Hello Skipper,

Well, the heavy guns of the Navy left their mark before we set foot ashore. What we discovered in the debris was of no use to us, it did verify the fact that they left in a hurry or some of it would have been booby trapped. As far as the food items go, we had plenty of our own, I personally had my fill of jap rice, sardines and maggots at Buna, I still can't stand the sight of rice or the smell of sardines.

It was very humid, the smoke from the shelling and gunfire lingered on the ground and hung in the air. As to the question of moral, the men were seasoned and well disciplined, we were cautious and thorough, we were moving quickly, and our objective was to capture the airfields up in the hills and beyond the cliffs inland.

There was much that came later, Aitape, Wakde , Biak.

All for now,

__________________
All the Best
Jack