AL's Tales
Click here for pictures of Al's war artifacts
These memoirs are written by various family members.
"Dad gave me some money that he had in WWII. Two of the bills are Japanese invasion money, which was money that the Japanese printed and used as currency for the island or area that they had invaded. The money was printed in Japan, but is written in English. One of the other bills is a One Peso bill from the Japanese invasion of the Philippines; another is a One Schilling bill printed for British New Guinea. Dad said he got these bills when he landed in Hollandia. He said that when the American planes came in, they bombed a bank there and the money was scattered everywhere. So when he got there, he looked at the blown up bank, then found all the bills in the bushes. Also, when they landed in Hollandia, the Japanese left so fast, either bombed out or moved to another place, that they found Jap cups and tea sets still there where they had left them. Dad wanted to get one of the tea sets to ship home, but he knew it would never make it because the guys who shipped the stuff would definitely steal it."
"Three other bills were issued through the Netherlands to pay the American troops in Dutch New Guinea. I guess the U.S. government gave the money to the Netherlands and they in turn paid the soldiers. This is how they were paid but the money was useless because there wasn't anything to buy. The only use for it was in poker games. He said a lot of poker was played with that money. He also gave me a One Pound bill from Australia that I believe he got in British New Guinea."
"He told me about how the U.S. would storm in on the Japanese held islands in the South Pacific. First the marines would go in and establish a bridgehead, then the second echelon troops would land for follow-up support. Their first mission was to get the airfields set up and operational. Dad said that sometimes after they landed he would be fixing a plane and all of a sudden the marines guarding the airstrip would throw them rifles because the Japanese were counter attacking. He said everyone, even the cook, had to grab a rifle and help fend off the attack. Then everything would be over and he would go back to his screwdriver, working on the plane. A lot of the time, they would be fending off attacks and wouldn't have time to work on the bome sites or equipment at all. The airstrips were needed so badly that he got there sometimes just a few hours after the Japanese had been driven off. The airfields would still have Jap planes pushed to the side of the runways with dead Japanese scattered about as nobody had the time to clear the strip. Dad had a Japanese flag that had been signed by all of his squadron and a Japanese officer's sword. This stuff was in his kit bag, but was stolen on the ship coming back from the war."
"I have a cigarette case that Dad made in Biak. He made it from parts of the fuselage and the windshield of a wrecked Zero. On one side of the case he etched a palm tree and he word Biak. On the other side he put his initials, AJ, and some Japanese writing taken from the instrument panel of the Zero. Dad never knew what the writing meant. He always thought if it was translated it might say 'Yankee go home'. "
"On Biak (Dutch New Guinea) there were huge rats all over the place that would come into the tents and steal food. He could hear them at night making squeaking noises as they ran around. There were also 4ft lizards that would come and eat the rats. One night while he was sleeping, a lizard chased a rat along his mosquito net bar (a mosquito bar was used to support the mosquito netting that they had to sleep under). The weight of the lizard brought down the net, waking him up to find a huge lizard running across him. There was also Elephant grass, which was tall grass several feet high that they would have to cut down with machetes. The grass was razor sharp and would cause serious cuts which could become infected. Dengue fever was also a problem, but luckily only a few guys got it. "
"Dad went from Sydney, Australia to Port Moresby, New Guinea. He was in the harbor there, still on the ship and remembers hearing the song, While My Lady Sleeps. He said it was a surreal experience with the full moon shining over the water and this song playing in the background".
"Some of the guys would fish for sharks off the ship. They would also swim there and guys would stay on deck with guns to kill any sharks that might come along while the other guys were swimming. He was only in Port Moresby for a short time and next went to Saidor which is in New Guinea between Port Moresby and Hollandia. He said there was still a lot of fighting going on in Saidor."
"On one of the islands, Dad went on a fishing trip with some natives in their canoe. After watching the traditional native method of fishing, he decided to show them how American 'Sportsmen' did their fishing. This consisted of throwing hand grenades into the water and then paddling around scooping up a multitude of dead fish."
"Because of the military censors, Dad was not allowed to reveal his location when writing letters home. When writing my mother, he would include clues in his letters. For instance, when he was on the Trobriand Islands, he told my mother that he came across an old friend, 'T.R. Obriend'. From that little clue, she was able to figure out where he was. Also, while on Biak, each time he would write a letter, he would change his middle initial on the return address. First it was Albert B, then Albert I, and so on, until the word Biak was spelled. Only problem was that a few of the letters got mixed up, so they didn't come in the right order. Fortunately, my mom still figured out his location. My grandmother thought he was losing his mind, forgetting his own initials!"