The very human nature of the war in the Pacific · The very human nature of the war in the Paciﬁc By Ed Marek, ... during Operation Olympic, ... Amphibious Warfare

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The very human nature of the war in the Pacific

By Ed Marek, editor

December 10, 2007, adjusted January 17, 2008

I did an article about the events leading to the unconditional surrender byJapan to end WWII in the Pacific. It is entitled, "'How to' end the waragainst Japan: Invasion or A-bombs, or both?"

While doing that research, I came across a statement made by the historianD.M. Giangreco, in "Operation Downfall: The Devil was in the details,"published in the Autumn 1995 edition of Joint Force Quarterly, thataddressed the plan to invade Japan, a plan called "Operation Downfall." Hecommented:

“What it must have been like to some old-timer buck sergeant ...[knowing] that he very likely had survived this far only to fall deadin the dirt of Japan’s Home Islands, hardly bears thinking about.”

Shortly thereafter, I came across Roger McDonald, a founding member ofArts Initiative Tokyo, who wrote this about the Downfall invasion plan,until he happened on it and read it. Once done, he made an importantobservation:

"Looking through the 1945 invasion plans of Japan, I was struck bythe very human nature of them- relying not on the dropping of

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bombs, but on the landing of troops who would move into andthrough populations, neighborhoods, wards."

Ken Burns, in his film, "The War," worked very hard to get at this point,the human nature of warfare. I decided to try the same thing. Digging forinterviews with and comments made by men who fought in the Pacific, Ipresent their most interesting observations and recollections fromGuadalcanal to Okinawa.

I chose to identify the combat divisions on the roster to invade Kyushuduring Operation Olympic, Phase 1 of the Downfall invasion plan. I thensearched for memories of men who fought with these divisions during thePacific War. Having even just some idea of what they had been through, Ihope, might convey some kind of human feeling with regard to what theymight have endured had they invaded Japan on November 1, 1945. LikeGiangreco said, we must try to get a feeling for that veteran "who hadsurvived this far only to fall dead in the dirt of Japan’s Home Islands."

Put yourselves in his boots.

Guadalcanal to the Marianas

A Marine survivor emerges after two days and nights of Hell on the beach of Eniwetok inthe Marshall Islands, February 1944. Presented by History Place.

Amphibious Warfare

As a first order of business, we'll emphasize that much of the ground warin the Pacific began with amphibious landings and was headlined by navaland air battles and jungle warfare that almost defy description.


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"A Water Buffalo, loaded with Marines, churns through the sea bound for beaches of TinianIsland near Guam." July 1944. Photo from the National Archives, "Pictures of WWII."

As was the case with most of the US military when WWII erupted, the USmilitary's amphibious capabilities were deficient, so deficient that themilitary leadership was worried at the outset about conducting amphibiouslandings at all, fearing they'd lose more troops on the landings than in thecombat after they hit the beach.

If there is one thing to remember about amphibious landings, it is that theyare very complicated. They demand tremendous choreography andsynchronization in an environment that is hostile and unpredictable. As thewar proceeded, our forces got better and better at them, but they werenever easy. They were always hard and complex.

"The Wave Breaks on the Reef," by Kerr Eby. "Jarred to a halt by a hidden reef, an assaultboat is abandoned by a unit of Marines. Doomed to near extinction by a storm of enemy fire,long since trained on this objective, the group pushes forward to a man into the hinderingwater, into the teeth of the deadly storm." Presented by Naval Historical Center , which hasassembled a marvelous set of art work depicting amphibious operations in WWII, work thatdoes not seek to glamorize their subject, but "presents the subject in the clear strong light ofreality."


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The enemy had the same tide tables the US had, they knew when the sunrose and set, they had weathermen, and they knew the beaches and areasbeyond the beaches better than the Americans, because they were there.They could see the US fleet coming, they understood the landing sequenceof bombing and naval bombardment, they knew when it was best to land,they had some pretty good ideas about where it was best to land, and theyalways had time to prepare their defenses. In the case of OperationOlympic, we now know that the Japanese had figured out the Americaninvasion plan down to the "gnat's ass," and they were ready, just as theywere during most US landings.

At the time, our maps were lousy, and so were our charts. Many of thelandings were conducted on islands that were pin-pricks in the midst of avast ocean. Hidden and unknown coral reefs created all kinds of troubles.Landing craft often were stopped short of their targets. The men whowould land had been stuck aboard ships, waiting, waiting, waiting. Thenthe "Now hear this" would blast on the speakers, they would grab theirgear, and climb down ropes to their landing craft below.

The Higgins boat was used the most for landings. More than 20,000 werebuilt. They were made of plywood, could hold about 36 men, dribbledalong at about 9 knots, and had about 7.5 ft by 17 ft. space for the landingforce, with sides about 5 ft. high.

The landing craft would load, and head out, and then wait, often justcircling around until the rest of the wave arrived. Then, they would turnand head to the beach. Throughout all this, these craft were often poundedby naval and shore fire, and attacks from the air. The landing craft almostnever had a smooth ride in, pitching and rolling, anxious soldiers andMarines inside, many sickened and vomiting, all the while eating salt waterstrewn about by the surf and the incoming fire. A buddy might be killedsitting right next to you long before you hit the beach. The Navy gunnermight be blown out of his seat. All the while, there was the anxiety ofwaiting to hit the beach. Picture yourself in this position. It'll give you thewillies. Then boom, the bow ramp dropped and out you go, come hell, orhigh water. That's if everything was working. Quite frequently, either thebow didn't drop, or the head honcho inside felt he couldn't wait any longerfor it to drop, and would order his men over the sides, feeling moreconfident in the water wading toward the beach under fire than sitting in aHiggins boat as a fat target.


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Marines from the 3rd MARDIV churn toward the Asan, Guam shore on invasion day. TheseMarines, possibly from the 3rd Regiment, were given the task of rushing inland to capturecliffs and high ground, and prepare for further action to the east and southeast. Presented bythe National Park Service.

