Photo 1 Taken 18 Jan 45, standing in front of their "high-end" living quaters, left to right, AMM1c Russell L. Whittaker, Instruments; AMM1c Thomas J. France, Instruments and watch repair guru; and S1c Louis Bresciano.
Photo 2 Taken 18 Jan 45, left to right, AMM1c Whittaker, AMM1c B.R. Pilarski, Acting Line Chief, and S1c Bresciano.
Photo 3 and 4 AMM1c Whittaker and photo 4 is an unidentified squadron member decked out in full combat gear. As close to the Equator as the squadron was, he is probably overdressed.
Photo 5 Sailors walking past the chow hall on Morotai.
The following is taken from a letter Louie wrote to his wife Irene in September 1945 after the censors stopped censoring mail......
"Before coming to Leyte, we were at Morotai. That was a hell hole. It's a good thing we only stayed there three weeks. Just before we got there, they were bombing it every night. That was because there was a full moon. We heard after we left, they started to bomb it again because the moon was out again. There in Morotai, they bombed hell out of it, the Japs only go for the air field. Morotai is in the Halmahura group. When I say Morotai was a hell hole, it was. Remember I sent pictures of the tent I was living in. Well, nights there would be rats outside as big as cats. I still don't know if they were rats or snakes. They find them any time under your sack. When we went to the head, we would just go right outside and take a gun with us. We were right at the edge of the woods. About a mile in the woods, the Japs were fighting all night. You could hear them shooting it out with the Army. The chow was awful. Wouldn't even have bread at times. Boy was I glad to get out of there. We were a little ways from the Equator. The days were so hot it was awful and at night it was so damp, when you go up to put your clothes on, they were all wet. You'd have to look and make sure that there weren't any bugs in them......"