Hello to all!

[Skipper]

You were lucky the Japanese did not spot you because with only only one escort ship the trip must have been quite tense, especially since Ford island wasn't that far from your position. I can imagine that after two months on a ship you appreciated the Austalian hospitality. It must have been quite a relief too. Whene
Darwin got attacked, did you imagine that the Japanese could attempt to invade Australia after they won the battle of the Java Sea an occupied the Dutch Indies?

[SouthWestPacificVet]

Skipper,

They found a way to keep us busy for the remainder of the voyage, the ship's crew were put to the task of painting the old Hollbrook while underway at 12 knots, they mixed up a mottled gray paint and spread it on the ship with mops in some places. Our cargo of split trailed 75's were hoisted from the forward hold, and we chained four of them to the decks fore and aft. I think we had a dozen or so machine guns on ground mounts set up around the ships bridge. So, we exercised each day, and drilled with our field guns, while keeping our meager supply of world war one shrapnel ammunition at the ready. We would scan the horizon for the jap fleet with our field glasses, stood watch day and night, and it's a good thing we never found them.

We didn't know what was going to happen after Darwin was hit, the japs had invaded so many places at once. They landed troops at Timor and Sumatra, later on when Corregidor and Bataan fell, that was a hard knock for all of us.

[Skipper]

Corregidor must have been an absolute hell for those who were not used to the climate.
WWI amno? That's a great story. Glad to know that the French with their Lebel guns and their FT17 tanks weren't the only ones recycling relics. Painting with mops? you must have been all grey yourself at the end of the day.

[SouthWestPacificVet]

Skipper,

We didn't have the honor of painting the ship, but we did track that stuff all over the ship, and it was still wet for days afterward. Our gear was world war one issue, we wore the old style helmets, Springfield rifles, and those split trail 75's were known as French 75's back in 1897 or so, when they were first put to use.

[Skipper]

They were pretty good guns and still used during the battle of France too. I love those WWI helmets. When I first saw one I thought it was British. I suppose you got your modern equipment in 1942. Were you allowed to drink alcohol on board? How were the sleeping conditions and the food?

[Flying Tiger]

eh Question Jack, u seen much air combat? just wondering because i had a few relatives on Ford Island. i dont remember what aircraft they flew but storys ive heard always had a ship they were protecting.

[SouthWestPacificVet]

Hello flying tiger,

I have seen a few shot down, I watched some P40's mixing it up with a couple of zeros, one lost it's wings and went into the ground, we went to the impact area I couldn't find much of the pilot after the fire died down. I watched B25's skip bombing, Navy fighters shooting down a jap flying boat, a lone P38 chased a zero into the gound, I watched a B24 cartwheel down an airstrip. We were strafed and bombed by the Japs a number of times before we had any large numbers of aircraft on our side.

For the most part you would hear the aircraft and see puffs of smoke, too far away to know what was happening. One thing we all got very good at was knowing the sound of a jap plane.

[Skipper]

Shooting down a fly boat! That must have been quite a rare combat scene.

[Jan7]

Originally Posted by WotNoChad?

Welcome to the boards, honoured to have you join us sir.

I suscribed it......




Jan.

[SouthWestPacificVet]

Hello,

Thank you Jan7, I'll have to subscribe myself when I figure that out.

Skipper, the flying boat zoomed over the jungle canopy a couple of hundred feet above us, it happened in an instant, sounded like it was coming down on top of us, we hit the ground and it flew past the short strip of beach and out over the water with two engines of the left wing trailing smoke, it was about the size and shape of a PBY, but with four engines, green paint and red meatballs. It banked to the left and got a mile or so over the ocean, two navy fighter planes came out of nowhere, heading his direction, and a minute or so later I saw a big black ball of smoke in the distance.

I can't remember where that happened, it was small island about the size of woodlark, with heavy vegetation, it might come back to me in a bit.

All for now, fingers are giving out

[Skipper]

Thank you for these great details Jack,

A PBY Shaped Japanese Flyboat with four engines. If there is a Japanese aircraft specialist, someone may will able to identify this one for you. If it would have been a Catalina, a Dornier or a Fokker flyboat I would have known, but for this one I wil have to check. If you remember the name of the spot I'd be interested, maybe there is a story about it on somewhere the net.

