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PAGE SIX Intimate Glimpses Of Life Of Men In 37th Division (Continued from page 1) Garand rifles, their submachine guns. It was a tense moment. If the ene rgy were to make an air attack to resist a landing, now was the time. "I wonder how Ellie and the kids are doing now, said a young soldier who had never seen the twins his wife had borne while he was over seas. Men talked of home, of steaks and ice cream and pie and cake. Some of them speculated on the chance of being sent to New Zealand or Australia after the Bougainville campaign. Some of them had been fortunate enough to spend time in New Zealand, and liked it and had told their buddies. The men were restless. Trained in land fighting, they hated being cooped up in a ship and without a chance to fight back if an attack should come. Lower Landing Boats The soldiers began to hear the ]oud speaker issuing commands for the lowering of land,ng boats, clear ing the decks and manning battle stations. Then came the order to debark. An audible murmer, blend ed from sighs of relief, ran around the hold. Quickly the men moved to the rail. swung over ar climbed down the Sanding nets, vvhich, woven of one-inch rope and strong enough to SUPPort several men led them to the landing boats. Althcmgh fully armed and carrying their full field packs, they made quick, ex pert work of it. The unloading procc?ss was efficient and speedy. As quickly as one barge started for the shore, an nt y one took its rdace. The land i n v was made safely. The dreaded enerr v air attack id not material ize. The troops took their positions. Life in the jungk s and hills of Roug ainville began Warfare is grim. Once the men were pipe fit ters and lawyers, plumbers and ac contc stants, or occupied at scores of civil i an jobs, but now they had been Rrllfll ers for what seemed a long time. What with Japanese snipers and bombers, the discomforts of i angle life and the need for constant work, days and nights are fully oc cupied. Yet their is plenty of hu- That Fox Hole Take, for instance, this incident. Some of the troops were changing their positions, digging in deeper and setting up a perimeter defense a sound their headquarters. Barbed wire was strung around all the em placements, guns were mounted se curely, and foxholes were deepened and covered with logs and sandbags. One soldier made a particularly good job with his foxhole. He then an nounced to all within hearing that “even a bomb couldn’t get into it.” Unfortunately, neither could he. He had forgotten to leave a place for an entrance. Sleeping arrangements—when the bombs aren’t falling and no other immediate peril attends—are com paratively simple. A soldier looks around for two trees sturdy enough to support his weight, and slings LADY'S STOMACH WAS LIKE A GAS FACTORY MEALS TURNED TO GAS One lady said recently that her stomach used to be like a “gas factory!” That is, when she ate a meal it seemed to turn right into gas. She was always bloated, had awful stomach gas pains, daily head aches and constant irregular bowel action. Now, however, this lady says she is FREE of STOMACH GAS and she says the change is due to taking ERB-HELP. Her meals agree with her. No gas or bloat after eating. Headaches and consti pation are gone. “Oh! what re lief!” states this lady. “Why don't other gas and constipation sufferers get ERB-HELP?" ERB-HELP contains 12 Great Herbs they cleanse bowels, clear gas from stomach, act on sluggish liver and kidneys. Miserable people soon feel different all over. So don’t go on suffering! Get ERB HELP. Hauenstein’s Drug Store. Fresh Drugs and Quality Drug Store Merchandise of All Kinds Prescriptions Care fully Compounded Sidney's Drug Shop Phone 170-W his jungie naniniuv*. ucinccu «uu« Back in 1941, during maneuvers in Louisiana, some troops, conscious of insects and snakes, used their shelt er halves as hammocks. Now the Army issues jungle hammocks, com plete with mosquito bars. Along about 7 P. M., any day, a soldier is pretty apt to crawl into his hammock if he has no particular duties. He settles down as comfort ably as possible and maybe begins to wonder how the wife and young sters are getting along, if he has them, or his sweetheart, or the girl next door at home, or about that last furlough he had. Air Raid Warning Likely as not, it begins to rain and his wonderings turn to his fox hole and how much water there’s go ing to be in it. Then about this time, to add to his troubles, there is an ear-splitting wail from the warn ing siren. The reaction is apt to be tenseness and a wild hope that it is a fhlse alarm, with practically a simultaneous realization that there are no false alarms on Bougainx ille. So the soldier opens the zipper of his moquito netting, hunts for his shoes and runs and slides into the foxhole which, unhappily, is about half full of water by this time. About now “Washing Machine Charley” drones over on one of his