Based on the letters of Earl Philip Reinhalter (1922-1953). Edited by his son, Earl Philip Reinhalter (1950-).


<- PREVIOUS LETTER February 22, 1945
Tanauan, Leyte, Philippines
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Philippines

Feb 22, 1945

Hello Ma:

      Enclosed are 15 more pictures for the collection. Pictures are numbered on the back.

      Pictures #1 and #2 show my last New Guinea camp just as it was being torn down in preparation for our move to the Philippines.

      Picture #3 is our first temporary camp area, the third day in the Philippines.

      Picture #4 is one of the boys in my squadron.

      Picture #5 shows one of our officers standing beside the squadron insignia.

      Picture #6 is our commanding officer.

      Pictures #7 and #8 show two Jap paratroopers who paid us a visit one evening.

      Picture #9 is a P-38 doing a "buzz" over the airstrip.

      Picture #10 is a Curtiss Commando C-46.

      Picture #11 shows part of a convoy.

      Picture #12 - The New Guinea coast.

      Picture #13 - Two Republic P-47 Thunderbolts.

      Picture #14 didn't develop very well. It's supposed to be me holding a Jap flag.

      Picture #15 likewise didn't develop very well. I am the second from the left.

      Pictures #14 and #15 you can throw away if you want to. I'll have better ones sometime in the future.

      All for now -

Earl


      P.S. Am O.K.




The squadron's last New Guinea camp being torn down in preparation for moving to the Philippines, October 1944.




Remains of the squadron's last New Guinea camp before moving to the Philippines, October 1944.




A temporary camp, third day in the Philippines - Leyte, October 1944.




An officer of 3rd Airdrome Squadron, standing at the unit's welcome sign in Leyte, Philippines.




A dead Jap paratrooper at San Pablo, Leyte, Philippines, early December 1944. This battle was the squadron's most serious
combat situation of the war. For an account, see the article "PARATROOPERS!" in The Squadron Pulse newsletter.
It was probably during this time that Earl earned his Purple Heart. A bullet grazed his temple.




A Jap "visitor," likely from the December 1944 paratroop attack mentioned above.



 
NOW AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK!

The Kindle book includes the letters; all 23 issues of the unit’s wartime newsletter “The Squadron Pulse,” which was originally edited by Leonard Stringfield; all 12 issues of the “Pennant Parade” newsletter that Stringfield published while sailing home after the war; complete text of the U.S. government booklet “Pocket Guide to Australia,” which soldiers heading Down Under were given to read; more than 200 photos; pre-war and postwar family history; and over 700 explanatory endnotes.















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