The very human nature of the war in the Pacific

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By Ed Marek, editor
December 10, 2007, adjusted January 17, 2008
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I did an article about the events leading to the unconditional surrender by
Japan to end WWII in the Pacific. It is entitled, "'How to' end the war
against Japan: Invasion or A-bombs, or both?"
While doing that research, I came across a statement made by the historian
D.M. Giangreco, in "Operation Downfall: The Devil was in the details,"
published in the Autumn 1995 edition of Joint Force Quarterly, that
addressed the plan to invade Japan, a plan called "Operation Downfall." He
commented:
“What it must have been like to some old-timer buck sergeant ...
[knowing] that he very likely had survived this far only to fall dead
in the dirt of Japan’s Home Islands, hardly bears thinking about.”
Shortly thereafter, I came across Roger McDonald, a founding member of
Arts Initiative Tokyo, who wrote this about the Downfall invasion plan,
until he happened on it and read it. Once done, he made an important
observation:
"Looking through the 1945 invasion plans of Japan, I was struck by
the 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 and
through 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 for
interviews with and comments made by men who fought in the Pacific, I
present their most interesting observations and recollections from
Guadalcanal to Okinawa.
I chose to identify the combat divisions on the roster to invade Kyushu
during Operation Olympic, Phase 1 of the Downfall invasion plan. I then
searched for memories of men who fought with these divisions during the
Pacific War. Having even just some idea of what they had been through, I
hope, might convey some kind of human feeling with regard to what they
might have endured had they invaded Japan on November 1, 1945. Like
Giangreco said, we must try to get a feeling for that veteran "who had
survived 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 in
the Marshall Islands, February 1944. Presented by History Place.
Amphibious Warfare
As a first order of business, we'll emphasize that much of the ground war
in the Pacific began with amphibious landings and was headlined by naval
and 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 Tinian
Island 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 US
military's amphibious capabilities were deficient, so deficient that the
military leadership was worried at the outset about conducting amphibious
landings at all, fearing they'd lose more troops on the landings than in the
combat after they hit the beach.
If there is one thing to remember about amphibious landings, it is that they
are very complicated. They demand tremendous choreography and
synchronization in an environment that is hostile and unpredictable. As the
war proceeded, our forces got better and better at them, but they were
never 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 assault
boat 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 hindering
water, into the teeth of the deadly storm." Presented by Naval Historical Center , which has
assembled a marvelous set of art work depicting amphibious operations in WWII, work that
does not seek to glamorize their subject, but "presents the subject in the clear strong light of
reality."
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The enemy had the same tide tables the US had, they knew when the sun
rose and set, they had weathermen, and they knew the beaches and areas
beyond the beaches better than the Americans, because they were there.
They could see the US fleet coming, they understood the landing sequence
of 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 they
always had time to prepare their defenses. In the case of Operation
Olympic, we now know that the Japanese had figured out the American
invasion plan down to the "gnat's ass," and they were ready, just as they
were during most US landings.
At the time, our maps were lousy, and so were our charts. Many of the
landings were conducted on islands that were pin-pricks in the midst of a
vast ocean. Hidden and unknown coral reefs created all kinds of troubles.
Landing craft often were stopped short of their targets. The men who
would land had been stuck aboard ships, waiting, waiting, waiting. Then
the "Now hear this" would blast on the speakers, they would grab their
gear, and climb down ropes to their landing craft below.
The Higgins boat was used the most for landings. More than 20,000 were
built. They were made of plywood, could hold about 36 men, dribbled
along at about 9 knots, and had about 7.5 ft by 17 ft. space for the landing
force, with sides about 5 ft. high.
The landing craft would load, and head out, and then wait, often just
circling around until the rest of the wave arrived. Then, they would turn
and head to the beach. Throughout all this, these craft were often pounded
by naval and shore fire, and attacks from the air. The landing craft almost
never had a smooth ride in, pitching and rolling, anxious soldiers and
Marines inside, many sickened and vomiting, all the while eating salt water
strewn about by the surf and the incoming fire. A buddy might be killed
sitting right next to you long before you hit the beach. The Navy gunner
might be blown out of his seat. All the while, there was the anxiety of
waiting to hit the beach. Picture yourself in this position. It'll give you the
willies. Then boom, the bow ramp dropped and out you go, come hell, or
high water. That's if everything was working. Quite frequently, either the
bow didn't drop, or the head honcho inside felt he couldn't wait any longer
for it to drop, and would order his men over the sides, feeling more
confident in the water wading toward the beach under fire than sitting in a
Higgins boat as a fat target.
