Waiting and Wondering
We had heard that the invasion of Europe began June 6, 1944 while still at sea, but it meant little to us as we were occupied with D-Day in the Pacific in eight days. I remember the numb feeling I had the night before and how difficult it was to sleep knowing what tomorrow would bring. Or more appropriately, NOT knowing what tomorrow would bring. Around 4:00 a.m., while waiting for daylight and our first glimpse of the island, I watched a Jap plane go down in flames off our port bow. I wondered how many and which of us would be killed in the next few hours and if I would be one of them. I had breakfast with Billy Trimmer; it was to be our last hot breakfast for many weeks. We listened over the ship’s speaker system as the first waves began landing at 0800, but all we could understand was that they were receiving intense artillery fire and some had landed on the wrong beach. We were in Corps reserve, on alert and ready to go where we would be needed.
Hitting the Beach
About noon, the 8th Marine Regiment requested us. We climbed down the cargo nets over the side of the ship in full battle gear then into Higgins boats, which was a challenge with the boats being tossed about, rising and falling with each wave. We had to time our jump from the net into the Higgins boat while it was on the rise; otherwise you had a long way to fall. We headed for the “line of departure” that was about 2,000 yards from the shore, where we climbed out of the Higgins boats into armored amphibious tractors for the landing. Our driver said that he was bracketed by artillery shells on his last run. Several tractors had been hit. The early amphibious tractors did not have a ramp at the rear, and we had to climb over the sides. I was the first out on my side, and there on the beach were several dead Marines. Ants were already in their nose and mouths. A hand was rising and falling with each wave as if to say “goodbye,” a scene difficult to forget.
I pressed the safety off on my carbine, but on the early model carbines, the safety and magazine release were push buttons side by side. I had released my ammunition clip into the sand and was ready to do battle with an empty rifle with the safety on! I ran back and found the clip. We crossed an airstrip parallel with the beach into a grove of trees and dug foxholes.
Contact with the Enemy
During the night I heard a noise from our rear. It was a Jap soldier who had been so well concealed on the beach that he escaped detection. He was trying to get through to his lines. He stopped at the foot of my foxhole, and while a flare attached to a small parachute hung in the sky casting eerie shadows, he stared down at me. Although we could not see each other’s eyes, I stared back at him. I would have to roll over on my back, swing my rifle around, push the safety “off” (hopefully the right button this time), and shoot him before he shot me. The odds were not good. As the flare died he started to run, but was shot by a Marine from a nearby foxhole. I do not think my foxhole buddy, James Thompson, ever forgave me for allowing a Jap to stand over our foxhole while he slept.
We received intense artillery fire most of the night, and I learned what it was like to be scared – really scared – and totally helpless. I could only lie there and pray to God as I had never prayed before. I was “in the valley of the shadow of death.” Dawn meant that I had only survived my first night of combat.
Marines take cover on Saipan
We had suffered 32 casualties in our company. I saw a Marine with the top of his head missing; the name on the back of his jacket was “Trimmer.” It was Billy, with whom I had breakfast yesterday morning aboard ship.
Finding Amelia Earhart?!
We found a safe, and since I was a demolitionist, I was asked to blow it open. I was not an experienced bank robber, and I used too much explosive. The entire door blew off and everything inside became confetti except for a pistol. Years later a TV show, “Unsolved Mysteries,” claimed we found evidence pertaining to Amelia Earhart in the safe. It even named my unit. (In 1937 Amelia Earhart and her navigator Frederick Noonan attempted a flight around the world using only a compass. Their destination was Howland Island, some 1500 miles south of Saipan. They disappeared somewhere in the Pacific, and one rumor was that they had strayed off course and landed on Saipan where they were shot as spies.)
Pay Back
The second day we were ordered to attack across Lake Susupe, a chest-deep swamp. The Japanese had machine guns on platforms that caused about 80 casualties in A Company, but the swamp was so thick they could not see us and we only received sporadic fire. Joe Iafrate, a short Marine, got stuck in the muck (muddy bottom). Two tall Marines, Earl Lingerfelt and Lyle Struss, each grabbed a shoulder and lifted him out. At a reunion 50 years later, Joe said, “I guess I owe my life to you two guys.” Jack replied, “Hell Joe, I couldn’t leave you there; you owed me five dollars! By the way, Joe did you ever pay me those five dollars?” So we tried to figure the interest on five dollars for 50 years.
Engaging the Enemy
A Jap was directing artillery fire upon us from a smokestack at the sugar mill that had been riddled with shrapnel, and no one suspected he was there. Two men were killed in the shelling and several wounded. My foxhole buddy received a nasty gash across the calf of his leg from shrapnel. I put sulfa powder (that we carried in our first aid kits) on his leg and bandaged it. The Jap in the smokestack was discovered when a Marine who had cut wires leading to the top, found them repaired the next day.
