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7 ´ 1945 and V-Days It was an especially hot and humid Easter weekend of 1945 in the Philippine Islands for Captain William C. Hurt of Company C, 108th Medical Detachment, 33rd Infantry Division. His division, formally of the Illinois National Guard, had fought in New Guinea, and after landing at Lingayen Gulf on February 10 went into combat against an entrenched Japanese garrison on the island of Luzon. Hurt, a medical doctor volunteer from Memphis, returned to the medical base from an especially bloody combat mission on Good Friday, and after clean‑ ing the mud and blood from himself went to a dinner of combat ra‑ tions and local pickled green papayas. Of great surprise to Hurt was a treat of cold American beer. A few days later he wrote to his parents, “You asked about sending me some cookies, etc. Our PX supplies are coming in regularly and with surprising variety so I won’t need any from you just now. . . . If you will you can send me a nail file and some more flints in occasional letters. That’s about all I could use.”1 There had been a constant stream of complaints from GIs in the Pacific theater of operations over the spotty delivery of PX goods ei‑ ther through an established exchange or through the quartermaster. There were established and well-stocked exchanges and recreation‑ al facilities in Australia, especially in Brisbane. A leave or a pass to Brisbane was highly prized by the GIs, and for the Army Exchange Service the city offered a fairly secure base where supplies could be collected and offered to the GIs. Once away from Australia it was dif‑ ficult to follow the course of operations in such areas as New Guinea and then in Luzon, where combat was constant, weather conditions were terrible, and the needs for necessary combat supplies were the 123 124 Chewing Gum, Candy Bars, and Beer first priority. Captain Hurt had obtained a short leave from his unit in New Guinea and went to Brisbane where he had “a great time.” Kerr and his staff would have been pleased to see letters from GIs over‑ seas about available PX services, but a good PX still did not ease con‑ ditions, especially in Europe, where combat continued across northern France into Belgium and Holland. Some units, like the 101st Airborne Division, were pulled back in December from direct contact with the Ger‑ mans to a rest and refitting area. Members of the division were perplexed to find PX items, either from field exchanges or from the quartermaster, in very short supply, especially the basics of cigarettes, candy, chewing gum, razor blades, shaving cream, lotions, and the like. Units like the very green, untested 106th Infantry Division, in foxholes and dugouts in the bitter cold and snows of the Belgium Ardennes Forest, had almost no supplies from the quartermaster. At least the 106th Golden Lion Division was told they were in a very quiet sector of the line where they could acclimate to the harsh winter conditions and train for future combat operations. Morale was especially low in the 106th and other fresh divisions in this so-called quiet sector. Supplies of all sorts had slowed down considerably, and major combat items were at dangerously low levels. GIs at the front continually relied on gift packages from home to make up for a decreasing amount of comfort items. On December 14, 1944, T-Sergeant Charles B. Linzy received a welcome package from home. “Got a package from Fay [a family friend] and also one from [cousin] Zerle. Carton of tobacco from Fay and a car‑ ton of Luckies from Zerle.”2 Lucky Strike cigarettes were one of the most sought-after brands by GIs, but they all but disappeared from PX supplies at the front. Even many of the packs of cigarettes sent with the larger com‑ bat rations were economy brands, including the much rejected Chelsea brand. Some observers were concerned that a false sense of well-being had settled in as the Christmas season approached. By November 1944 the Red Ball Express suspended operations. His‑ torian A. Gregory Gutgsell Jr. has pointed out that the express consumed three hundred thousand gallons of gasoline a day, and the wear and tear on vehicles was great. Gutgsell states, “Many shipments were hijacked by other supply-starved U.S. units along the way, and a dismally high per‑ centage of supplies wound up on the French black...

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