VOLUNTEERING TO BE A PARATROOPER
night raid resulting in the first casualty of our unit. The fellow who died was my friend, Horowitz. That is when I learned his first name, William Horowitz. We were told he got out of his foxhole during the skirmish and was shot. The Sergeant who told us this took the time to use it as a training exercise and drill into our heads, “Never get out of your foxhole in the night. Never ever!” From my experience, it is far more likely my friend was shot by our own troops. After I had returned from the war, I tried to find his family but to no avail. In 2013, my grand- son, Jason visited The American Military Cemetery in the Philippines and found his monument. On Jan. 1st, we left Noemfoor in antici- pation of the invasion of Luzon. Jan. 2nd, in preparation, the army did a training mission to practice a beach landing. They chose a small island off the coast of New Guinea, called Japan Island, in Geelvick Bay. The exercise turned out to be a comedy of errors. The seas were choppy. The men got seasick. The boats landed on the wrong beach; it was more like a jungle thicket than a beach. We went inland and came to a stream about thirty feet wide. Our Staff Sergeant raised his rifle in the air and yelled, “Follow me!” He then took one step into the stream and disap- peared below the surface of the water, I mean all the way, holding his rifle high. The rest of us almost died laughing. The mission was scrubbed, and we returned to the boats. LINGAYEN GULF / LUZON / PHILLIPINES Jan. 4th, 1945, we became part of the largest invasion force ever assembled; it collected in Lingayen Gulf for the invasion on Jan. 9th. It was given the name S-day and consisted of 15 divisions with 175,000 soldiers. Ships were everywhere. Planes guarded the air. Kamikaze air strikes were harassing our ships. The full force of America was thrown into this battle. General MacArthur was on one of those ships. He was returning just as he foretold. To give you a perspective of the scale of the invasion force, 156,000 Americans stormed the beaches of Normandy during D-Day.
28 Sept, ‘44, from time to time, opportunities required quick decision-making. I was told that the paratroopers were looking for medi- cal personnel to dive with them. At the time it seemed like a good idea. My report shows a perfunctory list of health responses, ending with an assessment of my character as “Full and Bounding.” I was 20 years old and in the prime of my health. I felt like I could do anything. By the time my request was received the position was filled. Later, I learned a little joke that is a little more than a joke, “When the Army asks you to volunteer for something, don’t ever do it.” The paratroops deployed and our medical center was ready. There were an unusually high number of injuries. I was one of the guys that helped treat these guys.
BOB HOPE NOEMFOOR ‘44 - LOEW’S MALARIA CIRCUIT
In ‘44, comedian Bob Hope visited Noemfoor to entertain the troops. Here is an excerpt: “What a beautiful swamp you have here. It’s a top-secret base. Even the snakes can’t find it. If you wanna hide from your draft board, this is the place to do it.” During this trip, The Gypsies, his enter- tainment group logged more than 30,000 miles in the South Pacific, giving more than 150 performances on remote backwa- ter islands in places like Eniwetok, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Saipan, and Majuro. Hope called it, “Loewe’s Malaria Circuit” or “The Pineapple Circuit.” At one show, the troupe found out that a Japanese soldier had been killed a few hundred yards from the stage.
SJORIBOE AREA / NOEMFOOR 17 NOV 44 - 31 DEC 44, 6 WEEKS
The army is always in a hurry to wait. Platoon 1 moved to the island of Noemfoor, which is located in the part of New Guinea called The Netherlands East Indies. Nov. 17th we rejoined them, regaining our full strength. During the morning reveille, we were told about a Jap
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