0:00

This. Is Jock or Park as number four?

0:02

Thirty five would echo Charles in me Jock

0:04

a week. Good evening Echo bidding the. The.

0:08

Night we moved off the beach

0:10

England somewhere around Henderson Field. We

0:14

were to beef up the small perimeter,

0:16

which had been held by the other

0:18

two regiments. Our friends

0:20

at the beach told us to expect to

0:22

see some activity after dark. As

0:25

they just told us about the way the

0:27

enemy harassed them at night. Just

0:30

as we were starting across an open

0:32

clearing near Henderson Field. Washing

0:35

Machine Charlie, the Japanese observation

0:37

and spotter plane we had

0:39

been told about, dropped his

0:41

greenish white. But. Very illuminating.

0:43

Parachute flares right over

0:45

us lighting up. The.

0:48

Entire area like daylight. Naturally,

0:51

We hit the deck immediately and not a

0:53

soul moved. A

0:55

moment later, The. Booming

0:57

from see Lark Channel came

1:00

the horrifying red hot naval

1:02

gunfire ripping up trees and

1:04

causing the earth to move

1:07

under you as each big

1:09

round came crashing ashore. This

1:13

was our baptism. And

1:20

that right there is an excerpt from

1:22

a book. Called.

1:25

A marine named

1:27

niche. Written

1:29

by Mitchell Page. Who

1:33

served. As new listed

1:35

marine was eventually commissioned. And

1:39

and he was born in

1:41

Charlie Roy, Pennsylvania. August

1:43

Thirty First, Nineteen, eighteen, His

1:47

parents were Serbian, they had

1:49

immigrated. To. America. From.

1:52

Overseas and he was the youngest

1:54

of three older sister, older brother.

1:58

Spend. his teenage years In

2:01

the Great Depression doesn't

2:03

talk about that too much in the book gives some

2:05

kind of basic background But as

2:07

he's growing up, he sees some it's interesting.

2:09

He sees some some violence and whatnot But

2:13

it turns out that the military Looks

2:16

like a pretty good option and

2:20

We're gonna get into it get into

2:22

his life and you're gonna hear some stories that You

2:26

won't forget Here

2:29

we go One

2:31

day after high school was over I kissed my

2:34

mother goodbye my very close friend

2:36

Johnny Holler Was two

2:38

years younger than I wanted to go with me Mother

2:40

packed a bag of food for us and Johnny

2:43

and I set out for Baltimore We started walking

2:45

and the next day we arrived in Baltimore after

2:47

being given several rides by people on

2:50

the road The recruiters told me they

2:53

could not accept me until the end of August because I was

2:55

just 17 and besides I need you to put

2:57

on more weight So

2:59

on that hot summer day in 1936

3:02

Johnny and I started back to Camden

3:04

Hill. This was the greatest distance either of us

3:06

had ever been from home We walked many miles

3:09

as we were embarrassed to put our hands to

3:11

put up our hands to flag a car or

3:13

a truck Once we came to a

3:15

stream where we stopped for a rest I

3:17

washed out my socks and put them on a rock to

3:19

dry then I bathed myself Johnny laughed at

3:21

me when I told him you had

3:23

to check your socks shoes and feet if

3:26

you're gonna walk long distances On

3:29

my 18th birthday. I was back in Baltimore alone

3:31

this time I passed the physical

3:33

examination But I had to eat about a

3:35

dozen bananas and drink several glasses of water

3:37

as I still wasn't quite heavy enough When

3:40

the doctor started the examination I? Had

3:43

my left hand on a Bible and

3:45

my right hand was raised facing the

3:47

American flag my spine Tingled as I

3:49

repeated the oath administered to me by

3:51

the Marine Corps officer that day in

3:53

the recruiting office in Baltimore Quote

3:56

I Will uphold and defend the Constitution of

3:58

the United States of America. Against

4:00

all enemies whomsoever foreign

4:03

or domestic. Was.

4:05

Given a train ticket. To. Paris

4:07

and. South. Carolina from

4:09

my boot camp training there.

4:12

Were. Other new men on the

4:14

train. Also.

4:17

And we quickly got acquainted. We talked about.

4:19

Or. New adventure and all the fun.

4:22

We're point asks but that all change.

4:24

We were met at the train station

4:26

in a little town by some marines

4:28

known as to Instructors were D eyes.

4:30

I never realized anybody or anything could

4:32

be so rough or do. Instructors were

4:35

truly tough men. I didn't recall. Corporal

4:37

Ambrose D. wept. You'd put

4:39

his nose against recruits nose and say it's

4:41

if you don't shape up, I'll kill you.

4:45

And we all knew he meant. One

4:48

night about zero two hundred. so he made

4:50

us get under our bunks. Role.

4:53

Heavy marching orders, then carry them

4:55

outside, put them on our backs,

4:57

and then we had a double

4:59

time into the swamps. He marched

5:01

as right into Reading Creek while

5:03

standing on the bank screaming down

5:05

you dumb fast drowned you dumb

5:07

bastards drought. We.

5:10

Had outstanding men and knew what March

5:12

discipline meant. By. That time. The

5:15

first man and a watermark straight through.

5:17

The rest followed and as a consequence

5:19

no one was hurt. We.

5:21

Were dead tired when we finally got to

5:24

bed in our barracks that morning and

5:26

Revelry sounded a very short time later. Very.

5:30

A favorite practice of corporal

5:32

Webs. While. We were at the

5:35

rifle range was to march as out to

5:37

a very sandy area where he ordered us

5:39

to Santa Detention for an hour to time

5:41

span a with worst one had to go

5:43

to like a gearbox your basic seal turning.

5:47

You you know you gotta like do

5:49

pushups and Burpee were willing to. Barbies

5:51

they do Now we did a towel.

5:53

Body Builders: Whatever you're doing calisthenics that

5:55

are you getting crushed? Ascertained? it's cool.

5:58

A. Lot of it was stand. there at

6:00

attention don't move and

6:03

I would much rather take them. They

6:05

can't bodybuilders or whatever. What

6:08

is the position of standing here? Hands on

6:10

your side. Your feet are together. You're looking

6:13

straight ahead. It's like that. Yeah.

6:16

Normal military position of attention. You can't like loosen

6:18

up. No. They still stay still.

6:21

That's not fun. Back to

6:23

the book. With our shirt, with our

6:25

arms and necks exposed since we can only

6:27

wear an undershirt, the thousands of sand fleas

6:29

were all over us in our nostrils, eyes,

6:31

ears and hair. Web-paced back and

6:34

forth around us pounding the palm of his

6:36

hand with a stick screaming, if you move

6:38

a muscle, I'll kill you. Look,

6:45

obviously I'm not going to read the whole

6:47

book. Fast forward a little bit. Graduation from

6:49

boot camp was the highlight in my life

6:51

to that point. Fast

6:55

forward a little bit. I had enlisted when

6:57

I had enlisted in Baltimore. The commandant

6:59

of the Marine Corps was Major General

7:02

John H. Russell. On December 1, 1936,

7:05

when General Russell retired, Major General

7:07

Thomas Holcomb became the 17th commandant

7:09

of the Marine Corps. As

7:11

years went by, the old salts used to say,

7:14

and how many commandants have you served under? It

7:17

was wonderful to know that I was no longer a recruit.

7:20

I was now out serving with other

7:22

regulars, from boy

7:25

to man. So

7:29

again, this is 1936. So

7:32

this is the Great Depression that's going on, and

7:36

there's no war going on. And he

7:38

gets assigned to a ship. He gets assigned to

7:40

the USS Wyoming in Norfolk, Virginia, and

7:42

they set sail out into the Atlantic. He goes

7:46

through San Juan, Puerto Rico,

7:48

and Guantanamo, and through the Panama Canal,

7:50

out into the Pacific Ocean. Goes

7:54

up the coast of Mexico, ends up in California.

7:59

Going To the book here. The next day.

8:01

February eighteen, nineteen, Thirty seven was

8:03

a cool, cool, overcast day for

8:05

we're off San Clemente. I want.

8:08

Which. Is. Often

8:11

sixty five nautical miles off the coast

8:13

of San Diego were few and I

8:15

live and it's also where seals get

8:17

trained not only in basics, your training

8:20

but also and some advanced training. You

8:22

got sick when has think my own

8:24

has a special place. So

8:29

here he is overcast. They were off.

8:31

same company I went when at ten

8:34

forty two, a powder charge of a

8:36

five inch shell exploded in a breach

8:38

which had not been properly closed. At.

8:41

That precise moment on gun

8:43

number thirteen starboard side green,

8:45

Captain Edward J. Trumbull and

8:47

five enlisted men were killed.

8:50

Ten others were seriously injured and one died

8:52

a few hours later. I.

8:54

Help the man to the sick bay who's arm

8:56

had been blown off the shoulders. He was a

8:59

horrible so. That

9:01

was the first of many terrible sites I

9:03

would be experiencing in the next few years.

9:07

So. That's one thing they do. it's

9:09

in from now as you can even

9:11

bomb see naval gunfire out there and

9:13

that's what they were doing I'm sure

9:15

at that time. So then from there

9:17

he gets onto another ship uss Show

9:20

Months' goes away. Goes

9:22

to Guam. I'm. Susan

9:25

Usb Uss Show Month ch A

9:28

you ammo and cheats me says

9:30

this on the nineteenth. I sorry

9:32

On the nineteenth of June Nineteen

9:34

Thirty seven. We steamed in a

9:36

Manila Bay pass Corregidor and into

9:38

Manila Philippine Islands some sixteen hundred

9:40

miles from Guam. As.

9:43

The todd eased us into the dark.

9:45

A loud cheer and laughter came from

9:47

the greeters as the stern of the

9:49

ship moved in closer. A

9:52

marine private had lowered himself over

9:54

the fantail of the ship and

9:57

under the letters of the ship's

9:59

name. He. Having to the following

10:01

so you know the name of the

10:03

zip ship is the show monster and

10:05

that's written across the stern of the

10:07

ship. And so this marine since neither

10:10

gone over the side and he'd added

10:12

letters under nice. To make

10:14

a sentence and the sentence

10:16

that he wrote was Christ

10:18

Help all Us Marines on

10:20

Navy transports. And

10:24

knew that he says this only a troop

10:26

passenger would understand his reasons for doing this

10:28

and I was a true passenger on. Three

10:31

Navy ships to amphibious since one aircraft

10:33

carrier is. and here's wheat. Here's what

10:36

they doing with one canteen of fresh

10:38

water a day to brush your teeth

10:40

and wash your face. Salt water, showers

10:42

and sleeping quarters that were stacked so

10:44

high, so deep in so close together

10:46

so you never knew who's foot or

10:49

hand would be in your face. Anyone

10:51

with claustrophobia would never have survived The

10:53

chow winds were unbelievable. He was one

10:55

continuous line that snaked all around the

10:57

top side of the ship from above

11:00

zero. Five hundred for. Breakfast Assists. I

11:02

was just laughing as I read

11:04

this because. That's

11:06

exactly what it was like for before

11:08

ship in the nineties. This

11:11

is interesting. Transportable with the total

11:13

strength of the United States Marine Corps

11:15

at that time was. Seventeen.

11:18

Sounds. Told strength to

11:20

behold. Marine Corps seventeen thousand which included

11:22

all the officers and men station all

11:24

over the world are pay them as

11:26

a private was twenty one dollars a

11:28

month. Twenty. Cents was

11:30

deducted for the navy each

11:33

month for hospitalization. So actually.

11:35

I. Was receiving twenty dollars? And.

11:38

Eighty cents. So.

11:45

Little bit more home. Or

11:49

commanding officer was known as Miles

11:51

are saturates. He was better known

11:53

to all enlisted men as our

11:55

Marshall. He was

11:58

said that call Sasha held the Marine Corps. Hundred

12:00

for the greatest number of brig

12:02

days awarded for accidental discharge is

12:04

an for failure to salutes. And

12:08

what's interesting about that? as even though they had

12:10

a super strict commander. They

12:13

were still out just like. Be

12:16

young Mercy sixty after it's pick up

12:18

food. Sas in the book. I can

12:21

call one big brawl. In

12:23

the Dreamland Cabaret when about two

12:25

hundred sailors, marines, and civilians turned

12:27

on one another while blowing my

12:29

whistle and pulling sailors and marines

12:31

apart, I felt someone tumbling my

12:33

back in the back of my

12:35

head. I swung around and quickly.

12:38

I. Could see a ballerina slopping to the

12:40

floor as I actually clobbered or with

12:42

my elbow. I. Picked

12:44

up her I picked her up and deposit

12:46

her behind the bar. Told bartender puts my

12:49

summer head I was glad that the night

12:51

was over. A word about the ballerina but

12:53

she was are at the next day sore

12:55

head so these guys are just out brawling.

12:57

He ends up going from. Manila.

13:01

And headed for China on October Twenty fifth,

13:03

Nineteen, Thirty eight, I went aboard ship in

13:05

Manila. We sailed up the Hong Kong for

13:07

a few days. And.

13:10

Then the Shanghai. After

13:12

we hit the road yangtze River. We.

13:15

Didn't Steamed along the muddy Wang Poo

13:17

river to Shanghai, which was about sixty

13:19

miles from the seats would pass numerous

13:21

Japanese warships and all looked as though

13:24

they were itching for a score. As

13:27

like thirty Eight. This

13:35

was just. One

13:37

day, I was browsing around in

13:39

the Oriental Bookstore, which is located

13:41

at One Sixty Four Victory a

13:43

Road. In.

