David I. Garrett, Jr. WHISTLE THE DEVIL
Oro Bay, New Guinea March, 1944
We sailed from Hampton Roads, Virginia, down the East Coast of the United States, through the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and out into the Pacific. The weather was cool at first, but once we reached the Pacific, the heat set in. Sleeping in a little "stateroom" of some eight by fourteen feet with eight other officers, with nine bunks, six stacked on one side and three on the other, became quite uncomfortable. The ship was of course blacked out, with no air coming in the portholes. We wound up most nights sleeping on deck, with our mattress pads and ponchos. Days were not bad, as there was always a good breeze blowing and we would be outside.Enlisted men bunked below decks, in rows of bunks stacked four and five high. Many of them chose to sleep topside also. The "comforts of home" did not exist. Only two meals a day were served. The officers ate in the ship's ward room and the food was fairly good. The troops were fed by way of chow lines and this food was also as good as could be expected.
We did our best to keep all hands active, mentally and physically, with classes such as map reading, aircraft identification and other skills, and with daily calisthenics. The days grew long and somewhat boring, but we had some reading material and a lot of tall tales were swapped. When we crossed the International Date Line, we had a big ceremony and initiation and all hands became "Shellbacks" and received identification cards as such. The Kota Inten was not escorted, but sailed alone the whole trip after leaving the Panama Canal. After a non-stop trip of forty-three days, we reached New Guinea.
Our original destination was Goodenough Island, off the northeast coast of New Guinea, but, due to an outbreak of scrub typhus there, we were diverted to Oro Bay, farther up the coast to the North and West, the area in which the Battle of Buna had taken place earlier.
The troops which had come over on the Kota Inten, together with other elements of the Division as they arrived, were deployed to an area several miles inland, near the village of Dobadura. We set up in a site which had earlier been occupied by elements of the First Cavalry Division, which had moved on North. The terrain here was flat and we were in a large open, grassy area, bordered by light jungle growth.
We established our Company area near Regimental Headquarters, set up pyramidal tents for the troops and the officers and began to get settled into what would be our base camp for our stay in this staging area.
The Division was spread out over a rather large area. By the time we arrived, Oro Bay had become a "melting pot" of American and Australian forces. A good network of decent roads had been built and there were a couple of airstrips. Some supply facilities had been established, as well as communication networks.
Oro Bay was at that time part of British New Guinea, and we were paid in Australian currency. An Australian pound was worth one dollar and sixty cents.
We were not located very near any active native settlements, but a few natives passed along the roads each day, going about their business. Most wore a minimum of clothing and very few of the women wore anything above the waist.Our training continued and we spent a lot of time on physical conditioning, getting used to the climate and getting the feel of the jungle.
About this time, I got word of a special unit being formed by MacArthur, the Alamo Scouts, whose job it would be to go in on islands prior to an invasion, to scout out the situation on the ground. When I expressed an interest in this unit and sought some information from the Regimental Intelligence Officer and gave him some more information on my background and training, he told me that he couldn't let me go. Instead, at age twenty, I was selected to recruit, train and lead a unit of Regimental Scouts, to act as a special strike force and intelligence gathering group behind Japanese lines.
I was given my pick of any twenty men in the Regiment and a free hand in equipping and training the unit. After interviewing men from all the various units who volunteered, I took two or three from Anti-Tank Company, including Sergeant Robertson, and filled out the quota with a fine group of men. We were affectionately, dubbed the "Jungle Platoon".
Before actually transferring these men and assembling the Jungle Platoon, I had the opportunity to attend a jungle warfare and survival school conducted by the Australians at Higatura Government Station, in the foothills of the Owen Stanley Mountains. In addition to the school, the Station operated a penal colony for native prisoners convicted of serious felony and capital crimes.
The Australian officer in charge was a Leftenant Ireland, formerly of the 39th Australian, which had come over the Owen Stanleys to relieve MacArthur's forces at the Battle of Buna. A contingent of Native Police was quartered at the Station, including a Sergeant Sonobe, who had led the 39th out of a complete encirclement by the Japanese two days in succession. For this he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration given by the Australian government.These "Police Boys", as they were known, wore short sleeve "T shirts" and knee length shorts of light weight wool, piped with reddish orange bands at the neck and cuffs. They carried Enfield rifles and sidearms and were barefooted at all times.
They were of course experts at tracking, jungle lore, stealth and all related skills. Often when we would be sitting around the fire at night, or talking near our tents, you would glance around and find one of them squatting within a foot of you and you would not have heard a sound as he came up. One of the exercises held by the school involved our being given one hour to hide and then having the Police Boys find us. It took them less than ten minutes to find all of us. They then took ten minutes to hide and we never found one of them.
Each afternoon at sundown the Police Boys would hold a retreat ceremony, lower the flag and march back to their quarters in a column of twos, with rifles "at the slope", the only sound as they passed being the rustle of bare feet in the dust, It was an impressive sight.
Our training was directed at skills that we would need to survive under combat conditions in a jungle environment, both offensive and defensive, at dealing with the natives and generally to familiarize us with conditions we could expect to encounter as we moved up into the combat areas. We also learned a little "Pidgin English", to allow us to communicate to some degree with the natives.
We learned what wild fruits, nuts and plants were edible and which ones to avoid. We learned something of poisonous insects and reptiles and what to do if these were encountered. The water in most of the streams was naturally purified by passing over rocky stream beds and through sunlight, but we what learned what precautions to take.
To simulate combat conditions, one exercise involved our passing through a valley between two hills and having percussion grenades thrown down towards us, but not close enough to harm us, to get the feel of fire and explosions in the jungle.All in all, the course offered at the school was quite vigorous and most helpful in preparing us for what we were to later face. On returning to the regiment, I began transferring the members of the Jungle Platoon and assembling and equipping the unit. We were quartered near regimental headquarters and shared its mess and other facilities. After getting everybody together and a week or so of "shake down" time, we began our specialized training.
Just about the time we got started, Sergeant Robertson was accepted for Officer Candidate School in Australia and left us. We hated to lose him, but this was good for him. Emphasis was placed on weapons, "hand to hand" fighting, map reading, including some instruction in Japanese map symbols and interpretation, jungle living, amphibious operations and other specialized skills we might need.
For one training period, we set up camp on the beach near where part of the Battle of Buna had taken place. As part of this exercise, we conducted familiarization training in the use of rubber boats for putting men ashore in small groups. One night when we were coming in to the beach in practice, I swung my leg over the side to drop into the water just as a fluorescent streak cut past me. At first I thought my paddle had made the streak, but realized that a shark had made a pass at my leg! We had to go in to knee deep water before we could shake him.
By the time we moved up the coast to our first combat area, we had accomplished a lot. In July, we got the word that we were moving up the Maffin Bay region, on the northwest coast of New Guinea. There was still some activity in the area, but our position was to be defensive as well as offensive, the latter consisting mainly of combat and intelligence gathering patrols.
Preamble | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