The landing force often had to disembark early and under fire, having toswim and wade their way ashore. Often they would hold their rifles up inthe air above the water to keep them dry. As a result, they were not evenable to fire back while in the water. Most beaches were heavily defended,set up as death fields with heavy wire, protected by pillboxes and crossfirezones; very few landings were unopposed, and if they were, that wassimply to get the entire landing force up on the beach so the enemy couldclobber all of them at once. Or, the enemy would allow them to get on thebeach and inland a little, and then clobber them.

While troops were landing, the medics who survived were carryingwounded back to the craft. The choreography was such that men had to geta foothold on the beach as ordered because their heavy equipment wascoming in right behind them, and so were more waves of troops. Theyneeded that equipment, especially artillery, they needed more ammo, theyneeded more food and water, they needed to be reinforced, and theyneeded more boats so the wounded had a way to get back to the ship forcare. In short, they had to get on the beach and then off the beach to makeroom for the next wave. That our men did so time after time is stunning.

Robert G. Bryant, then a Private First Class with the 169th Infantry of the43rd Division, described the war in the Pacific well from a strategic view:

"The islands in the Southwest Pacific were like a huge chessboardboard on which the contestants were making their strategic moves."

He then reduced that grand view to his own outfit:

"Our division was assembled for the purpose of anotherstepping-stone towards the Japanese ... "

In almost all cases, a prime objective of the landing was to secure anairfield from which US aircraft could launch to attack the next island,where the objective was the same. Even in the Kyushu landing planned forDownfall, the main objective was to take the airfields there for use tosupport the main invasion under Coronet. "Stepping stones to Japan" are


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what our men fought for.

We'll now present memories of men who fought during the Pacific warwith the divisions slated for Operation Olympic. With each battle, I try tocapture memories different from ones already addressed to cover as broada spectrum as we can given space and time. These GIs address a lot ofthings we never think of. Even when the combat and fight to survive werehorrific, you will be surprised to hear how other many things they endured.

Guadalcanal

Marine landings on Guadalcanal were made from transports anchored 9,000 yards off RedBeach. Smoke from preliminary shelling still obscured the beach. Presented by US Army,"Guadalcanal: The First Offensive," by John Miller, Jr.

Guadalcanal was known unofficially to the GI as "Operation Shoestring,"because they felt like they were operating on a shoestring.

Captain G.H. Spaulding, USN (Ret.), writing "The mission that savedGuadalcanal," wrote this about the place:

"In his book Victory at Guadalcanal, author Robert Edward Leerecords one Marine’s cynical observation: 'If the world needed anenema, this would be the right place to put in the hose!'"

Henry I. Shaw, Jr., in the "Marines in World War II CommemorativeSeries," wrote this:

"The (marines) knew little about the targets, even less about theiropponents. Those maps that were available were poor, constructionsbased upon outdated hydrographic charts and information providedby former island residents. While maps based on aerial photographshad been prepared they were misplaced by the Navy in Auckland,New Zealand, and never got to the Marines at Wellington."


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The picture is of the 2nd Marines on patrol in Guadalcanal. Date unknown. Presented byThe Lost Buddies Project.

This is an example of the rugged jungle on a series of hills known as the Sea Horse onGuadalcanal. Virtually no trails existed. The scene above is a typical example of the densegrowth. Presented by US Army.

Mark Griggs, whose father Joseph Miles Griggs. Jr. fought onGuadalcanal, wrote this about his dad's experiences:

"At midnight of the third day all hell broke loose in the watersnorthwest of Tulagi, around little Savo Island. Flares lighted thehorizon and the sound of heavy naval guns came rumbling over thesea. There were flashes and explosions and then new salvos. No oneon the beach had a clue as to what was happening, but the generalmood was dark and ominous."

Griggs volunteered to go out on a patrol with 24 other Marines, and wasone of only three to return alive.

Returning to Henry Shaw:

"The Japanese on Tulagi were special naval landing force sailors andthey had no intention of giving up what they held without a vicious,no-surrender battle."


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WWI veterans have explained how horrific artillery was in that war. It wasno different in WWII. Captain Donald L. Dickson, USMC, painted thiswatercolor of a Marine in the prone position while the offshore artillerycame in. He wrote:

"I wanted to catch on paper the feeling one had as a shell comeswhistling over. ... There is a sense of being alone, naked andunprotected. And time seems endless until the shell strikessomewhere."

In his book, The Battle for Guadlcanal,Samuel B. Griffith, Brigadier General, USMC(Ret.), wounded on Guadalcanal and arecipient of the Navy Cross, talks of themanner of fighting facing the 27th Infantry ofthe 25th Division. He wrote this:

"Throughout its course, theGuadalcanal campaign resolved itselfinto a series of platoon, company andbattalion actions ... A regimentalcommander, or even a battalioncommander, could exercise very littlecontrol over the battle joined. Thus,young company officers and non-commissioned officers, endowedwith the ability to work out imaginative tactical combinations and tolead in their execution, had ample opportunity to display thesetalents, which are not as commonly possessed as frequentlysupposed. However, the fight for the southern spine of 'GallopingHorse' was, on January 13, to develop into precisely this sort ofcombat, fought and ultimately decided at such close range that handgrenades were exchanged at less than 20 yards."


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35th Infantry "Cacti" troops of the 25th Division leave the line after 21 days of fighting tocapture the Gifu. Tense nerves and weariness are apparent in the first two men of thereturning column. Presented by the US Army.

Griffth descibes the condition of the men then fighting for the 27th:excruciating thirst and dehydration in scorching sun, difficulties gettingwater to those on the line. Men would collapse and advances would haveto be slowed or stopped. He tells of our men fighting during a hot daywithout water, trying to forge ahead but having to drop back, "men, theirclothes black with sweat and dirt, their throats as dry as sandpaper, on theverge of collapse."

