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6 Nov 1990
Hi Don,
I �dug� into my old foot
locker � vintage 1941 � and
I found my 5 year diary that
I started on 10 October
1942. On that date we
arrived in Kansas City, MO,
changed trains and
Barborick, Arbuckle, Dawith,
Balliet and I were assigned
to a compartment for the
rest of the journey to Camp
Stoneman where we arrived on
14 October 1942.
I do recall the events
rather clearly. I shall
relate my recollection of
the events immediately prior
to the �big bang.�
On 23 February, Company �A�
moved from Topside down to
Middle or Bottom Side and we
spent the day taking baths
and just generally cleaning
up.
On the morning of the 24th
February we moved to the
east side of Malinta Hill
and it was near the large
entrance that I was able to
acquire a 9mm Luger and a
Nio sword � (how foolish
that was now that I look
back!)
We moved some distance to
the east and formed a
perimeter for the night. The
1st platoon of
�A� Company moved around
Malinta to the north with
the two tanksand that was
where Tony DeLucia was
crushed by one of the tanks.
The tank gunners also killed
3 or 4 of our men at the
time.
In
Guthrie's book, it is stated
that on 25 February "C"
Company captured Water Tower
Hill. In my opinion it was
"A" Company who captuted it.
This is where and when
Lt. Sullens
was killed,
Harvey Hicks,
James Jordan
and
Alfred Balliet
were
also killed at this time.
None of the abovementioned
died immediately but they
were all so badly wounded
that they died. Hicks was in
a position with Sullens and
had his foot blown off.
Sullens was so badly hit
that he couldn't move. He
was talking but stated that
he was unable to be of any
help. Jordan was hit real
bad in the belly but was
able to tell us that he had
no further need for his
TSMG. Balliet was hit badly
in the upper left arm - I'm
sure it got into his chest -
and I lighted a cigarette
for him. I later discovered
when I was evacuated to
Subic Bay that Balliet had
died.
Barborich and I helped carry
a wounded guy back to the
aid station on the orning of
the 26th
February. All the �A�
Company had moved out toward
Monkey Point. When Barborich
and I finished our task we
took off to catch the
Company and they were
completely out of sight but
there was a lot of ammo
flying about, As we rounded
the bend, we came under
small arms fire so we
promptly dove into a ditch
on the righr side of the
road. We found the
Company!!!
Our artillery and the
offshore destroyer was
shelling the area in and
around Monkey Point. When
the shelling stopped we
moved out and, almost
immediately, came under
small arms fire again.
�A� Company guys ended up
quite close to the air
shaft, because there was a
Nip in the shaft who refused
to leave the shaft so he was
given the FT treatment.
There was a steep incline to
the west of the main
entrance to the N.I. T.
There were 10-12 Nips that
were coming right at us up
this steep incline. One of
the platoon from �A� Company
was assigned to provide the
tanks with protection as
they approached the tunnel
main entrance from the west.
It seemed to me that I was
standing on the road.
Henry Cook told me about an
experience he had while we
were on Monkey Point. He
said that he and one of the
very young replacements that
had joined the Company
looked over the very steep
drop off to the South of the
main entrance and they saw 5
or 6 Nips that were laying
in a row and that they were
still asleep. It seems that
the new replacement with
Cook had a brother killed in
he Central Pacific so Hank
pointed out the Nips and
told him to blast away. Hank
said that he got all of them
in just a few minutes. Sure
sounds like something Hank
would have done. |
