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Hi

 

!! My name I Ralph Robert Hille and I was a T-4 in the S-2 section of Headquarters Company of the 1284th. I have lost track of all that I knew except for my buddy Victor Karpenko who lives in San Francisco. I will be 89 on July 30th and have many good memories of my service. I haven’t seen any reference to the nick-name our outfit had. One of the HQ guys was an inventive art type and he came up with the name “Big Ass Bird” which was displayed on all of our vehicle bumpers with colors used to depict what company. One fond memory was a trip several of us made to Bagio in northern Luzon. There was a small restaurant that had oysters which , of course, I had not seen for quite some time. What a feast we had that day.

 

Regards, Bob Hille

Just thought I'd add a forum link to other info on the 1284th

I wrote back to him and he stated:

I will look around and see if I can come up with some photos. I am not sure but I think we do have some. Best Regards, Bob H

 

He gave me his phone number within an email, and I misplaced both until tonight, I just wrote back to him and asked when is the best time to call. I will let everyone know what transpires...

AS of today I have gone through ten photo albums with nothing to show for the search. I have a few more places to look so I haven’t given up hope. I have given photos to grandkids etc. for school projects and I probably didn’t get them back. I don’t know how much your Dad told you about the outfit but we had quite a history. It would be a lot easier on me to discuss what I remember over the phone rather than typing it on the computer. Our phone number is (blocked for privacy) and I would be glad to hear from you. Regards, Bob

 

Well, today I found an interview from one of the guys from his unit. I happened to be searching for the term, "Big Ass Bird", and was astounded when I found this.

http://www.heritageed.com/vetsoralhistory/carver_county/transcripts/O%27Brien_Mike_transcript.pdf