13:46

Sin. Sin. I

13:48

saw. Lieutenant. Chide stir

13:50

perusing a book. As

13:52

I walked over to say hello. To.

13:54

Him I noticed he was looking in a

13:56

book entitled Opium. He. Asked

13:59

me what I. Reading and I told

14:01

him I just purchased a book about Genghis

14:03

Khan. previously had purchased a book about Marco

14:05

Polo the Venetian travelers weekend. A child stir

14:07

said he was reading all the books about

14:09

Dopey could lay his hands on. The next

14:11

day when I came off watch and walked

14:13

into the courthouse the sergeant a guard told

14:15

me a weekend a chance to wish to

14:17

see me. When I went into the small

14:20

Officer of the Days wants to Ten it

14:22

was reading the book about opium. He

14:24

to be sit down. And inserted

14:26

tell me why you so interested

14:28

in books about jokes. He said

14:31

some day dope will be the

14:33

ruination of the world. Dope will

14:35

do the people's. Dope.

14:37

Dope. Due to the peoples of

14:39

the world. What bombs, bullets and

14:42

bayonets won't do? It

14:44

will kill millions without

14:46

wounds, cuts, dismemberment, mutilation,

14:48

or bloodletting. But rather,

14:50

it will kill by

14:52

destroying the mind. He.

14:56

To me about the horrors and the

14:58

tragedy he believed would set the world

15:00

all mankind through the use of narcotics.

15:02

to to me how the Japanese said

15:04

introduce their red pills into trying to

15:06

us he said the Trini said recently

15:08

and Studio Ross a Chinese manufacturers have

15:10

no an attorney. He.

15:15

Gave me a real education on opium, hair,

15:17

wind and more. Seat. He.

15:28

Moves again. And

15:30

went to. Chin. Wings How

15:33

on the Coast where I went aboard

15:35

the Uss Henderson. or

15:37

more familiar with known as. Cindy.

15:40

Maru Twenty sailor marines ever traveled to

15:42

or from the forest in the thirties

15:44

and forties series on another shipped. Back

15:48

across the Pacific back to Honolulu.

15:50

Fast forward San Francisco. Through

15:54

back through the Panama Canal, back

15:56

to Brooklyn. Granted

15:59

it. yeah. Granted, leave goes home

16:01

for the first time. Mother read several letters

16:03

to me she'd received from the old country

16:05

where it was feared that Serbia in Serbia

16:08

that they too would be in another war.

16:10

Principle. Of Yugoslavia was reported visiting with

16:13

Hitler and many of the high Yugoslav

16:15

Air Force officers were mingling with German

16:17

officials and military personnel. Mother said she

16:19

was certain that the country was being

16:21

sold out to the Germans. When.

16:24

My be was over as order to. Philadelphia

16:27

Navy Yard for duty, so

16:29

he shows up there. Been

16:31

promoted Corporal. September tenth, Nineteen

16:33

Forty. And against

16:35

just trying to give you some sense of

16:38

what's going on in his world has been

16:40

it's a peacetime marine during the Great Depression.

16:45

Fast forward a little bit more. Captain

16:47

Mahoney called me into his office, had

16:49

to be issued a papers he reached

16:51

out his hands at graduation Sergeants had

16:53

been promoted. My date of rank was

16:55

May Fourteenth, Nineteen Forty one. Goes

16:59

over he's now tracking know there are

17:01

watching these world events edu us last.

17:05

Get. Bombed. By. Hitler.

17:09

And. Now we can get into it. Sunday.

17:12

December Seventh, Nineteen Forty One. I

17:14

was sitting in my Can't in New River,

17:17

North Carolina when the news on the radio

17:19

was interrupted with a special bulletin the Japanese

17:21

were burnt bombing Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The news

17:24

when around camp in a flash as it

17:26

did around the country the entire world That

17:28

day in December all men on Liberty of

17:30

those whose and those on leave were recalled

17:33

immediately. There were very heavy casualties know why

17:35

we learned as everyone seemed to have his

17:37

ears glued all the reducing camp that day.

17:39

In addition we learned that the Japanese and

17:42

also struck at all of our other bases

17:44

in the Pacific. And in the

17:46

Orient asked teen officers and one

17:48

hundred seventy eight listed men at

17:50

Chet Atkins and and pay keep

17:53

P Kings were interned that day

17:55

by the Japanese. A short time

17:57

after that the first announcement. Captain.

18:00

Only insurgent bill eg. Who

18:03

had just returned from Charleston, South Carolina

18:05

came charging into the tent. The.

18:07

Captain's first words were, well

18:09

this is it This time.

18:13

And. We all knew it was too. Weak.

18:23

Fast forward when we learn that we would

18:25

be the first to be going overseas. I

18:27

thought how nice it would be if we'd

18:29

only be able to continue to listen to

18:31

what was my Save a Radio program as

18:33

it was also surprised the all them read

18:36

the river north Carolina surveyed said signed up

18:38

there leaving. This

18:41

was a a little side note as well. In

18:46

October. Nineteen Forty One. So. Arrives

18:49

in New River, North Carolina and took

18:52

over as the commanding officer. First to

18:54

read: Seventh Marines. Are.

18:57

So yeah. chesty puller. Good

19:00

to hear about him. Or

19:02

Battalion Executive officer was Major

19:04

Odell Am Connolly. an outstanding

19:06

officer in every respect. We.

19:08

All had absolute confidence in Major Connolly,

19:11

and I personally was very happy to

19:13

have such capable leaders as he and

19:15

Curl Hannigan. On

19:18

the force of art of April Nineteen,

19:20

Forty two hours Promoted to Platoon Sergeant

19:22

Marine Corps. My

19:24

machine gun platoon when aboard the

19:27

Uss some a hot. Which.

19:29

Was and cargo ship also a

19:32

board was a naval construction unit

19:34

of see beast. At

19:36

Zero Four hundred on the tenth of April,

19:38

Nineteen Forty two we sailed out an offer.

19:42

To the Atlantic. What?

19:44

The Cbc just

19:46

so Seabees, It

19:49

says for construction battalion so

19:51

in the navy they have.

19:53

They need to build sex and.

19:57

So. they swarmed this group called

20:00

Their nickname is CB and their

20:02

symbol is like a little B, but they

20:05

still exist to this day. And they're

20:07

really, in a way, kind

20:11

of the group

20:14

inside the Navy that is likely to

20:16

spend time on the ground

20:18

in combat because they build

20:21

things in an extremist

20:23

situation. So for us,

20:25

since asking the bruiser, I had CBs

20:27

with me. And so their job in

20:31

our camp, at Camp Mark Lee in Ramadi,

20:33

so if we needed something to be built,

20:35

they built it. So if

20:37

we needed a bunker built or we

20:39

needed a tables built or

20:41

we needed a building built, they would build it.

20:43

They would build a building. You know what I

20:45

mean? Now it doesn't, it's

20:47

not up to code or whatever. I mean,

20:49

it's put structurally sound, two by fours, and

20:52

there's no sheetrock, but it's

20:54

got plywood on the inside. And

20:57

then these guys, actually our CBs, would

20:59

go out and just build out whatever we needed to.

21:02

So when

21:04

we would set up in a combat outpost, if we needed a

21:06

little extra, who

21:09

knows, maybe a little planning space, they'd go

21:11

out into town and go down there and

21:13

build it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When Stoner was

21:16

over in Camp Corregidor, they were

21:18

in this building called Full

21:20

Metal Jacket. So this

21:22

building was called Full Metal Jacket

21:24

because it was all blown up. This is over at Camp Corregidor, the

21:26

first of the 506. And

21:29

these soldiers and Marines and SEALs are

21:31

living in this building called Full Metal

21:33

Jacket. And I

21:35

remember one of the first things,

21:38

so when we got to Ramadi pretty early,

21:40

we went over. They needed help over in

21:42

that district of Ramadi, eastern Ramadi. Wait,

21:45

who needed help? Well,

21:48

there was a lot of enemy activity. Oh, right.

21:50

So everyone that was there. So when we

21:52

showed up, we killed some IED in places,

21:54

like almost out of the gate. And

21:57

Colonel Gronsky, who's been on the podcast. We

22:01

were. I'm

22:03

literally in that the. In

22:06

his tattoo op So the Brigade tackle operations

22:08

and we'd been there for a little while

22:10

but a very short period of time and

22:12

when we got their. Marines.

22:15

Had just had a massive Id in

22:17

this place called Firecracker. And.

22:20

Former. He got killed. it was

22:22

terrible and the marines kind of liaised

22:25

with us and said hey we've got

22:27

this area where there's a lot of

22:29

ideas placements d can you help us

22:31

mature and so did he have Tony's

22:34

took some guys they wouldn't set up

22:36

a sniper positions and killed ideal place

22:38

or so in that vicinity where they

22:40

had just lost those marines and I

22:43

was in talking to colonel. Granted he.

22:46

As. These reports are common in hey. There's.

22:50

Been. Multiple engagements of I deem

22:52

pleasers and neo cons Crosby's are

22:54

those your gas service or guys

22:56

he said we could use your

22:59

guys out in Eastern remarks. In

23:02

this place called them a lot district

23:04

so. I said roger

23:06

that and so we put together a package of

23:08

guys to go out to. Eastern. Ramadi

23:10

and at first we took a big group

23:13

like probably. Twenty

23:16

guys for the first series emissions and we did out

23:18

of there. But when we

23:20

got there winning a place to stay. So

23:22

where we stayed with this place called Full

23:24

Metal Jacket says at that time. It

23:27

was dirt floors. Just

23:29

mosquitoes just hotter than hell.

23:31

It's soft, it was nasty,

23:34

wouldn't with miscues. The car

23:36

sandflies or something is and

23:38

it had. Moved

23:41

us new Moon dust is yeah,

23:43

maybe Irving Place as real world

23:45

Like real world moon dust know?

23:47

So this had moon dust everywhere

23:49

in Camp Corregidor and the moon

23:51

dust was just all over the

23:53

place. So. This

23:55

place really suck to lift so we ended up. conducting

23:59

operations for a period of time

24:01

out there and

24:04

that's actually when we had the blue on blue. So

24:06

all that stuff, so we conducted a bunch of operations, we

24:08

ended up having that blue on blue. Now

24:11

we go back to, I take all

24:13

those guys and we go back to Western

24:15

Ramadi. When we get back

24:17

to Western Ramadi, which was called

24:19

Shark Base, which we changed the name to Camp Mark,

24:21

we after Mark got killed. So now

24:23

we're back there and

24:27

we debrief the blue

24:30

on blue, we set up standard

24:32

operating procedures to make sure it doesn't happen again, all that.

24:36

Investigation gets complete, so now we're back, we got to get

24:38

back in the field and go do

24:40

our job. And

24:43

now it was, okay, we need to

24:46

send an element of guys back over

24:48

to Corregidor and this ended up being

24:50

Detachment Corregidor, Detcor. So

24:53

Detcor, which Seth took,

24:56

six guys, seven guys out

24:59

to Detcor and

25:02

Mikey Montsor was one of them, JP Donnell

25:04

was one of them. So

25:06

that group of guys, I think all the other

25:08

guys are still in,

25:11

some of them are out, but anyways it was that group of guys, they

25:14

go back out there. So now it's just them,

25:16

but now they're going to permanently live there and

25:18

they're in this freaking barracks that is socks. So

25:23

we explained that to the Seabees. And

25:25

this whole story that I just told you is my

25:27

love story for the Seabees. Because

25:30

then the Seabees go

25:33

back, go out there, they load up a truck and

25:35

go out there with all kinds of plywood and air

25:38

conditioning and rewire the thing and get it all

25:40

set up. And everyone built

25:42

in these big kind of empty

25:44

rooms, everyone built their own little

25:46

bedrooms. So

25:49

Mikey Montsor is like

25:51

Mikey's mansion or something like that, like

25:53

a velvet hanging over. And

25:55

everyone had these little, basically built these little,

25:57

you know,

25:59

fellas. a nice a lot more comfortable

26:01

they put flooring in because it was dirt

26:03

yeah they put plywood down the so the

26:06

CBs did that the CBs also

26:10

so one of

26:12

the the CB chief great guy

26:15

and so we

26:17

got mortared in the mortar round

26:19

hit by our tents

26:24

and but

26:27

luckily thankfully I don't know how it didn't

26:29

hurt anybody but it blew up our put

26:31

holes into our big we had a big

26:33

water tank you know like a 10,000 gallon

26:36

water tank a big giant water tank and

26:38

so it put big holes in it was

26:41

ruined and

26:44

somehow my CB chief went out and

26:46

found somehow he

26:49

went out and found another tank

26:52

and brought it in a camp and got it all hooked up and

26:55

you know I was talking to him and I

26:57

said hey man thank you like he got it up

26:59

in a day or whatever two days and

27:02

I just went I was like hey and again this is

27:04

my like love story for the CBs and

27:07

Zewitz said hey chief I was like

27:09

hey man I really appreciate you getting that done that

27:12

way guys can fill up

27:14

their canteens and and he's

27:16

like hey it's no

27:18

problem I'll do whatever I got to do to take

27:20

care of you guys so you can go out there

27:23

and kill these bad guys because I don't want no

27:25

more boom-boom in the camp I

27:28

said I hear you man I don't want any more boom-boom

27:30

in the camp either we don't like that boom-boom in the

27:32

camp and so yes

27:34

so that's what CBs do and their motto

27:37

is we build we fight yeah and we

27:39

certainly gave them the opportunity to build and

27:41

fight for Marty they do a great job

27:44

so legit like that even that even kind

27:46

of and I'm kind of slowly not slowly

27:48

been over time painting this picture

27:50

of like how it all works you know

27:52

and it's like these are massive massive operations

27:54

obviously where like you have a whole Their

27:57

whole job is just to go and just build shit.

