Be a Good Soldier, Son
/BE A GOOD SOLDIER, SON - Written by Whayland H. Greene, December 1998
In 1943, at the age of 18, I entered the army. My Mother always gave me good advice. In this case she said “Son, since you have to go in the army, be a good soldier.” I’m sure thousands of Mothers told their sons the same thing. Like thousands of other young men, I was just an ordinary soldier. I did nothing great and most of the other infantry soldiers were just like me. I did serve my country to the best of my ability.
During basic training I weighed about 120 pounds. When I put on the steel helmet and full field pack and picked up the heavy rifle. I thought there was no way I could handle the jog; it was just too big for me. I looked around and saw some kids about my own size, and some much larger than me, having the same trouble I was having. I said to myself, “If they can handle it, so can I.” So I did. Sometime we would hid with all the heavy equipment on. IN the heat of the Texas sun, until I thought I would fall on my face. I would think I couldn’t go any further. I would remind myself that the man leading us was just another human being and we would have to stop soom. Sure enough, in just a few minutes he would say “Let’s take a 10 minute break.” You can’t imaging what a relief it was to get a 10 minute break. So all the time I was in training I never fell out on a hike. A few men would pass out completely but most of us made every hike.
A few soldiers had to do extra duty because of a discipline problem. Most of us never had to do any extra duty for that reason.
Most of us had never fired a rifle larger than .22 caliber. When it came time to fire the M-1 rifle, we had to start from scratch learning how to aim and get the feel of the rifle. Most of us learned how to shoot real good after getting good instructions from our sergeants I think the two most important things I learned in basic training were discipline and hot to shoot a rifle.
Whe I got overseas I was sent to the 32nd Division which had already been fighting about a year and half. I was real fortunate to be put in with a group of men who cared a lot for each other as well as for us young guys They took a special interest in looking after us.
I fought a short time in New Guinea, then made a beach landing on Morotai Island where we met very little resistance. After that we went to Leyte Island in the Philippines. The fighting was real rough there and we lost quite a few men; some wounded and some killed. We had to get in more replacements after that. By then I was 19 years old and we went through a 47 day and night battle. On Leyte it rained 31 inches in 30 days so we were wet all the time. We lost 401 men killed and the enemy lost 6700 in the battle for Leyte. Trying to climg those muddy hills was almost impossible. We would have to grab vines and tree limbs to pull ourselves up. We would be completely exhausted, thinking we just couldn’t go another steip further. However, as soon as the enemy shot just one or two times, we would somehow get a sudden burst of energy and we would move rather quickly. When I felt like I couldn’t go another step further and wanted to fall down and give up. I would look around and see the other men in the same shape I was in. Again I reminded myself that it was only a human being leading us and soon he would say, “Let’s take a 10 minute break.” You can’t imagine what that 10 minute break was like You actually began to think you might want to try to live a little longer.
After Leyte we went to Luzon Island. We kept having men wounded and killed until we had to get in more replacements. Some of the older men who had not been wounded or killed and had been overseas about 3 years or more, began going home on furlough or rotation. At this time the guys who had come over with me had reached the ripe old age of 20.
After having a few more wounded or killed they began to make squad leaders out of us 20-year-old PFCs who had never been assistant squad leaders. We got in some more 18 and 19-year-old replacements. If you don’t think that will shake up a 20-year-old PFC! We were then put in charge of ten or twelve 18 and 19 year old kids in a dangerous situation like we were in. These were kids who had very little training and no combat experience. I could think back to when we joined the 32nd Division, and how inexperienced we were. At least we did have some older men with lots of combat experience leading us. We took those young men and continued to fight until the last day of WWII. I might add we even fought a few days after cease-fire went into effect. We fought 125 days on Luzon and lost over 900 men.
Now I want to tell you why I thought my young friends and I were good soldiers even though we were scared half to death most of the time. It was not because we did anything great or even out of the ordinary for that particular time. We were not brave, we did not receive any big medals for bravery and none of us ever became high-ranking officers. Here are some of the things we did do. When we were 18 years old and we were called into the army and although most of us did not volunteer when we were called, we did not try to get deferments or try to dodge the draft. We never missed a day of training, were never late for roll call and never had a day of bad time against our records. I missed only eight days of combat on Leyte and that was when I was in the hospital with jungle rot on my feet. I never missed a day of combat on Luzon. We went to every patrol we were told to go on and went as far as we were told to go. We advanced in the face of the enemy, went up every hill we were sent to, even when we were scared to death. We never withdrew from any position that we were told to hold until were were told to do so.
It is not always the man who does something outstanding on a certain day that makes him a good soldier. Sometimes it is the man who takes and carries out orders and faces up to challenges he has every day that makes a good soldier I feel like lots my young friends and I did just that. I don’t think I ever told my Mother I was a good soldier but I think she understood that I was. Not because I brought home any big medals, because I did not, and not because I did anything outstanding, because I did not. But because I came home alive and brought an honorable discharge with me.”