William J. Owens' book, Green Hell: The Battle for Guadalcanal, wastitled that way because of what the soldiers called the place:

"Green Hell ... a reeking, rotting and malaria-infested jungle thattested any soldier's strength and courage."

By October, malaria began to claim as many casualties as Japanese artillery, bombs, andnaval gunfire. Shown here are the patients in the division hospital who are ministered to byphysicians and corpsmen working under minimal conditions. Presented by NPS, in itspresentation of Henry Shaw's "First Offensive"


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Pharamacist's Mate First Class Louis Ortega, who was with the Marines atGuadalcanal, affirms Shaw's assessment:

"When you got malaria, you might have it five times. Everybodywas getting it over and over again. I had it five times--twice on theisland and three times in Australia. Those were reoccurrence attacks.If they evacuated people who had it five times there would havebeen no one left in the field. By the first of December, we had morecasualties--four or five thousand casualties from malaria, denguefever, than we did from actual battle."

Back to Henry Shaw once again:

"There was another price that Guadalcanal was exacting from bothsides. Disease was beginning to fell men in numbers that equalledthe battle casualties. In addition to gastroenteritis, which greatlyweakened those who suffered its crippling stomach cramps, therewere all kinds of tropical fungus infections, collectively known as'jungle rot,' which produced uncomfortable rashes on men's feet,armpits, elbows, and crotches, a product of seldom being dry. If itdidn't rain, sweat provided the moisture. On top of this camehundreds of cases of malaria."

Frank L. Thomas was with Co. K of the 164th Infantry. He said this:

"It was a singular fight between two people a good share of the time.I never saw one building of any type when on Guadalcanal ..."

With all that, victory in their hands, Admiral "Bull" Halsey would say thisabout the Battles of Guadalcanal:

"Before Guadalcanal the enemy advanced at his pleasure, afterGuadalcanal he retreated at ours."

New Georgia

U.S. soldiers take cover on Rendova Island, New Georgia, as they land during a rainstormon June 30, 1943. Presented by wikipedia.


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The 43rd Infantry Division had the lead in the New Georgia Campaign inthe central Solomons. The 43rd was formed from the National Guard. Likemost American forces that made their first landings in the Pacific, the 43rdwas largely a group of "novices," most of whom would be veterans themorning after their initial assault, and hardened veterans at the end of theday.

Most American fighting men found theirJapanese enemy to be mysterious. K.Graham Fuschak, then an Army major,wrote a paper for US Army Command andGeneral Staff College entitled, "The 43rdInfantry Division: Unit cohesion andneuropsychiatric casualties," published in1999. Fuschak wrote this:

"The vital factor in consideringJapanese soldiers from the 43rd'spoint of view is not who the Japaneseactually were, but who the Americansthought they were."

Fuschak relates work done in 1946 byCultural Anthropologist Ruth Benedict, whowrote this:

"The Japanese were the most alien enemy the United States hadevery fought in an all out struggle ... It made the war in the Pacificmore than a series of landings on island beaches ... It made it a majorproblem in the nature of the enemy. We had to understand theirbehavior in order to cope with it."

The US Army's pamphlet provided to the troops, which many read on thetroop ships over, A Pocket Guide to New Guinea and the Solomons, saidthis on the first page:

"New Guinea and the Solomon Islands are of the greatest strategicimportance to the United Nations. Everyone remembers only toowell the grim days when the Japs spread out like a swarm of locustsover the peaceful Philippines and East Indies toward Australia, andeastward into the Pacific Islands. The Japanese are locusts. They aremindless swarms of insects, relentlessly moving from country tocountry, devouring everything in their path."


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Beheading an American flier in a Japanese POW camp.; Photo courtesy of the ArmyArchives. Presented by B-29s over Korea.

The Japanese in fact proved to have great capacity for savagery, savagerythat most American GIs had never seen before, savager that in this author'smind rivals the terror of the Holocaust. It was common fare for Japanesearmy troops to stick prisoners with their bayonets, cut off ears, bash in theheads of young wounded Americans, chop off both ears, sever theirprivates and shove them in their mouths, and then sever their heads. Youngmen who once never imagined killing anyone, soon not only killedJapanese, they wanted to kill them, and they hunted them down to killthem. Quickly a quiet creed evolved among them: "Take no prisoners."

Justin Taylan has assembled a suite of anecdotes from those who served inWWII, including those of Robert Glen Bryant, a private first class with the169th Infantry. He made these remarks about the battle for Bibolo Hillapproaching Munda Air Base:

"We hit Bibolo Hill approaching Munda Airbase. With all thebombardment and everything that America had been able to render,the Japs were still there in strong force ... I was grazed in the backwith a machine gun. The bullets burned both sides of my back ...The Japs started their overhead fire from hand grenades to mortar toartillery. They gave us everything they had. I was hit with some kindof fragmentation that I thought was a mortar shell. The shell blewme some feet. I must have been knocked unconscious because whenI came to, I heard the order to pull back because the Japs were readyto make the 'Banzai' drive. (They would yell Banzai, Banzai, Banzaiwhen attacking.) The fragments from the shell tore up my leg andparalyzed my left wrist and legs. I was pinned down and tracer


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bullets burned my sideburns, and my eyelashes were burnedcompletely off.

"I began to crawl backwards to my line as much as I could. Big treeswere blown up. I crawled through a treetop. One hand and both mylegs were dead. I was pulling myself with one hand like a worm. Icrawled in the direction of the medics about a hundred yards ... Theyslit my boot which was laced from top to bottom. I was given firstline Medic care.

"I was carried out of the jungle on stretchers under strong enemyfire. The day before, I had carried some in on stretchers, and the Japskilled them while still on stretchers. The Japs would kill themanyway they could. They laid me on the beach for about an hourawaiting my time lo be loaded on one of the small flat bottom boats.I was among hundreds of wounded. When I was finally laid on theboat on my stretcher, father Doyle lay next to me. I said, 'Did youget it too, Father Doyle?' He could only wave his hand. I heard hedied soon after that.

