FP-1945GB-NF.DOC
Upon arrival at Apra Harbor, on the west central part of Guam, the ship dropped anchor in the large and very much protected basin. There was no dock as at Seattle and we were ferried ashore aboard a lighter – a large raft with a motor and rudder manned by a seaman. The lighter made many trips to shore before all had debarked the ship. From the high deck, we scampered down a rope net after rolling our duffel bags and other gear before us. One of the last men to descend on my flight was M/Sgt. Gerald Blank, the 93rd. Sqdn. First Sergeant. As his bag rolled down the rope ladder, a swell caused the lighter to part from the ship and his bag fell into the water. There was a loud cheer! Something like when the home plate umpire gets hit by a foul ball. Sgt. Blank was a good sport about it-, however.
After the war
ended I was able to buy a 35 mm camera at the PX and was able to refill cartridges from bulk
35 mm film from photo lab. Many of the
photos in this history were taken with that camera. The above is a composed of
multiple 35mm photos taken after the war from the vantage point of Mt Tenjo.
The negatives were developed with a Kodak home kit and rinsed using rain water
in iron helmet wash basin. Locally made
prints were later replaced with better quality prints upon return. DL
19th BG personnel on Guam who had been part of the prior Far
Pacific B-17 29th BG.
M/Sgt Blank is standing at left.
M/Sgt Conrad Marvel lower right contributed much of this history, DL
Safely ashore, we were met by 2 1/2 ton army trucks and transported to the future North Field (now Anderson Air Force Base) site some 15 miles away. When we arrived that afternoon on January 16, 1945, it was just a large clearing in the jungle. At that point, the Boy Scout manuals read many years ago became very helpful as I helped organize our pup tent city. Some of our people had never known why they were issued and carried a shelter half. We also had canvas folding cots delivered to us that afternoon and we prepared to spend our first night on DUVA.
Our cooks were perhaps our best organized. In a very short time they had erected a tent and had two field stoves burning and heated "C" ration beef stew which they served with dry biscuits and canned fruit cocktail for dessert. A simple, but. most appreciated meal for most of us. That was our beginning. On the first day a latrine slit trench was dug and Corp of Engineers continued to bulldoze the jungle back into gigantic windrows of coconut palm trees and other vegetation.
Marine squads were seen patrolling the nearby jungle and occasional shots reminded us that the remnants of the Japanese army was still lurking about. We mounted our own interior guard detail and soon learned to be wary of them more than the Japanese, after one of our fellows was shot in the hand by one of our own on night guard detail. Few made a trip to the latrine at night after that. Area lighting soon helped the situation. Our engineers erected some ingenious lights by splitting oil drums in half – along the long side and painting the inside white. A light socket assembly and wire hoisted up high on a standing tree trunk made a brilliant area light! A gasoline driven electric generator supplied the electric power and plenty of noise.
When rain water created ponds at our original locations, we soon upgraded our living accommodations by moving into larger squad size tents on higher ground. In a few weeks these tent, living and working quarters, would be replaced by more durable and functional pre-fab steel and plywood structures. These became living quarter huts, mess hall, war room/briefing building, plus office space for Operations, Communications, Intelligence, Personnel, Supply and our 19th BG CO. These were primarily constructed by our own personnel. Father Ray Coleman supervised as well as used a saw and hammer in the construction of a chapel building that was in use before Easter services in 1945.
Meanwhile, the Army Engineer road building crews and equipment were hard at work building the near-by airstrip. It was amazing how quickly an airfield was constructed from a jungle. Tall palm trees were felled very easily by the dozers because the root system reached down no more than 12 to 15 inches in the shallow top soil to the bedrock coral. This solid base was paved over by hotmix bituminous concrete and an 8500 foot runway with taxiway and hardstand aircraft parking apron was ready to receive the first B-29 as early as 5 February, if my recollection is correct. The first airplane to land there was a 7th Air Force B-24 flown by Lt. Gen. Millard Harmon, Central Pacific Air Commander and followed a few minutes later by the first B-29 piloted by Maj. Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, newly appointed commander of the 21st Bomber Command, of the 20th Air Force. All available personnel had been urged to drop everything and be present at the air strip to show appreciation for the hard work done by night and day effort to expedite this job. Both Generals addressed the gathering and then we all went back to work. Soon the B-29s of the 19th and 29th Groups would arrive to start the bombardment of Japan. The second parallel runway and facilities for the 39th and 330th Groups would be operational by mid-March to bring the 314th Wing to full strength. Less than one week following Gen. Harmon's visit for the North Field formal dedication, his airplane was lost over the Pacific on a trip to another island of his many commands.
