If there was one quality that was instilled upon the Americans of the Great Depression and World War II, it was improvisation. This was an entire generation that learned extemporization by virtue of the economic conditions of the time - men like Jerry and his brother Ike certainly were no exception. The unique ability to think laterally and "make due" would ultimately bring victory for the Allies in World War II.
As I chatted with my friend Jerry, he elaborated on his combat experience during the Second World War. Growing up in the American Midwest, he always had taken a special interest in electrical wiring, radios and engineering. Thus, Jerry was an obvious pick for the 132nd Engineer Combat Battalion. He chuckled as he recalled an incident that tested both his ingenuity and experience as an engineer:
"When Ike and I landed, our job was to set up radio and communications." It is worth mentioning here that the men would be trying to establish communications under some of the worst conditions imaginable: On a Pacific invasion beach, while taking heavy fire. Jerry continued: "It seemed like (the Japanese) always had a lot of mortars coming in on us. They could lob those mortars clear across the island. Well, one interesting thing happened on Leyte. We had a lot of coconut trees and vegetation, and I couldn't get a signal to one of the other Engineer groups, which would've been only five miles or so away. Well, we were in trouble and I couldn't get a signal through, on account of the vegetation! So, the general came over and he had a message. I told him that I couldn't get through - couldn't get a signal across. The general just looked at me, turned around and said, 'IMPROVISE, (JERRY)! IMPROVISE!' So, I took my spike into one of those coconut trees, grabbed a wire, and climbed up this coconut tree as high as I could go. I crawled all the way up with this telephone wire, tied it up, and came down. I was lucky I didn't get shot while I was up there! When I crawled out of the tree, I hooked the wire up to my radio and was able to get a signal through. So, I improvised. I'll never forget that general, 'IMPROVISE, [JERRY]!' He meant it, too! He wanted that message sent."
For a long time in this series we've focused on the brutal side of World War II combat, from Ernie Pyle's troubled and tragic correspondence, to the realities of a Pacific beach invasion. In the spirit of improvisation and engineering, Jerry explained some of the lighter aspects of the Pacific Theatre:
"After we'd get our camp set up with tents, I ran the generator. It was big - I don't remember how many thousands of watts, but I would string wires to everybody's tent. You know, we may be in one of these tents for six months before we shipped off to the next invasion. Well, I'd string the wires to each tent and let the guys hook up their own lights. I'd go to turn up the juice and everything would short out. So I'd have to go to each tent to figure out who wired it wrong! But, I enjoyed doing that work."
"I also had a little radio, a shortwave radio that I used to use to keep up with the news. I'd go to the Amtraks that were wrecked on the beaches, and I'd take out the amplifiers. I would take the amplifiers out of the Amtraks and hook the output of one to the input of the next one and end up with a pretty good amplifier. I then had the carpenters take the speakers from the Amtraks to make a little wooden horn. At the end of the rows of tents I'd mount the speakers, hook them up to the amplifiers, and somehow we got hold of an old record player. So I hooked the record player up to the amplifiers and played music at night for the guys. We had a lot of fun with that, and everyone helped out. The guys would help me get supplies for my radios, and I'd hook everything up - I had a lot of help."
"You know, things like that were what made your outfit work together and have fun together, besides fighting. So I'd play records and the captain would just grab a mike whenever he needed to make an announcement. I had a lot of fun, and had a lot of crazy ideas. In fact, that's when we first heard about the (nuclear) bombs being dropped - through that radio. There were a lot of 'hurrahs!' in camp when we heard about (Japan's) surrender, that's for sure."
In the midst of some of the worst fighting during World War II, Jerry's ability to rig up a simple stereo system added a sense of normalcy to an otherwise hellish experience. He pointed out that there never was a shortage of volunteers to help carry the heavy gear. The guys always were willing to lend a hand carrying the crates of batteries and radio equipment, so they would be able to set it up right away at the next camp. "Everyone liked music, and news."