"As I was brought through the jungle on stretchers, I was just aheadof some Japs coming in behind me. This group of Japs came throughand cut off our lines, and attacked our water purification point. Theyknocked out everything there including the American casualties whowere forced to sit down at night. The Americans intended to bringthem out at daylight to be on there way for medical treatment. TheJapanese attacked and slaughtered everyone of them. I was one ofthe lucky ones who got through before they were forced to sitdown."

The jungles of the Pacific were also new to our forces. Fushak points outhow the jungle could "inspire fear in the uninitiated." He cites GeneralMacArthur's farewell speech at West Point in 1962, where, among otherthings, MacArthur described the jungle as "mysterious, trembling."MacArthur said this, which reflected well what many GIs thought aboutthe jungle:

"This is the kind of jungle I learned to fear and hate in my youth, asoggy miasma of disease-bearing insects, snakes, precipitous slopes,mire, swamps, heat, humidity, rushing rivers to cross. There is horroreverywhere, everywhere, and angst."


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Landing craft carried the 2-172 Infantry of the 43rd Division to this jungle-covered beachhead on Arundel. Although the soldiers met no oppositioninitially, fanatic enemy defenders soon engaged the invaders and fought onfor nearly a month. US Army photo presented by USMC.

The Wolfhound Heritage Project run by a person whose last name isKolchak has a work in progress conveying stories about the New Georgiaexpedition by the 27th Regiment of the 25th Division. This one is sad andtelling:

"I was sent to patrol a trail we landed astride of. About 800 yardsfrom the beach we came upon the bodies of a patrol that had beenambushed by the Nips. I don’t recall how many were there, about ahalf dozen. What did impress me was the fact that, although theseGI’s had been dead only about two days, their rifles were alreadyrusty and inoperable. Each rifle had fired the first round and thenjammed. I emphasized this on my men for keeping their weaponsclean."

This is a photo of Pvt. Chuck Culuck, A/1-172 Infantry, taking a chow pause during fighting


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on New Georgia. Culuck had been on the island since the first beachhead was established,and had not changed clothes for 12 days. Signal Corps photo, presented by wikipedia.

Kolchak talks of logistics support provided by the "Cannibal Brigade," agroup of GIs who grabbed anything they could get their hands on todeliver to the troops on the line. Their first problem was to find supplies forthe troops. Some times the supplies came in on the beach, sometimes not.Some times the supplies were taken from the beach in an orderly way,sometimes not. Their second problem was they found it very hard to keepthe supply flow going through such difficult terrain and jungle. Forexample, his notes talk of "Starvation Ridge:"

"Our rations were one can heavy and one can light C-rations perplatoon per day. I had a spoon and we ate our meal by dumping thecan of meat and beans or whatever into a helmet, breaking crackersinto it with half a canteen of water and then we would each eat aspoonful of food in turn until it was all gone. We tried to getre-supplied by air but because of the dense jungles the planescouldn't find us and a lot of our supplies fell into Jap territory."

Bougainville

Marines climb into landing barges at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, in November1943. These are more properly called Landing Craft Vehicle, personnel (LCVP), or HigginsBoats. National Archives. Presented by Armed Forces Journal.

Captain John C. Chapin, USMCR (Ret.), tells part of the story aboutBougainville in "Top of the ladder: Marine Operations in the NorthernSolomons." He remarked that the command, "Land the Landing Force"came in the early hours of the morning of November 1, 1943. About 7,500


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Marines assaulted 12 beaches, but first they had to make a 5,000-yard runaboard their landing craft. The surf tossed them around like marbles,Marines were landing on the wrong beaches, and craft slammed into eachother, crashing into the beaches, making three unusable.

Marines wading ashore under fire on Bougainville, November 1, 1943. USMC photo.Presented by WWII Gyrene.

Major Donald M. Schmuck called it "mad confusion." Schmuck's 3rdMarines met heavy resistance, machine gun and artillery crossfires, boatsgetting hit before they landed, Marines wading to shore under fire, enemyhidden in the underbrush lining the beach, enemy in numerous bunkers andrifle pits. Naval fire was missing its targets, leaving enemy bunkers in tact.

Thomas Franciamore found himself in Bougainville. Jon Blackwell,writing for The Trentonion, introduces us to Franciamore, "a poolshooting,fun-loving kid who lived on Tyrell Avenue in Trenton's North Ward." Hewas with the Americal Division, now in Bougainville, northern Solomons.Blackwell wrote this about Franciamore:

"Everywhere lurked the unseen, terrifying menace of the Japanese.Everywhere was the creeping humidity, the lousy food, the malariawhich gave him the shivers one moment, the sweats the next."

A typical Japanese pillbox. Presented by US Army.


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Karl F. Kennedy, Jr. was with the 132nd Infantry at Bougainville. Hisplatoon was tasked to take over Marine defensive pillboxes at the airportthere. He said this about the pillboxes:

"The pillboxes were made of logs and dug in about four feet deep ina swamp. We had sleeping bags that would float, which came inhazardous when the swamp water rose during the night. Japanesesnipers fire at the floating sleeping bag made it more practical to geta little wet than getting shot."

He mentions Staff Sergeant Freddie Caps, who would soon be promoted tolieutenant:

"(Freddie) would lead patrols outside the perimeter. When he wasleading a squad patrol and encountered a Japanese camp he wouldpull back to a safe distance and draw a map of the Japanesedeployment in the dirt. He would then attack the position with eachman knowing his assignment. This technique resulted in totalJapanese casualties and no casualties to us. Freddie Caps was givenan officer battlefield promotion. Freddie was promoted to the rank ofMajor before he returned to the states."

Returning to Captain Chapin, he wrote:

"John A. Monks, Jr. quoted a Marine in his book, A Ribbon and aStar, saying this:"'From seven o'clock in the evening till dawn, with only centipedesand lizards and scorpions and mosquitoes begging to get acquainted— wet, cold, exhausted, but unable to sleep — you lay there andshivered and thought and hated and prayed. But you stayed there.You didn't cough, you didn't snore, you changed your position withthe least amount of noise. For it was still great to be alive.'"

