My father enlisted in early '42. He trained for what turned out to be the North Africa invasion but got side tracked into an MP unit for almost a year. He wound up going to the SW Pacific as a 32nd Infantry Div. replacement in '43. He also served on New Guinea. He helped take back Leyte Island but went MIA over Christmas '44 and then was hospitalized so he never made it to Luzon. He was in army hospitals until April '46.
My dad’s division was headed to Leyte, but was diverted to Luzon instead. My dad died in 2000. Is your dad still with us? If so, thank him for his service. I never really appreciated what they did until dad died and I started looking into it.