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Show Fightin1 Binghamites Report The bronze star, for "heroic Conduct "ii the Held of battle" wa- recently awarded Second Lieutenant DelBert V. Barrett, for mi. riy ' B"!,j,haT. Canyon, by "his ciiim .tiding officer, Brigadier General W. G. Weaver, U S. Arn. Beh.re Lt Barrett was wtmiiii.-d in Germany, he managed man-aged meetings with his sister, Lt. Ijaijnne Claw.Min. army nurse Th. two went iiivrv in No Ven. ''er. 1943, but were utv.Mo to meet while in England through correspondence, they kepi advised of transfers until in November, 11)44, when Lt Barrett managed a 12-hour nass and traveled 100 miles in a jeep to isit his sister at a hospital in BelieU.ll. Pie Thomas J Downaid arrived ar-rived home Sunday fim 22-months' 22-months' service in Anchoragi Alaska. Following a 30-day furlough fur-lough pent with his wife, the fornu i Norma Lambson, and parents. par-ents. Mi. and Mi.v Walter i)c.wn ard ot No U Can Fotk. PtV Downal I reports at Seattle, Wasi. . lor i - a.v.: .! nent to Alas ka. fjoatsw. mi's Mate William B. Sulleiu ei arrived Sunday to spend a 30 day leave visiting his paivt.ts. Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Sullenger. and friends. He has served 18 months in the South Pacilic. reports at Oakland. L'al it and is entitled to a stretch of shore duty Ht. (j.g.) William T. Krueger writes from the Pacific that tin boys on his ship have been on the water .since October 15 but are now near enough to land to have fresh fruits and vegetables. IBhe expert combat and infantry infan-try badge was recently awarded PiC Earl Cuthbert, now in France, according to word received recently re-cently by his parent.,. Mr. and T Cpl. Walter B. Leatherwood and Cpl. John Zembrzycki, arrived ar-rived last Friday evening from ! Fort Bliss, Texas, for a two-weeks I furlough. They expect to go overseas ov-erseas on their return to camp. Sgt. John Pantalone telephoned telephon-ed his mother from Pasadena, Calif, last Sunday. He asked to be remembered to all his friends. Word has been received that Alex Saltas has been promoted to Pfc. He is in the Philippines. S. l'C William Burke is now employed in a navy munitions plant on the railroad at Earl, New Jersey, This is just an hours ride from New York. Mrs. Burke and their two sons will join Bill in the near future. A letter has been received from ARM. 2C Grant Hickman Hick-man by Mrs. Alvin Cole. Grant is on a small island in the Admiralty Ad-miralty group. The island is 9 miles long and 3 miles wide. Grant says the natives are all friendly and can speak a little English. Tiiey call all the soldiers sold-iers "Joe". He says it is impossible impos-sible to tell the native men and women apart as they look alike and dress alike. The thing they say that amuses the American boys the most is "huba huba", which they are saying constantly. constant-ly. Grant works m the control tower and gives field instructions instruc-tions by voice over the air. He said to tell all the Bingham people peo-ple "hello" and that he is living for the day when he can return home. Bobby Williams and Benny Montoya, merchant seamen home on leave the past three weeks, plan to go any day to San Francisco Fran-cisco to report for further duty. Something new has been added add-ed to the stripes on the sleeve of Marine Clyde S. Nichols, now salt 1- t uthhert ot Copperton. Heaman 1,C Edward E. Tobia-son Tobia-son arrived m San Diego, Calif.. Sunday night from a two-weeks' shakedown cruise which began at Portland Pfc George C. Furgis sent home a Japanese flag which bears signatures sig-natures of 500 Japanese comrades of the .soldier from whose body George took the battle souvenir. A son of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Fur- flS, George is a mi mbef of the 7 th Infantry division credited with a Christmas contribution to the Leyte campaign-- the capture cap-ture of Palompon. discharging the duties of a sergeant ser-geant at his post at Santa Barbara, Bar-bara, Calif. In reply to a request for information in-formation for the "Fightin' Binghamites" Bing-hamites" column, this letter, written on December 25, was received re-ceived here nearly one full month after Lieutenant Colonel Avery W. Masters took time to write to the folks back home. He says: "I was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., in 1942, at the time that the first Bingham men were drafted into service. Bob Crellin, Julian Baum and several others, i including "Mailman" Frank j Shatter, were among the first to arrive at the base. Although at first my efforts to contact these I men failed, several of us were able lo get together to talk over old times- Bob Crellin and I had shared the same end of a lie (Utah Copper company property) proper-ty) when we were both members of the royal order of Ghandi l Dancers, Bingham chapter. He, however, turned out to be one J of the more avid advocates of the three-day pass system for boosting boost-ing morale; consequently, I did not get to see him until two years later when we met in Bingham. "These men were among the first to leave the United States for the purpose cf returning the "Sons of Heaven" to their proper resting place. They wrote a page of Southwest Pacific history which will not soon be forgotten. The history of the New Guinea and Solomon campaigns is one of blood, toil, steaming jungles, malaria, and fanatical blood loving lov-ing Japs. These men turned the crimson Japanese tide, and caused caus-ed more promotions in the Imperial Im-perial army than Tokyo cares to admit. (Any Japanese killed in action is automatically promoted promot-ed to the grade of sub lieutenant, lieuten-ant, or two ranks higher than the grade he held if his rank was above sub lieutenant.) At any rate, these men did their job and did