Marines trudge forward through calf-deep mud on the Numa Numa Trail, Bougainville,November 1943. USMC photo. Presented by WWII Gyrene.

Kennedy went on to say:

"We went on daily patrols involving walking through the swampssouth of the Torokina River. We developed a routine of watching theman in front of us so that when he sank below the swamp water wewould pull him out by rifle held above his head as he started to sink.


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"After two weeks of patrols our clothes became moldy and westarted to get ‘Jungle Rot’ with infected sores on our feet. Thesolution to this was to put our valuables in a rubberized bag, throwour cloths in a pre-dug pit, then took a rare shower. We got a new setof clothes on the other side of the shower. A healthy portion of sulfapowder took care of the foot jungle rot."

Gilberts - Tarawa

"Beachhead Scene, Marines at Tarawa," by Ker Eby, charcoal and pastel, 1944, the gift ofAbbott Laboratories. Presented by the Naval Historical Center.

November 1943 was a busy month for the Marines. Shortly after theBougainville landings, the 2nd MARDIV, which had been recuperating andtraining in New Zealand, led the invasion of the Gilberts. This was to bethe first major amphibious operation in the Central Pacific.

It took 36 naval transport ships to enable the 2nd MARDIV to land. Asthey approached aboard naval landing craft on November 20, 1943, Griggsreported:

"The beach was a sheet of flame backed by a huge wall of blacksmoke...Every Marine was sickly white with terror...and the floor ofthe landing craft was awash in vomit."

There were about 4,300 Japanese on Tarawa. Historians say only Iwo Jimawas more heavily fortified of all the beaches assaulted in the Pacific duringWWII.

Robert Leckie, in his book, Strong Men Armed, the United States Marinesagainst Japan, tells of landing craft hitting reefs and taking heavy Japanesefire and of the first wave taking 70 percent casualties, with the call back tothe ships, "Can't hold." The next waves hurried in, almost more amtrackssunk or disabled than landing forces could count, landing forces having towade in. Marines were dying in the shallow water, in the deep water,Marines holding their weapons above their heads to keep them dry, unableto fire, and on shore, Marines caught in barbed wire and shot. Leckie saidthat Japan's Rear Admiral Shibaski was sure of repelling the invaders, andit looked like he was right, but the Marines kept coming.


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Marines leave the cover offered by the log beach barricade and advance across thefire-swept open ground. Presented by USMC Historical Monograph.

Then Leckie writes:

"They got inshore, even the wounded, even the dying youth with hischest torn open who fell on the beach and cried for a cigarette. 'Here,I'll light one for you,' a Marine said. 'No,' the stricken youth gasped.'No time ... gimmie yours ...' The cigarette was thrust into his mouthand held there. The youth drew, the smoke curled out of his chest,and he died."

Combat Correspondent John B. Garrett, was there, and the Daily Palo AltoTimes published his memories a year later. Among other things, he said:

"This surviving group of men held the island, alone and underfrightful conditions, for most of the first afternoon. Behind them, inthe sea, floated the bodies of hundreds of their buddies."


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Dead Marines on the beach at Tarawa, November 20, 1943. Presented by oraculations.

Once again Leckie writes:

"Chaplain Harry Boer was called. He was a young minister.He had never said burial service before. Marines and sailorsremoved their helmets and Chaplain Boer spoke: 'We are inthe presence of the last enemy, death. We did not know thesemen personally, but God does, and therefore we commit themunto Him who is the righteous judge of the earth.'"

In his book, Where is God when it hurts?, Philip Yancey quotes ChaplainBoer saying this:

"The Second (Marine) Division saw much action, and greatlosses. Yet I never met an enlisted man or an officer whodoubted for a moment the outcome of the war. Nor did I evermeet a marine who asked why, if victory is so sure, wecouldn't have it immediately. It was just a question of sloggingthrough till the enemy gave up."

Harry Jackson was one of the first 1,500 Marines to land. He revisitedTarawain November 2003, and said this:"The Japanese enemy was tough,but we were tougher."

Yes, indeed you were.

Admiralty Islands

1st Cavalry Division troops en route to the Admiralties. From the National Archives.Presented by the US Army.

The 1st Cavalry Division formed the nucleus of the invasion force thatlanded on the Admiralty Islands. Its motto was, "Move in on 'em and kill'em!" This would be the division's first combat of WWII.


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First Wave lands on Los Negros, Admiralty Islands. US Department of Army photograph.Presented by wikipedia.

The initial landings were on Los Negros Island on the morning of February29, 1944. Air reconnaissance informed the leadership that there was littleevidence of enemy activity on the Admiralties. That assessment waswrong. The invasion force was outnumbered 4-to-1. The 1st Cav put 1,000men on Los Negros during the first day, under fire.

One landing craft had single 30mm machine-guns, one on each side. Thesailors told the 1st Cav passengers to keep their heads down or they'd getblown off. The boat was hit, with a large hole forward through the landingramp. Four men who had been there were now gone. The barge had tohead back to its destroyer. William Siebieda, a Navy gunner fromWheeling, West Virginia, left his gun and stuck his hip into the hole to plugit and stop the water from coming in. At the same time, he fired his tommygun and 1st Cav troopers, themselves wounded, just kept feeding himammo clips. They made it back.

The USS Swanson Association has written about the battle. The authorwrote this about the 1st Cav after hitting the beach:

"The only way for the 1,000 cavalrymen to hold their small junglearea at night against an infiltrating enemy was for each man to stayin his foxhole and fire at anything that moved. A Japanese using asword killed an officer who decided to sleep in a hammock above hisfoxhole."

