Browse Items (9 total)
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Tent Life
WWII-Tent Life/New Guinea.
Ink drawing of the inside of a tent on a platform.
Verso: "Thursday Dec. 7, 1944. This will give you an idea of what our tents are like. Note the palatial splendour exemplified by the raised wooden floors. The mosquito bars are hung up above the cots. At night they are lowered keeping the mosquitoes, which are outside, outside; and those which are inside, inside. Of course, when all is considered, less mosquitoes bite you, although the ones who do bite you bite oftener. When gorged with one's corpuscles they are said to desist from further biting. Should the victims blood supply give out before they have had their fill they also then cease biting and fly about the inside of the mosquito bar uttering muffled curses sotto voce."
Maurice.1684. -
Washing Clothes at the Creek
WWII-Tent Life/New Guinea.
Ink drawing of two men by a creek with buildings and trucks in the background.
Verso: "Nov. 25, 1944. Two men boiling clothes at the creek. One stirs the clothes while the othe [sic] gathers wood for fuel. The lack of clothing is accounted for by the fact that the boys bathe while washing. Clothes lines are hung from the trees for drying clothes. The creek is in a small ravine just to the rear of the men. On the opposite bank are telephone poles on the left and trailers on the right. The tree at the right looks as if it had been shot off as does the stump just to the right of it. This is undoubtedly so since there are many Jap pillboxes around, all destroyed."
Maurice explained that the 50 gallon drums were used for everything. in this case to create a stove for boiling water to clean their clothes.
Maurice.1686 -
Smitty & Friend
WWII-Tent Life/New Guinea.
Ink drawing of two men sitting on a cot in a tent, the closest man is smoking a cigarette and looking down at something in his hands.
Verso: "23 Jan 45. This is Smitty, one of my tentmates in the 282d R/Co. He is in the act of placing a coin & bracelet in an envelope to mail it home. A friend looks on. This is his bunk with all allied paraphernalia."
Maurice added that Smitty would take the coin with the flower. He had a spoon that he would tap on the coin to flatten it out, then cut out the center to make a ring. The sound of tapping would drive everyone nuts.
Maurice.1676. -
Truck with Tent and Building
WWII-Tent Life/New Guinea.
Ink drawing of a open bed truck with rails. A building and tent are in the background. An upside down trash can is in the foreground with a canopy of trees and heavily foliage behind. Maurice added, trucks were always parked in sight to that they would not be tampered with by the natives.
Maurice.1601 -
Soldiers Playing Cards
WWII-Tent Life/New Guinea.
Ink drawing of a group of soldiers sitting in a circle on cots in a tent, playing cards. One is laying on a cot reading a newspaper. In the foreground, there is an ink pen and box from an ink bottle.
Verso: "Winter 1944/1945."
Maurice.1602 -
Man Strolling
WWII-Tent Life/New Guinea.
Ink drawing of a native man strolling through the camp among the tents with jungle foliage in the background. Maurice added that if a tent was left unattended the natives would riffle through everything and take things they found interesting, mostly bright colored plastics to make nose ring or earring jewelry.
Maurice.1698. -
Knock Rummy
WWII-Tent Life/New Guinea.
Ink drawing of five soldiers sitting on cots in an elevated platform tent playing a card game. The hammocks on the roof were used to keep supplies off the floor and away from the rats.
Verso: "25 December 44. The title of this explains the whole sketch very well. It is a scene picturing a knock rummy game in the tent next door."
Maurice.1681 -
Horseshoe Pitching
WWII-Tent Life/New Guinea.
Charcoal or black pencil drawing of two shirtless men playing horseshoes in front of a building with one door. The drawing is labeled, "Horseshoe Pitching,' and was one of the outdoor sports that were played.
Maurice.1706 -
Tents - 14 Ack Ack Command
WWII-Tent Life/New Guinea.
Charcoal or black pencil drawing of tents on platforms with the sides of the tents rolled showing the cots inside, labeled, "Tents-14 Ack Ack Command."
Maurice explained that Ack Ack is an abbreviation for Anti-Aircraft. The platforms of the tents were spaced a fixed distance apart. The side flaps of two tents would be lifted up and tied together to make a continuous roof and create a dryer corridor between them. The laundry had to be kept off the floor because the rats would be attracted to them. There were no carnivores on New Guinea and the ships that came in carried Norway rats. Huge rats; the size of a cat or larger, infested the island killing the some of the natural animal life.
Maurice.1705.