Chapter XIII
START HOME
Aug. 24, 45: About 0800 we leave Camp Hoten Main Gate in a truck and two cars, a doctor and his 31 patients.
Saw many Russian soldiers and tanks passing through Mukden.
About 1000 we took off in two B-24s (Liberators); ours was named the" Homesick Angel." We sat in the bomb bays, eating C rations and K rations, the greatest invention of the war.
Passed over the Great Wall of China.
Sian, China
About 1600, landed at Sian - considered the cradle of Chinese
civilization and the first capital of China.
The U.S. Flag flying over the base was a beautiful sight. Had a fine
American dinner and in the evening were shown a movie, "If I were in
Love!" Could hear shooting; the front line was near by.
Aug. 25, 45: a great breakfast with real coffee.
At 1000 boarded a C-17 plane and flew some 1000 miles over beautiful mountainous country.
Kunming, China
Toward dark arrived at Kunming, the capital of Yunan Province and the northern terminus of the Burtq a Road, some 6000 feet above sea level.
Transferred to the 172nd General Hospital for a medical survey. Good meals! Plenty of food! Soft sheets on the beds! Magazines to read!
Went through many examinations. Had gained 11bs. in 10 days. Wt. 138 lbs.
Aug. 29, 45: Met Col. George Armstrong, the C.O. of the 172nd. I had known George when we were captains at Walter Reed Army Hospital in the early thirties. We had a very pleasant visit. (I felt very shabby in the presence of George's "spit and polish." He later became the Surgeon General of the Army).
Aug. 30, 45: Discharged from the Hospital. Wrote to Judy, telling
her I would soon be coming home.
Sep. 2, 45: Sunday-V.J. Day. Big Chinese parades; many dragons occupying the streets; much noise, like the banging of pots and pans.
It was very difficult for our ambulances to get through the streets to the Kunming airport.
Sept. 3, 45: We boarded a big Douglas C-54. About 2100 in a rain storm, we took off into the Wild Black Yonder. When it would lightning, we could see mountains on every side, the Himalaya Range. We circled up and up, to get out of the cup.
Sept. 4, 45: The Philippines! Near daybreak we came down low so we could see the badly damaged barracks of Topside of Corregidor, and soon landed at Nichol's Field-near my Garden Court home of 1940-41. (Parangue).
We were driven to 29th Reple Depot (a tent city in Los Banos. There were letters from Judy, mother and sister Ruth, the first in many months-all thrilled that I was coming home. It was good to learn that things were normal back home.
Generals Liberated from Mukden.
While we were waiting transportation home, the generals were flown from Mukden to Yokohama, Japan-to be greeted by General MacArthur.
On September 2, 1945, on the deck of the U.S. Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Generals Jonathan Wainwright and Sir Arthur Percival stood behind General MacArthur as he accepted the Surrender of the Japanese Empire. The following day, General Wainwright was flown to Baguio on Northern Luzon, to accept the surrender of the Philippines from Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita in the High Commissioner's Mansion at Camp John Hay, ending World War II.
Sept. 5, 45 - Wednesday: Many papers filled out. In the afternoon I was taken for a ride through Manila. Many of the buildings along Taft and Dewey Blvds. were in shambles. There were some two hundred damaged ships in the harbor, many assuming bizarre positions.
Sept. 6, 45 - Thursday: Mother's birthday and I had no way to
communicate with her. Edna Miller, a former school teacher at Brent
School in Baguio, near Camp John Hay, called. She and her boy friend,
Col. Jim Darrah, took me for a ride and dinner. Manila was a wreck!
Sept. 7, 45: I was able to make arrangements to obtain a small Army plane to fly back to Cabanatuan to look for the sketches I had buried there.
Sept. 8, 45: Lt. George Armstrong, from Utah, picked me up at 0800 and flew me in a Piper Cub to Cabanatuan, landing on an airport we POWs had built by hand - rock by rock (See poem, "The Pilot," by Gen. Brougher).
All of the prison camp buildings made of wood and swali were gone. I found where building #12 had been and dug in the area I had buried the drawings, but found nothing. The U.S. Army Engineers at the airport furnished a bulldozer, and still we found nothing. Arrived back at Reple Depot 29 about 1700 hours to find more letters from Judy, Mother and Ruth. It was fun to get reacquainted with activities in the States.
Sept. 9 - Sunday: Lt. Col. Ryle Radke, a classmate at Army Medical School, '36, came to the Reple Depot to take me to Manila, where we had a pleasant day discussing war experiences. Back in Camp at 2300, where I found orders promoting me to Lt. Col. as of August 20, 1945.
Sept. 10, 45: Alerted at 0800. At 1130 hrs we left for Nichols Field, and at 1445 we took off in a B-24 (Liberator) with bucket seats. Had a very smooth flight through heavy rains; could see two complete rainbows, one inside the other, as we looked down toward the earth. At 2230 we sat down on Guam; enjoyed a fine steak dinner.
Sept. 11, 45: Arrived on Kwajalein, a large atoll in the Marshall
Group. Time was changed from 1000 hrs to noon. A Capt. Andrews, U.S.A.
Air Corps from Danville, Virginia, took us to dinner at the Officers'
Club and then for a ride around the island which was one half by two
miles. Nearly every barracks
had its washing machine on the beach, powered by its own windmill, and closely observed by goony birds. Departed at 1530.
Sept. 11, '45: Arrived at Hickham Field in Hawaii about 0350; time changed to 0650. Just had time for a shower and a good American breakfast. Departed at 0930.