Richard Foss was with the 7th Cav of the 1st Cav Division, a machinegunner. Commenting on Los Negros, he said this:

"My first night of combat. I was a nervous wreck. It rained all night(hard to see). An enemy mortar shell hit five yards away. One guy...was shot after raising his head up ... We did not lose as many men inthe campaign as we did in later campaigns but we did learn howdifficult it was to lose good buddies in battle, both wounded anddead."

Franklin Boggs has painted two works from the Battle of the Admiralties,both dealing with helping the wounded. We wanted to highlight them foryou. They were presented by the Office of Medical History, Office of theSurgeon General.


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"The Race Against Death," Admiralty Island, 1944. A casualty is hurried into a front lineoperating unit converted from a Japanese pill-box. By Franklin Boggs.

"Evacuation Under Fire," Admiralty Island, 1944. A wounded man is carried from thefighting on the ridge down to a Battalion Aid Station. By Franklin Boggs.

John Robertson was with the 1st Cav, with the engineers. He said this asthe 1st Cav landed on Los Negros of the Admiralty Islands:

"We went in as a Reconnaissance Force. Uh... MacArthur was in theships offshore. And, our units were told to hold the island... at least,overnight. And then since we did that, MacArthur sent the rest of usin just to keep the island. It had a very strategic airstrip... uh...Momote Airstrip which is a good taking-off spot for a lot of theplanes to go further north.


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"We met some pretty good resistance. The uh... Japanese on LosNegros were... Imperial Marines and they were big guys... veryfanatic... and that was the first time I had ever really seen deadJapanese and there were just heaps of them. And I'll alwaysremember I felt no kinship for them as human beings. To me, theywere just dead animals. I felt that way for a long time."

New Guinea

The 24th and 41st Infantry Divisions were on the line to take Hollandia inNew Guinea. This was called the "Reckless Task Force." The 163rdInfantry of the 41st Infantry Division was tapped to take Aitape, andbecame known as the "Persecution Task Force."

Troops Unloading Supplies at Aitape. US Army Photo

The 43rd Infantry Division was to conduct operations to the west ofHollandia. The division was located in New Zealand, so it was brought into Aitape early to reinforce and prepare for its attacks to the west. Thedivision did not expect to fight at Aitape, but thought it was going to use itas a staging base for its westward movement across the northern shore ofthe island. Therefore, when its units landed, they were not combat loaded.The division's men were moved into combat positions immediately, andhad to make do with what they had.

Sgt. Joseph Steinbacher was with the 169th Infantry on New Guinea, andwas there for two years before moving on to the Philippines. He haswritten this:

"I lay down in my shallow trench and stared up at the evening sky. Ihad chopped through a nest of little red ants and they were reallybiting me. I mashed hundreds and finally got rid of most of them. Ifelt just like one of those little ants. If I didn't get killed in this damnwar I would really need a lot of luck and probably some help fromthe Almighty. I thought about a cat and how they are supposed tohave nine lives. Well, if I had been a cat, I would probably have usedup three of my nine lives already."

Bill Garbo was a dog handler with G-Troop,2nd Squadron, 12th Cavalry, G/2-112 Cavand was at the Driniumor Line during thebattles there. He provides some greatdescriptions and photos of the area. We'd like


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to highlight just a few of his descriptions.

Describing the Driniumor River, Garbo says:

"The river is 30 to 100 yards wide andif the river is not rising, can easily becrossed by walking over rocks andsandbars strewn with dead trees and brush while avoiding theoccasional deep hole. When the water rises it is of short duration; amuddy torrent boils down the river bed carrying trees and boulderswith it. This happens after a heavy cloud burst in the mountainswhich can be as often as once a day."

He talks about New Guinea as a whole:

"New Guinea is the world's second largest island (after Greenland),342,000 sq. mi. in the South West Pacific Ocean, South of theEquator and North of Australia. It is 1,500 miles long and 400 mileswide ... New Guinea is covered with thick vegetation known as'jungle rain forest' similar to the smaller islands of that general areaof the South Pacific, notably New Britain, Guadalcanal and theBismarck Archipelago. With an annual rainfall of 80 to 300 inches,(6' to 25') the jungle growth is massive within a few feet of the oceanleaving a narrow and steep sand beach ... The jungle is characterizedby giant hardwoods, which tower two hundred feet into the air withtrunks six and eight feet in diameter, flared out at the base by greatbuttress roots. Among and beneath the trees thrive a fantastic tangleof vines, creepers, ferns and brush, impenetrable even to the eye formore than a few feet. Kunei grass 6 to 10 feet tall grows in a thickmaze along the open sand bars of the rivers with its host of mites(carriers of scrub typhus), lice and giant spiders; the blades of grassare sharp enough to slice your arms and legs if you try to walkthrough without using a machete to cut an opening."

Like Steinbacher, Garbo talks about the insects and animals:

"The insect world permeates the sluggish whole scene inextraordinary sizes and varieties: ants whose bite feels like a livecigarette against the flesh, improbable spiders, wasps three incheslong, scorpions and centipedes that sting thrive in the undergrowth.Insects fill the evening air just before dark with a chorus of soundsso loud you can hear nothing else. When darkness falls the noise ofthe insects continues for awhile then stops abruptly as thoughordered by some hidden authority bringing on an eerie silence ...Mosquitoes, bearers of dengue, and a dozen lesser known fevers,inhabit the broad, deep swamps which are drained inadequately byrivers."

He said this about the overall battle:

"The battle of the Driniumor river was to be my first experience incombat; it took place in the rain forest just described; a battle that,like the river will ebb and flow for 45 days of unbelievable HELL."

Lewis E. Schwarz was with the 163rd Infantry of the 41st InfantryDivision. When he came home, he and his friends swapped war stories.His little brother listened in, and recalls this:


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"An American patrol had been ambushed late one afternoon (in NewGuinea), and because of the lack of remaining light, reinforcementsdid not reach the Americans until the next day, and what they foundthey never forgot. No men of the patrol were survivors of theambush and in checking their bodies, the men noticed that theirbodies had been brutalized and the flesh had been stripped from theirarms and legs. The Americans could hear the escaping Japanese asthey tore through the jungle so the American in-charge of this patrolurged the men to continue onward intent on catching the Japanesewho had perpetrated this crime."Well, they caught-up with the Japanese, and when the shooting wasdone, the Americans searched the bodies and found wrapped inleaves the flesh that had been cut from the bodies of the Americanskilled the previous day."

