European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 24, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse The Bushmaster were jerked out of the 45th division in i and sent to Panama to play with experimental tropical hit the Pacific and got the Chance to test their Jungle training in by Dale Kramer yank staff correspondent the in the 158th regi mental combat team was streamlined out of the 45th a Little More than three years after that some of the Origi Nal Arent Many of them left were sitting under the Coconut Trees of speculating on who had it they or the rest of the which had wound up in of said Oscar Seboria of when they hit they hit it they saw Sicily and and Cassino and and what was left of them smacked up through Southern France and kept going until i hear they ended up in nothing easy about but on Miles covered and Camps i expect weve got pm in the course of covering those the 158th spent five months of almost continuous that period had ended not too Long and the men of the Well known for their Rug were not ashamed to admit they were they had a number of place names to match against Cassino and Anzio and Southern France the memory of the bitter struggles for Blue and the Ridge called and the one that was named was still Sharp and their cd named that last coming up to this said Hanford Macnider to one of his i read a Book called for Ever it was the dirtiest Book i Ever this has been the dirtiest fight Ive Ever Well Call that Amber and the pass through it Well Call Amber the old timers in the outfit could recall the initial blooding at on new Britain they remembered on new and they could still shut their eyes and picture the great piles of dead left after the Banzai charges of Noem foor the newest men in the outfit had their too they had the wild night ride through flaming Manila to and the Chase to strike the japs in the Hills of and the heartbreaking attacks up the Draga Cajilig ridges after the Landing at t with the Job of cleaning out Biol pen insula on the Southern tip of Luzon almost com the 158th had Cut thick Coconut logs and Bamboo poles and had built Camps in the Large scale Jap resistance on Biol Peninsula ended with the Clearing of the Baraga Cajilig area a month after the suicide of the Jap com a naval officer named but there were other Hills Over which the 158th had to walk and and fight its fairly yank the army weekly August 1945 be regular Servings of ice Cream at every i said Paul that the boys can stay Here longer than we generally were allowed to Hole Rodriguez is one of the originals of the which started out As an Arizona National guard Hes got 110 Points and Hes hoping hell soon follow Home the rest of the surviving Mem Bers of the original e All of them mexicans from weve always been on the he con we built an area at fort and right away were Down in Texas building another one at Camp we hit the 41 Louisiana and by the first of the year we were in the rest of the 45th didst leave the states until a yearn Dahal in was in Panama that the 158th picked up its shoulder Patch insignia and its the Patch shows a Bushmaster Snake coiled around a the Bushmaster several things to its or depending on whether you Are a its the biggest poisonous Snake in and it carries around More venom than any other pit Viper in the the 158th thinks the outfit has lived up to its the Bushmaster spent All of 1942 in Panama As part of the Panama Mobile they built defens Sand manned shifting Camps a dozen part of the time the men served As Guinea pigs for various Jungle boots and packs were tried out on and they tested flotation Jungle camouflage and Ink and paste for face we were the end men characters people used to see in the newspapers Back in the said if anyone Ever smeared that stuff on his face for i never heard the Only thing resembling action in Panama was a pitched Bee Garden Battle in a town near one of the the engagement was fought with men of the old army on one Side and selectee on the the old army men had come into the 158th from the 5th in Fantry when that outfit had been streamlined out of the regular 9th the old army Guys and the draftees fought it said Joe of Hes an old 5th infantry Man but Hes a most of the National guards rooted for the new that was the Only real blow up after we worked together and later on fought together that sort of stuff died when the Bushmaster boarded ship Early in january 1943 and pointed they figured they were headed for action either in new Guinea or they landed at Bris some with the proper title of the withdrawal into the Camps was slow enough so that some companies of the 158th were out chasing japs while others were being under of the nomenclature of Clos order there were the Hilly country was the towns and Barrios in the area had not been badly beaten the girls in the neighbourhood were not in and fiestas were maybe the liquor want so but it was chickens and eggs were and an ice truck made the rounds of the kitchens every worked up a reputation for being Handy with the no outfit could Cut out a new Guinea staging area for thousands of troops like we did at Milne Bay and escape by late june the Bushmaster had definite information that their turn had big words were in the air amphibious operation assault everyone was talking about the strange boats whose bellies opened or ends flopped Down to disgorge troops and be the Bushmaster got ready to hit the it was quite a Landing when it Smith we went into Kir Iwina Island on july we had lists and lots and it was the first or maybe second operation for the Navy Guys and they herded those boats in like they were a Bunch of we had our Barracks bags and the officers had their bed Only Good thing about that Landing was the Lack of next time we hit a those Navy Guys took the boats in like what a change the Kir Iwina such As it had to satisfy the Bushmaster for a they kicked around Kir Iwina and Goodenough Island and Wood Lark Island and cutting Brush and building Camps and engaging in that great Trade of the combat they unloaded ships and loaded trucks and then unloaded the old Bushmaster Are Likely to speak of Sari a their first for the reason that the show at Akrawe new was Short As combat on two years after leaving the the 2d battalion went ashore at Akrawe in support of the 112th regiment combat nine Days with support from Marine Amr the 2d advanced cracking the line and ending organized resistance in its at on the other the 158th came up against a japanese army which was at first thought to be a Sari taught the Bushmaster to hit with every last ounce of it was the kind of fighting where Cooks and Bakers and typists go into the on May elements of the 41st division hopped up the new coast above recently secured Hollandia and put artillery ashore at Toen to Shell Wake two Days later the Bushmaster went in at their Job was to hold the japs on the Mainland while the 41st took afterwards they were to push up to not Only were there a hell of a lot More japs at Sari than anyone said Bill an i company squad Leader from Charles which dismayed no they but they were six feet tall Iai t moved into reasonably comfortable quarters at Camp this state of affairs be expected to after a few during which they had very Little time in the Bushmaster packed themselves into ships this time the smart Money was on a mountainous Region above Buna the aussies were Liwe didst go to said Robert an i company platoon it looked like be ing called Bushmaster meant we were to go there was a Strong Rumor that there would soon on cutting Bush its no wonder we army publication by Branch c education War 205 42d a fret on rat at Mamer july at port at act of March and the Nastiest Ive run they figured they had us and they pretty near a big Hump covered with a thick stand of Trees and thicker undergrowth Rose along the it was Bushmaster but the japs knew their Way around in the a Good part of the time the japs and the Bushmaster were on top of each other without this confused state of affairs was responsible for making Dan French a although it prevented him from taking anything but the dimmest View of the French was a bar in f the entire membership of which had been drawn from the Phoenix Indian York Page 3
