I never thought of the magazines making noise in the drums either, those things must have cost lives as those who were not aware of this might have been caught by surprise and warn the enemy of their presence, just like a half full bottle of water. This could have been one of the reasons why they changed these, not to mention the weight.

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See Jack, C@vman is from Alabama also. That is the way it is down here.

Honor is given where Honor is due.

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Best Regards,
JW

Hello Jeff,

A fine reserve of honorable Southern gentlemen, those Alabamians.

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All the Best
Jack

Thank you, sir. A pleasure. I'll try to soak up all you say like a sponge!

soaked in Southern Comfort? I know that's an easy one, welcome Cavman, it's a pleasure to have you with us on this trhead.

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I have the same thoughts as Skipper. I, too, never realized that those drum magazines make a rattle.
Since we're now discussing weapons, where there anything that you used that didn't live up to its billing or had unforeseen shortcomings? Or stuff that were issued that was first thought of as "what the heck" but turned out to be even better?

I was looking on E-BAY and saw this ad for Australian Musk Lozenges.
Did you ever sample some of that ?

Australian WW II Musk Lozenges Ration - eBay (item 6605540608 end time Aug-31-08 14:40:59 PDT)

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Hello TA,

I can not say I remember those as an Aussie ration item, I do remember musk candy
in Australia, I never did care for it personally, it tasted like purfume tablets.

Wriggley's and Beaman's chewing gum were common, Aussies thought it strange that the Yank's were always chewing when they first met us all.

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All the Best
Jack

I suppose chewing gum was easier to carry around in the jungle than chocolate.
Did the natives ever bring you gifts or tokens of gratitude?

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Hello Skipper,

Yes, they would bring us dried fish to trade for cigarettes, dry cigarettes and matches were a bit of a treat in the tropics.

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All the Best
Jack

Jack,

Was it your opinion that the various islanders really did dislike the Japanese or was it a matter being friends with whoever were closest to them with guns?

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Best Regards,
JW

Hello Jeff,

The natives had learned the methods of the the japs before we were there, villages had been cleared at bayonet point, which had been occupied by tribal families for hundreds of years. Women, children, elderly, were uprooted, entire families had been executed, men used as forced labor.

From what I knew of them, they were genuine in their friendship, and loyal to death in their alliance with us.

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All the Best
Jack

Were they treated any differently were they found in the company of US soldiers or were the mistreated regardless?

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Best Regards,
JW

Hi Jack!

Just caught up with the thread. I'm curious, how did you "quiet" a noisy piece of equipment, any piece of equipment. Or how did you handle that?

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Scott

I don't know of any being captured, or taken alive by the japs during our time over there, Papua is a vast place, there were tribes which had not had contact with either side up in the highlands until after the war.


When I spoke of the head collecting they did, one fellow who must have stood 6'4 and walked on bare size 15 feet, could move quiet as a cat, had lost his daughter, wife, sons, grandchilden, as well as his village. Told us japs would turn to run away when they saw him, very few of them carried firearms. Their method of fighting was primative like stalking game.

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All the Best
Jack

Hello Scott!

Good to have you drop in. Well, there was equipment that couldn't be silenced, those carbines rattled and clacked to the point you could hear one coming. BAR bi-pods were bad about that too, and were routinely removed and left behind.

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All the Best
Jack

On Papua, was keeping your feet relatively dry a problem? Was trenchfoot a problem?

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Best Regards,
JW

Yes Jeff, getting the men to remove their boots at least once or twice a day, and turning socks inside out each time if a second pair were not available. We had foot powder from time to time, ointments too, clean dry feet is the best medicine, but was seldom possible.

Jungle rot, immersion foot, sores, infected blisters, swollen insect bites, fungal infections under toe nails, to name a few.

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All the Best
Jack

Regarding the native tribes, did you or your company ever encounter a native that was pro-Japanese? If so, how did you handle things?
In the scheme of things, I think it's possible that there would have been some.
Putting this in the backdrop of your experience in the Philippines, did you or your company encounter any of the pro-Japanese Filipinos known as Makapili?
Comparing the Japanese soldier you encountered in New Guinea and the Philippines, were there any differences you can tell in the way they fought or were equipped?

Hello Falcon,

I do not know of any natives of the Islands down South that worked willingly with the japs, I imagine if there were any they would have been dealt with by their own.

The name Makapili is familiar, please tell me if they operated on, or were at Cebu late 1944, if so, there is something I will tell you about, which you may already know of.

The japs in the Philippines looked to be well fed, uniformed, and equipped more like garrison troops.

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All the Best
Jack