”It was a very noisy night. The loudest sound was my heart pounding.” (Memoir, p. 182)

Richard J. Foss

Richard Foss [1945] War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Unit: 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division Service Location: Camp Dodge, Iowa; Camp Roberts, California; Australia; New Guinea; Admiralty Islands (Bismarck Archipelago); Leyte Island, and Luzon Island (Philippines); Japan; Pacific Theater Rank: Sergeant Place of Birth: IA

As a machine gunner serving in the South Pacific, Richard Foss saw his share of combat in New Guinea and the Admiralty Islands. But his most intense battle experiences came during the invasion of Leyte and Luzon in the Philippines. There he observed Japanese and American soldiers engaged in hand-to-hand combat, slept standing up in mosquito infested rivers, and witnessed the deaths of many of his buddies. Having survived the fighting on Luzon, Foss was transferred to a military hospital to be treated for what Army physicians called the worst case of amoebic dysentery they had ever seen.