28:00

Yeah yeah and suits and we had

28:02

one of reply had Saudi vehicles so

28:04

if I had pen humvees a big

28:06

to big six buys little like it's

28:08

a Su East look as maintain all

28:10

those vehicles in some and and it's

28:13

a big your we are maintaining a

28:15

humvee that guys can be driving into

28:17

their lives are dependent on. it's a

28:19

big deal you can't gun deck the

28:21

the freaking maintenance Honest with you know

28:24

that weep I think we had. Seventeen.

28:28

Diesel generators in their beaten,

28:30

the camping generator her both

28:32

Leno generators that's. A

28:34

size of a small truck. New enemies. We

28:37

had like seventeen those all the air conditioning

28:39

units because it's they were worth around because

28:41

they work round the clock. We have six

28:43

Cbc and then they're They're bought their boss.

28:46

Technically was this masterpiece. so we're

28:48

master key Cb. You can adjust.

28:52

Your. Your view at

28:54

a lot of power, you know? So if

28:56

we need some. And my

28:58

chief to go to I'm after that massive would

29:00

take care of us. year there was a great

29:03

guy thirds drake Us: yeah that seems like you'd

29:05

be a I mean obviously there's a lot to

29:07

it but that seemed like depth. Such a legit

29:09

or you could just to say listen built that

29:11

to get out there and it's very cool if

29:13

any was listen to this. And your

29:15

let's say you're sixteen years old and you

29:17

like. Carpentry. Or

29:20

you like working on cars? Are

29:22

you like heavy machinery? You

29:25

know normally for sure there's to do

29:27

you mean and here, but the sea

29:29

breezes, definite options and your job. Your

29:31

job will be like diesel mechanic or

29:34

heavy equipment operator. So when you. If

29:36

you want to get a skill you've known

29:39

to Cbs and you can get that's and

29:41

it is his. Adenoids like

29:43

now use build a hard to make rank

29:45

because it was such a good like you

29:47

your even recognizing that it's a cool job

29:50

yes and so since it's cool job guys

29:52

stay in it and sixties and it gets

29:54

kind of the ranks get filled up some

29:56

as he be a little bit hard to

29:58

make rank but our seems were great and

30:01

the young enlisted guys like of the force

30:03

he finds those guys are working. Twenty

30:06

four hours a day. like it would just never

30:08

stop because we'd so much work for them to

30:10

do so. Those. The Cbc.

30:13

Success. And there's another thing

30:15

about the seabees that. They.

30:18

Have to kind of improvise, adapt and overcome.

30:20

Yes, so they're going. It's like where do

30:23

you get a ten thousand gallon water tank

30:25

in Ramadi, Iraq in the summer of two

30:27

thousand and six yeah Know how to do

30:29

that? You got a figure out you in

30:31

a wheel. new gap relationships with people. We've

30:33

got to be all the trade stars as

30:36

you know he probably to. I don't know

30:38

what he did he mean at a given

30:40

which are able to get something for which

30:42

he did something that he did we had

30:44

do is he was also strong brand new.

30:47

His. Nickname was big. And

30:49

I didn't see would he would, he would

30:52

just wrap. Warm. Up reps

30:54

resist. Honest.

30:56

Honestly. Like.

30:59

I do one thirty five in

31:01

a warm ups you'd be doing

31:03

that with with three. System out

31:05

there was a huge huge huge

31:07

like and nights what's the what's

31:09

the style where. The they're.

31:11

Not lean but they're deftly not sat

31:13

there to Cj as far as if

31:16

he wasn't that she was just like

31:18

a large Sumi almost. you know, maybe

31:20

he's not quite the same species as

31:22

we only see her. Every hints sledges

31:25

that much different skin. Where you like

31:27

this is not each. it's not normal.

31:29

the bench three sistine does wrapping out

31:31

by the way to do. Is

31:34

foods not great? the in ear

31:36

out your own weird hours spear pieces in

31:39

their just jack to do so is why

31:41

the is just such so. Does.

31:44

The Cbc. Yet though he

31:46

seemed legit. like the idea of these guys and

31:48

Islamic like this and that actually Tv shows like

31:50

this to with the guys with the cars were

31:52

like hey let's just put roll cage on the

31:54

or whatever those are the latest know everything about.

31:57

they just know how they'll that's their their skill

31:59

you know where. The I do like I

32:01

said was like hey let's make us that's

32:03

like a tower right here and we're like

32:05

we will have them. which would I want

32:07

to find some she'll to build this actual

32:09

legitimate tower? Yup, you may have a scan

32:11

impressive and that's. Those that

32:13

was acoustic just having that skill set

32:15

is and me having access to a

32:17

week for instance or we want to

32:20

put obe observation, don't go. Give.

32:22

Me a few days.would have he would.

32:24

I don't have any this on but

32:26

I'm going to get it and you

32:29

have your Freedom Tower Sir who says

32:31

I like it is So check out

32:33

the Cbc news all day to day

32:35

Man. Or right. So.

32:39

These guys are now setting sail out

32:41

there. Crossed the Atlantic on May eighth.

32:43

Mighty Forty two your robbed and arrived

32:46

in Pogo. Pogo. Pago Pago Pago Pago

32:48

Pago Pago. Thank you. In

32:50

American Samoa the accept it would

32:52

be pronounced Panga Congo if I'm

32:55

not mistaken because at the ends

32:57

of energy. Okay, we'll

32:59

check whittlesea typical see the come

33:01

from have to take aspirin minute.

33:04

Take me Oh signed you up yes

33:06

I said Samoa she's xml more Some

33:09

I remember an eye out an office

33:11

said this online or offline but sometimes

33:13

you can be kind of seen as

33:15

a poser. that's like the authentic with

33:17

a sales or to someone you're gonna

33:19

say samoan right but then usually people

33:21

to see someone not like a rough

33:23

idea how we didn't wanna like stars

33:25

china of in homes and I wasn't

33:27

originally you want to stimulate on else

33:29

to say to my lane what you

33:31

but it's we It is funny though.

33:34

That I think America might be the only

33:36

one that does this. The only country that

33:38

does this work. if you say like the

33:40

earn a non english word or whatever and

33:42

you say it with the accent like people

33:44

like looked at zoo whenever like it's honey

33:46

see those a but i other countries they

33:48

say it with accent. Like. The

33:51

United States a proper with but we don't are

33:53

we knew don't. We

33:55

just say Samoa We were yeah exactly or

33:57

like even like in are you your order

33:59

like either. The action she said talk or

34:01

at noon or burrito right? but it should

34:03

be bullied or really right. But if he

34:05

if jackals over here it's a mess. The

34:07

me get a it's a water and a

34:09

burrito like be would be like school. what

34:11

the hell you know like they'll be like

34:13

i'm looking at you. funny though. We.

34:16

We don't do that. We don't

34:18

do that. My kids took Spanish

34:20

in high school and I think

34:22

they didn't like to be. Do.

34:25

You know thinning want to be the

34:27

gringo that they would speak? Like

34:29

full Spanish, but. For gringo

34:32

they have a favorite. Yeah, it is

34:34

because it because you learn a lot

34:36

of Spanish You know, grown up in

34:38

San Diego and now you're taken Spanish.

34:40

One, two, three, four, Five.

34:43

Six This are taken in Six Be so

34:45

you actually know a lot of Spanish and

34:47

but not even attempting to pretend or as

34:50

if your principal.you know they're not doing that.

34:52

There's a burrito that. So.

34:55

I was gonna. I got enough.

34:57

It's this Will. My mom is

34:59

from Canada and rights and so

35:02

Canada. Video

35:04

that spreads this week. friends in ten or

35:06

a lot of time to. So when she

35:08

would say the French words, she would say

35:10

it with the French accent m For whatever

35:13

reason, I. Would start

35:15

of the like were evil, have to try

35:17

to impress me bilinguals of France words in

35:19

Omaha, Nebraska while I really have a metaphor

35:21

for your mom and straddle rail service but

35:23

after a while I realized wait a second

35:25

that's like my bias I think you know

35:27

is in one people like it's almost like

35:29

you can sense of people try to do

35:31

that a conflict or printing press you with

35:34

their like have some worldly it off that

35:36

way of feals. I got enough. I'm not

35:38

saying that's what. happy other something better try

35:40

straight up trying to be respectful to the

35:42

native language read or hear the I used

35:44

to. Yeah, he thinks I'm I'm sure there's

35:46

a bunch of and there's some people have

35:48

think it's disrespectful to try and use that

35:50

accent when you're a how yeah, like what

35:53

you think you are you another thing yeah

35:55

and that. But here's the reality of it.

35:57

when you really can detach like by you

35:59

better start using that accent because that's what

36:01

you learn the language way better because you

36:03

know they say when you're little kid it's

36:05

easy to learn languages way easier because you

36:07

don't build like and lingual and habits or

36:10

whatever some. But then after they doing eighteen

36:12

or so I'm you. You can't get rid

36:14

of the accent apparently you says they are

36:16

you better charter Otherwise, Brian Mcclellan that language

36:18

good. You look like a better thing. The

36:20

try to use the accent Pro where we

36:22

these on that. Are now

36:25

weird. After this like this big

36:27

web of reason I guess here's what

36:29

I'm gonna do. I'm in a kind

36:31

of stick to my how way leads

36:33

to my my going always Siri go

36:35

back to the book On May nineteen

36:37

forty two so we arrived in Congo,

36:39

Tongo, American Samoa, There.

36:42

Was very little news that we get

36:45

aboard d from an homage to the

36:47

ship. However, I'd dirt didn't learn at

36:49

Pago. Pago Pago. that Corregidor had surrendered

36:52

on May Six. And

36:54

with that approx me seventeen officers and

36:57

on thousand four hundred seventy four enlisted

36:59

men of the force marines were captured.

37:03

From. Hunger Panga. We sailed around the beautiful

37:05

islands and I'll make and we disembarked

37:07

in the ship and went ashore. Had

37:09

higgins boats too. Beautiful. harbored as a

37:11

little town of app Yes so imagine

37:13

this your. You

37:16

know with your your part of America. A

37:19

Ass Best fighting force the world you get

37:21

on board your ship. When you get off

37:23

your ship. People.

37:25

Had surrendered Corregidor. By.

37:29

Where to place? What's what's interesting about

37:31

this is he noodles for he'd been

37:33

to those places dismember. He'd gone all

37:35

throughout the Southeast Asia. When

37:37

using the marines prior to the or ticking

37:39

off some he knows what that means. That.

37:42

Gonna be a little bit horrifying. Now

37:47

they're They're. on spear and

37:49

you've got somebody call details i mean

37:51

they're out there is a sort of

37:53

you get into the us neither after

37:55

living with the natives hanging out with

37:57

the natives they're very cool stories about

38:01

and of course on top of that back to the book each

38:03

day we held machine gun journal and I

38:05

would scout the area all the men

38:07

were so enthusiastic and everyone seemed to be learning

38:09

the Samoan language this was very

38:11

relaxing time in our service and it was

38:14

hard to believe that we were at war

38:16

again these are dudes like where she he's

38:18

from freakin Pennsylvania and now he's in American

38:20

Samoa or now he's in Appian he's just

38:23

beautiful hmm about

38:26

the 15th of July we received information

38:28

that Admiral Gormley had directed that the

38:30

7th Marines be ready to embark on

38:32

four days notice with 90 days supply

38:34

and 10 units of fire per weapon

38:37

that particular message naturally created quite a

38:39

bit of interest among the officers and

38:42

the non-commissioned officers as to where we

38:44

would be going I

38:46

was very disturbed that we were unable to

38:48

get any worldwide news I

38:51

miss the news news so much as

38:55

CMO Scott and several other members of my platoon

38:57

were always after me to give me my to

38:59

give them my prediction of what was happening us

39:01

and then going to somebody's a very well-read guy

39:03

you can kind of use you know who's he's

39:05

in the bookstore he talks a

39:07

lot about history and he studies history and

39:09

he goes to places he's learning about their

39:11

culture he's a very interested the guy he's

39:14

a very curious guy and clearly you tell

39:16

from the book that he's someone

39:18

that everyone kind of respected his opinion so his

39:20

world events are happening plus he's an older marine

39:22

lived in Asia he knows these things you

39:25

know you know much when

39:27

you've been to a place your knowledge of that

39:29

place is exponentially more than when you've heard about

39:31

it yeah so when someone says

39:33

oh when

39:36

you meet someone and and they say you

39:38

would you live and I say San Diego and they

39:40

say where in San Diego I always say have you been

39:42

there because if they haven't been to San

39:44

Diego it doesn't matter what I'm about to say yeah yeah you

39:46

know but if they've been to San Diego you're like oh we

39:48

can narrow it down and we but if they haven't been there

39:51

so here this guy's been all over in all these different countries

39:53

hmm and

39:55

he's well read so he's got knowledge but

39:57

there's no news coming in back

39:59

to the book My men were very ardent

40:01

listeners, and occasionally in training

40:03

lectures I would cite certain

40:05

references and quotes. One of my favorites,

40:08

for instance, I reminded them of what

40:10

the old French general told his troops

40:12

before they engaged the Germans in battle

40:14

in World War I. Quote,

40:17

There is no studying on the battlefield.

