Stories by Sixth Division Marines
 Cpl Jack Lawson |
At the End of His Life,
|
I must say I am extremely proud of my service as a Marine, but not to be obviously boastful by embellishing the truth as I have heard many others do. I have talked very little about my experiences except to friends and family so as not to leave this impression. I was not a hero and won no personal awards.
Jack Lawson late in life
Boot Camp
When one is a Marine, you are exactly that. A Marine. I notice in some branches of military service, men and women are recruited for certain designated duties and are trained for only that. Sounds like being a civilian. Not so in the Marine Corps. There are certain special duties you may perform, but you are first and foremost an infantry-trained fighting Marine.
I voluntarily enlisted in the Marine Corps while in Johnson City, TN and was sent to Nashville to be sworn in. From there about 20 of us were sent on a Pullman car, which was switched from train to train in various cities until one reached San Diego four days later.
Boot Camp is a unique experience which one must go through to understand. It is an experience that will reveal what is inside of you, what you are made of. You will learn discipline. You will follow orders, exactly. You will speak only when spoken to. No exceptions. You will address your D.I. (drill instructor) by first saying “Sir.” You will be physically fit or it will kill you. You will learn weaponry and close order drill. Every minute of every day is planned, and that plan is followed.
I knew right away that it was not going to be any “piece of cake.” It was rough duty but I had volunteered for this, and I was going to make the best of it. The secret to making your way through this was simply to keep your mouth shut and your ears open and do exactly as you were told. Those 10-12 weeks taught me many things, mainly to follow orders without hesitation. Those were lessons for survival later on.
The most enjoyable experience in boot camp was the week spent on the shooting range. We practiced rifle and machine gun fire all week. In a way, it was fun to compete, and I did quite well – expert rifleman. Every Marine recruit spends a week or more on the rifle and machine gun range. You must qualify with the basic rifle and 30 caliber machine gun. Every man must be able to swim. There is no liberty of any kind, and you are allowed no visitors. You will go into this as a civilian and come out a Marine and proud of it. This basic training will serve you well for the rest of your life…guaranteed.
Camp LeJeune
After I completed boot camp in San Diego, I moved up the coast to Camp Pendleton, which is approximately halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles near Oceanside, California. I was assigned to a combat engineer training battalion.
From Pendleton I went across the country by troop train to Camp Lejeune, NC. There were three trains with Marines on board leaving the west coast at the same time, but each train traveled a completely different route to the east coast, for security reasons I suppose. This was a long, winding trip and took 7 or 8 days. We saw the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean and passed through 13 states.
It was at Camp Lejeune that the 29th Marine Regiment started to form. (It later became part of the 6th Marine Division when we reached the island of Guadalcanal.) We were formed into company units there. I was in “Charley" or C Company 6th Engineering Battalion.
The duty in Camp Lejeune was rugged. We lived in canvas tents in a swamp-like area only a few hundred yards from the ocean. We had to sleep under mosquito nets and the sand flies were with you constantly. It was not a pleasant place; it was almost like a prison camp. We trained every day except Sunday. We were out on night problems almost every night. Liberty was only granted for 4 or 5 hours, and the nearest town was very small.
The Pacific
We were in Camp Lejeune for about 10 or 12 weeks and then it was back across the country on another troop train to California to ship out to the South Pacific. We did not know where we were going, but it was a relief to get out of that hell hole in North Carolina.
After we arrived in California, we were sent to Camp Elliott, just north of San Diego. This was just a temporary tent camp that was the staging area for Marines who were shipping out to the South Pacific combat areas. We weren’t there long, maybe 10 or 12 days, and we were busy-busy-busy loading ships with all kinds of ammunition and equipment. We got another physical exam and all kinds of shots for who knows what diseases.
Then it was aboard a foul-smelling ship which was crewed by merchant seamen. Maybe half the men were seasick. What a stinking mess. I was one of the lucky ones who did not get sick. We were fed only two meals per day and they were not very good. This was the only merchant marine ship I was ever on. Thank goodness.
On the voyage, we crossed the equator and the International Date Line and were inducted into King Neptune's Kingdom in an unusual ceremony. I am no longer a “pollywog,” whatever that is. [Editor’s note: a pollywog is someone who has not crossed the equator in a ship.] I used to have a certificate proclaiming that, but it is long gone. A school of several porpoises followed alongside our ship for several days. They were beautiful.
Guadalcanal
After 20 or so days we landed in the Solomon Islands at a place called Guadalcanal. The island sits very near the equator in the southern hemisphere. It is a miserable place to be. Hot – and I mean really hot – and humid. During the monsoon season it rains every day. Mosquitoes are much larger than the ones here, and they are carriers of malaria and dengue fever. I had the latter, and it was no fun. Camp Lejeune had been rough, but this was worse. Guadalcanal is mostly jungle except for the areas along the coast. Our camp was not far from the Pacific Ocean, but we were not there on vacation.
