Bucket List Trip
Aug 20th, 2023, 09:59 AM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 13,192
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Bucket List Trip
A little over a year ago I started a trip with two goals in mind. One: clear my last bucket list dream of visiting the Pacific Islands that my father landed on as a young Marine during the Pacific War, and two: gather background information for the next book.
Several years ago I began researching such a trip and narrowed the list down to two tour providers. Mat McLachlan, with Battlefield tours and Joe Mueller, with Military Historical Tours. While both of these groups provide a really good service, and helped me a lot, neither was able to offer exactly what I wanted. In the end, I and some friends with similar interests concocted a trip of our own. Ideally we would have visited each island on or near the date that the First Marine Division landed on it, but because the landings were so spread out (nine to ten months in between) that just wasn't feasible.
We each flew from different destinations timing our flights to meet in Wellington, NZ. The 1st Marine Division spent ten days there in 1942 unloading supply ships, sorting the contents into battle order, and reloading everything on to the troop transports. They left Wellington in what they generously referred to as a “converted slave ship”, we left in a 40+ foot converted workboat.
They had no idea where they were headed until July 27 when they got this announcement while at sea:
PUBLISH TO ALL HANDS
On 7 August this Force will recapture Tulagi and Guadalcanal Islands, which are now in the hands of the enemy.
In this first step forward toward clearing the Japanese out of conquered territory, we have strong support from the Pacific Fleet, and from the air, surface and submarine forces in the South Pacific and Australia.
It is significant of history that we see here shoulder to shoulder, the U.S. Navy, Marines and Army, and the Australian and New Zealand Air, Naval and Army Services.
I have confidence that all elements of this armada will, in skill and courage, show themselves fit comrades of those brave men who already have dealt the enemy mighty blows for our great cause.
God bless you all,
R.K. Turner, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, Commanding
The targets were Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and two little slivers, Gavutu and Tanambogo. The Raiders and 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines landed on Tulagi. The 1st and remaining 5th Marines landed on the main island, Guadalcanal, where the Japanese were building an airstrip. We anchored about 1,500 yards offshore and at 9:00 the next morning, made the run at the beach in a powerboat. Clearly it was nothing like making that run in a Higgins boat, but I was able to get some sense of how Dad must have felt that morning, not having a clue what awaited them on shore. We landed on what they called “Red Beach”, which is now a thriving village. (Kinda broke the spell.) From there we walked to Alligator Creek, which was the site of the first significant encounter with the Japanese. It was surprising how much original equipment was still laying around, although heavily rusted and in many cases unrecognizable. The local tour guide took great delight in describing the heroics of John Basilone, who was awarded the congressional Medal of Honor for his role in that battle. From there we walked around to the north side of Henderson Field and the Ridge that later became known as” Bloody Ridge” or “Edson’s Ridge”. It was much closer to the airfield then I thought.
The trails are well worn now, but in 1942 it must have been nearly impossible to walk in that thick tall, razer sharp grass. Several times I had an overpowering feeling that I might be standing in a spot that Dad had stood 81 years earlier. Then the magic would be broken by some local trying to sell a souvenir he had dug up (or manufactured). We spent the night in a hotel that had been built on the spot where the Marines would have watched as the Japanese Navy slaughtered the American fleet that second night, leaving them alone, with no food, supplies or additional ammunition, no air cover and no hope that the outside world even knew they were there. Dad must have wondered if he would never see his five month old son again. ( Spoiler: He did!)
tbc if there is interest.
Several years ago I began researching such a trip and narrowed the list down to two tour providers. Mat McLachlan, with Battlefield tours and Joe Mueller, with Military Historical Tours. While both of these groups provide a really good service, and helped me a lot, neither was able to offer exactly what I wanted. In the end, I and some friends with similar interests concocted a trip of our own. Ideally we would have visited each island on or near the date that the First Marine Division landed on it, but because the landings were so spread out (nine to ten months in between) that just wasn't feasible.
We each flew from different destinations timing our flights to meet in Wellington, NZ. The 1st Marine Division spent ten days there in 1942 unloading supply ships, sorting the contents into battle order, and reloading everything on to the troop transports. They left Wellington in what they generously referred to as a “converted slave ship”, we left in a 40+ foot converted workboat.
They had no idea where they were headed until July 27 when they got this announcement while at sea:
PUBLISH TO ALL HANDS
On 7 August this Force will recapture Tulagi and Guadalcanal Islands, which are now in the hands of the enemy.
In this first step forward toward clearing the Japanese out of conquered territory, we have strong support from the Pacific Fleet, and from the air, surface and submarine forces in the South Pacific and Australia.
It is significant of history that we see here shoulder to shoulder, the U.S. Navy, Marines and Army, and the Australian and New Zealand Air, Naval and Army Services.
I have confidence that all elements of this armada will, in skill and courage, show themselves fit comrades of those brave men who already have dealt the enemy mighty blows for our great cause.
God bless you all,
R.K. Turner, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy, Commanding
The targets were Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and two little slivers, Gavutu and Tanambogo. The Raiders and 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines landed on Tulagi. The 1st and remaining 5th Marines landed on the main island, Guadalcanal, where the Japanese were building an airstrip. We anchored about 1,500 yards offshore and at 9:00 the next morning, made the run at the beach in a powerboat. Clearly it was nothing like making that run in a Higgins boat, but I was able to get some sense of how Dad must have felt that morning, not having a clue what awaited them on shore. We landed on what they called “Red Beach”, which is now a thriving village. (Kinda broke the spell.) From there we walked to Alligator Creek, which was the site of the first significant encounter with the Japanese. It was surprising how much original equipment was still laying around, although heavily rusted and in many cases unrecognizable. The local tour guide took great delight in describing the heroics of John Basilone, who was awarded the congressional Medal of Honor for his role in that battle. From there we walked around to the north side of Henderson Field and the Ridge that later became known as” Bloody Ridge” or “Edson’s Ridge”. It was much closer to the airfield then I thought.
The trails are well worn now, but in 1942 it must have been nearly impossible to walk in that thick tall, razer sharp grass. Several times I had an overpowering feeling that I might be standing in a spot that Dad had stood 81 years earlier. Then the magic would be broken by some local trying to sell a souvenir he had dug up (or manufactured). We spent the night in a hotel that had been built on the spot where the Marines would have watched as the Japanese Navy slaughtered the American fleet that second night, leaving them alone, with no food, supplies or additional ammunition, no air cover and no hope that the outside world even knew they were there. Dad must have wondered if he would never see his five month old son again. ( Spoiler: He did!)
tbc if there is interest.
Last edited by Rich; Aug 20th, 2023 at 10:02 AM.
Aug 25th, 2023, 10:45 AM
#2
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 7,533
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Rich, I recall your mention of this trip when it was in the planning stages. Glad to see that you actually followed through. Did your dad ever keep a diary or write any kind of memoir?
Of course, your next continuation would be of interest to some, if not many Fodorites.
I am done. The end
Of course, your next continuation would be of interest to some, if not many Fodorites.
I am done. The end
Aug 26th, 2023, 08:56 AM
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 13,192
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sadly, he did not keep a diary. Because of the fear that the Japanese might get their hands on it, the Marines were explicitly ordered not to document anything. It's a damn shame because so much history was lost. A guy named Eugene Sledge joined the 5th Marines for the Landings at Peleliu and Okinawa. He wrote notes in the margins of a pocket Bible. Forty years after the war, he decided to use those notes to put his experience in writing for the family. Like most of the guys he could not bring himself to talk about it. His notes became a book titled With The Old Breed, which became the basis for the last half of the HBO series The Pacific.
Like most of that generation, Dad never spoke of the war when I was growing up. It tortured him; it haunted him. It turned him into an alcoholic. It was only after my return from Vietnam that he began to talk about his experience. And just as sadly, I didn't write anything down either. My memory of his conversations, combined with extensive research on the Fifth Marines are now documented in a book that is in the hands of the editors. This trip was part of that research.
