My dad was in the Coastal Artillery and was in New Guinea for the
battle of Milne Bay or just after the battle. (The battle of Milne
Bay (25 August-7 September 1942) was the first defeat suffered by
Japanese land forces during the war in the Pacific, and prevented
them from establishing a base at the eastern tip of New Guinea.) The
Aussies are the real heros of this battle. Anyhow, the men lived in
tent like structures there. One day one of his buddies shot dad's
boot first thing in the morning. Turns out there was a snake in the
boot. Sure wish I could pin down exactly when dad was there, but
records went up in smoke at the government repository years ago.
Supposedly, dad's men were harassed by 5 O'Clock Charlie, but as I
study these things there were either a bunch of 5 O'Clock Charlies in
different parts of the war or Charlie was one busy guy. I was only 16
when dad passed - there's lot's I would like to know. The worst
critters in New G were the skeeters. Dad ended up with dengue fever
as did many of the GI's.
What's the name of the book you are reading?
At 07:16 PM 10/28/2010, BJNoSHOV8 wrote:
>I was reading a book about army air corps flight crews on the little
>islands in the Pacific during WWII. Apparently the barracks had a
>group of men sleeping in a big room. One night they woke up to a
>very loud noise. It seems that a rat was nibbling on dried skin on
>one of the men's feet. He woke up, grabbed his .45 Auto, and got
>the rat before it escaped.
Tim Collins
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12702006@N07/sets/
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