The Howard Hansen Story of WW2

he usually did; he kept going over close to Florida Island and sat there high and dry,

grounded. They went and got him with a row boat. That PBY was so full of holes

from machine guns...went real slow. The next morning here came that big old

Japanese battlewagon, early before daylight, and they put a big spotlight on our

island and around the water, and they spotted that thing. They must have fired

about two million dollars worth of shells at that thing; finally knocked a wing off it.

Before we got off Tulagi, they moved a Seabee outfit in there. There were piers,

docks the Japs used to use. The squad I was in had a Cossack post. Cossack like

in Russia. That meant if anybody came in, you stayed there at all costs; you never

moved back. So every once in a while you get 'Condition Red'. The Japs were going

to re-hit us. Of course we were all set. We had this Seabee outfit. Seabees built

things for the services. Larry [one of Howard's older brothers] was in the Seabees.

One of those fellas used to come down there and say, "Hey, Marine, give me some hand

grenades." I'd give him a couple, somebody else would give him a couple.

When we had 'Condition Red' he wanted to be there in case they hit. They were

only about 200 feet behind us. They had a big tent. He couldn't wait, "Boy! I hope

they come!" you know. One day I smelled homemade bread. Wow! that smells like home;

so I walked over to that great big tent and I walked in the back way. They were baking bread

-- bakery in there. Guy there had his shirt off; had hair all over his shoulders and arms,

looked like a gorilla, had arms like a gorilla. so I went up to him and said, "Hey, Fella,

I'd sure like a loaf of that bread." "You get outta here, Marine!" "Not until I get a loaf of

that bread. " "You get outta here or I'll throw you out." I said, "You throw me out of here,

Fella, and I'll tell you one thing. I've got a squad over there, we'll all be back in and then

you won't throw us out. Wouldn't it be better if you gave me a loaf of that bread and I'll

take it with me and share it with the squad and we won't say nothing to nobody." He said,

"If you don't say nothing to nobody - you'll have all the marines in here." Anyway, we got

homemade bread and was that delicious. That ship, they had canned peaches....gallons.

[Pause]

From there we got in Higgins boats that we landed in and the PT boats, three or four

of them, stayed right there in the harbor hiding from the Japs in the daytime. They

put four Higgins boats behind one of them and led us the 25 miles to Guadalcanal.

The 1st Marines had already been there. They established the beach head, so we

didn't have any problems there doing that, but then we got right into the front line.

Before we got very far, we were right around Henderson Field. They hadn't secured

that completely yet; we were in the process of trying to do that.

We were there a day or two getting organized to move on up across a field and up

in the hills. The Seabee outfit moved over there when we did and we ran into them

on the third or fourth day. I asked them where that little guy was. They said, "He's

gone." "Gone? What happened to him?" Piece of shrapnel hit him in the head. He

worked in that bakery in the big tent. Seabees were a division of the Army. We had

a machine gun nest on the beach in case the Japs came in and 'Condition Red'. So

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he runs out there like he used to do on Tulagi; get grenades or whatever. Bomber

came over and a piece of shrapnel hit him." I felt bad about that little guy. He

shouldn't have been out there to begin with. Of course he might have got it anyway.

Then we moved across the airport. Seems like it was east, not sure. The front line

moved out that way. They make a circular defense around whatever we were taking

over, and we were getting out, oh, two or three miles past the airport (Henderson

Field) and we had the front line for a few days; several days. [During that time]

most of us got malaria. The little fellow whose leg was shaking so bad at Boot Camp

was hiking to get the line farther away from the airport and I noticed that he was

awful red and I told him he needed a corpsman. We had a corpsman in each

platoon. We had to stop for a ten minute break; it was hot and sultry, and I said,

"He's awful bad; we ought to get him to a sick bay someplace." The corpsman

checked him out and he said, "Yeah, he's got quite a fever, alright." We walked

some more and poor guy couldn't hardly make it. I went to the top sergeant, of

course, I was just a private. I said, "Top, that Paris there, he's in awful bad shape.

Looks like to me we ought to get him someplace to sick bay." He got the company

commander, took him back to sick bay where he died....malaria. We had 60 malarias

in our company at one time on the front line. In fact, it was in the front line when

we finally got up on the hill, edge of the jungle. Hill up on top with grass on it, got

through to that, grass about two or three feet tall. We were moving up on our bellies

in that grass and our platoon sergeant, he laid down in the shade, there, gave the

order, we laid up there on our bellies in that grass with our helmets on and it was

hot and all at once things got a little hazy to me. "What the dickens is going on?"

Finally the sergeant say, "OK, 3rd platoon move back down to the edge of the

jungle." Just two of us moved back down. R. S. Hall was his name. We had to go

up and drag them all down in the shade. They had all passed out in the heat, and

then we didn't have no water, so the sergeant says, "Well, you two guys will have to

go down and get a jug of water." We had to go clear down to the beach down off

that hill and we got down off the hill, had a 5 gallon can, and went into the battalion

aid. There was a battalion doctor named Welby. He was the one got killed at

Tarawa. He was a heck of a nice guy. He was an ex-football player. He looked at

R. S. Hall and I, called me Red, said, "Come here." He had a pill and he said, "Put

this under your tongue." I said, "What is it?" and he said, "A salt pill". I said, "I

don't want salt. I'm thirsty enough now." He said, "You put that under your tongue.

It's important!" so I did. We got down on the beach where they had a tank. Jeep

pulled it on a darned trailer. Trailer with a tank on it. We filled up our 5 gallon

can; was quite a job going up that hill but anyway, the battalion doctor had come

down there and our battalion colonel, Priestly was his name, in charge of the

battalion. No regimental commander was there. He said, "Priestly, you're going to

have to get George Co. off the line." He said, "Why should they come off the line?"

"They've got 60% malaria." "Well, that's all right; that won't hurt nothing." The

doctor said, "You get them back off the line, or I'll put you on report." He told the

colonel that. That's when I first realized that doctors have more authority than a

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