The Matanikau River was the site of two significant encounters with the Japanese. The second morning, map in hand, I set out to find the site. In the first battle of the Matanikau River, Dad was awarded a Bronze Star. The second battle of Matanikau River was his first as Company Commander. He had been made Sargent just before the landing. In the first month of fighting a few officers had been relieved of duty because of their inability to function under fire. Late September, the 7th Marines arrived from Samoa, and they were able to evacuate wounded Marines along with the officers who had failed. To fill the ranks, about 25 promotions were announced, one of which was Dad. He had a battlefield promotion to Lieutenant. Shortages in the officer ranks meant that often Companies were commanded by Lieutenants rather than Captains.
I found the river and the site where he would have encountered the Japanese just before noon. The mouth of the river is kind of a tidal basin, so it changes shape. It's wider now than it was then, but the map helped me pinpoint the place where he would have crossed. It was a nasty fight; everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The three-day operation cost the Marines 65 dead and 125 wounded. Japanese losses were estimated at 700 men.
After four months, On 9 December, the 5th Marines finally loaded onto the troopship John Ericsson,headed for rehabilitation and rebuilding in Australia. That ship left from Kirkum, a small fishing village before the war. My last day on the island was spent there.
Dad did not remember much about the departure. He did recall that even though it was not a Hospital ship, the Navy had the foresight to supplement the ship’s Medical staff with specialized Doctors and Surgeons. They stripped him naked to bathe him and remove the old dressings on his wounds. He remembered one of the doctors handing his clothes to an orderly and saying, “Burn these!”
They were initially taken to Camp Cable in Brisbane, Australia, but later in the month moved to Melbourne when they found out that the mosquitoes at the camp carried malaria. In their weakened condition, that could have been fatal.
Both Brisbane and Melbourne have changed so much that we decided it would be a waste of time to visit there. The next landing for the First Marine Division would be on New Britain. After that, they would go to a small island named Pavavu, which Dad said in some language translated to “Hog Farm”, for R&R. It is between Guadalcanal and New Britain, so we decided to go there next.
Like most of that generation, Dad never spoke of the war when I was growing up. It tortured him; it haunted him. It turned him into an alcoholic. It was only after my return from Vietnam that he began to talk about his experience. And just as sadly, I didn't write anything down either. My memory of his conversations, combined with extensive research on the Fifth Marines are now documented in a book that is in the hands of the editors. This trip was part of that research.
The Matanikau River was the site of two significant encounters with the Japanese. The second morning, map in hand, I set out to find the site. In the first battle of the Matanikau River, Dad was awarded a Bronze Star. The second battle of Matanikau River was his first as Company Commander. He had been made Sargent just before the landing. In the first month of fighting a few officers had been relieved of duty because of their inability to function under fire. Late September, the 7th Marines arrived from Samoa, and they were able to evacuate wounded Marines along with the officers who had failed. To fill the ranks, about 25 promotions were announced, one of which was Dad. He had a battlefield promotion to Lieutenant. Shortages in the officer ranks meant that often Companies were commanded by Lieutenants rather than Captains.
I found the river and the site where he would have encountered the Japanese just before noon. The mouth of the river is kind of a tidal basin, so it changes shape. It's wider now than it was then, but the map helped me pinpoint the place where he would have crossed. It was a nasty fight; everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The three-day operation cost the Marines 65 dead and 125 wounded. Japanese losses were estimated at 700 men.
After four months, On 9 December, the 5th Marines finally loaded onto the troopship John Ericsson,headed for rehabilitation and rebuilding in Australia. That ship left from Kirkum, a small fishing village before the war. My last day on the island was spent there.
Dad did not remember much about the departure. He did recall that even though it was not a Hospital ship, the Navy had the foresight to supplement the ship’s Medical staff with specialized Doctors and Surgeons. They stripped him naked to bathe him and remove the old dressings on his wounds. He remembered one of the doctors handing his clothes to an orderly and saying, “Burn these!”
They were initially taken to Camp Cable in Brisbane, Australia, but later in the month moved to Melbourne when they found out that the mosquitoes at the camp carried malaria. In their weakened condition, that could have been fatal.
Both Brisbane and Melbourne have changed so much that we decided it would be a waste of time to visit there. The next landing for the First Marine Division would be on New Britain. After that, they would go to a small island named Pavavu, which Dad said in some language translated to “Hog Farm”, for R&R. It is between Guadalcanal and New Britain, so we decided to go there next.
Last edited by Rich; Aug 26th, 2023 at 08:59 AM.
Aug 27th, 2023, 01:52 PM
#4
This is so interesting and I'll be following along for sure.
My Dad was in the European theater and among others engagements was in the Battle of the Bulge. Like your father, mine never talked about the war. Luckily - during WWII my mom was (different stints) a general news reporter for the Sacramento Bee and Sacramento Union newspapers and covered a LOT of war news so we had her articles to at least start conversations but dad always pretty much clammed up.
He passed away in 2007 (Mom - in 2011) and I thought that would be the end of ever learning more -- but with some research and some totally dumb luck coincidences and finding a few unknown documents when clearing out Mom's house I was able go to Belgium, hook up with a wonderful expert guide, and retrace his time in the Ardennes. Even finding the actual farm where he and his platoon were holed up under German artillery/bombardment. Was one of the most moving days of my life.
Your tour sounds like a trip of a lifetime -- how long were you in the region?
My Dad was in the European theater and among others engagements was in the Battle of the Bulge. Like your father, mine never talked about the war. Luckily - during WWII my mom was (different stints) a general news reporter for the Sacramento Bee and Sacramento Union newspapers and covered a LOT of war news so we had her articles to at least start conversations but dad always pretty much clammed up.
He passed away in 2007 (Mom - in 2011) and I thought that would be the end of ever learning more -- but with some research and some totally dumb luck coincidences and finding a few unknown documents when clearing out Mom's house I was able go to Belgium, hook up with a wonderful expert guide, and retrace his time in the Ardennes. Even finding the actual farm where he and his platoon were holed up under German artillery/bombardment. Was one of the most moving days of my life.
Your tour sounds like a trip of a lifetime -- how long were you in the region?
Aug 27th, 2023, 10:16 PM
#5
Thanks so much for sharing this poignant and personal story about your Dad with us. It's fascinating and a great reminder of the fortune with which we have been blessed, just by being born when we were and by the grace and courage of many of our forebears who made our fortunate lives possible. Often at great sacrifice to their own - and for some, the sacrifice of their lives.
We should never forget and never forget the debt of gratitude we owe to them, along with the duty not to spit on the legacy they made for us.
We should never forget and never forget the debt of gratitude we owe to them, along with the duty not to spit on the legacy they made for us.
Aug 28th, 2023, 07:09 AM
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 13,192
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Janis, do you know what Division he was in?
My Dad died in 1991; like you, I assumed I would learn no more about his wartime experiences. The letters he wrote to Mother never mentioned battle. Apparently, he didn’t want her to worry about him. If anyone were to read the letters with no prior knowledge of what the First Marine Division was doing, they would think he had a wonderful paid vacation on a few paradise islands in the South Pacific. The letters were so heavily censored that any mention of location beyond “somewhere in the South Pacific” would be blacked out.
At Dad's funeral, I was talking to his younger brother, who was a navigator on B-17s and later B-25s stationed in England. I happened to mention my disappointment that I'd learn no more about him and how his letters to Mother yielded absolutely no helpful information. It turned out the two of them had regularly corresponded throughout the war, and he had a stack of letters from Dad. He sent the letters to me. Although many details had been blacked out, matching the dates of the letters with the written history of the Division, I was able to piece together a fairly complete record of his service.
My Dad died in 1991; like you, I assumed I would learn no more about his wartime experiences. The letters he wrote to Mother never mentioned battle. Apparently, he didn’t want her to worry about him. If anyone were to read the letters with no prior knowledge of what the First Marine Division was doing, they would think he had a wonderful paid vacation on a few paradise islands in the South Pacific. The letters were so heavily censored that any mention of location beyond “somewhere in the South Pacific” would be blacked out.
At Dad's funeral, I was talking to his younger brother, who was a navigator on B-17s and later B-25s stationed in England. I happened to mention my disappointment that I'd learn no more about him and how his letters to Mother yielded absolutely no helpful information. It turned out the two of them had regularly corresponded throughout the war, and he had a stack of letters from Dad. He sent the letters to me. Although many details had been blacked out, matching the dates of the letters with the written history of the Division, I was able to piece together a fairly complete record of his service.