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Marines from the 3rd MARDIV churn toward the Asan, Guam shore on invasion day. These
Marines, possibly from the 3rd Regiment, were given the task of rushing inland to capture
cliffs and high ground, and prepare for further action to the east and southeast. Presented by
the National Park Service.
The landing force often had to disembark early and under fire, having to
swim and wade their way ashore. Often they would hold their rifles up in
the air above the water to keep them dry. As a result, they were not even
able to fire back while in the water. Most beaches were heavily defended,
set up as death fields with heavy wire, protected by pillboxes and crossfire
zones; very few landings were unopposed, and if they were, that was
simply to get the entire landing force up on the beach so the enemy could
clobber all of them at once. Or, the enemy would allow them to get on the
beach and inland a little, and then clobber them.
While troops were landing, the medics who survived were carrying
wounded back to the craft. The choreography was such that men had to get
a foothold on the beach as ordered because their heavy equipment was
coming in right behind them, and so were more waves of troops. They
needed that equipment, especially artillery, they needed more ammo, they
needed more food and water, they needed to be reinforced, and they
needed more boats so the wounded had a way to get back to the ship for
care. In short, they had to get on the beach and then off the beach to make
room 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 the
43rd Division, described the war in the Pacific well from a strategic view:
"The islands in the Southwest Pacific were like a huge chessboard
board 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 another
stepping-stone towards the Japanese ... "
In almost all cases, a prime objective of the landing was to secure an
airfield from which US aircraft could launch to attack the next island,
where the objective was the same. Even in the Kyushu landing planned for
Downfall, the main objective was to take the airfields there for use to
support 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 war
with the divisions slated for Operation Olympic. With each battle, I try to
capture memories different from ones already addressed to cover as broad
a spectrum as we can given space and time. These GIs address a lot of
things we never think of. Even when the combat and fight to survive were
horrific, 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 Red
Beach. 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 saved
Guadalcanal," wrote this about the place:
"In his book Victory at Guadalcanal, author Robert Edward Lee
records one Marine’s cynical observation: 'If the world needed an
enema, this would be the right place to put in the hose!'"
Henry I. Shaw, Jr., in the "Marines in World War II Commemorative
Series," wrote this:
"The (marines) knew little about the targets, even less about their
opponents. Those maps that were available were poor, constructions
based upon outdated hydrographic charts and information provided
by former island residents. While maps based on aerial photographs
had 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 by
The Lost Buddies Project.
This is an example of the rugged jungle on a series of hills known as the Sea Horse on
Guadalcanal. Virtually no trails existed. The scene above is a typical example of the dense
growth. Presented by US Army.
Mark Griggs, whose father Joseph Miles Griggs. Jr. fought on
Guadalcanal, wrote this about his dad's experiences:
"At midnight of the third day all hell broke loose in the waters
northwest of Tulagi, around little Savo Island. Flares lighted the
horizon and the sound of heavy naval guns came rumbling over the
sea. There were flashes and explosions and then new salvos. No one
on the beach had a clue as to what was happening, but the general
mood was dark and ominous."
Griggs volunteered to go out on a patrol with 24 other Marines, and was
one of only three to return alive.
Returning to Henry Shaw:
"The Japanese on Tulagi were special naval landing force sailors and
they 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 was
no different in WWII. Captain Donald L. Dickson, USMC, painted this
watercolor of a Marine in the prone position while the offshore artillery
came in. He wrote:
"I wanted to catch on paper the feeling one had as a shell comes
whistling over. ... There is a sense of being alone, naked and
unprotected. And time seems endless until the shell strikes
somewhere."
In his book, The Battle for Guadlcanal,
Samuel B. Griffith, Brigadier General, USMC
(Ret.), wounded on Guadalcanal and a
recipient of the Navy Cross, talks of the
manner of fighting facing the 27th Infantry of
the 25th Division. He wrote this:
"Throughout its course, the
Guadalcanal campaign resolved itself
into a series of platoon, company and
battalion actions ... A regimental
commander, or even a battalion
commander, could exercise very little
control over the battle joined. Thus,
young company officers and non-commissioned officers, endowed
with the ability to work out imaginative tactical combinations and to
lead in their execution, had ample opportunity to display these
talents, which are not as commonly possessed as frequently
supposed. However, the fight for the southern spine of 'Galloping
Horse' was, on January 13, to develop into precisely this sort of
combat, fought and ultimately decided at such close range that hand
grenades 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 to
capture the Gifu. Tense nerves and weariness are apparent in the first two men of the
returning 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 getting
water to those on the line. Men would collapse and advances would have
to be slowed or stopped. He tells of our men fighting during a hot day
without water, trying to forge ahead but having to drop back, "men, their
clothes black with sweat and dirt, their throats as dry as sandpaper, on the
verge of collapse."
