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Dad arrived in the Pacific Theatre in early November 1943. He went straight to the front line in the Solomon Islands, where just a few weeks earlier the Marine’s had secured the southern most Island of Guadalcanal. He arrived on Bougainville, the northern most Island of the Solomons where the Marine’s had secured an airstrip. He said it was the job of the 129th to make sure the “Japs” didn’t take it back. Which they didn’t. He spent the winter of ‘43-’44 going out on patrols scouting and reporting enemy movements. Although dad never mentioned any exchanges of gunfire on these patrols, in reading different books and talking to other vets, it was not uncommon to have run-ins with the enemy on a regular basis. When He wasn’t selected for patrol, he spent his time playing volleyball and baseball. He said he also spent a lot of time in the kitchen helping the cooks with their baking, which was a lifelong hobby of his.
On April 22,1944 He was sent out on a patrol with seven other soldiers in the jungles of Bougainville. When contact was made with the Japanese, a firefight broke out and during the melee a piece of shrapnel from a Japanese grenade found it’s way into dad’s left leg. He said when it was over he was laying in a ditch behind a tree and told a fellow soldier that he had been hit. His buddy helped him back to camp and that was about all he said about it. He made it sound like it was no big deal, but I sensed something in him that made me think it was more than what he was portraying. I didn’t pursue the story any further.
After the Bougainville campaign the 129th began an extensive amphibious training program. They would load up on amphibious attack ships in full combat gear, which weighed between 50 and 80 lbs., go out into the bay and come back charging the beach as if it were full of Japanese. They also trained on how to cross rivers and streams etc. undetected. The 129th was replaced by an Austrailian Infanry Brigade in November. On Dec. 13,1944, dad and the rest of the 129th left Bougainville and spent the next three weeks sailing from island to island practicing assault landings.
On January 9,1945, it was time for the real thing. The largest amphibious convoy ever assembled in the Pacific began steaming toward Lingayun Gulf on Luzon, Philippine Islands. Dad said they weren’t met with as much resistance as they anticipated but as they looked into the hills they saw what appeared to be cannons aiming right at the beach. They weren’t firing, and they couldn’t figure out why. They just knew that at any time the beach could become very ugly. They took cover anywhere they could, slowly and cautiously up the beach. Waiting. Then advancing. Over and over until the scouts returned to the beach from the hills reporting that the ‘cannons’ they saw were actually cut down coconut trees laid to resemble cannons. Apparently the Japanese had to send a lot of their troops to the other islands in the Philippines to try to ward off the our Navy and Marines. This left the main island of Luzon short of personnel and explains the somewhat uneventful landing.
Dad spent 10 months on Luzon, and during that time he encountered combat at Fort Stotsenburg, Manila, Baguio and the Cagayan Valley, ambushes and fire fights in every town in between. He only told me a few stories and where some of them took place I’m not sure. Combat stories were not his thing, as with most combat vets. I can only guess that they lived it once and don’t want to live it again, so I never asked for a story of this kind. His stories usually involved something fun or funny that happened during their off times. I guess the best one was when one day, while at Clark Field dad was walking along and someone said ” You salute when you see a Sergeant, Private.” When dad turned around to salute the Staff Sergeant he realized it was his brother Bill. The happiest moment of the war for him. They hadn’t seen each other for a couple of years and Bill heard the 129th was in Manila. Bill was in the Army Air Corps. and somehow got the opportunity to go to Manila to surprise his little brother. They spent a couple of hours together before they had to part again, but it was a good afternoon for both of them.
This story came from the regimental history of the 129th. The Pasig River runs through Manila and this river has an island called Provisor Island. Provisor Island housed an electricity complex that provides Manila with power. The Japanese were well emplaced in the complex made of concrete. Company’s G and H were ordered to take this island with co. E (dads company)in reserve. G and H had a hard time getting to the island with Japanese lookouts firing on them all night and the next day, killing and wounding a lot of them while on their way across the river. “Company E was ordered to make a night attack on the island and annhilate the determined and fanatical enemy remaining there” On the way across the river one of their boats sank, but once they were ashore and entered the building at about 5:00am, they began to clear the building of Japanese, which was no easy task because they were so well emplaced in the machinery and tunnels. The building was finally seized ;on the third day of fighting when “By noon Co. E had cleared the island of resistence. The battle for Provisor Island had been won. But not without loss. Co. E had 19 killed, 50 wounded. Co. G, 19 killed, 32 wounded. Co. H, 7 killed 14 wounded. I had the opportunity to ask dad about this but because his company seemed to be somewhat of a key participant in this mission I had to choose my words carefully. When I mentioned it to him, he said, almost right away that he didn’t remember. I could see he didn’t want to talk about this so I let the subject change and never brought it up again.
Now the Philippine Islands were liberated. The Japanese were pretty much down to just protecting their homeland. Their army was all but destroyed or taken prisoner. Our troops however were anticipating the final battle, the invasion of Japan. This, of course, never took place due the dropping of the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On September 2, 1945, aboard the USS Missouri, surrender documents were signed, putting hostilities to an end.
Dad left the Philippine Islands on Nov. 24, 1946 and was “demobilized” on January 14, 1496 at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. This ends his military service to his country. He made his mark then by being a well disciplined soldier. Like so many men an women of that generation, He simply did what was expected, he did what was right, and he did it all quietly for the benefit of others. For me, it’s hard to imagine my dad in an army uniform with a gun rinning and shooting at someone, but it did indeed happen. Like most vets, he probably tried to forget the bad stuff and that is why he didn’t talk aabout it very much. It was not the best time of his life and he was often haunted by the evernts that tool place back then. I think it was some time in 1999, I went to visit him and he told me that he had a nightmare the night before about the war. He didn’t tell me what it was about and I didn’t ask. The puzzling thing was, he brought it up. We weren’t even talking about the war. Maybe he neede to vent. I asked him if he was OK and he said he was. Then I asked him how he handled it and he said “I got up, went to the bathroom and then went back to bed”. Nothing more was said.
For his service, PFC Henry J. Geier recieved the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Good conduct Medal, WWII Victory, Asiatic-Pacific Theater Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal, Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, Combat Infantryman Badge, Marksman Badge w/rifle bar, a small piece of shrapnel from a Japanese grenade and Two scars on his left leg, and he swore to the end that the thing he is most proud of is his family. Dad passed away on July 19,2000. He was a good man, I miss him and am proud to tell people that I am his son.
