Reminders of Long Ago

OT, my father-in-law landed on Guam sixty-five years ago today with the 3rd Marine Division. He has never been one to talk about his time in the Pacific, and when we can get him to open up, we only get little bits. He brought only a few souvenirs home after the war, and a small collection of photos.

That's OT holding the hat in this photo. He can still name most of the guys without referring to the back.

His brother Maurice was a SeaBee, and he managed to drop in on Guadalcanal for a brief visit. OT landed on on Bouganville, not once, but twice. He was part of a scouting party that did a recon before the invasion. They were transported from Guadalcanal on the USS Stringham, and accomplished the mission without being discovered. They had some close calls, and he gets tense telling about it.

OT likes to tell about picking up battlefield souvenirs for trading with the Navy guys. There was booze available from sailors if you had good stuff to trade. Marines picked up lots of rifles, Nambu pistols, mortars, swords, and OT apparently did his share of trading. I asked him about the rifle, bayonet, and sword that he brought home. He got those on Guam; they weren't battlefield pickups. He won them.