Aug 28th, 2023, 01:37 PM
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 13,192
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
On January 12, 1943, 18,200 Marines invaded Melbourne, Australia. They are greeted by a single figure on the dock; General Archer Vandergrift, standing at full attention, saluting his men as they return from battle. Behind him, an Australian military band played the Marine Corps Hymn. Further back from the docks, behind fencing, huge crowds of cheering Australians with banners welcomed them as heroes, with good reason. Japanese aircraft had bombed towns and airfields in Northern Australia on 97 occasions during 1942 and 1943, and in February 1942, had bombed Darwin. The battle of the Coral Sea probably did more to keep the Japanese from invading Australia, but the Marines had just dealt the Japanese their first defeat in battle on land. If the Japanese had been allowed to complete the airfield on Guadalcanal, they would have been able to control the shipping lanes, and Australia would have been cut off from the rest of the world.
Trucks take the 1st and 7th Marines to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, the 11th to the inland town of Ballarat and the 5th to Balcombe Camp on the city’s outskirts. The facilities were not as well developed as Camp Cable, but the proximity to Melbourne more than made up for the more basic living conditions. The plan was to give the Marines three months to recuperate and assimilate replacements, then resume training for the next operation.
While there, 1st Marine Division adopted the song "Waltzing Matilda", which soon became its official song.
We elected to skip Melbourne. The stadium is still there but has been modernized. Ballarat and Balcombe Camp are now housing estates. The original parade grounds are now the car park for Mace oval and a boardwalk has been built from the mouth of Balcombe creek to the oval.
On 21 May, the entire 1st Division is assembled at Balcombe for an award ceremony. The Division is awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. General Vandergrift, Colonel Edson, Sgt. John Basilone and Pvt. Mitchell Paige are awarded the Medal of Honor, and 113 Marines are awarded the Navy Cross, including one to Dad:
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty as Officer in Charge of a group of one hundred and twenty Marine infantrymen of Company A, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal Island, 07 October 1942.
While crossing the Matanikau River in preparation for an attack on Japanese forces, his unit intercepted a major movement of enemy troops. He deployed half of his force to intercept the advancing army while positioning half on the opposite side of the river. Utilizing exceptional leadership, he was able to halt the forward progress of the attacking force while inflicting major losses on the enemy. Lieutenant XXXXXXX repeatedly set an example of calm courage under fire, gallantly exposing himself at the center of action without concern for his own safety. Although wounded twice, he was able to destroy a flanking element of the attacking force and eliminate the potential for further loss of life. By his outstanding leadership, expert planning, and dauntless devotion to duty, he and his courageous comrades succeeded in the complete elimination of a superior force.
/s/ Franklin Roosevelt
In July 1943, MacArthur’s planning group designated operation CARTWHEEL to seize enemy bases in the New Britain-New Ireland-New Guinea-Solomons areas with the final objective of capturing New Britain and Rabaul. (A later decision to bypass and isolate Rabaul and let it die on the vine would be made early in the assault phase.) The plan calls for the initial landing to be made by 7th Marines and 1st Marines, with the 5th Marines to be held in reserve.
1st Marines move out the last week in September, followed by 7th Marines and 11th Artillery the first week of October. 5th Marines leave the following week. The band plays the Marine Corps Anthem and then a mournful version of ‘Waltzing Matilda’.
Christmas Eve, they were bearing in toward Cape Gloucester from the northwest in preparation for landings on the 26th. The 7th Marines in the initial assault were to set up a beachhead perimeter as quickly as possible. 1st Marines then advance through the beachhead and on to the airfields. As at Guadalcanal, there is little to no resistance at the beachhead, but as the Marines approach the airfields, the enemy mounts heavy counterassaults, and several major battles ensue.
On the morning of the 29th, the 5th Marines load onto nine Amtracs and proceed to Yellow Beach for their planned landing. On 31 December, General Rupertus raised the U.S. Flag over the main airstrip and sent a message to 6th Army Headquarters: First Marine Division presents to you as an early New Year gift the complete air dome of Cape Gloucester. Situation well in hand due to fighting spirit of troops, the usual Marine luck and the help of God.
General MacArthur sent a return note to General Rupertus: I extend my heartiest congratulations to your officers and men. I am filled with pride and gratitude by their resourceful determination in capturing Cape Gloucester. Your gallant Division has maintained the immortal record of the Marine Corps and covered itself with glory.
By February, the original mission had been accomplished. Western New Britain is secure, and the only Japanese seen are hanging from trees in the native villages. Many of the villages had captured a few of them alive and had beaten every one of them to death in retribution for the treatment by the Japanese invaders. The focus shifted to the Willaumez Peninsula, which juts out from the middle of the main island like a crooked finger. It had been the center of plantation life before the war but is now occupied by the Japanese, who built an airfield at the trading village of Talasea and expanded the port for military use.
On 1 March, 5th Marines were ordered to seize and occupy Talasea and then patrol southward to cut off any retreating Japanese and isolate the western half of the island from Rabaul. The 5th had been testing a new assault method of loading medium tanks into a Landing Craft to use as seagoing gun platforms on the leading edge of a landing force.
On 5 March, the 5th Marines, reinforced with an artillery Battalion from 11th Marines and a Medical Company, loaded into twenty-five Amtracs for an overnight trip to the western beach of the peninsula. The beach is undefended. The cost of the operation to the 5th Marines and its reinforcing units was 17 men killed and 114 wounded. The Japanese lost an estimated 150 men killed and an unknown number of wounded. It would later be noted that at New Britain, the 1st Marine Division achieved a degree of perfection probably never equaled in jungle operations, from the surprise in selecting the landing beaches to the adaptation of amphibious techniques, which are then adapted to subsequent jungle operations to and through the Philippines.
With the end of active combat on the island, the 5th Marines encamp near the new Navy base and revert to training status after a short recuperation time. Life on the peninsula is much more comfortable than in the rainforests of the southern end of the island. The monsoons are less frequent, and the high mountain range scrapes off most rains in the middle of the island. There’s even a series of hot springs that allow the Marines to have their first hot bath in three months. The rashes and sores from being constantly wet gradually start to heal, and new supplies of clothing, food and, most importantly, beer now flow in regularly.
On the 26th, 1st Marines departed Cape Gloucester followed quickly by the 7th and 5th Marines. This, of course, generated speculation on the possibility of a return to Melbourne. Doesn’t happen!
At the General/Admiral level, a tug-of-war between the Navy and General McArthur had been playing out over the 1st Marine Division. McArthur wanted to retain the Division under his command to be used to eliminate the remnants of the Japanese garrison of Western New Britain and in future landings in pursuit of his desire to return to the Philippines. Navy and Marine Corps leaders had approached General Marshall over their concern about leaving the 1st Marine Division under McArthur, particularly about its employment in a role that did not take full advantage of its training and experience. Marshall and Nimitz reminded MacArthur of the intended employment of the 1st Marine Division in the upcoming Carolines operation. Nimitz argues that the Division will have to be released prior to June 1 in order to have ample time to prepare for a major amphibious assault. McArthur responded that he didn’t have troop ships available to move the 1st Division. Admiral Halsey was then asked if his South Pacific Force could support the movement of the Division.
Halsey found the ships!
Mid-April, it was decided that the 1st Division would go to Noumea, Guadalcanal, or some island in the Russells. Although the huge base at Guadalcanal now had Quonset huts with lights and plenty of good chow, it had serious drawbacks. General Geiger was concerned that his men would be used as dock workers if he stationed them there, as the 3rd Marine Division had been earlier. Returning to Australia meant they would remain under MacArthur’s control, so both alternatives were ruled out. As the Division loaded onto troopships, the decision of their destination was finally made.
Sixty miles north of Guadalcanal, an island had been scouted from the air by staff officers of the Third Amphibious Corps and deemed suitable for a base for R&R. The island had been captured after a short six-hour engagement by Marine Raiders early in 1943. On 28 April 1944, the 1st Division finally extracted itself from MacArthur’s control and rejoined the U.S. Navy when it landed on Pavavu.
