The Second World War did not rise from a single event. This cataclysm grew from political and economic and social change in both Europe and the Far East that began long before the outbreak of hostilities in the 1930's. This site deals with WWII as it was acted out in the Pacific Theater. The specific actors are the 41st Infantry Division, and their adversaries.
When one reads about the Pacific War, places named Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Philippines are easily researched. The war was conducted in many places in addition to these however. Soldiers of the 41st Division, along with U.S. Marines and U.S. Naval personnel, and in conjunction with seasoned Australian combat forces, conducted as good a campaign in places called Buna, Aitape, Hollandia, Wakde Island, Biak Island, and Zamboanga as those combatants who participated in the more media-centric combat operations.
A good deal of the content here is oral history; what one remembers and is willing to tell. Some of what you find in these pages will contain an element of humour. Some of the events discussed reveal war at its worst. War is an experience. Combat effects, and is remembered by, each individual soldier in their own special way. One has to live, eat, breath, sleep, while "at war" in order to fully understand what it does to the human body, and human mind. No person, man or woman, who fully experiences war will remain unchanged by it. The longer a combatant lives at war, the deeper they descend to a level where survival is the only thought present each and every day. Survival requires the combatant to do things that they would not have even briefly contemplated had time and place been different. Cruelty is common, and dispensed without thinking or caring. But, those are the rules. All participants must play by them.
The information contained herein comes from many sources. Readers may seek to further any interest generated by this site by scanning the Resources page.
This site is dedicated to the 41st Infantry Division, in its entirety, for its contribution to the successful conclusion of the Second World War. Special recognition is offered to Robert V. Porter, E Company, 163rd Infantry, who ceaselessly continues his story of this conflict. It is due to his vivid oral history that these pages appear. Many thanks.