Hello to all! - Page 11

bigfun · #**251** (**permalink**) November 17th, 2008, 03:04 AM

Hey Jack!!
Glad to have you back, this place isn't the same without you around!!

texson66 · #**252** (**permalink**) November 17th, 2008, 12:20 PM

Welcome back, Jack!

dgmitchell · #**253** (**permalink**) November 17th, 2008, 12:28 PM

Jack -- Welcome back! We've missed you! So glad you are up and about again!

Cheers!

Navy CPO · #**254** (**permalink**) November 19th, 2008, 11:47 PM

Jack;
Good to see you are back. I hope you are doing we shipmate.

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**255** (**permalink**) November 23rd, 2008, 12:39 AM

Hello friends,

I have been working on getting some dexterity back, the South paw is slow on the uptake, so it's duties delegate it to the space bar at this point. Once again, I thank you all for the welcome back, I would mention each of you by name, but doing this single handedly takes me a while. Keep well.

jemimas_special2 · #**256** (**permalink**) March 10th, 2009, 01:07 AM

The amount of honor and respect I feel at this moment is priceless... to be in contact with a veteran during this great undertaking, is truly something special. Any feedback would be most appreciated, and I look forward to possibly hearing back from you.

be blessed,
***
Nav

luketdrifter · #**257** (**permalink**) March 26th, 2009, 12:30 AM

I have an Arisaka 6.5mm and it is a fairly accurate guns but it's like trying to control two broomsticks.

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**258** (**permalink**) July 19th, 2009, 06:08 PM

Hello,

I thought I might dust off this tread, for the most part it has been superseded by Skippers' fine thread on Hollandia.

When I'm gone, perhaps the moderators can merge the two into one, some day, some way, or another.

Jack

Slipdigit · #**259** (**permalink**) August 14th, 2009, 03:40 PM

Jack,

What were you doing when you heard about the atomic bombs?
What did they tell y'all about them at the time?
Did the realization that the war was probably over hit you when you were told of the bomb?

36thva2 · #**260** (**permalink**) August 16th, 2009, 07:14 AM

Hello Jack, I have been going back through your threads as I have time. I can only get on here about once a week now due to work. Just wanted to thank you again for sharing your experiences with us.

Take care,
Bill

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**261** (**permalink**) August 16th, 2009, 03:48 PM

Hello Jeff,

If I'm remembering correctly, I was on a train between Aberdeen, Maryland, and Fort Monroe, Virginia, in the dinning car reading the newspaper headline story. It might have read; One bomb, One jap city in rubble. If anything crossed my mind back then, it would have been along the lines of dropping more of them before we went back overseas for the invasion.

Hello Bill,

Thank you for taking the time to read all this. I can only get to this site early in the morning hours, the rest of the day I get the page not found message.

Take care,
Jack

mikebatzel · #**262** (**permalink**) August 19th, 2009, 12:36 PM

Hello Jack! Hope all is well with you.

What were some of your experiances after coming home? I know we touched upon this earlier, foods you couldn't get enough of and the like, but what did you want to do most? Go to the theater to see a movie, or just lounge in a chair instead of the mud for once? How long did it take for you to settle back into a civilian role?

Slipdigit · #**263** (**permalink**) August 20th, 2009, 06:54 PM

Jack,

What did you think of the various iterations of combat clothing you were issued during the war. What were your likes and dislikes?

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**264** (**permalink**) August 22nd, 2009, 02:22 PM

Hello Jeff,

In '42 our khakis were dyed green prior to our the early adventures in New Guinea, the fabric became stiff, smelled, and did not breath. That was the most miserable uniform I can remember having to wear. The green also bled out around the neck and anywhere sweat would collect. From time to time resupply would include cold weather items which had little use in the tropics. The strangest air drop items were Army Nurse zippered jump suits. The fellows who could fit into them pulled out the braziers and wore them until something better came along, after wearing torn and filthy rags for weeks on end it was not of much concern to anyone.

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**265** (**permalink**) August 22nd, 2009, 02:32 PM

Mike,

I would say I was settled in somewhat with that role about the time I was contacted for reactivation for Korea in '50 or '51.

Jack

Slipdigit · #**266** (**permalink**) August 22nd, 2009, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SouthWestPacificVet

Hello Jeff,

The strangest air drop items were Army Nurse zippered jump suits. The fellows who could fit into them pulled out the braziers and wore them until something better came along, after wearing torn and filthy rags for weeks on end it was not of much concern to anyone.

I hate to laugh, but...

I'm guessing you could wear them.

mikebatzel · #**267** (**permalink**) August 24th, 2009, 03:00 PM

Yes, I to hate to laugh but the thought of the skinny young man in your Avatar digging a foxhole in a brazier, well.........

How often did you recieve supply drops, and how accurate were they (I mean where they got dropped, not what was dropped)?

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**268** (**permalink**) August 26th, 2009, 03:47 AM

Hello Mike,

A lot of the drops were scattered, sometimes ending up in tall vegetation, or lost into the jap lines. If the drop was made in what the flyboys thought to be an ideal drop zone, such as a wide clearing, the best thing to do was wait and watch, very likely you were not the only ones to see the chutes.

Jack

Thunderbolt · #**269** (**permalink**) October 30th, 2009, 03:39 PM

Jack, if you still check the thread, i just wanted to say i have really enjoyed the thoughts and stories you have shared. i am fairly new to the forum and since April of this year have been searching for some answers about my granfather who served with the 3rd Army.

anyway, the reading i have done through this thread has reminded me greatly of him and i wish he were still here to share more of his stories, and just around in general. thank you for your time and contribution to this forum. i cant salute you enough

- brandon

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**270** (**permalink**) November 12th, 2009, 02:26 PM

Hello Brandon,

You are quite welcome, thank you for reading it.

Jack

LRusso216 · #**271** (**permalink**) November 12th, 2009, 02:27 PM

Glad to see you back on the board, Jack. We've missed having you around. Hope all is well.

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**272** (**permalink**) November 12th, 2009, 02:31 PM

Hello Lou,

Thank you, all is well, I just have a bit of a time clicking on this site, this must be a fluke I got on today.

Jack

mikebatzel · #**273** (**permalink**) November 12th, 2009, 03:05 PM

I too am glad to see you got on today Jack. Have been begining to worry again. Hope all is well on the west coast

Slipdigit · #**274** (**permalink**) November 12th, 2009, 06:51 PM

Good to see you, Jack.

sc10 · #**275** (**permalink**) November 17th, 2009, 06:12 AM

Hi
I'm new to the forums but I've been reading through this forum as well as the Hollandia forum and I wanted to thank you for your service and for sharing these stories with all of us. They've really been a treat to read, and it's really given me a better understanding of some of the things that happened in the war. I'm currently working on a school project that is about the stories of World War II veterans and I was wondering if it would be alright to talk about your story in this project.
I did have a couple of questions for you if you don't mind answering them.
I was wondering why you decided to join the South Dakota National Guard? Did you know it would result in you becoming a soldier in the army?
Also, this one is kind of off topic, but you were born in 1917, which means you would have grown up during the Great Depression. What was it like to live through that? Did you realize that there was a depression? How did it effect you and your family?