40:20

It is then simply a case of making

40:22

use of what one knows, and in order

40:24

to make a little possible, one

40:27

must know much. When

40:33

discussing possible carelessness in combat, such as

40:35

neglecting to move from cover to cover,

40:38

or failing to keep down low,

40:41

I reminded them of the great

40:43

German soldier statement Bismarck who once

40:45

said, Some say they learn from

40:47

experience, but I prefer to learn

40:49

from the experience of others. Our

40:54

marine amphibious warfare doctrine had proven itself

40:56

over and over in previous wars and

40:58

campaigns. So, again, this guy is

41:00

not a combat veteran at this point, but

41:02

he is a senior guy, and he's trying to get

41:04

his individuals trained up, trying to get him to move

41:07

from cover to cover. I

41:09

used to have that when I was coming

41:11

back and I was running training, and I'd see guys

41:13

walking in our urban training, I'd see

41:16

guys not standing by cover. I don't feel

41:18

sick. Guadalcanal.

41:24

So, now we're going to get into it.

41:30

We arrived in

41:32

Espirito Santo under

41:34

escort on September 12th. The

41:37

next day, Admiral Gormley ordered the

41:39

7th Marines to proceed to Guadalcanal.

41:42

So, at dawn on the 14th

41:44

of September, we left Espirito Santo

41:46

escorted by three cruisers plus several

41:48

destroyers and minesweepers. There

41:50

appeared to be some disagreement between

41:52

Rear Admiral Kelly Turner and Major

41:54

General Alexander A. Van

41:56

Der Grift, The Commanding General Of The

41:58

1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal. Now as

42:01

to where exactly we've worked to

42:03

land? According to

42:05

a Navy chief in the radio, she's

42:07

term wanted us to land about twenty

42:09

miles east of the perimeter. But.

42:11

General Vanda Griff wanted us closer

42:14

to the perimeters. In any event,

42:16

the weather was quite heavy, and

42:18

at dawn about spots five forty

42:20

five, we went ashore. So it's

42:22

even these guys. Like

42:24

the troops. They. Hear

42:27

about these old disagreements and the cheese

42:29

radio? Who's listening to them talk since

42:31

he spreads the gossip about what's happening?

42:33

Since two of our destroys were lobbing

42:36

shells in a nearby dumb, fast forward

42:38

it to ourselves. We're lobbing cells into

42:40

the nearby jungles, harassing the enemy while

42:43

we are carrying the crates off to

42:45

be sleep. The winner shorts. Up

42:48

into cover under the trees. Then suddenly

42:50

we heard anti aircraft firing all over

42:52

the place. Someone yelled that enemy Japanese

42:54

Euros were coming into strafe. I jump

42:56

behind some big crates. I was getting

42:58

ready to move as a plane when

43:00

zooming over us. He.

43:02

Was one of our own. And it

43:04

was a great misfortune that we had

43:07

crippled one of our own aircraft. I'm

43:09

sure that was an unusual incident with

43:11

all. The new people around.

43:14

Nonetheless, I knew then why

43:17

all our friends were constantly scanning

43:19

the skies and wire ships one

43:21

to pull out of the area

43:23

soon as possible. This was Guadalcanal,

43:25

British Solomon Islands America's first offensive

43:27

since the day the Japanese launch

43:29

their in from this attack on

43:31

Pearl Harbor. December seventh and Forty

43:33

one. Earlier. Know.

43:40

I read about their baptism rights. A

43:42

moment later, the booming some see our

43:44

channel came the horrifying red hot naval

43:47

gunfire ripping up trees and causing the

43:49

earth to move on to use as

43:51

each big round came crashing the. this

43:53

was our baptism as I lay there

43:56

on the ground at Guadalcanal. I wonder

43:58

how many of those ships. Hounding

44:00

us at night I'd seen previously in

44:02

Shanghai and other ports in China. I

44:04

wonder too how much that flying steal

44:07

the came out us from hundreds of

44:09

shiploads of scrap iron the Japanese hold

44:11

out of our country before the war.

44:15

I. Also thought about all those

44:17

steel mills back home in Pennsylvania

44:19

that a practice that had produced

44:22

practically all that scrap iron originally.

44:25

To. Says the first raise of dawn were creeping

44:27

into the sky, I felt it was safe to

44:29

sit ups. As I looked around. Me

44:31

To ascertain that weird noise and sword

44:34

was, I saw it's just a few

44:36

inches from where my outstretched seeded been.

44:38

A boost looking chunk of steel about

44:40

eleven or twelve inches long and about

44:42

four five inches thick was lying on

44:44

the ground. As.

44:46

I said to some of the men near me. Hey.

44:50

Look at dig. Look at a gift tojo. Just.

44:53

I reached over to pick it up

44:55

and I quickly released it as if

44:57

I was bleeding from the tips of

44:59

all of my fingers. There wasn't a

45:01

spot on that chunk of Japanese naval

45:03

shell. Fragments of sneaking risking on it's

45:06

razor sharp surface. If it dropped on

45:08

any part of me, it would have

45:10

undoubtedly severed the park completely from my

45:12

body. was a miracle, but not a

45:14

single man. Why Putin was hurt during

45:16

the bombardment. Hundreds of five and six

45:18

inch and eight and shells crashing into

45:20

the ground all around us. Assists.

45:27

I. Told you put the. This

45:30

when people think of shrapnel. The.

45:33

Think of little tiny pieces of shrapnel. And

45:36

when you have a small several six

45:38

million or mordor or a forty millimeter

45:40

grenade the gets shot out of a

45:42

to oh sorry mike of what you

45:45

see in the movies know what underneath

45:47

your m sixteen. Don't. Have

45:49

a great launcher! That.

45:51

A forty millimeter grenade. The teeny fragments

45:53

from that sixteen millimeter tiny little fragments

45:56

you start getting into these. Five and

45:58

six and eight. It. We

46:00

are hit with some. Hundred and

46:03

twenty millimeter. Mortars, And

46:05

A freaking. Jag

46:07

good. Twelve.

46:10

Inch long piece of metal

46:12

that are happening sector heavy

46:14

Miss. Their. Heavy and just like

46:17

he described. They're all to sharp. It's.

46:21

A. It's.

46:24

Way different than what you think yes

46:26

and looks any frank until you're right.

46:28

I'm eager to deal with a tiny

46:30

piece of rag, but it goes into

46:32

your a order or it. Cuts.

46:35

When your veins and you bleed out sure

46:37

he can be bad are obviously he chooses

46:39

in the brain or did you the head

46:42

but man you see those be Juri a

46:44

piece of fracked and I think. Lace

46:48

had one Lace guys had one that

46:50

landed like next to them. I had

46:53

won the first. The first time I

46:55

saw that we are more dirt and

46:57

teaching our children were me guy. And

47:00

but I was behind a wall. And.

47:03

But he killed an army guy. I'm.

47:06

That we track and that was the first time.

47:09

That I will I I realized. That

47:12

tweet. Horror of

47:14

indirect fire and of what

47:16

those are two will be

47:18

shells and mortar shells do

47:21

and why they're so devastating.

47:24

Yeah. the in Italy's before would

47:26

like shrapnel. When. You think

47:28

shrapnel you think and I you know like

47:30

me be like an empty aluminium can sign

47:33

of comparatively speaking, it's like aluminum cans twisted

47:35

in Santa ripped up in like ten a

47:37

thrown at you really really really hard. The

47:39

new like. Some

47:41

flak jacket on in our something like

47:43

this. you be like okay me in

47:45

a may get scratched up for sir.

47:47

but yeah you know I never did.

47:49

A new of is enough. but yeah

47:51

that the reality. especially when you sit

47:53

on. yes sometimes they're like the size

47:55

of a hammer or something that's tanks

47:57

and. you get into considered home park

48:00

those explosions are it's like probably it's

48:02

like someone's literally shooting a hammer at

48:04

you. Yeah and it's going wildly and

48:07

it's super hot. Yeah yeah and hot.

48:09

It's a nightmare. And

48:11

you know I've gotten mortared too with little

48:14

mortars and they seem real. Real

48:16

kind of. They sound

48:18

kind of weak. Like

48:21

you can tell like I'm

48:23

16 even an 80 millimeter mortar

48:25

80 millimeter mortars legit. 60 millimeter

48:28

mortars it's like a cracking sound

48:30

more but 120 millimeter mortar

48:33

when it hits it's it's a massive

48:35

explosion. It's a shocking

48:37

explosion. Way more than

48:40

a than a 60 millimeter. I

48:43

would have to remember what the explosive

48:45

weight of the boots probably 10 times bigger.

48:48

So it rocks your world. Yeah

48:51

it's good. And just imagine

48:53

these guys like I'm sitting here talking about 320 millimeter

48:58

mortars hitting outside

49:00

the wall. Imagine

49:02

sitting there no protection no

49:05

overhead cover for

49:07

hours and they're shooting hundreds

49:09

of these things at you. Yeah. That's

49:12

what these guys are enduring and by the way they just showed up.

49:16

The battle's just kicking off. Back to the

49:18

book for the next several days it was

49:20

foxhole digging and manning the line. Nearly every

49:22

day at least one Japanese sniper was shot

49:25

out of a tree. They would tie themselves

49:27

in a tree at night and try and

49:29

pick off Marines during the day which they

49:31

did occasionally. Their camouflage was superb as they

49:33

were they were extremely difficult to locate. The

49:36

enemy planes overhead were overhead almost daily trying

49:38

to knock out Henderson Field. At night enemy

49:40

warships would slip into sea large channel and

49:42

try to do the same thing and lob

49:44

a few shells into the front lines for

49:46

good measure. Each night the other battle was

49:49

the ever present

49:51

malaria carrying mosquito. Then

49:55

too at night every tree seemed to take

49:57

the shape of an enemy soldier and the

49:59

men worked quick to challenge. The

50:01

password was always a word with

50:03

L's like Honolulu, which

50:06

was difficult for the enemy to pronounce

50:08

distinctly. Even with that it

50:10

was dangerous to move around at night. One

50:13

night one of my gun

50:15

crew got up quietly and

50:17

went back to the back of

50:19

the line to relieve himself, and as

50:21

he returned another man quickly turned around

50:24

and at point blank range fired in

50:26

the dark killing the Marine instantly, his

50:29

best buddy. He

50:32

went into shock and had to be taken

50:34

into the battalion sickbay. I

50:37

knew there would be an investigation as soon as

50:39

the report reached headquarters. I

50:42

was afraid that unfortunate incident might

50:45

disturb the emotions of the men, thereby

50:47

jeopardizing our effectiveness as fighters, however they

50:49

were accepted as a twist of fate.

51:04

This is what happens. Guys get

51:06

freaking scared, they get jumpy, you know, you

51:09

talk about every tree turns into an enemy

51:11

soldier. I've told you about this in Ramadi,

51:14

humvees shooting at other

51:16

humvees. Think of how crazy

51:18

that is. The

51:20

humvee has the most distinct vehicle

51:25

profile of any

51:27

vehicle. There would be times

51:31

where humvees would

51:33

shoot at other humvees because they were just

51:35

freaking scared and see movement. It's like oh,

51:37

take a couple seconds and what are you

51:39

supposed to do? What are

51:42

you supposed to do now? I see I'm getting shot

51:44

at by a humvee. I know. Wait a second. Is

51:46

that an enemy? Did an enemy get hold of our

51:49

humvee? I don't think so, but they're shooting at us.

51:51

They're keeps you see what I'm saying. It's a freaking

51:53

nightmare. Fast

51:56

forward a little bit. We Had air raids practically every

51:58

day during the rest of the day. The Much:

52:00

Each night the Japanese observation plane Washing

52:02

Machine Charlie's with overhead buzzing around the

52:05

perimeter and dropping flares periodically. On the

52:07

Twenty seventh of September with Unix Systems

52:09

three enemy aircraft in the sky over

52:11

us the next day, we counted Twenty

52:14

Eight Bombers Informations: These raids continued for

52:16

the rest of the month for the

52:18

better part of October. On the seventh

52:21

of October, instead of a move along

52:23

the perimeter, we were moving west. Out.

52:26

Toward the man. the man

52:28

in out river. My.

52:37

Machine Gun. So now they're on move.

52:39

My machine gun platoon was assigned the

52:42

mission of setting up on High Command

52:44

and ground to lend overhead fire across

52:46

the medical river. On

52:52

the twelfth of know our topic in a

52:54

password. Get This book. Did.

52:56

Just Get This book. Have said that You get this book.

52:59

A. Marine A match. First

53:02

person account. On the

53:04

twelfth of October, we are also making our way

53:06

back to the perimeter. During the movement, we had

53:08

an air raid which held us up for some

53:10

time. I was proud of my men. They.

53:13

May have been young an age but they were all

53:15

loyal fighting men. I knew I had the best will

53:17

tune in a core. When. The

53:19

situation is critical and Er nurse were pretty

53:22

well taxed. Someone would always come up with

53:24

something to ease the tension. Such

53:27

as. Wonder. What all the monkeys

53:29

in the trees do during a naval bombardment? Together.

53:33

Still have a good time. To.

53:37

Data: Gallows Humor.

53:41

We're getting some news from the airstrips and

53:43

all of it was very disheartening to a

53:45

lot of casualties in our precious fighters and

53:47

bombers were strewn all over the fields. Later

53:49

that day we learned that actually forty nine

53:51

of our planes had been destroyed on the

53:54

ground. This.