frequent nightly visits. “Charley” is a Japanese two-engined bomber so named from the fact that its motors seem to run more slowly than the American variety. Anyhow, it makes its dummy run, circles back, and the bombs begin to drop. Be fore a bomb is released a peculiar noise like three clicks is heard, and the missle is on its way. The explosion sounds like it does in the movies, say the soldiers but it is much closer, and the ground shakes for several thousand yards around the point of impact. Then the frag ments whistle through the trees. Wet from the water in his fox hole, the soldier crawls back into his hammock. Commonly, there aren any very picturesque remarks. Prob ably, the conversation will consist of such observations as: “1 wonder where they dropped,” “Did you hear the antiaircraft give 'em hell?,” “Did we have any night fighters up?” and “I didn’t hear any clicks.” Count Bombs Dropped Another interesting speculation concerns the probable number of bombers up there. It's guesswork, of course, since they cannot be seen at night. A further diversion is counting the number of bombs drop ped. There are those who are cer tain they counted each and every one of them, but usually it is a con fusing game. Of course, the early bombing is ordinarily only the first of a nightly series. Maybe there will be another around midnight, and :iga: i after another couple of hours sleep and so I on during the darkness. The same process must be gone through each time. Naturally, there are other perils. Japanese like to infiltrate back into 1 the American lines. Depending up on how close to the Japanese the American soldier is, he sticks to his foxhole or sleeps in his hammock. In foxholes, snoring isn’t safe. It is too good a direction finder for Japanese on the prowl for sleeping victims. A snorer is speedily awak ened. Alertness is necessary to con tinued living. But soldiers can grin at them selves when alarms have turned out to be merely night sounds which fooled them. Staff Sergeant James G. Smith herein describes what hap pened to him, Captain Reginald S. Jackson of Kenton, and Master Ser geant Henry Brandt of Lakewood, as follows: UNDERBRUSH \TTLES “Just as we were dozing off, r. rattle in the underbrush aloi the trail startled us into wakefulness. I whispered across the intervening darkness to the captain, “Did you hear anything?’ “The captain replied that he, too, had heard the sound, and Brandt announced from his hammock that he had aUo. All of us crept from our hammocks and got as close to the ground as possible. Arming our selves, we crawled out into the trail and listened intently for a repeti tion of the noise. It came again—a stealthy rustling in the underbrush off to our left. Moving forward, I bumped into a figure crouched in the darkness. ‘It’s me,’ whispered Brandt, and I sat back on my haunches and strained my eyes peering into the darkness. There we sat, the three of us, in the middle of a jungle trail on Bougainville, searching for we knew not what. Testing the old proverb, I placed my hand in front of my face. I couldn’t see it. We sat quietly for five or ten minutes, but the noisemaker wouldn’t do his stuff. “Finally I rose to my feet. ‘To hell with him,’ 1 said. ‘As dark as it is, he’s having just as much trouble finding us as we are finding him. I’m going back to bed.’ False Alarm “Which we did—and slept peace fully until morning. This morning we decided the noise must have been a monkey or a wombat (an oppossum like creature) crawling through the brush. But we grinned a little sheepishly as we thought of our selves crouched on the jungle trail, for all the world like the three monkeys of ‘hear-no-evil, see-no-evil, speak-no-evil’ fame.” But night on Bougainville is no fun. Let Captain Jackson tell about this command post. The night pre vious, one of the kitchen personnel reported discovery of a lone Jap in the act of plunging a knife into a soldier sleeping in a hammock. “An Army cook said he was awak ened by a rustling noise. He slith ered around in his jungle hammock and saw a shadowy figure wearing a close fitting hat and with a square pack and rifle hung on his back. Silently the figure raised his right arm and the cook saw what ap peared to be a knife held in the hand. Jap Flees “Fearing to hit one of the two men who were sleeping in front of the Jap, the cook yelled, ‘Stand still, you I’ve got you covered.’ He pushed his rifle through the mos quito netting. The figure froze for a moment, and then crashed off through the jungle. “The word was passed around the command post, and all troops were advised to keep their weapons, in cluding their knives, close by and to maintain silence after dark. There wasn’t much sleep in the fox holes that night. “Every land crab’s or other jun gle creature’s movements—even the water which drips interminably from the foliage—sounded like a Jap stealing through the under growth. Those who had positions on the trails were particularly jittery because the Jap after dark follows trails to minimize the noise of his advance. Those who slept fitfully awoke suddenly many times, visual izing a Jap poised a couple of feet away, ready to stick his knife into their bofp.es. “Everyone wished fervently that ‘Washing Machine Charley’ would appear fAr his nightly bombing to break the electric atmosphere. But this time he was late. He came in at 4 A. M. Still, it was a relief. The penetrating Jap has been for gotten, and some doubt that an enemy soldier did get into the head quarters. But the cook swears he did.” Troops Up Early “Charley’s” last nightly visitation usually finds it too late for the sol diers to get back to sleep. So they shave, if they have the water, and then have breakfast. No one seems to be scared, comes the report, even though the Ixmbs and the strafing of the fr nt line American troops do wound and kill aw fi,l i^rs. But the troops ere too rusy with their combat duties and the multi tude of other duties necessary to war on the Jap. Men in the anti aircra ft batteries arc? kept busy as the Ju flags pamte?d on Ine gun barrels indiv.ite. 1•or ft ch flag means an enemy !..m eptroyed. Even a few of the 2'2 ton trucks, which are armed with .50 caliber antiaircraft guns, have Jap flags painted on their hoods. Just about everybody shouts at the enemy. Everyone works. Especially the versatile combat engineers. Start ing from scratch in apparently im penetrable, marsh land, they’ve carved out, for example, a perman ent highway which will accommodate six lanes 'f traffic. Good Roads Much cf th* success of the Army in jungle fighting in the Solomons has been attributed tc the fact that the Engineers hi »e built pood roads right up to the co.-nuind ports, gen erally •ocated jusc to the rear of the front lines. Staff officers, vet erans of campaigns in the Solomons, say that this method of supply has given ire Americans a tremendous advantage over the Japanese because the enemv has no means or appar ently lacks the ingenuity to solve the problem of getting food, am munition and water to their fight ing men. The roads also have meant quick evacuation of the wounded to the rear for treatment. This factor has saved many lives. Landing with the first wave of Army troops at Bougainville, the Engineers came equipped, ready for anything. They brought bull dozers, graders, drag lines, power shovels, pile drivers, air compressors, and carryall scrapers, in addition to the thousands of shovels, picks, axes and saw?. And they found plenty of ways to use them. Supply roads, hewed through the jungle, reduced to a matter of hours the time necessary to get supplies from the beaches to the front lines. And there were bridges to be built, ground to be cleared for ammuni tion d'”r.Ds and supplies, arrange ments for the purifying of water and many ether jobs to be done. Water Purified Often, for instance, the engineers have plugged into what looked like mudholes and out came water which, I when purified, was safe for humans to drink. A division Engineer unit has three water purifiers with can vas tanks holding 3,000 gallons each. Water is pumped through several inches of sand and treated with a chlorine solution to make it potable. Ingenuity is a characteristic of the Engineers. In jungle country they sometimes can get gravel for roadbuilding from the beds of streams. Sometimes they must make corduroy lanes of logs laid side by side and tied together. Cutting of the necessary timber is a big job, but the Engineers get it done. The enemy, of course, does not permit them to go peaceably about their tasks. It has often become necessary to take time out to dis pose of Jap snipers. They can do that, too, just as efficiently as they THE NEWS, OHIO Drop Army Formalities Adaptability is a characteristic not only of the Engineers, but of all the troops. Methods are adapted to the needs of the moment. The formalities of military life, for in stance, disappear in jungle fighting. A buck private may be heard ad dressing his commanding officer as Charlie, Rob or some other familiar name. The officers get code names or nicknames. It would be safe to say “Sir” or “Colonel” where the enemy could hear it. The Japanese have proved themselves uncannily adept at picking out officers and non-commissioned officers. The enemy listens carefully. On one occasion snipers were within a few hundred yards of a regimental supply dump. All day long, the field telephone set had rung, most of the calls being for “Hipp,” the name given to a major who was supply officer. During the night the Japs would call out, “Hipp, you’re wanted on the telephone.” That continued until some of the truck drivers broke up the conver sation with their automatic rifles. Officers Discard Insignia No officer wears insignia, since it would make him a fine target for sniper’s rifles. One day a private was having a tough time driving his truck through a swamp. Along came another jeep