[travelinbabs]

I'm pretty impressed that you're here, online, and posting so often -- we could never get my dad to use the computer -- he complained that it was too difficult with bifocals -- and he wasn't interested enough to get glasses specifically for the 'puter.

BTW, my dad served in the ETO in WWII; he was in the service for more than 5 years.

Welcome to the forum -- I look forward to reading your posts.

[bigfun]

that must have been a sight to see! Jack did we cover what weapons you carried with you? I can't remember! Thanks!!

[Flying Tiger]

hmm the H8K2 (jap flying boat) must of been a pretty interesting shoot down. So jack im sure you seen alot of action! but have u been in any Famous battles?

heres a painted pic of it http://www.interq.or.jp/doctor/himawari/typee205.jpg

[macrusk]

I'm rather late in extending my welcome, Jack.

I appreciate your giving us first-hand information about the war in the Pacific. I'm afraid that too much of my knowledge of the Pacific Theatre is mostly based on movies, novels by W.E.B. Griffin and Leon Uris, and some documentaries. I've concentrated on ETO since my Dad was there.

I'm glad you joined the forum. I've been very interested in your posts, and look forward to seeing more.

Michelle

[SouthWestPacificVet]

Hello friends,

Scott, I just checked the first page, I mentioned the weapons I carried, you could also add BAR, a carbine (for a very short time), for the most part a thompson. I carried a short Aussie made machete for a time, most all of us carried a knife, fellows who didn't have a good knife would make them, or trade for them.

Michelle, travelinbabs, thank you both for the welcome.

Flying Tiger, thank you for the photo of the Emily, I remember those from the old recognition cards we would study, I saw the wreckage of one of those in a harbor on one of the islands, can't remember which.

The flying boat that I saw go down was referred to as a Mable or Mavis, built a bit like the early Pan Am clippers, long narrow hull, with the wings high above like a PBY.

[Skipper]

Hi jack,

Carrying a Thompson and a machette + all your other material, including water must have been quite heavy through the jungle. I suppose logistics could only follow now end then when the bulldozers made a new runway for aircrafts to bring supplies. Were supplies otherwise dropped by parachute or brought to the shore by boats?

[SouthWestPacificVet]

Skipper,

We traveled very lightly equipped, if we did have a pack at all, you don't make the mistake of carrying too much, that goes for ammunition as well, we didn't carry bedrolls as they did in Europe, a rubberized poncho would keep you dry enough, a blanket or any type of bedding material grows fungus and molds very quickly in that climate.

When we where doing island recon, we wore Air Corp zippered jump suits, we would go ashore by rubber boat in small teams about the size of an average air crew, if we were discovered, or the japs found any of us, the illusion would have been that we came from a downed aircraft. So we could carry nothing heavier than a couple of BAR's, or a 60mm mortar, if that.

The missions were probes of jap held islands, the parameters of which for the most part were no contact, sometimes we would be in and out in 18 hours or so, sometimes longer. Sometimes contact was unavoidable, if we did loose a man we had to leave him.

The avatar photo my daughter put up, taken on a patrol boat shows me on the left, hard to see but I'm wearing one of those coveralls, and a 45 in a shoulder holster, it should date to the latter part of '43, the recon work was one of my first assignments after my commission to 2nd Lt.

[Skipper]

Excellent information. It seems all logical when I read it but I wouldn't have thought about skipping the bedrolls and using dinghies to pretend to be a downed air party. That was a real good strategy. I suppose you counted a lot on surprise effect too. The Japanese must have had a hard time defending these shores, especially for small rubber boats and I suppose you also landed at night to make it harder for them.

[SouthWestPacificVet]

Skip,

Dawn or dusk, the navy would set the time tables for us, the patrol boats would operate in the dark of night, as would submarines, PBY's seemed to need some light before they would make water landings.

[Skipper]

That makes sense. Some light but just enough to see and not enough to be discovered. That makes sense. Did you have opportunities to fish or hunt in order to get some extra food or was it too dangerous or impossible?