207739 Pvt. Elmer "Buck" Chester BSV.US Army Battery B 674 Parachute Field Artillery Company from:Indio, California This story was one that my father, Chester Elmer told my brother and I.
While in New Guinea, he said that an Army Officer came and announced that he was looking for volunteers to go on a dangerous mission. A small unit of between 18 to 25 troops would be dropped behind enemy lines to destroy an enemy supply/ammunition depot. He added that their chances of making it back alive were slim. My father had also been trained as a Lineman and, this was also someone that was needed in this unit so, as fate would have it, my Dad and his best army buddy volunteered to join the unit.
The unit was made up of 23 brave men. He said that they were dropped in over a dense, dark jungle. They found each other and headed out to find the depot. After locating it, they waited for an opportune time to destroy as much of it as they could and still get away. Their opportunity came. They hit fast, destroying much of the depot supplies and then ran like hell. My father said that the only place for them to make a stand was a small, round-topped hill. They managed to scramble safely to the top of it and dug in as best as they could, with the amount of time they had to dig. They had a larger machine gun that they set-up (sorry, I don't know the kind it was) and they each had their own machine guns, which they began firing. He said that the enemy (Japanese) arrived in swarms. He thought that there may have been over 200 or more of them. They came rushing up the side of the hill, yelling and firing their weapons in a frenzied mass. One man, of the American Unit, was killed during the fight that day.
All Dad had to do was point the machine gun toward the enemy, no aiming necessary, pull the trigger and move the gun back and forth, back and forth. He watched the enemy fall in heaps, one on top of the other. Then another swarm would start up only to be slowed down by the bodies that they had to climb over, giving the U.S. Unit a second or two to reload.
When night came, my father and the others could hear the enemy creeping quietly up the hill to get their dead and wounded. He could hear the muffled voices of the enemy and the moans of the wounded. He could hear the creepy sounds of the bodies being dragged back down the hill. It was all too close; it was like a nightmare that he had no time to waste energy thinking about, because, he was busy reaching main command, via radio, with information of their immediate situation and location. The paratroopers were on that hill three full days, before reinforcements came. It was a very real miracle they made it back alive.
My father's memory of this event was very vivid and long lasting. He was very proud of his service to this country. He made me promise that when he passed away he would have a military funeral. Dad passed away February 11,2010 at San Jose, California at the age of 91. The promise was kept to him.
Written in Honor of my Father, Elmer Chester: Who Served in Battery B; 674th. Parachute Field Artillery Company. He served in New Guinea, S. Philippines; Luzon, Leyte, Okinawa, and Japan as stated on his Military Record. He joined the Army Apr. 1, 1942, at the age of 22. He was Honorable discharged November 24, 1945.
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