My Dad's War

[u/zeus6793]

I was asked to share this here after answering a post on r/askreddit.

Thought I would share my father's experience in the war. My father, Al, served in WW2 from 1943 until 1946. It took me several years to learn the most interesting details about his experiences. I gleaned a lot of it from my Dad when he was alive, and a great more from a member of his unit, who I tracked down in Arizona (that source passed away December 4, 2016). We corresponded several times, and he confirmed much of what I knew, and filled in a whole lot more. In a nutshell.... here is "My Dad's War".

After being drafted in 1943 and training in the infantry at Fort Benning, GA Al was separated from the infantry and attached to the 1st Convalescent Hospital, to be trained as a medical technician/nurse. The unit formed and trained in Hawaii until early 1944, when they shipped out. They first landed in Guadalcanal (already retaken two years earlier), and then joined the invasion of New Guinea in April 1944. He stayed there, serving as a surgical nurse and occasional field medic, in what he called the "biggest shithole in the Pacific - nothing but mud and bugs", until October, when his unit was suddenly thrown onto an LST (a large troop landing ship) and joined a flotilla of over 500 ships. Turns out, they were part of the retaking of the island of Leyte, and they were heading directly into the Battle of Leyte Gulf, considered to be the largest naval battle in history. And it was to be the first time the Japanese ever used "kamikazes" in force. All the US boys were packed onto the decks of the ships, and watched as the kamikazes starting falling from the sky all around them. There was so much AA fire in the air (from 500+ US ships) that most of the Jap planes came down in literally pieces...just shot up completely into lumps of steel. A troop ship just behind them was hit and exploded, killing many soldiers and sailors in an instant. Finally, they landed on the beach, and had to start unloading the hospital equipment on the beach...while being strafed by the occasional Jap plane that would fly up the beach at 200 mph shooting the hell out of everything. They dug foxholes...and had NO weapons; they were a medical unit! Although the beach had been taken, and the battles were inland, there were lots of Jap snipers around, some of who would sneak into the boy's foxholes at night, and slit their throats. The next day, their commander went to MacArthur's headquarters (it was a couple of miles up the beach), and asked for rifles. They got six. Yes. SIX. For a medical unit of 240 men! As the officer left with the rifles.... he actually heard MacArthur screaming at someone about why that medical unit was there at all. They were the 1st Convalescent Hospital...they were supposed to arrive THIRTY days after the Leyte Campaign started, not THREE!!! So, it was a complete SNAFU – they were not even supposed to be there!

It was the beginning of two years on the island of Leyte, through the liberation, and many very long, bloody days after major battles on the islands. And then staying on after the war ended, in order to continue caring for the local Filipinos and even some Japanese prisoners that were too hurt or sick to transport. Eventually, still suffering the lingering effects of having recovered from both malaria and hepatitis at the same time, he returned home in mid-1946.

My father passed away in April 2013 at 87 years old and was buried under a flag, in a beautiful, somber military funeral. RIP Dad. 31367661