Above the Thunder: Reminiscences of a Field Artillery Pilot in World War II

6 Over the Hills to Baguio

227 The nearer we came to Hill 3000, the harder the enemy resisted our advance. We got the Footstool, and there we sat. Assault after assault met with defeat, in spite of heroic efforts by some of the best of Colonel Serff’s infantrymen. Army Air Force P-38s clobbered the knob with bombs and napalm until it was just a scorched and desolate pile of dirt into which the 122d poured tons of HE shell, and yet the stubborn Japanese defenders hung on and held us off. But until we took Hill 3000, our progress toward Baguio by the Pugo-Tuba route could get nowhere. Uncle Bud Carlson considered the problem carefully and came up with a suggestion for Colonel Serff: why not try a night attack? No big fuss about it, no special artillery preparation that might reveal our intentions , just get up some night around 2200 hours and walk up there. The enemy would not be expecting us to attack at night—we never had—and it was a good bet that we’d find his forward positions very lightly held while his men were sleeping snug and warm back in their tunnels to avoid our harassing artillery fires. Under pressure from General Clarkson to get things rolling at this critical point, Colonel Serff bought the idea, and it was carried out without a hitch, just as our brilliant Uncle Bud had envisioned it. After a sharp over the hIlls to bAguIo – Six – 228 above the thunder but brief fight with a few surprised Japanese defenders, a battalion of the 123d Infantry occupied the enemy’s positions on Hill 3000 with few friendly casualties. In the predawn darkness, Lt. Lorne Stanley of HQ Btry, 122d FA Bn, an FO with the troops on Hill 3000, crawled forward alone, dragging a field wire-remote connection to his radio. When the Japanese troops came swarming back to reclaim their positions on Hill 3000, it was Stanley who was first to meet them and to greet them with crashing volleys of 105 mm artillery fire that caused great consternation in their ranks. Most of the enemy were halted by the fire, dead, wounded, or forced to take cover; but some raced forward, trying to reach their old positions. Two of the latter happened to run directly toward the spot where Stanley lay hidden, flat on his belly, adjusting the artillery fire. In his excitement, the heroic Stanley momentarily forgot himself and opened fire with his carbine, killing one and stopping the other’s advance. But that disclosed his position to the enemy, and he immediately became the focal point of a lot of rifle fire. Realizing that the better part of valor was to withdraw to his own line, Stanley pushed up on his hands to rise. As he did so, a bullet clipped a path through the thick hair all the way down his chest and abdomen without breaking the skin. He made it back safely, and the fire he had brought to bear with such surprise to the Japanese effectively prevented their return to Hill 3000. The infantry had little to do. Stanley—who was called “Burrhead” by his friends in that outfit—was a medium-size guy as hairy as an ape, and he was quite proud of that depilated streak left by the Jap bullet down the front elevation of his hirsute self. He was also grateful for the impulse to rise just before the bullet appeared. And just to be sure that I don’t leave you with a wrong impression of Burrhead Stanley, let me add that he was an intelligent, Stanford-educated son of a corporate lawyer and a professional opera singer who made his home in San Francisco and was as bold and clever a fighter as the United States ever sent to the field. For his heroism on Hill 3000, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and we in the 122d were quite proud of him. It was only the highest of numerous decorations he received for bravery and achievement. Gen. Walter Krueger, commanding general of the Sixth Army, came out to visit the 123d one day during our approach to Hill 3000, and I over the hills to baguio 229 got to meet him. I left our Pugo forward strip driving a jeep, heading up into the hills along our new supply road, having in mind a...