Toler, Veteran Of World War II, Recalls Stint In Judge Advocate General's Office

Springdale--In early April 1945, I disembarked from the troop ship Marine Panther at Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines. I rode by truck a short distance to an Army replacement camp. Within sight of my tent was a busy air strip used by Army, Navy, Marines and Army Air Corps aircraft.

In a few days at that air strip, on April 12, 1945, I boarded a C-46 aircraft and flew to Nichols Field at Manila, Luzon. Our cargo manifest listed two aircraft engines and me.

En route, the co-pilot came back to the cargo area and told me he had just heard over the radio that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died.

Upon arrival at Manila, I rode by truck to another replacement camp a few miles out of the city. After a few days of doing nothing, I went to the officer in charge and volunteered for interim duty until I received a permanent assignment. As a result, I was assigned temporary duty (TDY) with the judge advocate general's office.

My first case was to go to a recently opened night club in downtown Manila and find out why it was the only business establishment in Manila with electricity. An inspection revealed a Signal Corps type PE75 gasoline engine powered electric generator. I recorded the name plate information and turned in an affidavit of my findings. The case was closed when an Army captain was court-martialed for theft and sent to Leavenworth.

My second assignment was to inspect a saw mill in the San Nicholas district of Manila near the north port area. The mill owner was suspected of stealing oil to fire his boilers. Sure enough, as I approached the mill, great clouds of dense black smoke issued from the stack. I contacted the owner and asked him to accompany me to the boiler room where two employees were stoking the fire box with coconut shells, the obvious source of the black smoke.

Soon after these episodes, I received my permanent assignment with Small Ships Radio, which I've already chronicled in this newspaper.