53:56

Is the biggest Ross we'd suffered. Campaign started

53:58

on the seven Dwarves. The Japanese

54:01

were determined to knock us out as

54:03

quickly as they could it was really

54:05

disheartening the next day as Japanese ships

54:07

brought their Transports into the

54:09

channel in bright daylight and

54:11

calmly unloaded their troops and

54:13

supplies What

54:17

a freaking nightmare More

54:20

bad news arrived word had been

54:22

received that Vice Admiral Gormley Commander

54:25

of the South Pacific area had proclaimed

54:27

that due to the extensive damage Suffered

54:29

on our airstrips and the fact that

54:31

our ships could not come in with

54:33

additional men and supplies that the first

54:35

Marine division would have to fight it

54:38

out alone as there was no other

54:40

way Like

54:42

how much ammo do you have you know what I mean? How

54:44

much ammo do you have? How much water do you have?

54:47

Okay, we got some rivers. Okay, how much food do you

54:49

have? What about

54:51

overhead protection? What

54:53

about when the Japanese is coming there

54:55

so sure imagine what a freaking nightmare

54:57

This is when the word that you

54:59

get is that your entire support structure

55:02

is leaving Malaria

55:09

by the way malaria was starting to hit my

55:11

men as it was practically everyone

55:14

on Guadalcanal But

55:16

there was some encouraging and welcoming news that

55:18

came along the lines Admiral

55:20

Gormley had been relieved the

55:23

aggressive Vice Admiral William F

55:26

Bull Halsey had taken his place a

55:28

cheer win up along the lines when

55:31

it was reported that Halsey's message was

55:34

By God if the Marines can

55:36

stay the Navy will stay That

55:40

was enough to lift the spirits of our fighting men,

55:42

that's what I'm talking about a coward

55:45

by the way a coward that's gonna

55:47

just abandon the troops and man

55:52

That's that's often says. Okay, we're staying for to

55:54

leave the Marines are going to stay and support

55:56

him. During.

56:04

One attack while lying flat much

56:06

jungle for Supine week and we

56:08

were having heavy air attacks that

56:10

one of my men, William Be

56:12

Synced would sit alongside me as

56:14

the bombs were released by the

56:16

enemy Japanese bombers flying overhead. I

56:18

ordered spouse to get Miss Foxhole

56:21

during the raids, but he always

56:23

refused as he wanted to stick

56:25

by me. As. You would kill

56:27

me. He would sit

56:29

alongside me and pray for us. This

56:31

one particular time, I heard a string

56:33

of bombs coming down. And

56:36

as my head was flat to the ground,

56:38

I could feel that with each burst we

56:40

were right in the drop. As.

56:43

The explosions came closer. One

56:45

bomb drop just to are

56:47

right. And the next

56:49

one I was sure would be a direct

56:51

hit on so stunned me. Continued

56:55

his brains out loud. And

56:58

the next room dropped into a soggy

57:00

part of the jungle a few yards

57:03

away from us, throwing mud all over

57:05

us, making a huge crater in the

57:07

ground. I

57:09

told Soused that I attributed are being

57:11

alive. To. His fervent

57:13

prayers and then joined. And then

57:16

he joined me and reciting my

57:18

favorite song, First.

57:26

To. Achieve

57:28

a level of experience,

57:31

Of getting bombed. To

57:34

where. You're making

57:36

These calculations. Of

57:38

oh yup, we're in the bomb pattern.

57:40

Oh, there's one that's you know, eighty

57:42

yards that way, all the next, almost

57:44

sixty yards that way to the next

57:46

one's gonna be to. you know it?

57:49

I it's It's crazy to think that

57:51

these guys had that much experience of

57:53

getting bombed. That

57:56

he's knowing where the next one's going to.

58:01

Very lucky to that hidden might.

58:04

Add some guys in Ramadi get. Ambushed.

58:09

In the middle of a sealed now only

58:12

one of the group one squad or actually

58:14

one Element One fire team was out in

58:16

the middle class. Across as Big Opener it's

58:18

he left the other element back in the

58:21

dike to freaking cover for them in case

58:23

something happened. Journal something happens but the mortars

58:25

that they got hit with babies. we all

58:27

went into the mud and detonated. So.

58:30

Doesn't. Put. Out a big brother Frank

58:33

battered oh you, lay down and six. Bones.

58:35

Keeps happening. Six inches down early

58:37

in the mud so isn't was okay.

58:40

That's reminds me of this right

58:42

here. On

58:46

the afternoon of October twenty fourth, a

58:49

large body of Japanese troops were observed

58:51

making their way east towards our perimeter.

58:53

sort of be China gone in a

58:55

position several days earlier was in, but

58:57

he was in that position, that are,

58:59

but China been given orders to feel

59:01

in and tie in with the left

59:03

flank of Third Battalion. Colonel Hammock In

59:05

had given each of the company commanders

59:07

their final orders and we were to

59:09

stop the enemy at all costs to

59:11

prevent him from taking our precious airfields,

59:13

without which there would be little hope

59:15

for all Americans. On Guadalcanal. Stop

59:23

the enemy at all costs.

59:27

And when you when you can,

59:29

when you understand that particle picture

59:32

of oh, wait a second. If

59:34

they take us off this point,

59:36

they're gonna run through us. And

59:39

they're gonna have your field everyone hears gonna

59:41

die. Our.

59:45

Job as a heavy machine gun

59:47

for Tude would be to find

59:49

the best terrain for a final

59:52

protective line with interlocking bands of

59:54

grazing fire. We

1:00:01

came up to a new position

1:00:04

in darkness the evening of October

1:00:06

twenty fourth, going slowly and carefully

1:00:08

along the winding trail carrying all

1:00:10

of our it's heavy water cooled

1:00:12

machine guns, ammunition, impersonal weapons and

1:00:14

tax while stumbling on tangled roots.

1:00:16

The footing underneath it was difficult

1:00:18

in the body turf under the

1:00:20

umbrella of tall rain forest, lush

1:00:22

tropical trees that incessantly dripped rain.

1:00:24

The ridge on top was cannot

1:00:26

grasp, but hard as cement underneath.

1:00:28

Nobody had the strength left enough

1:00:30

to dig himself. A foxhole before he

1:00:32

able to set up our guns. The

1:00:35

drizzle turned into a heavy downpour. Fast

1:00:40

forward I told my men to drop their

1:00:42

loads while I made a survey of our

1:00:44

new position. was crossing my fingers hoping that

1:00:46

I didn't wander into an ambush are set

1:00:48

off a booby traps. I dropped my gear

1:00:50

with the first squad as started out with

1:00:52

only my pistol in my hand, I crawled

1:00:54

along the ground groping my way forward by

1:00:56

hand. When I reached out and sell the

1:00:58

ridge dropping away on all sides I returned

1:01:00

to my men and said we would set

1:01:02

up along that know. We.

1:01:04

Need We set up a guns and

1:01:06

after the thirty caliber waterproof guns have

1:01:09

been in place in their designated positions

1:01:11

I read sturdy wants for night. We

1:01:13

crawled around on that web ground and

1:01:15

I distributed say meager rash of spam

1:01:17

by scooping the meats out of can

1:01:19

with my fingers and dropping each man's

1:01:22

portion into his stressed. In.

1:01:31

That blacks ask for a matte black

1:01:33

cave of night. The only reality was

1:01:35

the rain drenched in us and knowledge

1:01:37

that somewhere in the jungles around us

1:01:39

other men were waiting to kill us.

1:01:44

I felt a very deep sense of responsibility

1:01:46

for my men and officers. That.

1:01:54

There's. A picture. Of.

1:01:57

That. a com brecht cameramen talk

1:01:59

of Guys

1:02:02

in Tasking Appruiser and they're going down the street. You

1:02:05

can see they're in a staggered

1:02:07

file. So there's guys on one side of the street, guys on the

1:02:09

other side of the street. And

1:02:13

being out there, you're watching that

1:02:16

and you're literally

1:02:19

waiting for the gunfire to start.

1:02:24

That's this

1:02:26

idea of waiting, that there's someone

1:02:29

waiting. And when you're

1:02:31

in a city, imagine how many places

1:02:33

can you get shot at? This is the same as a jungle. Like, when

1:02:35

you're in a jungle, where can you get shot at from? You

1:02:38

can get shot at from so many different

1:02:40

directions. A jungle's actually a little bit

1:02:42

more compressed, right? You're

1:02:45

not going to get shot. You can't be seen that far

1:02:47

away. The SEALs in Vietnam, they'd

1:02:49

get enemy contacts and be like 20 feet away.

1:02:52

And then when they'd move 20 yards, they

1:02:54

couldn't see the enemy anymore. They wouldn't even get shot anymore.

1:02:57

In some cases. You're

1:02:59

in the city, you could get shot from a

1:03:02

window that's 10 yards away or

1:03:04

a doorway that's 600

1:03:07

yards away. And

1:03:09

everything in between those two is a legitimate

1:03:12

threat. Yeah,

1:03:14

it's great. Because you pointed that out a while ago, where

1:03:16

you were like, hey, I work downtown. And

1:03:19

then you have the front door outside. Every

1:03:23

single doorway or window that you

1:03:26

can see. Every single one

1:03:28

that you can see. Don't care if it's

1:03:30

100 meters away. Don't care if it's like 10 meters away.

1:03:32

Like every single one, that's a potential spot

1:03:34

for an enemy person. Crazy

1:03:37

man. And what

1:03:40

was I talking about this the other day? The

1:03:44

timing. You know there was a captain

1:03:46

from the army from the 1st of 506. And

1:03:51

great guy. So focused. So

1:03:53

professional. He had video. He

1:03:58

had like a camera set up in his... Humvee and

1:04:00

it was just a video of the street. He would

1:04:02

just watch the video so he would get to know

1:04:04

like where the trash was, where the doorway was, what

1:04:06

looked out of place. But

1:04:10

the first time I went with him into the city, he's

1:04:13

like, oh, we're gonna get contacted in 30 minutes.

1:04:15

Start your stopwatch. And I was like, okay, cool.

1:04:18

And sure enough, 27 minutes in, pop,

1:04:21

pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, and it's on. So

1:04:24

you know you're

1:04:27

gonna get contacted. You know it. Stoner's

1:04:31

Element over in Cregidor got contacted

1:04:33

by the enemy. 24

1:04:37

straight missions in a row. 24

1:04:42

straight missions in a row. You

1:04:45

know, I talked to guys from Vietnam, they've gotten, again,

1:04:48

this is some of the guys in Vietnam, some of

1:04:50

the SEALs in Vietnam. Maybe like, oh yeah, we got

1:04:52

six contacts on all of deployment. Look, some

1:04:54

guys were more than that, but some of them, that

1:04:56

was, that's legit. And

1:04:59

here's Stoner's, JP's crew out there, freaking

1:05:01

24 straight

1:05:04

missions, getting enemy contact. So

1:05:08

that feeling that these guys had of like, oh, they're

1:05:10

out there waiting to kill us, I

1:05:13

would absolutely have that feeling in the streets.

1:05:15

I'd absolutely have that feeling. Yeah. Especially

1:05:20

watching my guys. For

1:05:22

some reason, I never really felt like much like I

1:05:24

would get wounded or killed. You

1:05:28

go back to Dean Ladd, Dean

1:05:30

Ladd, who Marine going into

1:05:32

Tarawa, and he was on the podcast, and

1:05:36

unfortunately he passed away, God bless him. But

1:05:40

we were talking to him, and I'm reading from his book

1:05:42

about he's getting ready to go to Tarawa, and I said,

1:05:44

you know, were you nervous? Were you scared of getting dying?

1:05:46

And he's, oh no, that was gonna happen to the other

1:05:48

guy. I thought to myself,

1:05:50

man, that is such a

1:05:52

good young man feeling that I absolutely

1:05:55

had. But the

1:05:57

feeling, the sickness that you get is watching. You see

1:05:59

your guys. You don't want you guys get hurt guys.

1:06:01

I want you guys get shot. So you're watching the

1:06:07

450,000 threats that are ahead of you as the platoons

1:06:09

walking down the street And

1:06:15

that's what he's feeling I felt a very

1:06:17

deep sense of responsibility for my men and

1:06:19

my officers as I lay there thinking about

1:06:21

Them it was so dark that nothing existed

1:06:24

save what could be heard or felt the

1:06:26

predominant emotion was probably Loneliness and an overwhelming

1:06:28

sense of isolation even though though I knew

1:06:30

I had the best officers and men in

1:06:32

the world here with me I thought about

1:06:34

some of the lessons from sergeant Nagy and

1:06:36

corporal Webb had taught me in boot camp

1:06:38

I thought of all my Confrontations in with

1:06:41

the Japanese in the Philippines and in China

1:06:43

as much as I dreaded killing Respected the

1:06:45

enemy in uniform on the battlefield as I

1:06:47

knew I would be doing the job He

1:06:50

was assigned to do and that was to

1:06:52

seek out destroy his enemy. I Knew

1:06:56

that what we would be facing at any moment

1:06:58

was a case of kill or be killed At

1:07:03

about 0 200 fast-forward about 0 200

1:07:05

I was startled into a

1:07:08

charged wakefulness by what were

1:07:10

unmistakably low mumbling sounds I

1:07:12

woke up PFC Schmitty Smith

1:07:15

and together we strained our ears a

1:07:17

few minutes later We heard the same

1:07:19

sounds again. I was certain I heard

1:07:21

a few Japanese words I

1:07:24

knew that exposing our position by opening fire would not

1:07:26

be wise But then neither would

1:07:28

be sitting back and letting the Japanese infiltrate

1:07:30

the perimeter They might at any moment at

1:07:32

that moment already be preparing to charge our

1:07:35

lines I was so relieved that

1:07:37

my men were not trigger happy as was

1:07:39

a common thing with so many men Japanese

1:07:41

could be seen everywhere at night Every

1:07:43

limb in a tree took the form

1:07:46

of an enemy sniper Kunai grass took

1:07:48

the shape of an enemy moving towards

1:07:50

you Marines fired thousands of rounds at

1:07:52

shadows. My men were truly hardened professional

1:07:54

fighting Marines I trusted my men and

1:07:56

I knew they trusted me as we

1:07:58

had worked together for nearly two

1:08:00

years as a team. I resolved this matter when

1:08:02

I quickly decided to get this over with right

1:08:04

now. I still wasn't entirely sure if I was

1:08:06

doing the right thing. I pulled the pin from

1:08:09

a hand grenade and pitched it over the slope

1:08:11

where we had heard the noise.

