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154 CHAPTER NINE On to Japan june–november 1945 The men of the 1303rd were not appreciative of the honor implicit in their being chosen for high-speed transfer to the Pacific theater. Nonetheless, behind this movement was the recognition that their unit was a good veteran regiment. Only three general service regiments served in the combat zone in Europe, all in Third Army: the 1301st, 1303rd, and 1306th EGSRs, sister regiments that had trained together at Camp Ellis. Poor as they thought their instruction at Ellis was, it obviously was good enough. The 1303rd was to land on Kyushu (in Operation Olympic, the first phase of the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands, Operation Downfall) on D+1 to build airfields. Yet Earl Hall is firmly convinced that they were to go ashore to clear the beaches in support of the 1st Marine Division’s landing. Regardless, the engineers would learn during their Pacific service that fresh pineapple was really good and Filipino “rot gut” was very dangerous stuff. They also very much appreciated the cumulative effect of the use of nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, completely convinced that these strikes alone brought about the Japanese surrender and saved many of their own lives. In the more rarefied reaches of the Pacific commands and the Pentagon, a debate was just starting on the wisdom of invading Japan, especially with the updated data on defenses provided by MAGIC (from intercepted Japanese radio communications). In the postwar years this debate—intertwined with arguments over the use of the atomic bombs—has grown. Company B’s diary reflects the opinions of the men and of most veterans who had expected to invade Japan.1 While many veterans of the European theater, including Generals Eisenhower and Bradley, dismissed the ground combat in the Pacific as “bush league stuff,” it was, if anything, more vicious than the fighting in Europe.2 Many of the men of the Thirteen Third shared in this assessment and were fortunate never to learn the truth the hard way. The reason they and other men were being prepared to transfer from Europe, many by way of in-transit leaves in the United States, was to support the invasion of Japan. Based on experience, U.S. planners as well as Pres. Harry Truman, expected to need about 600,000 men for the first stage of the invasion ON TO JAPAN 155 and to suffer a million or more American casualties (killed and wounded) in the entire operation. at sea aboard uss general john pope embarked 1000 23 jun 45—debarked 1000 27 jul 45. SATURDAY—23 JUN 45 TO FRIDAY—27 JUL 45 Very early this morning we began preparations for departure from the European Continent. Breakfast was at 0400. By seven o’clock the tents were empty, the area policed, and we loaded on trucks where we sat for perhaps an hour before leaving the Calais Staging Area for the Marseilles Port of Embarkation. Embarkation was the usual long-drawn out process beginning, for us, about 0930 hours and ending at 1000 hours. In the process the field desk which was being carried as baggage became lost and Tec 5 Reimer and Pvt Willmeth had a merry chase of several hours duration before they recovered it. There were doughnuts and lemonade furnished by the Red Cross, and even a Navy band that played occasionally. Our vessel is a navy transport, USS General John Pope. It’s carrying besides our regiment the 1306th Engineer General Service Regiment, a combat battalion of engineers, two MP battalions, an Engineer shop company and truck company, and some quartermaster troops. We are the second contingent of troops to be redeployed direct from Europe to the Pacific Theater. The Regiment is working on the ship. This is good as it breaks the monotony of a long journey and gives the working men a chance to buy cokes and ice cream which the rest of us do not get. The food is Navy food and is better than anything we have eaten aboard a ship yet. The officers and men who are working eat three meals a day the non-working passengers eat twice. We sailed from Marseilles, France, at 1630 Sat 23 Jun. Present were 5 of- ficers, 172 enlisted men: T/O plus authorized 2% overstrength. SUNDAY—24 JUN 45 Pfc Chalom hospitalized in ship’s sick bay. MONDAY—25 JUN 45 We...

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