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Alfred N. Poirier's
Service During World War II
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 13th Field Artillery Regiment. Started basic training.
- 6 June
- Reported to Battery "E", 13th Field Artillery Regiment for duty.
- 1 October
- Assigned battery clerk, Battery "B", 63rd FA Batallion, 24th 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 24th Infantry Division).
- 17 April
- Unit boarded LST #[ukn], destination Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea.
- 22 April
- Arrived off landing beach, vicinity of Hollandia. As the 34th 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 63rd FA Bn was utilized as stevedores in unloading ships, building Hollandia up as a supply depot for future campaigns.
- June
- The 63rd 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 34th 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 34th Infantry.
- November
- Relieved from direct support of 34th; positioned north of Carigara to defend the flank of the 24th 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 34th RCT, now a battle-tested unit, would spearhead the 38th Division, a recent arrival from CONUS, during the landing near Olongapo, Luzon.
- 30 January
- 34th RCT landed with no opposition. Nearing Olangapo, they experienced a short & sharp fire fight, which was cleared up quickly by the 34th. The 38th 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 34th 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.
http://www.mbay.net/~mpoirier/dadol.html
Created 30 March 1997
Last updated 9 November 2002