Imperial Valley press., 1945-04-20
0kinawa Nights
Made Hideous by
Mosquitoes, FIeas
Continued from Page II

it would do no good. The other boys
didn't even bother.
After a while the hillside grew
silent. The hours went past, by an
occasional slap at the mosquitoes
each Of us knew the others weren't
asleep.
Suddenly Bird Dog sat up and
pulled down his socks and started
scratching. Fleas were after him.
Even the grass has flea sin it over
| here?
For some strange reason I am
immune to fleas. Half the boys are
red welted with hundreds of itchy
little flea bites, but have never had
one.
But I'm the worlds choicest morsel
for mosquitoes. And mosquito bites
poison me. Every morning I wake
up with at least one eye swollen
shut.
That was the way it was all night,
with all of uS-me with double
dose of mosquitoes, all the rest with
a mixture of mosquitoes and fleas.
You could hear marines cussing all
night long around the hillside. Sud-
denly there was terrible outburst
just down-hill from us and a marine
came jumping out into the moon
light cussing and jerking at his
clothes.
Il can't stand these goddom things
any longer" he cried. I've got to
take my clothes off,"
USED INSECT POWDER
We all laughed under our pom
chos while he stood there in the
moonlight and stripped off every
stitch, even though it was very
chilly. He shook and brushed his
clothes, doused them with insect
powder and then put them back on.
This unfortunate soul was Corp.
Leland Taylor of G01 Francis
Court Jackson, Michigan. His
nickname is Pop, since he is 33
years old.
Once there was q distinct rustl-
ing of the bushes in front of us. OF
course the first lining l thought of
was Jap.
But then I figured Jap wouldn't
make that much noise and finally
decided it was one of the horses
the mortar boys had Communicated,
crashing through the bushes. And
that's what it turned out to be.
These marines had been sleeping
every night on the ground with no
cover, except their cold, rubberiz-
ed ponchos, and they had almost
frozen to death. Their packs were
SO heavy they hadn't been able to
bring blankets ashore with them.
Our next door neighbors were
about three feet away in a similar
level spot on the hillside, and they
had rooted it similarly with pom
choS. These two men were Sergt.
Neil Anderson of Coronado, Cali
fornia and Sergt. George Waldo of
Tampa, Florida. Incidentally there's
another Neil Anderson in this same
battalion)
JOIN FOR MEAL
So we chummed up and the five
of us cooked supper under a tree
just in front of our house" The
boys made a fire out Of sticks and
we put canteen cups and K rations
right on the fire.
Other little groups of marines had
similar little fires going all over the
hillside. As we were eating, an
other marine came past and gave
Bird Dog" a big piece of fresh
roasted pig they had just cooked,
and Bird Dog" gave me some. It
sure was good after days of K ra-
tionS.
Several of the boys found their
K Rations mouldy, and mine was
too. 1t was the old-fashioned kind
and we finally realized they were
1912 rations and had been stored
probably in Australia, all this time.
Suddenly doWnhill a few yards,
we heard somebody yell and start
cussing and then there was lot
of laughter. What had happened
was that one marine had heated a
K ration can and, because it was
pressure packed, it exploded when
he pried it open and there were hot
egg yolks over him. Usually. the. boys
open a can a little first, and re-
lease the pressure before heating,
so the can won't explode.
After supper we burned our K
ration boxes in the fire, brushed our
teeth with water from our canteens,
and then just sat on the ground
around the fire, talking.
Other marines drifted along and
after while there were more than
a dozen sitting around. We smok-
ed cigarets constantly, and talked
Of hti,arlrnI a.,