William J. Owens' book, Green Hell: The Battle for Guadalcanal, was
titled that way because of what the soldiers called the place:
"Green Hell ... a reeking, rotting and malaria-infested jungle that
tested any soldier's strength and courage."
By October, malaria began to claim as many casualties as Japanese artillery, bombs, and
naval gunfire. Shown here are the patients in the division hospital who are ministered to by
physicians and corpsmen working under minimal conditions. Presented by NPS, in its
presentation of Henry Shaw's "First Offensive"
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Pharamacist's Mate First Class Louis Ortega, who was with the Marines at
Guadalcanal, affirms Shaw's assessment:
"When you got malaria, you might have it five times. Everybody
was getting it over and over again. I had it five times--twice on the
island and three times in Australia. Those were reoccurrence attacks.
If they evacuated people who had it five times there would have
been no one left in the field. By the first of December, we had more
casualties--four or five thousand casualties from malaria, dengue
fever, than we did from actual battle."
Back to Henry Shaw once again:
"There was another price that Guadalcanal was exacting from both
sides. Disease was beginning to fell men in numbers that equalled
the battle casualties. In addition to gastroenteritis, which greatly
weakened those who suffered its crippling stomach cramps, there
were 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 it
didn't rain, sweat provided the moisture. On top of this came
hundreds 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 this
about the Battles of Guadalcanal:
"Before Guadalcanal the enemy advanced at his pleasure, after
Guadalcanal he retreated at ours."
New Georgia
U.S. soldiers take cover on Rendova Island, New Georgia, as they land during a rainstorm
on June 30, 1943. Presented by wikipedia.
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The 43rd Infantry Division had the lead in the New Georgia Campaign in
the central Solomons. The 43rd was formed from the National Guard. Like
most American forces that made their first landings in the Pacific, the 43rd
was largely a group of "novices," most of whom would be veterans the
morning after their initial assault, and hardened veterans at the end of the
day.
Most American fighting men found their
Japanese enemy to be mysterious. K.
Graham Fuschak, then an Army major,
wrote a paper for US Army Command and
General Staff College entitled, "The 43rd
Infantry Division: Unit cohesion and
neuropsychiatric casualties," published in
1999. Fuschak wrote this:
"The vital factor in considering
Japanese soldiers from the 43rd's
point of view is not who the Japanese
actually were, but who the Americans
thought they were."
Fuschak relates work done in 1946 by
Cultural Anthropologist Ruth Benedict, who
wrote this:
"The Japanese were the most alien enemy the United States had
every fought in an all out struggle ... It made the war in the Pacific
more than a series of landings on island beaches ... It made it a major
problem in the nature of the enemy. We had to understand their
behavior in order to cope with it."
The US Army's pamphlet provided to the troops, which many read on the
troop ships over, A Pocket Guide to New Guinea and the Solomons, said
this on the first page:
"New Guinea and the Solomon Islands are of the greatest strategic
importance to the United Nations. Everyone remembers only too
well the grim days when the Japs spread out like a swarm of locusts
over the peaceful Philippines and East Indies toward Australia, and
eastward into the Pacific Islands. The Japanese are locusts. They are
mindless swarms of insects, relentlessly moving from country to
country, devouring everything in their path."
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Beheading an American flier in a Japanese POW camp.; Photo courtesy of the Army
Archives. Presented by B-29s over Korea.
The Japanese in fact proved to have great capacity for savagery, savagery
that most American GIs had never seen before, savager that in this author's
mind rivals the terror of the Holocaust. It was common fare for Japanese
army troops to stick prisoners with their bayonets, cut off ears, bash in the
heads of young wounded Americans, chop off both ears, sever their
privates and shove them in their mouths, and then sever their heads. Young
men who once never imagined killing anyone, soon not only killed
Japanese, they wanted to kill them, and they hunted them down to kill
them. Quickly a quiet creed evolved among them: "Take no prisoners."
Justin Taylan has assembled a suite of anecdotes from those who served in
WWII, including those of Robert Glen Bryant, a private first class with the
169th Infantry. He made these remarks about the battle for Bibolo Hill
approaching Munda Air Base:
"We hit Bibolo Hill approaching Munda Airbase. With all the
bombardment and everything that America had been able to render,
the Japs were still there in strong force ... I was grazed in the back
with a machine gun. The bullets burned both sides of my back ...
