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CAMP JACKSON
SC---LA---AZ---CA---PA---WV---VA
2nd Lt. John Culler
0-414308
305 th Infantry Regiment
77 TH INFANTRY DIVISION
I was assigned as platoon leader of the 81 mm. mortar platoon in Company D, 1st Ban., 305th Infantry regiment. There were only officers and NCO's (Non-commissioned officers) present at this time. Everyone there had been in an infantry training center, the National Guard, or an active military unit and had had the training and/or experience necessary to weld a combat unit together. We were issued the supplies and equipment needed to clothe, feed, and arm the privates who were to arrive from training centers such as Camp Croft. When they arrived, we were ready for them and immediately began to give them training necessary to prepare them for combat. This included, first, individual training as a refresher to that which they had received at the previous camp, and secondly, training in squad, platoon, company, battalions, regiment, and finally, in combat team tactics. Officers were moved around to several commands within the battalion area so we would have experience in more than one job in case we had to replace someone who was a casualty in another job. For me, this included machine gun, anti-tank weapons, communication, and executive officer of Company D. This was designated as "heavy weapons" company as opposed to Companies A, B, and C, which were designed as rifle companies. Company D had eight heavy (or water cooled) machine guns and six 81 mm. mortars. Most of the personnel of this company were additionally armed with pistols. Most of the personnel of the other companies were armed with rifles or automatic rifles. In addition, they had several light machine guns and smaller mortars.
Later that year when winter arrived, the car that I had bought with the curtains was not comfortable, so I traded it in for a 1936 Plymouth for $625 extra. It, too, was needed to go to Wolfton--now about 35 miles away--and, incidentally, to Columbia and USC. Helen Cantey, my first cousin was a student at USC and she introduced me to some of her friends there
There was a large building at the area in which we were housed called the "Officers Club". It was a center for officers to go to during spare time. Also, dances were held at frequent intervals, and I attended many of these with my new friends from Columbia. On one particular night, I was with Olga, one of my special girl friends from Columbia. We shared a table with Dan Morgan, who lived in the same BOQ (bachelor officers quarters) that I did. He had a little girl with him who had worked in the same office with him in the Lancaster Farm Security Office. She seemed very nice and especially friendly to me, so I got her phone number and put it aside into my "little black book"--just in case!
Well, the "just in case" happened to come up just a few days later. I called her and we made plans to go to out. I don't remember too many of the details. I do remember one date was a concert at the Washington Street Methodist Church, one was a movie, and one was a trip to the drug store on Hampton Street. We heard Bing Crosby singing WHITE CHRISTMAS for the first time at the drugstore. Then in late November or early December our platoon had to go on a two week bivouac. The weather was extremely cold and rainy-- typical South Carolina December weather. To keep as warm and dry as possible, Lt. Bob Fowler, who had the adjoining platoon, and I buttoned our tents together and put our sleeping bags on the ground so we could be as comfortable as possible under the circumstances. I had a candle in my helmet and was trying to write a letter to the one who had now become my "best girlfriend," Mary. After some conversation about life-- its problems and rewards, Bob said, "John, you are going to marry Mary one of these days--why not now!" I made some offhand remark and put it aside in my thoughts. To make a long story short (but not very long at that), we were married two or three weeks later on December 31, 1942 at the 305th Infantry Chapel by Chaplain Nathaniel Saucier, the Regimental Chaplain. Only our immediate families and most of D Company was present. One of my squad leaders sang "Oh Promise Me". (I should have related earlier that we had been on another bivouac between Christmas and New Years, so I had not seen Mary during the week before our marriage. I had one problem, though, that I had not put a lot of thought nor worry in. When we left for the exercise, I had forgotten that my dress uniform was not in the best condition, so I sent a message by morse code to our Company Clerk who always stayed at the Company D headquarters and asked him to get my clothes and send them to the dry cleaners. Also, I sent another message for him to call Mary and ask her to get it from the cleaners as I suddenly realized that they might be closed on New Years Eve. I don't remember how I got it from her--but I did and everything turned out OK.) I was afraid that someone would tamper with my car while the wedding was going on, so I parked my car someplace in Columbia and got the Company Commander, Capt. Follatayer, to take us to the Davis Hotel in Columbia, where I had made reservations. I had been saving my gasoline coupons so we could take a short trip some place, but another unexpected problem came up. President Roosevelt decided that it was imperative for the economy of the country that all banks be closed and that no money could be drawn or checks be cashed until the next week. I did have enough to pay for the hotel, though, but not much extra. It was the following Wednesday before I was able to get a check cashed. So, instead of going on a trip someplace, we immediately began looking for a place to live. We were really lucky, and before noon, we had rented a bedroom and bath with kitchen privileges. There was also a busline to Farm Security, where Mary was working. Our new place was within commuting distance to my company area also. However, this blissful period was not to last but 13 days, as we received orders to go on maneuvers in Louisiana and I had to leave by train much sooner than I had expected.