Converting
Jungle to Home – Youth & Sense of Humor solve problems of
inconvenience. Japanese remained holed
up in these cliffs, about the north end of the island, until after wars end
About 10 February 1945, the first B-29s of the 19th and 29th Group began to arrive. While awaiting word of the Guam airfield readiness, they had polished their long range navigation missions by the Cuba flights and been issued last minute supply items that were to be airlifted. A few air echelon personnel accompanied the bombers, but most. were flown to Guam aboard C-54 Douglas transports and landed at Depot Field at the center of Guam. That airfield was later to be renamed Harmon Field in memory of the late General M. F. Harmon. Some hazing was due and came to the members of the air echelon who had escaped most of the inconveniences of primitive living during the start up days at North Field.
The island of Guam has been a U. S. possession since the Spanish American War and was the home port for the U.S. Navy Asiatic Squadron since that time, but was lost to the .Japanese in the opening days of hostilities with the United States following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It was good to see this American soil back into our hands. From it's recapture in July of 1944, Guam was transformed into a formidable fortress. 0n its 34 mile length and 8 to 12 mile width, five major airfields would be built. The Central Pacific Naval Command would be moved there. Marine Divisions would use Guam as a staging base for the invasion of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and prepare for the expected final invasion on Japan proper-.
Innovative Toilet Facilities – at right: Later deluxe model using steel helmets
Memories of Some Very Fine People
"Blinn's Clip Joint" read the handmade sign over the tent entrance. This was the makeshift barber shop in the 19th Hq. & 93rd area. On the morning of 9 March 1945. Major Sam Bakshas, Sqd. CO entered the tent and took a seat next to me on an empty bomb crate and started to read his mail. The barber, PFC Earl P. Blinn finished his customer and said "next." I deferred to the Major, in respect for his rank and more important responsibility. He shook off my invitation as is the custom in American barbershops. That was the last time I saw the Major because he failed to return with one of two 93rd. crews that were lost that night on the first low-level fire raid against Tokyo.
M/Sgt. Gerald A. Vogel resembled Ed Wynn, the Texaco Fire Chief. He was a bespectacled, balding curly haired man similar to the popular comedian. Jerry's coveralls reeked of 100 octane Aviation Gas as he took his place at the mess table. Yet, to be close to Jerry at meal time was a place most desirable. He was always of good humor and a marvelous story teller and buoyed up the spirits of all, even when he was dog tired from the long dangerous hours directing the Sqd’s. refueling trucks. I can't recall any accidents in refueling the 8,000 gal normal fuel load to each airplane under his charge.
Major Henry C. Janin, 19th Intelligence Officer, mounted the platform for his portion of the proceedings, at the afternoon briefing prior to the first major low-level fire raid at Tokyo on 9 March 1945. He was very nervous as he fumbled with his notes and charts that T/Sgt. Frank (Marty) Martisus and I handed him in the crowded circus tent (temporary briefing room). His part of the program was to alert the flight crews to the enemy defenses. His anxiety was perhaps not so much caused by the 400 heavy guns protecting the Tokyo flyway, but by the presence in the front row of aircrews of Brigadier General Thomas S. Power, 314th Wing CG and Col. John A. Roberts, 19th CO. Major Janin, then made an unconscious blunder - he said, "from where I see it, it won't be too bad for you. You will be exposed to the guns for only four minutes as you glide over the target." Marty was facing Col. Roberts as Janin said that and noticed the Colonel steel with anger. On a subsequent mission to Nagoya, Maj. Janin's name was added to the loading list for a day mission (where he could see the flak). Janin was the only man injured in the group that day. He suffered a disabling wound to his foot and was sent home after a short stay in the Guam army hospital.
Major Janin was a kindly old man, a fatherly type to all of us; a man perhaps well into his fifties who felt the need to serve his country and certainly should never have been sent overseas to be exposed to danger. After the Major had been sent home, Sgt. Martisus observed that a 200 lb. bomb sent in his stead would have accomplished more.
