Story submitted by Diana Devenney, daughter of Jonnie Wallen
I read you article on “A Brief History of the U.S. Army 6th Infantry Division, to try to piece together the stories that my father told of the battles in the Philippines, Guam, New Guinea, and Korea.
He never would talk about his metals. Of which a number were lost throughout the years, do to my younger brother playing with them.
Upon his death, I took his remaining ribbons and metals to a local Army store to duplicate them so we could bury my father in full uniform with his metals.
Johnnie Wallen
Obituary for Johnnie Wallen
Johnnie Wallen, age 85, of Marshall died Saturday, January 9, 2010 at Oaklawn Hospital.
Mr. Wallen was born on October 3, 1924 in Allen, Kentucky to Walter and Sarah (Wright) Wallen. On February 21, 1946, he married the former Freda Pauline Hall. The couple moved to the Marshall. Michigan area the following morning after the wedding and had lived in this area ever since. Mr. Wallen had been employed as a machinist, retiring from Warren-Sherer Gillett in 1979. Other employment included Woodlin Metal Products.
Mr. Wallen had also worked as a custom farmer, plowing many of his neighbor’s farmland. He was an accomplished builder and built two homes on his own. He had also assisted many of the local churches with their building projects.
(This is the list the Army Store provided me)
Silver Star
2 Purple hearts
3 Bronze Stars
1 Bronze Arrow Head ( Beach Assault)
Asiatic Pacific Campaign
Philippine Liberation Medal
American Campaign
Korean Service Medal
Combat Badge
Good Conduct Medal
WWII Victory Medal
John earned several Extinguished and Excellent Marksmen badges for his sharpshooter skills. Including 2 of the highest level of “Sharpshooter honors
We know he was in: Milne Bay, Maffin Bay “Lone Tree Hill” New Guinea, Luzon, Munoz.
He was just 17 when he joined. His nickname given him by his comrades was the Kid, (as he was the youngest in his division, or KK, (meaning the Kid from Kentucky.) He said he got in more fights over that nick name, saying he was just as good a soldier as anyone that was older than him.
In reading your article, his stories matched up very well with your time line/article .
About the Japs being hidden underground in caves and tunnels, and spoke of Lone Tree Hill, and the rain, mud, and thick jungle, and bugs. of which he did get malaria, shortage of supplies/ammo, He spoke of topping the trees, to keep the Japs from using them as cover.
He spoke of the ships not off loading the supplies, (being the explosive person for his group, he said he said that they did threaten to either blow up the ship, or off load it themselves, but if anyone stood in they way of keeping them from off loading what they needed, they would deal with angry, tired fighting men. He spoke of ammo shortage, and it was not like in the movies, You made every bullet count. One bullet to one Jap, and to make it count, and there was no ammo to waste.
He was one of the few to remain longer, to help clear the airstrip, or more like to clear the island of the snipers, and was deployed to Korea at the beginning of that war, before being discharged in Jan 1946. He spoke of one time in a several day hunt for one sniper that kept the heavy machine operators from working, as this sniper targeted the operators to keep them from clearing the air strip. He said he tracked him for several days, in a cat/mouse game. He said that he figured out that the Jap sniper would move every morning, and figured out his pattern, that he would move about 60 yards right and every early morning would start shooting. So he guessed at his next location, and climbed the tallest tree the other side of the air strip, with the sun to his back and waited. He said he knew the guy wore glasses (as he said most of them did), and he waited for the sun to rise, He said, he knew he would get a glare off of his glasses and sure enough as the sun rose, and the Jap sniper turned his head just right and there it was the glare off his glasses, he took the shot, and nailed his target.
I have a few pictures, one of the division, Standing at the dock of a hanger , and a few others of him in uniform. I will scan and make sure you get them.
He said that he quite often got pulled away from the 20th, and served with other divisions do to his sniper skills.
He spoke of one time of coming into this village to find dead soldiers, one of which was his cousin. He only spoke of this once. He said that he was missing an arm and leg and that he went through the piles of bodies and found an arm and leg, and laid it next to him, so that he could be buried whole.
