uncertain terms, "Don't EVER tell ANYONE we are German!"

He also told me that when we walked to school we were not to walk on the side of the street where some Japanese people lived. "We don't know who they are, or anything about them," he warned us. Well, I had always waved and said hi to an older lady who regularly worked in her garden in the mornings and afternoons. I continued to wave, but from the other side of the street, wondering why the woman looked so sad all the time. Then one day the woman wasn't there, the house was still and quiet. I didn't see anyone there again for a long time and the yard fell into disrepair.

Not too long after the war was over, I was riding my bike to school, on the "wrong" side of the street, when I saw the older lady at her house again. At least I thought it was the same lady, but she looked really old. I stopped and waved and said hi. The woman recognized me and waved, then she began to cry. It was many years before I knew about internment camps and how very few Japanese-American people were able to return to their homes.

The war also meant food and gas rationing, and standing in long lines with my mother, hoping to buy one pair of nylons or to get some with runners repaired. Butter gave way to margarine that came in a plastic bag with a little food dye bubble in it. I had to take turns with Keith breaking the bubble, then working the color through the white greasy stuff inside the bag. Air raid drills both at school and at home became part of life, as did the constant threat of air plane bomb attacks. I can still feel the terror I felt then as I hid under my desk or ran across the street to a house where we all curled up on the floor and remained absolutely still until the all clear siren sounded. I wondered who it was who would come to my town and drop a bomb on me.

Then came the big day. I knew we had beaten the Germans, but that day the war was finally over. I got to go across the street to a church where the minister let all the neighborhood kids grab ahold of the bell rope, one kid at a time, and go flying up into the air as the bells rang out. Then our family piled in the car with some neighbors, and drove to San Jose where a sight amazing to behold was in progress. People were kissing anyone they wanted to, throwing confetti all over the place, blowing horns, and drinking a lot. Dad had a bottle in the car and when he drove past a policeman attempting to direct traffic in a downtown intersection, he poured him a drink, handed it to him, and told him we would go around the block and come back to pick up the glass, which we did. The glass came back empty and the officer seemed quite happy about the whole thing!

Things were much better for our family after the war because my dad had worked long, hard hours on the home front and had accumulated enough money to buy a little house. My brother and I both had Schwinn bikes. Rationing and shortages were over allowing me to have butter on my popcorn and new shoes when I wanted them. We soon moved to a bigger house and I had my own room and a closet full of clothes.

The war was over and I very quickly forgot about it. It was no longer in the headlines, no longer the center of discussions. I never gave much more than cursory academic thought to it until just this year when we geared up for this writing project. Now that I have been taught by the masters in the field, the people who were adult participants in the 1940s, my child's view of the war has finally grown up.

Colfax veteran Merle Merry saw the effects of war in Germany with his eyes and with his camera as he traveled eastward into the heart of the battle. He saved those precious photos in an album which he let me leaf through. Merle generously let me pick out some photos that are representative of his European tour. They are published here along with a narrative to explain what his photographer's eye saw so many decades ago.

EUROPEAN PHOTODOCUMENTARY

Here's photographer Merle Merry, this time being photographed in front of his temporary barracks at Camp Hann near Death Valley, California. While not particularly sturdy, the little building kept out whatever rain fell, but did little to defend against the blazing sun. The anti-artillery men arose early for target practice, then by eleven were free to find a way to survive in the heat of the day. The two stripes on Merle's arm indicate he is a Line Corporal serving with S2 and S3 units, that is Intelligence and Operations, and that he reported to Captains or Majors rather than Sergeants.

This is an inside shot of the above barrack. While he slept on a canvas cot for some time, Merle eventually was promoted to a spring cot. Note the exact placement of the boots under the cots and the precise roll of the blankets on top of the cots. The stove pipe vented an oil stove which heated the entire building during cold desert nights.

The tent in the background is the 390^th Headquarters at Camp Irwin in California. The sign Merle is leaning on shows the mascot of the 390^th, the Gollywampus Gremlin. That character was designed by a former Disney artist. The Gremlin is also displayed here in enlarged form for your viewing pleasure. Camp Irwin was located on the Mojave Desert.

