PROJECT - "BLESS 'EM ALL"

BLESS 'EM ALL
_________________
William T. Calhoun
Paul F. Whitman

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.

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.

Bless 'Em All is a 'contributative' history - a word coined to describe the compilation of decades of diverse documents sourced through the contributions of numerous persons, and first-person personal statements. It is a history which, we hope, speaks with many voices.

Particular research credit goes to John Lindgren and Don Abbott.

Whether or not Bless 'Em All can be published in its entirety in book form remains to be seen, but gradually chapters are being made available through this website.

The project seeks funding through Heritage Bn. membership and direct donation.

Paul Whitman

Use this Calendar system to navigate to a specific date, or just browse through the history of the 503d PIR & 503d PRCT

The Second Battalion, 503d
Tracing the 2nd Bn through the Early Days - Nadzab - including The Journal of Second Battalion Adjutant Jerry B. Riseley


	4The Test Platoon
	4The Original 503d PIR
	4Formation
	4The Adjutant's Journal
	4Mission Briefing - 4 September 1943
	4Markham Valley Report of Operations 26 Oct 43

	4Appendix 1 - The Court-Martial of Capt. Walsh
	4Appendix 2 - 2d Bn. Roster for Nadzab jump
	4Appendix 3 - The Great Firefight of Sept 5-6
	4Appendix 4 - Letter of Condolence - Pvt. Parker
	4Appendix 5 - 503d Parachute Infantry's Song

Port Moresby - Brisbane - Dobodura - Noemfoor - Operation Table Tennis
November 1943-November 1944 - Under Construction


Chapter I	4 Journals and Histories of the 503d
Chapter II	Sept '43 - Nadzab - Port Moresby - Brisbane - Canungra Tropical Warfare School - Oro Bay - Cape Sudest - Dobodura -
Chapter III	5 Feb-2 July '44 - "F" Co. Chronological History - Hollandia - Tanah Merah - Cape Kassoe
Chapter IV	Calhoun's Diary - Operation Table Tennis - Noemfoor -
Chapter V	1-14 July ' 44 - Lt. McNerney's S-1 Journal
Chapter VI	14-31 July ' 44 - Lt. McNerney's S-1 Journal
Chapter VII	1 -11 Aug ' 44 - Lt. McNerney's S-1 Journal

Under Construction	Navigation via date entries - 1943, 1944 & 1945 Calendars

Leyte-Mindoro - Operation Love III
November 1944 - 15 February 1945-

Corregidor
16 February 1945 - 8 March 1945 - The most successful parachute assault of WWII.

Chapter 1	16 February, 1945
	4The Landing
Chapter II	17 February, 1945
Chapter 111	18 February, 1945
	4The Night of a Thousand Hours
	4Night at Way Hill
Chapter 1V	19 February, 1945
Chapter V	20 February, 1945
Chapter VI	21 February, 1945
	4"E" Co & "F" Co.
Chapter VII	22 February, 1945
	4My Day With The Rattlesnakes
Chapter VIII	23 February, 1945
	4The Lost Road
Chapter IX	24 February, 1945
Chapter X	25 February, 1945
Chapter XI	26 February, 1945
	The Day of Tears
Chapter XII	27 February - 8 March 1945

	Appendix - Red Cross Man on Corregidor
	4Appendix - "D" Co. Roster, 16 Feb, 1945
	4 Appendix - "F" Co. Roster, 16 Feb, 1945
	4Appendix - The 2nd Lt - Dorval R. Binegar


	4Gallery - Tracing the Tokaido Road

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:

PHASE I 8 April 1945 - 12May 1945

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.

PHASE II 13 May 1945 - 9 June 1945

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.

PHASE III 10 June 1945 - 8 July 1945

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.

PHASE IV 9 July 1945 - 15 August 1945

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.

The Negros Campaign is presently linked through the 1945 Calendar Navigation system, commencing 8 April 1945, with a week to each page.

Extract 41Lt. Norman Turpin