The second morning out of New Britain, they hear the announcement that they are headed for R&R on an island nearby and will not be returning to Melbourne. Dad said there was near mutiny when the announcement was made. The morning they disembarked, they found themselves on a small island with no barracks, no lights, no showers, no mess halls, no recreation areas and no adequate supply of fresh food. Having to build their rest camp pisses off everybody, officers and enlisted men. Working parties are eventually organized to erect tents and build roads from crushed coral, but first, they have to clean up piles of rotting coconuts stinking to high heaven. To top it off, the place is infested with rats, black gnats and land crabs. The damn crabs are a Hell of a pest. They stay underground during the day and come out at night to make life miserable. The crabs are difficult to see because they hide in the high thick grass that grows everywhere and is often over eight feet tall. Many a Marine is in for a shock if he doesn’t shake his boots out in the morning to dump the damn things.
By nightfall, some of them were able to joke about their predicament, but morale had clearly gone to Hell. Dad said they all felt like a big dirty trick had been played on them.
In a ceremony early in May, Dad was awarded his second Bronze Star for his actions on New Britain in eliminating the Machine Gun pillboxes. It was also announced that half of the survivors of Guadalcanal would be eligible to return home. A raffle decides who goes and who stays. The raffle temporarily raised morale, and there was a bright spot late in July when Bob Hope unexpectedly added a performance on Pavuvu. USO shows periodically stopped at Banika next to them but had never before made it to Pavuvu. When Hope got word of their predicament, he insisted on flying Patti Thomas, Frances Langford, and Jerry Colonna, along with the entire entourage, on eight Piper Cub plane trips to Pavuvu. The Marines are overjoyed to be included and not forgotten again.
Morale noticeably improved after the show, but almost paradoxically, the announcement of their next landing had an even more significant effect. Early August, orders filter down that the 1st Marine Division will next land on a small island in the Marianas where a Japanese bomber airfield threatens MacArthur’s invasion of the Philippines and, more important to the Corps, is also protecting the camps on Mindanao, which hold thousands of Marine and Army POWs. This landing will take them almost halfway to Japan and the end of the war.
Our trip:
The eight-hour trip from Guadalcanal to Pavuvu took us past several wrecked Japanese troop ships and across Iron Bottom Sound, so named because of the number of ships sunk during the battle. Pavuvu was a little disappointing. After the war, it reverted to being a coconut plantation, and there are very few reminders of wartime use now. Banika, a naval base just across from Pavavu, where we refueled, is still recognizable. We moored offshore for the first night and explored what little there was to see on the island the next day before starting the two-day trip to Cape Gloucester.
We anchored off Cape Gloucester on the western side of the island where 1st Marines landed. The jungle has retaken the area where they fought, and there was little to see. On the second day, we went over to Volupai, where 5th Marines had landed on the peninsula. Then, we went over the top of the peninsula and moored at Bitokara, where the final battle was fought. Rabaul had been such a formidable base that it was decided to bypass it rather than expend effort and men to try to take it. It's gone now. It was destroyed by a volcano eruption in 1994, which took out most of the area.
From Rabaul, the boat took us to Port Moresby for a chartered flight to Peleliu.
Trucks take the 1st and 7th Marines to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds, the 11th to the inland town of Ballarat and the 5th to Balcombe Camp on the city’s outskirts. The facilities were not as well developed as Camp Cable, but the proximity to Melbourne more than made up for the more basic living conditions. The plan was to give the Marines three months to recuperate and assimilate replacements, then resume training for the next operation.
While there, 1st Marine Division adopted the song "Waltzing Matilda", which soon became its official song.
We elected to skip Melbourne. The stadium is still there but has been modernized. Ballarat and Balcombe Camp are now housing estates. The original parade grounds are now the car park for Mace oval and a boardwalk has been built from the mouth of Balcombe creek to the oval.
On 21 May, the entire 1st Division is assembled at Balcombe for an award ceremony. The Division is awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. General Vandergrift, Colonel Edson, Sgt. John Basilone and Pvt. Mitchell Paige are awarded the Medal of Honor, and 113 Marines are awarded the Navy Cross, including one to Dad:
CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty as Officer in Charge of a group of one hundred and twenty Marine infantrymen of Company A, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Guadalcanal Island, 07 October 1942.
While crossing the Matanikau River in preparation for an attack on Japanese forces, his unit intercepted a major movement of enemy troops. He deployed half of his force to intercept the advancing army while positioning half on the opposite side of the river. Utilizing exceptional leadership, he was able to halt the forward progress of the attacking force while inflicting major losses on the enemy. Lieutenant XXXXXXX repeatedly set an example of calm courage under fire, gallantly exposing himself at the center of action without concern for his own safety. Although wounded twice, he was able to destroy a flanking element of the attacking force and eliminate the potential for further loss of life. By his outstanding leadership, expert planning, and dauntless devotion to duty, he and his courageous comrades succeeded in the complete elimination of a superior force.
/s/ Franklin Roosevelt
In July 1943, MacArthur’s planning group designated operation CARTWHEEL to seize enemy bases in the New Britain-New Ireland-New Guinea-Solomons areas with the final objective of capturing New Britain and Rabaul. (A later decision to bypass and isolate Rabaul and let it die on the vine would be made early in the assault phase.) The plan calls for the initial landing to be made by 7th Marines and 1st Marines, with the 5th Marines to be held in reserve.
1st Marines move out the last week in September, followed by 7th Marines and 11th Artillery the first week of October. 5th Marines leave the following week. The band plays the Marine Corps Anthem and then a mournful version of ‘Waltzing Matilda’.
Christmas Eve, they were bearing in toward Cape Gloucester from the northwest in preparation for landings on the 26th. The 7th Marines in the initial assault were to set up a beachhead perimeter as quickly as possible. 1st Marines then advance through the beachhead and on to the airfields. As at Guadalcanal, there is little to no resistance at the beachhead, but as the Marines approach the airfields, the enemy mounts heavy counterassaults, and several major battles ensue.
On the morning of the 29th, the 5th Marines load onto nine Amtracs and proceed to Yellow Beach for their planned landing. On 31 December, General Rupertus raised the U.S. Flag over the main airstrip and sent a message to 6th Army Headquarters: First Marine Division presents to you as an early New Year gift the complete air dome of Cape Gloucester. Situation well in hand due to fighting spirit of troops, the usual Marine luck and the help of God.
General MacArthur sent a return note to General Rupertus: I extend my heartiest congratulations to your officers and men. I am filled with pride and gratitude by their resourceful determination in capturing Cape Gloucester. Your gallant Division has maintained the immortal record of the Marine Corps and covered itself with glory.
By February, the original mission had been accomplished. Western New Britain is secure, and the only Japanese seen are hanging from trees in the native villages. Many of the villages had captured a few of them alive and had beaten every one of them to death in retribution for the treatment by the Japanese invaders. The focus shifted to the Willaumez Peninsula, which juts out from the middle of the main island like a crooked finger. It had been the center of plantation life before the war but is now occupied by the Japanese, who built an airfield at the trading village of Talasea and expanded the port for military use.
On 1 March, 5th Marines were ordered to seize and occupy Talasea and then patrol southward to cut off any retreating Japanese and isolate the western half of the island from Rabaul. The 5th had been testing a new assault method of loading medium tanks into a Landing Craft to use as seagoing gun platforms on the leading edge of a landing force.
On 5 March, the 5th Marines, reinforced with an artillery Battalion from 11th Marines and a Medical Company, loaded into twenty-five Amtracs for an overnight trip to the western beach of the peninsula. The beach is undefended. The cost of the operation to the 5th Marines and its reinforcing units was 17 men killed and 114 wounded. The Japanese lost an estimated 150 men killed and an unknown number of wounded. It would later be noted that at New Britain, the 1st Marine Division achieved a degree of perfection probably never equaled in jungle operations, from the surprise in selecting the landing beaches to the adaptation of amphibious techniques, which are then adapted to subsequent jungle operations to and through the Philippines.
