Frank Joseph Kundo
Technical Sergeant
94th Coastal Artillery Regiment
The World Tour
After the Great Depression, a steady job as truck hand for a mining company in Wausau, Wisconsin seemed like a luxury. The 21-year-old Frank Kundo in no hurry to leave it, having watched as his father spent his days searching for work as farm laborer, which had taken him as far as Saskatchewan, Canada where Frank had been born, a stable job seeming a far better option. Yet a surprise notice from the draft board would change his career instantly, the brown-eyed American being called up as part of a peacetime mobilization. In May of 1941, the Wisconsinite was one of a large group of Midwesterners inducted into the newly formed 2nd Battalion, 94th Coastal Artillery Regiment (1). Their days being spent in rigorous training in the use of Anti-Aircraft guns of every make and model (1). The Regiment eventually settling on the M16 Halftrack with it’s quad-mounted .50s cals, capable of unleashing a hail of devastating fire (1). Such intensive training molded Frank into a proud member of a professional gun crew, the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, making it apparent that his newly learned skills would no doubt be put to use.
The advanced training and great skill of the unit in the operation of halftracks set it apart and resulted in the 94th being selected for immediate overseas deployment. The assortment of former Midwestern farmers, miners, and laborers being ushered onto the RMS Queen Mary, many like Frank, having never been on a vessel designed for such an ocean voyage. The excited and somewhat anxious gunners were crammed aboard with 8,000 other servicemen, the fact that the lifeboat capacity was only suitable for 3,000, remaining a well-kept secret (2). Despite the cramped accommodations, Frank would be granted a view of the beautiful Caribbean, the vessel stopping in both Key West and Cuba (2). From here it made it’s way to Brazil, docking in the massive city of Rio de Janeiro, a site to behold for the youthful servicemen (2). It’s inherent beauty was misleading, the city proving quite dangerous as Axis sympathizers reported the arrival of the ship to German submarines, the Queen Mary being a prize target (2). Thankfully, the ship slipped away in the nick of time, a U-boat torpedoing another vessel shortly after (2). From there it was smooth sailing to South Africa and then all the way to Australia (2).
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In late March 1942, Frank and the other gunners were unloaded from the vessel, having been forced to develop his sea legs and a tolerance for warm climates during the lengthy world cruise (2). The fresh GIs were welcomed by the local Australian populace, being posted to the Northwest of the nation where they helped fortify critical civilian and military infrastructure (4) It seemed only a matter of time before the Japanese forced their way to the nation, planes already raiding the northern city of Darwin. Despite the invasion hysteria, the Americans comfortably settled into their posting, watching the skies for any sign of enemy activity. The lack of any undoubtedly lolling them into a sense of ease, the hospitality of their Aussie hosts being unmatched. Plentiful leave allowed Frank to explore the country, enjoying the land down under with his buddies from the formation. Yet the deployment honeymoon was soon ended, the 94th receiving it’s orders to pack up and to prepare to enter combat, destination New Guinea.
New Guinea
In May of 1943, Frank landed in the southeastern most portion of the worlds largest island, New Guinea. This barely hospitable region known as Papua, was the toehold the Australians had fought valiantly to protect, preventing a Japanese invasion of their own nation. The many emaciated faces of these weary veterans being a stark contrast to the more youthful and fresh ones of the gunners. Once their halftracks were unloaded, they saw to their task of watching the skies for enemy aircraft, only the Japanese air force had already been destroyed (3). With little to do in their area of expertise, the military reassigned the 94th to support the infantry in it's slog against the stubborn Japanese defenders on the island (3). Such an assignment put the green Midwesterners at the front, experiencing the unpleasantries of the thick jungle and ferocity of the skilled Japanese enemy firsthand.
