NEWS From Uncle Sam’s Nephews and Nieces
Henry Dralle of Greene, received a letter last Thursday from Private First Class Kenneth Knight, telling of a visit “Kenny” had with Corporal James Dralle, the son of the Greene man, on one of the Solomon Islands. Kenny said that a peep stopped in front of his tent and the driver hailed him and asked if he knew a Jim Dralle. After learning that Kenny did, the driver said that Jim was down at the other end of the bomber strip, and that Jim’s squadron was leaving in a short time after refueling. Kenny and Jim visited for nearly an hour. Kenny reported that Jim “looks good, tanned of course, and a little older. I guess we’ve seen enough to give us a few gray hairs.” Jim reported that he was to go to Sidney, Australia, in a few days for a short leave. It so happened that the two had been on the same island at the same time for nearly six weeks, but they had not run across one another. Kenny said that Jim’s squadron had done quite a “lot of dive bombing in our regiment’s sector prior to an attack on the island by the Japs.”
Commenting on the bombing, Kenny said that it was quite a sight to see the bombers “laying thousand pounders into the troops about 500 yards in front of you,” Kenny said. “We thought they’d never come through after that going over, but they (meaning the Japs) did.” The two former Greene boys said that it was good to see someone “we really know out here in these darned jungles.” Jim said that he has hopes of getting home before very many months.
Source: Greene Iowa Recorder, Wednesday, June 28, 1944
