- "Rain was the first enemy encountered by the 33d Division on New Guinea.
It turned company streets and training areas into calf-deep bogs of mud, necessitating constant maintenance of drainage facilities.
"Clothes and blankets quickly mildewed if stored too long between airings.
Small arms required frequent attention; a short period of neglect meant the beginnings of rust and corrosion.
Division engineers suffered more because of the downpours than any single unit. Charged with maintaining Dreger Road, engineer companies were forced to spend their days wading through mud in an effort to keep traffic moving.
"As time went on, however, New Guinea rains became accepted as a matter of course.
Daily routine progressed without interruption because of them, leaving the "rainy day" schedule a strictly Stateside innovation; the "clear day" schedule was the unusual.
Division entry into the shooting war appeared imminent at this point.
To offset the hindrance of weather much had to be done to keep the Division at a peak of combat efficiency.
Training in basic subjects began at the end of May.
In order to give artillery units more suitable areas in which to conduct firing exercises, all Division Artillery, under General Paxton, was dispatched to a new campsite at Fortification Point, forty miles up the coast from Finschhafen.
Here, the terrain was comparatively open, allowing the artillery wider latitude in conducting training exercises**."
**Since my Dad remembered those artillery training exercises, I put him at Fortification Point, 40 miles west of Finschafen. (!)
