1stSGt Reed Buchanan US Army (ret)

View attachment 17321 In another post of mine some one asked If could talk a little about my Dads pre-war experiences since not many threads mention this. Ill try to be breif. My Dad was from Blue Ridge Summit PA and joined the Army for A 3 YEAR HITCH on his 18th birthday in 1935. He said that there was not much work around and he felt like a bum living with his sister and brother in law. "3 hots and a flop" as he said to me. While he was taking the test to join up the recuiter gave him an extra chit ti get somethign to eat to help the guy next to him pass HIS test! He was sent to Panama Canal Zone for training and was part of the 11th Engineer Regiment the "Jungle Cats" They performed post Engineer duty as well as combat engineer assignments. He told me he received 21 silver dollars each pay day. They had horse cavalry still in those days and their calls to duty were made on real bugles and buglers! They always did not have live ammo to practice often using sacks of flour as hand grenades throwing them at cars with big signs that had "tank" written on them. A have quite lot of his paper work and pictures that go back to the war and pre war years. One paper I have is that there was a regimental shooting contest and he scored #3 out of entire regiment with his 03 springfield. He said he was a popular guy with the guys in his platoon as they all got a 3 day pass due to his expert shooting skills! Be fore he left, the Battleship Oklahoma was off shore and he brother, who was on the coal gang sent word for Dad to come visit him on board ship. My Dad went out to the ship in his khaki uniform with some sailors and they found his brother for him. My uncle showed him to the galley and said for him to grab a bite as he was going to be off watch soon and would meet him there. My Dad said that he was tickled to death got get some navy food as it was much better than Army chow. Any way, he said that the food he got looked like it came out of the trash can (it did). When my uncle showed up and saw the food on Dads plate yelled _hey cookie , what the hell is this ****? the cook replied "**** that Marine! My uncle informed him that he was a solider not a marine and further more it was his brother! The result was the best meal he got in the longest time! I guess the sailors in the galley didnt like marines very much! Anyhow, He signed up for another 3 years in 1938 and came back to the states breifly. I forgot what post he was on but he said that on private property out side of the post he saw signs that said "soliders and dogs, keep off the grass" He was the assigned to the 3rd engineers in Hawaii where he again signed up for another 3 years in Aug 1941. He was a Buck SGT at that point. I asked him, given the world situation why he signed up again instead of going home, the job situation being improved etc.. He told me that he figured that we were going to be involved in a war one way or the other and that he was a solider and wanted to do his duty. Well,he was then assigned to the 65th Combat Engineer BN 25th div when they were formed in OCT 1941 and was promoted to Staff SGT at that time. The pic is Dad on "guard mount" early 1941 Then , a couple months later...................................

 

Welcome to the forums!

 

Thanks guys. Well on Sunday Morning, 7 Dec 1941 at 0755hrs, Dad (who didnt have duty that day) was standing in the breakfast chow line at Schofield Barraks in the "quadrangle" when the Japanese planes started their attack run on nearby wheeler field. In doing so, they were machine gunning the Barracks and the chow line. At first everyone thought there were manuvers going on but when they realilty of what was going on (Dad said the "red meat ball" on the sides of the planes made it obvious) order stared to set in and in fact the bugular of the 65th Engineers sounded "call to arms" and the engineers were able to get into their armory and return small arms fire on the attackers. (in a book I read recently a bugular of an artillery unit didnt know call to arms but sounded "pay call" that got the guys up and about!) After awhile Dad said that anyone who was able to get their hands on a weapon was into action. A bomb fell right near the flagpole in the parade field not far from where Dad was but most folks felt, after the fact, that it was from one of the ships at pearl, not the planes. He said that the next day he went to pearl with a detail of men with a truck to get supplies and saw the damage in the harbor first hand. The engineers as well as other units depolyed in defensive positions around the island. The pic is my Dad manning a machine gun some where on the island in either 1940/41 before the war. on the back he wrote " View attachment 17320 This is me making a machine gun talk"

 

although not ww2.....the Gent seated in this 1882 photo with his family and in his GAR uniform is my GGrandfather and my Dads Grandfather PVT Ellis Etters 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry 1864-1865 He was the youngest of 6 brothers that fought in the Civil War enlisting at age 15 Only 2 brothers came home-the oldest and youngest......

William 34th PA INF Co E (Major battles- Sharpsburg, Gettysburg
John 34th PA INF CO E (KIA)
Ben 51st PA INF (KIA-Wilderness)
Francis and Henry 13th PA CAV CO B Captured battle of sulpher springs VA Henry died at Belle Island Prision and Francis at Andersonville
All the Etters boys were decendents of 2 Revolutionary War Soliders. I mention this as i believe this is where my Dad got his sense of duty being a solider View attachment 17322

 

post card from Hawaii cir 1940 View attachment 17323

 

after a lot of intense jungle training the 65th Combat Engineers with the 25th ID headed off to Guadlacanal This pic is some of the 65th men joining the sailors in a "crossing the equator" shingdig becoming trusty "shell backs"on their way to the "canal" View attachment 17324

 

65th Combat Engineers arrive at Guadalcanal Not to intense for them at this point....... View attachment 17325

 

Ill add more of his story if anyone is interested. My Dad passed in 2005 at age 88.He is my hero and was my best friend. Sharing his story and pictures are my way of honoring him. View attachment 17326

 