The Japs started their overhead fire from hand grenades to mortar to
artillery. They gave us everything they had. I was hit with some kind
of fragmentation that I thought was a mortar shell. The shell blew
me some feet. I must have been knocked unconscious because when
I came to, I heard the order to pull back because the Japs were ready
to make the 'Banzai' drive. (They would yell Banzai, Banzai, Banzai
when attacking.) The fragments from the shell tore up my leg and
paralyzed my left wrist and legs. I was pinned down and tracer
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bullets burned my sideburns, and my eyelashes were burned
completely off.
"I began to crawl backwards to my line as much as I could. Big trees
were blown up. I crawled through a treetop. One hand and both my
legs were dead. I was pulling myself with one hand like a worm. I
crawled in the direction of the medics about a hundred yards ... They
slit my boot which was laced from top to bottom. I was given first
line Medic care.
"I was carried out of the jungle on stretchers under strong enemy
fire. The day before, I had carried some in on stretchers, and the Japs
killed them while still on stretchers. The Japs would kill them
anyway they could. They laid me on the beach for about an hour
awaiting 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 the
boat on my stretcher, father Doyle lay next to me. I said, 'Did you
get it too, Father Doyle?' He could only wave his hand. I heard he
died soon after that.
"As I was brought through the jungle on stretchers, I was just ahead
of some Japs coming in behind me. This group of Japs came through
and cut off our lines, and attacked our water purification point. They
knocked out everything there including the American casualties who
were forced to sit down at night. The Americans intended to bring
them out at daylight to be on there way for medical treatment. The
Japanese attacked and slaughtered everyone of them. I was one of
the lucky ones who got through before they were forced to sit
down."
The jungles of the Pacific were also new to our forces. Fushak points out
how the jungle could "inspire fear in the uninitiated." He cites General
MacArthur's farewell speech at West Point in 1962, where, among other
things, MacArthur described the jungle as "mysterious, trembling."
MacArthur said this, which reflected well what many GIs thought about
the jungle:
"This is the kind of jungle I learned to fear and hate in my youth, a
soggy miasma of disease-bearing insects, snakes, precipitous slopes,
mire, swamps, heat, humidity, rushing rivers to cross. There is horror
everywhere, everywhere, and angst."
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Landing craft carried the 2-172 Infantry of the 43rd Division to this junglecovered beachhead on Arundel. Although the soldiers met no opposition
initially, fanatic enemy defenders soon engaged the invaders and fought on
for nearly a month. US Army photo presented by USMC.
The Wolfhound Heritage Project run by a person whose last name is
Kolchak has a work in progress conveying stories about the New Georgia
expedition by the 27th Regiment of the 25th Division. This one is sad and
telling:
"I was sent to patrol a trail we landed astride of. About 800 yards
from the beach we came upon the bodies of a patrol that had been
ambushed by the Nips. I don’t recall how many were there, about a
half dozen. What did impress me was the fact that, although these
GI’s had been dead only about two days, their rifles were already
rusty and inoperable. Each rifle had fired the first round and then
jammed. I emphasized this on my men for keeping their weapons
clean."
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," a
group of GIs who grabbed anything they could get their hands on to
deliver to the troops on the line. Their first problem was to find supplies for
the 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 keep
the supply flow going through such difficult terrain and jungle. For
example, his notes talk of "Starvation Ridge:"
"Our rations were one can heavy and one can light C-rations per
platoon per day. I had a spoon and we ate our meal by dumping the
can of meat and beans or whatever into a helmet, breaking crackers
into it with half a canteen of water and then we would each eat a
spoonful of food in turn until it was all gone. We tried to get
re-supplied by air but because of the dense jungles the planes
couldn'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 November
1943. These are more properly called Landing Craft Vehicle, personnel (LCVP), or Higgins
Boats. National Archives. Presented by Armed Forces Journal.
Captain John C. Chapin, USMCR (Ret.), tells part of the story about
Bougainville in "Top of the ladder: Marine Operations in the Northern
Solomons." 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 run
aboard their landing craft. The surf tossed them around like marbles,
Marines were landing on the wrong beaches, and craft slammed into each
other, 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 3rd
Marines met heavy resistance, machine gun and artillery crossfires, boats
getting hit before they landed, Marines wading to shore under fire, enemy
hidden in the underbrush lining the beach, enemy in numerous bunkers and
rifle 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." He
was 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 malaria
which 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. His
platoon was tasked to take over Marine defensive pillboxes at the airport
there. He said this about the pillboxes:
"The pillboxes were made of logs and dug in about four feet deep in
a swamp. We had sleeping bags that would float, which came in
hazardous when the swamp water rose during the night. Japanese
snipers fire at the floating sleeping bag made it more practical to get
a little wet than getting shot."