Another story, he spoke of quite often, of how the Philippine people were starving, but yet kind, and would do anything for you. He said the snipers kept the people from farming and hunting and fishing, so food was scarce. He said there was not a dog or cat to be found, as they had been killed for food. And that he GI’s shared their K rations and chocolate bars with the kids.
He said one time he got up early, Told a group of guys to keep watch, and be ready. He told the women of the village to have their baskets ready, and told them to hurry to the river after they heard a big boom….he took a stick of dynamite jumped in a boat, went to the middle of the river, and set it off and threw it in the water.
It brought up hundreds of fish. The woman ran out filled up their baskets, and ran back to the village. He said they ate fish for the next two weeks.
Another time, he said he would watch off in the distance the water buffalo leave early morning, on a very narrow trail on the side of this large cliffy hill, and every night the herd would return down the side of the hill to lower ground. But the jungle was full of Japs and snipers, so the people could not hunt. The people of the village were starving. So it was one afternoon and it wasn’t raining, so he scoped in his sniper rifle, and waited for the herd to start down the hill. He said he sited in the the lead buffalo, hoping to slow it down, to give him more time to site in a second or third. He dropped two. He and 5 other guys went into the jungle late that night to retrieve the carcasses; they quarter them, and carried them back to the village. He said the kids in the village loved him, and wanted him to teach them to shoot.
These were the stories he told us often, as I think it made him feel better, knowing he kept people/kids from starving/dying and helping people, verses talking about the killing.
One story that I can not tie to anything, was he said he was on his way to Korea or being moved from one island to another, in a convoy of ships, (I think he said six ships) he was on the end ship. And that the convoy came under attack by Jap airplanes. He said that he was on deck when the rear gunner had been hit. He said his eyes had popped out of their sockets, he ran to him, pulled him behind the gun, and covered his eyes with his hankie. Climbed up into the seat of the anti air gun, and started firing. He said it was the biggest damn duck hunt he had ever done, a big Duck hunt with a “big” duck gun. Said he was able to bring down a couple of planes. He said two ships took heavy damage, the one he was on, but none were sunk.
It was so Ironic, that as he was in the hospital, and had arrested twice, his nurse was a small Philippine lady, she revived him both times. She told him that her father was a small boy during the war. And told her stories about the American GI’s, and how they kept the Japanese out of their village, and shared their food. And that she was not going to let him die, after all he and done to save her grandfather and father. Now …..here she was saving my father…..
I’m trying to submit photos that I took of my trip to Sansapor and Mar in January but I keep getting rejected. Any suggestions?
I’ve had the same problem.
Tom replied in this website to me that only the administrator has that authority and that he was going to send me an email.
I haven’t heard back from him yet.
Posting again to show my email address.
drtgpt@gmail.com
Thanks for the information. I guess that I have to wait.
I’m a retired school librarian and ran into a children’s book that was based on Mr. Wallen’s experiences in the Philippines – “Tucky Jo and Little Heart”. I’d be curious to know how much of the book is true.
According to this link, it is based on a true story.
