was assigned that most of these were service personnel, such as Air Force ground units, with few actual combat troops. No one could rightly assess the enemy combat strength or disposition in the hills west of Clark Field. In reality, Japanese forces in the area numbered some 30,000. In spite of their large numbers, the Japanese in the area were lightly armed. Their strength was in the terrain they defended. From these positions, the Japanese intended to thwart the American advance. Infantrymen of the 40th Division began their assault on the morning of 24 January. Grandpa and the artillerymen of the division pounded the enemy positions. Using precise adjustments, the artillerymen kept a constant wall of steel 'walking' up the slopes in front of the exposed infantry. By the end of the day, little had been gained. The second day of the operation saw more American infantrymen committed to the attack; but once again, progress was painfully slow or nonexistent. After two days of fighting, the most successful units of the division had progressed only a mile up the first ridge, and the men were exhausted. It would take four days (22-27 January) for the men of the 40th Division to render the first Japanese defensive line ineffective, and this had been the weakest line of resistance. It was not until 30 January that all elements of the first Japanese line of resistance had been destroyed; and Clark Field, in its entirety had been captured, an objective that had taken a full week to achieve. Through courage, determination, and an almost uninterrupted artillery barrage, the 40th Division secured the Clark Field air center for the Allied Air Forces; and within weeks, following necessary repairs, fighters and bombers would be able to influence continued operations in the South Pacific. Whether they recognized it or not, Grandpa and the men serving with him had won a major victory. Under XI Corps, the men of the 40th Division continued mopping up until relieved by the 43rd Division on March 2, 1945. For the first time since landing at Lingayen Gulf nearly two months earlier, Grandpa Adams and his unit were withdrawn from the front and allowed much needed rest and relaxation. With northwestern Negros Island secure, along with the remainder of the Southern Visayas Islands, the 40th Division became a type of 'occupational force,' awaiting the preparations for the invasion of Japan that, by now, everyone expected. It was a time when the men of the division 'licked their wounds' and rested for the first prolonged period since boarding ships which took them to Luzon six months earlier. Lee James Andelin The following brief of military experiences was written by Lee James Andelin on May 6, 1953. Excerpts were taken from letters he wrote to his parents and other family members. I enlisted in the U.S. Army Field Artillery at the age of eighteen in March 1941, which was to be for a period of one year; but my active military service continued for five years because of the World War II situation. I had previously served in the Utah National Guard, and entered the Army as a staff sergeant. After eighteen months as an enlisted man, I appeared before a review board and was sent to officers' candidate school at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. There, I completed courses in truck and weapon maintenance, directing the placement of artillery pieces into position and delivering fire, military communications, tactics, gunnery, and administration. My age was nineteen when I was commissioned a second lieutenant on September 17, 1942. I was then assigned to the 122nd Field Artillery Battalion, 33rd Infantry Division, based at Fort Lewis, Washington. During my commissioned service, my duties in a light artillery unit were concerned with recruit training, and the firing battery (four Howitzer sections), which required lectures, demonstrations, practice, and field exercises. Included were one month of winter maneuvers, three months of simulated desert warfare, and the use of landmines and booby traps after which we were sent to the Pacific in July 1943. Our division was in Hawaii for nine months, where we undertook jungle and amphibious training 72 to familiarize us with the special problems of war in the Pacific. Letter: Kauai Island, Hawaii, August 1943. 'We have many occurrences in a day that could be turned into adventures by an apt writer. For instance, the patrol the other day offered that opportunity. This is a semblance of what jungle fighting can be like: the trail was a narrow back woods path which was hacked through the vegetation and maintained in order to service power lines, and it seemed to be a natural settling place for the seepage of frequent rains. For about twelve miles, we slopped through mud so soft and slimy that our feet would get stuck up to our ankles. It took eight hours to complete the march, so that should give you an idea of how difficult it was considering that a slow infantry march is three miles an hour. The sun beat down on us and the humidity was so high that our clothes were wringing wet before we came to the first creek and we were able to jump in to cool off. At the end we were exhausted and felt extremely sorry for ourselves. The water had withered our feet and the mud had colored them a deep blue-black that made us look like some kind of a hundred-year-old Congo native. This soldier, only under forced induction, would ever go on a similar hike.' While in Hawaii, I attended a training course with the 5th Amphibious Fleet concerning loading and unloading for amphibious landings, and I became familiar with Navy operations and their amphibious vessels. During the ensuing year, among my other duties, I was assistant to the battalion transport quartermaster officer, and assisted with the plans and direction of three amphibious landings: one in New Guinea, one in the Philippines, and one in Japan. I spent nine months on New Guinea, where, again, we slithered along muddy jungle trails. Our action there with the Japanese was mostly limited to patrolling. Letter: New Guinea, August 1944. 'We haven't had more than six continuous hours without rain for a week. The weather pattern is a downpour with high winds for an hour, a heavy rain for a while, followed by a drizzle. After all of this there is a half hour of clear weather, and then it starts all over again. The bridges were washed out this afternoon, and large sections of roads flooded. This Weather is hard on supplies of all kinds. It's deplorable in terms of the beating expensive equipment takes. Not fifty yards from my present tent location is a four lane coral highway, and it is loaded with heavier traffic than the road going into Salt Lake City. Engineers work continually to keep it in shape because there isn't any base under New Guinea soil. With heavy trucks and equipment going over the road all day and night, they would sink out of sight if the engineers let up." We were engaged in heavy action for nine months on Luzon in the Philippines. I spent most of my time with the infantry as a forward observer and developed some degree of skill in directing close artillery support. My training in photo interpretation and map reading proved almost as important as being able to live in a hole in the ground. Combat with the Japanese on Luzon took the lives of some of our enlisted men and a comrade officer, a terrible experience. I received a commendation for bravery in combat from the commanding officer of the 15th Infantry, U.S. Armed Forces, Northern Luzon, Philippines, regarding action leading to the capture of a strategic mountain top. Additionally, I was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for other action [an award for heroic or meritorious achievement]. In the Philippines, I had my first episode of being very sick with malaria. Letter: Luzon Island, Philippines, 1945. 'The night out there in Japanese territory is the one that is really long. You need to be in place by dusk and no one moves until daylight, so you have twelve hours to do nothing but think. Every night, I adjust one round of artillery close to the perimeter defense so that if we are attacked, I can move it around if I have to. It's really a job to adjust them close. The only thing I have to go by is the whistle of the shell as it passes overhead. After it passes, I can tell pretty well where it is landing by the sound of the explosion. But such a lot of things have to be taken into account, such as whether the shell burst in a tree or on the ground, or if it hits behind a hill. It all makes a difference in the way each of them sounds. But that is all I have to go by because you can't see even fifty feet in any direction. I can relate any incidents that have happened to me without being morbid and bitter, but I'll try to give you an idea of what I am doing now. You know, of course, that we have been fighting in the mountains. They aren't like any back home, they are steeper, mostly covered with jungle-like growth or tall Sumi grass, and the two sides of any ridge nearly always come together like a razor's edge. From the view up in our airplanes, it is decided that certain pieces of ground must be controlled, and the information finally breaks down so that a company commander is told to take such and such high ground. He usually has already had patrols out in that area and has an idea of what the Japanese have out there. If his patrols have run into Japanese positions, he has his artillery observer cover the area with fire before he assaults it. Sometimes the 73