He mentions Staff Sergeant Freddie Caps, who would soon be promoted to
lieutenant:
"(Freddie) would lead patrols outside the perimeter. When he was
leading a squad patrol and encountered a Japanese camp he would
pull back to a safe distance and draw a map of the Japanese
deployment in the dirt. He would then attack the position with each
man knowing his assignment. This technique resulted in total
Japanese casualties and no casualties to us. Freddie Caps was given
an officer battlefield promotion. Freddie was promoted to the rank of
Major 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 a
Star, saying this:
"'From seven o'clock in the evening till dawn, with only centipedes
and lizards and scorpions and mosquitoes begging to get acquainted
— wet, cold, exhausted, but unable to sleep — you lay there and
shivered and thought and hated and prayed. But you stayed there.
You didn't cough, you didn't snore, you changed your position with
the 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 swamps
south of the Torokina River. We developed a routine of watching the
man in front of us so that when he sank below the swamp water we
would 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 we
started to get ‘Jungle Rot’ with infected sores on our feet. The
solution to this was to put our valuables in a rubberized bag, throw
our cloths in a pre-dug pit, then took a rare shower. We got a new set
of clothes on the other side of the shower. A healthy portion of sulfa
powder took care of the foot jungle rot."
Gilberts - Tarawa
"Beachhead Scene, Marines at Tarawa," by Ker Eby, charcoal and pastel, 1944, the gift of
Abbott Laboratories. Presented by the Naval Historical Center.
November 1943 was a busy month for the Marines. Shortly after the
Bougainville landings, the 2nd MARDIV, which had been recuperating and
training in New Zealand, led the invasion of the Gilberts. This was to be
the first major amphibious operation in the Central Pacific.
It took 36 naval transport ships to enable the 2nd MARDIV to land. As
they approached aboard naval landing craft on November 20, 1943, Griggs
reported:
"The beach was a sheet of flame backed by a huge wall of black
smoke...Every Marine was sickly white with terror...and the floor of
the landing craft was awash in vomit."
There were about 4,300 Japanese on Tarawa. Historians say only Iwo Jima
was more heavily fortified of all the beaches assaulted in the Pacific during
WWII.
Robert Leckie, in his book, Strong Men Armed, the United States Marines
against Japan, tells of landing craft hitting reefs and taking heavy Japanese
fire and of the first wave taking 70 percent casualties, with the call back to
the ships, "Can't hold." The next waves hurried in, almost more amtracks
sunk or disabled than landing forces could count, landing forces having to
wade in. Marines were dying in the shallow water, in the deep water,
Marines holding their weapons above their heads to keep them dry, unable
to fire, and on shore, Marines caught in barbed wire and shot. Leckie said
that Japan's Rear Admiral Shibaski was sure of repelling the invaders, and
it 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 the
fire-swept open ground. Presented by USMC Historical Monograph.
Then Leckie writes:
"They got inshore, even the wounded, even the dying youth with his
chest 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 mouth
and 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 Alto
Times published his memories a year later. Among other things, he said:
"This surviving group of men held the island, alone and under
frightful conditions, for most of the first afternoon. Behind them, in
the 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 sailors
removed their helmets and Chaplain Boer spoke: 'We are in
the presence of the last enemy, death. We did not know these
men personally, but God does, and therefore we commit them
unto Him who is the righteous judge of the earth.'"
In his book, Where is God when it hurts?, Philip Yancey quotes Chaplain
Boer saying this:
"The Second (Marine) Division saw much action, and great
losses. Yet I never met an enlisted man or an officer who
doubted for a moment the outcome of the war. Nor did I ever
meet a marine who asked why, if victory is so sure, we
couldn't have it immediately. It was just a question of slogging
through till the enemy gave up."
Harry Jackson was one of the first 1,500 Marines to land. He revisited
Tarawain 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 that
landed 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 February
29, 1944. Air reconnaissance informed the leadership that there was little
evidence of enemy activity on the Admiralties. That assessment was
wrong. The invasion force was outnumbered 4-to-1. The 1st Cav put 1,000
men on Los Negros during the first day, under fire.
One landing craft had single 30mm machine-guns, one on each side. The
sailors told the 1st Cav passengers to keep their heads down or they'd get
blown off. The boat was hit, with a large hole forward through the landing
ramp. Four men who had been there were now gone. The barge had to
head back to its destroyer. William Siebieda, a Navy gunner from
Wheeling, West Virginia, left his gun and stuck his hip into the hole to plug
it and stop the water from coming in. At the same time, he fired his tommy
gun and 1st Cav troopers, themselves wounded, just kept feeding him
ammo clips. They made it back.
