These are the men who have seen the worst
The fighting men of the three-eighty-first
Through mud and rain, on coral and sand
They fought, some died, in a far-off land

Years before he died, the fact that I could not recall my father ever telling me that he loved me waxed stronger and stronger on me. Finally, I sought counsel. After explaining this to my counselor at length, he wisely suggested that I write a letter to my father, explaining my frustration, and then tearing it up and tossing it in the trash can, and moving on with my life. My father would never know my feelings, and I would be much, much better.

I too remember Easter, 1945. I, along with other replacements bound for Okinawa, was on an APA transport ship out of Saipan, where we were brushing up on battle statistics for about two weeks. What did we know after only 13 weeks of basic training at Camp Hood? I don't think this two weeks or so prepared us for what we got into when I was assigned to C Company. We did not have weapons until then. They issued to the whole group M-1 Carbines, which had been stored in cosmoline, for us to clean. After we had them cleaned, they took them from us and issued M-1 Gerand rifles that we went into battle with on Okinawa.

There is an old poem authored by Major Kelly Strong called Freedom Is Not Free. It is probable that only those who have fought hard to win battles with our enemies can understand the full significance of those words. Many have such awful memories of loneliness, horror and destruction of war that they refuse to talk about their experiences.

We, along with other units, were working to silence Japanese artillery gun positions that were emplaced in the cave openings and other concrete-lined gun positions facing us.

We had the U. S. Navy firing for us from their ship. They were as close to the beach as a safe depth would permit. Also the angle of fire was more effective in that the Japanese emplacements were not protected from this angle and counter fire from their guns was difficult if possible.

Ralph Alton hailed from Bruceville, Indiana. He was drafted into the Army and took his basic training in Camp Blanding, Florida. After returning home he received advance training at Ft Ord, California, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands, and Saipan. He joined the 96th Division Deadeyes in April of 1945 on Okinawa, as an 18 year old. He served his country in combat with M. Co, 382nd regiment until American forces secured that island. He was then shipped to Mindoro, Philippine Islands, where he reenlisted. Upon the death of his father he was discharged in early 1946.

In an earlier entry about my experiences in WW II, I recall ending with our landing on Okinawa as replacements in the 96th Infantry division, who by now had lost half their men to a fanatical Japanese combat force, who were well trained and equipped and skilled.

Bill Porter and I, Jeff League, sat down and had a meeting/philosophical discussion and history lesson as it turned out. That would have been 4-16-09. We were talking about why kids drop out of school and an example I gave got Bill onto the topic of Okinawa. We had been wanting to get Bill's recollections on tape but here it just kind of spontaneously came out and we were lucky enough to get the meeting on tape. Bill's friend Bill Hill, who runs the RemembertheDeadeyes.com website, had contacted Bill and let him know about the website. This had gotten Bill excited about the Deadeyes again and Bill Hill had encouraged Bill Porter to share his memories. Bill had been hesitant but he was working up to it and here it just came out in conversation.

On May 1st, PFC Martin L. Allday arrived off Okinawa, climbed over the side and down the net into a landing craft and was put ashore. On the beach, he says, "The first thing we were told was to throw our gas masks away, and so we did. All of us had been issued our gas masks upon induction at Fort Sam Houston, and we had carried them all through training and everywhere else. Also, because I wore glasses, my mask had been specially fitted with glasses, but it went onto the pile with all the rest. Everybody unloaded as much as they could in order to get as light as possible. From that point on, I carried no personal equipment except a poncho and a small sack with a change of socks, a toothbrush, and a spare pair of glasses.

I was a forward observer with the 1st Battalion, 381st Regiment, from the 361st Field Artillery Battalion, 96th Division, in the rolling mountains above the beach on Leyte. The enemy was scattered. The Battalion was in a kind of circular defensive position. Rifle fire pro and con was intermittent.

This may be a shocking statement: But at one time in my life, I was a hardened killer. I probably killed more human beings on Okinawa in three months than have been murdered in Jackson County, where I live, in the past 10 or 15 years. I am not proud of this but I do know it was a necessary part of my job.

Members of the 593rd JASCO (Joint Assault Signal Company) were attached to the 96th Division for landings at both Leyte and Okinawa. At Leyte, five of us and Lt. Spears landed in the third wave in an amphibious tank with members of the 382nd Regimental Combat Team of the 96th Division. We landed on Orange 1 or 2, whichever was on the right flank. For an assault landing, things were pretty quiet for a while, not what we expected. Then the Japanese (who were dug in up on Liberian Head) started dropping mortar on us.

On November 22, 1944, the 3rd Battalion was ordered from the front line. Our casualties had been very high - nearly two hundred killed, missing, or wounded. We were stationed on Mecham Ridge about one mile behind the front. Although we still lived in foxholes, we were now able to customize our quarters. Some had suspended bamboo floors so that we could stay above the water and damp, cold ground. Others had makeshift roofs to shield the occupants from the rain. This doesn't seem like much, but after what we had been through, we thought of it as the Leyte Hilton.

At least we all had a good sleep. A new man, named Pohto, was assigned to my foxhole to replace Higgins, who had been killed the day before. Because it was difficult to go to sleep during the early watch, Silva and I decided that we would each take an early watch and leave the third watch to the new man. Each watch was one hour long. After the second watch, I awakened Pohto, gave hm my wristwatch and told him to wake Silva in one hour. I promptly fell asleep.

It was dawn of October 20, 1944. The sky was bright and clear, The sea was calm and blue. The 3rd Battalion of the 382nd Regiment was selected to lead the assault. Two days earlier, the 6th Ranger Battalion had landed unopposed to secure two small islands that guarded the entrance to Leyte Gulf - Dingat on the south and Homonhon on the north.

The task force plowed through the Philippine Sea - only three days outside the target area of Leyte. Everyone aboard the vast fleet was tense with fear and dread of the assault that was about to take place. Everyone, that is, except Lt. Lawson, for he was dead. He had succumbed to a tropical disease contracted a week earlier on the South Pacific Island of Manus.

Camp Stoneman was the 96th Division POE (Port Of Embarkation). As was the custom, quarantine was placed on units that were scheduled to embark on overseas duty.

Quarantine meant absolute secrecy regarding our movement and our location. This precluded any passes or telephone calls, and our letter writing was strictly censored. As far as the world was concerned, we were simply vanished from the earth.