WW2 treasures

My mother continues to sift and sort things at her house and recently ran across this brown pouch that belonged to my father and gave it to me. It was given to him when he was in the war. That's the BIG war, WW2. He was in the South Pacific with the AAA Anti-Aircraft Searchlight Battalion and specifically New Guinea, The Philippines, and took his R&R in Australia, seeing the sights along the east coast. As you can see this little pouch is made from Genuine Kangaroo. The photo album no longer has photos in it, the "going back to civilian life" book cracks me up and the letters seen here from his mother are gems. There is also a letter from the Chaplain sent to dad's mother from the unit Chaplain as he was not writing home enough and the Chaplain wrote my granny and told her he would have a talk with her son about that. Also two letters from a girl in The Philippines who wrote to him after the war. She was clearly a friend of his and was hot for another guy and seemed disappointed when things didn't work out between them after the war was over.

This is definitely something I'll treasure the rest of my life.

 

Here is a little history written by David Smith of the unit my father was with. The names of the cities where he was are so familiar to me, I can still hear my father say them.

 

The 350th Coast Artillery Battalion was first organized on May 1, 1942 at Camp Stewart, GA. In June 1942, the Battalion was transferred to the Fighter Command School in Orlando, FL. The Battalion was assigned to the 10th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group, and was moved to Eustis, FL in September. While still training the the Fighter Command School, the Battalion relocated to Winter Garden & Apopka, FL in December 1942. The Battalion was redesignated the 350th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Searchlight Battalion in May 1943. Four months later, the 350th AAA SL Bn was transferred to Camp Stoneman, California and in October 1943, sailed for the Pacific.

The Battalion arrived in Sydney, Australia in November 1943; then was stationed at Camp Cluden, where it took part in jungle training for the next three months. In February 1944, the 350th sailed for New Guinea, arriving at Lae in Northwestern New Guinea. The Battalion rejoined the 10th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group and was assigned to Nadzab, where it remained until December 1944; then moved to Finschaven. In March 1945, the 350th sailed for the Philippines.

Upon it's arrival in Manila in April 1945, the Battalion was relieved of its anti-aircraft mission and assigned to General MacArthur's headquarters as part of the security and guard detail for the headquarters and the General's residence.

Many of the members of 350th witnessed the formal signing of the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri.

The 350th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Searchlight Battalion was inactivated in Manila on February 21, 1946.