Question 65: Free Response

For 27 - C - I think that men should have basic training and then be trained by men who have seen action also don't over train them so that they're wore out.

Send outfits that have been in battle quite a lot, back to the States to train new men.

Since agriculture is so essential to the ware effort, I think men in the army who farmed all their life should be put back because there is such a shortage of farm labor. There is good fertile land lying out due to insufficient laborers. Peanuts, hogs, dairy, beef cattle, poultry, and many other products are our highest needs and I think there are plenty men, able bodied to fight without having the farmer in service. He is the backbone of the nation. The brains of our nation, or what suppose to be said, "Every man will be put where he is best fitted." Each day I'm convinced more and more that statement is incorrect.

As to furlow the way things are now, its very unfair to men overseas. We've seen nation, we've driven the enemy from our land, we've taken, we've taken his land. What thanks do we get. Hard, tough inhuman training for another battle. We have enough men back at the home front who could relieve us. There are

not just a few but many who left home for the army, took basic training, and were sent overseas without having as much as a measly 10 day leave. Men who have been in for 1 1/2 to 2 years. We don't know what we're fighting for any more. Our moral, just isn't any more, we're begining to wonder if it really is a free nation. With all the unnecessary things that is shiped overseas, don't tell me it cost too much to take an outfit back. That's horseshit.

We, the 7 div. are am amphibous troupes, we do the work of the marines, they get the glory and go back after operations, aren't we all created equal? Then the brass wounders why men fuck up and go A.W.O.L. Simple isn't it? We have non comes in our out-fit who wear the stripes, take the pay, but when there is a beach landing made, their not to be found to lead the men. It has been said it takes rank to be chicken shit well, whoever he was it's correct. What's a guy doing with thoes stripes if he's going to fall down at the last and vital moment. Give thoes stripes to that private who has guts enough to carry out their meaning and purpose. Show the noncomes curtisy! [courtesy] How in the Hell can you do it when they let you down in combat? You can't, it's humanly, impossible. I feel that a BAR [Browning Automatic Rifleman] has the roughest deal in the Co. He has the biggest load, he has as many details as the next fellow. They tell him he's very important. He don't get any breaks other than any other man. I speak not only for my self, but also for thoes who haven't enough guts to say what they think.

Some men should not be combat soldiers because its not in them, but should be replaced. I am sure they could fit well at other duties.

Officers should prove themselves as leaders before sent out into combat, my experience with our platoon leader, I don't think he could make a good K.P. I am sure the rest of the men think the same way, but give us a leader and I am sure the platoon would react different, in way of improvement.

In the first place I think troops that have had experience in combat should have priority on living quarters. They should have at least as good a setup as non experience troops. Then another thing, it seems to us privates by reading the papers that we are not fighting this war. It may sound funny but that's what we have gather from many occasions. All we can hear or read about is some Officer or Non Commissioned Officer getting a medal for some brave duty while in combat the only time you ever hear of a private getting is when he gets killed for doing something outstanding. That's going on every day in action against the enemy privates are sticking there necks out and if he gets by with it & comes out alive its all forgot about nothing more said, but the Officer or Non Com in charge of them gets all the credit for it. That's the thing that been discussed among soldiers more than any thing of know of. I dont expect any changes made but I am glad to have had the privilege to mention it. Thank you.

Yes. I think the CO should pay more attention to his plt Sgt & Plt Guide. You cant drive a man in to battle you have to lead him & I don't think some of them do. They hang back & let the other fellow get the works first. I feel that my life is worth as much as theres is.

I think when a man has seen three battals & has suffered from the cold weather that they should stop & think once in a while before they send him to far. But the Army Doctor don't seem to think a man should come on sick parade, all they do is give you some aspirin & come back tomorrow. As a hole, they are no f------ good.

I don't see why after an outfit has been in combat for a year or so in two or 3 different engagements why they can't be relieved and let them go home for a while to see their families.

After a man has saw combat 3 or four times let him have a change let the other guy get in a shoot or two. Send those men back to train new men , they can give them what they need,

Several of the Officers were not what they should have been. At times if it were not for the enlisted men the outfit would not have gone very far while in Combat. The Platoon Sergeant had to lead the Outfit and never got any credit for it at all. Not even a Silver Star. Instead some officers received the credit for it. I think that men who have been in Combat should get to go back to the U.S. for a short time and get leaves to see their families and then get sent out again. It would raise the morale

Just this. We are taught & trained to dig fox holes to protect us yet a lots of the men get tired & throw away amunition. It is later pick up by Enemy & sent back to us. I know this is true for it about cost me my squad & myself life because some one was lazy & careless. To train new men to not throw away live amunition but if they do To bury it or hid it for it won't be pick up by the enemy

Before going into combat men should be told what to expect in regards to living conditions and hardships.

