Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:05 | When Nollie Carpenter joined his Cavalry unit in the Admiralty Islands, he heard how he had just missed the Banzai attacks. His regiment was camped on a small island that was lined from shore to shore with tents. They were preparing to invade the Philippines but first, how about a nice USO show?
Keywords : Nollie Carpenter Japanese banzai Admiralty Islands signal lamp mail United Service Organizations (USO) Bob Hope Francis Langford
Nollie Carpenter sailed out into the Pacific with a small group of replacements for the 1st Cavalry Division. First stop was New Guinea, where he unloaded ships and worked in the post office. Through that job he located a cousin who was on the same island. Finally he got transport to join the division in the Admiralty Islands.
His brother was already up at Fort Knox so Nollie Carpenter told them during classification that he wanted to drive a tank. It worked and he joined his brother there. He even got to drive a tank during training but he was destined to be a radio operator.
The Philippines is where Nollie Carpenter first saw combat. He landed on Leyte near Samar and started tromping through rice paddies. From a rise overlooking the ocean, he watched Japanese planes attacking ships until the shrapnel got close.
At the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, the Japanese had been holding thousands of prisoners. Nollie Carpenter describes how the 18th Cavalry Regiment liberated them with little opposition. On the way into the city, they passed a gruesome scene where locals were torturing a Japanese collaborator.
Nollie Carpenter's platoon was assigned a Filipino guide for their patrols. One day, he took Nollie to his home for a meal and, guess what? He had sisters!
One day while Nollie Carpenter was in the Philippines, a loud cheering could be heard and it swelled as it moved closer. Then came the word. We had detonated an atomic bomb at Hiroshima. Soon he was on occupation duty in Tokyo.
While in combat on Leyte, Nollie Carpenter was awarded a Bronze Star, although he's not sure what he did to deserve it. He did a lot more a little later during the fighting on Luzon. Oh well, not giving it back!
There was one sergeant who had enough points to go home. For some reason, he wanted to go out on one last patrol even though he was excused and waiting on transport. Nollie Carpenter remembers that everyone told him not to do it but he was determined.
Two days after he got to the Philippines, Nollie Carpenter was mustered on the beach when he saw a mob of people. Douglas MacArthur was wading ashore. He declined to reenlist but later had second thoughts about that. He did come back to the Army after a year of logging.
Malaria was almost impossible to avoid. Nollie Carpenter sure had it and it affected him even after he returned home. At least, if you were lucky, you were in a place where the tasty mangoes covered the ground.
After a brief stint as a civilian, Nollie Carpenter returned to the Army and was assigned to Germany. While there, a call went out for volunteers to go to Korea as Forward Observers. A Sergeant could get a 2nd Lieutenant's bars.
