European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 21, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse And once in while passes in the the pubs were open from 10 to 6 and some of the Guys Learned How to drink which Are half port wine and half Beer and All we we rent there Long enough for anybody to get but everybody had plenty of Fox company was not delirious with Joy when the 148th moved up to the Fiji to rejoin the we had nine months of the crudest training you Ever heard says we dug More holes around Suva than there Are craters on the while Fox company and the rest of the division prepared unknowingly for the new Georgia the 129th infantry moved to Espiritu one of the few Illinois National guardsman left in the Leroy Harley of spent six months there with the in Halley be the Island could be something of a All coconuts and he Nice swim Ming and things like Halley at that was a master sergeant in the regiments service company he was busted in Manila for something to do with a truck and he admits that for most of the regi ments what with their details on the docks and guarding airstrips through the stay on Espiritu Santo was not exactly a new Georgia was no pleasure resort in any even before hitting the Fox com while on a Small Peninsula of Bendova is land opposite new had a bad foretaste of what was the area was crowded with our artillery and Supply says John John of wheel Jap planes raided us four or five times a the Coral was so Tough we dig into we actually were glad to shove off for new the 3rd battalions of the 145th and 148th joined the Marine raiders to land at new georgias Bai Roko the 1st and 2d battalions of with All the 161st act joined the 43d division in its drive for the Munda John thinks that none of the men will Ever forget their baptism by fire on Horseshoe we took the Ridge without too much he but then the japs really plastered the Only water Hole was a bomb Crater shared by us and the every time we needed water it took a major assault by the entire company to get to the Hole and get new Georgia was really it rained All the time and everybody had and the japs were raising hell All the time and nobody was used to we had More psychos on new Georgia than we have had altogether since on new Fox company favorite Aid Frank Petracca of lost his lift while saving those of some of his he was awarded the congressional medal of he was really a swell says he was the biggest Clown in the smiled and joked All the tune All the time tried to talk us into letting him go on patrols As a from new Georgia the 37th went to Guadal canal for two months rest and or As Rishel puts mostly we were offered three Day passes to Tula i to go Over and eat some of the navys ice says the most of the Guys took the but they didst even bother to leave the company just hit the bunks and we had a Parade every the 43d division went Down to new zealand for reorganization and gis in the 37th thought they could take a Little of but they thought wrong the 129th infantry came up from the new hebrides and a week later the division was combat loaded for Bou it went ashore on Halley of the the Man who looks upon Espiritu Santo As a possible summer ideas about you print what we thought of it in your he it was just a Muddy Jungle with everything bad about it that could be Bougainville was a Small beachhead at pm press Augusta Bay protected with an elaborate perimeter and containing an intricate system of wires and every sort of a service outfit for the rear it was bakeries and movies and occasional three Anserman Beer buying officers Blac Market if you wanted to pay that much it was also air raids that sent you from Ham mock or cot into a Slit Trench five or six times a it was the constant rumble of it was myriads of snapping ants and mosquitoes and centipedes whose sting was so bad they made a litter Case out of More than one for the line companies it was All that and it was patrols Over mountains and icy Rivers and dripping it was being con stantly drenched by Rivers and at night it was sleeping in vat refilled Slit trenches with a shelter half around your head to discourage the but it was also getting Over the fear complexes of new it was learning that the japs were not so hot after that our patrols could catch and Knock out More japs than the patrols could catch and Knock out it was learning that the Jap Soldier As often As cocky and foolish and will walk into an it was sitting behind perimeter and letting the japs come up and then blasting hell out of them with rounds of 105 and 155 in a single it counting Over Jap dead in half the concentration area the next it was gaining Confidence in yourselves and your officers and knowing How artillery and air Power can it was it was also the Xiv of which the 37th was then a finally turned Bougainville Over to the and the division was again combat from Christmas eve of 1944 through new years