With the end of active combat on the island, the 5th Marines encamp near the new Navy base and revert to training status after a short recuperation time. Life on the peninsula is much more comfortable than in the rainforests of the southern end of the island. The monsoons are less frequent, and the high mountain range scrapes off most rains in the middle of the island. There’s even a series of hot springs that allow the Marines to have their first hot bath in three months. The rashes and sores from being constantly wet gradually start to heal, and new supplies of clothing, food and, most importantly, beer now flow in regularly.
On the 26th, 1st Marines departed Cape Gloucester followed quickly by the 7th and 5th Marines. This, of course, generated speculation on the possibility of a return to Melbourne. Doesn’t happen!
At the General/Admiral level, a tug-of-war between the Navy and General McArthur had been playing out over the 1st Marine Division. McArthur wanted to retain the Division under his command to be used to eliminate the remnants of the Japanese garrison of Western New Britain and in future landings in pursuit of his desire to return to the Philippines. Navy and Marine Corps leaders had approached General Marshall over their concern about leaving the 1st Marine Division under McArthur, particularly about its employment in a role that did not take full advantage of its training and experience. Marshall and Nimitz reminded MacArthur of the intended employment of the 1st Marine Division in the upcoming Carolines operation. Nimitz argues that the Division will have to be released prior to June 1 in order to have ample time to prepare for a major amphibious assault. McArthur responded that he didn’t have troop ships available to move the 1st Division. Admiral Halsey was then asked if his South Pacific Force could support the movement of the Division.
Halsey found the ships!
Mid-April, it was decided that the 1st Division would go to Noumea, Guadalcanal, or some island in the Russells. Although the huge base at Guadalcanal now had Quonset huts with lights and plenty of good chow, it had serious drawbacks. General Geiger was concerned that his men would be used as dock workers if he stationed them there, as the 3rd Marine Division had been earlier. Returning to Australia meant they would remain under MacArthur’s control, so both alternatives were ruled out. As the Division loaded onto troopships, the decision of their destination was finally made.
Sixty miles north of Guadalcanal, an island had been scouted from the air by staff officers of the Third Amphibious Corps and deemed suitable for a base for R&R. The island had been captured after a short six-hour engagement by Marine Raiders early in 1943. On 28 April 1944, the 1st Division finally extracted itself from MacArthur’s control and rejoined the U.S. Navy when it landed on Pavavu.
The second morning out of New Britain, they hear the announcement that they are headed for R&R on an island nearby and will not be returning to Melbourne. Dad said there was near mutiny when the announcement was made. The morning they disembarked, they found themselves on a small island with no barracks, no lights, no showers, no mess halls, no recreation areas and no adequate supply of fresh food. Having to build their rest camp pisses off everybody, officers and enlisted men. Working parties are eventually organized to erect tents and build roads from crushed coral, but first, they have to clean up piles of rotting coconuts stinking to high heaven. To top it off, the place is infested with rats, black gnats and land crabs. The damn crabs are a Hell of a pest. They stay underground during the day and come out at night to make life miserable. The crabs are difficult to see because they hide in the high thick grass that grows everywhere and is often over eight feet tall. Many a Marine is in for a shock if he doesn’t shake his boots out in the morning to dump the damn things.
By nightfall, some of them were able to joke about their predicament, but morale had clearly gone to Hell. Dad said they all felt like a big dirty trick had been played on them.
In a ceremony early in May, Dad was awarded his second Bronze Star for his actions on New Britain in eliminating the Machine Gun pillboxes. It was also announced that half of the survivors of Guadalcanal would be eligible to return home. A raffle decides who goes and who stays. The raffle temporarily raised morale, and there was a bright spot late in July when Bob Hope unexpectedly added a performance on Pavuvu. USO shows periodically stopped at Banika next to them but had never before made it to Pavuvu. When Hope got word of their predicament, he insisted on flying Patti Thomas, Frances Langford, and Jerry Colonna, along with the entire entourage, on eight Piper Cub plane trips to Pavuvu. The Marines are overjoyed to be included and not forgotten again.
Morale noticeably improved after the show, but almost paradoxically, the announcement of their next landing had an even more significant effect. Early August, orders filter down that the 1st Marine Division will next land on a small island in the Marianas where a Japanese bomber airfield threatens MacArthur’s invasion of the Philippines and, more important to the Corps, is also protecting the camps on Mindanao, which hold thousands of Marine and Army POWs. This landing will take them almost halfway to Japan and the end of the war.
Our trip:
The eight-hour trip from Guadalcanal to Pavuvu took us past several wrecked Japanese troop ships and across Iron Bottom Sound, so named because of the number of ships sunk during the battle. Pavuvu was a little disappointing. After the war, it reverted to being a coconut plantation, and there are very few reminders of wartime use now. Banika, a naval base just across from Pavavu, where we refueled, is still recognizable. We moored offshore for the first night and explored what little there was to see on the island the next day before starting the two-day trip to Cape Gloucester.
We anchored off Cape Gloucester on the western side of the island where 1st Marines landed. The jungle has retaken the area where they fought, and there was little to see. On the second day, we went over to Volupai, where 5th Marines had landed on the peninsula. Then, we went over the top of the peninsula and moored at Bitokara, where the final battle was fought. Rabaul had been such a formidable base that it was decided to bypass it rather than expend effort and men to try to take it. It's gone now. It was destroyed by a volcano eruption in 1994, which took out most of the area.
From Rabaul, the boat took us to Port Moresby for a chartered flight to Peleliu.
Aug 28th, 2023, 04:33 PM
#8
"Janis, do you know what Division he was in?"
Second Division 38th Field Artillery
Reading with great interest. Mom & Dad knew each other from the time mom was in kindergarten and dad in the 2nd grade in a two room schoolhouse in a tiny northern California mountain town. As it turned out, my dad and most of his high school / college friends ended up in Europe while many of mom's friends/relatives ended up in the Pacific . . . One of mom's older sister's first husband was killed on Peleliu. I don't know any details other than that
Second Division 38th Field Artillery
Reading with great interest. Mom & Dad knew each other from the time mom was in kindergarten and dad in the 2nd grade in a two room schoolhouse in a tiny northern California mountain town. As it turned out, my dad and most of his high school / college friends ended up in Europe while many of mom's friends/relatives ended up in the Pacific . . . One of mom's older sister's first husband was killed on Peleliu. I don't know any details other than that
Aug 29th, 2023, 08:19 AM
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 13,192
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Bokhara: Other than personal satisfaction, one of the drivers of the trip and book is to insure that their sacrifice is does not fade into history. I'd like for my kids and their kids to know what Dad did, and by extension, what thousands/millions of others did.
Janis; We were in the South Pacific almost four months. Some of that was travel time, some was dead time when the crew tested positive for Covid. We also had a mechanical problem with one of the planes that cost us a week.
Some history of the 2nd Infantry Division I found.
Landed on Omaha Beach on D plus 1 (7 June 1944) near Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer. Attacking across the Aure River on 10 June, the division liberated Trévières and proceeded to assault and secure Hill 192, a key enemy strong point on the road to Saint-Lo.
Campaign participation credit:
Normandy
Northern France
Rhineland
Ardennes-Alsace - "Battle of the Bulge"
Central Europe
Days of combat: 303
After the War in Europe, they returned to Bastrop, Texas to train and prepare for the invasion of Japan.
More here: 2nd Infantry Division (United States) - Wikipedia
Janis; We were in the South Pacific almost four months. Some of that was travel time, some was dead time when the crew tested positive for Covid. We also had a mechanical problem with one of the planes that cost us a week.
Some history of the 2nd Infantry Division I found.
Landed on Omaha Beach on D plus 1 (7 June 1944) near Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer. Attacking across the Aure River on 10 June, the division liberated Trévières and proceeded to assault and secure Hill 192, a key enemy strong point on the road to Saint-Lo.
Campaign participation credit:
Normandy
Northern France
Rhineland
Ardennes-Alsace - "Battle of the Bulge"
Central Europe
Days of combat: 303
After the War in Europe, they returned to Bastrop, Texas to train and prepare for the invasion of Japan.
More here: 2nd Infantry Division (United States) - Wikipedia
Aug 29th, 2023, 12:14 PM
#10
Four months -- my goodness - definitely a trip of a lifetime.
