Pictures Taken by Sgt. Albert Arnold

Some time ago I was contacted through the excellent forums over at World War Two Forums, if you have any interest in WWII history you should really check them out, and was offered some great information and pictures by someone who's father was an Air operations Specialist while the 341st was on New Guinea from 23 June 1943 until he was wounded and sent home on 3 February 1945.

This gentleman's name was Sgt. Albert V. Arnold, and he took some excellent photos of his time overseas. His daughter was kind enough to send me some copies to me, and I am proud to share them with you.

The first is Sgt. Arnold himself. His daughter said that he is posing with some model airplanes that he crafted out of spent shell casings. She also let me know that her family still has these (very cool)

This photo is from the inside of the operations building. Sgt. Arnold is third from the left.

Here are two excellent examples of the pin-up art work on the noses of the fighters.

Here is a group shot of several men outside the 341st Operations / Intelligence building.

A wide shot of the camp.

What appears, to my eyes at least, to be a damaged American plane.

A gentleman, unidentified, in a foxhole or trench under what seems to be barracks.

A downed Japanese Zero

This one came to me labelled, "Al's Buddy"

Finally, we have a shot of pilot Lt. J.M. Nixon

I would like to thank Sgt. Arnold's daughter, Katherine, greatly for her generosity in providing me these pictures. I would also like to offer a sheepish apology for taking so long to put them up. Two small kids keep me away from the computer more often than not.

Thank you, also, to everyone over at World War Two Forums for the great information.

Long Time, No Post

I am rethinking my approach to this project. What I am trying to do now is to go through all of my grandfather's letters and get then in chronological order. Then I will start to post them, so that some sense may be made of his experience. Snapshots of life during the war are fine, but I believe that doing it in order will provide a much better view of his experiences.

Thanks for visiting.

It hopefully won't take me too long to get back to regular posts.

Letter Home 06-22-1944

Thursday 1900
6-22-44

Hi Honey:

I started to go to the show tonight, but while we were sitting out there waiting for the show to start it commenced to rain. Not very hard. In fact it was not even a good shower. I kind of thought that it would soon be raining harder though, so I came back. I can enjoy talking to you much better. The rest of the boys are still out there, so it looks as if they think it won’t rain harder.
I was supposed to fly this morning, but when we got ready to go the weather was bad, so it was called off. The weather was good this afternoon, but no one said anything about flying. I believe they wanted to give the ground crews the afternoon to work on the planes.
A few of us took our laundry over to a spot we found today. With good weather it gets done in one day. If it rains we simply have to wait till the sun comes out to dry the clothes. It beats doing it ourselves, even if it is not a good job. It couldn’t be worse than we could do.
Some of the older boys were telling me about a time when they had some of the local natives doing their laundry. They pounded it on the rocks, and stomped on it, ect. and usually it came back dirtier than it was when they sent it. Some fun eh?
While we were seeing about our laundry we stopped to get any mail we might have. I did not get any myself, but a few of the boys did. What I wanted to tell you though was what the guy told us about packages. He said we might get them in 5 or 6 months if we were lucky. Especially since we only have this temporary APO#, and are moving from one outfit to another.
I thought of that the other night when you told me in one of your letters to send you requests for things, so you could send me a package. Perhaps it would be better to wait till we are permanently assigned and I would have a better chance of getting them. Also the man said to tell the folks back home to wrap packages especially well, and sturdily. Most of them arrive over here in terrible shape otherwise. Anyway I better wait a while to start asking for things.
I had a couple of V mail letters from Mary (my sister) yesterday. One could not photographed for some reason, so it was sent regular air mail. The other one was written quite a bit later but they both arrived together.
That is most of all the news of the day darling. Except the big news flash – I love you. That is real headline I mean! O love you – but definitely.

Love George.

Site Update

I am glad to say that my moving hiatus is over and I am now settled (mostly) into my new home. I transcribed several new letters today and will have them up sometime tomorrow evening. I am hoping to get enough of them done to maintain posts for the next week or so on a daily basis.

Thanks to all for remaining patient during this hectic time.