Marianas - Saipan

U.S. Marines land on Saipan Beach,15 June 1944. Photograph courtesy of the CNMIHistoric Preservation Office. Presented by pacificworlds.com

After six months in Hawaii, in May 1944, the 2nd MARDIV once againmoved out, this time to Saipan. Those who survived Guadalcanal andTarawa were heading back, along with new replacements to fill the ranks.There were about 5,000 Japanese at their previous battle in Tarawa, andthat was one helluva fight. There were about 32,000 waiting for theseMarines on Saipan.

On June 15, 1944, Commander David Moore, USN (Ret.) recalls that atabout 4 am:

"The speakers in the crowded quarters below decks of each LandingShip Tank (LST) in the invasion fleet called for muster. It was thealarm for the approaching battle; no one had slept ... The air in thequarters and on the tank deck was electrified with anxiety. No smalltalk, no jokes ... This day smiled on those who survived the assault,and frowned on others."

This was the first time in US military history that the Marine Corpsconducted such a large scale amphibious assault. This was also the firsttime the Marines conducted such a large scale ground operation.


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Robert Leckie, in his book, Strong Men Armed, the United States Marinesagainst Japan, tells this story of the doctor briefing the Marines prior to theSaipan landing:

"In the surf, beware of sharks, barracuda, sea snakes, anemones,razor-sharp coral, polluted waters, poison fish and giant clams thatshut on a man like a bear trap. Ashore, there is leprosy, typhus,filariasis, yaws, typhoid, dengue fever, dysentery, saber grass, hordesof flies, snakes and giant lizards. Eat nothing growing on the island,don't drink its waters, and don't approach its inhabitants. Anyquestions?"

Leckie explains that a private raised his hand and asked:

"Why'n hell don't we let the (Japanese) keep the island?"

Saipan in Flames. Presented by the CNMI Guide.

Commander Moore would report:

"On June 18th, Army troops, the 165th Infantry, and some Marineunits overran the Aslito airfield. Then, after completing this task, the2nd and 4th Marine Divisions, together with the 27th ArmyDivision, began a broad sweep northward to clear out the Japanesesoldiers in their bunkers. It was small-unit fighting, very personaland very hard."

"Mopping up" was almost always dangerous work. Soldiers becamecynical when they heard the brass declaring victory, and then assigningthem to "mop up." Bill Hoover, a Marine, tells this story about Saipan:

"On July 11th 1944, my (tank) platoon was ordered to move downthe beach about twenty yards off shore. Our orders were to strafe andshell any caves that opened into the ocean, where we knew Japanesesoldiers had taken positions. A Marine infantryman on shore pointedto a cave a few yards ahead, and said he saw about 20 or 30 soldierswade into the cave ... I was told to open fire with our 75mm canon. Ifired off 4 or 5 rounds and we could hear people screaming insidethe cave. We ceased fire and asked and yelled for anyone inside toplease come out and surrender. Instead, we received machine gunand rifle fire, as well as a couple of hand grenades. I fired in another10 or 15 rounds of 75mm HE (high explosive); then we were told ateam of Marines were going to go in and make sure it was secure. Atthis time, the water flowing out of the cave was red with blood.When the infantry team came back out they reported there were atleast 50 Japanese soldiers as well as a dozen or so civilians, all dead.


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Some of the civilians were women, who were not allowed tosurrender to us, under threat of being killed by the Jap soldiers. Iregret to this day we had to take the action we did, but we could notleave an enemy force at our backs. Nor would I now."

Guam

Landing Asan Beach. Marine Guy Pennington is the man on the right, looking at thecamera. Presented by Project Guam.

When talking about Guam, Bill Miller, with C/1-21 Marines, recalls:

"Fifty-six years ago, (we) woke up on the wrong side of the world."

About 80 percent of his outfit were veterans of Bougainville, and now itwas Guam. One sergeant commented on what he learned at Bougainville:

"I learned how to be scared."

The loudpseakers on their ship blasted:

"Now hear this! Marines prepare to board the boats."

They boarded, carrying loads half their weight.

Their Higgins boats circled around, bobbing up and down, and then turned,powered up their engines, and shot straight ahead toward the AmphibiousTractors. The Marines transferred to them, and jumped out through the rearonce on the beach. A mortar hit to the right. They dove into a crater. Millerreports that one Marine asked for a light, held up his hand to shield thewind, a sniper's bullet went through his hand and hit the guy next to him.


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First assault waves of Marines take cover prior to moving inland on Guam. Presented bywikipedia.

Corporal Harold "Al" Tesch was with the 3rd War Dog Platoon, a veteranof Guadalcanal, now on Guam, and next to be on Iwo Jima. His dog onGuam was Sargent Tippy, shown below. Their job was to scout ahead of apatrol and locate enemy. Tippy usually led, Tesch holding on to him, withanother Marine following close behind as backup. In a 1977 interview,Tesch described how he and Tippy worked:

"(Tippy's) left ear would come up and thenthey'd both perk. We called it 'alerting.' So hispointed ears would perk like that, and thenhis head would bob up and down trying tolocate the scent. Now if he was really hot, hishair would bristle and he'd give a low growl.No! More like a rumble. Tippy never barked,and he never gave a false alert. Not once, notever. So what I'd do is crouch down low andput my head directly behind his. Then I'd take a line of sight and lookdown the top of his muzzle as if I were aiming a rifle barrel. I used to thinkof his ears as rear sights, just like those on a twenty-two I owned as a kid.And invariably that would be where the enemy was. Invariably."


