Imperial Valley press., 1943-12-26
RAMBLING REPORTER

ficult as it was for us, We could
imagine the sickening addition of
Jap snipers hidden in trees, Jap
machine-gun nests camouflaged
ahead and other Jap-made discom-
forts to add to the jungles' own
inimitable defenseS. What horrible
nightmares those American soldiers
must have lived! We'd come upon
their bivouac areas every three or
four hundred yards, which repre-
sented an entire days advanced The
jungle is a thoroughly sinister and
deadly place on its own. 1t must
have seemed completely suicidal to
crawl through there with an enemy
waiting to add his hellish talents.
Frequently, we'd come upon name
less graves - American graves -
marked only by a cross an6 mute,
often shattered helmet. They gave
us our solemn moments. There are
so many Unknown Soldiers and
unsung heroes in those jungles. The
graves had been decorated with
ferns, rocks, and thatched palm
leaves for the most part-though
these respectful gestures must have
been made at the risk of tie
mourner's life. I stood there and
imagined some unknown living SOL
dier fashioning rude cross and
implanting it for the unknown dead
buddy he had lost, mindful, but
scornful of Jap Snipers lurking
above waiting for him to bare his
head and kneel-a foolish American
custom. they'd say, which offered
them brilliant opportunity for a
good shot-and l suddenly felt yer 7
humble. Quite Unexpectedly, we
came to a clearing, in the center of
which were huddled a small group
of natives. They were admiring
large chunks of raw meat. One OF
them turned around and said: Hi
joe Joe is an appellation given
| them by our soldiers, and they, in
turn, call us that. 1t seems that
the meat was raw deer meat, which
they had shot down with a captured
Jap rifle. We offered them cigar
rettes which they gladly accepted,
even the four year olds smoke them.
One of the natives was wearing
captured Jap wrist watch-beauti-
fully set with diamonds and rubies
We offered to buy it from them,
having nothing to trade -. but the
only thing they would take for it
was a corn cob Sipe. The tragedy
of it was that we didn't have a
| corn cob pipe. We took some pic
lures of them and then continued
our march through the jungle. We
emerged finally with almost dis
concerting suddenness into a per-
fectly open, meadow-like hill top
peaceful and serene, with a dream
like view of the sea far below IN
the distance. This was the con-
tested ground - the forgotten, or
never-to- forgotten acre, lost in
the God -forsaken wilderness, that
was for a few weeks thrust into the
highest worldwide Importance, be-
cause International jealousies, pow
er politics, economic greed and all
the glories of civilization had un-
accountabiy come to focus on an
obscure island in the Southwest
Pacific. This tiny acre, Jared out
of untold centuries of primitive
peace by crashing shell bursts,
cracking machine gun fire, and
mortal death cries. became over
night famous for all time. 1t will
be remembered and recorded as an
other field on which pitiful, beauti-
full gallantry of small men was
wasted for the ugly and repulsive
grossness of Big Men. It's peaceful
again, now. You'd hardly know
those deep holes and shattered
boulders haven't always been there.
Nature heals and covers her wounds
and faults quickly.