Morotai Island, Netherlands East Indies Late November, 1944
On returning to Morotai after the Mapia Islands
operation, we set about getting personnel and equipment in order. We
had brought back the two tanks which had been knocked out and turned
them in to Ordnance for salvage and all of our casualties had rejoined
the Troop, happily recovered or recovering, except Corporal Gulledge.
We took a couple of weeks off from patrols for a well-deserved rest.
I took the opportunity to recommend a number of my
men for decorations and two for combat commissions, Sergeant Johnny
Johnson and Sergeant Clarence Curb. Johnson got his commission, but
Curb's was turned down. Most of the recommendations for decorations
were granted. At the request of my men, I was recommended for the Silver
Star and a combat promotion. I was awarded the Bronze Star with "V"
device and a combat promotion to First Lieutenant.
Things went along in fairly routine fashion for the
next few weeks, with a few short patrols and numerous early morning
one plane air raids by the Japanese air force stationed on Halmahera.
Their main target was our airstrip, at which by now were based a rather
large force of long range bombers and fighters, flying daily missions
to the north.
In late December, someone at headquarters decided it
would be a good idea to try to clear the remaining Japanese from the
interior of the island by making a drive from our end of the island
to the north and east and setting up a large ambushing force at the
other end of the island. The Recon Troop got the job of setting up the
ambush.
The plan was for us to patrol in force ahead of the
"drive" and catch the Japanese at some point inland. We felt
that this plan was not likely to succeed, as driving the Japanese through
the jungle and hills was going to be like picking up water with a fork,
but we got ready to try it. As it turned out, we were right, but we
had an interesting adventure. On Christmas Day, 1944, we packed up for
a patrol of some sixteen days an1d pulled out the next morning as planned,
starting just beyond the perimeter line and moving towards the far end
of the island.
After some fourteen days of patrolling from the beach
into the hills and back, moving towards the far end of the island, we
reached a point on the beach just below the village which was our destination
and rendezvous point for pick-up by sea. During this period, we had
been supplied with rations, and sometimes mail, by airdrop, and had
also lived off the land in some cases, where we found corn and taro,
the native potato, in the natives'gardens. In one airdrop, I got word
that my combat promotion to First Lieutenant had come through. This
was good news.
From this point, we could see the village, perhaps
three-quarters of a mile up the beach. The beach was about seventy-five
yards wide, with a high bank on the inland side. We saw no suspicious
activity, but I felt that we should not start the whole patrol up the
open beach until we verified the safety of the situation and new that
all in the village was friendly.
The Troop Commander was with us on this patrol, but,
being the most experienced, I was leading and calling the shots. Directing
the patrol to remain under cover, I told the group that I was going
to walk up the open beach alone and make contact with the village, and
that if I did not encounter a problem, they should follow. As I stepped
out onto the beach, "Whitey" Durst, one of my best men and
a very good friend, who had been with me in the Anti-Tank Company and
the Jungle Platoon, and somehow managed to follow me to the Recon Troop,
said "I'm going with you Dave". We made the walk up the beach
together.
The approach to the village was uneventful and the
villagers came out to meet us as we got closer. We soon verified that
all was well and signaled the patrol to come on in.
When Whitey and I reached the first group of villagers, we were escorted
over to big wicker chairs, of the type found on inter-island ships,
and given little cups of sagoaire, a native wine made from the berries
of the sago palm. The taste was like that of a fine sauterne, but it
was much more potent. An ancient crank phonograph was brought and the
music produced seemed vaguely familiar. I suddenly realized it was "Red
Sails In The Sunset" sung in the Malay language!
After the rest of the patrol joined us, we all went
on into the village, where we were warmly greeted. This particular village
seemed to enjoy a higher standard of living than most we had seen and
all of the people appeared healthy and well fed. The huts were well
constructed and clean and the Chief and one or two others had dwellings,
which could really qualify as small houses.
We had reached our pick-up point some two days ahead
of time, and the natives took the occasion to give us a big feast, with
all sorts of food laid out on tables in the village street. There was
chicken, taro potatoes, cut in strips and fried in coconut oil, a cheese
dip of goat's milk cheese, various native fruits, fish, bananas and
some other items we couldn't identify. They had no tea, but served little
china cups of hot water with the food.
At night, they entertained us with native dances, under
the light of coconut oil lamps made of conch shells, hung in the trees
and on posts. The women, small stature, were dressed in long skirts
that came down to the ground and long sleeved blouses with high collars.
All very proper and chaste. Some of the men took us out for rides in
their outrigger canoes and showed us how they could hit the water beside
the canoe with paddles and cause fish to jump into nets spread on the
outrigger. All in all, it was a storybook experience.
Several amphibious craft picked us up the second day,
and returned us to our base camp. Patrol activities for the next couple
of months were routine, intended only to keep track of what was going
on in the areas nearby the perimeter, and, in early 1945, we turned
in the amphibious tanks and were equipped with armored cars and jeeps,
three armored cars and six jeeps to each platoon.
We knew that we would in due course move on up to the
Philippines, and would be involved with land warfare, instead of the
amphibious operations with which we had been involved so far. The armored
car was a six-wheel vehicle, heavy, with a powerful engine, open, rotating
turret manually operated, and mounted a 37 mm cannon, with a coaxial
mounted 30 caliber machine gun. The driver and radio operator were up
front, behind armor plate.
Training in the armored cars, with maneuvering exercises
and firing of weaponry, with additional attention to related basics,
such as map reading, continued through about March, when we learned
that our next destination was Mindanao Island in the Philippines. We
prepared for moving up in early April.
Preamble
| Part 1 | Part 2
| Part 3 | Part 4
| Part 5 | Part 6
| Part 7 | Part 8 | Part
9 | Part 10 | Part
11
