A LUCKY DOGFOOT of WW2 One dogfoot by the name of Jacob Meier G.I. #37312909 1': · "l"'r"?" .J.:ili,~~lii~~~c~jl~~3'-1.'.<'<..'iIi8~~~:cl.'~~I!!IIiII=.~. f I I I \ i I ( I I ,( ! .i I. /1 ! i ) I i ./"I! 1 i ,i .' ~ .,_._JI.lIJ........... __t . .. _ ._____~_ . A . •• • ' '" I ~ ~":'. · · ~. ....,,-......~...- ..- .. ~ . The bewildered dog-foot,looks like he's had it~ Wonder i ng ar'ound by the air-field" at San Jose,Mindoro, P 'It I ~ V...67r NlIIlb. 3 811.... 2003 • MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND' OBSERVATIONS OF MY THREE YEAR-THREE MONTHS SERVICE IN THE U.S.ARMY .AS A FRONT-LINE INFANTRY MEDIC AS AN AID-MAN WITH AN 81mmoMORTAR PLATOON AND A BATTALION AID-STATION,rHIRD BATTALION, 19th. INFANTRY REGIMENT/24th~INFANTRY DIVISION , ( THE VICTORY· DIVI~ION). I SERVED UNDER GENERAL DOUGLi~ MacARrHUR, COMMANDER OF THE ASlA.T"IC-PACIFIC SOUTHERN THEATRE OF WAR. ENTERED THE SERVICE,lst~OCTOBERiI942,UNTIL 17th.DECEMBER · 1945 CAMPAIGN PARTICIPAT~ON: World War 11' New GUinea (w/arrowhead) Leyte (w/arrowhead) Central Pacific Luzon Southern Philippines (w/arrowhead DECORATIONS; WORLD WAR 11 * Philippine Presidential Unit Citation (Streamer embroidered I 17 October 1'94'4, TO 4 JULY i945) awarded in 1950 Chain of command Asiatic-Pacific-Theatre Of War; General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of the Asiatic­ Pacific,Southern Theatre . Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander,Central­ Pacific - Theatre,NavYi Li~ut.General George C.Kenney,Fifth Air Force. Admiral Thomas C.Kincaids,U.S.7th. Fleet. Major Gen.Franklin C.Sibert, Commander of the- . 10th.Corps. Lieut.Gen. Walter Krueger,Commander of the u.s. 6th.Army. Lieut.Gen.Robert Eichelberger,Commander of U.S.Bth. Army .. Major Gen.Roscoe B.Woodruff,Commander of the 24th. Infantry Div~sion After 11/44-45. Brigadier Gen.Kenneth F . Cramer,24th.Div.Commander, New Guinia,Biak and the Philippine Islands. Major Gen.F.A.Irving,Assist.Commander,24th.until Nov.lB,1944. Colonel Thomas E.Clifford, Comm~nder,19th.lnf. Regiment,and a good one, sorry to say that he was killed by a Jap mortar shell by a small village outside of Davao City,Mindanao just a few days after the surrender of the Japanese.The Plaza in town is named after him. My first Doctor Officer in charge of the 3rd. Battalion Aid Station was Capt.Mark Pomeranz. Our next Medical Officer in charge of the Aid Station,and until I went home was my good friend Capt~in Dr.Fregosi. , Our NCO of the Aid Station,was from the b p 0inning At Scofield Barracks to latter part of Julyw·as Srgt.: Bernard J. Lee. After being relieved for a-while in the late 40's Gen.Cramer took Command of the Southern Occupation Forces in West Germany.There he died while hunting. He was past Pres.of the 24th.Inf.Div.Association. The Taro Leaf,1947-48. Men of the Aid Station 'r4indoro,-~~land, p. I. ~ .". :... _..... .. ~ .. ..J Arthur Auch, Menno,S.D.,passed away,12/1/1983 Jake Stolz,Mitchell,S.D.,killed in action near "­ Palo City, Leyte Island,P.I. with bayonet & torch. While defending east end bridge the night of the banzai. '" Oct.24th.1944,left behind,wife and two children. Joe Sarrason, #3 Burns Court,Chicago, Ill. also had wife and children. A G.I.from Lemmon,S.D. who was lucky to make it'home - alive-in-'45,The three men were with the 81mm.mortar platoon. Close buddies of mine to them I was called, 'Doc. 'I attended to their aches and pains,and also the rest of the platoon. -:­ ) I was at home with the family at the Nyberg place north of Lemmon, South Dakota, listening to some music on the radio when the announcement came that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, that morning. It was about two-thirty in the afternoon; I knew for sure that soon I'd be on my way to war. I was working at the Schremp Coal Mine just a mile north of the folk’s farm at the time, coming home again after the third year of working at ranches north of Liv- ingston, Montana, near Wilsall on the Shields River. I usually went out there early in the year and came back by October. I already had registered for the draft and kept working until winter set in. In the meantime, my brother, Pete, was drafted and left for Fort Lewis, Washington, going on from there to the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. The folks got a deferment for me to help with the crop the following year, so I put