in w brigadier general, no insignia to inc “Get the hell oil me get by,” yelled got front line sup. Without a mu expression, the driver to pull 1 road so that the through. When the ti areas, this infori revert to the ti honored courtesi tlie Army. Officers Dig Rut while the officers have to Each carries an Rich was riding a although he wore icate any rank. this road and let the private. “I’ve nur or change of leral motioned his e vehicle off the supplies could get ps leave combat ility ceases. They ditional and time and customs of nvx Foxholes fighting is on, the have foxholes, too. entrenching shovel just like anv private and they dig their own. Officers’ bed rolls and foot lockers are non-existent in jungle warfare. Officers carry water-proof jungle packs like the enlisted men. And they carry car bines or rifles, for they are better than pistols when an enemy sniper is at work 300 to 500 yards away. Regardless of rank, American sol diers year the jungle green denims which come in one and two piece suits. Leggings aren’t often worn. They’re too hot in the jungles. Sol diers have adopted the custom of tying their trouser leg bottoms around the tops of their shoes be cause of the wet and inevitable mud. Equipment has been designed to fit jungle warfare. Brightly polished metal canteens and canteen cups, which glistened in the sun, have been replaced by black plastic ones, lighter in weight. Yanks Hunt Souvenirs American soldiers on Bougain ville, as elsewhere, are inveterate souvenir hunters. There’s the mat ter of Jap flags. Each enemy sol dier seems to possess one, presented to him when relatives and friends hold a banquet for him just before he goes into military service. Amer ican soldiers are collecting these flags rapidly. But Americans don’t collect abandoned Japanese food. They bury it, sometimes along with tbe individual who had hoped to eat it. Living on Bougainville is tough. But there are moments, as when on rainy Thanksgiving Day, 25 days after they landed, their regular ra tions were supplemented with the kind of dinner they’d had at home. The menu—roast young turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, creamed cauliflower, chilled pears, hot rolls, fresh but ter, coffee, cream, sugar, candy. “Brother,” says one of the sold iers, “when you get a meal like that on Bougainville, you’re really accomplishing a miracle. Keep Up Morale When the going gets tough in modern warfare, the U. S. Army al ways seems to pull one of those minor miracles out of the hat. They don’t mean much as far as actual gains on the battle front go, but for keeping the morale of the men in tip-top shape and for insuring that vital spirit de corps when the big push starts, they can’t be beat. There are other moments. Some times there’s a chance to take a bath in a mountain stream, to wash clothing or to catch up on letter writing. “And so,” writes Sergeant Smith, “life goes on in the jungle. It’s a dreary one at best, full of incon veniences, scares and tension. But somehow you know* everything is all right when you hear healthy Amer ican voices singing in the short tropical twilights. They sing the old barber shop favorites—“Down by the Old Mill Stream,” “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” “Moonlight and Roses.” They sing them in bad harmony perhaps, but the spirit is there. And with that spirit, there’s no doubt of the outcome.” The annual meeting of the Ohio State Horticultural Society will be held at the Hotel Carter, Cleveland, Jan. 26-27. F. H. Beach, secretary, says the business meeting is at 4:00 p. m., Jan. 26 and the annual ban quet is that evening. University Ex periment Station, government de partments, and noted orchardists will furnish the men on the speakers’ list. Farm Bureau council No. 4 met in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cupp last Tuesday evening for the December program. Miss Madeline Bixel returned to her school duties in Rittman, Sunday after spending a two weeks vacation with her sister, Mrs. F. C. Marshall and other relatives. Mrs. D. C. Campbell was on the sick list with the flu the past week. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cupp, son Richard and daughter Margery and Mr. and Mrs. Orlo Marshall were Friday evening dinner guests of Mr. and Mrs. J. O. Cupp and daughter Edythe. Mrs. W. E. Marshall who has been a patient in St. Ritas hospital in Lima the past two weeks with a back injury, was brought home Sun day afternoon where she continues to improve. Mrs. William Risser of New Lon don, mother of Mrs. Walter Cupp, is a surgical patient in Memorial hospi tal in Lima, where she is getting along nicely. Mr. and Mrs. Glen Mayberry and Mr. and Mrs. J. O. Cupp and dau ghter Edythe attended the annual banquet and business meeting of the Midwest Electric Inc. held in St. Marys last Thursday evening. Mr. Cupp was elected to fill the un expired term of an Elida man on the Board of Directors and Mr. Mayberry was made a member of the nomina ting committee for the coming year. Lieut, and Mrs. Delmar Reagan have returned to their home in Day ton after spending several days in the D. C. Campbell home. Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Marshall and son Don, Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Mar shall and son Robert. Dr. and Mrs. M. R. Bixel and Miss Madeline Bixel and Mr. and Mrs. Orlo Marshall were entertained at a watch party in the home of Mr. and Mrs. M. C. Geiger in Bluffton last Friday night. The annual business meeting and January program of the Presbyterian missionary society will be held in the home of Mrs. William Reichenbach, Wednesday of next week with a covered dish dinner at the noon hour. The business session will start at 10:30 with Mrs. F. C. Marshall, presiding. The following program will be given in the afternoon. Wor- Topic “We who are America” Mrs. W. E. Marshall Year Book of Pray er, MiAs Elnora Marshall. The Light Bearers will hold their January meeting Saturday afternoon with Loren Guy Huber. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Cahill of Bluff ton were Tuesday evening guests of Mr. and Mrs. Orlo Marshall and Mrs. M. C. Geiger of Bluffton was a Wednesday afternoon guest. Mr. and Mrs. F. C. Marshall and son Robert and Miss Madeline Bixel took dinner Saturday evening in the home of Dr. and Mrs. M. R. Bixel and family in Bluffton. Mrs. Diana Freet Dies Mrs. Diana Freet, 80, wife of Benjamin Freet, died at her home near here at 6 o’clock Thursday even ing following an illness of eleven pneumonia. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Miller and was born in Allen Co., June 13, 1863. She is survived by her husband, two sons, Ernest of this place and Paul of Pagoda, Colo., and a daugh ter Mrs. Gladys Lackey of Toledo. There are also seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Funeral services were held Satur day afternoon in the Hartman funer al home in Columbus Grove with Rev. Chiles of the Columbus Grove Methodist church officiating. Inter ment in Rockport cemetery. Paul Freet of Colorado and Mr. and Mrs. Harry Freet of St. Mary’s were among those from a distance attending the funeral service. Pleasant Hill Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Braun and family spent Sunday afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Arden Baker and son of Bluffton. Last week callers at the Norval Scoles home were Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Fox of Bluffton and Mr. and Mrs. Clate Scoles. Mr. and Mrs. Ed Althauser spent Sunday afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Burkholder and family of Bluff ton. Mr. and Mrs. Homer Lung and dau ghter were callers of Mr. and Mrs. O. L. Stratton, Sunday evening. Lucy Jane Winegardner spent the week end with Sondra Sue Huber. Don't forgot Your BLUFFTON NEWS SUBSCRIPTION If your YELLOW LABEL on this issue reads JANUARY 1944 Your Subscription is Due NOW! THE BLUFFTON NEWS $2 ANYWHERE IN U.S. Special Club Rates on Magazines 4-r. nnnoov qo one 1 vr family, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Bell and family wer Frida yevning dinner guess of Mr. and Mrs. O. L. Stratton. Mary Nell and Gillie Hess of Find lay spent the Christmas vacation with their grandmother, Mrs. Lillie Fett. Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Hauenstein spent Sunday afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Winston Jennings and son. Marilyn Stratton and Marian Rae Bell were week end guests of their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. O. L. Stratton. Mr. and Mrs. Winston Jennings and son spent New Years day with Mr. and Mrs. Ray Watt and family of Lima. Mr. and Mrs. Joy Huber called on Mr. and Mrs. David Molman, Satur day evening. Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Phillips spent Sunday afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Harold Younkman and sons of near Pandora. Mr. and Mrs. Willard Jennings and son Rodney spent Sunday afternoon with Mr. and Mrs. Berdell Huber and daughter. Earl Younkman called at the Guy Younkman and Arthur Phillips homes Sunday evening. Less Than Dozen Get Lodgings Here In Jail Less than a dozen transients asked for overnight lodging in the Bluffton jail during 1943, another sign of the effect that the war has had on what once was a sizeable floating population moving thru Bluffton. In 1941, for example, overnight lodgings in the jail were enjoyed by 614 persons, and during the pre ceding year more than 800 were ac commodated. With employment available to anyone who wants it, there no long er are penniless men tramping the country in search of jobs, and to»vn officials further cut into the over night clientele by notifying the “reg ulars” that they could no longer stay in the jail here. Marshal Lee Coon said those real ly in need are cared for, but those definitely in the clss of “bums” can no longer expect to stay hero over night.