Day a week later the division sat on ships at the navys admiralty islands Anchor each Man getting ashore twice to play Ball with the Navy and drink a Little the Luzon Landing came on the 37th went in at Dagupan without hitting hardly any thing and then drove for it ran into its first opposition in the Hills near Clark Luzon largest air leaving the 129th in Fantry to guard the mar in that area and generally clean out the 145th and 148th infantry leapfrogged each other straight on Down the Luzon Valley to the 129th joined them there the 1st cavalry didst beat the 37th into Manila by a great while the de horsed in Fantry released internees at the Santo Tomas concentration the 37th fought through to liberate other civilians and pcs at Bilibio just entering the Charlie company of the 148th infantry slugged through a gruesome scrap to drive the japs out of Paco where the enemy had holed up in Concre Teand Marble the 148th also fought the Battle of the Balint Awak punching holes in vats and drinking Helme Fuls of elements of some Hal dozen divisions fought in Manila before the Campaign was but primarily the Job belonged to the the division knocked Down the Walls of Manila famed walled marking the first Lime in five centuries that this fortress had been successfully Fox company of the 148th infantry was the assault and it followed the preceding barrage so closely that some shells were still in the air when the signal was Given to shove Wallace Mcneil of Iron was first Man into the main Gap in the first first he but he want first he was Lucky first out were the casual the 37th also cleaned out most of the government buildings just outside South of the pasig the 148ths Charlie company sweated through its toughest Job in the legislative fighting on the top stories while a fire raged on the ground floor right it lost some of its men when fire exploded one of its own 155 other units cleaned out the fishpond area around the North Harbor wading through water up to their by the time the fighting part of the Battle of Manila had people were saying that the 37th was washed that it would be out of action for a Long the division had suffered almost when the fighting slacked some battalions were Given my Brassard and put to work restoring order in the most of the divisions gis figured they probably would be doing that for months to but almost immediately after Manila 129th infantry hit the Road for Baguio to help out its old brother regiments of the 33rd they had been fighting there in the mountains for the making a run around got in first and put up a sign Reading Welcome 33rd Down in the Manila after getting five weeks of my damned duty since new of the 145th were sent in for what turned out to be the Tough est of Fox company Many attached to the 6th they went into the Wawa dam sector on april and were assigned to a Sec Tor on when the 6th division was relieved by the the 145th infantry stayed Fox company was on the Mountain for a it went in with 128 men and came out with Jap 155s did most of according to Frank Ward of Benton one of the Paca Wagan was worse than new Bougainville and Manila you never heard of did you Ward is Likely to ask a Little i guess no one while we were up there the War in Europe i imagine people at Home were too Busy celebrating that to read about places with names like compared with the and even the 37ths last which was the 225mile hike up the Layagan Valley to link with the Lith was something of a it was notable chiefly for the number of prisoners brought the total at last count reached the captures became a routine beyond a Popup could pitch a phosphorus grenade into a dugout and flush out As Many As nine they didst offer a bit of in one a Jap volunteered to go Back Down into the dugout and pitch up his squads belongings so that the patrol could make its Choice of later a i in the divisions g2 language Section told this gang of japs to dig Foxholes for the whole the japs obliged promptly and dug deep Treyve had a lot of an interpreter after its linkup with the Lith the division Drew the Job of patrolling the Mountain trails up which the japs had scurried from the these patrols were rarely in anything More than company it was Popup the rest of the division loaded in bivouac talking mostly about the new Point wondering when divisions from Europe were coming to relieve wondering where the next Landing would the mopping up and the loafing and the won Dering stopped abruptly when the rumours mounted to a Peak and suddenly there really was the men of the 37th had been ready for a heavyweight Job on their next but you find anybody beefing about missing the army publication issued weekly by Branch information a education Wai 205 fail 4m York reproduction rights restricted As indicated in the Masthead on the entered second class matter july at the Pott office at new under the act of March subscription Price printed in the Page 4