in the crop and helped harvest. On October 1, Mom and Dad took me to Hettinger, North Dakota, to catch the train to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, to be inducted into the service. I was stationed at Fort Snelling for several days until I'd had my physical and was issued my new G.I. clothing, and, of course, getting the shots which I always hated. I'd hated shots since the time that I was in the CCC camps. It was decided that I was going to be a medic in the Army. I found this out when I arrived at Camp Barkeley, Texas. Always wanted to go to Texas, but didn't think that someday I'd get a free ride. And I ended up getting many miles of free rides, like over twenty-some thousand. 2 .' I I /. , r r 'i ~ ,;. ~ : ., I received my "boot" and medical training at Camp Barkeley, near Abilene, which took until January, 1943. I was taught how to take care of the wounded, give first-aid, improvise and apply splints, give shots (including morphine, of which I would give quite a few). I learned how to take care of the sick and wounded in a hos- pital and about treatment during chemical warfare. Lew Ayres, the movie star, taught us how to take care of patients in hospitals, how to make up hospital beds, etc. At the training camp we also were taught the nomenclature and care of organ- ization equipment, the location of the Battalion Aid Station and its function and equipment. We learned the recording, examination, sorting, treatment, and disposi- tion of patients; the medical tag and where it was supposed to be placed or attached to the body; the duties of an aidman and the emergency supplies he carried in his two aid kits. We had the most classes in elementary anatomy and physiology. Also included were map reading, pharmacy, physiology of drugs, CPR, tourniquets and the points where they are to be applied; communicable diseases; treatment of chem- ical gas burns; and types of bandages and where to apply them. We took quite a few classes in field sanitation as well. We did the five mile hikes, went on bivouacs, took the different obstacle courses with live ammunition, etc. By this time I had an ill feeling that I was either going to be a litter bearer or and aidman with the front line infantry, hopefully by the aid station. It eventually turned out to be the 81 MM Mortar Platoon, which was just as good. The 81MM Mortar Platoon was attached to 'M' Company, a heavy weapons company. 3 I had one weekend pass to Abilene, Texas, but never a furlough the entire time I was in the service. It was so cold that night when I went into town. I had on all the wool that I could wear, but the wind went right through and it was still cold. I didn't think that Texas could be so cold. Even Christmas Eve was quite crisp. Our medical training ended, after three, months, in early January. So I guess we were ready for action and to be assigned to an outfit either in the Pacific or Euro- pean Theater. When we left Abilene and headed east I thought for sure that it was going to be Europe. We ended up at Camp Butner, North Carolina, near Durham. The officer there said that he was going to make killers out of us before we left there. I don't think l ever saw him again. Besides, we didn't train to be riflemen; we were trained to patch up the so-called killers. (We were issued carbines while in the Pacif- ic Theater, whereas the aidmen in the European Theater were not supposed to re- ceive any. The Japanese didn't honor the medics; they'd just as soon get them first.) It was a lot different there than in Texas, more trees and the weather was fair- ly nice most days. The camp was a replacement training center where they decided where you were to be sent as a replacement for someone that had been put out of ac- tion. I spent most of the time in the sack and the rest of the time playing volleyball or baseball and doing exercises. We had been at Camp Butner a month or so at which time I managed to get a one-day pass, so I decided to go to Raleigh to have my picture taken. 4 One day we were asked to pack and get ready to leave camp, and to my sur- prise we were heading east again. At Washington, DC, we turned north and went through Pittsburgh and then on to Sharon, Pennsylvania we arrived at Camp She- nango, another Replacement Center. So I figured that we just might not go to the European Theater, which made me feel a bit-better.