My dad landed D Day+2 and After NW/northern France and the Bulge my Dad was sent to Paris to recover from trench foot and a shrapnel injury and he ended up staying there through V-E Day and not going to Texas. He had a short term posting as sort of a film archivist/media liaison - He stayed in Paris til returning home to California
My dad landed D Day+2 and After NW/northern France and the Bulge my Dad was sent to Paris to recover from trench foot and a shrapnel injury and he ended up staying there through V-E Day and not going to Texas. He had a short term posting as sort of a film archivist/media liaison - He stayed in Paris til returning home to California
Aug 31st, 2023, 09:05 AM
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 13,192
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Up to now everything had gone relatively smoothly. That changed quickly. Our plan was to land in Port Moresby, release the chartered boat and take a chartered flight to Kokor, a town on the larger island of Palau., then board a different chartered boat to Peleliu. During immigration, one of the crew members tested positive for COVID, which meant we all had to stay on the boat for ten days with no positive tests before they would let us in. That threw the whole schedule out of whack. We had to cancel the chartered plane to Kokor and the charter boat to Peleliu and weren't able to reschedule either one until everybody passed the ten day COVID test. There are worse problems than having to live on a yacht for 10 days, but it threw one Hell of a kink in our plans. I talked to the boat owner and found out that his next charter had cancelled, so we had the boat for three weeks. That was pushing us up against cyclone season. The last thing we needed was to be caught up in a cyclone on Okinawa like the Marines were. We had to wait two days for the engineman to be replaced. (He was the one who tested positive.) We could have made the trip in four days, three if we pushed it, but we had to spend eight so that we could honestly say we had gone ten days without exposure to COVID. We stopped at several smaller islands on route for some fishing and scuba diving. We ate really well! When we arrived nobody asked us about COVID.
Peleliu:
Peleliu Island is irregularly shaped, roughly six miles long and at most two miles wide, with two peninsulas to the north, a small one on the east and a larger one on the west. It’s surrounded by a barrier reef as much as a thousand yards wide. The airfield was located in the south on the widest part of the island. (It's mostly gone now but is in the process of being rebuilt) The south is still mostly scrub jungle interspersed with wild coconuts and occasional grass clearings. The western peninsula was heavily wooded, mountainous terrain. The eastern peninsula consisted primarily of mangrove swamps.
The Japanese had built a bomber base on an island to control the entire South Pacific theater. Any force attacking the Philippines would have been vulnerable to Japanese bombers stationed there. Hell-bent on recapturing the Philippines, MacArthur insisted that the threat be eliminated. While there had been discussions about using the Navy to bombard the base into rubble, bypassing the island, and cutting off its supply, ( like with Rabaul) MacArthur argues that he also needs the airfield for the ultimate bombing of Japan’s home islands. MacArthur wins the argument, and the decision to invade and occupy the island is approved by Roosevelt while the 1st Division was still fighting on New Britain. Once again, the 1st Marine Division would be ‘MacArthur’s Marines,’ a nickname that would follow them through the war and beyond.
Before loading for the landing the Marines are told that this will be quick and easy. Three days and hand it over to the Army.
The landing was in the center of the island on a section of beach just west of the airfield on five areas designated White 1 & 2; Orange 1, 2 and 3. On 14 September, the Division arrived to witness the shelling of the island that had been going on for two days. The island was covered in smoke and looked like was on fire. The Japanese changed their tactics for defending Peleliu. Instead of allowing the invaders to come on shore and attack with the infantry, they used artillery hidden in the coral caves to attack the invaders while they were still in the water, relatively helpless. One of the books I read, the author said that when they got on the beach it looked “like someone left the back door to Hell open.”
Things fall apart quickly. Field communications become a nightmare. Batteries in the new radios quickly fail due to the heat, and landlines are torn up as quickly as they can be laid on the hard coral surface. Their water supply is contaminated. They fight in 115-120 degree temperatures with no water. A Japanese shell hits Division HQ during the night and wipes out the communications team, and wounds Harris (Commanding Officer) in the knee.
On D+5, 1st Marines (Chesty Puller commanding) ceased to exist as a fighting unit and was withdrawn with 7,600 casualties. They are replaced by units of U.S. Army's 81st Infantry Division. Forty-two days after the initial landing, on 12 October, the Assault Phase of the operation was declared ended, and on the 15th, the Army 81st Infantry Division permanently relieved the 1st Marine Division on the island. The “three-day fight” took forty-five days.
5th Marines came to Peleliu in three troop transports and six LSTs. They left aboard one ship, USS Sea Runner.
Marine Corps total casualty figures were 6,526, with 1,252 dead. The 81st Division would continue combat on Peleliu until 27 November, with Japanese holdouts refusing to surrender until April 1947. 81st Division casualties were 3,089 casualties, with 404 dead. Japanese losses were estimated at 10,900, all but a tiny fraction dead.
It was by far the deadliest battle in the South Pacific up to that time. And the damn island was never used as a bomber base. The wisdom of the decision to land there is still debated to this day.
Peleliu was the one battle Dad never spoke about. It came up once. He went silent, stared out the window and cried. I never asked him again.
Our visit:
Like any jungle environment, the island has mostly recovered from the scars of battle. Unlike the others, an incredible number of artifacts remain to this day. We saw rusted tanks, AMTRACs, machine guns, mortars and even airplane engines scattered around the island. There are a lot of memorials, several for the Marines, one for the 81st Army Division and several for the Japanese Navy and Army. I just can’t bring myself to photograph memorials. Standing on Orange Beach looking back at the ocean was incredibly moving. I teared up a little thinking of Dad and the others fighting their way up that same beach and how many did not make it. (5th Marines landed at Orange Beach 1.)
It’s a small island, but we spent two days there. Before flying to Okinawa
Peleliu:
Peleliu Island is irregularly shaped, roughly six miles long and at most two miles wide, with two peninsulas to the north, a small one on the east and a larger one on the west. It’s surrounded by a barrier reef as much as a thousand yards wide. The airfield was located in the south on the widest part of the island. (It's mostly gone now but is in the process of being rebuilt) The south is still mostly scrub jungle interspersed with wild coconuts and occasional grass clearings. The western peninsula was heavily wooded, mountainous terrain. The eastern peninsula consisted primarily of mangrove swamps.
The Japanese had built a bomber base on an island to control the entire South Pacific theater. Any force attacking the Philippines would have been vulnerable to Japanese bombers stationed there. Hell-bent on recapturing the Philippines, MacArthur insisted that the threat be eliminated. While there had been discussions about using the Navy to bombard the base into rubble, bypassing the island, and cutting off its supply, ( like with Rabaul) MacArthur argues that he also needs the airfield for the ultimate bombing of Japan’s home islands. MacArthur wins the argument, and the decision to invade and occupy the island is approved by Roosevelt while the 1st Division was still fighting on New Britain. Once again, the 1st Marine Division would be ‘MacArthur’s Marines,’ a nickname that would follow them through the war and beyond.
Before loading for the landing the Marines are told that this will be quick and easy. Three days and hand it over to the Army.
The landing was in the center of the island on a section of beach just west of the airfield on five areas designated White 1 & 2; Orange 1, 2 and 3. On 14 September, the Division arrived to witness the shelling of the island that had been going on for two days. The island was covered in smoke and looked like was on fire. The Japanese changed their tactics for defending Peleliu. Instead of allowing the invaders to come on shore and attack with the infantry, they used artillery hidden in the coral caves to attack the invaders while they were still in the water, relatively helpless. One of the books I read, the author said that when they got on the beach it looked “like someone left the back door to Hell open.”
Things fall apart quickly. Field communications become a nightmare. Batteries in the new radios quickly fail due to the heat, and landlines are torn up as quickly as they can be laid on the hard coral surface. Their water supply is contaminated. They fight in 115-120 degree temperatures with no water. A Japanese shell hits Division HQ during the night and wipes out the communications team, and wounds Harris (Commanding Officer) in the knee.
On D+5, 1st Marines (Chesty Puller commanding) ceased to exist as a fighting unit and was withdrawn with 7,600 casualties. They are replaced by units of U.S. Army's 81st Infantry Division. Forty-two days after the initial landing, on 12 October, the Assault Phase of the operation was declared ended, and on the 15th, the Army 81st Infantry Division permanently relieved the 1st Marine Division on the island. The “three-day fight” took forty-five days.
