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Live a Lot and Like It!(Continued from page 3)he wanted to do. He wanted to have a hand in knocking out Japs. He was 13 at the time. He went down to a marine enlistment sta-4tion, gave his age as 17 and signed up. He looked older and they took his word about his age.After the regular boot training at San Diego, he was shipped to the Phillipine Islands. It was in Bataan that he learned how it feels to be in a jungle, on patrol, cut off from your base of supplies and what a can of pork and beans can mean at a time like that. His was one of the last units to leave Bataan before its fall and he moved on to Corregidor. With a unit of marines he made a hazardous but successful escape from Corregidor in P.T. boats.He came back to the states and qualified for the First Raider battalion. This suicide squad then shipped to the Hawaiian Islands on a tramp steamer. From Hawaii they went to Makin Island by submarines, entering the island at 4 a.m. by means of rubber rafts. There was not a living Jap on Makin when they left at 7 p.m.By now Johnny had arrived at the age of 14 and had seen asmuch action as many veterans of the service three times his age. Next he moved with a marine unit into Bougainville and there he was captured. His diet at Bougainville for three weeks was raw rice and canned fish heads. Johnny thinks the Japs have a good deal to learn about how to can foods the American way but hopes no one will take the trouble to teach them. He doesn’t think they will.Three weeks later Bougainville fell to the Americans and he next saw action in Tulaga and Guadalcanal. He was returned to the states and was preparing to make his fourth trip into the Pacific when his mother stepped in and said, “That is enough for a 14-year-old boy. When advised of his real age the marines agreed with her.After being told he couldn’t fight any more until he was at least 17, Johnny even had to wait around until he was old enough to get a real man’s job. As soon as that time arrived he applied to the American Can company and went to work.He knows how he is going to celebrate his seventeenth birthday —by enlisting again. Good luck, Johnny, thumbs up.Over Air on SaturdayJerry Hintz of 1801 South 16th avenue, Maywood, and DorothyTTnrPct Park, will be
Newspaper Details
Bellwood Proviso Township Herald
Bellwood, Illinois, US
Thu, Jul 27, 1944
Page 41
Full Page
Clipped by
James O.
USA 06 Jan 2020
Other Publications Near Bellwood, Illinois
Bellwood Proviso Township Herald
Bellwood Star Sentinel
Bellwood Star Progress
