Note: The following is one of a series of articles looking at events in the history of Bulloch County.

Part I

A group of Bulloch County boys, attached to the 947th Field Artillery Battalion and their 155-millimeter howitzers arrived in San Francisco, ready to go battle America’s World War II foes in the South Pacific.

They eagerly boarded the merchant ship/converted troop transport the USS Sea Flasher and set off across the Pacific. The first week did not go well, as one-man aboard ship died after running into a hatch-cover.

Another man died of acute appendicitis. Before it reached New Caledonia, the Sea Flasher lost one of its engines, and had to be pulled into harbor for repairs.

The “Bulloch Boys” finally arrived at Milne, New Guinea on Feb. 2, 1944. They reported being shocked seeing naked women wearing the barest of ‘G-strings’ that did nothing to cover their upper torsos.

Even more disturbingly, one soldier wrote, “They actually wear bones through their ears and noses.” Shortly upon their arrival, they were moved to a camp on Goodenough Island that lay five miles inland.

Here they joined up with elements of the 181st Artillery that had arrived two months earlier. The entire unit next moved to Finschhafen, New Guinea some 300 miles away.

Here the unit suffered its first wartime casualty. When an airplane crashed into the road nearby their camp, the impact hurled large rocks up into the air.

One of these rocks hit a soldier on the head, killing him instantly. The Allies Hurricane Task Force prepared to invade Japanese held areas. The Japanese planes attacked, setting eleven Landing Ship Transports ablaze.

Once the Allied forces (including the 41st Division and the Bulloch Boys) had landed, largely unopposed, they set about freeing the Dutch missionaries and Javanese and Malay prisoners.

They were transported to Biak Island and then to Schoten Island. Here, as they were being loaded onto “Peeps,” or 2-ton trucks, Japanese mortar shells hit a truck, killed six and wounded eleven more men.

More shells landed, causing more casualties. There was a major battle at the Mokmer Air Strip. The Bulloch boys fired their artillery straight up at the Japanese bombers and "Zero" fighter escorts.

The Zeroes were zooming around overhead, and the Bulloch Boys were credited with bringing down at least fourteen planes. They also shot down an American bomber, killing its crew of six in the process.

Once Mokmer was captured, the nearby Borokoe and Sorido airstrips were taken. Several men from Company C were wounded or killed. The Japanese poured artillery and mortar fire on the Americans.

By the time the fighting was over, the Japanese had lost 10,00 men while the Allies had only 300 men killed. The Bulloch Boys next headed for R&R on Hollandia.

Roger Allen is a local lover of history who provides a brief look each week at the area's past. E-mail him at rwasr1953@gmail.com.