Viewing page 21 of 85

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

they were short, and lined with cocoanut palms and jungle brush, and their soft surfaces required all the power of the plane to take off. It was very  hard to come in at night/or during bad weather for a landing, using only instruments and what radio facilities there were, which were very poor when we first arrived.

But these conditions are being improved daily, with the help of the seabeas(?) who are really doing a wonderful job, and the natives. I would say they were improved from 200 to 300 percent from the time we arrived until we left. The ingenuity of the American soldiers is amazing. Just give them a few days with nothing to do, away from actual combat, and they have the jungle fixed up like their own back yards. There were almost as many Victory gardens there as here in the States, and one of their most cherished possessions was a ripe tomato grown in one of their own gardens. Tomatoes grow to a perfectly enormous size down there, and in about six weeks. 

It is impossible to imagine the mid in that area unless you have seen it. We lived in tents in the Solomons, the first ones didn't have wooden floors, only the mud and ground of the jungle. Mine was so bad that I couldn't go in through the door, but had to crawl in under the side flap. They were so bad that we only used them for sleeping, anyway. We couldn't choose their location so as to be able to use the natural drainage, such as it was, because we had to take advantage of every bit of natural camoflauge that was offered. The night enemy bombers came over very regularly at night, especially when there was a moon. I think I was more scared during my first experience with an enemy raid then I ever have been. Luckily, however, or perhaps unluckily, the mess hall was the only thing hit during that particular bombing. But the breakfast was served right on time the next morning, anyway. The kitchen crew salvaged parts of their kitchen and improvised another one outside, and everybody, from the commanding officer on down, stood in line and ate out