it well. They paved the way for the reeonquest of the Philippines Philip-pines and the eventual destruc- A.M-M. 1 C and Mrs. Forrest 3Btson arrived Saturday even-mk even-mk to spend 10 days visiting Mr. tB Mrs. L. L. Watson of Cop- SWton. Forrest will return to Jarvey field, Calif., to await re assignment, while his wife ulans to retnain at Copperton until she Awns of her husband's future station Hairst Lieutenant W. Don Jensen, Jen-sen, now adjutant of his battal-'jfijl battal-'jfijl somewhere in the European asfctre. has made repeated trips the battle front during the past three "fin tilths, in charge of Bjivery of air shipments of supplies HSarine Sgt. Sidney L Reynolds Rey-nolds is stationed at Alameda, California 9Hlr. and Mrs. Lamar Davis of jjfrperton Tuesday received the PWrple hi art and bronze Star Which were awarded their son, mm Delbert Davis, for his part Sit he action on Guam, where IMhvas wounded. The bronze star Bven for gallantry in action. Be ho F. Thorum, former mem-Mm mem-Mm of the faculty at Bingham high school, has been commis-BJed commis-BJed a second lieutenant upon Bapletion of officer candidate rso with the infantry. Fort BJning, Ga. A graduate of Gran-wM Gran-wM high school, he graduated flp the University of Utah and Be a student at University of Bftconsin prior to entering service ser-vice in Decern her, 1942 H.ieutenant Colonel Glenn P. BJI, former Bingham high sAool teacher, at an advanced Blthwest Pacific base, was re-Bftly re-Bftly authorized the battle star Bj the Bismarck Archipelago (Bfipaign, according to word Bit from the "Fightin' 13th" B. Mr. Nell has been a mem-Bf mem-Bf 01 the armed forces since 192; Hi. T. 3C Jay Gleason, son of Bf and Mrs. E. W. Gleason of B is attending school at Phila-Bvhia Phila-Bvhia for more instruction in Bo technician work. SBajor R. W. Freeman arrived Byrday in Salt Lake City by BJted Air Lines from Seattle Bja 15-day leave following a Bp's transport duty. He returns BjSeattle February 1. Besides Bating friends and wife and son Jin, the Major is making ac-Bntance ac-Bntance of the youngest mem-Bf mem-Bf of the Freeman family, young Jay. tion of Japanese militarism. ' The division with which I am serving landed in the assault on the Philippines October 20, 1944. I was privileged to be along on this Nipponese hunt which soon gave the , Japs the rabbit's eye view of what the rabbit sees when Bingham volunteer firemen fire-men go to Skull Valley or Utah Lake for the pursuit of the galloping gal-loping hare- "The individual deeds of gallantry gal-lantry and heroism which I saw-accomplished saw-accomplished by American enlisted en-listed men defy description. I have seen it demonstrated that practically every American soldier sold-ier is willing to risk his life in order to save a comrade. The men with whom I have served have been fearless in the face of the enemy. Yet God fearing and firm in the belief that the cause for which they are fighting fight-ing is just and right. Perhaps the strongest emotion that any of us feel out here is the desire to return re-turn to peace, Rome and our loved lov-ed ones, just as soon as our job is accomplished. "Natives of the Philippines offer of-fer a testimony of good will for which every American can be (Continued on page five) are pleased to see the Americans return" This feeling of mutual friendship between our two peoples peo-ples has been demonstrated time and time again. Large groups of Filipinos who were loyal to the democratic principles which they believed in chose to lead the life I of exile in the rugged hills of the j Philippines rather than submit to Japanese domination. Many have died as direct result of that attitude. at-titude. They have demonstrated that they are true patriots. "A little about the native life of the Philippines might be ap-I ap-I propriate. The majority of the population on the island lives in j nouses made of bamboo and palm I leaves. The general idea seems to be that any construction that is off the ground is a fine house. The architecture and plumbing are sometimes not quite up to our standards. However, the people are happy and quite industrious, in-dustrious, harvesting good crops of rice, corn and potatoes along with wild bananas, hemp and children. One thing of interest to all of us is the number of Singer Sewing machines on the island. Practically every other home has one, and these machines mach-ines are the families' most prized possessions. The Singer man who came to the Philippines must have been a smooth salesman and a hard worker. "The water buffalo is the chief form of transportation on the island. is-land. This beast also has other utility in that he furnishes the local population with buffalo burgers. However, in both their disposition and odor these animals ani-mals leave much to be desired. The native drink is called Tuba and is made from the sap of palm trees. It is strangely like prohibition "white mule" at least, the results are practically the same. I wonder if Joe Scussel would be interested in starting a Tuba farm as a side line to the regular package agency? "Philippine women are very reserved and modest. In fact, they are modest to the point that they bath with all their clothes on. Many of the young girls are quite pretty. However, the Belles confine their romantic interests to local talent other Filipinos." - Fightin' Binghamites Report (Continued from page one) proud. I was speaking with one of the Barrio leaders a few days ago about American-Philippine friendship. He said that "The Philippines have had a long and interesting history. The Spaniards Span-iards gave us religion for which we are deeply grateful. The Americans Am-ericans gave us education and awakened our interests in economic econ-omic and cultural advancement. The Japanese gave us hell! We |
