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

 

 Skip this introduction & Jump to the Index

Physical discomforts are superficial, and can be laughed at... later. It is the mental trials that were seared in Bill Calhoun's soul, and compelled him to tell his story.

The memory of those young men with whom he served  ended for Bill  with his death in 2014. But for some years previous, we had worked together in the telling of them, putting them on my free-to-air website, Bless 'Em All.

Bless 'Em All traces the 503d through its inception, its 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 based upon a wealth of materials - not just those of Bill Calhoun. It  includes official papers, daily reports and journals, and much more. Through painstaking research these are supplemented with years of correspondence involving the men intimately concerned with the events. In so doing, we eclipse the dry, official histories, and show that they were not always as accurate as good history should require. 

Particular research credit goes to John Lindgren and Don Abbott.

Websites are transitory things, they can disappear overnight. I still haven't found a way to ensure its continuity. Recognizing this, I set about my magnum opus, turning  Bless 'Em All  into a four volume publication.  It is the most comprehensive publication available on the 503d PIR, bar none.

Vol. I - Australia, New Guinea & Noemfoor
Vol. II - Leyte, Mindoro and preparation for Corregidor
Vol. III - Corregidor
Vol. IV - Negros

 It  is supplemented by a fifth volume, a Pictorial Companion, which features Bill Calhoun's private photographic collection, and his personal recollections.  The Companion can be read independently of the other four volumes.

The free-to-air website remains, accessable via the Index and the Calendar Logo on this page. Though I am not actively maintaining the website, I will make every effort to fix any links or issues you might refer to me.

If you are at all serious about studying Corregidor, I recommend you buy the Jump Map!

  Paul Whitman

 

This Calendar logo can navigate you to a specific date, or  time period.

           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. He died in 2014.

Paul Whitman is a privately retained corporate lawyer.