Having finished training, Merry was shipped to Germany where one of his duties was to show movies to the troops, the same general release films that were being seen in theaters stateside. This picture shows Merle putting up a movie screen somewhere in a French forest. He used a wrecker, the large piece of equipment on the right, to get himself up where he needed to be to put the screen in place. He swung around on the wrecker's boom. The size of the screen and wrecker are indicated when seen in comparison to Merry's six foot frame. The roof over the screen was there to both darken the screen for better viewing and also to shield its light during screenings from the eyes of German flyers. German airplanes would pass over the area at a regular time each night in an attempt to disturb their sleep.

Here is Merry sitting on a German pillbox at Verdon, one of many such structures built along the Siegfried Line during World War I. The Siegfried Line was a heavily fortified defense built along the French border in Germany between 1933 and 1938 also called Westwall. A pillbox was a German fortress, an enclosed gun emplacement built of concrete and steel designed to hug the ground to protect the soldiers inside until they were ready to fire on the enemy. The top could be raised bya hydraulic system giving the gunners inside overhead continued protection while also opening up a line of fire. Pillboxes were connected by tunnels and stocked with supplies allowing the Germans a firmly implanted line of defense during World War I. They were not so effective in World War II when American troops planned offensive routes to go around them. This pillbox obviously had outlived its usefulness to the Germans.

Merle mentioned in his story in Part Five that he was charged with collecting pieces of planes his anti-aircraft artillery unit shot down in order to document their hits during The Battle of The Bulge. This unidentified G.I. displays a piece of one of the German planes downed by anti-aircraft artillery on their record-setting day.

This German Messerschmitt or ME 262 jet plane was one of many found parked off the edge of German highways, under trees. They had been left where they were parked as the Germans retreated. When the American infantry passed by they had lobbed hand grenades at them to be sure they remained immobilized. German jet planes came out right at the end of the war. Merle thinks had they come out earlier, and in large numbers, they might have made a difference in the result of the war. They were able to pull away from American fighter planes easily, since they could go about one hundred miles an hour faster than any airplane the Allies had produced. Only a relatively small number had been built in Germany before the war ended, but the concept was at once taken up by American engineers, introducing the United States to the jet age.

This scene was a familiar sight to Merry who took this picture of trucks moving ever forward into Germany. The sign on the last truck in the line speaks of being home by Christmas.

Here is an action shot of Merry's Track, a truck-like vehicle that had wheels on the front and a half-track on the rear. The shot was taken on a German super autobahn (similar to our freeways built much later) near Bayreuth, Germany. On the back of this picture, as well as many others in this photodocumentary, appears a stamp saying "Passed by Army Examiner." All pictures had to be approved by Examiners before they could go out in the mail headed for home.

Merle's eyes saw this version of Nernberg (left) as the 390^th entered the town which had been bombed repeatedly by Americans. The same kind of military power was apparent in Munich (right) when Merry and the 390th arrived there in the fall of 1944.

Merry took this picture of these men in their jeep. The signs on the bridge tell the story. Finis meant the bridge had been completed by 3^rd Platoon of Company A, the 1303 Engineers. "THANK GOD THE LAST ONE" means that bridge was the very last one the unit had to build because the war was over. The lower sign indicated two forty-ton vehicles or one seventy-ton vehicle could occupy that bridge at any given time.

The bridges had been built, the war in Europe was finally over, and Merry awaited his turn among the hundreds of thousands of men who needed a ride home across the Atlantic. While waiting, he was assigned to manage the Munich Theaters, a group of German theaters taken over for use by occupation forces. They used German projectors and hired German staff to run the theaters, including the lady by the jeep. She served as Merry's assistant. The German projectionist earned seventeen dollars per month. The 3^rd Army Headquarters booked the films shown for Allied troops only. Merry recalls seeing Germans who spotted advertising posters announcing a Sonja Henie film was playing. The Germans knew who she was but also knew they weren't going to get to see the film at a Munich theater. Note the designation on the jeep's bumper identifying it as one of General Patton's Third Division vehicles.

