-8-
By the time I was released from the hospital the 503rd had returned to Mindoro
where replacements were waiting to fill in the many slots which had been vacated
by casualties on Corregidor.
From Mindoro the Combat Team was sent to Negros where they remained, fighting
the Japanese
there
who had been bypassed by the advance from Leyte to Luzon and Corregidor. This
fight continued until the Japanese Empire collapsed in August. After the end of
the war it took several days for the local Japanese to believe it was all over.
When they surrendered a total of 7,500 came in and laid down their arms. At its
peak strength, the 503rd had about 2,700 Officers and men.
I was given orders for rotation back to the States in October and was sent to
Leyte to await a ship. With many people being released, shipping was at a great
premium and it took six weeks before the Admiral Hugh Rodman came into
Tacloban harbor. This troop ship looked like a modern cruise ship. It was only
its second cruise.
Unlike many of my
friends,
I opted to get out of the service immediately and was separated at Fort Lewis,
returning to my home in Portland, Oregon.
The 503rd was disbanded in November 1945 so there was no continuing organization
to fall back on. As the years went by I had no contact with anyone I had known
in the service. Over the years I often thought of the people I had served with
and the fantastic battle which had been fought on Corregidor. In 1967 I read the
book Corregidor, the Saga of a Fortress, written by the Belote brothers,
William and James. The Belotes had done an outstanding research job and told the
story of Corregidor from its earlier days, during the siege by the Japanese and
its liberation by the Rock Force in 1945.
Regardless of my interests in Corregidor, I did nothing about it until after I
retired from business. In 1984 my wife and I traveled to Australia and visited
our old campsite outside Cairns, North Queensland. There the people told me of
the 503rd Parachute RCT, WW II Association and gave me the addresses and phone
numbers of people to contact. Upon return to the States I contacted the
Association and have been active in it ever since.
Don Abbott
|