I was assigned to be an umpire in the maneuver which pitted our regiment against a regiment from the 88th Division. My primary duties included accompanying the forward observers and listening to their fire orders to the 81 mm. mortars, checking that they understood and complied with them, and going as quickly as possible to the area that the explosives would have landed. When there, I would select personnel who would have been injured or killed, and equipment that would have been injured or destroyed. I also had to tag each with appropriately designated tags. Others would call for ambulances, stretcher bearers, or grave registration personnel. There were other umpires to check on them. We made detailed notes so that we could relate what happened at a critique which was scheduled when it was all over.
After about three weeks, a break was called for by higher headquarters. The umpires had little to do. Therefore, I asked at a local filling station about the possibility of renting a room nearby. I finally found a lady who would rent a room and feed a newly married couple for a week. I sent Mary a telegram--one rarely used the telephone during this time--and she took the next bus for Many, LA to spend a week with me. The family was really nice and we enjoyed our stay very much. They took us to the movies one night, and they seemed to enjoy having us as much as we enjoyed being with them. Needless to say, the week was entirely too short
The next week, I was in my jeep and was not feeling too good. I asked my driver to feel my forehead, and he became very alarmed and urged me to let him take me to the battalion aid station so I could get them to take my temperature. When the medic read the thermometer, he called the doctor, and they sent me to the hospital tent immediately and started to treat me for goodness knows what. They finally diagnosed it as double pneumonia. We were encamped in some low land and after several days of continuous rain, there were several inches of water in the bottom of the hospital tent. The medics were wearing boots to tend to the sick, while I under the influence of the pneumonia medication, felt as though I was floating around in the very top of the tent. Just about this time, the hospital became vulnerable to being attacked by the blue (or enemy) forces. It was time for the entire unit to be moved. Moving under simulated wartime conditions, which involved packing up the entire unit and driving about 50 miles at night without lights in close formation was part of the training for combat. Eventually, I got well and was returned to duty to finish my stint as umpire.
When the maneuver was over and I had returned to my previous responsibilities, I found that we would be encamped in a large pasture near a farmhouse. I went to visit the people there and made similar arrangements, in regard to Mary and I, to those I had made earlier. Mary came there by bus and taxi and I was able to spend nights with her. I had to walk about a mile in the evening and again in the morning, but this did not take long, especially the evening trot! There were two other couples who had made similar plans and, since we were being sent to Arizona, they got together and drove to Phoenix. Mary called her office in Columbia and resigned from her job so she would be free to go with me. Several days later, as our train crossed a street in Phoenix, I looked out the window and happened to see the other couples near the car waving at us. I never did find out how they happened to be at the right place at just the right moment!
We went to Camp Hyde, which was 100 miles from Phoenix in the middle of the desert. We were practicing desert maneuvers as it seemed as though we might be sent to North Africa where the fighting was going on at this time. Mary and Dot Morgan rented a furnished house in Phoenix. Dan and I were able to get in to the house only about 8 or 10 times during the six months that we were in the desert. Once, Mary and Dot came out, and we spent the night in the desert. Dan and I brought along our army sleeping bags and we slept in them. It was rather crowded, as they were designed for only one person.
