Jim Carollo (left) and Ray Lawless sit on motorcycles in the Fiji Islands. The World War II veterans who served in the South Pacific have maintained their friendship for 61 years. SPECIAL

On Thursday afternoon, Mr. Carollo, who lives in Oklahoma, sat in the living room of his buddy's home on Heather Drive in Augusta. The years melted away as they talked about their service with the 37th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop.

''You get so close in war. We lived together so long," Mr. Lawless said.

The two men were in Ohio's National Guard when they were called to active duty Oct. 15, 1940.

The Midwesterners soon found themselves in a place where they were Yankees - Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Even then ''there was talk of war," said Mr. Carollo, who was 18 at the time. Mr. Lawless was 20.

The men trained for the possibility and with the best the Army could offer them at the time - World War I equipment.

The Augusta Chronicle is publishing the stories of our World War II veterans to commemorate the 60th anniversary of America's entry into the war. We thank all of you who have responded. If you have a story to share, please mail it to War Stories, c/o The Augusta Chronicle Newsroom, P.O. Box 1928, Augusta, GA 30903-1928. Or e-mail your stories to newsroom@ augustachronicle.com. Please include your name, address and telephone number.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Ohio boys had their mission. They were shipped out on a refitted banana boat named the Santa Maria to the islands of the South Pacific. The boat had only enough bunks to accommodate half the men, so they slept in shifts.

''It was horrible," Mr. Carollo said with a laugh. ''I was an Italian boy who knew how to cook, and the Navy was serving us beans for breakfast."

Mr. Carollo was a mess sergeant. Mr. Lawless, who would retire as a colonel, was a first sergeant.

The boat trip across the Pacific seemed like a pleasure cruise compared with the conditions and dangers they endured on the islands.

''We were the eyes and ears of the division," Mr. Lawless said. ''It was our job to find out where the Japanese were."

Their mission kept them moving from Guadalcanal to New Georgia, Munda and Bougainville.

The enemy was everywhere.

''The Japanese (snipers) would tie themselves to a tree so they wouldn't cramp up and fall out," Mr. Lawless said.

Mr. Carollo added, ''You could be walking along and all of a sudden the man beside you was dead."

The men were constantly on the move as they mapped the islands - slogging through the wet, steamy jungles in more than 100-degree heat and fighting off disease-carrying insects.

''When darkness came, you dug a hole," Mr. Carollo said. ''We slept in foxholes, and you couldn't get out of the hole at night or you'd be shot."

''We lived like moles in a hole," Mr. Lawless said.

But amid the horror and the fear, there was always hope because the men had each other to count on.

''Don't ever leave a buddy, always watch out for your buddy. That's how we lived," Mr. Carollo said.

Ray Lawless (left) and longtime friend Jim Carollo share a laugh over old war photographs. Mr. Carollo, who lives in Oklahoma, recently visited Mr. Lawless in Augusta. ANDREW DAVIS TUCKER/STAFF

It took a nearly deadly bout of malaria, dysentery and foot fungus to separate Mr. Lawless from Mr. Carollo and the rest of the men. He was shipped back to the States and spent 60 days in a hospital in Fort Monmouth, N.J.

Mr. Lawless, who had been sent to officer's school, left the military at the end of World War II. He was called back in 1948 and made it his career - crisscrossing continents until the mid-1970s when he retired and settled with his wife, Peg, in Augusta.

Mr. Carollo stayed in the Army until June 15, 1945. He went back to Columbus and opened Carollo's Steakhouse. He went on to own and work at several other businesses, including stints as a Cadillac and insurance salesman, and ended up with a hotel and restaurant in Hinton, Okla.

Sixty-one years later, Mr. Lawless, 81, and Mr. Carollo, 79, have managed to stay in touch - calling each other a couple of times a month and meeting up at reunions.

There likely won't be anymore reunions for the 37th. Most of the men are dead.

''We're the messengers for the rest of the guys," Mr. Carollo said.

They're both amazed they've lived this long. They survived the Pacific. Mr. Lawless beat prostate cancer. Mr. Carollo lived through bypass surgery.

And they want to live long enough to see the 2004 dedication of the World War II monument in Washington - which will include a marker recognizing the 37th and its two presidential citations.

Maybe, the two can see it together.

''God seems to put certain people together in this life," Mr. Carollo said.

''I went one way and he went the other, and after 61 years, we're still friends," Mr. Lawless said.

Reach Amy Allyn Swann at (706) 823-3338 or amy.swann@augustachronicle.com.