Newspaper Page Text
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
