Hello All!

Lefty, you're Dad's friend might have been with the 32nd, as I was at Buna, the ship you mention was the transport for the 32nd which I think disembarked at Adelaide in '42. I knew an Aussie who was disarming jap 20mm rounds and grenades, then dumping the propellant into a helmet, who had an accident one fine morning. When we got him out of the burning hut he was working in, he was scorched and burnt but alive enough to ask for a "smoke Mate". His condition got worse, and appeared to be bleeding internally, we looked him over and couldn't find a puncture anywhere, then we found a hole in armpit of the ragged shirt he had been wearing, a hot piece of steel had gone through the hair under his arm and the skin sealed itself from bleeding. I don't know what became of him after they carried him out.

I enlisted in Parker at the courthouse, I got on a bus with four other fellows, and we joined up with the 147th at a staging area which was en route to Camp Clayton, we left Dakota in a blizzard and headed for California, our motor convoy averaged about 35 mph for just about the entire trip.

Falcon my friend, I answered you're question when I responded to Jeff at the top of this page.

Skipper, Alice Springs was not that bad, we had food and water, we lived in tents, and no one was shooting at us.

Hey Jack!!
I'm curious as to why that soldier was dumping the propellant into a helmet?
Thanks again, always a pleasure to see you on here!!

all the best

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Members of the Dutch Resistance with 101st AB, Eindhoven. Operation Market Garden.

Scott

Hello Scott,

The Aussie was using the helmet as a receptacle for the powder, pulling cannon rounds apart with a pair of pliers, I didn't linger as I passed him, he looked like an accident waiting to happen.

Jeff, sorry I missed your question further back, I was under Eichelberger with the sixth Army in '42, the Eighth wasn't formed up until the later part of '44, I saw him a number of times. General Geiger was a Marine, if I remember correctly he had taken command of the tenth Army up North at Okinawa in '45, as part of a battlefield promotion when Gen. Buckner was hit.

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All the Best
Jack

Hi Jack. Do you still have contact with some of you mates that shared this hell with you in the Jungle? I suppose some would stil be alive . Have you ever trIed to find them , or did some veterans try to find you ?

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Why would anybody want to pull cannon rounds apart with a pair of pliers to collect the powder, sir? Where would the collected powder be used?
If the powder has to be extracted, for whatever reason, what's the (relatively) safest way to do it?

In the Philippines immediately after WWII, the local fireworks industry got a big boost after getting their hands on left over ordnance. Workers took the shells and removed the powder, which were used for fireworks.

That's what I'm curious about Falcon, he must have had something in mind! But what? Maybe he was making a homemade bomb for the enemy?

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Members of the Dutch Resistance with 101st AB, Eindhoven. Operation Market Garden.

Scott

Hello,

Falcon, Scott, the Aussies were quite clever rigging and coming up with improvised munitions, working with what little was available. It was the Aussies flying P40's out of Milne Bay that had rigged up modified oil drums filled with aviation fuel to drop onto jap positions, then set alight with incendiary gunfire from a chase plane.

Skipper, I've known fellas from the war over the years, mostly from some common interest we shared, it was never really a topic of conversation, or the reason for our friendship.

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All the Best
Jack

Jack,

You and my grandfather chewed some of the same dirt and coral together. He was in the 186th at Hollandia and Biak and in the Philippines.

I just want you to know how much I've really enjoyed reading your posts on here. They sure bring back a lot of memories of the conversations I had with him and his best friend --who was also in the 186th. My grandfather was Virgil Moore, a WV boy. His buddy was Fred Ogle, from East TN. Both of them were, as Fred said, hillbillies, so they understood each other pretty well.

There are just so many things you've said here that resonated with me; both about the war and life in general. For example, when you noted that in your youth the old veterans were those of North and South. That took me right back to a comment my grandfather made--about him sitting on his grandfather's lap as a little boy (of my exact age at the time) and him telling him tales of his service in the Civil War.
Time is short when you put it in perspective.

I've got some pics I'll try to get scanned and get up here. I figure they'll interest you and most of the guys here.

