January 29th the "Old Raiders", Rusty, Norm, Thor, R.D., and Spath who had been in battle on Guadalcanal and Bougainville, got aboard ship to go back to the States. They said,"We are not coming back over here", said they would stay in the States and drive for a captain or colonel. They had two weeks leave (some of them took a bit longer). The Fifth Division was formed, and those that had the two-week leave started to train for Iwo Jima. They were sent to the big island of Hawaii at Hilo to train. Thor and Russell were killed on Iwo. Rusty, Norm and Spath were wounded after 12 or 13 days.

Thor was my Squad Leader on Bougainville, we had been on The Piva Trail with Russell.

I will post some pictures on my photo album and pictures.