The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1945-03-08

~
cal apartment on Waikiki where
THAT Girl" and I lived for a winter
sever years ago; I went to parties
and listened almost tearfuHy to the
sweet singing of Hawaiians.
l relished the short time here in
c~omplacency. and didn't even pre-.
tend that I was starting out to re.
port the Pacific war. All that would
come soon enough.
Distance Biggest
Factor in Pacific
Covering this Pacific war Is, for
me, going to be like learning to
live in a new city.
The methods Of war. the attitude
toward it.. the inconsistencies, the dis
tances, the climate-everything Is
different from what we have known
in the European war.
Here in the beginning, 1 can't
seem to get my mind around it. or
get my fingers on it. I suspect it
will take months to get adjusted
and get the feel" Of this war.
Distance is the main thing. I don't
mean distance from America so
much, for Jul war in Europe Is a
long way from home too. I mean dis
tances after you get right or the
battlefield.
For the whole western Pacific is
our battlefield now. and whereas dis
tances in Europe are hundreds Of
miles at most, out here they are
thousands. And there's nothing in
between but water.
You can be on an island battle
field, and the next thing behind you
is a thousand miles away. One SOL
dier told me the worst sinking feel
ing he ever had was when they had
landed on an island and we're fight
ing, and on the morning Of D-3 he
looked out to sea and it was COM
pletely empty. Our entire convoy
had unloaded and left for more, and
boy. did it leave you with a lone
some and deserted feeling.
AS one Admiral said. directing
this war is like watching a slow
motion picture. You plan something
for months. and then finally the
great day comes when you launch
your plans. and then it is days or
weeks before the attack hapr ems.
because it takes that long to get
there.
AS an example of how they feel,
the navy gives you a slick sheet of
paper as you go through here, en-
titled AIRLINE Distances in Pacf-
ic." And at the bottom of it is
printed "Our Enemy. Geography"
Logistics out here is more than a
word; it's a nightmare.
Here's another example of their
attitude toward distances in the
Pacific
At Anzio in Italy just a year ago,
the Third division set up a rest
camp for its exhausted infantrymen.
The rest camp was less than five
miles from the front line. within
constant enemy artillery range.
But in the Pacific, they bring
men clear back from the western
islands to Pearl Harbor to rest
camps-the equivalent of bringing
an Anzio beachhead fighter all the
way back to Kansas City for his
two-weeks rest.
It's $500 miles from Pearl Har-
Dor to the Marianas, all over wa.
ter, yet hundreds Of people travel it
daily by air as casually as you'd
go to work in the morning.
And there is another enemy
out here that we did not know so
well in Europe-and that is monoto.
ny. Oh sure. war everywhere is
monotonous in its d~readfulness. But
out here even the ~niceness of life
gets monotonous.
The days are warm and on
our established island bases the
food is good and the mail service is
fast and there's little danger from
the enemy and the days go by in
their endless sameness and they
drive you nuts. They sometimes call
it going pineapple crazy"
Our high rate of returning mental
cases is discussed frankly in the
island and service newspapers. A
man doesn't have to be under fire
in the front lines finally to have
more than he can take without
breaking.
He can, when isolated and home
sick. have more than he can take
Of nothing but warmth and sunshine
and good food and safety-when
there's nothing else to go with it,