HOLLANDIA (JAYAPURA) in 1944 - Page 30

Skipper · #**726** (**permalink**) July 20th, 2009, 10:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SouthWestPacificVet

I spent 60+ years speaking very little of the war, much like you're dad. What I have written here on Otto's forum in the last year or so, covers more than I think I ever said aloud to anyone, as well as covering many of the topics I would not make mention of, or bring up in polite conversation.

Jack

It's an honor you chose our forum and we will cherish these postings and they are now saved for the future generations .

mikebatzel · #**727** (**permalink**) August 5th, 2009, 06:41 PM

Hello Jack! Hope things have been well.

I'm curious as to how fast news travelled in the Pacific in regards to what happened in Europe. We've touched upon reactions to such news, but not how long it took before you learned of it.

Did good news travel faster than bad news or vice-versa?

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**728** (**permalink**) August 22nd, 2009, 02:42 PM

Mike,

The fastest way to get news was shipboard, the Navy fellas most often had the latest dope on Europe and back home, most things did require the scuttlebutt filter to be turned on, depending on the rank of who was telling you the news.

Jack

Slipdigit · #**729** (**permalink**) August 22nd, 2009, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SouthWestPacificVet

Mike,

The fastest way to get news was shipboard, the Navy fellas most often had the latest dope on Europe and back home, most things did require the scuttlebutt filter to be turned on, depending on the rank of who was telling you the news.

Jack

Who's was more believeable, a PFC or a Lt Col?

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**730** (**permalink**) August 22nd, 2009, 06:28 PM

Jeff,

Somewhere in between the two, as close to the source of the transmission as possible. I found bird Colonels to be the most approachable for idle conversation, once you listened up, and agreed with all they might have had to say.

Jack

Skipper · #**731** (**permalink**) August 24th, 2009, 02:36 PM

Hi Jack, I know bad news was censored and not everything was told to the folks at home, especially in the early days, but did news from your relatives and friends reached you uncensored or did censors sometimes conficate letters or partially destroyed mail or pictures etc?

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**732** (**permalink**) August 26th, 2009, 03:56 AM

Hello Skipper,

I don't think the censors worked on the outgoing mail for overseas, I always carefully worded what I wrote home. My letters would get there complete from what my family told me, they would have the censors stamp on them, on the other hand I never received a single package from all that were sent. I always said yes, thank you, when asked did I like the package.

My wife had a few cut up by Australian censors, removing the names of the ships I had mailed them from.

Jack

Skipper · #**733** (**permalink**) August 27th, 2009, 10:00 PM

Terrible thought to realize that only letters made it to the jungle and that packages were intercepted. I imagine some of the contents culd have been sold undercover by indelicate censor agents

surfersami · #**734** (**permalink**) September 14th, 2009, 03:34 PM

Hello Mr. Jack,
I have waited almost a week to join in on your postings here. I have been reading and like others have been rivetted to your experiences many thanks for sharing these personal thoughts. I have been speaking to my grandfather about his war years, he was in the Army stationed in Panama during the war. He was calvalry with actual four legged vehicles. His unit operated and supplied the jungle warfare training in Panama. I must say the Navy/Marines really get most of the press for the pacific war. I will leave you with a heart felt thank you for your service, your insights are so valueable to our society today. I am concerned for the country that forgets it's bloody past and thinks that the most important thing in life is who can sing the best, or catch the winning pass. Thank you for my freedom.

Triple C · #**735** (**permalink**) September 16th, 2009, 02:08 AM

Sir,

I am almost done reading your thread from begining to end. This is a most interesting thread and your vivid collections of the war have been tremendously insightful. You opened my eyes to a new area of research that I was not previously interest at. Mr. Jack, you are tough as nails and you are favored by Fate. The kind of fighting you have won and survived was enough to kill a dozen men three times over.

If you do not mind me make an observation: I agree with another poster that Your PTO experience put the fighting ETO in sharp constrast. The only battles comparable to the carnage of the scenes you described were Falaise Pocket and Hurtgen Forest. A British sapper in another website said that when the Germans trapped had finally been liquated, there were so many dead Germen men and horses that bulldozers had to be used to push the bodies aside to make the roads passable. In so far as casaulties and climate are concerned, nothing except maybe Huertgenwald might have resembled your exprience.

Mr. Jack, there is a question for you. I was slightly confused about your answer to what kind of gear you humped for recce patrols. You mentioned one personal weapon (your M1 submachine gun) with "one extra magazine at the ready" and a magazine pouch. How many magazines do you carry for this weapon? And do you store your "ready" magazine in any special way so as to make it more accessible than your other sticks?

Also, how would you rate the 2nd Lt. you have seen? Were the junior officers that came fresh out of training uniformly bad, or were some of them capable men that just needed some time to learn the tricks of their job? I asked because in the modern US Army, Platoon Lt. is usually considered to be a journeyman or intern, and is expected to seek tutelege from his NCOs, and to be promoted into captaincy if he proved able.

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**736** (**permalink**) September 17th, 2009, 02:07 PM

Hello Surfersami,

Give my best to your grandfather. Ask him if he remembers this old saying from his Army days; The fliers get the citations, the Navy has the accommodations, the Marines get the credit, and the Army does the work. He might get a kick out of hearing that one again.