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This is a photo of Saipan, but it gives you the idea of the aftermath of a Banzai attack. Thisshows troops from the 2nd MARDIV "mopping up" following Banzai attack. Marines had tobe alert for wounded Japanese who could still fire one more shot or hurl one more grenade.Presented by USMC.

Sgt. Cy O'Brien was a combat correspondent for the Marines and landedwith the third assault wave on Guam. He too would go on to Iwo Jima. Hetalks of "A field Paved with Bodies in Guam," a Bonzai attack experience.He says this:

"Probably the greatest 'Banzai' attack that ever happened was onGuam. I am told maybe three (thousand) to 5,000 people attacked us.You know what 3,000 to 5,000 people attacking over a beach is? It isa flood. They don’t cross the land. They inundate the land.Thousands of people coming at you with swords and screaming.Now that would look, to inexperienced veterans that’d been the end.You’d have gone into the sea. But these people were fighting trained,disciplined Marine veterans who had already been through a war. Sothey were, they were just like shooting ducks in a barrel. And Ilooked out there and there was a field that was paved. I’m anewspaper man now and I’d write, 'There’s a field paved withbodies.'"

Corporal William Paull, USMC, a veteran of Tulagi, Guadalcanal, andTarawa, has commented this way about battlefields being declared"secure:"

"My scariest time on Guam came after the island was declaredsecure. While awaiting transfer to ships to take us to our nextadventure, we were assigned guard duty on the perimeters of thebrigade's position. We knew that many Japs were hiding out on theisland. They would slip out and toss a grenade into a group ofsleeping troops and disappear back into the jungle. Some of thesesoldiers hid out for months. I spent several spooky four-hourwatches on the edge of a cane field, jumping every time a rat rustledthe leaves... expecting a bayonet thrust in my back."

Marianas - Tinian


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While some Marines were deposited "feet dry" beyond the shore, others had to land "feetwet" wading in from the attack transports seen in the background. Department of DefensePhoto (USMC) 88088. Presented by "A Close Encounter: The Marine landing on Tinian," byRichard Harwood.

Richard Harwood, in "A Close Encounter: The Marine landing on Tinian,"wrote about the fighting. He talks about Lt. Colonel Justice M. "JumpingJoe" Chambers, commander, 3-25 Marines, who would later receive theMedal of Honor for his heroism at Iwo Jima. Chambers said this:

"There was a big gully that ran from the southeast to northwest andright into the western edge of our area. Anybody in their right mindcould have figured that if there was to be any counterattacks, thatgully would be used ... During the night ... my men were reportingthat they were hearing a lot of Japanese chattering down in the gully... They hit us about midnight in K company's area. They hauled byhand a couple of 75mm howitzers with them and when they gotthem up to where they could fire at us, they hit us very hard. I thinkK company did a pretty damn good job but ... about 150, 200 Japsmanaged to push through (the 1,500 yards) to the beach area ...When the Japs hit the rear areas, all the artillery and machine gunsstarted shooting like hell. Their fire was coming from the rear andgrazing right up over our heads ... In the meantime, the enemy thathit L company was putting up a hell of a fight within 75 yards ofwhere I was and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. Overin K company's area ... was where the attack really developed. That'swhere (Lt.) Mickey McGuire ... had his 37mm guns on the left flankand was firing canister. Two of my men were manning a machinegun (Cpl Alfred J. Daigle and Pfc Orville H. Showers)."

Harwood then tells how a Marine combat correspondent described theaction involving Chambers' two men, Daigle and Showers:

"(Showers and Daigle) held their fire until the Japanese were 100yards away, then opened up. The Japanese charged, screaming,'Banzai,' firing light machine guns and throwing hand grenades. Itseemed impossible that the two Marines, far ahead of their ownlines, could hold on ... The next morning they were found slumpedover their weapons, dead. No less than 251 Japanese bodies werepiled in front of them .... The Navy Cross was awardedposthumously to Daigle and the Silver Star posthumously toShowers."


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Marines of the 2nd Division find some of the most difficult terrain on Tinian as they moveup towards the top of Mount Lasso, one of the highest points on the island. Department ofthe Defense Photo (USMC) 87900. Presented by "A Close Encounter: The Marine landingon Tinian," by Richard Harwood.

As we read the many stories from the men who fought in WWII, we areoften struck by things we had not thought they might experience.Steinbacher mentioned that the Japanese were using horses to pull theirartillery, in this case hauling potent 77mm guns. One of the sergeantsdirected fire at the guns which, if they had opened up on the Americans,would have been devastating. Of course, the horses were in the line of fireand he recalls the horses screaming as they were hit, a suite of sounds thatmust have, at the least, given the Americans the "heebie-jeebies," eerie,creepy, sad emotional feelings.

So what has been gained?


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Arguably the major benefit of the victories thus far was that the B-29"Superfortress" long range heavy bomber could fly round-robin from USbases in Saipan and Tinian to bomb Japan's Home Islands. Previously, theyhad to stage out of India and China. The missions from the Marianas beganin November 1944 and continued through the end of the war.

In the next section, we will move on to the US invasion of the Philippines,a titanic endeavor.

As the saying goes, "You've come a long way baby." From Guadalcanal inthe southern Solomons east of Australia all the way up to take Saipan,Tinian and Guam in the Marianas. US forces were also marching acrossnorthern New Guinea and closing on the Philippines.

Admiral Nimitz argued that his forces had inflicted enough damage on theJapanese that they could go straight to Iwo Jima, then Okinawa and on tothe Home Islands, bypassing the Philippines and Formosa. GeneralMacArthur, personally invested in returning to the Philippines, would haveno part of that and won the day. The next stop would the Philippines. So beit. While he did that, Nimitz pressed ahead to Iwo Jima and MacArthur tothe Philippines, the forces under their command meeting to invadeOkinawa. In the mean time, the Army Air Force continued unabated withits bombardments of the Home Islands.

Incredibly, there is still a lot of war left.

In the next section, we will move on to the US invasion of the Philippines,a titanic endeavor.


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