Bill Barber
U.S. Army, 25th Infantry Division
35th Infantry Regiment
Pacific Theater


I was born Walfare, Massachusetts on June 24th, 1926. I lived there until I was five years old and then we moved to Newton. My father had a steady job as a teacher. I am one of five children. I ran track and played football. I was just and adequate athlete. On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 I heard the news over the radio. I didn't know where Pearl Harbor was. All the toys I had were made in Japan. They would easily fall apart; they were very cheap. I thought the toys were a reflection of Japan; that Japan would easily fall apart, but it didn't turn out that way. I was a freshman in high school at the time. I thought in would be over quickly.

I wanted to be a flyer. My brother was in the National Guard since 1938. In high school I took a lot of aviation, physics, and math courses. They had a program called A-12, you could be an air cadet, and then be sent to flight school. I was only 17 at this time. I was in good physical shape and a good student. I remember the colorblind test; that is how I washed out of the program. I remember crying about that. After that I waited to be drafted. I worked in a navy defense plant for a couple of weeks inspecting gyroscopes on Navy 5" guns. When I was drafted, there was a long line. When I got to the front the man asked me which branch I would prefer. I said Navy, and then he stamped Army on my sheet. My friend wanted to be in the infantry very badly, and they stamped Navy on his sheet.

I was sent to the IRC or Infantry Replacement Center. All they do is stick you in an outfit that lost a lot of people. I was fortunate to have radio training and Morse code training that helped out a lot in my infantry career. I had training while the Bulge was going on. I remember they took some men from my training class and sent them to the Bulge. I thought that's where I would be headed, but nope, I went to the Pacific instead. I took a train ride across the states to California. I got aboard the Army Transport the USS General Mann. We first went to New Georgia. It took 30 days by boat, today you could fly there and back in 1 day. It was a big ship, about 5,000 of us. I remember they were calling my name over the loudspeaker aboard the transport, telling me to report for KP. I said to myself, "They're never going to find me, I am going over as an infantry replacement, I am not scared of an punishment from the army. Being a replacement in the infantry is punishment enough." So today I am still AWOL from KP on the USS General Mann.

I joined the 25th Infantry Division, 35th Infantry Regiment at the 6th Replacement Depot on New Georgia. This is where I saw my first dead people - all Americans. That's when the reality set in. All the men on the island were all yellowed skin from the adibrine they took to prevent malaria. We didn't know it at the time, but our group was the test group for adibrine. I am glad it worked because if it didn't we would all be in bad shape. At the end of the war I spent a week or so in the hospital because I had malaria. I joined them right after the big battle of Ballete Pass. I am glad it was after because they lost a lot of men there. Most of the veterans looked like they were 30 years old. We were only 18 or 19 years old.

I think the worst part for me was the anxiety at night. I always thought there were Japanese all around me. We really didn't right for the United States. We fought for the man that was in the foxhole with you or next to you. I remember one time on patrol in the Philippines going up and down hills. I was lead or point on the patrol and I spotted about a half dozen Japanese soldiers. I fired as many rounds as I could and the men behind me quickly followed. I think I killed three and the other men got the rest. When we went over to the bodies we found that only half of the men were armed. We found pictures of there families in their uniforms. This image haunted me for a while; the image of shooting an unarmed Jap and then seeing his family right after that. I realized that if they had guns and spotted me first, then they would have shot me; that's war. You have to think that way to remain sane. The infantry training helped me deal with mostly everything.

The 25th Division never got much publicity. They always got their job done and never got in trouble - which is the reason why there was no publicity. It's tough being a replacement, you don't feel like you fit in anywhere or that you belong anywhere. I didn't know much of the 25th when I joined them. We had all new equipment and the veterans had all old equipment, so they were bitter about that. The veterans treated us OK. They didn't want to get too close or too friendly because we could be killed the very next day and that is tough on a man when he loses a friend. I liked the radio part of my job in the infantry.

We eventually fought our way down highway # 5. Then we came back in June of 1945. The war was pretty much coming to a close. I had the chance now to go to Manila. I remember VJ-Day was the first day I ever got drunk. I had downed a lot of Filipino rum. I remember guys shooting weapons in the air. I remember guys tossing grenades in the rivers. We weren't happy about Japs died; we were happy that we could finally go home and not worry about war and death. Before VJ-day, most of us were prepared to die. Some of the men thought that they were going to die in battle soon.

If you had 85 points, you could be discharged. I had about 3 points. The veterans had near 85 points. We had a mass exodus after we came off the land. Promotions were rapid after this. I went from private to sergeant in five months. We were training for the invasion of Japan with the 33rd Infantry Division when we heard about the Atomic Bomb. God made sure I didn't have to lead anyone into battle. We did take many prisoners towards the end of the war. The 25th set the record for consecutive days in combat with 165 days in combat. The 35th Regimental Headquarters saw about three months. Tanks, Mortars, and Snipers were the biggest problems for the 35th. We all felt the Japs were subhuman. It was not as much hatred. We were taught that they were below humans.

I was in the Army of Occupation in Japan. The women thought we were going to rape them and the men thought we were going to kill them. We did the opposite. We threw food at them. I received the Bronze Star for combat valor, Soldiers Medal for non-combat valor, and the Combat Infantry Badge combat valor, received Purple Heart for the injuries to my back, and one battle star for the battle I participated in. I was discharged in November of 1946. I took the train back across the United States from California to New York City. I left all the pictures I had taken on the train and accidentally left them there. So I lost all of them.

One day I was in a drug store. I still had my uniform on. The pharmacist saw me and said, "Oh, were you in the Army Bill?" I was gone two years, which seemed like an eternity to me, and he didn't even notice I was gone. After that I joined the 52/20 Club. Then I went to Newman Preparatory School. I went on the GI Bill of rights to North Eastern College and studied Literature, Journalism, and Education. It took me five years to get through school. In between semesters I interned at the Boston Globe. After I graduated I left the Boston Globe because I was impatient. I then started writing for the Mount Holly Herald and stayed with them until they folded in 1969 and then I got a job with the Burlington County Times. I wrote Golf Columns for twenty years. I got to play a lot of courses that I couldn't afford to pay. I also write editorials.

I got married in 1958 to a girl I knew from Massachusetts. I had one son, but I do not have any grandchildren. I married Helen about 10 years ago. She has 4 children.

You can recall more good times than bad. I only spent two years of my life in the service, yet it was a defining period in my life. I read a lot of books about the Pacific War. I know the different battles and divisions. So much has changed since WWII. It's almost unbelievable. I remember from the time I was 7 to about the time I was 10 years old, I always wanted to go and talk to the civil war veterans that lived near me, but I never had the courage.