--> explanation of abbreviations

• 1941

  1 April

  Enlisted U.S. Army at Manchester, New Hampshire. Arrived at Fort Slocum, New York at 6:00 p.m.

  8 April

  Transported to Brooklyn Army Base; boarded SS Washington; departed at 4:00 p.m. for Panama.

  12 April

  Transited Panama Canal; 8 hour journey from Atlantic to Pacific Ocean. Continued voyage to San Francisco.

  21 April

  Arrived San Francisco. Given eight hour pass with $10 advance.

  22 April

  Departed San Francisco

  26 April

  Arrived Honolulu at 8:00 a.m. Transported to Scholefield Barracks by narrow gauge railroad. Assigned to 13^th Field Artillery Regiment. Started basic training.

  6 June

  Reported to Battery "E", 13^th Field Artillery Regiment for duty.

  1 October

  Assigned battery clerk, Battery "B", 63^rd FA Batallion, 24^th Infantry Division.

  7 December

  Attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese. Unit moved out to northern Oahu to set up defense positions.

• 1942

  January through December

  Continued defense position in northern Oahu.

• 1943

  January through July

  Continued defense position in northern Oahu.

  5 August

  Boarded transport SS Sea Pike, a liberty ship. Departed Honolulu for Australia.

  25 August

  Arrived Gladstone, Queensland, Australia. Transported to Camp Canes, near Rockhampton.

  26 August

  Commenced training for jungle warfare.

• 1944

  February

  Departed Gladstone, QLD, Australia aboard USS Orizaba enroute to Goodenough Island off Papua, New Guinea (staging area for 24^th Infantry Division).

  17 April

  Unit boarded LST #[ukn], destination Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea.

  22 April

  Arrived off landing beach, vicinity of Hollandia. As the 34^th Regimental Combat Team was designated reserves, they were not landed for several days.

  28 April

  Landed on spit of land between Humboldt Bay and Jautefa Bay (White 3). For three weeks unit R&R'ed in Jautefa Bay.

  May

  The 63^rd FA Bn was utilized as stevedores in unloading ships, building Hollandia up as a supply depot for future campaigns.

  June

  The 63^rd FA Bn moved inland close to Sentani Lake. Training for next campaign.

  10 October

  Boarded ships for Leyte. The battalion was loaded on an LST; Lt. Boynton, Cpl. Poirier and two Privates boarded the USS Ormsby (APA 49) with some units of the 34^th Infantry.

  20 October

  Landed on Leyte at Red Beach at 10:31 a.m. as the sixth wave (31 minutes after the first wave). Mission was to reconnoiter the beachhead to locate a firing position for the battalion (scheduled to land from an LST at 2:30 p.m. At the scheduled time, the battalion's LST was spotted by Poirier and his early landing team. There were three LSTs approaching, with their battalion in the middle. Without warning, Japanese artillery opened fired and hit the LSTs on the left and right. A fire statrted on one of them; all three reveresed and aborted the landing.

  21 October

  LST's landed in the a.m. and the artillary took up its positions.

  23 October

  Moved from the beach area to Palo vicinity. Began the drive across Leyte, supporting the 34^th Infantry.

  November

  Relieved from direct support of 34^th; positioned north of Carigara to defend the flank of the 24^th Division from a possible Japanese landing.

  29 December

  Relieved and returned to Palo area for preparation of a landing at Luzon.

• 1945

  26 January

  Boarded ship and sailed to Luzon. The 34^th RCT, now a battle-tested unit, would spearhead the 38^th Division, a recent arrival from CONUS, during the landing near Olongapo, Luzon.

  30 January

  34^th RCT landed with no opposition. Nearing Olangapo, they experienced a short & sharp fire fight, which was cleared up quickly by the 34^th. The 38^th Division then passed thru and continued the advance as point unit towards the ridge line, known as Zig Zag Pass. Breaking through this pass was tough and costly.

  1 March

  Unit relieved and returned to landing beach. Boarded transports which took the unit to Mindaro, where the 34^th Division was staging for the next campaign.

  20 March

  Poirier received notification that he was next on the rotation list to go home. He left his unit, boarded a Dutch ship and left the Philippines via Finchhafen, New Guinea and without an escort sailed across the Pacific.

  23 April

  Arrived in San Francisco Bay; ship docked at Fort MacDowell, Angel Island.

  26 April

  Boarded troop train for Fort Devens, Mass.

  1 May

  Arrived at Fort Devens.

  6 June

  Discharged from U.S. Army.