This is lengthy but please bear with me, I will get to my point...

My grandfather, Alvin Hostetler, was a radio operator for the Air Force. In Sept. 1942 he was drafted from an extremely small...town (it's probably smaller than a town). He was sent to Camp Crowder, MO where he learned "radio, typing, (Morse code), field radio repair, antennas, and some very secretive radar." From here he was shipped to Drew Field, FL and laster Camp Myaka, FL. After further training he was sent to Camp Stoneman, CA. From there he, and his unit, boarded the Day Star which was thought to be a Danish ship from Odense, Denmark. They were just one ship traveling alone and would have been a "sitting duck" to any subs or torpedo planes. They pulled in at Melbourne, Australia but they found they did no have enough room for their outfit so they went further north to Townsville. After docking he was immediately taken to the hospital. He had developed several ulcers on his eyeball caused by the reflection of the sun on the water.
From here they were to fly on a C-47 to New Britain's shore. He remembered hearing the noise of the battle ships and destroyers firing their guns. He mentions that on Christmas Day, 1943 they were on one side of the island and the Japanese were on the other. One night, thirteen bombers were spotted coming in their direction and, in a matter of minutes, the artillery of the Marines were set for the correct distance, speed, and altitude. My grandfather was not on duty that night and was able to take a picture of the tracers in the sky while sitting in his foxhole. In the end all thirteen planes had been shot down.
When they were stationed at Cape Gloucester, New Britain one of the worst electrical storms hit. "Lightening struck nearby and it came through my earphones and burned two nice little holes in my head. I took the earphones off and put them over my leg, and I was hit again."
On Feb. 28, 1944 they set out to invade the Admiralty Islands. They were protected by the First Cavalry Division as they landed on Los Negros Islands. He states, "Schedules do not always work out. We landed, and then watched our support parachute in. They were supposed to be there before we landed."
On July 2, 1944 they went to the Noemfoor Island in Dutch New Guinea. It was here that he began getting jungle ulcers. One was on each leg about the size of a fifty-cent piece and went very close to the bone. A doctor said he had a crystal-like substance they wanted to use to see if they could get some scar tissue started. "I have never had anything that burned as badly as that did." The crystal did work.
On Jan. 2, 1945 they went on an important invasion-Luzon, Philippine Islands. They went in at the Linguayen Gulf to a big airfield at Manila.
They never stayed in one place very long and so moved to Bolino Point. "There was a lighthouse not far from my tent. I liked to go there and watch the Filipino boats go by." It was at Bolino Point that he received a letter from home telling him his father, a Bishop for the Old Order Amish Church, had passed away.
After his father's death, he asked headquarters if he could go home to help his mother. "The war was really winding down, and since I never had a furlough, the High Command agreed with my request."
Finally, I should mention that my grandfather wrote, "Usually, in the various invasions we were on, I would find pieces of Japanese planes. I cut out pieces of aluminum fuselage, and in my off hours I would make various kinds of bracelets, engraving them with the point of a knife. I sold these to the men who wanted to send gifts home to their sweethearts, wives, mothers, etc. I was sending $50 home to Helen (his wife), out of the $66 dollars a month I got from the government.
Okay, now my question: Was anyone on this forum stationed at any of the places mentioned above? Or has anyone heard stories of these places? Are there any of these stories that anyone can give me more information on? (i.e., how close was a radio operator to the front? Have you heard about the eye ulcers? Jungle ulcers? What causes them?), Is there anyone out there that might still have the trinket created by him?
I might have more questions, but will leave with these.

My dad received the Philippines liberation medal. He was on many islands. On his discharge papers it says Bismark Archipelago, New Guinea and Southern Phillipines. He mentioned that he was in Hawaii. I recall him mentioning dysentery. I don't know if he had it. He got polio in 1949 after the war. The leg ulcers you mention sound like Staph infection. I lived on Maui, Hawaii during the 1970's. Soon after moving there, my husband got numerous mosquito bites that turned into sores. He went to a clinic and they told him it was staph. When you get a bite and scratch it, then go into the ocean you get the staph sores. He had to take antibiotics and go to the clinic daily to have the sores scrubbed with a pad until they bled. It's the only cure and very painful. It is common with surfers and others. I never got staph. They also said that staph feeds on sugar. This cured him of drinking coffee with sugar. It could have been this, or some other tropical disease that your dad had.