European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                On the Bridge somebody Treyve got Yards to go to reach the we heard the swoosh ing sound of though the rockets and the Luis fir ing were hidden in two More Black mushrooms of smoke Rose near one of the Luis in the first a Row of explosions along the seen White through the marked our rockets a ragged v of a cups passed us to More were idling to Stern and to both sides of More ups passed to Salty yawned and on the signal Bridge the skipper see if you can get the wave commander and ask him How far he is from the we were looking into the the first wave had disappeared into the smoke the bombard ment had ceased except for an occasional it was hour was supposed to be nobody said much of then there was a Short blur of conversation on the signal Joe Hett s2c of stuck his head of the Pilot House and the first wave is on White there were lots and lems abeam of us behind them it was suddenly the smoke the seemingly were wide and backed by Palm purple against the morning in the radio Shack word came through from White one landed with Light As returning a cups passed us somebody hailed them the invasion Convoy in lingayen Gulf waiting of discharge troops and supplies in most of f he japs who should have been waiting on the beaches and the yanks landed almost without into his he gave the last order of the Day if anybody wants me Call me the dearth of japs encountered by some Landing parties caused almost As Many jitters As if there had been stiff an excited civilian popped into one up with a report of five japs hidden in a Pillbox near the outskirts of san an m7 took off after the japs and returned in about 45 score one Jap had been killed by a patrol be fore the m7 arrived on the scene and four is dressed in women in the of somebody worried How the hell they could be identified if they were ask them to pull up their somebody else yank army weekly Ridden across that River 20 times today then he looked at us and How is the War going the water was almost boiling when an Artil Lery Captain and two gis led a Cloud of dust up the Road and drove their weapons Carrier on the ramp into the nearest the Captain stood peered Over the Side and called for a a i climbed raised the ramp and then looked at the the fare is three 20 the Captain had his hand Halfway in his pocket before he pulled it out and lets and sat the sergeant dropped the eggs in the boiling a Hail came from the other Side of the a i standing on the first Amtrak bring that other tractor Over to pick up this extra m i i Bauyan Channel Cleveria Camiguin i Abulog i Bawa cab goo Santa Maria Jjo Bangon Al Minoi  i Joni Poi Chudio 11 i i son oui Lin Lorl Field Maio ios k Montalban Manila by sgt Ozzie George yank staff correspondent the upon a time peo ple said of Days and this is As we went Over the Side of our one i Felt for the top of the cargo net with a tentative foot and Here we go that about summed up the Luzon it was a big better show than Ever but essentially it was like any other a few minutes from the signal Bridge of the wave control pc christened we listened to the familiar Thunder of a naval bom somewhere ahead of at a distance of about was the South Shore of Lin Gayen Gulf and beyond exactly nobody could housetops of san the bombardment had left a heavy Gra Brown pall of smoke hanging Low Over the beaches and Only the tops of the purple Hills on the Eastern Side of the Gulf were visible above the spotting looking like moving Fly dipped in circles above the behind us were ships of All species of the inva Sion stretching away in diminishing shapes and Sixes to the a few Hundred Colot Ogon islands Shipocot l cur Moon in Manati Bigayan Marinduque pm Smolyan Yards off our port Bow were clustered about the bows of Mother ships like strange pugnacious Here and there across the coloured markers left by our minesweepers nodded in a slight offshore ahead of us were three behind ghostly White through the cruisers and Battle wagons huddled behind angry red and yellow fists of As the crack of their salvos Thun dered across the the pcs a also named barked on the signal Bridge someone wheres White three somebody else to the left of All that stretch of that stretch of hell was a particularly Nasty Cluster of dirty White geysers Ris ing As High As the Pilot a general on the signal Bridge its about time the crack and thump of naval fire increased ahead of what had been an apparently aimless Cluster of Luis straightened out and spaced themselves bows toward the first wave like Black water passed us to they formed Between the on the signal a Sailor Bent Over a Chart stamped top covered with neat Little rows of Blacka Edwhite dots and squared assault on the crash of salvos and the duller Boom of bursting shells became shells whirred and whispered steadily the concussions slapped at our even the tops of the Hills were disappearing behind the on the deck below us Salty Lay his Chin rest ing on the lower he had Given up competing with the suddenly ahead of two dirty Black smudges appeared against the somebody Jap looks like a the skipper of the pc put on your the Jap dropped another 155 dead Center on an let at the extreme right of the first a free boat turned sharply and left a White Wake As it sped toward the but there were no sur least the free boat didst pick up any that we could the wave moved steadily burial Bonton i Kom Bjon tical i Tablas i foul Olocco and asked what they knew about White White two ashore at Little it seemed almost we certainly haunt surprised the had been bombarded for 48 hours preceding the maybe it was at any a Bare handful of diehard japs and very the initial assault at san shorts from Luzon by yank staff correspondents the japs had a new trick up their sleeves for the yanks who spent their first night in lingayen Gulf after the landings on hiding under floating crates and swim Ming japs approached our ships bearing hand when tossed at our these Gre Nades were about As effective As a blow by Caspar Milquetoast against the Chin of Joe and gis on guard and sailors on watch were startled by their ineffectual explosions in our armed with Tommy mis and car the men on guard break the dreary watches by peppering All floating objects with one Sci is credited with two cases of bully one Box of dehydrated potatoes and one can of tropical butter Landing on Robert Ward of knew that our treatment of the filipinos might be almost As important As our liberating but after two years of new Guadalcanal and the he was a Little dubious about his own reaction to so he came to the invasion toting a copy of How to win friends and influence White Beach three was a Nice Beach and the landings went off with scarcely a and in spite of civilian assurances that the japs had taken to the gis took no chances when it grew they dug and As the commanding officer crawled this Amtrak which four yanks Are giving the once Over was knocked by Jap artillery after crashing wait William Hoffman qm3c used to have parking troubles when he drove in to Wall Street in new York to do business at the Stock but none of them stack up to his problem on Nable Street Hoffman goes on record As the first Man to hit a Telephone pole with an Nable Street runs right along the River in and when Hoffman brought the big Landing Craft up the River at dusk to put the ramp Down on the Edge of the he just didst see the the collision didst harm the phone service of the neighbourhood because the naval bombardment had already put it out of dont know what this ship is coming said the the night before one of the Crew dreamed we had parked her on the main Street of his Home As our jeep pulled up to the blowup engineers were surveying the about 25 Yards from the Bank of the River the Crews of three a tracks sat waiting to ferry vehicles the sergeant had a pot of Coffee going and was putting on a can of water to boil a Hal dozen traded from a filipino we got out for a and perhaps some Coffee and the sergeant ignored our greeting to shout past you kids git off that youve Page 5 m i ask him can he yelled the my eggs aint he said to the hard boiled egg tasted very Good and the Coffee was the sergeant took us across the River when he went after the impatient jeep Market Day prices have not sky rocketed Here to the usual closing quotations on a few Staples on splus7 were one can of three k 5 to 10 or either half of a pair of for the lower half the Chicken is younger and originally for now in Exchange for enough soap to do the laundry plus the launderers the cake in a Box of 10m one usually two slabs of Coconut and Brown sugar wrapped in banana leaves for 20 the 10th of a one Kunit or from 10 to 20 Centavos for from one to half a dozen this Market is a Little the popular Brand is a colourless Nipa recently and so those who have tried it something like thin the prices vary in any the re sults guarantee a for a Sailor somewhat the worse for Wear and draped Over the rail of a grounded was seen to pass his hands across his haul seven Small bottles of Nipa lightning out of his shirt front and toss one after into the i san it Nando