As the
convoy approached the stricken area they could easily discern a small
group, of white people on the beach wildly waving the American flag. The
coast-was clear. Quickly the craft disposed themselves according to
prearranged plans. The "Susfu Maru" and the rocket LCM took up positions
covering the approaches of a long winding channel, for enemy machine guns
were known to have been set up along these approaches. 1st Lieutenant
Joseph J. Blumberg of Queens Village, New York, then maneuvered his LCM
through the narrow reef-studded channel while the second LCM was sent out
beyond the range of small arms fire to stand by as the safety boat. The
picket boat moved back and forth directing all movement by radio and ready
to add her fire to any critical spot. All men and officers literally held
their breaths while Lt. Blumberg's LCM made the channel at dead slow
speed. “She was just a sitting duck with no room to maneuver in case of
attack. The beach was finally made without a shot being fired, the ramp
lowered, “ - and the refugees entered the barge among scenes that will
never be forgotten.
Aboard
the first LCM was a man we shall call "Colonel Mac". He was a member of
General MacArthur's Staff and had been evacuated from Corregidor
before its capture by the Japs in 1942. Colonel Mac's wife was among the
group of refugees and he was standing on the catwalk near the ramp eagerly
searching the crowd when he saw his wife smiling at him. For three long
years they had waited for that day. Meanwhile, people of all nationalities
quickly came aboard. Instead of the expected fifty people there were
ninety, so Lt James E. Klug went in with the second LCM and picked up the
remainder.
Still
amazed at receiving no fire and by way of celebration, Lt Kavanaugh and
the crewmen on his "Susfu Maru" fired a few rounds at a Jap lugger
stranded on a reef and set her afire. In the meantime Lt Stevenson and his
crew shot up and set ablaze two Jap Q-Boats. While this was going on, the
civilians held their own celebration with the rations, especially the
canned cheese which they had not tasted in several years.
It was
later discovered that the Japs did have positions on all approaches to the
beachhead but had taken off when they saw the landing craft heading into
shore. They had flashed the word that an assault landing was being staged
and, mindful of the bombardment that accompanies most of the Yank
landings, the Jap Headquarters had even moved their CP further into the
hills in an effort to hide from the hated Yanks.
The
great versatility of Amphibians was never shown to better advantage than
by the varied activities of the 592d Task Group at Legaspi on the
southeastern tip of Luzon. This was another city in the province of
Batangas which fell under the spell of the 592d. On April Fool's Day of
1945, Major Henry M. Sept and his force composed of Company D and one
platoon from B Company landed the 158th RCT and again found the Japs a
minus quantity. Soon after they landed, the group got the job of
salvaging and operating the remains of the old Legaspi-Manila Railroad.
1st Lieutenant Frank Trumbly of Burbank, Oklahoma, was Operations Officer
in charge of the new enterprise. With fourteen men to help him,
Lieutenant Trumbly began the job with little of no experience, one
questionable locomotive, a twisted track studded with bomb craters and
small rolling stock of ancient and battered cars. Staff
Sergeant Alex G. Smith of Elgin, Texas, was able to round up a working
crew of two hundred Filippinos who had at least seen a railroad before and
with Company D men supervising the job, ties and rails were salvaged from
sidings to repair the main line. Dilapidated cars and the tired old engine
were repaired. In less than a month the line was operating over a
distance of forty-two miles. The inaugural run was almost ruined by a
group of snipers. The train was derailed on the second trip right in the
middle of a skirmish with a by-passed pocket of Japs. Somehow the boys
got it back on the track and beat a hasty retreat. "Seipt's Short Line
Serving Southern Luzon" finally consisted of an engine and tender, a
hospital coach, capable of accommodating fifty litter patients and a
hundred walking wounded, a reefer car for perishables, a caboose
unbelievably equipped with a kitchen, and forty flat cars. Men from
Company D operated the railroad. PFC Willie L. Ballowe of Richmond,
Virginia, was the engineer. Corporal Warren G. Keough of Turtle Creek,
Pennsylvania, and PFC Harry F. Canese from Brooklyn, New York, were
dispatchers. The railroad even boasted a station master in the form of
Private Michael Fitzsimmons of Brooklyn, New York. Everyone said that,
with a Brooklyn dispatcher and station master the "Short Line" could not
help but be a howling success.
The
second versatile move came when the Amphibians became field Artillery men
to help out the 158th RCT. Out of the estimated enemy garrison of eight
thousand troops stationed around Legaspi, the majority were either killed
or had been pushed from the area. However, about fifteen hundred of them
were caught in a basin at the top of the heights just behind the town and
were surrounded before they could escape. But as often happens in such
cases, the catch provided a first class problem. Hiding down in a natural
depression, the Japs were safe from direct observation and the rim of
hills around them provided protection from flat trajectory artillery fire.
The Commanding Officer of the 158th had been very much impressed by the
firepower put out by the rocket LCM at the time of the initial landing. He
recalled all the hell they were able to raise and wistfully remarked,
thinking aloud, how nice it would be if the Japs were within range of the
boats. As that was not possible the next best thing was to take the
rockets to them. By working feverishly all day on the l0th of April the
maintenance men were able to remove three rocket launchers from the rocket
LCM and weld them on the bed of a weapons carrier truck. The contraption
was test fired and, except for the backflash setting off the dry grass at
the rear of the truck, was pronounced satisfactory. Master Sergeant Frank
C. Holton of Richmond, Virginia, Private Bertram E. Higgins of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Private Leroy Stephens of Indiana. all of
Hq Co Boat Battalion, were detailed as a crew for the new weapon. Loading
up the racks, and with a reload behind in a trailer, the Amphibians took
to the hills. After marking it out on the map and scouting it in a jeep,
the men pulled into their first position and set up for business. Private
Higgins pressed the switch and the first batch of thirty-six rockets went
sailing over the coconut trees into the Jap retreat. During the next
thirty days they made several trips and fired a total of over six hundred
rockets. An indication of their effectiveness was given by a Jap
lieutenant who was captured on 7 May just a few days before the occupation
was completed. According to him a whole platoon including the officer in
charge was wiped out the day before by what they thought was mortar fire,
when they left cover to scout out an escape from the pocket. But the
158th RCT had fired no mortars that day and the 592d men had delivered on
especially heavy rocket load.