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Static Line - Three Winds of Death

January 1992
A very happy and prosperous New Year to everybody! This is the 50th anniversary of the year that probably changed many of your lives either directly that year or in the few years to follow. This year is the 50th anniversary of the first full year of participation in WW II for the United States. It is also the 50th  anniversary of the year in which the 503rd Parachute Regiment was formed. You may have been there at the very beginning or you may have arrived later. In either case, your life was never the same afterward. There should be many anniversary stories to relate to over the next several years, and as search for your memories, I hope that you can share some of those stories with all of us through this column. In keeping with the Idea of providing you space In which you can pass on your thoughts and memories, I'm going to include a letter I received recently from Peter S. Fiorella. 

Dear John, My name is Peter S. Fiorella and I enjoy reading your column in the Static Line. I would like to contribute some information. I went overseas as a replacement in 1944 and joined Hq. Co., 1st Bn., 503rd PRCT. (.30 caL machine gun squad) in Mindoro.  I was with Hq. Co., 1st  Bn. during the campaign on Corregidor and was caught in the explosion on Monkey Point on Feb. 26, 1945, that pretty well decimated the 1st Bn. Due to injury during the explosion, I was evacuated and eventually ended up in a hospital in Hollandia, New Guinea. After some time, I went back and rejoined the 503rd PRCT on Negros Island. The report you gave in September about the 1st Bn. being in the San Carlos area was true. When I rejoined Hq. Co., 1st Bn. we were garrisoned in an old schoolhouse in San Carlos. 
After some time, we left and went to Dumaguete P. I. and set up headquarters a couple of miles from town. About 10 or 12 of us from Hq. Co., 1st Bn. (myself included) were garrisoned in the city of Dumaguete and we functioned as Military Police for our battalion. This is where we were when Japan surrendered. Many of us were assigned to meet the Japanese as they came down from the hills and escorted them into the city where an internment camp had been set up. 

I have several snapshots taken during this period including some of the formal surrender on Negros Island. Here is a list of some of the names of the troopers I served with during this time taken on Mindoro and at San Carlos and Dumaguete: Sgt. Stanley Camars, George Edwards, Hoyt Blankenbaker, James Scott, Frank Griedus, Alton Attaway, Raymond Gaines, Jerry Morris, James Deane, John Crow, and Peter Brown. The others named in the pictures I have are without first names and are Jacobs, Holman, Pinder, and Jalufka. 

I also have one aerial shot of the jump field on Corregidor very early during the jump. Many, many chutes are visible on the ground and the side of the cliff. 
I hope you find this letter of some interest to you. I certainly don't think I was the youngest to serve in the 503rd,  but I'll give you my birth date anyway. Sept. 19. 1925. 

I have only recently joined the Static Line and because of my name being published I was contacted by Andrew J. Amaty and I now belong to the 503rd PRCT Association of WW II, Inc. 

Yours truly,
Peter S. Fiorella 
163 Evergreen Rd. 
Tonawanda. NY 14150 
Phone (716) 692-4580 

All letters, Pete, are of interest, when you write and mention someone's name you don't know what kind of doors you may be opening to lead others back to the 503rd PRCT Association where they belong. Congratulations to you for becoming a member and congratulations to Andy Amaty for getting in touch with you so quickly. We will all be looking forward to seeing you at a Corregidor reunion and in Rapid City.
 
The camaraderie that is formed by even small groups getting together is unbelievable. A good example of this is the committee that put together the 503rd PRCT portion of the 50th Airborne Anniversary in Washington in 1990. I was privileged to be a member of that committee, and we still meet at intervals, usually at the officer's club in Fort Meade, MD. We have dubbed ourselves "The Lunch Bunch." Our last meeting was in October, and we are scheduled to meet again on the 15th of this month. In addition to socialization, we discuss matters of importance (at least we think so) concerning the best interests of the association. Attending in October were Cliff Tolson, Jack Blair, Fred Wiedernolt, Bob Donovan, John Hein, Charley Rambo, Jack Herzig, Hugh Breslln, and John Reynolds. "Buzz" Campbell was missing.
 
(Ed Note: See photo upper right corner).
 
May you always see a canopy above your head! 

John D. Reynolds
"D" Co. 503rd PRCT 
718 Towne Center Drive, Joppa, MD 21085 
PH (410) 679-8979
Static Line - Three Winds of Death

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