Open the introduction

 

 
 
 

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 -

 

 

Chapter I

Journals and Histories of the 503d

Chapter II

1 Sept '43 - Preparing for Nadzab  -  -  -  -  -  -

   

5 Sept '43 - Take-Off

   

2d Battalion Roster of Jumpers

 

 

17 Sept ' 43 - Port Moresby

   

16 Oct '43 - The Inspector General Arrives

   

22 Oct '43 - The Death of Col. Kinsler

 

 

 

Brisbane

 

 

Canungra Tropical Warfare School

Chapter III

5 Feb '44  - Alerted to move to Hollandia

   

17 Feb '44 - 2nd Bn at Camp Cable, Beaudesert.

   

Queensland Jungle Warfare School

   

1 April '44 - Alert

 

 

11 Apr '44 - Dobodura - Oro Bay - Cape Sudest

 

 

2 Jun '44 - Hollandia

 

 

4 Jun '44 - Cape Kassoe

   

11 Jun '44 - Morale Issues

Chapter IV

2 Jul '44 - Operation Table Tennis - Noemfoor

Chapter  V

9-15 July ' 44 - Patrolling begins

Chapter  VI

16-22 July ' 44  - Hill 390 - Hill 395 - Inasi - Hill 670

Chapter  VII

23-29 July '44 - Sgt. Ray Eubanks

Chapter  VIII

30 July -5 Aug ' 44 - Return to Namber

Chapter  IX

6 - 12 August '44 - Stragglers, Foragers and Cannibals

Chapter  X

13 - 19 August '44 - Patrolling to Menupuri -           Wounded!

Chapter  XI

20 - 26 August '44 - Permanent camp set up at Kamiri

Chapter  XII

27 August - 2 September '44 - Mission ends

     
     

 

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

 

NOVEMBER 1944

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 DECEMBER 1944

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JANUARY 1945

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Annexure I

One Bronze Arrowhead

Annexure II

Correcting the Official History

Annexure III

The Noemfoor Subway

 

 

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

 

 FEBRUARY 1945

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 MARCH 1945

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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
         
 

 APRIL 1945

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 MAY 1945

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  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
         
 

 MAY 1945

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 JUNE 1945

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  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
         
 

 JUNE 1945

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 JULY 1945

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  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
         
 

 JULY 1945

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 AUGUST 1945

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  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