(Army 9) One final dress rehearsal before the real thing.

After our successful equator crossing, the 81st Infantry Division, with my attached outfit the 154th Combat Engineering Battalion, sailed to Guadalcanal Island. We had left Pearl Harbor on August 6, 1944 we arrived at Guadalcanal on August 24. We made at least two full scale landings on Guadalcanal. The first one I went along. I remember a grove of coconut trees. No jungle, just coconut trees. Could have been a commercial orchard. Out came our trusty bayonets and we had some fresh coconuts.

We were really getting good at landings. Load a bunch of LCVPs. Get them going in circles and peel off the circle into straight lines and head for the beach in waves of landing craft.

I debated telling of the following incident. The morning of the next practice landing I was on an errand or some task in the innards of the ship. I laid down on a large canvas covered hatch cover and took a nap. When I woke up the LCVPs had loaded and gone off. Yes, I had slept through it. You can imagine how I felt. I woke up to an empty troop ship. What punishment would I get? I do not remember any disciplinary action. I do not recall harsh language. I guess they did not miss me. That is not true. You always had some superior, corporal or sergeant, supervising you. Anyway I had a nice nap.

I knew that I had better not miss the next landing.

Home Sweet Home. USS Sumter.