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BLESS 'EM ALL
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William T. Calhoun
Paul F. Whitman |
Skip the introduction
Physical discomforts are superficial, and can be laughed at... later. It is
the mental trials that are seared in the soul.
The memory of those young men with whom he served will never end for
Bill Calhoun, and for more than fifty years he has been living with the
obsession to remind all who would listen of the brave who gave their lives for
us. |
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If Bill and I have any difference of opinion on whether history is
written to honor the dead or to educate the living, it's an amiable one.
It's both. But he's lost his friends to war, and I have not, though I am losing them now.
Bless 'Em All traces the 503d
through its inception, it's time in Australia, and through all its missions.
It also shows how the 503d went, within a few
months, from accomplishing the most successful parachute assault of the war to
exemplifying the most stupid use of elite paratroopers during WWII.
Bless 'Em All is the result of Bill's war experience in the 2nd Bn. of the
503d, but it doesn't end there. It is based upon a wealth of
materials - including official papers, daily reports and journals.
Through painstaking research these are supplemented with years of
correspondence with the men intimately concerned with the events concerned. In
so doing, he eclipses the official histories, and shows that they were
not always as accurate as good history should require. Particular research credit goes to John Lindgren and Don Abbott. Whether or not
Bless 'Em All can be published in book form remains to be seen.
Buy the Map! Paul
Whitman
Use this Calendar system to navigate to a
specific date, or to browse through a time period.
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Bill
Calhoun joined the 36th Div., Texas National Guard whilst in
high school, and enlisted in the Reserve Army Air Corps on 4 Jan
1941. To escape a permanent stateside posting he volunteered for
parachute training, and graduated 19 June 1942, being assigned to
the 502d PIR. He attended OCS and was posted to Brisbane
Australia, arriving January 1944. He had been a platoon
leader 11 months when he jumped on Corregidor . Thereafter he
became "F" Company Commander in Negros. He separated from the Army
in March 1946, but stayed a career reservist, retiring as a
Colonel. He practiced as a dentist (one flaw in an otherwise
creditable personality) in Comanche Texas for 42 years.
Paul Whitman is a retired lawyer. |
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The Second Battalion, 503d
Tracing the 2nd Bn through the Early Days -
Nadzab - featuring
The Journal of Second Battalion Adjutant Jerry B. Riseley
Port Moresby - Brisbane - Dobodura - Noemfoor - Operation Table
Tennis
November 1943-November 1944 -
Leyte-Mindoro - Operation Love III
November 1944 - 15 February 1945-
Corregidor
16 February 1945 - 8 March 1945 - The most successful parachute
assault of WWII.
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Chapter 1 |
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16 February, 1945 |
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The
Landing |
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Chapter II |
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17 February, 1945 |
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Chapter 111 |
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18 February, 1945 |
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The
Night of a Thousand Hours |
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Night
on Bailey's Hill |
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Chapter 1V |
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19 February, 1945 |
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Chapter V |
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20 February, 1945 |
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Chapter VI |
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21 February, 1945 |
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"E"
Co & "F" Co. |
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Chapter VII |
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22 February, 1945 |
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My
Day With The Rattlesnakes |
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Chapter VIII |
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23 February, 1945 |
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The Lost Road |
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Chapter IX |
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24 February, 1945 |
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Chapter X |
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25 February, 1945 |
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Chapter XI |
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26 February, 1945 |
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The Day of Tears |
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Chapter XII |
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27 February - 8 March 1945 |
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Appendix - Red Cross
Man on Corregidor |
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Appendix
- "D" Co. Roster, 16 Feb, 1945 |
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Appendix
- "F" Co. Roster, 16 Feb, 1945 |
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Appendix
- The 2nd Lt - Dorval R. Binegar |
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Appendix 6
- "Memories of a Tragic Day" - Letter Jack Herzig to Lou
Aiken & Don Abbott, 29 November 1990. |
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Gallery
- Tracing the Tokaido Road |
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NEGROS
8 April 1945 - 12 May 1945 - The most stupid use of elite paratroopers
during WWII.
The most logical and acceptable way to understand the
Negros mission is to consider it progressing through fours phases with
the approximate dates as follows:
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PHASE I |
8 April 1945 to 12May 1945 |
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Advancing across the plains eastward of Silay, along the "Tokaido
Road" and facing an enemy well equipped with automatic weapons
and well entrenched in the foothills, the terrain growing
steadily more rugged as we compressed them into the mountain
trails. It was a slugging infantry war, and the Regiment was
poorly supplied and poorly supported. |
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PHASE II |
13 May 1945 to 9
June 1945 |
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Moving to the other side of the mountain range
and ascending the mountain trails to contain the Japanese in the
rainforest areas into which they had been forced to flee during
Phase 1. It was constantly wet , hot and clammy during the day
and wet cold and clammy during the nights. Tropical diseases
reduce fighting effectiveness of the patrols, but intensive
artillery and effective mortar support can still be applied
against the Japanese strongpoints. |
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PHASE III |
10 June 1945 to 8
July 1945 |
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Moved to the west coast,
the Regiment is spread more than
sixty miles along the main highway towns which parallel the
coast, from Dumaguete in the south to Fabrica in the north east,
with many operations being conducted in very small groups. |
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PHASE IV |
9 July 1945 to 15
August 1945 |
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Constant patrols in force, some extending over
several days, directed east of the mountains into which the
Japanese had been pressed. A so-called 'mopping up' in which the
remaining Japanese forces, though splintered, actually outnumber
the RCT by a factor of at least two to one. |
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POST WAR |
7 August 1945 to 4
November 1945 |
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Patrols continue as word of the surrender
spreads slowly through the isolated groups of Japanese forces.
Groups surrender and are brought into camps, as much for their
protection from the Filipinos as to concentrate them for
repatriation. A feeling of surprise sets as it dawns upon the
RCT that the surrender has relieved them from continuing a
"so-called "mop-up" against a superior number of troops,
generally in good condition, well armed and well
positioned to fight delay and attrition actions. The
thoughts of returning home for some, or of going to Japan,
overwhelm the disappointment that non-paratrooper
replacements are arriving and the unit is to be rolled into the
11th Airborne. |
The Negros Campaign is presently linked through the
1945 Calendar Navigation system, commencing 8 April
1945, with a week to each page, through to the completion of
their presence on Negros.
The
Regimental Journals for Negros are available for perusal. Extract
1Lt.
Norman Turpin |
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