T5 Ernest Gerritsma, Lester Van Muyden and Al Broek have all met at New Guinea. They had also hoped to meet Syne Bierma but were unable to find him.
Ernest and Lester have met before but this is the first time that Al Broek has met either one of them. Syne Bierma and Ernest Gerritsma have tried many times to locate each other, but so far haven’t succeeded.
Source: Sioux Center News Jan. 6, 1944, p 2
Ernest Gerritsma Describes Life in New Guinea as he sees it Somewhere in South Pacific
Dear parents and sisters: Perhaps I shouldn’t be telling you what living here is like lest your envy becomes uncontrollable but let’s hope you’ll pardon this because it is necessarily always a main topic. This evening also my native boy is sitting next to me, he has just finished decorating his comb with a red pencil and an indelible pencil I furnished him, he’s quiet enough and well behaved – as I write this he becomes curious about my pen – “sena-ho-aina” or good, he says. Bright, flashy colors are their specialty, a bit of red or blue ribbon marks them as the best dressed man in the village. They have a rather slight build but well-proportioned and with a heavy mop of curly black hair. There is no need for them to buy combs because they are made from a thin slice of wood which is split to form about ten spread prongs or teeth much like a collapsible fan, this comb with a bright ribbon attached also serves as an ornament being placed in the hair when not in use. Usually the sole wearing apparel of the men consists of a loin cloth or possibly a pair of GI shorts donated by some generous soldier, the women wear grass skirts a few of which are dyed in bright yellow and purple colors, where the dye is obtained is still a mystery although I have an idea the yellow may come from atabrine. Today I bought a paw-paw from a native, there are paw-paw trees everywhere but the trick is in in knowing when they are ripe. At tea (supper or dinner) with the Butters family I tasted a dessert of paw-paw for the first time, the taste resembles a cantaloupe somewhat, people who like cantaloupe say they are delicious, others won’ tough them, so it is with paw-paws, I like them. Coconuts are, of course, nearly always plentiful in this part of the world, bananas – well, we dare not cut them down ourselves because I understand they belong exclusively to the natives, they will sell them but for a price, however, my native boy promised to bring a few and if me want coconut juice that can be had too. The checking job on the docks is finished for me, I have reverted to my former work. The dock work itself was monotonous although the surroundings and activities were interesting, the routine of an office job could never appeal to me. Mother Nature often deals harshly with her children but she also has a way of making amends. The daylight hours may be oppressively hot and sultry but a delightful, cool evening breeze causes one to forgive. You’ll notice that your correspondent is in his better mood this evening otherwise you’ll hear a long line of beefing. Naturally I’m getting rather tired of living with all these jungle insects, whoever wishes to study biology should make this his headquarters. If a man listed all the different types of insects, creeping, crawling, flying and hopping he’d run short of numbers; spiders, centipedes, worms, insects, etc. – we have them all even in this tent. By the way, says Applestone, I saw a lizard today about 14 inches long! Oh yeh, says Willie Olsen, what was its horsepower rating! This place is said to be highly malarious and there are any number of mosquitos to carry the disease, so long as there are none of these pests to spread it you’ll never contact malaria. Every precaution is taken for malaria control, there are special organizations for the purpose and our own organization assists by spraying stagnant water with oil, inspecting mosquito bars for holes, repellent, filling in ruts and holes, etc. The natural tendency in this hot weather is to discard clothing but this is strictly prohibited on penalty of a stiff fine. I’m waiting for the day when I’ll see what the territory looks like which Japan controlled before the war – what the Japanese economy makes out of a country. Lovingly, Ernest
Source: Sioux Center News Jan 6, 1944, p 2
Excerpt from a letter from Al Broek New Guinea Jan. 2, 1944
Dear Ed: ….. I have been very fortunate in meeting some of the home town boys. Ernest Gerritsma was at the same place as I am for some time. We had some very enjoyable times together. Syne Bierma came up to visit for three days. And I’m telling you they were a short three days. That makes time go by very fast. It certainly was wonderful to see some of the fellows you knew from back home. …..
Source: Sioux Center News Jan. 13, 1944, p 2
T/5 Ernest J. Gerritsma 37078142 Hq. Btry. 2nd Bn. 147th Field Artillery APO 928, Unit 2, San Francisco, Calif.
