A WW2 K.I.A. LETTER
by Don Kochi
Occasionally a ‘sleeper’ will quietly surface on the popular on-line
auction site, ebay. One such item (fig. 1) recently appeared with the
simple title heading: “WWII-GREAT 1944 US SOLDIER LETTER
FROM NEW GUINEA”. At first glance, the generic WW2 APO cover
(with enclosed letter) does not strike the potential bidder as
something extraordinary. The auction description as if to reinforce this
merely stated the obvious, i.e., its physical attributes and concluded
with ‘A well-written letter with very good content’. However, to the
savvy hunter making the effort to go further into the woods it revealed
a very special and heroic war story.
Mailed stateside by a young enlisted Army GI, the cover displays an
APO 7th B.P.O. (Base Post Office) 20 NOV 1944 postdated machine
cancel over a 6 cents airmail stamp. Initialed for clearance by the
acting security officer, the requisite censor stamp for overseas theater
mail is present as well. The cover is addressed to his wife in Berwyn
(ILL.) and contains an endearing four-page letter handwritten (on both
sides) on light bluish stationary paper. The first page (fig. 2)
datelined ‘Somewhere in New Guinea. Nov. 13, 1944 – Mon. nite(sic)’
has been oddly hand-stamped with a partial (ILL.?) 28 NOV 1944
PARCEL POST postal cancel.
Serving overseas with Company F (2nd Battalion), 136th Infantry
Regiment of the 33rd Infantry Division (APO 33), his enlisted Army
serial number (36609579) when deciphered correctly discloses a
draftee status (first number 3-prefix) and his (usually home) location
of induction as being Sixth Corps Area (second number 6-prefix).
The GI’s hometown of Cook County (ILL.) properly falls within the
Sixth Corps’ states of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Federalized as the 33rd Infantry Division for national service on March
1941, the former Illinois National Guard started cohesive unit training
at Camp Forrest (TN.) with its pre-war ‘square’ formation of four line
regiments; the 129th, 130th, 131st, and 132nd. With the outbreak of
war, the US Army reconfigured its divisional table of organization to a
more mobile ‘triangular’ phalanx of three infantry line regiments.
Revamped as such, the 33rd ‘Prairie’ Division entered the combat
zone with the 123rd, 130th and 136th Infantry Regiments. Arriving in
Hawaii on July 1943, the division participated in jungle warfare
training and amphibious landing exercises before departing for New
Guinea late February 1944. By the time the division disembarked at
Finschhafen, New Guinea in early May 1944, Base ‘F’ was already a
bustling clogged advance base for General MacArthur’s overly
ambitious leapfrogging operations. Besides engaging in further
seaborne training, the division was shanghai’ed over the protest of
the divisional commander into augmenting the port’s labor battalion
as stevedores unloading the teeming and impatient supply ships
crowding Dreger Harbor. Theater policy of priority coupled with a
severe shortage of base service personnel, empowered the base
commander to utilize whatever manpower available, combat or
service, for the necessary task of unloading the multitude of cargo
ships. Shortly after, the division’s 123rd Infantry Regiment was
temporarily detached and sent 600 miles west of Finschhafen, to
Wakde Island-Maffin Bay (NG), an area still enemy-infested, to
relieve Army units there needed for the Morotai invasion. For the
remaining GIs of the division, used as common laborers alternating
with a demanding training regimen, their collective unit morale
plummeted. Fighting not the enemy, but instead, broiling tropical
heat, physical exhaustion, rain and mud, and boredom, the men
began to refer themselves as the ‘4-F’ Division. i.e., the Finschhafen
Freight Forwarding Force division.
During this period, the corporal wrote the 20 NOV 1944 letter to his
young bride. The 7th BPO location on 15 NOV 1944 is Biak, New
Guinea with a detachment BPO serving Finschhafen in AUG 1944.
His seven-sided letter mentions sending home a handcrafted ‘trenchart’ souvenir and company officers requesting the men of certain
blood-types to donate a pint. A following comment is interesting, ‘In
my opinion Mc-Arthur(sic) is doing some great planning although it’s
the men that really gets in there and does the work and in my opinion
there are more casaltys(sic) than they say.’
The rest of the letter tells of mail and package deliveries from home,
training, movies shown outdoors, and reaffirms his long-distance love
by adding how he carries their wedding picture in a clear plastic
cigarette case ‘seeing’ her every time he lights a smoke.
