Tim, my father in law was also in the costal artillery! He operated a
spotlight and has a lot of stories.. like watching the movies during the
pouring rain and having a big snake go across a foot and a bunch of Marines
did what they do best! Island fighting for 3 years by the time he was 21...
name an island and he was there..
Lester
On Oct 28, 2010, at 7:25 PM, Tim Collins wrote:
> 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
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