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Military Service - continued
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“The next day there was a lot of movement off shore, just to the North of our position, and several LST’s landed with cameramen and reporters….standing in front of the last LST was "the man with the pipe," General Douglas Mac Arthur, with cameras firing off as fast as possible. He was about 100 yards from our position and that is where he made his famous “I have Returned!” statement.”
John’s unit stayed on that beach for two more days and nights under fire from enemy planes and troops on the ground. On the fourth day, they began to move inland. It took them two weeks to push through the center of Leyte Island to the east coast. When they finally got there they helped the people of the villages put their houses back together.
“Many of our soldiers were stricken by yellow jaundice and malaria. We received replacements and started moving to several other small islands, securing them and cleaning Japanese pockets of soldiers from them.”
“At about 06:45 A.M., we hit the shore of Luzon, (Manila) at Nasugbu.” John received the Presidential Unit Citation for his part in the Battle of Manila. “This operation covered almost one month…Then we rested for one week by scouting villages in and around our area. After the Manila operation, this area was always free of any Japanese aircraft.”
Not long after that, John’s unit was told they were going to be dropped into Japan to take and secure Atsugi Air Field just outside of Tokyo. On the flight over the senior officer on the plane told them “do your jobs again like we did in Manila and Nichols Field and we again would be the victors as We are the Airborne!” The men all yelled with him, then settled down, got some rest, and prayed.
“About four hours later, we were awakened and told that the atomic bombs had been dropped and that Japan was willing to surrender….. We all hollered and, after many handshakes and hugs, the officer told us we were headed back to Okinawa…..we all got on our knees and gave thanks. Many of us shed tears of joy!”
Now that the war was ending, there was a race to get to Tokyo. MacArthur wanted his favorites, the 1st Cavalry, to be there first.
John was chosen as part of the honor guard to go to meet MacArthur. When “Mac” and the 1st Cavalry arrived at Atsugi Air Field, John and the 11th Airborne were there to welcome them!
After the Surrender of Japan on the USS Missouri, John got his orders to go home. He arrived in Seattle December 24th, 1945 and about four days later got to Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. He was discharged February 1946.
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11th Airborne Memorial
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Angels Wings
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11th Airborne Patch
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Last Updated December 31, 2000 |
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