We continued the attack. I went up a small hill, rather than around it as everyone else did, and I found myself alone. Looking down I could see three Japs in a trench. I fired several shots at them from my carbine, which was not too accurate at that range. I managed to kill one while the others got away. When I came down, I was told a sniper had just killed a Marine where I was about to sit. I felt a sense of guilt, wondering if the sniper was one of the two Japs I had failed to kill.
The second night we were called back to the airfield where we dug in on both sides of the runway, as an air invasion was expected. We learned the next morning that our fighters had shot down all of the planes. However, one landed on the runway the next day, apparently thinking it was still held by the Japanese. How he got there without being shot down, or where he came from, we never found out.
Marine stands over bodies of dead Japanese on Saipan
During our attack on the third morning, we were to make contact with the 4th Marine Division on our right flank. We saw what we believed were Marines from the 4th Division in a palm grove and began waving, which brought a hail of bullets. I managed to stop a tank on the road below and behind us by daring it to run me over. That is when I learned there was a telephone in the rear (used to talk to the tank commander). I directed the tanks to where we needed them, and after a few rounds from the tanks’ 75mm guns, all was quiet. We dug in for the night on the forward slope of a small hill.
The next morning we found three Jap artillery pieces at the base of the reverse slope. During the night, four Jap officers using their Samurai swords had surprised three Marines in their foxhole. Sgt Jamros was beheaded, and Joe Wall and Lieutenant Nollau were badly cut up before the Japs were killed by other Marines.
Mt. Tapochau
The 1st Battalion 29th Marines was assigned the task of capturing Mt. Tapochau, the highest point on the island at 1550 feet. We attacked several hundred yards up the mountain without much opposition. That night my foxhole position was to be between two large boulders, which was a very safe-looking place, but our captain decided that “safe place” should be the company command post, and we had to move to the outside of the boulders. About midnight we began receiving artillery fire from our rear. The Japs had managed to slip back and were using one of the artillery pieces at the base of the hill we had just left. We thought it was our own artillery firing short rounds, so we sent up green flares to indicate friendly troops. This made a perfect target for the Japs. One round landed directly between the two large boulders killing our Captain, Lieutenant, Platoon Sergeant, Corpsman, and Radioman. Hot spent shrapnel landed on my back. Our platoon took 39 casualties. The next morning as we were resuming the attack up the mountain, Army tanks fired on us with machine guns, causing even more casualties. Our Marine General relieved the Army General of command, as the Army was not attacking fast enough to protect our right flank. Sgt. John Orsock led a patrol through enemy territory to
contact the Army and bring them up to protect our exposed flank.
In our fight up the mountain, we received a lot of mortar and machine gun fire. I remember a mortar shell exploding behind us and then one in front of us when someone said, “The next one will be right here…run!” We did, and it was! We gained fame and respect in a remarkable feat when we scaled the mountain at night without losing a man. But when the Japs discovered we were there, they wanted us off. They counterattacked twice, but we held! We counted about 40 dead Japs after they withdrew.
That night, a Jap plane strafed and bombed us. I remember Sanyi saying it was one of our planes because he could see its lights. Those “lights” turned out to be muzzle flashes from its machine guns before the bullets began hitting around us. The bombs missed us, but they were close enough that we could hear them coming, and that was unnerving enough. From the peak of the mountain the next morning we raised the Stars and Stripes for all to see! Everyone, including Japs, knew the mountain belonged to the Marines, as Marines always stand on the skyline.
Souvenir Hunting
On the down side of the mountain we came upon a field hospital with numerous dead Japs and mutilated bodies. Maggots were eating away at exposed wounds. The stench was nauseating. That night we dug in on both sides of a valley and killed about twenty Japs who came down the trail. Jack Lingerfelt remembers Ben Balay searching a dead Jap the next morning for souvenirs – but he was not dead!
Marines march through Garapan
We were relieved after 21 days of continuous combat and sent to garrison duty, first at Garapan, the capital city which now lay in rubble, and then to guard Tanapag harbor where we fought off several attempts by the Japs to reach the four submarines tied up alongside a submarine tender. We collected rifles, bayonets, helmets and other souvenirs, and then we caught a boat to the submarine tender anchored in the harbor where we traded souvenirs to sailors for candy, cigarettes, and a gallon of dehydrated apples. We had lived on “C” rations for the last six weeks, and we envied the sailors who had a ship store where they could buy these things. Not to mention they were served hot meals every day and had nice bunks to sleep in every night.