Frank’s crew would successfully learn to utilize their quad-mounted guns in an infantry support capacity with great effectiveness, bringing them to bare on unprotected Japanese soldiers with devastating result (2). The 2nd Battalion engaging the enemy at the major combat at Salamanca in June and then at an “airfield near Lae” in September (2). Outnumbered and outgunned, the Japanese could do little in retaliation against the halftracks, resolving to withdraw into the hill infested interior of the island where the 94th could not follow (2). Once again Technical Sergeant Kundo returned to his regular duty, the battalion taking up defensive positions at a newly acquired airfield in Papua (2). |
Despite the quieter posting, New Guinea remained an island that tended to drive men insane, the constant death, tropic conditions, and crippling diseases all a consistent reality. To maintain his own sanity, Frank spent the often monotonous hours reading the local newspaper aptly named the Guinea Gold or writing family and friends back home. When the opportunity presented itself, he event participated in the infamous souvenir trade, acquiring a variety of Australian badges. Yet one of his best acquisitions proved to be 157 .20 caliber Japanese rounds he looted, attempting to send them home to Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the government felt these were rather uncanny war trophies and seized them as “Government Property” before they made it home. Regardless, it all provided him with some sort of escape from the conflict, though homesickness was incurable, especially for a man who had been overseas since early 1942.
Hollandia
The quiet respite at the airfield inevitably came to an end, Frank’s team going through the familiar struggle of packing up their M16 and getting it loaded aboard a ship in September 1944 (3). Once again, the veteran gunners were called upon to support the infantry, the 94th destined for the invasion of Hollandia in the north of the massive island. Loaded with ammunition, the M16s crawled their way onto dry land, with little in the way of opposition (3). Japanese soldiers choosing to abandon the landing grounds, but digging in on the inland ridges from where they fired upon the exposed U.S. soldiers (3). The arrival of the 94th’s tracks helped change the dynamic, the quad-mounted .50 cals spewing from their barrels a hail of bullets which pinned the Japanese down or ripped them to pieces if they were caught exposed (3). Rather quickly the defense crumbled and Hollandia was cleared of imperial soldiers (3). The following respite bringing with it new equipment and replacements to the 2nd Battalion, the veterans like Frank knowing this meant they would likely be back in business (3). Shortly after the Battalion was renamed the 209th AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion and would be bound for the Philippines. Fortunately for the 3 star campaign veteran, he would be returning home after two years in the conflict zone.
The goodbyes to friends who he’d served with since 1941 was likely difficult, the farewell to the wretched island itself, being a much easier affair as he departed in November 1944. He would find the United States a changed place, a war machine so very different from 1941, the decorated veteran spending time in the south of the nation for a period. Yet he would arrive to blessed years, marrying Leona Selby in January 1945 before his discharge that June. He happily returned to Wisconsin where they would raise a family, though he was forever a changed man, the scars of the war being buried by the years, but never forgotten. |
Sources:
(1) Kaufman, David A. 209th AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion. 2001, www.skylighters.org/aaapatches/209.html.
(2) Niderost, Eric. “RMS Queen Mary's War Service: Voyages to Victory.” Warfare History Network, 29 Oct. 2020, warfarehistorynetwork.com/2017/01/16/rms-queen-marys-war-service-voyages-to-victory/.
(3) Steinberg, Rafael. Island Fighting. Time-Life Books, 1978.
(4) 94th Coast Artillery (AA) Regiment 40th Anti-Aircraft Brigade In Australia During WW2, April 3rd, 2004, https://www.ozatwar.com/usarmy/94thcar.htm
(1) Kaufman, David A. 209th AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion. 2001, www.skylighters.org/aaapatches/209.html.
(2) Niderost, Eric. “RMS Queen Mary's War Service: Voyages to Victory.” Warfare History Network, 29 Oct. 2020, warfarehistorynetwork.com/2017/01/16/rms-queen-marys-war-service-voyages-to-victory/.
(3) Steinberg, Rafael. Island Fighting. Time-Life Books, 1978.
(4) 94th Coast Artillery (AA) Regiment 40th Anti-Aircraft Brigade In Australia During WW2, April 3rd, 2004, https://www.ozatwar.com/usarmy/94thcar.htm