The USS Swanson Association has written about the battle. The author
wrote this about the 1st Cav after hitting the beach:
"The only way for the 1,000 cavalrymen to hold their small jungle
area at night against an infiltrating enemy was for each man to stay
in his foxhole and fire at anything that moved. A Japanese using a
sword killed an officer who decided to sleep in a hammock above his
foxhole."
Richard Foss was with the 7th Cav of the 1st Cav Division, a machine
gunner. 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 in
the campaign as we did in later campaigns but we did learn how
difficult it was to lose good buddies in battle, both wounded and
dead."
Franklin Boggs has painted two works from the Battle of the Admiralties,
both dealing with helping the wounded. We wanted to highlight them for
you. They were presented by the Office of Medical History, Office of the
Surgeon General.
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"The Race Against Death," Admiralty Island, 1944. A casualty is hurried into a front line
operating unit converted from a Japanese pill-box. By Franklin Boggs.
"Evacuation Under Fire," Admiralty Island, 1944. A wounded man is carried from the
fighting 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 as
the 1st Cav landed on Los Negros of the Admiralty Islands:
"We went in as a Reconnaissance Force. Uh... MacArthur was in the
ships offshore. And, our units were told to hold the island... at least,
overnight. And then since we did that, MacArthur sent the rest of us
in 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 the
planes to go further north.
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"We met some pretty good resistance. The uh... Japanese on Los
Negros were... Imperial Marines and they were big guys... very
fanatic... and that was the first time I had ever really seen dead
Japanese and there were just heaps of them. And I'll always
remember I felt no kinship for them as human beings. To me, they
were 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 in
New Guinea. This was called the "Reckless Task Force." The 163rd
Infantry of the 41st Infantry Division was tapped to take Aitape, and
became 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 of
Hollandia. The division was located in New Zealand, so it was brought in
to Aitape early to reinforce and prepare for its attacks to the west. The
division did not expect to fight at Aitape, but thought it was going to use it
as a staging base for its westward movement across the northern shore of
the island. Therefore, when its units landed, they were not combat loaded.
The division's men were moved into combat positions immediately, and
had to make do with what they had.
Sgt. Joseph Steinbacher was with the 169th Infantry on New Guinea, and
was there for two years before moving on to the Philippines. He has
written this:
"I lay down in my shallow trench and stared up at the evening sky. I
had chopped through a nest of little red ants and they were really
biting me. I mashed hundreds and finally got rid of most of them. I
felt just like one of those little ants. If I didn't get killed in this damn
war I would really need a lot of luck and probably some help from
the Almighty. I thought about a cat and how they are supposed to
have nine lives. Well, if I had been a cat, I would probably have used
up three of my nine lives already."
Bill Garbo was a dog handler with G-Troop,
2nd Squadron, 12th Cavalry, G/2-112 Cav
and was at the Driniumor Line during the
battles there. He provides some great
descriptions 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 and
if the river is not rising, can easily be
crossed by walking over rocks and
sandbars strewn with dead trees and brush while avoiding the
occasional deep hole. When the water rises it is of short duration; a
muddy torrent boils down the river bed carrying trees and boulders
with it. This happens after a heavy cloud burst in the mountains
which 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 the
Equator and North of Australia. It is 1,500 miles long and 400 miles
wide ... New Guinea is covered with thick vegetation known as
'jungle rain forest' similar to the smaller islands of that general area
of the South Pacific, notably New Britain, Guadalcanal and the
Bismarck Archipelago. With an annual rainfall of 80 to 300 inches,
(6' to 25') the jungle growth is massive within a few feet of the ocean
leaving a narrow and steep sand beach ... The jungle is characterized
by giant hardwoods, which tower two hundred feet into the air with
trunks six and eight feet in diameter, flared out at the base by great
buttress roots. Among and beneath the trees thrive a fantastic tangle
of vines, creepers, ferns and brush, impenetrable even to the eye for
more than a few feet. Kunei grass 6 to 10 feet tall grows in a thick
maze along the open sand bars of the rivers with its host of mites
(carriers of scrub typhus), lice and giant spiders; the blades of grass
are sharp enough to slice your arms and legs if you try to walk
through 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 in
extraordinary sizes and varieties: ants whose bite feels like a live
cigarette against the flesh, improbable spiders, wasps three inches
long, scorpions and centipedes that sting thrive in the undergrowth.
Insects fill the evening air just before dark with a chorus of sounds
so loud you can hear nothing else. When darkness falls the noise of
the insects continues for awhile then stops abruptly as though
ordered 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 by
rivers."