Feeling Revenge
The Japanese admiral who led the carrier task force in the attack on Pearl Harbor was Admiral Chūichi Nagumo. He was now in command of the Japanese Central Pacific Fleet based in Saipan. On the night of July 6, 1944, Admiral Nagumo died by his own hand. I remember a feeling of revenge for Pearl Harbor.
I did not witness the estimated 5,000 Japanese civilians who committed suicide by jumping off the cliffs at the north end of the island. They had been told we would torture, rape, and kill them. Whole families jumped together. Approximately 30,000 Japanese soldiers died on Saipan. A few prisoners were taken, but they were mostly Okinawa laborers. It was discovered that some Japs who had survived the battle were hiding in the daytime and coming down at night to forage for food, so we were ordered to set a trap. It was around midnight and pitch black when we heard footsteps. Four of us fired several rounds in the direction of the footsteps, and one Jap was killed just a few feet away. The rest scattered and took their wounded and dead with them. Some Japs stayed isolated for many years on several islands. When they finally surrendered, in some cases years later, some were not aware that the war was over.
Saipan was 1500 miles from Japan and well within the range of the B-29 bombers. Our planes could now take off from Saipan, bomb Tokyo, and return in one day. We watched for disabled B-29 bombers returning from bombing raids. If one was spotted, we alerted the airfield. We reported one fighter plane with a bomb dangling from his wing that had failed to release on a bombing mission. The airfield alerted him, and he managed to jar it loose over the ocean.
After the battle, almost everyone had Dengue fever caused from a sting by a white mosquito. Most had fevers of 105 degrees; it lasted about a week and was much like the flu. Our Corpsman could only give us APC tablets and wait for us to sweat it out. APC (aspirin, phenacetin, caffeine) tablets were the “cure all” for everything that ailed anyone.
Marine lifts nearly dead infant from cave on Saipan
Before we left Saipan, we visited the wounded in the division field hospital and went to the 2nd Marine Division cemetery to look for a familiar name on a cross.
Joining the Sixth Division
In August 1945, the 29th Marines sailed from Saipan for Guadalcanal aboard the USS Polaris. With the arrival of the 1st battalion 29th Marine Regiment in Guadalcanal, the formation of the 6th Marine Division was complete. The division consisted of the 4th Marine Regiment that was formed from the original Raider Battalions, the 22nd Marine Regiment, and 15th Marine Artillery Regiment. The 1st and 2nd battalions of the 29th Marines had already arrived from the United States where they had been formed.
Back to Guadalcanal
We trained on Guadalcanal for our next invasion. In 1942 Japan had been advancing rapidly across Asia and bombing Australia. To stop the Japanese advance toward Australia, U.S. Marines invaded Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in August 1942. It was a bitter six month battle during which the issue was in doubt several times. Great naval battles were fought there. The largest number of ships ever sunk was between Guadalcanal and Savo Island; it is known as “Iron Bottom Sound.” Five brothers were killed on one U.S. ship when it was sunk there. The invention of radar helped immensely in defeating the superior Japanese navy. There was a Japanese ship so desperate to land reinforcements that it beached. It was still there along with a Japanese two man submarine and several Japanese landing craft, all relics of war.
Guadalcanal was mostly jungle, and the temperature was well over 100 degrees every day. Many of the Japanese who were not killed in battle ended up living on the other side of the island, which is separated by a mountain ridge. Isolated, they were still there years after the war ended.
I remember being on a training exercise to conserve water. Most had consumed our two canteens of water when we came upon two wild boars in a mud hole. We were so thirsty we chased them out to fill our canteens with the nasty muddy water. Thirty minutes later we came upon a fast flowing clear river.
We received yellow Atabrine tablets to swallow each morning to prevent us from getting malaria, which is spread by mosquito. Atabrine caused our skin to turn yellow, so you could tell who was not taking his Atabrine, which was a court martial offence. Since malaria is spread by mosquito, we had mosquito nets over our cots. One night part of my blanket fell to the deck (yes, it gets cool at night even in the jungle), and one of the large land crabs whose claws spread probably eight inches or more had crawled up the blanket into my cot. I guess it just wanted to keep warm as it did not bother me and I did not discover it until morning. Land crabs were very common on Guadalcanal.
Saipan Land Crab
We seldom received our beer ration. When we did, it was always hot so we tried to make what is called “Raisin Jack” by bringing our fruit from the mess hall each day and then saving it in a five gallon can. When full, we buried it to allow it to ferment. The problem was we did not have enough patience and dug it up too soon. Those who drank it ended up in sick bay.
Then there were the poker games. We were paid twice a month; I received $15.00 the first of the month and $10.00 on the 15th, which I usually lost in poker games that I am not sure were always honest. It was not much money for putting your life on the line, but it was not the money that we were fighting for.
Sixth Marine Division