1:08:13

As soon as my men

1:08:15

heard that click, they too followed suit with

1:08:17

a cascade of grenades. There

1:08:19

were a number of muffled explosions. There

1:08:22

were also screams of pain. Bob Smitty

1:08:25

and I were pulling pins and letting and

1:08:27

quickly letting them over the side, just like

1:08:29

the old baseball days. Then

1:08:31

silence descended on the knoll and

1:08:33

the jungle and that was the end of it.

1:08:37

So what's interesting about

1:08:39

grenades is you, especially

1:08:42

at night, you don't know where they came from. So

1:08:45

you don't have to give away your position. You can

1:08:47

just toss grenades. Huck a grenade out there. Fast

1:08:53

forward. Throughout the daylight hours of October 25th,

1:08:55

we tended to our weapons and we waited

1:08:57

for some apprehension for night

1:08:59

to fall. All that day

1:09:01

the Imperial Japanese Navy sent warships down

1:09:03

to shell our installations. There

1:09:06

were also numerous dogfights all

1:09:08

over the skies between zeros and our marine

1:09:11

grummin' wildcats. Let's

1:09:13

go. Dave Burke. Reports

1:09:18

at Colonel Hannigan's command post indicated

1:09:20

a strong Japanese force had engaged

1:09:22

the 1st Battalion Marine some 2,000

1:09:25

yards south of Henderson Field the night before.

1:09:27

That apparently was the main thrust of the

1:09:29

Japanese assault mounted by General

1:09:31

Ma'thau Maruyama's 2nd

1:09:35

Sendai Division minus the

1:09:37

shattered 4th Regiment, a total of perhaps 16,000 men.

1:09:41

The

1:09:43

Division's motto, and he's talking about

1:09:45

this Japanese division, the

1:09:48

Division's motto was, Remember

1:09:50

that death is lighter than a feather, but

1:09:53

that duty is heavier than a mountain.

1:09:58

For the Sendai Division, Feathers

1:10:00

flew in great numbers, the

1:10:03

mountain proved too heavy. They

1:10:07

were held off by a determined battalion

1:10:09

of Marines under chesty puller, with

1:10:11

the help of an Army battalion under

1:10:14

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Hall. Fast

1:10:18

forward while Major Connolly and I had been

1:10:20

walking around our front and I casually remarked

1:10:23

and I questioned the reason for our present

1:10:25

position. He pointed down through the jungles and

1:10:27

slopes and said, really, Mitch, there

1:10:30

is hardly anything between here and a

1:10:32

straight shot right into Henderson Field. As

1:10:34

a matter of fact, even chesty and the Army wouldn't

1:10:36

be aware of it as they are south of the

1:10:38

airport. I then realized the

1:10:40

real significance of the piece of real

1:10:43

estate that we now commanded. I

1:10:46

had the greatest respect and admiration

1:10:48

for both Colonel Hannigan and Major

1:10:50

Connolly as both were my idea

1:10:53

of a real Marine officer, tall,

1:10:55

athletic, powerful, lean, tough Marines. I

1:10:58

would have gone anywhere with either one as

1:11:01

I knew they were leaders and

1:11:03

fighters. When

1:11:11

darkness fell on October 25th, I knew the

1:11:13

Japanese were definitely coming and I

1:11:15

knew my orders were that we had

1:11:18

to defend our ridge at any cost.

1:11:24

I talked with each man, instructing

1:11:27

him that we would have 100% watch

1:11:29

tonight and to withhold their machine gun

1:11:32

fire until they actually saw enemy in

1:11:34

front of them. Fast

1:11:39

forward and here we go. The

1:11:43

bushes rustled and the

1:11:45

maddening voices continued their soft mutterings,

1:11:48

but still nothing could be seen. Then

1:11:52

I dimly sensed a dark figure

1:11:54

lurking near Gaston's position. I

1:11:56

grabbed a grenade, pulled the pin and held

1:11:58

down the ground. the lever ready to throw

1:12:01

it. Around

1:12:03

me I could hear the others also pulling pins as

1:12:05

we did the night before. We

1:12:07

heard the ration cans rattle. They'd

1:12:10

set a little indicator, a little early warning system

1:12:12

of ration cans on strings. So they heard a

1:12:14

little. We heard the ration

1:12:16

cans rattle and then somebody let out

1:12:18

a shriek and instantaneously the

1:12:21

battle erupted. Grenades

1:12:24

were exploding all over the ridge nose.

1:12:26

Japanese rifles and machine guns fired blindly

1:12:28

into the night and

1:12:30

the first wave of enemy troops

1:12:32

swarmed into our position from the

1:12:35

jungle flanking Gaston's gun. Stansberry

1:12:37

was pulling the pins out of his grenades

1:12:39

with his teeth and lobbing them down into

1:12:41

the slope of the jungle. Leipart

1:12:46

was skying them overhead like a baseball

1:12:48

pitcher. The tension

1:12:50

burst like a balloon and many

1:12:52

men found themselves cursing, growling, screaming

1:12:55

like banshees. The Japanese were yelling

1:12:57

bonsai blood for the emperor. Stansberry

1:13:01

in spontaneous tribute to President

1:13:03

Roosevelt's wife shouted back blood

1:13:05

for Eleanor. The

1:13:07

battleground was lit by flashes of machine

1:13:10

gun fire pierced by the arching red

1:13:12

patterns of tracing tracer bullets shaken by

1:13:14

the blast of shells laid down no

1:13:17

more than 30 yards in

1:13:19

front of the ridge by Captain

1:13:21

Louis Ditta's 60 millimeter mortars. It

1:13:23

was a confusing mousetrum with

1:13:26

dark shapes crawling across the ground

1:13:29

or swirling in clump knots, struggling

1:13:31

men falling on each other with

1:13:34

bayonet swords and other violent oaths.

1:13:38

After the first volley of American grenades

1:13:40

exploded, the wave of Japanese crowding onto

1:13:42

the knoll thickened. PFC Charles

1:13:44

H. Locke was killed from a burst

1:13:46

of enemy machine gun fire.

1:13:51

I screamed fire machine

1:13:53

guns fire. And

1:13:55

with that the machine guns opened up and

1:13:57

with them all the rifles and to me.

1:14:00

guns in the flickering light. I

1:14:02

saw a fierce struggle taking place for the

1:14:05

number two gun. Several Japanese

1:14:07

soldiers were racing towards Leipert, who

1:14:09

was kneeling apparently already hit. I

1:14:12

managed to shoot two of them. While

1:14:15

the third lowered his bayonet and lunged,

1:14:17

Leipert was the smallest man in the

1:14:19

platoon weighing barely 125 pounds.

1:14:21

The Japanese soldier ran him through, the

1:14:23

force of the thrust lifting him high

1:14:26

in the air. I

1:14:29

took careful aim and shot

1:14:31

Leipert's killer. Gaston

1:14:33

was flat on his back, scrambling away

1:14:35

from a Japanese officer who was hacking

1:14:37

at him with a two handed samurai

1:14:39

sword and grunting with exertion. Gaston tried

1:14:41

desperately to block the samurai sword with

1:14:43

a Springfield. He had picked up off

1:14:45

the ground apparently Leipert's. One

1:14:48

of his legs was badly cut from the blows. The

1:14:51

rifle soon splintered. The Japanese officer

1:14:53

raised his sword for the killing

1:14:56

thrust and Gaston with maniac strength

1:14:58

snaked his good leg up and caught the

1:15:01

man under the chin with his boom docker,

1:15:03

a violent blow that broke the Japanese neck.

1:15:06

The attackers ran past Gaston's gun and

1:15:09

spread out, concentrating their fire on

1:15:11

the left flank gun manned by

1:15:13

Corporal John Grant, PFC Sam H.

1:15:15

Scott and Willis A.

1:15:17

Hinson. Within minutes Scott was

1:15:19

killed and Hinson was wounded in the head.

1:15:23

Then Joseph A. Palosky was

1:15:25

killed. Stansberry, who had been near

1:15:27

me, was hit in the shoulder. But

1:15:29

the last time I saw him he was still fighting

1:15:31

with his Tommy gun, ferociously

1:15:34

shouting, charge, charge, blood

1:15:37

for Eleanor. Corporal

1:15:40

Petty John on the right cried out

1:15:42

in anguish. My guns jammed. I was

1:15:44

too busy to answer his call for

1:15:46

help. At the center we were beating

1:15:49

back the seemingly endless wall of Japanese coming

1:15:51

up the gentle slope at the front of

1:15:53

the position. There

1:15:56

Were at that point approximately 75 enemy

1:15:58

soldiers crashing through the platoon. Most

1:16:00

of them on the left flank, but the

1:16:02

main force of the attack had already begun

1:16:04

to ebb. The reads was crowded with fighting

1:16:06

men. It seemed somehow I z to be

1:16:08

recalled putting up my left hand just as

1:16:10

enemy soldier lunged at me with a fixed

1:16:13

bayonets. He must have been off balance as

1:16:15

the point of the bayonet ship between my

1:16:17

little finger and ring finger on not to

1:16:19

let me carry it off. And

1:16:22

as he went by me he

1:16:24

dropped dead on the ground. Speed

1:16:26

enemy started to melt down the

1:16:28

slopes and almost before they were

1:16:30

outside Navy corpsman begin sneaking forward

1:16:32

to treat the wounded at petty

1:16:34

jobs gun James. Nabil

1:16:36

Mcnabb. And. Michael

1:16:39

as Pats swing swing

1:16:41

it were badly wounded.

1:16:44

And. Had to be moved off the line.

1:16:46

Stansbury was still around and didn't want to

1:16:48

leave the I crawled over. petty jobs gone.

1:16:50

What's wrong with it's petty John. Said.

1:16:52

A ruptured cartridge which refused to

1:16:55

budge. I. Said move over and

1:16:57

fumbled with the switch to fingers broke

1:16:59

off a male completely but somehow pride

1:17:01

the slug out with a combination tool

1:17:03

which I felt in a spare parts

1:17:05

kit into the tribes. I.

1:17:08

Also changed the belt said the belt

1:17:10

see Paul which had been damaged in

1:17:12

the rust slamming trying to get the

1:17:14

round out that he john itself covered

1:17:16

me. Though the

1:17:18

first assault had swapped, a number of

1:17:21

enemy soldiers had sunni to the top

1:17:23

of a tall hardwood trees growing up

1:17:25

from the jungle between the platoon fox

1:17:27

Companies position From this vantage point that

1:17:29

could directly punishing plunging fire down in

1:17:32

two directions. The. Men in foxholes

1:17:34

along the crests were especially vulnerable. Bob

1:17:37

De Jonge and Markets and John W.

1:17:39

Police were wounded and help the back

1:17:42

of a linebacker. Corpsman. I

1:17:46

was getting ready to feed a new belt

1:17:48

of ammunition and a petty John's gun. my

1:17:50

left hand self very slippery, sorry rub it

1:17:52

in the dirks under the tripod. Have a

1:17:54

gun. Then as I reached up to

1:17:56

hold the built a Guinness of the shop is

1:17:58

a decent. And. dab of hot pain

1:18:00

in my hand. I

1:18:03

fell back momentarily and flapped my arm and

1:18:05

stared angrily at the gun, which

1:18:07

might have been wrecked by a

1:18:09

burst of fire from a Japanese

1:18:11

nambu-like machine gun almost immediately. A

1:18:15

second assault wave came washing over our

1:18:17

positions. This attack was more successful than

1:18:19

the first. Oliver Hinckley and

1:18:21

William R. Dudley were wounded. Hinson

1:18:24

over on the left gun, already wounded,

1:18:26

continued to fire until

1:18:28

all his supporting rifles were

1:18:30

silenced. He

1:18:33

then withdrew down around the hill in

1:18:35

the rear of George Company, putting the

1:18:37

gun out of action before he left

1:18:40

as I instructed. The

1:18:42

section had been hit hard with mortars and

1:18:44

grenades, causing severe shock to all the men,

1:18:47

one of them being August P. Marquez.

1:18:51

All the men on the spur had

1:18:53

been literally blasted off, including

1:18:55

Lieutenant Phillips, Bill Payne,

1:18:58

and John Grant. In

1:19:00

the Fox Company area, back toward my

1:19:02

left rear, I saw Fox Company men

1:19:04

pulling out and disappearing over the crest.

1:19:07

I picked up a Springfield and fired a

1:19:09

shot at them, yelling for them to hold

1:19:12

the line. The

1:19:14

Japanese swarmed up that 70-foot cliff in

1:19:16

great numbers, armed with three heavy and

1:19:18

six light machine guns, a number of

1:19:21

Tommy guns, and several neem orders. I

1:19:24

thought, dear God, Major Connolly and his

1:19:26

small command post are just over that

1:19:28

crest. But here

1:19:30

was the only grazing fire I had with

1:19:33

my machine gun. So I quickly

1:19:35

found Gaston's gun and swung it

1:19:37

around towards our own lines, as

1:19:40

there was nothing between my gun and

1:19:43

the crest but the enemy

1:19:45

Japanese soldiers. I

1:19:48

fired a full belt of ammunition into the

1:19:51

backs of those crouching enemy, praying that they

1:19:53

could not get over the crest to the

1:19:55

command post. I

1:19:57

Learned later from Captain Farrell, who's. With

1:20:00

Colonel Handguns Command post that the

1:20:02

word was that the enemy had

1:20:04

one of pages vast firing machine

1:20:07

guns and the rounds were ricocheting

1:20:09

over the line into. Major.