All my best to you

Brian

I enlarged your PT boat photo about as much as I could so we could see you better. Jack is on the far left.

Do you have anymore pictures of you during the war and is the post pic you posted the actual size of the original?

You may have answered this befoe, what was the boat number?

Attached Images

SWPacVetEnlarged.jpg (109.3 KB, 25 views)

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Best Regards,
JW

Thank you Jeff,

Well done, as always, that's me on the far left standing, at the time I had no idea that moment would be seen again 65 years later. There was a terrible fire at our home in Malibu, in the early seventies, in which we lost many photos and films from the past.

She was PT 335, foreground on the right is the magazine of the forward 20mm, she had a 40mm on the stern, two sets of twin 50's, a 37mm auto loading cannon on the bow, an 81mm mortar, two depth charges, and the latest roll off torpedo racks, she also had radar which was quite the deal to keep quiet about back then, long time gone now.

Brian, thank you for you're interest, I'll tell you as much as I can remember, sounds like you have read a bit already,
that will help keep this old boy's fingers going for another day or two.

Take care,

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All the Best
Jack

I found this model of PT 336 and it shows all the firepower the boats had. I always thought they were painted all grey but the model is different.

All Wood Wings: 80' ELCO PT Boat - quality ship models crafted from wood

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Good show TA.

I was trying to find information on PT 335, if any was available. I found this forum.
The PT Boat Message Board

I'll join it and see if anyone has any further information on this boat and crew. I probably won't able to do it today.

How long were you with them, Jack?

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Best Regards,
JW

Thanks for that link and the pic Slip!! That pic is now my desktop background! I love PT boats, I mean how can you not love them, except maybe if you served on them, eh Jack! I'm just a boat guy, and a boat with triple screws and guns!! Sweet!
Anyway, thanks again Jack!

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Members of the Dutch Resistance with 101st AB, Eindhoven. Operation Market Garden.

Scott

Scott,

I've been a boater for years, I never could get it out of my system. When the kids were young, they couldn't understand what people did on weekends that didn't have a boat.

The old PT's were something back then, fuel consumption was another matter, 2-3000 gallons of aviation gas aboard, 300 gallons an hour at 25-30 knots, 525 plus at full throttle.

Jeff, the time frame was around Sept-Dec. of '43, there were an number of them, I was out on the 335 several times, there were some which had no torpedoes at all, they strictly armed with guns and a mortar.

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All the Best
Jack

What size mortar did it carry and was it accurate? Did they fire it while moving or when stopped?

How far did the boats have to travel before getting up to full speed, 50-75 yards?

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Best Regards,
JW

Hello Jeff,

Some had a 60mm, others like 335 had an 81mm, the first one I saw, I thought how in the world can they hit anything from a pitching deck. I watched them do it one calm dawn just before sun up, there was a jap island with a few supply huts where landing barges would off load, the skipper idled to a stop, and one sailor dropped three or four rounds down the tube so fast he was done before the first round hit. I had fired mortars and directed a mortar fire, but I had never seen one in rapid fire mode like that.

The whole event seemed to be an ad hock secondary mission to harass the japs, they would keep a close eye to activity on those islands, they seemed quite familiar with the reefs and the tides, if the japs had a fire burning, or they found a barge beached in a cove, the fireworks would follow.

All the port side guns fired away, the skipper shoved the throttles open before any fire was returned and we left like a bat out of hell. Now for your second question Jeff, if a crew member on a PT taps you and says hang on, you had better grab onto something solid.

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All the Best
Jack

Now those kind of missions could be described as "shoot and scoot." Have there ever been a time that you and the PT boat faced aerial attack while on a mission together?

Hello Falcon,

Just on the one occasion when one of the boats was shadowed out of range by a jap float plane, the aircraft did not attack. I don't remember the boat number, but I just remembered one of the PT bases as Marobe, in New Guinea.

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All the Best
Jack

So how long did the Japanese float plane shadow the PT boat? What forced the plane to turn away?

So what you were saying is that the mortar was used to harrass rather than direct support of combat on an island?

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Best Regards,
JW