Orville Presley - 124th FA Battalion

Rank: PFC
Volunteer: No
Drafted: Yes
Induction: Scott's Field, Illinois
Where: Ft. Lewis, Washington
Age: 21
Discharged: Dec., 1945
Overseas:  Yes


Weapons

NA

Decorations

NA

First Combat

NA

Vivid Memory

NA

Funniest Memory

NA

Worst Memory

NA

Final Comments

This is my father's story as told to me. He passed away July 4, 2003. In 1942, he was drafted by Illinois for service in World War II. He was inducted at Peoria, Illinois. After he was sworn in and had his physical, he got to go home for two weeks. After his home visit, he reported to the induction center at Scott’s Field, Illinois for active duty. He was sent for basic training at Fort Lewis, Washington and trained in the Yakima Valley. From Ft. Lewis, he was sent to Needles, California and the Mojave Desert in California for training to fight in Africa. While on leave from the Mojave Desert, he went to Las Vegas and slept in Roy Roger’s barn. Because of the development of the war, he was sent to the South Pacific instead of Africa. Orville served as part of the 33rd Infantry Division, 124th Field Artillery, Battery A and supported the 130th Infantry Regiment. Their Division was called the Golden Cross Division. On June 28, 1943 he left Camp Stonesman, San Francisco on a ship. After seven days on the ocean, the first stop was Hilo, Hawaii where he pulled guard duty and trained for jungle warfare. In Hilo, he took amphibious and jungle training and had to swim 50 yards with a full artillery pack. In December of 1943, he went to Kauai, Hawaii where he spent two or three months. On Kauai, they had to float everything across the river. The good swimmers took floatation ropes and pulled the trucks across on tarps and ??. The water was about 90 feet deep and Orville went across with the last truck, holding onto it. In early 1944, he went to Oahu, Hawaii to ship out and was sent to British New Guinea. They traveled from Hawaii to New Guinea on the Lurline, a luxury ship made over to transport troops. The ship had 5000 men on it. On the ship, a “black out” was in effect. They were allowed no communication. Orville pulled guard duty on the upper deck. Among other thing, he had to make sure nobody turned on a light of any kind. They couldn’t even use a watch that was illuminated. It was very hot when they crossed the equator. They went to Finhaven, New Guinea where they trained some more and fought some. Orville was in New Guinea on D-Day. In December of 1944, they went to Morotai in the Dutch East Indies. They had Christmas dinner while fighting there. He was with the communication unit. They were supposed to invade Mindano Island but they invaded Leyte instead so Orville went on to the Lingayen Gulf on Luzon (went between Leyte and Mindano) north of Manilla. In 1945 he fought in Luzon, Philippines Lingayen Gulf’s front line. They landed right behind the initial wave, went up the west coast to the mountains and to Baguio which was the Philippine summer capital and also the headquarters for Japanese General Yamashita. The Japanese general was hidden in the northern part of Luzon and Orville saw them bring him out. There they took the city. He fought on the front lines in the Philippines for five months, until the war ended. He saw General McArthur two or three times. His group was training for the invasion of Japan. Instead when Japan surrendered he was part of the Japanese Occupational Force, Osaka. Going to Japan, they had destroyer escorts and some battle ships. As far as you could see there were ships. It took about three weeks to load up all the men and equipment and the ones first loaded had to sit on the ship in the hot weather while the others were being loaded. He was with the Occupation Forces in Japan for two or three months. At one time he was less than 100 miles from Hiroshima. They went through Kobe and Osaka. In the mountains, they destroyed army supplies, (guns and bombs), which they took and dumped in the ocean. Orville was in charge of some of the Japanese. He also loaded stuff in boxcars to take down to the ocean and put on ships for dumping. In November of 1945, he left Japan on what was called a Liberty Ship and crossed the international date line on Thanksgiving so in essence, they had two Thanksgivings that year. The trip took 14 days. During the trip home, he contracted malaria fever. He was sent to Vancouver Barnes General Hospital in Portland, Oregon. The ship arrived via the Columbia River. There he spent 21 days before being released. He arrived at Union Station in St. Louis on Christmas Eve and was discharged from Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis, Missouri on December 28, 1945.

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