On December 1944, the division moved to Morotai Island to mop-up
few scattered Japanese forces and do a short garrison stint until
staging operations for the Philippines invasion began in earnest.
Finally tasked with a combat assignment, the division reunited with
their 123rd Regiment, arrived at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon P.I. on
February 10, 1945. The division’s mission was to drive a spearhead
into the Caraballo Mountains clearing the way for the Sixth Army’s
final objective of Baguio, the Imperial Japanese Army’s headquarters
in Northern Luzon. Heavy fighting against a fanatical enemy took
place in the Aringay-Calugong area along the Pugo-Tuba Trail,
resulting in several casualties during the capture of Questionmark
and Benchmark Hills. The 136th Infantry Regiment was dispatched
with the specific task of clearing the eastern side of Kennon Road,
one of the main routes to Baguio. Flanking the road were two
towering strongholds, the Twin Peaks on the west side and facing it,
the 3,700 foot high hill of Bue-Bue. Realizing the advantageous
significance of its dominating features as both an observation and
blocking chokepoint, the Japanese emplaced an estimate of 2,500 of
its best soldiers along the high grounds. The strong defensive
positions of perpendicular terrain with its many wooded valleys and
steep gullies provided excellent enfilading plunging fields of fire, all of
which favored the enemy holding force. For the attacking GIs, it
eliminated any element of surprise, limited maneuver, and in short
was a tactical nightmare. Opposed by bitter stubborn resistance, the
Battle for Kennon Road became a desperate costly small-unit
slugfest for the both the 136th Regiment and any assisting battalion
from their sister regiments.
Making a series of multi-pronged advances on Bue-Bue Hill, a
composite combat group was assembled from the 136th Regiment’s
2nd Battalion. Named ‘X-Ray Force’, it consisted of Fox Company, a
heavy machine gun platoon from Company H, 2nd Battalion assault
group, battalion medical team, and a 210th FA BN forward observer
party. Passing Pell Mell Creek and reaching Camp Two, the X-Ray
Force was ambushed in a deadly exchange of fire but managed to
reach and hold (for a couple of days) a position a mile short of Camp
Three. On March 19, 1945, a two squad patrol from X-Ray was sent
out to check on their northern perimeter when they stumbled into a
concealed Japanese Nambu MG nest. While slowly walking in
double squad columns, the two leading squad leaders were
immediately hit and dropped by the opening burst. Without hesitation,
the young corporal, an assistant squad leader took command of the
men, ordering one squad to clear the road and lay out covering fire
while leading the other squad to a partially covered position.
Appearing moments later, exposed in the open with an automatic rifle
blasting from his hips, the young corporal coolly shrugged off the fan
of machine gun fire and started to advance towards the enemy
emplacement. The wild brunt of enemy fire now directed at him,
ripped the ground at his feet. Left incredibly unscathed by the
hailstorm of bullets he shouted to his squad members to leave their
cover and follow him. Emboldened by this brave selfless example,
the men quickly joined the corporal still spraying automatic fire, in a
counterattack killing and routing the enemy. While standing on the
edge of the enemy foxhole and firing down, a parting shot by one of
the retreating Japanese killed the courageous corporal. KIA’ed near
Camp Three, Province of Benguet, Luzon, P.I., the young corporal is
listed on the 33rd Infantry Division’s Roll of Honor.
However for the action ‘beyond the call of duty’, under US ForcesPacific HQ General Order #43 (1945), Corporal Robert O. Kopplin
(36609579) was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service
Cross.
Artifact courtesy of the Wade MacElwain collection
References
Braddock, Paul. DOG TAGS: A History of the American Military Identification
Tag, 1861 to 2002. Chicora, PA: Mechling Books, 2003.
Carter, Russ. Numbered Army & Air Force Post Office Locations vol. 1. MPHS,
2001. 7th ed.
Helbock, Richard. Combat Infantry Mail: A Catalog of Postmarks Used by WWII
US Infantry Divisions. Lake Oswego, OR: LaPosta Publications, 1991.
Stanton, Shelby L., ORDER OF BATTLE, U.S. Army, World War II. Novato, CA:
Presidio Press, 1984.
33rd Infantry Division Historical Committee. A Golden Cross: A History of the 33rd
Infantry Division in World War II. Wash: Infantry Journal Press, 1948.
Headquarters, US Forces Pacific General Orders #43 (1945)
www.33rdinfantrydivision.org (Steve Dixon: webmaster)
www.homeofheroes.com