Carl R. Thien
U.S. Army, I Corps, Headquarters Company with 201st Counter Intelligence Corps

In memory: Thien passed away February 27, 2007
Maternal grandfather of Justin Taylan founder of Pacific Wrecks.

Background
Carl Reinhard Thien was born March 5, 1918 to parents Reinhard H. Thien and Ottilie Augusti (née Rath) Thien in Brooklyn, New York. He attended high school and worked as a photographer.

Wartime History
On May 6, 1941 volunteered for the U.S. Army as a private with serial number 32118223 and underwent training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. Assigned to the 56th Signal Battalion he participated in the Carolina Maneuvers.

When the United States entered World War II, Thien was detached and sent overseas to Australia. Assigned to I Corps, Headquarters Company in Rockhampton in Queensland as a photographer and worked for the En Corps, the unit newspaper. Next, attached to the 201st Counter Intelligence Corps (201st CIC) for the rest of the Pacific War.

On April 22, 1944 Thien participated in "Operation Reckless" the amphibious landing at Hollandia in western New Guinea. He and his unit were based at Lake Sentani.

Pacific Island Odyssey pages 45-46
"The next day a few of us went ahead of the main party and got to the shores of Lake Sentani where an area was chosen for I Corps advanced Command Post. Some natives were recruited by Dee Paulus and Sgt. Kambi to clear the area before the main body would arrive. When we went back along the road to find the main body, it was decided to try to make the Lake before dark and just hunker down till the camp could be set up the following day.

As the chosen camp area was under a thick grove of coconut trees, it was hard to spot from the air, and allowed us a night of relative quiet except for the sound of "washing machine Charlie" flying through the night to search us out.

The camp area had been the home of a Dutch planter and had a small bungalow near the shore of the Lake. This building, with a large amount of cleaning made an ideal quarters for Eichelberger and a few of his personal staff. Trails from the camp led in several directions, including the main trail to Sentani Airfield.

The day after we arrived, a crew of hundreds of natives came into camp and started to cut underbrush and clear the ground of debris left by the Japanese. A few bodies were buried and abandoned supplies were distributed to the natives who helped in the cleanup. Drums of gasoline were used by our motor pools, and bags of rice were given to the natives. CIC was charged with examining all supply dumps to look for booby traps, which led to our stocking up on sake, crab meat and coffee."

Japanese Radar Dish
Cook got a report from G-2 that an infantry unit had found what they thought was a Japanese Radar unit on a hill overlooking Tanamerah Bay. We went back down to the beach and finally up in the hills to find the unit. It did indeed look like a portable radar, so we picked it up and brought it back to Headquarters. After careful examination by some scientific types it was concluded that this was indeed, a radar set, but the lack of sophistication of the unit seemed to show that Japanese research still had a long way to go before reaching the capability of the American system.

Pacific Island Odyssey pages 45-46
"[Captain] Cook got a report from G-2 that an infantry unit had found what they thought was a Japanese radar unit on a hill overlooking Tanamerah Bay. We went back down to the beach and finally up to the hiss to find the unit. It did indeed look like a portable radar, so we picked it up and brought it back to Headquarters. After careful examination by some scientific types it was concluded that this was indeed, a radar set, but the lack of sophistication of the unit seemed to show that the Japanese research still had a long way to go before reaching the capability of the American system."

Biak Island
Next, Thien served on Biak Island.

Mission to Noemfoor
Thien volunteered to participate in an overnight intelligence mission aboard PT 193 to locate friendly islanders on Noemfoor, to assist American forces in the upcoming invasion. After successfully completing the mission, the PT Boat engaged three Japanese barges, setting them on fire and sinking them, before becoming caught on a reef. The boat was scuttled and the crew transferred to PT 331.

B-24 Crash at Hollandia
"One day, returning from a ride in an A-20, I was passing a fuel dump near the airport when a B-24 [likely B-24D Liberator 42-72954] returning from a bombing run, was unable to reach the Sentani strip and crashed into hundreds of empty fuel drums. A few other nearby soldiers went into the dump to do what we could to help the downed flyers. Some of the empty drums were exploding, and others were starting to burn, but we could see the flyers trying to get out of the plane. We managed to bring three of them to the edge of the dump before a regular crash crew arrived and got the rest out. Several had been wounded before the crash, and couple more were badly hurt when when the plane grounded. The B-24 was still repairable after it was dragged out of the area and back to the airstrip, and we saw it the next week being worked on. We heard that most of the crew survived even though being severely wounded."

Luzon, Philippines
Thien landed at Lingayen Gulf on January 9, 1945 at San Fabian. His unit advanced to Rosales, where he was based for most of the war, going on missions around San Manuel and Villa Verde Trail. He participated in the liberation of Santo Thomas University during the Battle of Manila and liberation of Bagio.

Destroyed Japanese 2nd Tank Division Luzon
One of Thien's missions was to photograph destroyed Japanese tanks immediately after they were knocked out of action.

During June 1945, sent back to the United States for three months leave. On June 14, 1945 returned home to New York on Flag Day. On July 7, 1945 married Virginia "Ginny" Kelly. After the surrender of Japan, he had enough points and was honorably discharged.

Postwar
His first job after the Army was working as a photographer for the New York Post. The couple had four children: twins Linda and Carol, Dale and Carl. The family moved to Scotts Beach, Long Isand and worked as the head of public relations for Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). After retirement, Carl and Virginia moved to Spring Hill, Florida. In the early 1990s with the 50th anniversary of World War II and for his family, he wrote and self-published two books that were his wartime memoirs: 56th Signal Battalion (1991) and Pacific Island Odyssey (1993).

Memorials
Thien died on February 27, 2007 at age 88. He is buried at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, FL at section 1A row 8C, site 36.

Relatives
Reinhard H. Thien (father died September 1977
Ottilie A. Thien (mother died July 26, 1962)
Virginia “Ginny” Thien (wife died 2002)
Justin Taylan (grandson, founder of Pacific Wrecks)

References
NARA World War II Army Enlistment Records - Carl R. Thien
56th Signal Battalion (1991) by Carl R. Thien
Pacific Island Odyssey (1993) by Carl R. Thien
No Place For A Picnic (1994) by Justin R. Taylan
FindAGrave - Carl R Thien (grave)
National WWII Memorial - Search the Registry - Thien, Carl, NY