Guadalcanal is where the first land offensive of the Pacific war was fought and won by the 1st Marine Division. Of course, it was over when I was there except for a few pockets of holdout Japanese. They were on the opposite side of the island from us and posed little or no threat.
Jack Lawson as a young Marine
As many as four or five Japanese troop ships had been sunk by our Navy in 1943, and the water was too shallow for them to sink completely. We could look out in the bay and see three or four Japanese transports with dead Japanese soldiers rotting on board in their watery graves. When we practiced beach landings, we often came alongside these ships.
I was on Guadalcanal for seven months while we trained for combat. The training was constant, almost every day except Sunday and the Marine Corp Birthday. Anything less than a 12-hour day was uncommon. Our C.O. had the bugler blow reveille at 5:00 am, even on Sunday so we “could have time to enjoy the time off” on Sunday. But we were being prepared for combat, and we knew that sometime in the future we would be needed somewhere.
We were tented eight men to a tent, and it was so hot we slept almost naked except for a mosquito net. Of the eight men in my tent, three were killed on Okinawa, one from mortar fire, one from a booby trap, and one from a Jap sniper. These were three close friends. A fourth man in my tent was badly wounded.
When it came time to leave Guadalcanal it was bittersweet. I remember when we were leaving to ship out. We had to climb up the side of our ship from small boats loaded with full gear and rifles using cargo nets, which hung over the side of the ship. All 782 combat gear that had been damaged was replaced, and we packed our packs. Nothing except the barest essentials were taken. We had to carry everything on our backs. Everything else was packed in our sea bag and left behind for the rear echelon to take to Guam. There they would set up our new camp where the survivors would go after we had secured the next island. As best I remember, all I took in the way of clothing was an extra pair of green twill dungarees, a flannel shirt field jacket, extra underwear, socks, a poncho, and maybe a soft cap (though we wore steel helmets).
There would be no sleeping in a bed for another three months; we slept on five-high canvas racks onboard the troop ships. After went ashore, only God knew what. We would sleep on the ground in our clothes and cover ourselves with our poncho and whatever extra clothes we might have. There would be no regular meals to eat; only field rations that we could heat up if we could find a way.
I do not know how many days we were on board those ships, but it must have been more than 15. When we joined up with the whole task force in the Ulithi Islands there were what seemed like 100 or more ships.
Jack Lawson late in life
Boot Camp
When one is a Marine, you are exactly that. A Marine. I notice in some branches of military service, men and women are recruited for certain designated duties and are trained for only that. Sounds like being a civilian. Not so in the Marine Corps. There are certain special duties you may perform, but you are first and foremost an infantry-trained fighting Marine.
I voluntarily enlisted in the Marine Corps while in Johnson City, TN and was sent to Nashville to be sworn in. From there about 20 of us were sent on a Pullman car, which was switched from train to train in various cities until one reached San Diego four days later.
Boot Camp is a unique experience which one must go through to understand. It is an experience that will reveal what is inside of you, what you are made of. You will learn discipline. You will follow orders, exactly. You will speak only when spoken to. No exceptions. You will address your D.I. (drill instructor) by first saying “Sir.” You will be physically fit or it will kill you. You will learn weaponry and close order drill. Every minute of every day is planned, and that plan is followed.
I knew right away that it was not going to be any “piece of cake.” It was rough duty but I had volunteered for this, and I was going to make the best of it. The secret to making your way through this was simply to keep your mouth shut and your ears open and do exactly as you were told. Those 10-12 weeks taught me many things, mainly to follow orders without hesitation. Those were lessons for survival later on.
The most enjoyable experience in boot camp was the week spent on the shooting range. We practiced rifle and machine gun fire all week. In a way, it was fun to compete, and I did quite well – expert rifleman. Every Marine recruit spends a week or more on the rifle and machine gun range. You must qualify with the basic rifle and 30 caliber machine gun. Every man must be able to swim. There is no liberty of any kind, and you are allowed no visitors. You will go into this as a civilian and come out a Marine and proud of it. This basic training will serve you well for the rest of your life…guaranteed.
Camp LeJeune
After I completed boot camp in San Diego, I moved up the coast to Camp Pendleton, which is approximately halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles near Oceanside, California. I was assigned to a combat engineer training battalion.
From Pendleton I went across the country by troop train to Camp Lejeune, NC. There were three trains with Marines on board leaving the west coast at the same time, but each train traveled a completely different route to the east coast, for security reasons I suppose. This was a long, winding trip and took 7 or 8 days. We saw the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean and passed through 13 states.