Somewhere in the South Pacific Dec. 29
Dear Parents and Sisters: When I told you earlier about the local fauna two main pests were forgotten, first we had a plague known to us as “armored trains” or millipedes, what the scientific name is doesn’t matter. Like the centipede it is a crawling creature, there aren’t actually a thousand legs but it has more than a centipede. Locomotion is slow although very deliberate, the action of the numerous legs is as smooth as a motor in a P40; if one can keep his nerve and avoid getting a creepy feeling they are interesting to watch. They grow to four and five inches in length and a half inch in diameter, the color is black and the small rings composing the body interlock like a knight’s armor. The invasion of armored trains has fizzled out, although they cam in force, for a while crawling on our bunks, mosquito bars and tent. Most every creature has some way of defending itself, this one has no bite or sting but is said to eject a stream of fluid which if it strikes the eye will blind it. The pest we deal with now is common to all countries and under the right conditions is more to be feared than any other because it may harbor the fleas which carry typhus, this old foe is the ‘rat’. For several mornings I noticed the sand floor covered with tracks and soon after we retire the whole tribe plays tag or follow the leader around and on our bunks, the clothes and boxes. When the kitchen has another case of bottles packed in barley hulls I’ll try the old water bucket trap. I suppose you’ve tried it, a board leading to the top edge of a bucket filled three-fourths with water and the barley hulls sprinkled on the water. What remedy have you, father, having been in the grain elevator game so long, you should know a sure-fire method.
Occasionally the Japs take a nip at us in the form of a nuisance raid, happily they haven’t many spare planes and their visits are rare. One experience I’ll mention because it created quite a laugh. The alert sounded in the early, dark morning and thinking this might just be another dry run I calmly dressed, put on the steel helmet and gloomily waited very unhappy at being kept awake. After some time I went back to bed and no sooner had the mosquito bar tucked in when another alert came and I went through the same procedure although my mind was quickly made up to sleep again and ignore a few stray ack-ack shells. I attempted to sleep for at least an hour when the ack-ack again made a fearful commotion. I was getting tame by then and in no hurry at all. While still lying on my bunk I suddenly heard a stick of bombs come whistling down and I left for the slit-trench at the advanced pace with only helmet and shoes on, I took some kidding too about the burst of speed. Lovingly, Ernest
Source: Sioux Center News Feb. 17, 1944, p 10
T/5 Ernest J. Gerritsma 37078142 APO 928 Unit 2, San Francisco, Calif. (For his complete address call the News office or his parents)
Source: Sioux Center News June 1, 1944, p 2
Written to Marie Ten Harmsel by Ernest Gerritsma
Dear Marie: Some time ago I had occasion to speak with a Dutch missionary held as prisoner of war by the Japs for two years. Here again knowledge of the Dutch language stood me in good stead because this man knew almost no English and thus I was able to enjoy a long and leisurely chat. Naturally there were a thousand questions to ask and he was very glad to answer them since there was no one about except fellow missionaries and nuns with whom he could speak and learn the state of affairs. During the entire two years internment outside news was cut off, the one way of knowing things were going badly for the Japs was when the prisoners were more frequently slapped – both men and women alike. However, there were not outright atrocities, that is, no special tortures were inflicted except that the treatment in general was about the same as one might expect from living with jungle monkies. Immediately after becoming prisoners the mission and mission personnel was robbed, all medicines, extra clothes and property were confiscated leaving only the clothes actually worn and a few necessary cooking utensils. The prisoners were used mainly in the building of roads and as machinery they had not so much as a wheel-barrow, either the project was not one of the strictest necessity or the Japs have little machinery, it seems the latter is true. Whereas our Army utilizes every labor-saving device (providing it gets to the right place at the right time for once) the Japs are probably forced to use primitive methods for lack of skilled operators. The food consisted solely of rice, barley and oats, certainly not a diet on which a human can keep strong and healthy and consequently the prisoners were in a sorry physical condition, our ordinary food was too rich and made them sick at first. The highest praise was given the nuns who worked hard and unselfishly cooking all the food, nursing the many sick and patching clothes, no doubt their efforts saved the entire group from worse hardships. Although actually too weak to be about I saw them busily attending the stretcher cases, other help was available then yet they seemed to feel that their place was among the sick – that is an example of genuine love which many of our would-be Florence Nightengales might better look to as their goal. The conduct of these nuns was in keeping with the standards of their profession, one is compelled to have respect for such people. T/5 Ernest Gerritsma
Source: Sioux Center News June 8, 1944, p 2
T/5 Ernest Gerritma has been transferred and has a new APO number. It is 565. Call either his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Syne Gerritsma, or the News for his complete address.
Source: Sioux Center News June 22, 1944, p 8
Ernest Gerritsma has a new APO number which is 704. He is somewhere in the South Pacific.
Source: Sioux Center News Aug. 3, 1944, p 2
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Iowa, U.S., WWII Bonus Case Files, 1947-1954, Claim No.139700
Ernest J. Gerritsma, SN 37078142, was born Jan. 13, 1917, at Sioux Center, Iowa, where he resided prior to entering the army on Feb. 23, 1941, at Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He served with the Headquarters Battery 147th Field Artillery Bn., departed for foreign duty on Nov. 22, 1941, and returned on March 25, 1945.
He was honorably discharged on July 24, 1945. His application for bonus compensation was filed on May 27, 1949, for which he received $500.00.
Source: ancestry.com