When Merle Merry's turn to board a ship headed for home finally came, this sign was one of the last things he saw on his European tour.

One of the people interviewed for Tribute told some Whitman County people about the project. "Do you think they would be interested in some newspapers?" she was asked. Well, the newspapers, which were quickly forwarded to us, were copies of The Seattle Daily Times, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and one issue of the Yakima Morning Herald, all published between Monday, August 6, 1945 and Saturday, August 18, 1945. What a priceless set of historical documents were suddenly placed in my hands!

The following are headlines, excerpts from stories, and tidbits from advertisements, comics, and movie ads that reflect the life and times in America during those thirteen world-changing days.

NEWSPAPERS

Monday, August 6th, 1945

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer was an early morning paper put out before 11 am, the time when word broke on the west coast about the A-Bomb falling on Japan. This issue's front page headline shouted "WORLD'S LARGEST FLYING BOAT CRASHES IN CHESAPEAKE BAY" while other headlines spoke of "Luzon Jap Units Counterattack," "Underground War in Norway Bared," "Top Airman Missing on 108^th Mission," and "Woman Killed In Car Crash."

The rest of the paper was "war as usual" including a page two article from Stuttgart that said the American Military Government (AMG) had taken a poll in Germany and found that 50% of the German people polled still liked Hitler. Most people in Europe liked the Americans who were running things, but feared a war with Russia was inevitable.

Also in the paper was a Bon Marche half-page ad encouraging people to join the Volunteer Port Security Force to relieve Coast Guard men for active duty.

Barbary Coast, Melody Ranch, Hopalong Cassidy Enters, Blood On The Sun, Frenchman's Creek, Between Two Women, and Wilson were showing in Seattle movie theaters, and John Wayne in Back To Bataan was scheduled to start Wednesday at the Paramount.

That Monday local Chevrolet dealers ran an ad showing a hen sitting on a nest of eggs over the caption "Don't Count New CARS (either) Before They Are Hatched!" A WARNING! In that same ad said, "New cars, for most people, are many months away. Very likely there will be rationing and other restrictions on car purchases. Everybody can't hope to get early delivery. So be wise. Continue to conserve your present car till new Chevrolets arrive in volume."

Eleanor Roosevelt's column My Day carried a story about the Coast Guard's 150^th Anniversary that also mentioned two thousand SPARS had joined the Coast Guard, and many of those women were serving overseas at Hawaiian and Alaskan bases.

The Seattle Rainiers walloped the San Francisco Seals in their series opener, 17-4.

There were literally NO houses for rent, although there were many of them for sale. Some room-and-board places ran ads saying they had NO VACANCIES.

That same day, Monday, August 6th

An afternoon paper, the Seattle Daily Times ran an EXTRA CITY EDITION with a banner proclaiming:

ATOMIC BOMB, EQUALING 20,000 TONS TNT,

DROPPED ON JAPAN

It was followed by a slightly smaller banner in red that said:

DEADLIEST EXPLOSIVE EVER MADE IS PRODUCED AT HANFORD PROJECT

A smaller yet headline said:

"Explosive is Answer to Foe - Truman"

That story stated, "An atomic bomb which loosed pent-up forces of the universe equivalent to more than 20,000 tons of TNT and represents one of the greatest scientific advances of history has been dropped on Japan. President Truman told today of the terrific destructive power packed into the missile which was dropped 16 hours ago on Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base.

"His statement, made public by the White House at 11 o'clock this morning, said the bomb added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction on the Japanese homeland. 'This awful bomb is the answer,' President Truman's statement said, 'to Japan's failure to heed the Potsdam demand that she surrender unconditionally at once or face utter destruction.' The product of $2,000,000,000 spent in research and production is the greatest scientific gamble in history.

"Mr. Truman said the atomic bomb has been one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war. The base that was hit is a major quartermaster depot and has large ordinance, machine-tool and aircraft plants. We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war."