All of it is true. I am one of Johnnie’s granddaughters, and attest to its authenticity
Yes it is based on a true story. It was a young boy and his sister that my father befriended as their parents had been killed. And little heart was her name. Because the Japs sent out planes weekly hunting for villages/American soldiers, if the village was spotted, they would pickup the village and moved it immediately. As it would be bombed within a day or two. My father was the ordinance (explosive person for his group) and did work out the plan to set of explosive in the river to bring up the fish for the women to catch. He told them to go down river with their baskets once they heard the boom. He went up river a few miles and got into a small hollowed out log used as a canoe that he had seen during recon work. He let the canoe drift to get as close to the middle of the river as he could, lit the explosive, and tossed them into the water, fright after the explosives went off, he jumped in the water and swam underwater to the shore and hid under the underbrush. As Jap snipers pummeled the boat. It drew the Japs Up river, white the women were down river gathering the fish. He was also a sniper (sharp shooter). Another time, on many occasion he watched water buffalo climb at small cliff on a narrow ledge every morning to reach a grazing field, and watch them return every night. One day it wasn’t raining. He setup his sniper rifle, and waited all afternoon for them to head back down the narrow ledge. It was over a mile away and was not hopeful. But the village was starving. He signed in the lead buffalo and dropped it. He had time to sight in a second one and dropped it. Later that night him and 5 other guys snuck out of camp, and retrieved the carcasses. They sliced the beef very thin and dried it on the rocks. My father’s dad was killed when he was eight. He learned to hunt and fish at a very early age to provide food for his younger siblings. He knew what it was like to be hungry. At the age of eight he would walk 2 miles down a dark dirt country road to sneak milk for a farmers cow so his mother would have milk to feed his 9 month old baby sister. He learned to shoot his dads 22 rifle at 8. His mother would give him one bullet (they only had one box of shells) and they needed to make the ammo go as far as possible. He would take his one bullet and the riffle and head to the woods to shoot a rabbit or pheasant for squirrel. Sorry I had not answered your question. I don’t get on this websit often
Mr. Thomas, I am Mr. Wallen’s daughter, and it is 80% true. The author added the bit about the heart shaped birthmark, and the part of him whittling the doll. The rest is true! He kept this little girl alive by sharing his K-ratings with her. He really did hunt buffalo for them, and make it rain fish.
It took us many, many years to convince Dad to even go to the VA.
How the scene there differs is that the old nurse suddenly put her arms around Dad and hugged him, much to my Mom’s dismay, as she thought, “what the heck?”. She had recognized his name on the chart, and burst into tears. He had fed her all those years ago and kept her alive.
From then on, she made sure my Dad was “fixed”. He had one of the first ever eye laser surgeries, where they cut you eye, take out your own lense, and put in a new lens. He had state of the art hearing aids. The eye thing made the biggest difference to him, as he liked to fish at night, but couldn’t anymore as the lights on other boats would bounce off of his cateracts and blind him.
My class and I recently read Tucky Jo and Little Heart. After reading the epilogue that mentions Mr. Wallen’s passing, my class was wondering if Nurse Zaballa is still alive?
Hello Tamera Strong,
Thank you very much for your clarification on the subject. I am freshman attending Biola University, writing a book based on Nurse Zaballa and Johnnie Wallen’s story. I am very grateful for this information.
You mentioned how 80% of the story is true and that Nurse Zaballa did not have a heart-shaped birthmark. But according to Patricia Polacco’s “Tucky Jo and Little Heart” epilogue, Nurse Zaballa presented a “small silver heart on a chain” to Johnnie Wallen before he died. On the chain, it had the words “For my Tucky Jo from your Little Heart” inscribed. If Polacco’s epilogue is true and she added the story about her heart-shaped birthmark, why did he call her “Little Heart”?
My second question is what type of hearing aids did Nurse Zaballa prescribe Mr. Wallen?
Hi i’m Allison butler i think i’m related to you i’m Mr.Wallens great grand daughter and i really wanted to know more about him.
Tamera,
Thanks for replying and setting the record straight.
All I had to go on was the reviews and the information posted on the website.
I am a high school student that is analyzing records of WW2 history and studying Tucky Jo and Little Heart as a main source for my project. I would like to ask if any family member related to Mr. Johnnie Wallen would be interested in connecting with me for an online interview. Please let me know. Thank you!
I am Johnnie’s granddaughter. It would be an honor to help you. Hrkosten@gmail.com
I just read the book and am in tears. I love this story so much! Much respect and love for Mr. Wallen and his family❤️❤️
I wish I Could have remembered when he carried me in his arms when I was young. I miss him i wish we could’ve talked To him but i was young This is dustin’s Son he’s my great great Grandpa and I’m named after him and its a honor to be named by him May he rest in peace
Hello Mr. Riddle!
My name is Liz and I am a freshman at Biola University that is writing a stort story based on a young Filipino girl that your great grandfather saved during the war. “Tucky Jo and Little Heart” is an amazing illustrative children’s book that inspired me to write another story through the the narrative of Little Heart. I would love to get in connection with Mr. Wallen’s family members. If you are available anytime, please contact me through email if you would be interested in connecting with me for an online interview. Thank you! My email address is liz.kim@biola.edu