Letter Home 09-15-1944

Friday 1700
9-15-44

Hello Darling,

Well my shopping has improved a bit. I’ve been wandering around for days trying to find something for you, and haven’t had any luck. Today I found a pair of opals that are fairly well ?, so I bought them. They don’t do any settings here though, so you will have to have settings made for them. I think they should make a nice pair of earrings. Now all I’ve got to do is get them mailed.
While I was in the shop, I got the guy to wrap them, and put the little chain bracelet in with the opals. Quite a difference in values there. Anyway he fixed them up, but when I took them to the APO to get them mailed I tried to insure them. They said I couldn’t, and that the package was too small. He told me to take it to one of the department stores in town, and have it wrapped in a larger box. Then he would register it for me. I can not get it insured. They pay no attention to insurance over here. I sure hope you get them after all this.
I also did something yesterday that I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. I had my picture taken. I only saw the proofs today. The final product won’t be ready for 2 or 3 weeks. So I left you address for it to be mailed to you. I can’t get a frame for it. They are too heavy to mail. Seems like everything I am trying to send you for your birthday has to be finished by you. I hope you don’t mind too much darling. I don’t like it this way, but there just anything I can do about it. They just don’t have things here to fix things up. According to the lady in the photography studio it will take about 6 or 7 weeks to get to you. I hope it hits close to your birthday. I won’t be in a position to send anything then. Not from some little forgotten island in the Pacific.
I guess I will knock off for now honey. How do you like my new stationary by the way. I got 12 pads to take back with me, so I will be able to write to you every day as I would like to all the time.
Honey I must tell you something very important. (To me at least) It is, I love you very much. More every day I am away from you. I hope we get back together soon! I love you.

Love

George

Lack of Posts Explained

Sorry to any regulars out there; I have been moving and it has seriously curtailed my progress. Hopefully this will not last for long and I will be back to regular updates soon.

Letter Home 04-04-1945

Wednesday 2100
4-4-45

Hello Darling:

I almost decided not to write to you tonight, but since I missed last night I thought I’d better. The reason I was not in the mood to write was because I was sick as a dog last night, and although I feel quite a bit better today I am still not up to far.
Stangel & I took a trip to Manila yesterday. It was a sight to see, but I’ll not do it again the way we did – all in one day. We were riding that jeep for about 12 hrs out of the 15 we were gone. We past 230 mile on it. If I ever go again it will be a 2 or 3 day affair.
The city really is beaten up. All of the big (and most of the smaller ones) buildings are nothing but piles of rubbish. It will take a long time to rebuild it, and a lot of labor & materials. I had seen it from the air of course, but it was nothing like seeing it close up.
Part of the roads there are concrete, and in fairly good shape. I got a kick out of seeing gas stations again with their “Flying Red Horse” signs, Texaco ect. None of them in operation however. I understand the Japs took all the pumps to send to Japan for the metal in them. There are a few civilian cars running around, but I guess it is hard to get gas. It is mostly bootleg stuff. What the Japs left behind I think.
We ate in two different restaurants on the trip. One a Chinese & one a Filipino. They really soak for their food too! Three dollars for a quarter of a chicken, 30 cents for a cup of very weak coffee are a couple of samples.
Evidently something I ate did not agree with me, because by the time we got back here at 9 last night I was really sick. First I had such chills that I shook the bed. I climbed into bed as soon as I got here. I only waited long enough to drink a slug of whiskey. Then I started to run a fever, so Munfell & Craig decided they had better call Dr. Weddle. Our own Doc was gone yesterday. He took my temperature, and it was 102. It had all the ear marks of malaria, so this morning he took a blood smear on me, but it turned out negative.
Today I’ve had a headache, stomach cramps, and a case of G.I.s. The Doc has been working on me all day. I feel better, as I said, but not the best yet.
That should be plenty of my troubles for you for one evening. I am a little tired to. I haven’t had much pep today. I think I’ll say so long for now. Don’t worry about me – I am practically well now.
I love you sweetheart – always & al ways – take good care of you for me won’t you? I love you.

Love

George