Marr, Christine
Description
In this interview, Geston Holland recalls his history in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was drafted in 1943 and objected to serving in the Navy because he wanted to be with his friends. His training camp was in Florida, because the Army wanted to simulate conditions of battle in the Pacific. Holland describes it as being full of snakes, alligators, and mosquitoes. They trained day and night, including calisthenics, rifle training, crawling, and digging foxholes. He remembers that it was rough to leave his wife and child and ride in a boxcar to San Francisco. He discusses a trip across the Pacific in a Matson liner to Australia and finally New Guinea. He describes New Guinea as hot and rainy; they were warned not to bathe or wash their clothing in the water. He did it anyway and contracted jungle fever. After his recovery, he was made a coxswain on an LCM (Landing Craft, Mechanized). His duties were to pick up troops from the big boat and take them to shore along with ammunition and supplies. He reports that his was the first craft on the beach at Leyte Island. He describes the first day as one he doesn't like to think about much; Japanese planes came in swarms and his later duties were to pick up the dead and wounded and take them to the hospital ship. He recalls that night as being "as miserable a night as I've ever spent." Later, as he was training...
Video
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