their strategy, but it was extremely difficult to capture them, as the majority would fight until death or commit harikari before being taken prisoner. There was a bounty at one time of a hundred dollars on each one brought in alive. The Fijian soldiers were great Scouts, as they had a way of sneaking up and taking them alive.
The Marines didn't collect many rewards on prisoners, as they usually eliminated them on the spot. They did bring in one that spoke English tied onto the hood of a jeep. On questioning him, the prisoner made some smart remark to the Marine that had captured him. Without batting an eye the Marine raised his BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) and filled him full of holes.
After this enemy assault was over we received a letter of commendation from Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the United States Pacific Fleet for a job well-done in stopping the Japanese. Later this became known as the "Second Battle of Bougainville."
******
While unloading 5-inch shells (projectile) weighing nearly 100 lbs. apiece from the ship's hole just forward of the bridge, we placed the shells in a cradle made for this purpose, holding about 75 or 80. We set this load down on the steel deck of the barge; the men there would disconnect the slings from one side of the cradle and have the winch operator raise the cradle spilling the shells rather than removing them by hand one by one. This made a lot of noise and the sparks did fly, but it did save valuable time. The skipper of the ship came out on the deck above all excited and said harshly, "You can't do that, you will blow up my ship." I replied, "Skipper, there's a war going
-19-