In the "canal" as Dad called it, the 65th spent some time fighting with the line infantry company's but got down to what they did best-clear the way-roads ect for movement of the suppys etc needed at the front. Very often they were under sniper fire-quite intense at times. At one point enough was enough and Dad and a BAR man went out to see if they could find the snipers. A brandnew, just arrived 2nd LT wanted to go with them. They were in a jeep but stopped at a certian point to go it on foot. The LT stood up in the jeep (Dad and the BAR man were on the ground next to the jeep) wanting to know why they stopped. Dad said "sir ahhhhh I think you better get down here with us" get backin the jeep you 2 and lets get going said theLT.Just then a round bounced off the hood of the jeep and well, they didnt see much of the LT after that!Dad said the BAR man was a tall lanky guy from Georgia. He "hunked off a big wad of chewin' tabackky" and started to scan the jungle then let the BAR rip a couple of times and bagged 2 snipers. This is a pic of some of the 65th men clearing a road in the "canal" View attachment 17327

 

Hot,humid, nasty, bugs is what is was like while they were in the "canal" as Dad called it. He said that there was a Jap plane that came over every late afternoon machine gun them and drop a bomb or 2 on them. It got to the point where they really didnt pay him much mind as he was more of pain in the ass than a real threat. Dad said they were sitting around taking a break when a replacement infantryman showed up looking for his unit. He had a 30 cal carbine that Dad and his buddies saw for the first time. one of the guys grabbed it from him to take a closer look at it when the Jap plane showed up on his daily trip. The engineers didnt move or seem concerned about it but the newbie was sacred to death--gimmie my gun gimmie my gun take cover you guys! The engineers stayed put telling him that one place was good as the next so the guy told them that "you engineers are crazy"and ran off to take cover....in the ammo dump! Here is pic of the 65th in camp on Guadlcanal View attachment 17329

 

After the Island View attachment 17330 was secured the 65th got a little down time. Here is Dad with a feathered friend. The next stop for the 65th was the battle on the northern solomon islands.......

 

The 65th saw a lot of combat on new georgia island. After that they were sent to new zealand for R&R with the 25th division. Dad was promoted to master sgt and then selected to go to OCS back in the states. He said the troopship he was on was halfway across the pacific when an announcement was made on the ships intercom---the D-day invasion on Normandy. His OCS was in Virginia, I forgot what post it was. He was doing well but hurt his knee and ended up in the hospital and a month recuperating. It put him out of OSC but not the Army. His next stop was Ft Lewis washington were he trained combat engineers until the end of the war. The pic is a plane his unit found during the new georgia campaign View attachment 17331

 

Dad had various state side duties after the war,met Mom and married in 1949. They went to Germany in 1950. In, I think 1951 or 1952 Dad got orders to deploy to Korea. He was getting ready to go but his CO delayed his orders. Dad was working on some type of big project and the CO could not afford to lose his 1st SGT until the project was complete. Any way when the project was done and he was released for deployment the orders never came so he did one more tour in Germany and retired in 1956 and mustered out at Ft Devans Mass Here is Dad reviewing the troops on his retirement day ooops the file is to big for the page. The Old War Dog was not done however. Being retired he was in the in - active reserves for 10 years. In 1966 he received orders from Uncle Sam to report for duty! He called the phone number on the letter to confirm receipt and for futher instructions only to find out that the letter was sent in error and he was not needed after all!

 

Holy cow... Hold on to your bits... One juicy bit per post...Some tasty tidbits there man. Looking forward to your judiciously allocated sugary bits.:}.. Welcome brother.

 

Enjoying your photos. You're doing a great job honoring your dad.

 

I thank you all for your kind words, Yup Dad was a real pisser. He never went around saying Hey Kid I was in the BIG ONE Ww2 iN FACT , I dont recall a time, when I was around anyway, did he talk about the war. Oh sure , he would say that he was retired from the army but never elaborated. But with me however he would answer any questions I had and go into great detail. I have a shoe box filled with his Army stuff and many more war time pics and pre war pics I would be happy to share. I told him once that i thought he was a hero for what he had done during the war- What? I aint no G-D Damn hero I was just doing my job The heros never came home. I am an only child and Dad and I were very close. That says a lot I guess as fathers day seems to be a very confusing day for a lot of people today. That man could cuss! geezus, he could use a cuss word as a noun, verb, pronoun......put them in a sentence.....LOL But never around Mom, my grandparents or family , kids etc. They really were our greatest generation. Had a sense of honor, values that well, really lack today. I was 48 when he passed so I was lucky to have him in my life for so long Anyway my Mom was a war worker at the Underwood company in Bridgeport CT working second shift inspecting parts for the 30 cal carbine. she said she made 1 dollar an hour and thought she was rich! Her Dad , a ww1 vet was the neighborhood air raid warden. She had a sister who was a WAC and worked at the pentagon and a brother who served in europe. I hear tell that he got a Bronze Star and Im trying to find out more about that Ill post any and all pics that I have My son wants them as well as his medals but.....hes gonna have to wait til im gone!Thanks for your kind words. WW2 obviously is a big interest of mine and happy to share what I have with those that share the same passion. It does it close to home when we have a personal connection to the War

 

Not WW2 but this was made for my grandfather SGT John Kiely co a 305th INF 76 div at the end of ww1. It was made by a german POW with a pen knife and a nail so I am told. Pop was in Prisoner of War Escort Company 224 at the end of the war and became friends with the POW.They kept in touch by mail for years after the war. Its the creest of the 76th INF Div and you can see the wagon wheel for the quatermasters, saber for the cavalry, rifle for the infantry and you can also see the engineer castle in the back ground. The shells in the background were made by the same POW for my Pop View attachment 17333