"Fort Sweat" Home of the 101st AAA

Here is the history of my service in the US Army during the Second World War. I had joined up on September 12^th 1940 to serve in the 209^th AAA. I was sent by train down to Fort Stewart, I was a first class private back then. The war hadn’t started yet and there wasn’t many of us in the unit.

On the seventh of December, I was furlough to go home when Pearl Harbor was attacked. We were called to formation and notified that we were now at war. Volunteers were called on to go overseas and I signed up. I was soon transferred to Battery “D” of the 101^st AAA which was a separate battalion.

I went to Fort Dix and there I was issued my M1 Garand rifle. Then we were shipped to Boston and was transported aboard The Queen Mary. While on board the ship we had a bit of a 40 day cruise and stopped at the following ports: Trinidad (for refueling), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Then on to Australia and Cape Town, where we picked up Ford Blemey and his staff. Then to Freemont, where Ford Blemey and his staff got off the boat. Then onto Sydney, where the Queen Mary dropped anchor in the harbor.

After departing from the Queen Mary we were transported by train to Brisbane, where the P-29 fighter craft was assembled. I also bought a Harley motorcycle for ten bucks and we used it for liquor runs into town. I left the motorbike in the abandoned in the ditch when we were called to go to Port Moresby, which we arrived at on May 2^nd.

My first taste of “action” was on may 3^rd, when we were bombed by the Japanese. We were set up on a 3 mile airstrip where the our fighters were stationed. We were then bombed everyday for 16 months and miraculously no one was killed.

My next station was Lea, New Guinea. I was stationed at an airstrip that was used for B-24 bombers to take off from. I took a ride on the B-24 bomber, “Big Chief” and I went on a bombing run with the crew. Needless to say I didn’t care for the flak that the Japanese or the planes sent up at us. The bomb run lasted for three cities but in then end we downed 26 enemy planes that were trying to shoot us down.

I came home on furlough in March of 1944. On my return to duty I found my outfit at Hollanadad and then onto Manila, Philippines where we set guns up about the city.

Then I was transferred to Company “C” and I received my third grad sergeant chevrons or T3. I was stationed at the city’s water reservoir when I was informed that the US had won and three days later we got word that Japan had surrendered.

After 3 years and seven months in the pacific I was finally home in Rochester, New York. I had crossed the equator 4 times and the international timeline 2 times.

I was discharged August 22^nd of 1945. I had received the American Defense Service Medal, the Asian Pacific Service Medal with 3 stars, Distinguished Unit Badge, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Philippine Liberation Medal, rifle badge and the Ruptured Duck discharge pin.