Tuesday, August 7^TH

The Post Intelligencer caught up on the big story, running full pages of pictures of the Hanford Project where the bomb was produced.

Wednesday, August 8^TH

A new development in the war hit the headlines of the Times WAR EXTRA. In red ink: RUSS ENTER JAP WAR. Other headlines declared U.S. Planes Bag 59 Enemy Ships and ALL HIROSHIMA DESTROYED, DEAD TOO NUMEROUS TO COUNT, TOKYO ADMITS.

The daily was filled with stories about the bomb, what other nations thought, Japan's reaction to it, and all kinds of articles about Hanford.

The declaration of war on Japan by Russia was heralded as a means to an early end of the Japanese war.

Further back in the paper, on the front of the second section, Spring Lamb was advertised for 39 cents a pound and only 6 points!

The comics included Mickey Finn, Joe Palooka, Harold Teen, Orphan Annie, Dick Tracy, Terry Lee, Superman, Gas Alley, The Gumps, Moon Mullins, Scorchy Smith, Buck Rogers, and Mandrake the Magician.

You could borrow a tire from B./F. Goodrich while having your old one recapped for $6.70.

Thursday, August 8^TH

The Yakima Morning Herald, like the other papers in this set, sold for five cents. Its headlines said "Second Atomic Bomb Hits Nippon" and "Russians Attack Japs in Manchuria" One of the front page stories told of "Hanford Evacuee Forgotten Man" a popular theme giving sympathy to the seven hundred residents who had left Hanford by government order in April 1943, leaving a virtual ghost town behind.

Another interesting headline and story: "Deadly After-Effects of New Bomb Denied. Fears that deadly after-effects of the new atom bomb might linger for years were calmed today by the man in the best position to know. The war department quoted Dr. J. R. Oppenheimer, head of this phase of atomic research, in denying published reports that blasted-out areas might continue to emit killing radio-active rays for years. Dr. Harold Jacobson of Columbia University, one of those who participated in the atomic research, had expressed the opinion that rays from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima might persist for 70 years. His views were expressed in a story distributed yesterday by the International News Service."

White Duck pants were selling at Dean Military Store for $3.74 and Macks Creamery advertised Macks Milk 2 qts for 19 cents. Barnes Woodin had a sale on fur coats, ranging from $49.90 to $399.00, all prices subject to 20% Federal Tax.

That same day the Times showed an odd assortment of headlines. Stacked at the top of the front page were the following: "Truman Orders 5-Point WPB [War Production Board] Program to Speed Reconversion," then came "U.S. Flyers in China Pave Way for Soviets", followed in red with RUSSIANS ADVANCE IN MANCHURIA, then "Foe Pummeled by Atom Bomb, Fleet, Planes." America had dropped an A-Bomb on Nagasaki, and it only got a one for three rating in the fourth headline down.

Pictures of a deserted Hanford continued to make the news, and Russia's warfare against Japan was well covered and lauded as a show of Russian good intent toward the U.S.

Sports fishermen had to pay $22.95 for a wool sleeping bag at Sears, but double hooks were only a dime. The mayor of Seattle had already declared a day of celebration for V-J Day. Men's felt hats ran between $6.50 and $10 at the Bon. The most exciting news to housewives was that the President had asked for the lifting of controls as soon as possible.

Friday, August 10th

The Times ran 2 1/2 inch high red headlines under an EXTRA !! EXTRA!! EXTRA!! Banner that proclaimed:

ALLIES CONFER ON SURRENDER OFFER

It was followed by:

Early Decision is Unlikely!

Japan had offered to surrender if Hirohito could retain his power. Meanwhile, Russia was gaining substantial inroads into Manchuria and MacArthur continued to report sinking of enemy vessels in Asian waters.

The people of Seattle were waiting breathlessly for word that they could begin to celebrate the end of the war, most of them, however, were staying on their jobs. Inside the paper, articles continued to talk about Washington State's contributions to the war, that is the Atomic Bomb, the Flying Fortress, and the B-29.