1:20:12

Connelly's position. She had also heard reports

1:20:14

that all my men had been killed.

1:20:17

And. In some, and in fact some had

1:20:19

been. Some. See

1:20:21

me sprawled out dead on the ground before

1:20:23

they left. the Rich. I

1:20:26

learned later to the disinformation gotten back

1:20:28

to division command post by zero five

1:20:30

hundred the enemy was all over the

1:20:33

spurs and it appeared they were going

1:20:35

to roll up the entire battalion front.

1:20:38

A second prong of the attacked aimed

1:20:40

at our fonts had not fared as

1:20:42

well. But my platoon

1:20:44

was being decimated. A

1:20:47

hail of shrapnel killed. Daniel

1:20:49

are cashman. Stansbury.

1:20:51

Had been pulled back over the

1:20:53

hill after being hit again. so

1:20:55

just to kind of break that

1:20:58

down little bits. Season.

1:21:00

Forward position and back. Over.

1:21:03

A little crest over little ridge

1:21:05

line is the command posts and

1:21:07

so the Japanese actually pushed through.

1:21:11

And they're heading towards the command

1:21:13

post. And six he. Turns

1:21:16

his gone around and has to shoot

1:21:18

back towards the command post to kill

1:21:21

those Japanese centers record she's going into

1:21:23

the command posts the command post He

1:21:25

friends and later thought that. Is

1:21:27

gonna be faster by the Japanese. This

1:21:32

is I with we would do jungle training especially

1:21:34

in Than and so in the nineties and of

1:21:36

the tree. And

1:21:39

this is pre nods pre like

1:21:41

this. For.

1:21:44

You know it's like when you're in the dark. and

1:21:46

also there's a flash of light and use. Or Univision?

1:21:48

That's what this is. This is just the scene of.

1:21:51

Total. Confusion. So.

1:21:54

Now there's enough light winners this much fire going

1:21:56

on. sometimes you can sign of see a little

1:21:59

bit more was. Running. And I think that's

1:22:01

a mode that while that stephanie the mode they're

1:22:03

getting into where it's almost like as a strobe

1:22:05

light got been a. He. Was struggling

1:22:08

a consistent timing. This would be like a random

1:22:10

strobe light but very close together. Could even the

1:22:12

muzzle flash gifts of a a pop. There's a

1:22:14

flash of light with each one. Has be over

1:22:16

season tickets even with. Ten. Feet away,

1:22:18

it's gonna light up your area. But

1:22:21

the. Confusion and chaos in the

1:22:23

situations. It is gonna be

1:22:26

total ma'am. I.

1:22:28

Continue to trigger burst until the barrel began

1:22:30

to seem In front of he was a

1:22:32

large pile of dead bodies. I ran around

1:22:35

the rich from gun the gun trying to

1:22:37

keep them pharynx but at each emplacement I

1:22:39

sound or me dead bodies. I

1:22:41

knew I must be all alone. As

1:22:45

I ran back and forth, I pumped

1:22:47

into enemy soldiers who were seemingly dashing

1:22:49

about aimlessly in the dark. Apparently they

1:22:51

weren't aware. they weren't yet aware that

1:22:53

they had almost completely. They.

1:22:55

Had almost complete possession of the North.

1:22:59

As. I scampered around the know

1:23:01

I fired someone springfield. That.

1:23:03

I happen to pick up. Then somehow I

1:23:05

stumbled over into the right flank of George

1:23:07

Company. Their I found a

1:23:10

couple of men I knew themed Kelly and

1:23:12

Topman. They

1:23:14

had a water cooled machine gun I told

1:23:16

them I needed they're gone at the same

1:23:19

time. I grabbed it. And. They took

1:23:21

off with me. I said follow

1:23:23

me and ordered several riflemen fix

1:23:25

bayonets and to form a squirt

1:23:27

skirmish line back across the Rich.

1:23:30

I told the rifleman not to

1:23:32

be afraid to use the bayonet.

1:23:35

We. Still had the Nike Know

1:23:38

five sixteen inch bayonets. With.

1:23:40

The front and sharpen throughout it's lengths

1:23:42

and a back edge of five inches

1:23:44

from the point. He

1:23:47

was by then. Not. Quite as dark

1:23:50

as it has been, soon dawn would

1:23:52

break. i knew that once the

1:23:54

japanese realized how much progress they had made

1:23:56

steal a third wave of attackers would come

1:23:58

up the slope to solidify their hold on

1:24:00

the knoll. On the way back I noticed

1:24:02

some movement of Japanese on the ridge just

1:24:04

above Major Connolly's position and

1:24:06

which I had raked with grazing fire

1:24:09

earlier. I fired Kelly's and Topman's full

1:24:11

belt of 250 rounds into

1:24:13

that area and once again the rounds were

1:24:15

ricocheting over Connolly's head but he

1:24:17

had no way of knowing that I was doing the

1:24:19

firing. He could only surmise

1:24:22

that the enemy was now using our

1:24:24

machine guns. As we advanced back across

1:24:26

the ridge some of the Japanese began

1:24:28

falling back. Several with them however began

1:24:30

crawling awkwardly across the knoll with

1:24:33

their rifles cradled in the crooks with

1:24:35

their arms and then I saw with

1:24:37

horror that they were

1:24:39

headed toward one of my guns which

1:24:41

was now out in the open and

1:24:43

unmanned. Galvanized

1:24:46

by that threat I ran for the

1:24:48

gun from the gully area several Japanese

1:24:50

guns spotted me and swiveled to rape

1:24:52

me with fire. The snipers in the

1:24:55

trees also tried to bring me down

1:24:57

and grenades and mortars burst all around

1:24:59

me as I ran to that gun.

1:25:02

One of the crawling enemy soldiers saw me coming and

1:25:04

he jumped up to race me to the prize. I

1:25:07

got there first and jumped into the

1:25:09

hole behind the gun. The enemy soldier less than 25 yards

1:25:12

away dropped to the ground and started to

1:25:14

open up on me. I

1:25:16

turned the gun on the enemy and immediately realized

1:25:18

it was not loaded. I

1:25:21

quickly scooped up a partial loaded belt lying

1:25:23

on the ground and with fumbling fingers started

1:25:25

to load it. Suddenly a very

1:25:27

strange feeling came over me. I

1:25:30

tried to desperately reach forward to pull

1:25:32

the bolt handle back to load the

1:25:34

gun but I felt

1:25:36

as though it was in a vice. Even

1:25:39

so I was completely relaxed and felt as

1:25:41

though I was sitting peacefully in a park.

1:25:45

I could feel a warm sensation between my

1:25:47

chin and Adam's apple. Then all of a

1:25:49

sudden I fell forward

1:25:51

over the gun loaded the

1:25:53

gun and swung it up at the

1:25:55

enemy gunner. The precise moment he had fired his

1:25:58

full 30 round magazine. at

1:26:00

me and stopped firing. For

1:26:03

days later I thought about that mystery

1:26:06

and somehow knew that

1:26:08

the man above also

1:26:10

knew what had happened.

1:26:12

I found three more belts of ammunition and quickly

1:26:15

fired them into the trees and all along the

1:26:17

ridge. I sprayed the terrain with remaining

1:26:20

rounds, clearing everything in sight. All the

1:26:22

Japanese fired in the area was being

1:26:24

aimed at me apparently and this was

1:26:26

the only automatic weapon firing from a

1:26:28

forward position. The barrage concentrated on the

1:26:30

ridge nose made me feel as if

1:26:33

the whole Japanese army was firing at

1:26:35

me. I

1:26:38

was getting some help from our mortars

1:26:40

controlled by battalion with the

1:26:42

George Company commander, Captain L.W.

1:26:45

Martin observing. These

1:26:47

rounds laid on the spur and prevented the

1:26:49

enemy to move up which would have probably

1:26:51

enveloped me from the rear. Other than this

1:26:54

I was still alone as

1:26:56

my George Company friends were still behind

1:26:58

me some distance. In

1:27:00

addition to being in this position I had

1:27:02

an immediate need of more ammunition and I

1:27:05

couldn't see any more lying around anywhere.

1:27:09

Just at that time aid came that

1:27:11

made me glow with pride. Three

1:27:13

of my men from

1:27:16

my platoon voluntarily crossed the field

1:27:18

of fire to resupply me. The

1:27:22

first one came up and just as he reached me

1:27:24

he fell with a bullet in the stomach. Another

1:27:27

one rushed in then and was

1:27:29

hit in the groin just as he reached me too.

1:27:32

He fell against me knocking me away

1:27:34

from the gun. Seconds later Bob John

1:27:36

Jock who had also been

1:27:38

wounded earlier came from somewhere with

1:27:40

more ammunition. Just as he jumped down

1:27:42

beside me to help load the gun

1:27:44

I saw a piece of flesh fly

1:27:46

off his neck. He had been hit

1:27:49

by an enemy bullet. I

1:27:52

told him to get back while I sprayed

1:27:54

the area. He refused to

1:27:56

leave. I said get the hell

1:27:58

back John Jock and he said again. and no, I'm

1:28:00

staying with you. I hated to do

1:28:02

it, but I punched him on the chin

1:28:05

hard enough to bowl him over, and convince

1:28:07

him, finally, that I wanted my order obeyed.

1:28:10

He somehow made his way back, as

1:28:13

I was afraid he would bleed to death." Meanwhile

1:28:17

Major Connolly, at the forward command

1:28:19

post, was rounding up a rag-tag

1:28:21

force with which to retake the

1:28:23

Fox Company spur. They

1:28:26

were bandsmen serving as stretcher-bearers, firemen, runners,

1:28:28

cooks, and even mess boys who had

1:28:31

brought some hot food up to the

1:28:33

front lines during the night and stayed

1:28:35

just in case. Those men, numbering no

1:28:37

more than 24, mounted

1:28:40

a counter-attack up over the crest that

1:28:42

I fired some 500 rounds at. They found the

1:28:48

Japanese machine guns and several of Fox

1:28:50

Company's weapons, including three light machine guns,

1:28:52

all in good working order. That counter-attack

1:28:54

found 98 dead on the spur by

1:28:59

actual count. That

1:29:02

was about 5.30 or so. Dawn was

1:29:04

already breaking. I was

1:29:06

able to observe the progress of that

1:29:09

charge from my position as I was

1:29:11

directly out to their front. I

1:29:13

also watched quite a few enemy soldiers scrambling back

1:29:15

into the jungle, but I couldn't fire in that

1:29:17

direction. As I watched

1:29:19

that beautiful charge, it gave me inspiration

1:29:21

to get up and yell to my

1:29:24

George Company fighters with their fixed

1:29:26

bayonets to stand by the charge. I

1:29:31

yelled out in Japanese to

1:29:33

stand up. Tate,

1:29:36

tate, hurry.

1:29:40

Esoge, esoge, or isogai, eso-ga.

1:29:44

Immediately a large group of Japanese soldiers,

1:29:46

about 30 and all, popped up into

1:29:48

view. So he yells

1:29:50

out in Japanese, hey stand up, hurry.

1:29:55

Immediately A large group of Japanese soldiers, about 30 and

1:29:57

all, popped up into view. One of. That

1:30:00

me to feel grasses. I triggered a long

1:30:02

burst and they just pure boss like grass

1:30:04

under a moink machine. At.

1:30:07

That point I turned around to tell my friends I was

1:30:09

going to charge of that know. And. I

1:30:11

said i want every want you to be right

1:30:13

behind me and they were. I

1:30:18

threw the two remaining belts of ammunition

1:30:20

that up my men had brought me

1:30:22

over my shoulder unclamp the heavy machine

1:30:24

guns from a tripod. I

1:30:27

cradled it my arms. I

1:30:30

really didn't notice the weight, which was a

1:30:32

total of about eighty pounds. And

1:30:35

was no more aware that the water jacket of

1:30:37

my gun was red hot. I

1:30:40

said one of the belts into the

1:30:42

gun is started forward down the slope,

1:30:44

scrambling to keep my foot spraying a

1:30:46

raging fire all about me. There.

1:30:50

Were still a number of live enemy soldiers

1:30:53

on a hillside in the tall grass pressed

1:30:55

against the soap. I must have taken them

1:30:57

by surprise as the gone cut them all

1:30:59

down. One.

1:31:01

Of them notice. One of them I noticed

1:31:04

was a sealed great officer who just expanded

1:31:06

the rounds in his revolver and was reaching

1:31:08

for a two handed swords. He was no

1:31:10

more than four five feet from me when

1:31:12

I ran into him head on. The

1:31:16

skirmishes. The skirmishes followed me over

1:31:18

the rim of the know and

1:31:20

they too. Were. All fired

1:31:22

up and we're giving the rebel yell.

1:31:25

Shrieking had kept calling like little boys,

1:31:27

imitating marines sounding like they are. There

1:31:29

were thousand rather than a mere handful.

1:31:33

He. Followed me all the way across the

1:31:35

draw with six bayonets to the end of

1:31:37

the jungle. Were. Long hours

1:31:40

before the Japanese, the two weeks extruded.

