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


<- PREVIOUS LETTER April 2, 1945
Floridablanca, Luzon, Philippines
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Philippines

April 2, 1945

Hello Ma:

      Well, here I am at another base and once again back into a combat area. I have seen over fifty crashed Japanese planes, in addition to other wrecked enemy equipment. On the way to my new field, we passed through several fair-sized towns. Railroads, movie houses, bars, cafeterias, marketplaces, and churches we passed. I ate yesterday my first watermelons since leaving the United States. I saw ice cream advertised at one store. I drove on the first asphalt and cement highways since leaving Australia. We pitched our tents not too distant from a small stream after filling in some Jap foxholes. In the nearby range of mountains, the infantry and artillery fight the Japs. At night, we post four guards because of Jap infiltration possibilities. It's a good policy for us to carry our rifles with us whenever we leave the camp area. At my old base, I was in a "mud hole," now I am in a "dust bowl."

      Well, Ma, there is a lot more that I would like to say, but I am not permitted to do so. Enclosed are some pictures that were taken at my former base. Nine pictures - total.

      That's all for now -

Earl

      P.S. - Notice the new A.P.O. number.




Camp area, apparently under construction, on Luzon, Philippines, 1945.




Building a new camp at San Fernando in the Philippines in 1945. From the headgear, those appear to be Australian troops.



 
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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