On the last page of the August 10^th edition there was an article titled, "350,000 Jews Never Found" The AP story from Paris read, "The repatriation of displaced persons in the American, British and French occupation zones of Germany nearly is complete, with more than 2,000,000 person returned to their homes since the war ended in Europe, it was announced today. Approximately 200,000, including Russians, Yugoslavs, Italians, Greeks and Baltics remain to be repatriated. Fewer than 10,000 displaced Western Europeans remain in Western Germany. Only 50,000 out of 400,000 Jews and political opponents of Nazism who were taken to Germany from France, Belgium, Norway, and The Netherlands have been found. It was estimated 250,000 displaced Jews never would be found."

Saturday, August 11th

"ALLIES INSIST MIKADO SUBMIT TO U.S. RULE!" shouted red headlines on the Times front page, followed by "Japanese People Eventually Must Be Given Free Choice of Government, Powers Decide" then "Commander in Empire to Be American"

A lower page explanation of what the surrender terms meant said, "This is what the reply of the Big Four powers - to the Japanese offer to surrender - means, in effect, so far as the royal house is concerned: 1. Because the Emperor is the key figure in Japan, the Allies will use him in ruling Japan. 2. But this doesn't mean the Emperor can keep his job indefinitely. He can keep it until some future time when the Japanese people can decide whether they want to have an Emperor at all. They will be given a chance to vote on it. The Japanese people haven't had any choice like this. They have had an Emperor, generation after generation, and thus until now have accepted the idea of having one."

Other articles spoke of Russia's advances, and reduction of the U.S. Army and pending cease fires and the upcoming availability of nylon for stockings, enough for millions of pairs of hose each year.

A report on the Nagasaki bombing was relegated to the back page, in an article only about 10 inches long.

Monday, August 13th

The Daily Times ran headlines that said "JAPS ERR IN STORY ON DELAY OF ALLIED NOTE, SAY SWISS" followed by a red headline proclaiming "U.S. Holds Up Printing of New Rations Books," likely one of the most welcome headlines ever. The story said the Office of Price Administration had halted printing of 187,000,000 new ration books for food, shoes and gasoline. The stop order covered War Rations Book 5 for meats, fats, dairy products, canned foods and sugar and a new "A" gasoline book. Both had been scheduled for distribution in December. The order halted work on the books pending outcome of peace negotiations. If Japan quit, the stop order would become permanent.

And yet, in spite of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki being leveled by atomic bombs, under a headline that said "FOE IS SILENT ON NOTE, SAYS WHITE HOUSE" Associated Press Staff Writer John M. Hightower wrote, "American bombers hammered at Tokyo's front door today while the Japanese dallied over a decision whether to surrender now on Allied terms or continue a suicidal war. The White House announced that no reply had been received as of 10:45 o'clock to Saturday's four-power dictate that Japan could keep her Emperor, who would take his orders from the victors' supreme commander." That article further stated "It is safe to say the war is going on."

Another interesting front page article appeared under the banner, "Friendship with U.S. Stalin's Greatest Wish -- Eisenhower" General Dwight D. Eisenhower told a press conference Generalissimo Stalin had said things during their social meeting in Moscow which convinced him Soviet Russia's paramount desire was to be friends with the United States and her people.

Also on the front page was an edition of a little column that appeared daily called "Gracie Allen Says": "Well, I see they may put the capital of the United Nations in California, next to Stanford University. George says it's too bad the United Nation's capital isn't in South Bend, Indiana. If you're looking for cooperation among nationalities, he says, did you ever look at the line-up of a Notre Dame football team? Goodness, Gracie continued, I hope the collegiate atmosphere doesn't affect the diplomats. It will be funny to see them in top hats and striped trousers riding around in a jalopy with "Hi babe!" painted on the fenders. And I hear the United Nations are trying to avoid 'economic hazards.' If that's the case, I'd advise them to look out for those Stanford co-eds."

At Safeway T-bone steak was going for 48 cents a pound.