It was at Camp Lejeune that the 29th Marine Regiment started to form. (It later became part of the 6th Marine Division when we reached the island of Guadalcanal.) We were formed into company units there. I was in “Charley" or C Company 6th Engineering Battalion.
The duty in Camp Lejeune was rugged. We lived in canvas tents in a swamp-like area only a few hundred yards from the ocean. We had to sleep under mosquito nets and the sand flies were with you constantly. It was not a pleasant place; it was almost like a prison camp. We trained every day except Sunday. We were out on night problems almost every night. Liberty was only granted for 4 or 5 hours, and the nearest town was very small.
The Pacific
We were in Camp Lejeune for about 10 or 12 weeks and then it was back across the country on another troop train to California to ship out to the South Pacific. We did not know where we were going, but it was a relief to get out of that hell hole in North Carolina.
After we arrived in California, we were sent to Camp Elliott, just north of San Diego. This was just a temporary tent camp that was the staging area for Marines who were shipping out to the South Pacific combat areas. We weren’t there long, maybe 10 or 12 days, and we were busy-busy-busy loading ships with all kinds of ammunition and equipment. We got another physical exam and all kinds of shots for who knows what diseases.
Then it was aboard a foul-smelling ship which was crewed by merchant seamen. Maybe half the men were seasick. What a stinking mess. I was one of the lucky ones who did not get sick. We were fed only two meals per day and they were not very good. This was the only merchant marine ship I was ever on. Thank goodness.
On the voyage, we crossed the equator and the International Date Line and were inducted into King Neptune's Kingdom in an unusual ceremony. I am no longer a “pollywog,” whatever that is. [Editor’s note: a pollywog is someone who has not crossed the equator in a ship.] I used to have a certificate proclaiming that, but it is long gone. A school of several porpoises followed alongside our ship for several days. They were beautiful.
Guadalcanal
After 20 or so days we landed in the Solomon Islands at a place called Guadalcanal. The island sits very near the equator in the southern hemisphere. It is a miserable place to be. Hot – and I mean really hot – and humid. During the monsoon season it rains every day. Mosquitoes are much larger than the ones here, and they are carriers of malaria and dengue fever. I had the latter, and it was no fun. Camp Lejeune had been rough, but this was worse. Guadalcanal is mostly jungle except for the areas along the coast. Our camp was not far from the Pacific Ocean, but we were not there on vacation.
Guadalcanal is where the first land offensive of the Pacific war was fought and won by the 1st Marine Division. Of course, it was over when I was there except for a few pockets of holdout Japanese. They were on the opposite side of the island from us and posed little or no threat.
Jack Lawson as a young Marine
As many as four or five Japanese troop ships had been sunk by our Navy in 1943, and the water was too shallow for them to sink completely. We could look out in the bay and see three or four Japanese transports with dead Japanese soldiers rotting on board in their watery graves. When we practiced beach landings, we often came alongside these ships.
I was on Guadalcanal for seven months while we trained for combat. The training was constant, almost every day except Sunday and the Marine Corp Birthday. Anything less than a 12-hour day was uncommon. Our C.O. had the bugler blow reveille at 5:00 am, even on Sunday so we “could have time to enjoy the time off” on Sunday. But we were being prepared for combat, and we knew that sometime in the future we would be needed somewhere.
We were tented eight men to a tent, and it was so hot we slept almost naked except for a mosquito net. Of the eight men in my tent, three were killed on Okinawa, one from mortar fire, one from a booby trap, and one from a Jap sniper. These were three close friends. A fourth man in my tent was badly wounded.
When it came time to leave Guadalcanal it was bittersweet. I remember when we were leaving to ship out. We had to climb up the side of our ship from small boats loaded with full gear and rifles using cargo nets, which hung over the side of the ship. All 782 combat gear that had been damaged was replaced, and we packed our packs. Nothing except the barest essentials were taken. We had to carry everything on our backs. Everything else was packed in our sea bag and left behind for the rear echelon to take to Guam. There they would set up our new camp where the survivors would go after we had secured the next island. As best I remember, all I took in the way of clothing was an extra pair of green twill dungarees, a flannel shirt field jacket, extra underwear, socks, a poncho, and maybe a soft cap (though we wore steel helmets).
There would be no sleeping in a bed for another three months; we slept on five-high canvas racks onboard the troop ships. After went ashore, only God knew what. We would sleep on the ground in our clothes and cover ourselves with our poncho and whatever extra clothes we might have. There would be no regular meals to eat; only field rations that we could heat up if we could find a way.
I do not know how many days we were on board those ships, but it must have been more than 15. When we joined up with the whole task force in the Ulithi Islands there were what seemed like 100 or more ships.