Tarawa (3) Additional Information and Quotes

One of the cemeteries at Tarawa.

Japanese RAdmiral Keiji Shibasaki was commander of the 3rd Special Base Defense Force, the tokubetsu Konkyochitai, who was responsible for defending the Ocean, the Gilberts and the Nauru Islands.  During the US invasion, he gave his orders from a concrete bunker on Betio.  He should have stayed there.  He was killed when he moved his staff to a secondary headquarters.

In choppy seas and heavy winds, the LVTs (aka Amtraks) moved in.  Destroyers Ringgold and Dashiell followed the minesweepers Requiste and Pursuit who went into the shallow waters of the lagoon with Lt. Forbes Webster and Stanley Page (of the RNZ Navy), as their pilots.

When it was over.

Japanese Warrant Officer, Ota recalled, “We could see the American landing craft coming towards us like dozens of spiders over the surface of the water.  One of my men exclaimed, ‘The God of Death has come!'”  Every working weapon opened up.  Petty Officer Tadao Onuki said, “There we broke our silence.  Under roaring fires, enemy craft wrecked, American soldiers went down one after another, went falling into the sea.”

Wounded Marine sent for medical attention.

Seasickness became a problem aboard the ships where the men waited; 850 men of the LT 1/8 were in Higgins boats from the Sheridan. Lt. John Fletcher was being assisted by Lt. Eddie Albert who recalled, My job was to assist in controlling those 26 boats, plus support any boats needing repairs, refueling or rescue at sea.  My boat, number 13, was not a landing craft.  We had a 3-man crew, a coxswain, a gunner and myself… We felt terrible that so many were lost that second morning… I’ll never know how we lived through it.  I remember our crew stamping out small fires around the fuel drums.  But we kept firing back and pulling more wounded aboard… I don’t like to think about it.”

Kneeling in prayer before landing.
From: “Tarawa – The Story of a Battle” by Robert Sherrod

Chaplain Wyeth Willard baptized 63 men on the LT 1/8.  He was one of 3 Navy chaplains, (F.W. Kelly & J.V.E. Loughlin), who went up and down the island wherever the men were fighting.

Many of the troops dropped due to heat prostration.  The sand was ”white as snow and as hot as red-white ashes,” said Sgt. Michelony of the 1/6.  Three steel pillboxes and a large “bomb-proof shelter remained at the pier.  After 2 hours of fighting – only the shelter remained operable and a tunnel was discovered.  Lt. Sandy Bonnyman, a combat engineer, received the Medal of Honor for his actions here.  He was one of 4 men who be issued the medal for this island.

Many combat photographers of Tarawa show one man with a red mustache, unlit cigar clenched in his teeth and a shotgun in his arms standing tall amid scores of troops against a seawall on Red Beach 3.  This was Major Henry  “Jim” Pierson Crowe, an officer worth learning more about.

Combat photographer in the midst of battle.

These posts do not even barely cover the battles for Tarawa.  Ironically, or maybe even by design, the island is the exact size of the Pentagon and its parking lots.  This information was learned in “Utmost Savagery” by Col. Joseph H. Alexander, USMC (Ret.).  I chose this as a reference because the author cross-referenced new data with the old, personal papers and Japanese sources of the “Senshi Sosho”.

Click on images to enlarge.

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Military Humor – 

Ole Sad Sack

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Farewell Salutes – 

Edwin Bisinger – Westchester, IL; US Army, WWII, 7th Division

Arthur Feinman – Englishtown, NJ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 188th/11th Airborne

George Gould – Waikato, NZ; RNZ Army # 639114, J Force

Lester Kluting – Peacock, TX; US Army, WWII, ETO

Herbert Maier – MA & FL; US Army, Korea

Cecil Runner – Parsons, WVA; US Navy, WWII, USS Bataan, mechanic

Eulis Pemberton – Claredon, AR; US Army Air Corps, WWII/USAF (Ret. 28 Yrs), Korea & Vietnam

Russell Steiner – Broad Channel, NY; US Army, Vietnam

Cyrus Thatcher – UK; British Military, Afghanistan, The 2nd Rifles, KIA

Tony Valencia – Wilmington, CA; US Army, WWII, PTO, Bronze Star

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