THE SQUADRON PULSE
For the Men of the Fightin’ 3rd. Published in Atsugi, Honshu, Japan.
VOL. 2 NO. 6 September 16, 1945 3rd Airdrome Squadron
[cartoon caption: “ONLY THREE STARS? NOW AREN’T YOU ASHAMED OF YOURSELF? HELL, I’VE BEEN OVERSEAS A YEAR, HAVE EIGHT STARS AND DIDN’T HAVE TO LEAVE ENGLAND. TSK, TSK.”
“DROP DEAD, WILL YOU”]
WHY TRY TO EXPLAIN...
100 per cent of the jabber this week concerned the crescendo and the diminuendo of points. Few were not affected by the subtraction of at least one point, and several lost two. This all came about because Higher Hqt’s couldn’t quite make up their minds on how to compute the GI’s points as of Sept 2nd.
Battle stars and credit was another hot bone of contention. This phase of the point system left everyone hanging in midair. Rumors smothered rumors and by the day’s close, no one had the slightest idea just where he stood. After losing the Ryukyus campaign credit, rumor had it that even the Luzon star would lost, although there was no foundation for such dire pessimism. At the moment, we find ourselves sweating out the Bismarck campaign, and credit for our pre-treaty landings in Atsugi. Both however, are remote.
The story is this: Five more points gained in any manner would put all the original 3rd above the eligible 80 mark.
“CAT” SHEARER PUTS TIRED 3RD ON HEP LEVEL
Always as salad as a ballad, one-gear Shearer, on eve of 11th Sept put the rheumatic 3rd on new standards. For weeks he had been sifting out the “Squares” from the groovies and now with the segregation completed, has decorated all groovies with a chain to jive with the khaki ensemble. The chains, incidentally, were once part of Jap gun cleaners.
NEW CLOTHING ISSUE COMING SOON
In the next few weeks, due to coming cold weather, our jungle-droopy khakis will be turned in and displaced by olive drabs and possibly Eisenhower jackets.
3RD HAS 449 RED ALERTS SINCE ORO BAY *
After being nabbed & beseeched for many months, your editor now feels safe in releasing a recap on Red Alerts which were experienced by most members of this sq. The time involved is from Oro Bay to the last days of the war on Ie Shima. This recap, however, is unofficial, but was maintained to the best my ability & knowledge. During the dark days of San Pablo & Tanauan, for example, when 4 to 8 alerts were sounded nightly, I made note of each on pad kept at my pillow. Below is the scorecard.
* General Quarters: Two coming overseas; one, en route to Ie Shima, near Formosa.
SQUADRON PULSE
VOL 2 NO 6 Sept. 16, 1945
Editor . . . . . . . . Mr. L. Stringfield
[Pointedly listing his honorific as “Mr.” instead of “Pfc.” (Private First
Class), obviously looking forward to being a civilian again. - Ed.]
***FIRST IN JAPAN***
JEEP-EYE VIEW OF YOKOHAMA
On Sept 13th, Major Mitchell and your editor, after getting past at least half dozen MP posts, arrived at 8th Army Hqt’s in the NYK Building, Yokohama. [NYK is Nippon Yusen Kaisha, a Japanese shipping company. - Ed.] Conditions there are not much of a scenic spectacle; however, some of the buildings in the vicinity of the Grand Hotel and NYK are in fair shape. On the wide streets, trolleys are still running, jampacked with unsmiling colorless citizens, and surprising[ly] enough the railroad station was humming with traffic. People look about the same there as in Atsugi--women wear bulbous pantaloons, and the men, slatternly drab, piecemeal army uniforms. Even some women wear leggins. The incredible sight was contained during the trip into the city. Children in clusters cheered our jeep and waved V signs. Some aver, however, that this gesture is a Jap way of showing contempt, but their faces looked much too genuinely happy to be insincere. Only the older people looked on with vacant faces. And why shouldn’t they, when they have no other alternative but to live in squalid tin huts, seared by our napalm bombs. I think the Nips will think twice before they ever decide to pull another sneak Pearl Harbor. Let’s hope they do at any rate.
THANKS TO THE 63RD
PULSE, for the past three issues, would not have been an entity had it not been for the 63rd Group’s cooperation. It was on their mimeo machine that we rolled off the first US newspaper in Japan......
LET’S NOT FORGET TO PAY THOSE CONVENTION DUES. TIME IS GROWING INDEED SHORT.
MAJOR MITCHELL COMMENDS: S/Sgt. Tilghman for efficiency in handling loading detail at Ie Shima.
Rosenblum said that Lew Scher voluntarily swept the floor for Saturday morning barracks inspection. Rosy’s hands were tied or he would have done it.
IT COULD HAPPEN TO ANYBODY
Since the 3rd arrived in Brisbane, Australia, many adventures, harrowing and unspeakable have befallen the squadron on the whole and to individuals personally. The following is the result of your editor’s findings in a recent canvassing of opinion. The first question asked, “What in your opinion was the 3rd's roughest experience?” The second question, “What was the roughest personal experience or when most scared?”
KENDRICK: The Third’s roughest time was the landing at Dulag and the days that followed. 2. I was most scared when I took off from Tanauan in an overloaded plane and our prop ran away. Old mother earth felt pretty good that day.
JERRY GOODMAN: The 3rd’s roughest was Brisbane, Australia. 2. The night of Dec 6th, San Pablo, in a fox-hole in back of Sqn Supply and looking up and seeing the Japs hit the silk.
REINHALTER: The 3rd’s roughest experience was, without a doubt, the Jap paratroop incident at San Pablo, Leyte, Dec 6, ‘44. 2. My roughest personal experience was in connection with that mentioned above.
WIGGINS: The 3rd’s roughest was definitely the nite of 7th Dec, San Pablo. 2. Pulling guard on vehicles back in jungle at Lae, New Guinea.
HOTCHKISS: The 3rd’s roughest was during the paratroop attack at San Pablo, on the second nite when everybody’s nerves were at the breaking point. 2. On August 7th when shrapnel was falling on our area in Ie Shima after enemy air attack.
SCHER: Eating steak and eggs daily in Brisbane. 2. When the 90’s [possibly meaning a type 90 parachute flares - Ed.] started popping at Oro Bay.
HUTCHINS: The 3rd's roughest time was at San Pablo, when parachuters landed. 2. Scared as hell when on detail at Dulag beach, Dec 6th, when Jap planes came down and strafed.
KAUFMAN: The 3rd’s roughest was at Leyte Gulf, November 12th, ‘44, during kamikaze attacks. 2. Brisbane--getting set to jump from a stalled glider, then found out that I had no chute.
W. J. SMITH: Paratroop attack at San Pablo. 2. About an hour after the paratroopers landed, when it started getting dark.
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