Hello Lefty,

Your post made the hair on arms and on the back of my neck stand up as I read. I was with the 41st Div. 186th Infantry Regiment in '44 I led a rifle platoon. If our paths didn't cross somewhere along the line, we at some of the same places at the same time. If I may ask, what is your father's first name? Did your dad ever mention any names? Most had nicknames; Irish, Shorty, Smokey, Slim, Red, Blondie. I had a Sargent named Macrobe with me for quite some time if that rings a bell.

We always had passwords with R's and L's, the japs had trouble pronouncing those letters, some of them did speak very clear English when they would call out "hey Joe" or "help me", we did very little talking in those days.

Don't be skeptical of your dad speaking about grenades getting tossed back, that did happen, there was enough time to smell a jap grenade after you heard it land. Jap grenades had a slow fuse, after they removed the pin they would stike it in order to activate it, most of the time against their helmet, and you could hear them do it.

Getting back to the passwords, if there was no reply, tossing a rock
would make many of them move or break cover thinking it was a grenade, your dad, and the rest of us got wise to the jap tricks very quickly.

Hands are giving out, all for now,
Oh, and I was a South Dakota farmboy.

__________________
All the Best
Jack