The following are some excerpts from the story of Gene Skaar's chapter in The Hero Next DoorTM.
New Guinea was no longer an active battle ground when 382nd AA Battalion utility maintenance man Eugene Skaar arrived their with the 382nd AA Battalion in 1944. Still, the jungle island provided its challengesthe kind of obstacles best solved with good old American ingenuity and determination, both of which Skaar had plenty of. When he could, Skaar put that ingenuity to work to boost morale a bit.
As D Battery's jack-of-all-trades, Skaar found himself doing all sorts of projects to make life a little better. "The guys I was with were miners and lumberjacks and farmerstalk about talent! There was nothing we couldn't do when we put our minds to it."
For example, after Christmas Eve services in 1944 on New Guinea, Mess Sgt. Joe Blume brought a supply of ice cream mix they'd gotten from Deerfield, Wis., back to Skaar's supply tent.
"I made an ice cream freezer out of a 20-gallon insulated container and a 10 gallon container. We used a bomb hoist reduction gearbox from of a wrecked B17 to turn the dasher powered by a Briggs and Stratton horse and a half gas powered engine. I had to solder everything together as there wasn't any electricity.
"We got 300 pounds of ice from the quartermaster by trading them a couple cases of GI beer. We ran the engine from about midnight unit about 10 a.m. when the engine burned a valve and quit. We packed the container with salted down ice.
"So for Christmas Day dinner, we had one extra item on the menuice cream which was more like ice soup, but it sure was good. There was enough for every one to have a little scoop and I was the hero for the day."
He was a hero in high demand. "The next day, I tore the engine down and ground the valves so C Battery could borrow the freezer. They had ice cream for New Years."
The troops had both electricity and running water as well thanks to American ingenuity. "We did find a way to get some electricity too. I took a Jeep engine and belted two, twin 22-volt generators to the engine. Then we had enough electricity to light up the camp.
"We also didn't have any water but we were near the Guinea River. Joe Truskowski and I hauled water every day and we tried to figure out how to get it to camp an easier way. The corps of engineers had some fire equipment including a pump. One of our guys got formal requisition papers and we got it. We soon had a source of water and enough for showers.
"We had some entertainment come in too and I had to set up a stage but I had to set it up so we'd have lights to see the entertainers but Japs couldn't see us. So I used mattress covers for the backdrop and cover (roof) and even built in dressing rooms."
The result was a working stage well appreciated by the performers, including singing beauty Carol Landis. However, Skaar was so exhausted from spending days and nights building the stage that when everyone else was watching the entertainment, he was asleep in his tent.
AT WAR
Skaar did not rest long. In February, 1945, the unit was ordered to advance into Manila Harbor in the Philippines. "As we entered that channel, the Army and Marines were retaking the Bataan and Corregidor (which fell Feb. 26) emplacements that were strongholds of the Japanese forces. Because they were engaged there with ground forces on shore, we entered safely into the harbor. We were the first troops to dock there and thus far, we had not fired a weapon in combat."
D Battery was to take the Lipa Airstrip and maintain and secure it, which they did that first night. In the morning however, they got word that two Japs were working their way toward the outer camp with automatic weapons and quickly organized a scouting patrol (Skaar included) to intercept them.
"The grass was really high. I was with Leverne LeJune from Chicago and how it worked was one guy would move while the other covered. So I'd advance 20 feet, drop and wave and he'd advance 20 feet and do the same.
"We'd just done that and I was about to get up and move again when Laverne let go. There were Japs right ahead of me about 30 feet and were just waiting for me to move again. I didn't even see them in the high grass. They had leveled their guns and waited for me to get up and move. Fortunately, they hadn't seen Leverne; he opened up and cut them down with his cross fire. He called over and told me to cover him while he moved in. Needless to say, he took them both out.
"You could smell the odor of warm blood and gun power, a smell you never can forget."
Skaar joined LeJune. "I looked in his eyes with the only thanks I ever gave him. He assured me it was OK for he knew I would do the same for him. In the next 100 days, there were many stories like this."
Still, in the long months before the war ended, Skaar did more guarding than patrolling.
Standing guard was not that preferred an assignment however. It was a huge responsibility, he adds, an assignment that had you on "pins and needles."
"You don't get scared exactly, you just react. Nobody jumps and runs, they do their job; that's your training but I guess you'd say you'd get a little jumpy. Everything that moved could be the enemy, especially at night when it was harder to see. And, those darn banana trees and branches would turn and you'd swear there was someone there.
"There was one night I was standing guard and it was real windy and I bet a dozen times that night I raised my gun ready to open fire."
After the atomic bombs were dropped and the war ended Aug. 10, 1945, Skaar was in Luna on the north end of Luzon training and packing to make the final assault on Tokyo. With news of the war's end Skaar was more ready than ever to be home with wife Polly and their babya daughter whom he had never seen.
"Instead I watched about a dozen of 382nd men ship out for home. I still remember the last I saw of the 382nd was a barber chair I had made hanging out the back end of the last truck."
Read more about Gene Skaar--including his combat patrols, guarding of Japanese prisoners after the war and the poignant poem he wrote to the men he served within The Hero Next DoorTM. Click on the Shop button above to order.
