1945
Mailer's war year. Transferred in January to the 112th Cavalry Regimental Combat Team in Leyte, he serves in the Luzon campaign as a clerk and wire lineman and, in April, volunteers for a reconnaissance platoon — the experiences that become the chief raw material for The Naked and the Dead. After the war he is a cook in occupied Japan. He meets Francis Irby "Fig" Gwaltney; his paternal grandmother, Celia Mailer, dies.
January — Leyte
27 January — Mailer is transferred to the 112th Cavalry Regimental Combat Team in Leyte.
Spring — Luzon and the reconnaissance platoon
Mailer serves in General MacArthur’s Luzon campaign in the Philippines as a clerk and a wire lineman. In April he volunteers for a reconnaissance platoon, where he experiences a few firefights and skirmishes. The platoon and the campaign become the primary source material for The Naked and the Dead (48.2).
After the war — cook in occupied Japan
With the war over, Mailer becomes a cook in occupied Japan. He is promoted to Tech 5 and made head cook, then demoted to private for insubordination shortly before rotating home in April 1946. The occupied-Japan kitchen later furnishes the settings of “The Paper House” (52.2) and “The Language of Men” (53.2).
Fig Gwaltney; a death in the family
Overseas, Mailer meets Francis Irby “Fig” Gwaltney, who in 1975 will introduce him to his sixth wife, Norris Church. During the year his paternal grandmother, Celia Mailer, dies.
Related pages
- 1944 | 1946
- The Naked and the Dead | Francis Irby "Fig" Gwaltney | Celia Schapochsik Mailer
- The Paper House (52.2) | The Language of Men (53.2)