ww2letterproject

The ships moved at 18 knots on a zig zag path to the southwest as the California coastline faded from sight.  That night there was a blackout.  Portholes were closed and there was no smoking on deck.   At dawn May 27, the two destroyers broke off escort.  The sea was choppy and many of the GIs were seasick.  Two meals were served each day with the enlisted men eating in the main dining salons.  The chow lines were long.  Each day there was an hour of calisthenics.  Later that day there was the first of many, abandon-ship drills.  Three days later the men were permitted to sleep on deck.

On June 2, the convoy crossed the equator.

June 11, the convoy arrived at Suva Bay and the island of Vitu Levu, the largest of the Fiji Islands. The facilities were not sufficient at that time to serve the entire 37^th, so all but two of the convoy ships sailed another 1300 miles to Auckland, New Zealand.  Included in this move was the 136th artillery.

Late on the afternoon of June 15 the convoy sailed into Hauraki Gulf on the northeastern side of North Island and cruised past Mt. Rangitoto, an extinct volcano near the mouth of Auckland’s harbor.

Docking was delayed until the next morning.  The GIs were met by the sounds from several local bands.  The 145^th band aboard the USS Uruguay countered by playing the “Beer Barrel Polka.”  General Connelly used the public-address system to read to the GIs about New Zealand and its customs.  The troops exited the ships and marched to the train station, where they traveled by rail to their assigned campsites.

The Artillery units of the 37^th camped near the town of Papakura.  The locals were friendly to these GIs who had traveled thousands of miles to defend and repel an invasion from the nearby Japanese army.

PFC Bill Nance was 21 when he landed in New Zealand.  It was June and winter.  A short time later Bill met and dated a local girl named Melva.

In the first half of 1942, Imperial Japan had rapidly expanded its control over the South Pacific.  The Imperial Japanese Army or IJA had soundly defeated the Chinese and Allied armies and now controlled Burma, a significant part of China, Singapore, Manilla and the Philippine Islands.  The IJA was building air bases in the Solomon Islands that would enable their bombers to reach Australia and New Zealand within a few hours. The invasion of New Zealand was anticipated to occur at any time.  To most of their foes, not only did the IJA seem invincible, but also there were reports about their brutality including the mass murder, mass rape and mutilation of civilians in Nanking, China.  There were also reports of the IJA’s treatment of Allied POWs during the Bataan death march. Any day the civilians and the Allied forces protecting them on New Zealand might be face to face with a formidable and ruthless foe.

Bill and his girlfriend strolled the streets of Auckland on sunny winter days as they took in the sights of Auckland.

I found a photo of Melva Scott dressed in her pajamas.  On the back of the picture was written “How’s this.  Do I look good in pajamas, Bill!”  This photo was “hidden” inside a paper sleeve that held Dad’s Boy Scout ID card from the 1930s.  I wonder if he hid it there.  I wonder if, on occasion, he looked at the photo and recalled himself as a young man walking the streets of Auckland with a pretty girl on his arm.

The men of the 37^th lived in barn-like barracks or tents.  It was mid-June and thus mid-winter.  Mornings were cold and damp with frost.  Chow included items such as tomato and melon jam as well as mutton for which there were few takers. On June 19^th there was a full-dress parade.  Entertainment in New Zealand included movies; the movie theaters were reserved for soldiers.  There were also concerts and softball games.  The local dance halls and the pubs were crowded.

The USS Coolidge shuttled from Fiji and arrived at New Zealand on June 19^th and departed for Fiji on June 25^th.  The Coolidge made the trip twice more.  By July 31^st all of the 37^th troops on New Zealand had moved to Fiji.

In July of 1942, Bill stepped off a transport ship onto the Fiji Island of Vitu Levu, a volcanic island with white sand beaches and lush tropical forests.  It was a tropical paradise.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, our family made two trips to Pittsburgh, PA. I don’t recall the purpose for returning to “the place where Dad grew up,” but I expect we were there for family wakes.  I recall that Dad’s extended family had, to me, “funny sounding” names like Turzak and Brinza.  I was told that these dark, swarthy, barrel chested men who worked in the “mills” were his uncles (although nearly the same age as Dad) that he played with in his youth.

Their homes were in a place so different than the flat and gently rolling farmlands that surrounded our home in Dayton, Ohio.  Their houses separated by a few feet, or not at all, were perched on steep hillsides.  We gathered with Dad’s family in these houses. 

The children were expected “to be seen, not heard.”  I observed groups of adults, each with a bottle of beer in hand and talking loudly; many, simultaneously.  On one of these trips to Pittsburgh, my Aunt Nancy, Dad’s half-sister travelled with us.  I recall Nancy being in one of those groups, the only woman surrounded by men.  There was loud talking, but when someone said, “Tell that joke again,” the room quieted.  Nancy paused to confirm that she had the attention of everyone and then said, “Why did the girl wear space panties? (pause) Because she thought her ass was out of this world.”  The men surrounding her roared with drunken laughter, some repeating the punch line several times.

Nancy was Dad’s “big sister.”  My Aunt Nancy was different from my other aunts (Mom’s sisters) and Mom.  Nancy dressed in clothes that were very bright and colorful; she wore lots of jewelry, talked loudly, told ribald jokes, had a quick and explosive temper and drank beer, lots of it.  She was married when she was 17, and then four more times.  She commanded and demanded attention when she entered a room.  She was the life of the party.  She was generous and fearless.

Nancy adored her baby brother, “Billie.”

The mission of the 37th was to establish the Fiji island of Vitu Leva as a defensive base and a strongpoint in the supply line between the US and Australia and New Zealand.  Suva was the only major port town on the island.  The harbor was mined and anti-sub nets were put into place.  Artillery battery positions were set up on the island.

The men of the 37^th spent much of their time training for jungle warfare.  There were exercises in stream crossing, demolition, defense against chemical attacks, camouflage, night condition marches, night occupation and withdrawal of positions, the use of bayonets, unarmed defense, and defense against booby traps.

For recreation, there were only a few local theaters and hotel bars available. The military bands held concerts.  Baseball leagues were organized and a championship game was played on January 17.  A local radio station ZJV broadcast the game.

The 37^th spent ten months on garrison duty and training in Fiji.

Their stay on this the small South Pacific island paradise was about to end.