Triple C,

At the ready would be a magazine stuck in your belt, or any handy place you could find to put it. Eight magazines would have been the norm going in, with Six in the web pouch, perhaps a Dozen at most. Carrying too much ammunition is another kind of trouble. Additional ammunition if needed, was best carried in a strapped pouch which could be dropped off, or tossed to someone
quickly.

When you ask of 2nd Lt's, there were 90 day wonders, who like everyone else had to adapt to the tropics and situation quickly, or one or the other would get the best of them. 2nd Lt's with field commissions would act as mentors to some, as did NCO's.

Jack

mikebatzel · #**737** (**permalink**) September 17th, 2009, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SouthWestPacificVet

Hello Surfersami,

Give my best to your grandfather. Ask him if he remembers this old saying from his Army days; The fliers get the citations, the Navy has the accommodations, the Marines get the credit, and the Army does the work. He might get a kick out of hearing that one again.

Triple C,

At the ready would be a magazine stuck in your belt, or any handy place you could find to put it. Eight magazines would have been the norm going in, with Six in the web pouch. Carrying too much ammunition is another kind of trouble. Additional ammunition if needed, was best carried in a strapped pouch which could be dropped off, or tossed to someone
quickly.

When you ask of 2nd Lt's, there were 90 day wonders, which like everyone else
had to adapt to the tropics and situation quickly, or one or the other would get the best of them. 2nd Lt's with field commissions would act as mentors to some, as did NCO's.

Jack

Hello Jack, Hope all is well. Two questions arise from this post. First, could you describe your opinion on the inter-service rivalries as well as co-operation?

Second, was too much ammo a problem for weight concerns or too many clips made too much sound when moving? Also, how much time does eight clips get you before you run out?

surfersami · #**738** (**permalink**) September 21st, 2009, 02:38 PM

Thanks Mr. Jack, I will pass on the quote to my grandpa and see what he says. He has fond memories of his army days. When he got out of the army, he became a career policeman in the Canal Zone.

**lfkirby** · #**739** (**permalink**) September 21st, 2009, 07:21 PM

Jack,

Your description of life in the jungle got me to thinking of the little things that made the Pacific islands so very unconfortable. In addition to what you described I remember that in the jungle, many natural dangers wait for you. In the jungle, there are many ways to die. The mosquitoes—the Anopheles, the Culex, and the Aedes—each carries a venom that can kill. There are the vicious flies: the great Buffalo flies, the sand flies, the bloodsucking flies all waiting to attack you. There are ticks carrying deadly disease whose sole purpose is to eat through your skin and burrow into your body. Battalions of fleas, regiments of gnats, armies of mites await, with you their prime target. Leeches can cling to your flesh and suck out your blood. Jungle fungus and skin ulcers can eat away human flesh. Insect bites can cause Malaria, can infest your body with parasitic nematode worms that bring the horrible deformities of Filariasis, can cause Trench fever, Typhus and Bubonic plague.
The growing things in the jungle can bring death, too. The sap of the beech apple and mango trees cause sores that take forever to heal. Milk-like sap that drips from the leaves of the Buta-Buta can bring total blindness. There are trees whose oil, if it gets into your bloodstream, will kill you. Others have a bark so poisonous that a simple scratch can mean death. Yet these dangers paled in the presence of the deadliest enemy in the jungle: your fellow man.
You have me recalling old memories I thought I had forgotten.

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**740** (**permalink**) September 23rd, 2009, 02:10 PM

Hello Larry,

On the other side of the coin, being shipboard with the Navy after getting off one of those hell holes was about the closest thing to stepping foot on U.S. territory again, for me anyway.

Jack

surfersami · #**741** (**permalink**) October 14th, 2009, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SouthWestPacificVet

Hello Surfersami,

Give my best to your grandfather. Ask him if he remembers this old saying from his Army days; The fliers get the citations, the Navy has the accommodations, the Marines get the credit, and the Army does the work. He might get a kick out of hearing that one again.

Jack

Jack,
Hope you are in good health. My grandfather isn't doing so well, but at 96 he is a tad frail. The "old saying" brought out a sheepish grin that told me he was familiar with it and that it sparked a good memory from a time long ago. He is a great, Godly man who adores his wife and family. I like to see him smile, thank you. He was cavalry and went to Panama in '36. He helped supply the jungle training school there. Much of the time with mule trains. (Real cavalry)

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**742** (**permalink**) November 12th, 2009, 02:28 PM

Surfersami,

I hope your grandfather is doing alright, I have been off the forum for a bit.

Jack

macrusk · #**743** (**permalink**) November 14th, 2009, 08:06 PM

Hi Jack,

Glad to see you back on. I find myself going back and re-reading posts within this thread to re-appreciate the quantity and quality of the memories you have shared with us. I've learned so much about the Pacific Theatre here, that I never knew before.

**SouthWestPacificVet** · #**744** (**permalink**) November 14th, 2009, 08:48 PM

Hello Michelle,

Well thank you, I have tried and tried to click onto this forum, it looks like once in a while I'll seem to find that rare window of opportunity.

Glad this finds you well, take good care of yourself young lady.

Jack