It was Easter Sunday morning 1945 and we were going to breakfast, a few at a time. I just got mine when we heard a "bang" in the distance and someone yelled "here comes Jap 4.2 mortar fire!" We all ran for our foxholes with shells dropping all around us. I dove into my foxhole, putting my coffee and eggs on the edge. I counted five nearby explosions with one blowing my coffee and mess gear away.

A gas truck pulled up within 30 feet of my foxhole and yelled "get the hell out of here!" A shell hit, blew out all ten of the truck's tires without touching off the gas. What a break! The guys around me kept calling and asking if I was okay. Everytime I got up to answer, another shell came screaming in. Everybody was hollering for medics, but we had only one dead.

Two days later, on the northwest side of the dam, the Japs tried again to penetrate, firing mortars and artillery. We started to climb a steep hill toward their position. We grabbed trees, roots, and used ropes to scale the steep hill. We had full packs and I also had my B.A.R. In addition, around our necks we had extra ammo and mortar rounds.

We reached the top two hours later, exhausted from the climb, and dug in again at our new position. We could see the Jap position about 1.5 miles away. Their infantry tried to break through that night, but we repelled them without losing any of our men.

The next day their artillery started in again. They were shelling a 200 foot cliff behind and to our left to try and bring it down on top of us. I ran to the top of the hill to get the attention of our tanks and using my arms to form a 'W". Fire was directed toward the enemy's position. Its first round hit the cave where the Jap's ammo was stored. The mountain snorted like a large dragon with 7 to 9 cave openings spewing forth clouds of red dust. About 5 minutes later, 20 to 30 Japs came running out of the caves.

A few days before, another company lost a few men and a B.A.R. while on patrol around this hill. This was near Burnt Ridge and they sent two squads of us into the same area. I was in the left squad and saw clumps of grass and weeds with a hole in the center and a Jap machine gun. I threw my grenade into the tunnel, killing the Jap gunner, but his piece was locked on fire and it was firing right at the Sarge. He dove behind a tree. We pulled out two Japs and searched them for papers and then buried them on the spot.

We took their machine gun back into camp as well as the missing B.A.R. James Christofanelli, who lost the B.A.R., came by and shook my hand for finding his weapon and for getting the hiding Japs.

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