"You know, things like that were what made [our] outfit work together and have fun together, [instead of] fighting."
- Dan Wegmueller is a columnist for The Monroe Times. He can be reached at dwegs@tds.net.
As I chatted with my friend Jerry, he elaborated on his combat experience during the Second World War. Growing up in the American Midwest, he always had taken a special interest in electrical wiring, radios and engineering. Thus, Jerry was an obvious pick for the 132nd Engineer Combat Battalion. He chuckled as he recalled an incident that tested both his ingenuity and experience as an engineer:
"When Ike and I landed, our job was to set up radio and communications." It is worth mentioning here that the men would be trying to establish communications under some of the worst conditions imaginable: On a Pacific invasion beach, while taking heavy fire. Jerry continued: "It seemed like (the Japanese) always had a lot of mortars coming in on us. They could lob those mortars clear across the island. Well, one interesting thing happened on Leyte. We had a lot of coconut trees and vegetation, and I couldn't get a signal to one of the other Engineer groups, which would've been only five miles or so away. Well, we were in trouble and I couldn't get a signal through, on account of the vegetation! So, the general came over and he had a message. I told him that I couldn't get through - couldn't get a signal across. The general just looked at me, turned around and said, 'IMPROVISE, (JERRY)! IMPROVISE!' So, I took my spike into one of those coconut trees, grabbed a wire, and climbed up this coconut tree as high as I could go. I crawled all the way up with this telephone wire, tied it up, and came down. I was lucky I didn't get shot while I was up there! When I crawled out of the tree, I hooked the wire up to my radio and was able to get a signal through. So, I improvised. I'll never forget that general, 'IMPROVISE, [JERRY]!' He meant it, too! He wanted that message sent."
For a long time in this series we've focused on the brutal side of World War II combat, from Ernie Pyle's troubled and tragic correspondence, to the realities of a Pacific beach invasion. In the spirit of improvisation and engineering, Jerry explained some of the lighter aspects of the Pacific Theatre:
"After we'd get our camp set up with tents, I ran the generator. It was big - I don't remember how many thousands of watts, but I would string wires to everybody's tent. You know, we may be in one of these tents for six months before we shipped off to the next invasion. Well, I'd string the wires to each tent and let the guys hook up their own lights. I'd go to turn up the juice and everything would short out. So I'd have to go to each tent to figure out who wired it wrong! But, I enjoyed doing that work."
"I also had a little radio, a shortwave radio that I used to use to keep up with the news. I'd go to the Amtraks that were wrecked on the beaches, and I'd take out the amplifiers. I would take the amplifiers out of the Amtraks and hook the output of one to the input of the next one and end up with a pretty good amplifier. I then had the carpenters take the speakers from the Amtraks to make a little wooden horn. At the end of the rows of tents I'd mount the speakers, hook them up to the amplifiers, and somehow we got hold of an old record player. So I hooked the record player up to the amplifiers and played music at night for the guys. We had a lot of fun with that, and everyone helped out. The guys would help me get supplies for my radios, and I'd hook everything up - I had a lot of help."
"You know, things like that were what made your outfit work together and have fun together, besides fighting. So I'd play records and the captain would just grab a mike whenever he needed to make an announcement. I had a lot of fun, and had a lot of crazy ideas. In fact, that's when we first heard about the (nuclear) bombs being dropped - through that radio. There were a lot of 'hurrahs!' in camp when we heard about (Japan's) surrender, that's for sure."
In the midst of some of the worst fighting during World War II, Jerry's ability to rig up a simple stereo system added a sense of normalcy to an otherwise hellish experience. He pointed out that there never was a shortage of volunteers to help carry the heavy gear. The guys always were willing to lend a hand carrying the crates of batteries and radio equipment, so they would be able to set it up right away at the next camp. "Everyone liked music, and news."
"You know, things like that were what made [our] outfit work together and have fun together, [instead of] fighting."
- Dan Wegmueller is a columnist for The Monroe Times. He can be reached at dwegs@tds.net.
