Intermission Story (7) – Poem for Tarawa

Battle of Tarawa

The Battle for Tarawa

“The time has come,” the commander said,

“When we must fight once more;

So pack your gear and shoulder your gun,

We will board the ship at four.”

*

We boarded the ship in New Zealand

For a place we knew not where.

But deep down in our hearts we thought

Of the hardships we’d have to bear

 *

Twenty long days and twenty long nights

It took to reach the Atolls

We wiped off our guns and counted our shells

And loosened the straps on our rolls

 *

Then came the word, “All hands topside”

And our boats were lowered to sea I’ll tell you every man was scared

And we prayed for the things to be.

Our fleet was constantly pounding the isle

 *

To make things easier on shore

Then they finally slacked up around noon

To let our fighting men score

The first wave shoved off for “Helen”

 *

The coral reefs made it tough;

The tank bogged down, the boats were sunk

My God, those boys died rough.

Machine gun nests were thick on the beach

 *

But our men struggled nearer the sand

Some of them died in the water

Some of them died on the land. That was the first wave I have told about

Then the second wave moved in

*

‘Twas the same thing, but their lines grew weak

And some of the boys wore a grin.

Marines take cover behind a seawall.Now the Marines kept pouring i

From the places a rat wouldn’t go

 *

They tromped over bodies of dead Japanese

And onward to finish the foe.

Then our boys had formed a line

And darted from tree to tree

*

But the Japs were camouflaged so slick

It made them hard to see.

Japanese snipers in the tree tops

Pill boxes on the ground

 *

Mortar shells were flying everywhere

Hell was all around. Those pill boxes I spoke about

Were concrete, logs and steel

And the contents of the hole below

*

Our bombs could not reveal.

Our tanks pulled right up to those holes

And fired again and again

Now you can bet that it made Hell

*

For those stubborn Japs within.

Flame throwers left a path of death

And burned everything in sight

It didn’t take long for those Japs to decide

 *

That the Marines, too, could fight.

Imperial Marines the Japs called themselves

They were supposed to be tough

But they soon found out that U.S.M.C.

 *

Was built of the rugged and rough.

They were fortified to the tee

But it took the Second Division

To set up another V.

 *

Exterminated Japs filled every hole

And soon began to smell

On blood-stained coral we made our beds

And slept in that living Hell.

*

Four thousand Japs were slain on that island

Pill boxes numbered five hundred

Soon the air strip was repaired

Again our Air Force thundered.

*

More than eleven hundred Marines lost their lives

They put up a #### good fight

I salute each and everyone

Whom we buried the following night. ‘Twas the bloodiest battle in Marine history

*

Well done, what a service rendered!

I’m sure as long as time may go

Their victory will be remembered.

Just one word for the Seabees

 *

In discussion they’re always left out

But the fighting 18th was there from the first

And they were the last to move out.

*

Written by:

Claude William Hepp enlisted in the Navy Seabees (Naval Construction Battalion) Jan 13, 1943. He was a carpenter’s mate, third class and his unit was assigned to the 18th Marine Combat Engineers, Second Marine Division sent to the South Pacific. He wrote this poem after participating in the battle at Tarawa. Claude died during the bloody invasion of Saipan and was buried at sea two days after his 22nd birthday.

Acquired at the US Military Forum.

Click on images to enlarge.

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Farewell Salutes – 

Len Bryan – Tucson, AZ; US Navy, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Cmdr.

George Diehl – Grand Rapids, MI; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT

Luther Gribble – Wellington, TX, US Army, WWII, PTO, Sgt., mortars

William Harrigan – Portland, ME; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Alaska

Bundy Hill – London, OH; USMC, WWII, PTO

John C. Holladay – Florence, SC; USMC, WWII, PTO, Sgt., 1st Marine Raiders, KIA (New Georgia)

John Leslie – IRE; British Army, WWII, ETO, 2nd Batt./Irish Guards, POW

John Prince – Bellerose, NY; USMC, WWII, PTO, 8th Marines, Pfc, KIA (Tarawa)

Maurice Stout Jr. – Lincoln, NE; USMC, WWII, PTO

Edward Terella – Erie, PA; USMC, WWII, PTO

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