My uncle Mx was a cook with MacArthur’s troop return to the P.I.
He was a Master Sgt...
My father had a battlefield promotion to Captain from staff sgt. He said the captain got shot and all the LT’s were dead or injured.
He was discharged as a Staff Sargent.
My dad was primarily a field mechanic and heavy equipment operator. When he got out he was a heavy equipment field mechanic for Yale & Towne. He traveled all around North America fixing machines for them.
He went onto Luzon on the third day of the invasion to clean up the beach. The Australian and US marines had gone in on the first two days to establish a beach head. He said he had to walk on their bodies that covered all the sand on the beach. Then they brought in bull dozers and buried them right there.
He lost all of his upper teeth on Luzon. A Jap knocked them out with the butt of his rifle. He was shot in the head threw his helmet. The helmet saved his life. The bullet did not penetrate his skull. He was then shot in the lower abdomen. That wound became infected in the jungle atmosphere. That put him in the hospital for 6 weeks and a trip home.
FYI, he would not buy anything Made in Japan until the 1988 Honda Accord he bought for my mother.
He always said: “never trust a Jap, they are sneaky bastards”