Page:My 1102 days of wwii.djvu/16

 Knoll", which overlooked Henderson Field. This knoll was a network of fox-holes, that had exchanged hands several times a day when the Japanese were trying to retake this airfield. Whichever side controlled Bloody Knoll controlled the airfield.

This native village we visited was quite an adventure; one of the men in the group of about eight checked out a truck and said get in, we're going for a ride, and off we went. Evidently the driver knew where he was going for after a couple of miles on this road he turned up a stream for another mile or so. I thought he would never make it, as the stream was nothing but a continuous bed of large stones and deep water holes. Their village consisted of 8 or 10 huts built up on stilts or piling, the floor being about head high. We saw no reason for this as they were built on high ground. They were friendly but we didn't find out much since the natives did not speak English, nor did we speak their language. We knew there was something big in the future because of all the "Gold Braid" around. There were Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Vice-Admiral Williams F. "Bull" Halsey Jr. and all of their Lieutenants. In addition there was alota lot [sic] of scuttlebutt as to our next move.