He said this about the overall battle:
"The battle of the Driniumor river was to be my first experience in
combat; 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 Infantry
Division. 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 New
Guinea), and because of the lack of remaining light, reinforcements
did not reach the Americans until the next day, and what they found
they never forgot. No men of the patrol were survivors of the
ambush and in checking their bodies, the men noticed that their
bodies had been brutalized and the flesh had been stripped from their
arms and legs. The Americans could hear the escaping Japanese as
they tore through the jungle so the American in-charge of this patrol
urged the men to continue onward intent on catching the Japanese
who had perpetrated this crime.
"Well, they caught-up with the Japanese, and when the shooting was
done, the Americans searched the bodies and found wrapped in
leaves the flesh that had been cut from the bodies of the Americans
killed the previous day."
Marianas - Saipan
U.S. Marines land on Saipan Beach,15 June 1944. Photograph courtesy of the CNMI
Historic Preservation Office. Presented by pacificworlds.com
After six months in Hawaii, in May 1944, the 2nd MARDIV once again
moved out, this time to Saipan. Those who survived Guadalcanal and
Tarawa were heading back, along with new replacements to fill the ranks.
There were about 5,000 Japanese at their previous battle in Tarawa, and
that was one helluva fight. There were about 32,000 waiting for these
Marines on Saipan.
On June 15, 1944, Commander David Moore, USN (Ret.) recalls that at
about 4 am:
"The speakers in the crowded quarters below decks of each Landing
Ship Tank (LST) in the invasion fleet called for muster. It was the
alarm for the approaching battle; no one had slept ... The air in the
quarters and on the tank deck was electrified with anxiety. No small
talk, 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 Corps
conducted such a large scale amphibious assault. This was also the first
time the Marines conducted such a large scale ground operation.
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Robert Leckie, in his book, Strong Men Armed, the United States Marines
against Japan, tells this story of the doctor briefing the Marines prior to the
Saipan landing:
"In the surf, beware of sharks, barracuda, sea snakes, anemones,
razor-sharp coral, polluted waters, poison fish and giant clams that
shut on a man like a bear trap. Ashore, there is leprosy, typhus,
filariasis, yaws, typhoid, dengue fever, dysentery, saber grass, hordes
of flies, snakes and giant lizards. Eat nothing growing on the island,
don't drink its waters, and don't approach its inhabitants. Any
questions?"
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 Marine
units overran the Aslito airfield. Then, after completing this task, the
2nd and 4th Marine Divisions, together with the 27th Army
Division, began a broad sweep northward to clear out the Japanese
soldiers in their bunkers. It was small-unit fighting, very personal
and very hard."
"Mopping up" was almost always dangerous work. Soldiers became
cynical when they heard the brass declaring victory, and then assigning
them to "mop up." Bill Hoover, a Marine, tells this story about Saipan:
"On July 11th 1944, my (tank) platoon was ordered to move down
the beach about twenty yards off shore. Our orders were to strafe and
shell any caves that opened into the ocean, where we knew Japanese
soldiers had taken positions. A Marine infantryman on shore pointed
to a cave a few yards ahead, and said he saw about 20 or 30 soldiers
wade into the cave ... I was told to open fire with our 75mm canon. I
fired off 4 or 5 rounds and we could hear people screaming inside
the cave. We ceased fire and asked and yelled for anyone inside to
please come out and surrender. Instead, we received machine gun
and rifle fire, as well as a couple of hand grenades. I fired in another
10 or 15 rounds of 75mm HE (high explosive); then we were told a
team of Marines were going to go in and make sure it was secure. At
this time, the water flowing out of the cave was red with blood.
When the infantry team came back out they reported there were at
least 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 to
surrender to us, under threat of being killed by the Jap soldiers. I
regret to this day we had to take the action we did, but we could not
leave 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 the
camera. 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 it
was 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 Amphibious
Tractors. The Marines transferred to them, and jumped out through the rear
once on the beach. A mortar hit to the right. They dove into a crater. Miller
reports that one Marine asked for a light, held up his hand to shield the
wind, 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 by
wikipedia.
Corporal Harold "Al" Tesch was with the 3rd War Dog Platoon, a veteran
of Guadalcanal, now on Guam, and next to be on Iwo Jima. His dog on
Guam was Sargent Tippy, shown below. Their job was to scout ahead of a
patrol and locate enemy. Tippy usually led, Tesch holding on to him, with
another 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 then
they'd both perk. We called it 'alerting.' So his
pointed ears would perk like that, and then
his head would bob up and down trying to
locate the scent. Now if he was really hot, his
hair 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, not
ever. So what I'd do is crouch down low and
put my head directly behind his. Then I'd take a line of sight and look
down the top of his muzzle as if I were aiming a rifle barrel. I used to think
of 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. This
shows troops from the 2nd MARDIV "mopping up" following Banzai attack. Marines had to
be 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 landed
with the third assault wave on Guam. He too would go on to Iwo Jima. He
talks of "A field Paved with Bodies in Guam," a Bonzai attack experience.