Tuesday, August 14th

The Times shouted "JAP REPLY RELAYED TO WASHINGTON BY SWISS" followed by a red line stating "RUSS GAIN 93 MILES IN MONGOLIA" while a smaller head line said "800 B-29s RAID JAPS' HOME ISLES." The text of the surrender reply had been telephoned to the White House. It said, "The Swiss government tonight announced that the Japanese reply to the Allied surrender ultimatum has been delivered to Leland Harrison, United States minister. Informed quarters said that the Japanese note accepted the Allied surrender conditions."

Elsewhere on the front page a Congressman was quoted as saying he believed Japan was stalling in order to hide her gold, jewels, and secret documents. The fighting went on in the Pacific while two thousand one hundred troops were pictured on the front page returning from the Pacific after three and a half years of service, many with the famed 41^st Sunset Division.

Boeing ran a red ad across the bottom of the front page asking for men to help build B-29s: Riveters' Assistants, Beginning Assemblers, Service Attendants. It also said, "Physically qualified Women also wanted."

An AP wirephoto on page three showed a huge, yelling throng jamming Times Square in New York, a daily occurrence as the nation awaited news of the final surrender of Japan.

A disturbing headline appeared on the editorial page: "World Will Find a Defense Against Atomic Bombings." The article spoke of the United States not meaning to reveal the secret of the atomic bomb until "means have been found to control the bomb so as to protect ourselves and the rest of the world from the danger of total destruction."

Frederick and Nelson was selling mahogany headboards, each with legs, for $19.95 to $20.55. Penny's was selling Towncraft Ties of the finest rayon materials for $1.49 and men's Custom wing tip shoes for $6.90.

In Congress it was suggested that Japan's surrender be received on the Battleship Missouri in honor of President Truman's home state.

A woman who had boy and girl twins named them Vic (for Victoria) and Jay - that is VJ - in honor of the pending surrender.

Two women arrived in Settle after a one thousand mile horseback ride. They had been refused extra gas stamps for a trip from Santa Cruz, California to Seattle to visit one of the lady's new granddaughter, so they saddled up and rode north.

Wednesday, August 15th

While the Times was reporting Kamikazes hitting a Yank Base in the Okinawa area, and the Russians still fighting the Japs, the top headlines said "Navy Announces Point Plan for Discharges" and "NO MORE RATIONING OF GAS." A front page center picture showed cars lined up at a gas station, although meat and butter were to remain on the list until stocks of those blue-point foods grew.

Page fifteen of that edition ran a small picture of a "Jap Balloon-Bomb," a picture linked to a front page article noting Washington had been hit with more balloon-bombs than any other state in the Union. Twenty had been found in the state, the bulk of them in the Yakima Valley area, although no military damage had been done by any of them. Two bombs were found seven miles north of Spokane by two woodsmen on February 12, 1945. Neither exploded.

The rest of page fifteen was filled with pictures of the celebration of V-J Day. On the front page, the really big news of the day had received a small headline and an article titled SEATTLE EXHAUSTED BY VICTORY BEDLAM, FINDS JOY IN PEACE . The article said, "Seattle, limp and exhausted from an all-night victory celebration, awoke slowly today, its half a million hearts singing with the tingling joy of peace. The city, with an official two-day holiday period starting, unashamedly slept in. The announcement yesterday afternoon of the surrender of the last of the nation's enemies touched off a demonstration to dwarf anything the metropolis of Puget Sound ever had seen. People poured into the streets, becoming instantaneously a screaming, whooping, laughing, cheering mass of footloose humanity. It was New York City's Times Square in miniature, and there was no holding it nor any trying. The Mayor declared a two-day holiday as did the Governor, giving the holidays legal stature."

A quiet article on page one noted "M'Arthur Is Grateful For Assignment," then went on to say the General had telegraphed the President his gratitude for appointment as supreme commander to conduct the Japanese surrender negotiations.

Also noted on page one was that Tokyo newspapers had banner-lined the end of the war, reporting no disorders in the city after the surrender announcement.

Advertisers in the Times rushed to celebrate in display ads their joy over the end of the war.

MacDougall Southwick Company said, "Finis is written to the blackest chapter in the world's history."