1:31:45

Their. We. Found nothing left to

1:31:47

shoot at. The

1:31:50

battle was over. the

1:31:53

jungle was once again so still that

1:31:56

it it wasn't for the evidence of

1:31:58

dead bodies the agony and of

1:32:00

the previous hours, the bursting terror of

1:32:02

the artillery and mortar rounds, and the

1:32:04

many thousands of rounds of ammunition fired,

1:32:08

it might only have been a bad dream

1:32:11

of awful death. There

1:32:17

were hundreds of enemy dead in the grass,

1:32:20

on the ridge, in the draw, and

1:32:23

in the edge of the jungle. We

1:32:25

dragged as many as we could into the jungle out of

1:32:27

the sun. We

1:32:29

buried many and even blasted some of

1:32:32

the ridge over them to prevent

1:32:34

the smell that only a dead body can

1:32:36

expel in the heat. The

1:32:42

next day, the next

1:32:46

day, the chesty

1:32:48

puller came up to see me. He

1:32:52

sat down beside me after we shook

1:32:54

hands and he told me about the big attack they

1:32:56

had down at the airport on

1:33:00

the night of the 24th. He

1:33:03

also told me that he had just seen Colonel

1:33:05

Hannigan at the division command post before

1:33:07

he came to visit with me. He

1:33:10

told me that he read a report that

1:33:13

Colonel Hannigan was preparing, recommending me for a

1:33:15

medal. He

1:33:17

said when he returned to the command post, he

1:33:19

was also going to prepare a report for one

1:33:22

of his sergeants, recommending him for a medal.

1:33:27

He went on to tell me that

1:33:29

this sergeant was also a machine gunner

1:33:32

and that our actions were similar. I

1:33:35

said, Wonderful, is this sergeant someone I

1:33:37

may know? He

1:33:39

said, I don't know, but

1:33:42

his name is Basilone. I

1:33:45

said, Johnny Basilone? And

1:33:47

he said, Yes. I

1:33:51

had made platoon sergeant just before we left the

1:33:53

states and I told chesty that I had recently

1:33:55

seen Johnny and we

1:33:58

were moving positions and I had asked him. when

1:34:00

he expected to make platoon sergeant. And

1:34:03

he said soon he had hoped. I told Chesty

1:34:05

that I hoped this would help Johnny get promoted to

1:34:07

platoon sergeant. I

1:34:09

had met Johnny originally back in New

1:34:11

River, North Carolina, just after he had

1:34:13

joined the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. He

1:34:16

told me he was

1:34:18

better known as Manila John. And

1:34:22

then I said, you must have been in the Philippines. And

1:34:25

we had a lot to talk about as I told

1:34:28

him I had been stationed there for some time. Johnny

1:34:31

had been in the Army and I was

1:34:33

stationed in Manila, thus the name Manila

1:34:36

John. We

1:34:38

had a friendly greeting when

1:34:41

I would call him Doggy Manila

1:34:43

John. And he would

1:34:45

jokingly call me, Kaveet Mitch. Chesty

1:34:50

was admired by all

1:34:52

enlisted men. And while we were sitting

1:34:54

there on the ground, Price had been

1:34:56

shot through the face. Though

1:34:58

not very seriously, was very anxious to meet him.

1:35:00

Price had bled so profusely it was difficult to

1:35:02

determine how serious his wound had been when he

1:35:05

was hit. In

1:35:07

any event, he was patched up now

1:35:10

and was most anxious to say hello to

1:35:12

that great jungle fighter, Chesty

1:35:15

Poon. Chesty

1:35:19

shook hands with him and offered him some pipe

1:35:21

tobacco, the only thing he had at the

1:35:23

time. Naturally a

1:35:25

kind gesture and Price had refused because he didn't have

1:35:27

a pipe. However, he

1:35:29

had never forgotten that visit with Chesty, the

1:35:33

veteran of Nicaragua and other

1:35:35

jungle battles. Two

1:35:38

years later, PFC John W. Price

1:35:42

was killed in action. Fast

1:35:53

forward here. Because

1:35:55

that's the thing, it's not over. Like

1:35:58

you get through all that. And by the way, what

1:36:02

part of that do you actually live

1:36:04

through? Almost

1:36:07

none. Almost nothing that happened do you

1:36:09

get to live through. But

1:36:12

guess what? Doesn't matter. The fight's still on. Back

1:36:16

to the book. Now that the enemy's back

1:36:18

had been broken, at least temporarily, General Van Der

1:36:20

Grift believed it would be an opportune time to

1:36:23

continue the attack. So

1:36:26

instead of going west, we

1:36:28

would leave the Lunga River area to which

1:36:30

we had just returned from our battle ridge

1:36:32

to a new front. Everyone said,

1:36:34

oh boy, here we go again. You go through

1:36:36

all that, get back into perimeter,

1:36:38

fast forward and pass it, but they're out on that

1:36:40

ridge line. They win

1:36:42

that fight. Great

1:36:44

cost, massive casualties. And

1:36:48

then they pull back into perimeter, now they get back into perimeter

1:36:50

like, oh yeah, you're moving west, you're moving out. And

1:36:52

everyone said, oh boy, here we go again. And

1:36:55

the next morning we started out on a forced

1:36:57

march across the rivers and along trails

1:37:00

near the beach. Fox

1:37:02

Company, the rifle company I was attached to,

1:37:04

was given the extreme right flank, the furthest

1:37:06

away from the perimeter. My platoon was a

1:37:08

bunch of patched up Marines with some replacements.

1:37:15

Fast forward a little bit. I left the extreme

1:37:17

right flank open so that a particular gun could

1:37:19

fire into the jungle behind it, up

1:37:21

the beach or out to sea. I got behind

1:37:23

the next gun and placed a bayonet in the

1:37:25

sand against the water jacket at the point where

1:37:28

it could fire up the beach, just clearing left

1:37:30

shoulder of the gunner of the first gun. I

1:37:32

did the same thing with each of the other guns, so that in

1:37:34

fact we would be in echelon with each gun being able to fire

1:37:36

just to the left of the gun in front of it. Everybody

1:37:39

knew the plan and the limitations of traverse for

1:37:41

the gun. This is just interlocking

1:37:43

fields of fire. We

1:37:46

knew the enemy had moved east about a

1:37:48

half mile from us and in all

1:37:51

probability some might just wander down the

1:37:53

beach. As we suspected, just after daybreak

1:37:55

we spotted some enemy troops moving out

1:37:57

to the water's edge. down

1:38:00

the beach towards us in formation. We

1:38:02

could hardly believe it, because this was

1:38:05

truly a machine gunner's dream. Perfect

1:38:08

grazing fire at troops in formation.

1:38:12

As we were crouched there in anxiety waiting for

1:38:15

a large unit to start down the beach right

1:38:17

into our guns, as surely they were preparing to

1:38:19

do, as evidenced by their movements, a single

1:38:23

crack of Springfield rifle went off some

1:38:25

distance down the beach behind us. The

1:38:28

round went up the beach over our

1:38:30

heads. Some knucklehead riflemen just couldn't wait.

1:38:34

As the enemy started to scatter, all my machine

1:38:36

guns opened up and not a single enemy soldier

1:38:39

made it back to the jungle. Fast

1:38:47

forward a little bit, the attack

1:38:49

continued across the Metapona River and

1:38:51

we were gradually bottling up the enemy. In the

1:38:53

chest he had been hit that day with a

1:38:55

grenade that landed near him, causing

1:38:58

multiple fragmentation wounds in his legs, but

1:39:00

he did not leave the lines until

1:39:03

the next day. By dusk of the

1:39:05

8th, we had the enemy between us

1:39:08

and it was only a matter of cleaning them up. As

1:39:12

we closed the knot tighter, some of the enemy escaped

1:39:14

through a gap in the army line, but

1:39:17

the rest were cleaned out. On the 9th

1:39:19

and 10th, the final push was made and

1:39:21

the area was secured for all intents and

1:39:23

purposes as the enemy had either been killed

1:39:25

and those who managed to escape would find

1:39:27

it difficult in the days to come as

1:39:29

we were definitely on the offensive. On

1:39:33

the 11th, we started back toward the perimeter. Our

1:39:36

casualties during the period since we watched the

1:39:38

enemy land on the 1st was

1:39:40

21 killed and

1:39:43

61 wounded. We

1:39:47

had taken considerable enemy supplies,

1:39:49

mostly rice and ammunition. That

1:39:52

night was a nightmare. As

1:39:55

the Japanese fleet came in and blasted the

1:39:57

airports and all the ridges of the air

1:40:00

around it, including Edson's Ridge where we were

1:40:02

dug in. In my opinion, the most frightening

1:40:04

thing in combat is to be on the

1:40:07

receiving end of naval gunfire. Artillery

1:40:09

is the same when masked. Every

1:40:12

time one of those naval shells came crashing

1:40:15

into the island, trees were

1:40:17

uprooted, and the earth shook like

1:40:19

an earthquake. This was particularly

1:40:21

evident on Edson's Ridge, which was

1:40:23

in line for anything that was

1:40:25

fired over Henderson's field. Henderson

1:40:28

Field. Our positions

1:40:30

felt like we were on jello

1:40:32

as the ground literally rolled with

1:40:34

each crashing shell. Twice that night,

1:40:36

Sergeant Bill Payne and I were

1:40:38

completely lifted out of our holes

1:40:41

and flopped on the ground. It

1:40:45

was just like being lifted into

1:40:47

some dirt by a bulldozer blade,

1:40:49

very eerie feeling indeed. We

1:40:56

continued to move periodically from one position to

1:40:58

another. This

1:41:00

is fast forward. More and more army troops were

1:41:03

arriving to take our positions in the lines. The

1:41:05

patrols were penetrating deeper, seeking out the enemy. It

1:41:07

was getting a little quieter around the perimeter as

1:41:09

the days went by. However, enemy ships continued to

1:41:12

sneak in at night and lob a few shells

1:41:14

at Henderson Field and our lines. We

1:41:17

still had air attacks, but our

1:41:19

valiant Cactus Air Force was shooting

1:41:21

the enemy planes out of the

1:41:23

skies with great numbers. We had

1:41:26

Grumman Wildcats, the Dauntless Dive bombers,

1:41:28

the Avenger Torpedo bombers, and the

1:41:30

Air Cobras at Henderson Field. Cactus

1:41:32

was Guadalcanal's code name. The

1:41:35

real heroes of all the gravel crunchers,

1:41:38

the infantrymen, and the

1:41:40

cannon cockers, the artillerymen, and the mortarmen

1:41:43

were those fabulous Marine Corps pilots,

1:41:46

like Lieutenant Colonel Howard W.

1:41:49

Bauer, Major Marion Carl,

1:41:51

Captain Joe Foss, Major

1:41:54

Bob Galer, and Major John

1:41:56

L. Smith. on

1:42:00

the ground and cheer them on

1:42:05

as they shot the cream of the

1:42:07

crop of the Japanese freighter and armor

1:42:09

privileged out of the skies over Guadalcanal

1:42:11

each day. At times, we

1:42:14

had seen Merriam or Joe or John

1:42:16

dive into a pack of enemy planes

1:42:19

and almost every instance they

1:42:21

were outnumbered by ten

1:42:24

to fifteen to one, yet

1:42:26

they could be seen buzzing around like bumblebees

1:42:28

looping and diving and pressing the attack to

1:42:30

keep the enemy fighters from hitting us on

1:42:32

the ground. We had

1:42:34

seen Carl, Foss, Galer, and Smith get shot down

1:42:37

and have to bail out of their burning planes

1:42:39

as we watched the air battles. Bauer was shot

1:42:41

down over the water and was never recovered. Bauer,

1:42:44

Galer, Foss, and Smith were

1:42:46

all awarded the Congressional Medal

1:42:48

of Honor and Carl was

1:42:50

awarded the Navy Cross. Joe

1:42:52

Foss became America's ace of

1:42:54

aces after he shot down

1:42:57

his 26th enemy plane beating

1:42:59

Captain Eddie Rickenbacker's 1918 record

1:43:03

of 25 enemy planes. Fast

1:43:12

forward a little bit. Things

1:43:17

are starting to mellow out a little here. Each

1:43:19

day we cleaned our machine guns, had gun drill,

1:43:21

and helped Lieutenant Tom Myers get snapped in with

1:43:23

us. We went on short patrols around the perimeter.

1:43:25

Obviously the rainy season had set in and it

1:43:28

was raining nearly every day as Christmas had come

1:43:30

and gone and we were now standing by

1:43:32

to leave the island too. The

1:43:38

first Marines had left shortly after the

1:43:41

fifth had departed. On

1:43:45

the 5th of January 1943, our 7th Marines

1:43:47

went aboard the USS Rachel Jackson

1:43:51

and the second

1:43:53

battalion was on its way to

1:43:56

Melbourne, Australia where the rest of the division was

1:43:58

located. Zoom.

1:44:16

You might think that that's kind of the end of the

1:44:18

book and what I'm going to read

1:44:20

right now but you know

1:44:22

those guys have been through hell obviously all of those

1:44:24

guys have been through hell and so it

1:44:27

must be over but it's not over. Mitchell

1:44:32

Page ends up getting commissioned. He

1:44:35

ends up being awarded the Medal of Honor. So

1:44:37

it's him and Bazzie, him

1:44:39

and John Basilone, machine

1:44:42

gunners. So

1:44:44

he ends up being awarded the Medal of Honor while he's

1:44:46

in Australia. Being

1:44:51

in Australia training his Marines, getting

1:44:54