The Daily News

Lesley Aldrich spent eight years in the North Dakota National Guard. During that time, he was deployed overseas to fight in World War II, his first mission being at Guadalcanal in 1942.

After training at Camp Claiborne, La., Company "I" 164th Infantry left for the Solomon Islands to help in the first offensive in the South Pacific.

"They brought us there to help the Marines," Aldrich said. "We got in there just about the right time. The [Japanese] were about to take Henderson Air Base."

(Use arrows above to view more photos) Advertisement

The Infantry spent three months at Guadalcanal defending the air base.

"We were the only outfit that got the Marine citation for a fighting unit," Aldrich said.

After the battle was over, the 164th Infantry traveled to Fiji for rest. Each soldier was issued a new gun because the months of fighting wore out their original guns.

While in Fiji, Aldrich said the military was asking for volunteers to join Merrill's Marauders, a group that trudged up the Ledo Road from India to China to make a safe path for United States provisions.

"We walked from India to China," Aldrich said. "I was 198 pounds when we left and 137 when we got out." They survived on K-rations, which were 3,000 a day.

The Allied forces had been flying provisions from India to China over the Himalayas, but the fuel was costing so much they decided the Ledo Road needed to be taken from Japanese possession.

"We were behind [Japanese] lines, all our supplies were dropped in by parachute," Aldrich said.

Merrill's Marauders took three to four months clearing the road. Three different columns went steadily from India to China.

"We'd hit a [Japanese] and get the heck out of there," he said of the fighting style. The Marauders fought five major battles. Aldrich remembers being told they would only fight one and be sent home.

The last battle was to save Myitkyina Air Base in northern Burma. He said once the battle was over, combat engineers and Chinese flew in on gliders and planes and took Merrill's Marauders back to India to a hospital.

During the 3 1/2 month march, the roughly 3,000 troops walked over mountains, through the jungle and treacherous enemy territory. While in the mountains, Aldrich remembers being able to see Mount Everest.

When he arrived at the hospital, the Red Cross asked if they could do anything for the soldiers. Aldrich requested they find his brother, Wally. He gave them his Army Post Office number and found Wally just a few miles from the hospital. By 10 p.m. the same evening, after having showered and shaved, Aldrich and his brother were reunited.

"The problem was he didn't recognize me at first," Aldrich said. "When I looked in the mirror I didn't recognize myself. I had a three-month old beard and weighed 137 pounds."

Aldrich found out another soldier had taken his orders to go home. Officials caught that soldier before he got on the train and Aldrich began another long journey across India. He was in charge of four rail cars carrying U.S. supplies. There were no bridges across rivers, so at each river, they had to unload the cars, hire natives to transfer the cargo to the next train and continue the journey.

"It took a month to get across India," Aldrich said.

They finally arrived in Pakistan and flew out of there on a C-47 to several islands, Egypt, Tripoli and Casablanca as part of a rest and relaxation trip before going back to the U.S.

Aldrich traveled with 12 men and was in charge of the group. They voted each time they landed on how long they would stay at each place. Usually it was about a week, he said.

The flight from Casablanca to New York was the most memorable because they had to land on a small island due to a storm. When the flight resumed the next day, and they began their descent over New York, Aldrich remembers hearing French diplomats commenting in the seat ahead of him, "You see, I told you every American has two cars." When he looked out the window, Aldrich said the roads were congested with vehicles.

When he returned to the U.S., Aldrich was stationed in New Mexico where he met his wife, Stella. They were married in 1944, and the military said he was to be discharged soon, but needed his service at a prisoner of war camp in New Mexico.

He was sent to help guard 1,500 SS officers, most of which could not speak English. He then spent six months as a military police officer in Texas. Finally, he was discharged in July 1945.

The couple decided to move back to Breckenridge after Aldrich was discharged and have lived here ever since.

Comments