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About Regimental mirror. (Fort Benning, Ga.) 1943-194? | View Entire Issue (May 11, 1944)
VOL. II PFC WILLIAM J. BOROUGH, RECENTLY RETURNED FROM FIGHTING THE Japs, listens eagerly at the dayroom radio for news of the coming invasion of Europe. (Of ficial U. S. Army Signal Corps Photo by Carrington.) A Kick In The Pants Saved Soldier's Life On Guadalcanal A good kick in the pants saved the life of PFC William J. Boro ugh, of Chicago, ni„ during his first day in the battle for Guad alcanal. “When I drew a bead on my first Jap,’’ says Borough, who is now with A Company, Academic Regiment, “my finger froze—l was paralyzed at the thought of taking a life! Some buddy—l’ll never know who—gave me a good kick in the rear and brought me to my senses. By this time the Jap was charging with fixed bayonet. I finally fired a- bout half of my BAR magazine. . He went down and didn’t get up again.” After those first few seconds of hesitation, Borough says, he was a combat Infantryman. He knew that war meant your en emy’s life or your own and your buddies’. “I couldn’t get enough Japs af ter awhile,” he recalls, and he 0 & Z JL / REGIMENTA L J) ^3 feels that he more than evened the score for the wounds in the hip and ankle which have won him the Purple Heart He is cer tain that he has accounted for at least one other Jap, whom he met one night on patrol. “He was a sentry, guarding the trail we were traveling. I got a stranglehold on him and clipped him on the temple with my knuckles. He collapsed without a sound.” Combat started for Borough— who was a steel mill inspector until his National Guard unit was Federalized in 1940 —when two Jap subs followed his con voy on the way to Australia. Both of them were finally sunk by Navy “cans”, but the sinking was really “sweated out” by the men below decks. “Your mind plays tricks on you when you’re below and the ship is being at tacked,” Borough recalls. FORT BENNING. GEORGIA. THURSDAY, After a few weeks in Austra lia his outfit left for New Cale donia for six months of jungle training Just before embarka tion for Guadalcanal he volun teered for transfer from the ser vice company to a line unit, where he became an automatic riflemarj. “You’d hardly believe that anybody could feel relieved to land on a Jap island,” laughs Borough, “but our convoy got so much hell from the Jap air force that we were really glad to land." Three days later he went into action and fought for three months in skirmish after skirm ish, with patrol after patrol. JAPS ALWAYS THERE "The report of a reconnais sance patrol sent out against the Japs was always the same. The Japs were always there—we (Continued on Page 5) MAY 11, 1944 Lucky Academics Draw 2 Mothers For Visits Here! While preparing to welcome Mrs. Ethel Marquardt, of Seattle Wash., mother of Cpl. Richard G. Marquardt, as their guest for the Mother’s Day celebration at Fort Benning, members of the Academic Regiment of The Infan try School received the additional good news this week that they were entitled to a sec-' “ ond guest mother. An extra, post-wide drawing had been held to pick a mother-at-large, rounding out the number of post guests to 14, and as good luck would have it, the winner proved to be Mrs. Esther Ber man, mother of PFC Helen Ber man, of WAC Detachment One, The Infantry School One Arrives Today Mrs. Marquardt, who has tel egraphed her acceptance to Brig. Gen. William H. Hobson, post commander, is expected to arrive on the 3 o’clock train in Colum bus this afternoon, where she will be greeted by the regimen tal special service officer, Lt. V. C. Hoyt. Mrs. Berman will arrive tomorrow, when the en tire contingent of mothers will be met by The Parachute School band under the direction of M. Sgt Joseph E. Rotondi, whose mother is one of the guests. A special convoy will bring the mothers to the post, with Mrs. Berman and Mrs. Marquardt in an Academic Regiment sedan, and they will be guests at a special dinner at Service Club number one. Corsages will be presented to all 14 mothers at this time by the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Columbus. Mrs. Marquardt and Mrs. Ber man will spend Friday evenings with their son and daughter, respectively. Accommodations have been arranged for all mothers at the guest houses. On Saturday morning they will eat breakfast at Supply Di vision, Supply Detachment, Sec tion I messhall, and will leave at 9 o'clock for an extensive tour of the post. The motor caravan will visit The Parachute School, Lawson Field, and installations of The Infantry School to give the mothers a broad view of what work is like at “America’s most complete Army post.” Mrs. Berman and Mrs. Mar quardt will get enough thrills during the three hour tour to remember for a lifetime. There will be demonstration jumps by paratroopers, tanks charging o ver fortifications, barrages laid down by heavy artillery, prob lems worked out by officer can didates. Satisfaction that the Ar my takes good care of morale factors will be theirs when they visit the post theaters, swimming pools, shopping centers, and ser vice clubs. In the afternoon all the mothers will be guests of their respective outfits. The Academ- ic Regiment has worked out a full tour of its two main areas for the mothers of Cpl Mar quardt and PFC Berman Eat With Co. B They will eat dinner in the Company B mess hall, after which they will be greeted by Col E P. Passailaigue, regimen tal commander, and Maj M. W. Jared, executive officer, and will go on a tour of the B Company barracks. The sedan will then take them to WAC Detachment Two for a brief visit with the Main Post WACs, followed by a motor trip to Harmony Church, where they will see a special demonstration of E Company’s K-9 Corps war dogs. Supper At WAC I At supper time it will be WAC Detachment One’s turn to enter tain the mothers, witji supper in the WAC mess hall and part of the evening with PFC Ber man's detachment mates On Air Sunday On Sunday morning, Mother s day, the United Garden Clubs of Columbus will pin corsages on all 14 mothers who will be on the platform, together with their children, in Doughboy Sta dium for the special Mother’s day program at 8:30, which will be broadcast over station WRBL, Columbus. The Reception Cen ter and 176th Infantry bands will (Continued on Page 5) TIS Class Hours Changed To Aid Transportation Changes in the starting time of three groups of classes of The Infantry School, to become effective Monday, May 15th, were announced at Headquar ters of the School today. Starting on that date, Officer Candidate classes will report one hour earlier at 7:45 and will end an hour earlier at 5:15. Officers' Advanced and Officers’ Special Basic Course classes will begin one-half hour after the present starting time, reporting at 9:15 and concluding at 6:45 Other classes will adhere to the present schedule of 8:45 to 6:15. The changes were made to facilitate the operation of the School’s transportation system. Some companies in the Aca demic Regiment will keep their mess halls open longer hours to meet the expanded schedule. No 34