He says this:
"Probably the greatest 'Banzai' attack that ever happened was on
Guam. 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 is
a 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. So
they were, they were just like shooting ducks in a barrel. And I
looked out there and there was a field that was paved. I’m a
newspaper man now and I’d write, 'There’s a field paved with
bodies.'"
Corporal William Paull, USMC, a veteran of Tulagi, Guadalcanal, and
Tarawa, has commented this way about battlefields being declared
"secure:"
"My scariest time on Guam came after the island was declared
secure. While awaiting transfer to ships to take us to our next
adventure, we were assigned guard duty on the perimeters of the
brigade's position. We knew that many Japs were hiding out on the
island. They would slip out and toss a grenade into a group of
sleeping troops and disappear back into the jungle. Some of these
soldiers hid out for months. I spent several spooky four-hour
watches on the edge of a cane field, jumping every time a rat rustled
the 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 "feet
wet" wading in from the attack transports seen in the background. Department of Defense
Photo (USMC) 88088. Presented by "A Close Encounter: The Marine landing on Tinian," by
Richard Harwood.
Richard Harwood, in "A Close Encounter: The Marine landing on Tinian,"
wrote about the fighting. He talks about Lt. Colonel Justice M. "Jumping
Joe" Chambers, commander, 3-25 Marines, who would later receive the
Medal of Honor for his heroism at Iwo Jima. Chambers said this:
"There was a big gully that ran from the southeast to northwest and
right into the western edge of our area. Anybody in their right mind
could have figured that if there was to be any counterattacks, that
gully would be used ... During the night ... my men were reporting
that they were hearing a lot of Japanese chattering down in the gully
... They hit us about midnight in K company's area. They hauled by
hand a couple of 75mm howitzers with them and when they got
them up to where they could fire at us, they hit us very hard. I think
K company did a pretty damn good job but ... about 150, 200 Japs
managed to push through (the 1,500 yards) to the beach area ...
When the Japs hit the rear areas, all the artillery and machine guns
started shooting like hell. Their fire was coming from the rear and
grazing right up over our heads ... In the meantime, the enemy that
hit L company was putting up a hell of a fight within 75 yards of
where I was and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. Over
in K company's area ... was where the attack really developed. That's
where (Lt.) Mickey McGuire ... had his 37mm guns on the left flank
and was firing canister. Two of my men were manning a machine
gun (Cpl Alfred J. Daigle and Pfc Orville H. Showers)."
Harwood then tells how a Marine combat correspondent described the
action involving Chambers' two men, Daigle and Showers:
"(Showers and Daigle) held their fire until the Japanese were 100
yards away, then opened up. The Japanese charged, screaming,
'Banzai,' firing light machine guns and throwing hand grenades. It
seemed impossible that the two Marines, far ahead of their own
lines, could hold on ... The next morning they were found slumped
over their weapons, dead. No less than 251 Japanese bodies were
piled in front of them .... The Navy Cross was awarded
posthumously to Daigle and the Silver Star posthumously to
Showers."
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Marines of the 2nd Division find some of the most difficult terrain on Tinian as they move
up towards the top of Mount Lasso, one of the highest points on the island. Department of
the Defense Photo (USMC) 87900. Presented by "A Close Encounter: The Marine landing
on Tinian," by Richard Harwood.
As we read the many stories from the men who fought in WWII, we are
often struck by things we had not thought they might experience.
Steinbacher mentioned that the Japanese were using horses to pull their
artillery, in this case hauling potent 77mm guns. One of the sergeants
directed 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 fire
and he recalls the horses screaming as they were hit, a suite of sounds that
must 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 US
bases in Saipan and Tinian to bomb Japan's Home Islands. Previously, they
had to stage out of India and China. The missions from the Marianas began
in 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 in
the southern Solomons east of Australia all the way up to take Saipan,
Tinian and Guam in the Marianas. US forces were also marching across
northern New Guinea and closing on the Philippines.
Admiral Nimitz argued that his forces had inflicted enough damage on the
Japanese that they could go straight to Iwo Jima, then Okinawa and on to
the Home Islands, bypassing the Philippines and Formosa. General
MacArthur, personally invested in returning to the Philippines, would have
no part of that and won the day. The next stop would the Philippines. So be
it. While he did that, Nimitz pressed ahead to Iwo Jima and MacArthur to
the Philippines, the forces under their command meeting to invade
Okinawa. In the mean time, the Army Air Force continued unabated with
its 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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The very human nature of the war in the Pacific

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