<I>Contributed photo</I><BR>Pfc. Robert Townsend Wright at New Hebrides, when he trained there with the 27th Division, 106th Infantry of Company G in 1944.

JOHN DAY – When Robert Townsend Wright of John Day was drafted into the Army in August 1943, he was 25 and married with a 6-month-old daughter. With a small family started, he wasn’t exactly gung ho about going, but he was willing to serve his country.

He saw one and a half months of combat in his two years of service in World War II as a private first class, and was awarded the Purple Heart.

Wright had 13 weeks of basic training at Camp Roberts, Calif., and then was assigned to the 27th Division 106th Infantry of Company G in Hawaii.

After additional training in Honolulu, the outfit traveled to Saipan – although at the time they didn’t know where they were headed, he said. The men he trained with were like brothers, he noted.

The company of 190 men landed June 15, 1944 with little resistance, and half the island was secured by July 4, however, a horrible experience remains etched in Wright’s memory. He recalls they were told to “shoot at whatever moves.”

In the dark of the night, the soldiers saw movement and, following orders, fired upon the unknown.

At morning light they found several young Japanese children, between five and 10 years of age, with pretend wooden guns, dead.

“The Japanese sent the children to find out where we were,” Wright said. “It’s something you never forget.”

Wright’s group later trained in New Hebrides, islands south of the equator, for 10 months, then headed for what would be one of the most difficult battles of the Pacific. They landed on the beaches of Okinawa on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, backing up U.S. Marines there.

He said that “190 landed, and we lost 90 the first day – we walked right into it.”

They were told to keep moving when they landed, so he couldn’t stop to help a good friend who dropped from enemy fire as they walked together.

President Roosevelt, Wright noted, died April 12, 1945.

While in Okinawa, Wright was part of a 12-person night patrol, feeling out the enemy.

“We were caught in a crossfire before you could do anything,” he said.

Shot several times in the lower extremities, Wright laid still in the rice paddies he fell into, his gun stuck in the mud. He could hear the enemy walking around, and thought he wouldn’t make it.

Only three of the 12 made it alive, including the radio man, who lost part of his arm – he was able to call for help once the Japanese left the area.

Wright was flown out first to Guam, then Honolulu, then San Francisco and finally College Place, Wash. where he spent six months recovering. It took three months before he was able to walk.

Penicillin, which became a mass-produced product in the U.S. in 1944, kept his wounds from becoming infected.

It was in the hospital at College Place that Wright received the Purple Heart. He was also awarded two overseas service bars, a lapel button, two Bronze Service Stars, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

His daughter, Charlene, was 2-1/2 years old.

Wright worked for the U.S. Post Office for 30 years. In 1975, he remarried. He has five stepchildren through his wife Elsie, who passed away a few years ago. She also was a postal worker, including 28 years at the John Day Post Office.

“We had a wonderful life,” he said, and although he misses her, “You’ve got to keep going.”

Recently, Wright met a young veteran who was waiting for medical care at the VA hospital in Boise, and was waiting for much needed financial assistance.

He noted some differences he sees in serving then and now.

“We were given the best medical care anyone could get, especially compared to now,’ he said.

“We were treated with respect.”

Another contrast he sees is the difficulty those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have in knowing the enemy, Wright said.

“I really feel for them,” he said. “They keep going back … Once is enough.”

He says he didn’t talk much about the war upon returning, he had nightmares for a year and he still never watches war stories on TV.

“They’re right there, you’ll never forget it,” Wright said. “… It does cause you to think and be thankful you’re still here – for 90 years old.”