by John H. Miller
as told to Bill Bever

On January 22, 1945, John H. Miller, Technical Sergeant assigned to the 5th Air Force, 380th Bomb Group, 528th Squadron arrived at Mokeum Air Field on Biak Island. John had just completed his combat missions, flying aboard B-24 Liberators as a radio operator from air fields out of Fenton and Darwin, Australia.

The island of Biak, located off of the northern coast of West Papua (the Indonesian part of New Guinea) at the entrance to Geelvink Bay was the scene of a bloody battle won by General Mac Arthur and his 6th Army the previous May/June of 1944 after the Japanese had been rooted out. The US took over Biak Island's three air fields.

Many GIs arrived on Biak Island to get transportation back to the states after serving time in the Pacific. US bombers and air transports were flying back to the states so no one would be left behind. Within a few days John had two chances of flying back to the states on B-25s. The two B-25 bombers looked so beat up that John felt that because of their battle weary condition, they may not make the trip back to the states flying over the vast Pacific Ocean. This begun to work on John's mind so he decided to forego the plane ride, citing that his number might be up and he did not want to become shark bait.

John, wanting to get back to the States, decided on checking the ship docks for ships going back. Three weeks had passed when John went to the docks and discovered a Dutch Tropical Liner that was heading back to the States. The ship was looking for deck hands and since John was the lone member of his bomber crew left on the island, he decided to join on and become part of the ship's garbage detail. On the back of the ship contained a large holding hopper which held the ship's garbage. Every night, one hour after sundown, John pulled the lever on the hopper to drop the garbage to avoid detection by Japanese submarines and ships.

The Tropical Dutch Liner was used for inner island transportation of troops and supplies. This type of ship was not built for going across the Pacific. The ship's officers were a Dutch Captain and four Lieutenants. The crew consisted of fifteen American Navy seamen who manned the twin 40mm Bofor guns on the front and back of the ship. The cargo on board was approximately 150 American GIs with mental illnesses caused from the war. They were being transported back to the US for further medical evaluation and treatment. There were 10 ranking Non-Commissioned Officers on board to help with the patients. Part of the ship's crew were Huba-Huba boys (Hindu boys), who took food to the incarcerated GIs down below the deck along with other duties such as mopping the decks. John recalled that the Huba-Huba boys, when taking a shower, showered with their clothes on. The smell from the Hindu boys and the vomit from down below convinced John to sleep topside the majority of his trip.

The Liner shoved off from shore heading out across the Pacific Ocean around the middle of February. After three days at sea, the ship in front of them radioed that their ship was receiving incoming torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. Luckily that ship was not hit, but convinced the Captain of the Dutch Liner to head on a Southern route to reduce the chances of being detected. Taking the Southern route resulted in prolonging John's total time at sea for 29 days. The Liner never made one stop on the entire trip back to the States.

From lack of diet, John lost 26 pounds. All food was rationed. As the Dutch Liner got near the coast of California, food became scarce. All the rest of the food was rationed. John was given a canteen of water with a spam sandwich each day until the spam run out. The last three days of their voyage, they were without ship food. John was able to buy some herring and crackers from the Huba-Huba boys for $5.00. A mighty steep price for food, but it got John by until they got to California. As the ship finally docked after dark, they found out the dock was closed for the night. All they could do was look at the city lights and wait it out until day break. They had to go without anything to eat until food was delivered on board the following morning.

John was sent to Angel Island to get rid of his gear and on to his next duty station.

Even though John was at sea for 29 days and having to deal with all his hardships, it still gave him peace of mind knowing that if he had come back by plane from Biak Island it might have been his last flight never to see the California coast. Many times during W.W.II, intuition and divine intervention saved many American GI lives. At 83 years of age, John is still on his life journey whether he travels by land, sea or air.