They should not go into combat with the idea that the Jap is a dumb, untrained undersized runt. I have seen Japs that are over 6ft tall. They are just as smart as we are.

When a person has been in three operations like we have and with all of the troops back in the U.S, we should get to go home for a few days. We were lucky to get through them. Each time you are in action it takes a lot out of a man. Getting back to see your families again will help a lot. If you check every man that has been in three big beachheads and gone through it all, you will find something wrong with him. It will make better fighting men out of them to. I think that we done just as big a job as any marine ever did. They get all of the credit and get to go home where we don't. Last year on Attu men froze their feet and today we are all suffering from it. A full field hike at any distance just about kills us. The battles made us age a lot. Taken everything out of us.

Everything worked out pretty good over Kwajalein as a whole. A few of the officers seemed to forget at times that the enlisted man is human. We are asked to do some things that they themselves would not or do not care to do. Of course, that's just a very few. As I said before though, the fact that a soldier has seen combat does not necessarily mean he is bullet proof. After he has seen a couple of battles & has been lucky to come out alive, he should be replaced by some one else. After all, theres 7 1/2 million men in this army & only a small percentage doing the actual fighting. I want to do my share, yes, but let others do theres also. I'm just as human as anyone else.

I think that all officers that turn yellow during combat should be reduced to a Pvt. The same as is done with enlisted men.

About Medals - They should be given to the enlisted men more often. As I said before the officers use the buddie system for instance. This Captain got together and - You do me and I'll do you. And they both get Silver Stars, or what have you. Most men in this outfit looks upon the Silver Star as just another piece of metal.

A great many of our officers made very poor leaders and a few made very good leaders. I think when they have been tested and found wanting, they should be releaved immediately and sent to some defence Battalion and I don't mean back to the states. This goes for the enlisted men as well. As long as we have these men it makes the work tougher for the rest.

It might help moral to have what are now U.S.A. Soldiers in the states do a little of the fighting instead of returning the same men to action time after time.

they should not send men in a battle as soon as they finish there basic training and they should put them under fire so they could get used to it and they should let them fire every weapon in the Company | and don't see any sense taking hikes in the Army! They should send the men that have been over seas for a year back home the got lots of troops doing nothing but resting on there big ass | they should give us a break after all we get home sick you are over here give your life so that some shit is out there fucking around with your girl and they should not send all your Brothers into the Army they should leave about two of them home taking care of your folks.

I wish to state that our form of assignment of men is (underline]very poor why can't we be placed in a position we are best fitted for or as close as possible and until I am placed in same said Job I'm afraid the Army is not getting the best I can give. I'm all for ending this war but why can't we have a little closer contact with the privates in this army. My present Company Commander couldn't even come up to my standard of a Laborer. Not alone commanding a company. All I want is fair play and not a bunch of Liars. I want men over me that can gain respect not Slurs

I would like more chances of seeing the higher ups instead of being told to mind my own business. Thanking you for this opportunity to express myself.

Why can't they put out a uniform with pockets in the back like the 87th Infantry had on Kiska , or give riflemen suspenders for their cartridge belt

Any soldier should not be made to carry too much equipment when in battle because it decreases his fighting ability and lowers his moral to the point where he will say to himself "the hell with it" and go away and leave it where it will be no use to him or anyone also but the enemy.

Yes I have. would like to go home for a change. this bussiness is getting sick and tired. after all a man is just like anything else. once he is all burn at both ends should be replace by other. that's been home. acting soldiers and getting a the Gravy. Combat is no joke, and training is no Gold Bricking job either. this rest camp they bring a man to. that doesn't mean a dam thing he still is training for the next combat. what i call a rest is to be send and see his folks. that is what relieve a men and rest his mind. this chickenshit U.S.O. show they don't help us a got damn thing. they only make it worse and i will repeady some of this day. every combat soldier is going to get plenty tired of it, so they might as well make up their mind and get us a trip home. a degusted privat. i could write all day but but my hand is giving out. So long.

If men who have been on three missions inside a year, I think you would get a lot more out of them if you would give them furlough, once a man had been fighting that long he gets sick of it and of it you send that man home and when he come back he will be not only a better man phasicaly but also he will be a better fighting man.

Fight pay should be given to the men who have to face the japs and germans face to face these men are the infantry who sit in fox hole for days on end with mud rain and what have you while other branches are dry they do there jobs, and they dont take any glory.

I say the more better a fellow gets into the poorer fighter he is.