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H-Hour Plus Three: The Saga of the US Army Amphibious Engineers in the Pacific during World War II

by Henry C. Allan Jr. Ph.D.

288 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0338; ISBN 1-55369-525-9; US$26.50, C$31.00, EUR22.00, £15.50

The untold story of the U S Army amphibious engineers in the Pacific during World War II.

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About the book      About the author      Sample excerpts and contents      Catalogue info

About the Book H-HOUR PLUS 3: The Saga of the U.S. Army Amphibian Engineers in the Pacific During World War II is about the adventures of the men of the 534th Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment from its inception in Fort Devens, Massachusetts, in January 1943 to the occupation of Japan in the fall of 1945 (to January 1946). The men of the 534th were trained at Fort Devens, Camp Edwards, and Washburn Island in Massachusetts and at Camp Gordon Johnston in Carrabelle, Florida (where some of us, including the author) went through a form of "Ranger Training". Overseas, some of our regiment trained in Australia. The rest of us trained in New Guinea. Some elements of the 534th "ranger" group were used to ferret out remaining elements of the Japanese army in New Guinea. We all participated in the invasion of Morotai Island and, later, the Philippine Islands. After the surrender of Japan in the fall of 1945, we were transported to Japan as part of America's first military occupation.

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About the Author "My first attempt at writing was in the late 1940s (as a reporter on the Daily Iowan at the University of Iowa). As a graduate student, I switched my major to American History and minor to Religion. My first published book was College Credit By Examination (C.L.E.P.) in 1974. Next was a Study Guide for the Humanities for D.C. Heath Company in 1993. A similar study guide was published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 1997. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1984. I've had a number of careers in my life: first was that of a clergyman serving parishes in Iowa and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 1960 found me working for the YMCA of Chicago assigned to ghetto communities on the West Side. From 1963-66, I was on special duty with J.O.B.S., the Antipoverty program designed by President Kennedy. My teaching career began in 1969 with Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Illinois. I returned to the ministry (part-time) following my retirement from the college in 1995. The college called me back three times as a "consultant" for Muslim and Christian relations. The last assignment was during the academic year, 2001-2002. This book was initially conceived in the mid 1980s, when my mother handed me a rumpled grocery bag containing 70-plus letters that I wrote to her during World War II. Like many veterans, I did nothing with this correspondence. Then, in the late 1990s, I met Dr. William Oldson, director of the Institute for World War II and the Human Experience at Florida State University. Later, I sent Dr. Oldson copies of the letters. Later still, with my approval, FSU sent several of my letters to the History Channel in New York City. Two of my letters were included in the TV program, Letters to Home".

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Sample Excerpts and contents

BOOK COVER IDENTIFICATION

Numbers

1. Downed Japanese plane (Morotai)
2. Mrs. Tamura Oumaco
3. Company D soldiers (L to R) Michael Bodner, Walter Belew, Bert Pritchard, Henry Allan, Vincent Torres, and Phil Bomesl
4. Grounded Japanese freighter and Rolland Ries
5. Kneeling (L to R) Ted Kaczor, Jack Hunter. Standing (L to R) Frank Magaraci and Austin Smedley
6. Gordon McDonald & pals
7. (L to R) John Nere, Bill Davis, Dick Shoning, Lou Gutierrez and Waldo Shute
8. Warren Thacker & Harmon Spake
9. Papuan native from the village of Lehudi
10. Filipino children during a lull in the fighting
11. Lou Gutierrez, Henry Allan and Robert Van Arsdale
12. Medical Detachment Motor Pool (after monsoon season)
13. On the beaches of Luzon, Philippine Island
14. Sgt. Rolland Ries
15. Native Filipino dwelling
16. Juanita Pacheco
17. Warren Thacker & Harmon Spake
18. Part of Motor Pool (San Fabian, Luzon)
19. Willard Plunkett (Morotai Island)
20. Movie projector (Camp Gordon Johnston)
21. Author on a furlough on the farm in northwest Iowa
22. (L to R) Jake Malerba and Jake Vetter on lower step
    (L to R) Dutch Lennihan and Henry Allan (upper level)
23. Submarine in Fugi, Japan
24. (Front) Harold Forsyth, Robert Graham and Dan Goodwin (Back)
25. Henry Allan
26. Invasion of Luzon, Three men on board - Henry Boldi, Jeb Morcom and Dick Clark

Contents

CHAPTER I

• Pearl Harbor
  
  
  
• Letters Home
  
  
  
• Rural Iowa
  
  
  
• Army Recruit
  
  
  

CHAPTER II

• Camp Dodge
  
  
  
• Fort Devens
  
  
  
• Basic Training
  
  
  
• Letters Home
  
  
  

CHAPTER III

• Camp Edwards
  
  
  
• Washburn Island
  
  
  

CHAPTER IV

• Camp Gordon Johnston
  
  
  

CHAPTER V

• Final Preparations for Going Overseas
  
  
  
• Our "Convoy"
  
  
  
• Thirty-one Days at Sea
  
  
  
• Seasickness
  
  
  
• Boxing Debut
  
  
  
• Passing the Time
  
  
  

CHAPTER VI

• New Guinea
  
  
  

CHAPTER VII

• Morotai Island
  
  
  

CHAPTER VIII

• Philippine Islands
  
  
  

CHAPTER IX

• Japan and the Occupation
  
  
  

CHAPTER X

• Back Home
  
  
  

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Catalogue Information

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