Darwin L. Olson Darwin served in the South West and Far East Pacific during World War II. This is an excerpt from his journal. We sailed aboard the troop ship Argentina. It held 3,500 soldiers. We'd been weeks without seeing land. The last week or so of the trip, the Argentina and likely all of the other accompanying troop ships in the convoy, ran extremely low on fresh water both for drinking and for our daily showers. A good deal of our sea travel took us through some of the hottest tropics of the world. We crossed the equator several times, as the convoy of numerous ships and their thousands of military troops proceeded to zigzag on to our unknown destination. It was all top secret. During our final week of what turned out to be a half-round-the-world sailing trip, drinking water was in such short supply that we had to go thirsty much of the daylight hours for several days. About every night I had to stand in a long line at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning to get my meager ration of a canteen cup of water (about a pint, I suppose). Since there was no fresh water left for our daily showering, we had to resort to using the salty contaminated seawater that was finally pumped up into the showerheads for us. That water made us almost feel less clean, and stickier than we were before. One of those days, while I was standing on deck looking out over the vast endless seas, I observed what appeared to me to be a big tropical rainstorm that came into view some distance ahead of our ever-advancing convoy. Since at that moment I was not manning a deck machine gun or engaged in any other obligatory duty, I quickly ran below deck and came back armed with a bar of soap and my green GI towel. I then scampered up to an isolated vacant area on the top deck. Quickly I stripped off my sweat-soaked smelly clothes and waited for our ship to enter this mighty fresh-water downpour. As I anxiously waited there all by my lonesome, I thought I must be the smartest young man aboard ship. The rains came as I predicted, so I hurriedly soaped down my rancid body. At least I would enjoy this lovely torrential freshwater shower. I got pleasantly well soaked, and fully soaped. No hurry, I thought, this appears to be a heavy tropical storm, with plenty to spare. Suddenly, the Argentina and perhaps a dozen other of our sailing entourage, quickly followed by the rest of the convoy, sailed right out from the stormy downpour into miles of blue sky and sunshine. This inexperienced young Army GI had been tricked by nature and her common short tropical rainsquall. Eventually I had to resort back to a smelly salt-water shower just to get the soap off my lathered up naked body. Oh, well, I tried! And I learned fast. Jennings G. Olson, Jr. Dr. Jennings Olson injured his leg in training and was medically discharged. He came back to Weber and taught for many years. Eldon Victor Orton December 1943, we boarded a troop train going to Camp Stoneman. It took four or five days, but we finally made it. We were at Camp Stoneman three or four days when we boarded a troop ship 'Mattson.' Our destination was top secret, even to us. After we were on the ocean for three days, our commanding officer called 110 us together, showed us maps where we were to land in New Guinea to set up a new base camp. Two days later, the commanding officer seemed very unhappy as he called us together again. He stated the place we were to land was still under Japanese control. Therefore we had been diverted to Northern Australia. We ended up in several ordnance companies. I ended up about 50 miles from Townsville, in the wilds of Australia. I was not unhappy. In Australia, we renovated ammunition and loaded it on ships - destination New Guinea. We were located in a camp at Blue River. This was a hot climate about 15-20 degrees from the equator. When you picked up a box of ammo, you might find a surprise under it, tarantulas, snakes, large green ants and bugs which I don't think even had a name. There were termite mounds rising up to 30 feet high with a 20-feet diameter base. These mounds were used as road base. The surface was tough but slippery when wet. One of our favorite pastimes was hunting with Thompson sub-machine guns. They had a 250-round clip that looked like a sprinkling hose all around the target. I confess I could never hit anything. As we were encouraged to hunt kangaroo, when they raced by, the machine gun would gravitate upwards; and I would find myself shooting out the top of trees. Kenneth G. Parsons I shipped from Boston, Massachusetts, on 22 September, 1944, on the Mariposa and arrived in Liverpool, England, on 30 September. I left from Southampton a week or two later, crossed the English Channel, and entered France at Le Havre. I was assigned to a Headquarters Company that stopped at a number of places as we moved through France. Prior to the Rhineland Campaign, I was transferred to the 26th Infantry Division in the 3rd Army under the command of General George Patton. I fought as a combat infantryman operating a BAR (Browning automatic rifle). The 26th Infantry Division was then sent to Metz, France, the last part of November and first part of December to await replacements, as to replace the losses suffered in the Rhineland Campaign. On 16 December 1944, we were hastily sent from Metz to the front lines again due to the start of the German Offensive in the Ardennes. The 26th Infantry Division participated in the Battle of the Bulge to liberate Bastogne and stop the German Offensive. Following this, the 26th Infantry fought in Luxembourg where I suffered wounds to my left hand, right hand, and left thigh during an artillery barrage on 4 January, 1945. I had my left finger amputated, and my other wounds cleaned and stitched in a field army hospital; and then I was sent to a hospital in Paris, France. After a few more weeks I was sent to a hospital in Yeoville, England, where my 4th finger on my left hand also had to be removed down to the large knuckle because it would not heal properly. Kevin Dale Pendleton Dale Pendleton was a staff sergeant in the Army during WWII. He received the Meritorious Service Award and five Bronze Battle Stars for his participation in the European Theater of Action. He was with the supply unit for the First Army and participated in the invasion of Europe, and arrived in France on D-Day plus six. Ray W. Peterson_ During WWII, I served with an Intelligence and Reconnaissance (l&R) platoon, 255th Infantry Regiment, 63rd Infantry Division in France and Germany. In August 1945, as the war ended, I was transferred to the 29th Infantry Regiment stationed in Frankfurt, Germany. We were part of General Eisenhower's Supreme Headquarters (SHAEF) at that time. On or about 11 Oct 1945, I was called into First Sergeant Michael Mastrangelo's office. He told me I was to accompany him and an Army medic on a highly classified mission (Operation Overcast). He said we were to transport 40 German men and their families from the Frankfurt/Hanau 111