720th
Battalion History ~ 1944
~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association WW-II History Project ~
GHQ
This Page Last Updated 8 September 2007  Click on thumbnail photographs to enlarge
If you were a veteran of the 720th MP Battalion or any of its subordinate units, and recognize any of the events listed on this page, or you are a surviving family member of a Battalion veteran from this era and would like to contribute Information, personal stories, documents, media articles or photographs, please take a moment to contact the History Project Manager at the Email Link provided above for instructions or assistance. Your contributions are extremely important to the Battalion history and always welcomed.
Southwest Pacific Theatre Of War ~ Papua, New Guinea
Australian Duty Stations
Paupa Campaign
Philippine Campaign
At the start of 1944, the Battalions organic units were located in British (Papua) New Guinea as follows: HQ Company and C Company, Port Moresby; Medical Detachment, A Company and B Company, Milne Bay; D Company, Oro Bay.
~ February ~

28 February, Casualty PFC John J. Eberling, age 33, of South Euclid, Ohio, a member of D Company, Medical Detachment, 720th MP Battalion, accidentally drowned while swimming in Eroro Creek, British (Papua) New Guinea. His body was recovered 29 February 1944.

photo needed
~ March ~
     The Battalion was engaged in standard military police duties, guarding supply depots, installations, and training.
~ April ~

     B Company strength was 140 personnel.

6 April LTC Arthur S. Hill was transferred from the Battalion and MAJ Arthur J. Wajnowski was assigned and assumed command.
22 April The Allies invade Aitape (Papua/East New Guinea) and Hollandia (Netherlands/West New Guinea). The main American landings at Hollandia met only scattered Japanese resistance. At Aitape, Persecution Task Force landed more than 12,000 men, about 7,000 of them combat troops of the 163d Regimental Combat Team (RCT), reinforced.

     They encountered no resistance as the nearby Japanese rear service support troops fled into the jungle. By dusk U.S. troops had taken their primary objective, the three airfields at Aitape. Engineer troops accompanying the landing forces quickly set to work rehabilitating the airfields. The attack was a a complete surprise with the Japanese expecting the invasion at Rabal New Britain.

23 April SGT Stanley V. “Dyke” Knoll, D Company, Oro Bay, was assigned from MP line duty to Company Clerk.
~ May ~
1 May The Battalion was reorganized under TO&E 19-55, 19-56, and 19-57 dated 27 November 1943.
27 May Allied forces spearheaded by the 41st Infantry Division invade Biak Island, New Guinea. The successful campaign came at a high cost resulting in 4,800 Japanese dead at the cost of nearly 2,800 American casualties.
41st
     A detachment of six officers and thirty enlisted men from Battalion HQ Company departed from Port Moresby by air for Finchhaven arriving the same day. The detachment immediately started to prepare a new camp site near the Mapes River.
~ June ~
2 June B Company departed from Milne Bay aboard the SS Norway Victory for Finchaven.
4 June B Company arrived at Finchaven and immediately started to construct a new camp site.
Click on radio tower or record icons to play any of the audio files on this page

 
12 June President Roosevelt's Fireside Chat on the progress of the war. The President announces the opening of the Fifth War Loan Drive. Less than a week after D-Day, he calls on Americans to do their duty to support the war by buying Treasury bonds as part of the fifth war loan drive. Roosevelt stresses the engagement of Allied forces throughout the world.
28 June D Company, Oro Bay, received fourteen new men.
~ July ~
18 July Heavy rain storms flooded the nearby Mapes River, which over flowed its banks into the Battalion Motor Pool. There were no casualties of personnel, however some equipment was damaged. The Battalion camp site was completely surrounded by water and plans were made to move the Battalion if the water level rose any higher, however, this did not become necessary.

23 July Three sound bites of Tokyo Rose, aka "Orphan Ann," "Orphan Annie," broadcast to the Allied Forces in the Pacific. One is dated 23 July 1944, dates for the other two are unknown. Most GI's ignored the propaganda in the broadcasts but loved the music.
     The 38th Infantry Division arrived at Oro Bay from Hawaii to continue their jungle warfare training and aid in mopping up remnants of the Japanese forces.
38th
~ August ~
20 August D Company lost fourteen men due to rotation back to the United States.
~ September ~

September Section Leaders, 720th MP Battalion, General HQ (GHQ) US Forces Far East, New Guinea, September 1944.

Kneeling, from left: Abe Kamenoff, Sam Simonetti, Hank Warner, Bob Eckburg, Wally McCormick, SGT John Stehl, C Company.

Standing from left: James Hogg, Charles Lorenz, Gill Devendorf, Tom Garrison, William Wild, C Company. Courtesy of the estate of 1SG Lemuel T. “Lem” Troster, by Donald L. and Gail James.
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~ October ~

3 October Battalion Commander MAJ Arthur J. Wajnowski was transferred to the 738th Military Police Battalion.

6 October MAJ R. R. Packard was assigned as the new Battalion Commander.
20 October The U.S. Sixth Army, commanded by General Walter Kreuger, supported by the US 7th Fleet, invades Leyte Island to launch the Philippine Campaign.
6th Army
23-26 October The Battle of Leyte Gulf results in a decisive U.S. Naval victory over the Japanese Navy. The battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval engagement in history. It was a decisive victory for the Allies with the Japanese Navy lost four carriers, three battleships and ten cruisers.
~ November ~
11 November A Company, with thirty men attached from C Company, departed from Port Moresby by ship for Hollandia, New Guinea.
12 November, Casualty PFC William D. Kain, age 31, of Kingston, New York, a member of C Company, 720th MP Battalion, died from complications related to a severe case of Agranulocytosis (a disease in which the production of granulated white blood cells by the bone marrow is impaired) at the 60th General Hospital, Finschhafen, British (Papua) New Guinea.
Casualty SGT Walter Scripp, age 38, of Toledo, Ohio a member of HQ Company, 720th MP Battalion, died from severe atropy of the liver at the 60th General Hospital, Finschhafen, British (Papua) New Guinea.
17 November A Company and their C Company detachment arrived at Hollandia and began construction of a new camp site on Sawmill Jetty Road. The company and detachment were assigned the duties of security for the base stockade.
20 November D Company is attached to the 6th Army and placed on alert for assignment to the invasion of Luzon Island, Philippines.
25 November D Company (detached), Oro Bay, received twenty-one new men.
26 November MAJ R. R. Packard was transferred from the Battalion, MAJ Philip J. Reilly was assigned as the new Battalion Commander.
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Battalion Staff, believed to be from B Company, 720th MP Battalion, General HQ (GHQ) US Forces Far East, New Guinea,1944.

From left: LT Humphrey, LT Donnelly, SSG Farr, Polly the Parrot, LT Lake. Courtesy of the estate of 1SG Lemuel T. “Lem” Troster, by Donald L. and Gail James.
~ December ~
15 December U.S. Troops of the 24th Infantry Division invade Mindoro Island in the Philippines.
24th
30 December C Company (detached to 6th Army) departed from Oro Bay aboard the SS Joe Fellows for Higayen Bay, San Fabian, Philippine Islands.
At the end of 1944, the Battalions organic units were located in New Guinea with D Company detached for possible assignment to the Philippines.