Evening star., 1943-08-25
BY SERGT. HOWARD f.
BIGGERSTAFF
As Told to
J. NORMAN LODGE,
Associated Press War Correspondent.

ASSOCIATED freSs war correspondent.
VIRU HARBOR, July l DELAYED .
We moved into the japanese biv-
ouac area slowly, carefully. wires
were stretched across and along the
trail at several places.
We detouredi
Dead Japs were everywhere. in the
grotesque, statuelike attitude of so
many of the dead. One was
crouched over a mortar, hands fold
ed, as if he were praying A hand
grenade lay by his side. A marine
poked the Jap with his rife. He
rolled slowly over, face upward, a
gaping hole in his throat. We moved
along.
Another Jap was lying with his
back over machine gun, belly
arched with only hands and heels
touching the ground
The sun suddenly shone as I
passed him, cleaning brightly on a
lone gold tooth!
We found more machine guns now
More rifles. Many packs. The Japs
had been we'll intrenched, even
around their living quarters. We
were past their last line of defense.
The bodies now had fallen as they
were running away. Beside some
were packs, bundles of personal be-
longings.
Made Hasty Retreat.
A glance into hutlike living quar-
ters showed that they had made a
hasty retreat. but had tried to gather
up as much of their stuff as possible.
Most of that we found along the
trail
We filed into their village. 1t was
not much, Bomb holes dotted the
area. A half dozen native built
huts were we'll ventilated by shell
We passed one enormous bomb
crater, the harbor came into sight.
In it were Let's 1anding craft for
tanks and one apo (Army person.
mel craft.
I ran down the hill to a 1O-foot
coral ietty. The colonel, Chaplain
Redmond Gt. Paul J. Redmond,
U. S. NJ, of New Haven, Conn, and
who taught in Providence. r. II
and Cuga pfc Edward Peter Cuga
Of Chicago were there.
The four of us launched the Jap
anese equivalent of our marine rub
ber boat and started rowing to the
nearest of the Let's. They wanted
and we gave them. They
roared in. backed engines and
gently on the coral
Ramps were dropped, and moments
later unloading was under way.
Had Few Casualties.
The colonel looked across the bay
to where Capt. Anthony Walkers
washington, D. c. men were easily
visible on the cliff.
He called to them. then asked for
a strong voice. 1t. Johnson first
name unknown, Of Corpus Christi,
Tex took over.
How did you make out?"
A heart-breaking silence. Only
few men were visible.
Then the answer came: Repeat.
please"
How did you make out?'
The answer came back, indis-
.inctly, Fine"
1t. johnson braced himself
;upped his hands and shouted
again:
How manv casraltieso"
The answer came back tri-
"Nonel We shot the pants off the
I looked at the steep hill leading
to the village and slowly climbed
1t, suddenly very tired The raiders
had not been wasting time. The
souvenir hunters were having a field
day. 1t. c. M. Andrews Uos An
geles) had passed the word that he
wanted to see all souvenirs, that
they would be returned when he
had finished with them.
Forgot to Remove Pack.
Men had machine guns, rifles.
pistols, bayonets, clothes, books,
shaving sets, BARRIERS clippers, med
ais, campaign bars, letters, money.
flags. knives, blankets everv-
thing and anything that men in
such a position would have.
l Sprawled out ona slight knoll
one of the open sided native
nuts. tried to stretch out on nv
oack, and suddenly realized my pack
was still on! For three and a half
days I had cursed that pack. and
had forgotten about it in the heat
Of the battle. I eased it off
opened it,
There were two things I wanted
two precious things I had carefully
carried all that time. One was a
can of japanese canned heat I had
found in the deserted house at Segi
Point. The other was a small tin of
ration coffee
l borrowed match borrowed a
cup full of water, lit the
canned heat and waited patiently.
The japanese have a good product.
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