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.
|
|
|
S
|
M |
T |
W |
T |
F |
S |
|
|
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
|
Chapter 1 |
|
16 February, 1945 |
|
|
The
Landing |
Chapter II |
|
17 February, 1945 |
Chapter 111 |
|
18 February, 1945 |
|
|
The
Night of a Thousand Hours |
|
|
Night
on Bailey's Hill |
Chapter 1V |
|
19 February, 1945 |
Chapter V |
|
20 February, 1945 |
Chapter VI |
|
21 February, 1945 |
|
|
"E"
Co & "F" Co. |
Chapter VII |
|
22 February, 1945 |
|
|
My
Day With The Rattlesnakes |
Chapter VIII |
|
23 February, 1945 |
|
|
The 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 |
|
|
Appendix
- "D" Co. Roster, 16 Feb, 1945 |
|
|
Appendix
- "F" Co. Roster, 16 Feb, 1945 |
|
|
Appendix
- The 2nd Lt - Dorval R. Binegar |
|
|
Appendix 6
- "Memories of a Tragic Day" -
Letter Jack Herzig to Lou
Aiken & Don Abbott, 29 November 1990. |
|
|
Gallery
- 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 as progressing through four distinct phases with
the approximate dates as follows:
|
|
|
|
|
|
PHASE I |
8 April 1945 to 12 May 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 to 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 to 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 to 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. |
|
|
|
POST WAR |
7 August 1945 to 4
November 1945 |
|
|
|
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 |