Hardy's Jewelers said, "The Dawn of Peace… May it be won as surely as courageously as the mighty Victory of war."

Puget Sound Power & Light Co. said, "This is the day our Armed Services have heroically fought for… may we honor and in some slight measure seek to discharge our debt to those who will not return."

Rhodes said, "Peace - at a great sacrifice. Let us be sure they have not given their lives in vain - let us all work together now for a better world."

Frederick and Nelson took a full page ad to say, "A new birth of freedom for all the world. This is the day for which Freedom-loving men long have fought and prayed, have sacrificed, suffered and died. On this VICTORY DAY, when freedom is born again for all the world, let us resolve to work for the preservation of Peace on earth Good Will toward men. Thankfully, let us lift our hearts in the solemn vow, 'We will be worthy…we will keep Faith.' "

Best's Apparel simply said, "Thank God the war is over. Please God the time of peace and wisdom begins."

I. Magnin & Co. said, "So that the honored dead shall not have died in vain… let us offer a prayer of thanks for the Victory that means that the American way of life shall go on."

And finally, on the back page of the front section, a full page ad run by The Bon Marche shouted one word: "HALLELUJAH!"

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, AUGUST 16^th, 17th, and 18^th, 1945

The Times continued to run articles on the surrender date and the Japanese stalling tactics as they attempted to control the signing of the instruments of surrender.

President Truman announced the Japanese would get no chance for revenge as General Douglas MacArthur moved into his role as the Allies appointed Chief of the Occupation Command over the Japanese.

The last in the series of newspapers announced capitulation conferences would open the next Monday.

The war was finally over.

CONCLUSION

Council on Aging & Human Services again salutes those of you who laid your lives on the line for the rest of us; those of you who supported our warriors in supply, service, and maintenance lines; those of you who kept the home front a vibrant and active part of the war effort; and we salute the students who wrote this piece of history.

We hope all who read this book learned a valuable lesson about the people and times here in Whitman County in the days when war raged upon the earth. We trust you gained some understanding about how World War II was lived out in the lives of those who were engaged in it day by day some sixty years ago. As it turns out, that was everyone in Whitman County.

In the final analysis, World War II was not about dates and battles. It was about people. People who were willing to stop what they were doing and go to war. For the most part that meant young people just out of high school, maybe in college, starting new careers, thinking about starting a family. They truly did lay down the life they had intended to pursue in order to defend freedom and the lives of their families and friends.

In reality, the whole world was in peril of falling under the domination of powerful dictators. As you read through the stories in TRIBUTE it should have become abundantly clear that there was not a place on earth that was untouched by the war. It truly was a World War, one we had to win. The price was tremendous, frightfully and absolutely tremendous.

If we think in terms of numbers, then World War II becomes a distant battle where materials were spent and bodies were counted, buried, and forgotten. When we think in terms of the Dorman boys from LaCrosse, Bud Smick from Endicott, the Gordon boy from Pine City, Gelhaus and Goldsworthy from Rosalia, Hutchens and the Scholz boy from Colfax, Bob West from Palouse, Ohnemus and Hemphill from Pullman, and all the other family names that appear in this book, the picture changes. When we think of real people who saw friends in airplanes fall out of the sky before their eyes, people who saw friends drop dead to the ground by their side, people who pulled the burning bodies of friends out of the water next to sinking ships, then the war truly comes close to home.

We don't want to forget those still living among us in Whitman County, those who came home and have now passed on, nor those who did not return but lie beneath a cross in a faraway land. They all showed love greater than anyone, in that they laid down their lives for their friends.

One last footnote: I asked Lester Bishop to read the material we put together on Company E. He performed above and beyond the call of duty, improving the piece considerably, for which I do thank him.

He also added a note to me which I share here with you.

Diane: Just a final word. This thought seems to be a universal feeling among most of the guys with whom I associate. It was the people with whom you associated and not the activities that made the whole experience acceptable. One would not willingly do the exercise over again. It was the people and the friendships formed that made all of it acceptable. L. Bishop