Rufus R. Choate September 29, 2003 Ms. Patricia Shelton) Blankenship Quitman, TX 75783 Dear Pat, As I mentioned in my Email to you last week, I will give you as much information about your dad, Archie Shelton that I can recall. For background, the 131srt Field Artillery was a unit in the Texas National Guard and Battery E was stationed in Abilene, Texas. Abilene is my hometown and I joined the Guard while I was still in high school. The Texas National Guard was called to active duty November 25, 1940 and we moved to Camp Bowie at Brownwood, Texas in January 1941 even though the camp was not completely finished. We had some vacancies and they were filled with men from the draft (selective service). Most of these men had volunteered. I have an old roster of Battery E dated in February of 1941 and Archie Shelton is on that roster. So your dad joined up with us either in late January or early February of 1941 when he was sent to Camp Bowie. We trained at Camp Bowie until August when we went to Louisiana for maneuvers. We were in Louisiana for two months. At the end of September we were back to Camp Bowie where we received orders to pack for a move to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Before we could get packed the orders were changed to prepare to go overseas. We did not know where but the rumor had us going to the Philippine Islands to reinforce the troops there. The Second battalion of the 131st Field Artillery left Camp Bowie with a lot of new faces as the men who were married or had dependents were allowed to transfer to other units and replacements for them came from other units. We went by train to San Francisco where we spent about a week and the day after Thanksgiving we sailed on the Army transport USS Republic. We arrived at the Hawaiian Islands on the last day of November and were allowed to go ashore for about 4 hours. We sailed the next morning in a convoy of about eight ships and a navy Cruiser. The war started about one week after we left Hawaii and were somewhere between Hawaii and the Philippine Islands. The convoy turned south and we stopped at the Fiji islands for about one day then on to Brisbane, Australia where the ship was unloaded. We spent Christmas week in Brisbane then we were loaded onto another ship and left Brisbane with two US Cruisers and six US Destroyers. I suppose we were on our way to the Philippine Islands but we were dropped off at Surabaya, Java of the Dutch East Indies because of a large Japanese fleet was heading our way. We were sent to a Dutch Army camp in the mountains about 60 miles from Surabaya. When we arrived there we were assigned to work as the ground crew for a Bomb Group that had evacuated the Philippine Islands and could not bring their ground crew with them. The Japanese bombed our camp and the airfield several times and strafed it with fighter planes one. We lost several B 17 Bombers that day and had some men hurt by machine gun fire. The Air Force then evacuated back to Australia and we were left to help defend the island of Java. We saw action for about 2 days defending Surabaya before the Dutch Government surrendered all of the forces on the Island. After we became POWs of the Japanese we were kept in Camps in Surabaya and had to go out on work parties doing all sorts of work. The food was bad and very little in quantity. All of our men started losing weight. This was in March 1942. Around September the Japs started moving us. We went by train to Batavia where we found the rest of the Battalion. Battery E was the only group that stayed behind with The Air Force so we were moved as a unit separately from the rest of the Second Battalion. After staying in Batavia for a few days we were put aboard a small coal burning Japanese freighter. We were put down in the hold of the ship where they had been transporting horses. The conditions were terrible and some of the men developed dysentery. We arrived in Singapore after about a week. We had to put some of our men in the hospital there. Some of the men that we left in the hospital at the camp in Singapore were sent to work on the railroad to Burma. We lost several of our men who died working on that railroad. The living conditions were very bad at Singapore. We lived on the bare ground and the rations were very small. We had to go out on some work parties but I do not remember the work there being very hard. I think we were there about 2 months and then we were put on board a Japanese passenger liner. This was a very nice ship even though we were sleeping on the deck. We arrived at Nagasaki, Japan on December 7, 1942, exactly one year from the day the wars started for us. Since we had been in the tropics for a long time, the weather there seemed awful cold to us. Also there was no heat in our building. Here we were taken by ferry to a small island out in the bay of Nagasaki that was about 7 miles from the center of Nagasaki. This was where we spent the next 2 1/2 years. The camp was known as Fukuoka NO.2. This camp was good compared to other POW camps in Japan. The building had been built by the Japanese ship building company to house the POWs that were to work in their shipyard. The building was stucco outside with cement floors. We were put in rooms about 50 feet long and 30 feet wide. There were 60 men to a room. The room had double sleeping platforms on each side with a row of tables and benches down the center of the room. This allowed each man about 3 feet wide by 7feet long sleeping (and living) space. The food was prepared in a central kitchen. It was very bad when we first arrived but improved somewhat after our people were