thedrifter
02-09-09, 06:50 AM
WWII veteran survived 3 horrific battles
by: MANNY GAMALLO World Staff Writer
Monday, February 09, 2009
2/9/2009 3:35:24 AM
Matthew Lloyd Dillon has many stories to tell about his experiences in the Pacific during World War II, but probably none as great or powerful than the six months he spent during the battle of Guadalcanal.
The battle for the 2,500-square-mile island, part of the chain of the Solomon Islands straight east of New Guinea, was fought from August 1942 until Feb. 9, 1943 — 66 years ago Monday — and marked a strategic turning point in the war with Japan.
The Japanese had taken the island in May 1942 and were building an airfield to harass the Allied supply routes between nearby New Zealand and Australia.
Their plans, however, dramatically changed a few months later when Marines surprised them on Aug. 7 and sent them scurrying to the sea.
From that point until the end of the battle, the Japanese tried repeatedly to retake the island. More than 30,000 Japanese troops were killed in the battle, while 7,100 Americans died.
Dillon, a flight engineer aboard a B-17 bomber, arrived on Guadalcanal three weeks after the Marine invasion, and from that point on it was a living hell for him.
During the day, Dillon said, Japanese aircraft bombed the island and at night Japanese warships constantly were dropping shells to dislodge the American forces and retake the airstrip, which had been renamed Henderson Field.
Dillon had been around Japanese bombing and gunfire before.
He was with the Army Air Corps stationed at Hickam Field next to Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941.
Dillon remembered he was asleep in his barrack's bunk when the attack began. With bombs dropping all around him and other troops, "no one knew what was going on."
"We were all running around. There was no cover, and no one had any guns," he said.
"The Japanese were dropping fragmentary bombs from their cockpits on us, and lots of guys were killed and many more were maimed."
Between the attack on Pearl and Guadalcanal, Dillon took part in another historic turning point — the battle for Midway Island.
That battle — June 4-5 of 1942 — was a staggering defeat for the Japanese, who lost four of the six aircraft carriers they used at Pearl Harbor.
More than 3,000 Japanese were killed in that battle, while American losses were put at about 350 sailors and Marines.
Dillon and other B-17 crews with his 26th Bombardment Squadron flew missions during Midway, hunting for Japanese ships.
Yet nothing — not Pearl Harbor nor Midway — could prepare Dillon for the grueling experience of Guadalcanal.
It wasn't just the daily bombardment which got to him. It was the horrid living conditions that Dillon remembers the most.
For Dillon, Guadalcanal featured nothing but oppressive heat and humidity, a lack of sanitation and food, inadequate medical supplies and treatment, and every conceivable, nasty vermin, joined by billowing clouds of mosquitoes.
Then there were the B-17 missions from Henderson Field as Dillon and his comrades scanned area seas for Japanese shipping targets and also did strafing runs against attempted enemy troop landings on Guadalcanal.
As he spoke from the comfort of his modest North Florence Avenue home, Dillon ran out of words of praise for the American defense of Guadalcanal.
But that defense came with an added cost, beyond the 7,100 American dead, he said.
"Many of our guys just didn't want to go home again after that, and a lot of them were committing suicide," Dillon said, his emotions getting the best of him as he spoke.
Dillon spent three months in a Hawaiian hospital after that battle. At 6 feet, 2 inches tall, his weight had dropped to 110 pounds.
He had been reduced to eating cockroaches to stay alive on Guadalcanal, he said, plus he had lost his memory from the constant bombardment.
Dillon spent the rest of the war at Galveston, Texas, where he trained B-17 crews heading to Europe.
More than any other wartime experience, Guadalcanal will be forever seared in Dillon's mind.
Ellie
by: MANNY GAMALLO World Staff Writer
Monday, February 09, 2009
2/9/2009 3:35:24 AM
Matthew Lloyd Dillon has many stories to tell about his experiences in the Pacific during World War II, but probably none as great or powerful than the six months he spent during the battle of Guadalcanal.
The battle for the 2,500-square-mile island, part of the chain of the Solomon Islands straight east of New Guinea, was fought from August 1942 until Feb. 9, 1943 — 66 years ago Monday — and marked a strategic turning point in the war with Japan.
The Japanese had taken the island in May 1942 and were building an airfield to harass the Allied supply routes between nearby New Zealand and Australia.
Their plans, however, dramatically changed a few months later when Marines surprised them on Aug. 7 and sent them scurrying to the sea.
From that point until the end of the battle, the Japanese tried repeatedly to retake the island. More than 30,000 Japanese troops were killed in the battle, while 7,100 Americans died.
Dillon, a flight engineer aboard a B-17 bomber, arrived on Guadalcanal three weeks after the Marine invasion, and from that point on it was a living hell for him.
During the day, Dillon said, Japanese aircraft bombed the island and at night Japanese warships constantly were dropping shells to dislodge the American forces and retake the airstrip, which had been renamed Henderson Field.
Dillon had been around Japanese bombing and gunfire before.
He was with the Army Air Corps stationed at Hickam Field next to Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941.
Dillon remembered he was asleep in his barrack's bunk when the attack began. With bombs dropping all around him and other troops, "no one knew what was going on."
"We were all running around. There was no cover, and no one had any guns," he said.
"The Japanese were dropping fragmentary bombs from their cockpits on us, and lots of guys were killed and many more were maimed."
Between the attack on Pearl and Guadalcanal, Dillon took part in another historic turning point — the battle for Midway Island.
That battle — June 4-5 of 1942 — was a staggering defeat for the Japanese, who lost four of the six aircraft carriers they used at Pearl Harbor.
More than 3,000 Japanese were killed in that battle, while American losses were put at about 350 sailors and Marines.
Dillon and other B-17 crews with his 26th Bombardment Squadron flew missions during Midway, hunting for Japanese ships.
Yet nothing — not Pearl Harbor nor Midway — could prepare Dillon for the grueling experience of Guadalcanal.
It wasn't just the daily bombardment which got to him. It was the horrid living conditions that Dillon remembers the most.
For Dillon, Guadalcanal featured nothing but oppressive heat and humidity, a lack of sanitation and food, inadequate medical supplies and treatment, and every conceivable, nasty vermin, joined by billowing clouds of mosquitoes.
Then there were the B-17 missions from Henderson Field as Dillon and his comrades scanned area seas for Japanese shipping targets and also did strafing runs against attempted enemy troop landings on Guadalcanal.
As he spoke from the comfort of his modest North Florence Avenue home, Dillon ran out of words of praise for the American defense of Guadalcanal.
But that defense came with an added cost, beyond the 7,100 American dead, he said.
"Many of our guys just didn't want to go home again after that, and a lot of them were committing suicide," Dillon said, his emotions getting the best of him as he spoke.
Dillon spent three months in a Hawaiian hospital after that battle. At 6 feet, 2 inches tall, his weight had dropped to 110 pounds.
He had been reduced to eating cockroaches to stay alive on Guadalcanal, he said, plus he had lost his memory from the constant bombardment.
Dillon spent the rest of the war at Galveston, Texas, where he trained B-17 crews heading to Europe.
More than any other wartime experience, Guadalcanal will be forever seared in Dillon's mind.
Ellie