5th Marines came to Peleliu in three troop transports and six LSTs. They left aboard one ship, USS Sea Runner.
Marine Corps total casualty figures were 6,526, with 1,252 dead. The 81st Division would continue combat on Peleliu until 27 November, with Japanese holdouts refusing to surrender until April 1947. 81st Division casualties were 3,089 casualties, with 404 dead. Japanese losses were estimated at 10,900, all but a tiny fraction dead.
It was by far the deadliest battle in the South Pacific up to that time. And the damn island was never used as a bomber base. The wisdom of the decision to land there is still debated to this day.
Peleliu was the one battle Dad never spoke about. It came up once. He went silent, stared out the window and cried. I never asked him again.
Our visit:
Like any jungle environment, the island has mostly recovered from the scars of battle. Unlike the others, an incredible number of artifacts remain to this day. We saw rusted tanks, AMTRACs, machine guns, mortars and even airplane engines scattered around the island. There are a lot of memorials, several for the Marines, one for the 81st Army Division and several for the Japanese Navy and Army. I just can’t bring myself to photograph memorials. Standing on Orange Beach looking back at the ocean was incredibly moving. I teared up a little thinking of Dad and the others fighting their way up that same beach and how many did not make it. (5th Marines landed at Orange Beach 1.)
It’s a small island, but we spent two days there. Before flying to Okinawa
Aug 31st, 2023, 12:14 PM
#12
Oh -- words fail me. It must have been unimaginably moving to be on that beach. My knowledge of the War in the Pacific is very lacking compared to the European Theater. I know the basics - the name of the major battles and such but not many of the details.
I did photograph many memorials in the Ardennes -- it was overwhelming to me the number -- every town and village had at least one and often several honoring various Allied units.
I did photograph many memorials in the Ardennes -- it was overwhelming to me the number -- every town and village had at least one and often several honoring various Allied units.
Sep 1st, 2023, 10:08 AM
#14
> He went silent, stared out the window and cried.
What a powerful and amazing story Rich, thank you for posting. Perhaps the best Pacific War book I have read is the one by William Manchester, your dad's stories remind me of it.
My father was in Europe, involved in the bombing of Munich. His plane broke apart over England and he parachuted, but three crewmen died. Then he flew The Hump until he caught a tropical disease and was sent to a hospital in Africa to recuperate. That's all I know. Like your Dad (and janis') he rarely spoke of it. When he died my brother and I found a box of medals in one of his drawers. He also was an alcoholic.
I spend a couple years on Kwajalein in the early '70's, working on LCTs that were converted to passenger ferries. There are a few bunkers and other war relics on the islands, including a Japanese cemetary. I have some photos of them, and of course the lagoon wrecks. I was hoping to get to Raboul to dive there, but it never happened.
What an interesting post to see here! Thanks.
What a powerful and amazing story Rich, thank you for posting. Perhaps the best Pacific War book I have read is the one by William Manchester, your dad's stories remind me of it.
My father was in Europe, involved in the bombing of Munich. His plane broke apart over England and he parachuted, but three crewmen died. Then he flew The Hump until he caught a tropical disease and was sent to a hospital in Africa to recuperate. That's all I know. Like your Dad (and janis') he rarely spoke of it. When he died my brother and I found a box of medals in one of his drawers. He also was an alcoholic.
I spend a couple years on Kwajalein in the early '70's, working on LCTs that were converted to passenger ferries. There are a few bunkers and other war relics on the islands, including a Japanese cemetary. I have some photos of them, and of course the lagoon wrecks. I was hoping to get to Raboul to dive there, but it never happened.
What an interesting post to see here! Thanks.
Sep 2nd, 2023, 11:11 AM
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 13,192
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The initial invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945 (some April Fool’s joke, huh?) was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific Theater of World War. For the assault, the United States created the Tenth Army, a cross-branch force consisting of the U.S. Army 7th, 27th, 77th and 96th Infantry Divisions with the 1st, 2nd, and 6th Marine Divisions. Opposing the Allied forces on the ground was the Japanese Thirty-Second Army. Iwo Jima had been the first battle on Japanese soil. Okinawa would be the second. The Japanese had no illusions that they could win the Battle of Okinawa. Their strategy was to inflict so many casualties that the Allies would not invade Japan but sue for peace.
The battle was the costliest of the war, with over 50,000 combat casualties, including 12,500 killed and missing; 36,122 wounded on the U.S. side, 77,166 Japanese soldiers and over 30,000 Okinawan conscripts killed. In addition, 40,000–150,000 civilians were killed or committed suicide. It was the first time the Marines would fight a battle amid a significant civilian population. It was brutal. It was the first large-scale use of Kamakizi suicide attacks on ships.
The last remnants of Japanese resistance ended on 21 June, although some Japanese continued hiding. Friday, June 22nd, 1945, with defeat imminent, Japanese Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushjima committed ritual suicide with his staff after reporting the loss of Okinawa to his superiors.
After the battle, Okinawa provided a fleet anchorage, troop staging areas, and airfields in proximity to Japan for U.S. forces in preparation for a planned invasion of the Japanese home islands, code-named Operation Downfall. It would have been the largest invasion in history. It was to take place in two phases. Operation Olympic – 14 Divisions, spearheaded by the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions, would land on Kyushu in November 1945. Operation Coronet – 25 Divisions, spearheaded by the 1st, 2nd and 6th Marine Divisions, would land on Honshu in the north in April 1946.
The Japanese goal of inflicting so many casualties that the U.S. would rethink the invasion of Japan worked, but not in the way they wanted it to.
On August 6, the Enola Gay took off from the tiny island of Tinian with “Little Boy,” the first atomic weapon used in warfare. Colonel Paul Tibbets and his crew flew their modified B-29 Superfortress toward Hiroshima, an industrial hub important to the Japanese war effort. It was also home to 350,000 people.
At 8:15 a.m., the bomb was dropped from 31,000 feet. Forty-three seconds later, “Little Boy” detonated at 1,900 feet, destroying a four-square-mile area of Hiroshima and killing anywhere from 90,000 to 140,000 people.
On September 6, 1945, the Japanese surrendered, ending World War 2.
The planners began focusing on getting almost two million Marines, Soldiers and Sailors back home. A new point system allowed anyone with 90 points to apply for separation. With 1 point for each month of service, 1 point for each month of being overseas, 5 points for each decoration and 5 points for each campaign in which a battle star was issued, Dad had 140 points, more than enough for immediate release. He spent three months in a hospital and returned to us in time for Christmas.
We flew from Kokor to Okinawa's Naha Airport and took a car to the hotel. Other than a few monuments to both sides, if you did not know that the deadliest battle of the Pacific had been fought there, nothing would have indicated that. In fact, the whole place resembled Disneyworld more than it did a battlefield. There's even a monorail to take you almost anywhere on the island. Shuri Castle has been rebuilt, and there is absolutely no evidence of the slaughter that took place there in 1945. It has become one of Japan's most popular tourist destinations, known for its tropical climate, white sandy beaches, colorful coral reefs, and culture.
Our quest to visit each battlefield where the First Marine Corps fought was done. We said our goodbyes, and everyone went their separate ways. We flew to Tokyo, and from there to Singapore to visit friends for a week, then back to London.
The battle was the costliest of the war, with over 50,000 combat casualties, including 12,500 killed and missing; 36,122 wounded on the U.S. side, 77,166 Japanese soldiers and over 30,000 Okinawan conscripts killed. In addition, 40,000–150,000 civilians were killed or committed suicide. It was the first time the Marines would fight a battle amid a significant civilian population. It was brutal. It was the first large-scale use of Kamakizi suicide attacks on ships.
The last remnants of Japanese resistance ended on 21 June, although some Japanese continued hiding. Friday, June 22nd, 1945, with defeat imminent, Japanese Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushjima committed ritual suicide with his staff after reporting the loss of Okinawa to his superiors.