During our desert training program, the Battalion Executive Officer went to a training school and my Company Commander, Capt. Matt Alair, was assigned to his office. I was assigned Company Commander of D Company. We went on another desert maneuver. We traveled all through the deserts in Arizona and Southern California in mock combat situations. We even to drank water from irrigation ditches. We put a pill in a canteen of this foul tasting water, waited 30 minutes, and then drank it. When you are very thirsty even this tasted good! I held this position of Company Commander for the entire exercise, but had to go back to my former position as Company Executive Officer when the others were reassigned. This gave me some very good experience which would be very useful at a later date under substantially different circumstances.
In September or October, the entire division was moved to Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania where we gave intensive training in marksmanship in all primary and secondary weapons. I found a small apartment in Lebanon and Mary came to stay with me. It was about 10 miles away and I found a friend who had a car and had similar arrangements for his wife. I had let my sister use my car in her job as school teacher in Denmark, SC. We were able to get in almost every night for the 6 or 8 weeks that we were there
Our next assignment was mountain maneuvers in the mountains of West Virginia. This was in late November and, after six months in the torrid desert, we were in fine shape for the intense cold there! We spent a lot of time learning and teaching about how to survive in cold weather. We learned how best to use winter clothing and natural vegetation to the best advantage. Also, we practiced climbing and rappelling almost vertical slopes with a full load of equipment strapped to us. In rappelling, we used only the bare rope and our hands. Apparently, the device which is used now had not yet been invented. Rappelling taught us how to execute a frontal attack upon an enemy fortification at the top of a vertical cliff after an approach from the ocean in small boats. (Fortunately, I did not have to use this skill in subsequent operations in combat. However, this was used at numerous times in Italy, France and several times in the Pacific Theater.) I remember eating Thanksgiving dinner out of a mess kit while seated on a snow bank in a brisk wind. I was glad when this tour of duty was finished and we were transported by truck and jeep to Camp Picket, Virginia. We were scheduled to go on amphibious maneuvers from here to approach the vertical cliffs mentioned above from the sea in small boats..
I was able to get a small apartment at Kensbridge, Virginia and had an opportunity to spend some time at Wolfton and Ridgeway around Christmas. I drove my car back when I returned, so I had little trouble seeing Mary almost every night and weekends. Really, this was the first time that we were able to live together as a family, but here again, it was not to be for very long, as I was transferred out of the 77th Division and to a replacement unit scheduled for combat as soon as possible. We heard later that several units in Italy had had very high casualties and they were desperately short of Infantry Officers. The TO (table of organization) had been changed so that any unit expecting to go in combat soon was to be organized 10% overstrength in officers. This would maintain its combat effectiveness when anticipated casualties were experienced
Therefore, I was sent to Camp George G. Mead, near Laurel, Maryland, for preparation to leave for Europe. Mary was able to be nearby in a motel and I was able to be there most every night for about three weeks while our unit was being processed through all kinds of physicals and other tests, etc. I went to her motel by a 20 minute train ride. She was about 8 months pregnant at this time and I was very reluctant to leave her. I remember the last morning when I left the motel to go the railroad station and I crossed over a small rise in the street. I looked over my shoulder and waved. I could not see her, but I felt that she was watching me through the window. A few steps later, I looked again, but the window was not visible. I fully realized that the chances of my returning were very poor. This was based on my actual experience in mock combat wherein we fought an imaginary enemies in practice drills. This was particularly true and much more impressive to me when I recalled serving as umpire in Louisiana and had the responsibility of specifying individual casualties as wounded or killed based on the listed results of fire power from the 88th Division against my own unit, the 77th Division. I was leaving my country, my home, and, most importantly, the girl I loved so dearly who was carrying my unborn child. This was on my mind as I walked over the hill and looked back and found the window was out of sight.
to board a ship to an unannounced destination.
The old cliché
"I don't know where I am going, but I am on my way"
took on
A REAL MEANING
for me.
WHICH WAY?..........................................HOW FAR?
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