I happened on this footage on youtube, figured some might find it interesting. Marine with Unertl mounted Springfield @ 0:51.
- Thread starter splean
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Thx for it. Had an adoptive father who fought in the islands as some sort of forward artillery spotter. Wounded twice. Sometimes he could talk about it. Other times he would just break down. So much respect for these guys. Sad to see what they fought and died for in the streets today.
Tarawa was a disaster that proved adapting and overcoming will bring success from failure.
It only really worked because we had the attrition game won before the first Higgins boat got stuck on the barrier reef.
Just finished reading "Red Blood, Black Sand" by Chuck Tatum.
Thing about Iwo was that it just continued on and on and on with the enemy seeming to be nowhere at all times yet everywhere at once.
Japanese were popping in and out of holes from the sides front and rear.
Mr Tatum lasted some 16 days on the island before his veteran Sgt determined he was spent and sent him and another Marine out of the war.
Reading "Earned in Blood" by Thurman Miller right now.
Finding it to be a great read. Mr Miller joined the Marine Corps prior to Pearl Harbor and early enough to be part of the building of the First Marine Division. He was a Sgt when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He would be considered "Old Breed" and its interesting to me how a small group was able to salt through a bunch of citizen Marines and undertake some of the toughest Pacific fighting.
Mr Miller was in K/3/5 of EB Sledge's writing. He felt his luck had been expended just prior to Pelelieu. AA Haldane offered him a top platoon Sgt post if he would go to Pelelieu but he chose the states instead.
Cant imagine how our country would react to the battles and casualty reports these guys had to endure.
I am going to order RV Burgins book right now and perhaps one or two more - got some beach reading coming up.
Two excellent books on Tarawa are "One Square Mile of Hell" and "Bloody Tarawa". Four MOH were awarded there of which three were posthumously. In the footage where they are storming the large bunker 1st LT Sandyy Bonnyman of NM perished holding off a counter attack. His body was never recovered until 71 years later. Lt Deane Hawkins of El Paso and William Bordelon of San Anthonio were also MOH winners. Bordelon as well as two others from Central Catholic HS in San Antonio were KIA at Tarawa.
RV Burgins book is excellent and have read many of the books on the island campaigns including the Devil's Anvil and Last Man Standing about Pelelieu.
Forgot to mention in my post another good book on Tarawa "76 Hours" . I have read these books several times over the years and always come away in awe of the Marines sacrifice on this island. I could only imagine the terror in the hearts of these young men as they waded 800 yards to the beach under intense fire or trapped behind the sea wall surrounded by the the dead and dying. A little bit of trivia Eddie Albert Heimberger later famous as an actor most notably in the TV show Green Acres rescued over 34 injured Marines from the water operating his landing craft while under heavy fire.
The battle of Pelelieu was only supposed to last for three days but ground out for nearly a month with horrendous casualties. The 1st Marine Division under the command of Chesty Puller was ground down as a combat division due to heavy casualties from repeated frontal assaults on the ridges. The whole reason for invading the island was MacArthur's insistence that his flank be protected. Many Navy brass most particularly Halsey thought the island should be bypassed. and isolated. The invasion coincided with the invasion of mainland Europe and received very little coverage.
Back in early 2000s I read a stroy of a KIA from Tarawa being located and his remains returning to MA for internment.
I happened to be going out to that part of the state on my MC and thought Im going to stop by the grave. Its a rural area and I figured the cemetery would be a "plot".
When I got there it was a full size cemetery and I figured Ill never find that grave.
Though not marked by more than a VA flat brass marker I located it in about 10 minutes as I cruised my bike down a lane prepping to leave.
It struck me when I saw the grave, how young the Marine was and the rural area he came from that when these guys got shipped to the Pacific they may as well been sent to Mars.
the world was so much bigger.
Places names like Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Tarawa had no relevance until they gave it to them.
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"Places names like Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Tarawa had no relevance until they gave it to them. " So true.
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