After the battle, Okinawa provided a fleet anchorage, troop staging areas, and airfields in proximity to Japan for U.S. forces in preparation for a planned invasion of the Japanese home islands, code-named Operation Downfall. It would have been the largest invasion in history. It was to take place in two phases. Operation Olympic – 14 Divisions, spearheaded by the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions, would land on Kyushu in November 1945. Operation Coronet – 25 Divisions, spearheaded by the 1st, 2nd and 6th Marine Divisions, would land on Honshu in the north in April 1946.
The Japanese goal of inflicting so many casualties that the U.S. would rethink the invasion of Japan worked, but not in the way they wanted it to.
On August 6, the Enola Gay took off from the tiny island of Tinian with “Little Boy,” the first atomic weapon used in warfare. Colonel Paul Tibbets and his crew flew their modified B-29 Superfortress toward Hiroshima, an industrial hub important to the Japanese war effort. It was also home to 350,000 people.
At 8:15 a.m., the bomb was dropped from 31,000 feet. Forty-three seconds later, “Little Boy” detonated at 1,900 feet, destroying a four-square-mile area of Hiroshima and killing anywhere from 90,000 to 140,000 people.
On September 6, 1945, the Japanese surrendered, ending World War 2.
The planners began focusing on getting almost two million Marines, Soldiers and Sailors back home. A new point system allowed anyone with 90 points to apply for separation. With 1 point for each month of service, 1 point for each month of being overseas, 5 points for each decoration and 5 points for each campaign in which a battle star was issued, Dad had 140 points, more than enough for immediate release. He spent three months in a hospital and returned to us in time for Christmas.
We flew from Kokor to Okinawa's Naha Airport and took a car to the hotel. Other than a few monuments to both sides, if you did not know that the deadliest battle of the Pacific had been fought there, nothing would have indicated that. In fact, the whole place resembled Disneyworld more than it did a battlefield. There's even a monorail to take you almost anywhere on the island. Shuri Castle has been rebuilt, and there is absolutely no evidence of the slaughter that took place there in 1945. It has become one of Japan's most popular tourist destinations, known for its tropical climate, white sandy beaches, colorful coral reefs, and culture.
Our quest to visit each battlefield where the First Marine Corps fought was done. We said our goodbyes, and everyone went their separate ways. We flew to Tokyo, and from there to Singapore to visit friends for a week, then back to London.
Sep 2nd, 2023, 12:00 PM
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 13,192
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
For anyone interested in reading about the war, there is a nine book series. You can pick the areas that interest you most.
Sep 7th, 2023, 08:07 PM
#18
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 4,375
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The museum at the MCG has a great selection of photos of the camps from WW11 -they used to be displayed around th eground. My friend who is a guide there said they have lots of 3 geneartion Americans come and talk and look.
Sep 17th, 2023, 08:34 AM
#19
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,319
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Rich, I’m rarely on this board, was just poking around and came upon this amazing trip report, such a beautiful tribute to your Dad, with its wealth of interesting historical details, and deeply moving personal moments. I think of your standing on that beach on Peleliu where he would have landed and your receipt of his letters from your uncle.
It brought back memories of my own father’s service. He did talk about his time during the war with my brother and me when we were young. I knew that he had been a 1st Lieutenant and had landed in France shortly after D-Day. As an adult years later, I had only snippets of memories, though, the names of towns and places—St. Lo, Mortain, Caen, the Ardennes, Aachen—the name, General Hobbs, and that my father had been awarded a Bronze Star. He died in 1978.
In 2006 I obtained the name and contact information for Frank Towers, then the President and Historian of the 30th Infantry Division Veterans. I learned from him that my father had been a liaison officer from the 3rd Battalion of the 117th Regiment. Frank had been a liaison officer from the 3rd Battalion of the 120th Regiment and they’d had occasional contact.
Frank wrote, “Our job as Liaison Officer was to act as a ‘Glorified Messenger Boy’ to be very blunt about it, but it was a very important duty and we were almost indispensable 24 hours a day. We were required to carry the order for the next day’s operation from the Regimental Hq. down to the Bn. Hq. They in turn had to formulate the plan of attack of each Company for the next day, and we in turn would take this back to the Regimental Hq.”
“All of this was necessary because radio transmission was not always reliable because of distance, and telephone lines may not have been laid, or had been cut by artillery or by tanks running over them. Most of the time we had to memorize these orders and relay them back and forth, as if we were captured en route, we would have no paper documents as evidence as to what our plans were. We often had to go forward in the night, NOT knowing just where we were going, as the battalions moved forward rapidly, and ‘left no forwarding address’ so we just had to go forth and plunder our way along until we found them. Many times we got on wrong roads and ran into enemy territory and a few fire fights ensued.”
“Generally we had a dedicated Jeep and driver assigned to us, and usually we had 2 guards to accompany us on our forays to the front.”
The story that I remember was my father’s Jeep coming to a fork in the road. He and likely others got out and went a ways up each road. Something (so wish for memory of the details) led them to pick one way over the other. Afterwards, he learned that the Germans had been on the road not taken.
Frank added that my father was awarded a Bronze Star with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters. He directed me to a website, www.30thinfantry.org, which had lists of books relevant to the history of the 117th Regiment and the 30th Division. I obtained a copy of the History of the 117th Infantry 1944-1945 that filled in a lot of the details, including the date and place of his arrival in France, Lison, June 17, 1944.
Janis, our fathers covered a lot of the same ground. I could imagine what it was like to be in that farmhouse in the Ardennes where your Dad and his comrades withstood the German artillery.
Rich, I’m rarely on this board, was just poking around and came upon this amazing trip report, such a beautiful tribute to your Dad, with its wealth of interesting historical details, and deeply moving personal moments. I think of your standing on that beach on Peleliu where he would have landed and your receipt of his letters from your uncle.
It brought back memories of my own father’s service. He did talk about his time during the war with my brother and me when we were young. I knew that he had been a 1st Lieutenant and had landed in France shortly after D-Day. As an adult years later, I had only snippets of memories, though, the names of towns and places—St. Lo, Mortain, Caen, the Ardennes, Aachen—the name, General Hobbs, and that my father had been awarded a Bronze Star. He died in 1978.
In 2006 I obtained the name and contact information for Frank Towers, then the President and Historian of the 30th Infantry Division Veterans. I learned from him that my father had been a liaison officer from the 3rd Battalion of the 117th Regiment. Frank had been a liaison officer from the 3rd Battalion of the 120th Regiment and they’d had occasional contact.
Frank wrote, “Our job as Liaison Officer was to act as a ‘Glorified Messenger Boy’ to be very blunt about it, but it was a very important duty and we were almost indispensable 24 hours a day. We were required to carry the order for the next day’s operation from the Regimental Hq. down to the Bn. Hq. They in turn had to formulate the plan of attack of each Company for the next day, and we in turn would take this back to the Regimental Hq.”
“All of this was necessary because radio transmission was not always reliable because of distance, and telephone lines may not have been laid, or had been cut by artillery or by tanks running over them. Most of the time we had to memorize these orders and relay them back and forth, as if we were captured en route, we would have no paper documents as evidence as to what our plans were. We often had to go forward in the night, NOT knowing just where we were going, as the battalions moved forward rapidly, and ‘left no forwarding address’ so we just had to go forth and plunder our way along until we found them. Many times we got on wrong roads and ran into enemy territory and a few fire fights ensued.”
“Generally we had a dedicated Jeep and driver assigned to us, and usually we had 2 guards to accompany us on our forays to the front.”
The story that I remember was my father’s Jeep coming to a fork in the road. He and likely others got out and went a ways up each road. Something (so wish for memory of the details) led them to pick one way over the other. Afterwards, he learned that the Germans had been on the road not taken.
Frank added that my father was awarded a Bronze Star with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters. He directed me to a website, www.30thinfantry.org, which had lists of books relevant to the history of the 117th Regiment and the 30th Division. I obtained a copy of the History of the 117th Infantry 1944-1945 that filled in a lot of the details, including the date and place of his arrival in France, Lison, June 17, 1944.
Janis, our fathers covered a lot of the same ground. I could imagine what it was like to be in that farmhouse in the Ardennes where your Dad and his comrades withstood the German artillery.
