Distinctly Montana Magazine

58 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 2 5 gun and artillery fires. Three men from each squad walked out front on point as company machine guns swept the trees with continuous fire. Company G killed 50 Japanese. A sergeant in Company I was killed. Company K killed 32 Japanese and took one prisoner. Company L killed 36 Japanese. The next day three Japanese rose from the bush near Company K, but when Lieu- tenant Rawstrom motioned them to raise their arms, a camou- flaged machine-gunner killed the officer. All of the Japanese involved were killed, thus clearing the track and the trail to the Solomon Sea. Montana's 163rd Regiment experienced 97 killed, 250 wounded, and four missing in action with nearly everyone else sick. Later these survivors heard the Japanese propagandist "Tokyo Rose" call them the "The Bloody Butchers of Sanananda." The 163rd Regimental Combat Team made amphibious landings at Aitape, Wakde, Toem, Biak, Zamboanga and Jolo and fought across Cen- tral Mindanao. At Kure, Japan, they landed near Hiroshima and walked through piles of radiated ashes. In late 1945, the last sur- vivors sailed aboard the Admiral Mayo into Seattle's Elliott Bay. COMING HOME My Butte neighbor, John T. Shea, drafted with the first 17-year- olds to fight in the 7th Infantry Division on Okinawa, told me about disembarking from the front portion of the Mayo which had been sealed by crew quarters from the back portion. "I was walking down the gangplank and I turned around, and the guy right behind me was from Montana. I think his name was Hawk— yeah, that's right, Tommy Hawk. He was from one of those towns out in eastern Montana, Livingston or somewhere. He looked like hell. He'd been fighting in the jungle the whole damn war!" That was Company B's William Hawk of Poplar, returned with the 41st Infantry Division Jungleers from the longest overseas deployment of any American division in WWII. S U B S C R I B E S U B S C R I B E T O D AY T O D AY A N D B R I NG DI S T I NC T LY MON TA NA A N D B R I NG DI S T I NC T LY MON TA NA W H E R E V E R T H E R OA D TA K E S YOU. W H E R E V E R T H E R OA D TA K E S YOU. SUBSCRIBE TO DISTINCTLY MONTANA MAGAZINE AND GET IT DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO YOUR HOME (WHEREVER IT MAY BE!) distinctlymontana.com/subscribe SEND A CHECK FOR THE AMOUNT MATCHING THE SUBSCRIPTION PERIOD YOU'D LIKE: 1 YEAR - $39.95 2 YEARS - $69.95 3 YEARS - $99.95 MAIL CHECKS TO: DISTINCTLY MONTANA • PO BOX 84 • BOZEMAN, MT 59771 TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE, CALL 406-600-7660

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