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attraction was watching schools of flying fish take flight as we traveled. Occasionally, we spotted what appeared to be families of porpoises swimming immediately in front of our ship. They appeared to be an honor escort as we journeyed on the Pacific Ocean waters.
On 14 March 1944, as we crossed the equator, m the Pacific Ocean, we were initiated in the "Ancient Order of the Deep" as "Trusty Shellbacks."
We arrived in Milne Bay, New Guinea, on 7 April 1944, where we were greeted by the natives shouting "Hi Joe." It seemed that every American was "Joe" to the New Guinea natives. We offloaded from the ship, then went into bivouac at Dobodura.
The Papau New Guinea natives were interesting due to their strange customs. We wondered why their bushy hair appeared to be so reddish in color. Later, we became aware that they loved to saturate their hair with a clayish appearing dirt. Also, they all appeared to be bleeding from their mouths. Their habit of chewing "beetle nut" activates the red-like saliva that constantly drools from their mouths. The men seemed to be very dominant over family members. The women did most of the work chores, and, when travelling, the male head of the family carried absolutely nothing while the wives were overburdened with various items. The children had bloated stomachs due to a jungle disease that they acquired very early in life.
These primitive natives wore meager clothing. Their upper bodies, male and female, remained bare all the time. Pigs were very valuable to them and the women permitted pigs to suckle at their breasts. The men used pigs to bargain for new wives, so the pigs were very valuable and received special care .
As more troops arrived in New Guinea, life became routine and boring as we waited for other units to arrive from the Uni.ted States. We were continually alert for ideas for keeping our men occupied. Then an opportunity presented itself. I bartered some personal items for a beautiful parrot- that appeared quite friendly. The bird had a very limited vocabulary. In fact, its vocabulary consisted of just two words, "bull sh-t." One day, it lost favor with us dutiny an inspection by a senior officer. The officer complimented us by saying, "Sergeant, you and your men are doing a damn good job." Before I could thank him, the parrot responded with "bull sh-t!!" It wasn't very long thereafter that we sold the talkative bird to someone in need of a nice pet.
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