assigned to work in the kitchen under one of our officers and a Japanese sergeant. The rations were always skimpy and all of the men lost a lot of weight. I weighed 155 Ibs when we were captured and went down to 98 Ibs. Archie and I were in Room 19, but he slept on the opposite side of the room and on the other end. Everyone worked at the shipyard doing various jobs building ships. I dont remember what job Archie was assigned to but he and I never worked on the same gang at the shipyard so we did not have much contact with each other. None of us had much time of our own and when we did have time we had to use that time to take care of our personal needs so we did not have time to visit very much. Most of the time visiting and talking was with the men around you or whom you worked with at the shipyard. This is where Archie built a violin (or fiddle). He would find parts at the dockyard and slip them into camp where he would work on making the violin. I thought that it would have been quite an accomplishment even if he had all the tools and resources available but how he did it there in the camp with nothing to work with was really a piece of work. I do not remember the dominoes but you had to keep everything like that hidden real well or you would be in big trouble if a guard were to catch you with something like that. Did Archie bring the violin home? In June of 1945 we were all moved to a coal mine camp that I think was Fukuoka No 9. It was on the north side of the same island as Nagasaki near a village called Oreo and another named Wakamasu. We had to work at different jobs there related to the coalmine. Some of our men had to go into the mine and work with the Japanese coal miners. That was very hard and dangerous work. Others worked on digging tunnels into the hills by digging and blasting with dynamite. This was also very dangerous. We lived in a barracks that had been used by Korean coal miners and their families. They were about 12 ft x 12 ft. We were at this camp when the war ended. We were told to stay in the camp but the Japanese guards were moved to the outside of the camp. For our protection, we were told. After about a week (while we rested and relaxed, the US Air Force started dropping food, cigarettes, clothing, medicine and anything else they could load onto the B 29 bombers. They would drop this by parachute and we would go out and recover everything and then have a feast. After a few days of this we began to leave the camp and go exploring. In early September a US Army recovery team arrived at this camp and started processing us for our return home. We left the coalmine camp by train, which took us back to Nagasaki where US navy ships were docked. As we left the train at Nagasaki the first of us off the train at the head of the line were sent to a destroyer. I was in this group of about 20 or 30 men. I dont remember Archie being in the group with me. The next in line were sent to an aircraft carrier and some were put on a hospital ship. My group went to Okinawa and then by aircraft to the Philippine Islands where we stayed two weeks before boarding a troop ship for home. The group on the aircraft carrier went to the Philippine Islands by sea and were about two weeks behind us. Battery E was scattered after that. My group went into Ft. Lewis, Washington and then by Hospital train to Ft. Sam Houston, (San Antonio) Texas. As we arrived on the west coast the men were sent to army posts near their homes in most cases. I know that some of our bunch went through San Francisco and then to Ft. Sam Houston. Everyone was given a furlough and I got home just before November 11, 1945. I dont remember if I saw Archie after we left Japan. Everyone was going his own and anxious to get home. After all this time it is hard to get facts together sometimes. I returned to Ft. Sam Houston for medical exams and dental work and was discharged in May 1946. The photo that is enclosed was made in Abilene in November 1945. The American Legion and VFW there gave us a welcome home celebration and all of the Battery E members that could make it attended. The man in the center is Everett Miller, who was a member of Battery E and a POW with us. He lived in Oklahoma City for a long time but he died a few years ago. The man across from Archie is Cecil Minshew who was a POW with us. Cecil lives in Perrin, Texas. He might be able to give you more information than I can about your father. His address is: Cecil T. Minshew Address deleted I dont know who the man whose back is toward the camera but I think he was helping put on the welcome home party. The Certificate of Appreciation was given by the Dallas Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The lady in charge told me that they had tried to contact Archie but could not reach him. I told her that I might be able to deliver the certificate to him. As I mentioned, I was not able to contact Archie to give it to him but I am glad to be able to send it to you. I wish that I could give you more information than I have. I remember you dad as being a quite, low profile type guy that did his job real well. Feel free to contact me, telephone, E-mail of letter and I will try to answer any questions that you might have. In the last Lost Battalion newsletter I noticed that mail had been returned from your mother and that they had no forwarding address. I wondered what had happened. Regards, (~ Rufus Choate P. S. Most all of the guys in Battery E knew me as Rosy Choate. That was (and still is) my nickname.
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 22:36:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015