80 Years Ago Today in the far Pacific

[cmjh10]

A little off topic, but The Fat Electrician is a great content creator on YouTube. Focuses on how n military history ( mostly WWII). Just dropped an hour long video yesterday about Billy Waugh, the Godfather of the Green Berets. Encourage you all to check him out.


Oh, and he lives in Mason City.

 

[mark42]

My families story.
My Great uncle, on my Moms side. Was WW 2 Vet. That served in the pacific theatre.
i was a young teen when I asked him one day “ Uncle Harvey, why do you limp so bad”?
without hesitation He raised both, his one pant leg and his shirt, revealing old wounds that literally looked like someone had took a chainsaw clear across his belly and his one leg.
I was stunned.
He then proceeded to tell me when where and how this happened, (I’m sure my mouth was hanging open).
He said he was part of the invasion ground forces that landed on Okinawa. During this he was machined gunned across his belly and across his one leg. He said “I fell into a foxhole, and knowing they were starting to overrun our positions I grabbed a dead body and pulled overtop of me”” Then the “Japs” we’re using bayonets on both the dead as well as those not quite dead yet.”
He said he had to play dead for hours until the “Japs” retreated. Then U S forces could search and remove bothe the survivors as well as the dead.
Uncle Harvey lived to the age of 96!
Follow up to many years after Uncle Harvey told me this story. I’m in a movie theatre watching the movie HackSaw ridge. One scene depicts a very similar scene play out. I’m a grown assed Man in a theatre bawling my eyes out thinking what uncle Harvey must have went thru.
Follow up #2. 2016 My family went on an Asian cruise. 1st stop… Okinawa!
surreal feeling stepping on land there!
sorry for the long post.

 

[Bewilderme]

was he a cool dude? i always wondered what kinda grandpa some of these people would or would've been like (rip)

Rudy was the kindest man I've ever known. Humble, cared about others, involved in community. He loved to garden and work on his farm; he always hired local kids to help him once he couldn't do things himself. Maintained a garden up to his death. He also was an early adopter of computers; he had a PC in the 80s that he used for weather on the farm, I remember playing old floppy disk games at his house. In time, I helped him with tech issues but he was one of the people who exposed me to computers. Married to my grandma (who was also AMAZING and a bulldog of a woman) for 70+ years.

He helped restore the original school in Lake City, and lead efforts to keep it preserved. Grandma helped to get the Rainbow Bridge on the Raccoon River restored and placed on the NHR. Their devotion to community and people really inspires me; I wish I was half the person they were!

Miss them both.

 

[IsUaClone2]

I only knew one WWII vet that was a braggart ass about his service. Coincidentally to this thread he was a Iwo Jima vet and absolutely lorded it over the other veterans. The other local vets respected his service, obviously, but nobody liked the jerk.

Hell, I didn't even know my uncle was a navigator on a B -24 until years after he died and I saw him in an old photo in uniform. Would love to have heard his story, or another uncles from Peleliu Island or the uncle I never even met who was Merchant Marine in the Battle of the Atlantic. Do have my dad's Battle of Bulge stories but would have loved to have heard about the uncles.

My dad was on Peleliu as well as a few other islands including occupied Japan. He was in the Navy but assigned to the Marines as radio support. While he was in the Pacific: I was born, my dad's only sibling was killed by a sniper on Iwo Jima (post #3 this thread), and my aunt's husband was killed in the kamikaze attack on the USS Bunker Hill.

 

[Drew0311]

A little off topic, but The Fat Electrician is a great content creator on YouTube. Focuses on how n military history ( mostly WWII). Just dropped an hour long video yesterday about Billy Waugh, the Godfather of the Green Berets. Encourage you all to check him out.


Oh, and he lives in Mason City.

I have invited him to come to the museum . He is trying to get a time to come. I’ll let you all know if he comes out here

 

[BryceC]

There is a reason they were considered the “greatest generation”.

They took perhaps the worst the world could throw at them literally stared evil in the eye, didn’t blink, and then took them behind the woodshed. Talk about running towards the fire. To me, this is ultimate courage.

To be fair the Japanese ran into the fire in a wild and uncontrolled way. They had no battlefield autonomy - they went where they were told even if it was right into a machine gun nest and it made no sense.

Our fighting force not only had the courage, but the leadership gave the ability to make choices and it’s not just their courage, but their ability to think under fire which really separated them.

I’m reading “When the Sea Came Alive” right now about the D Day invasion, and there were guys whose job it was to scout the beaches at night before they landed. A submarine would surface offshore, they would swim to shore, check it out, and swim back. Just crazy stuff these guys were up to.

 

[kirk89gt]

To be fair the Japanese ran into the fire in a wild and uncontrolled way. They had no battlefield autonomy - they went where they were told even if it was right into a machine gun nest and it made no sense.

Our fighting force not only had the courage, but the leadership gave the ability to make choices and it’s not just their courage, but their ability to think under fire which really separated them.

I’m reading “When the Sea Came Alive” right now about the D Day invasion, and there were guys whose job it was to scout the beaches at night before they landed. A submarine would surface offshore, they would swim to shore, check it out, and swim back. Just crazy stuff these guys were up to.

Valid points for sure. I would lump storming fortified positions (Normandy, Iwo in particular) into the same category though. There is a reason they fed the Marines steak and eggs ahead of the Iwo landing. The soldiers knew what they were up against and there was a very real possibility that they would not return to the ship.

 

[Drew0311]

Valid points for sure. I would lump storming fortified positions (Normandy, Iwo in particular) into the same category though. There is a reason they fed the Marines steak and eggs ahead of the Iwo landing. The soldiers knew what they were up against and there was a very real possibility that they would not return to the ship.

Steak and eggs is known as the death meal in the Marines. They give us that we know to send a letter letting our family know we love them. We know the **** is gonna be bad.

 

[CyValley2]

In today's New York Times. Many large photos from Iwo Jima battle. (Sloppy copy editing, imho, here and there. Labelling Marines soldiers will not do. Left a comment saying the same.)

You might have to go incognito to open the link.

The Battle of Iwo Jima: A History

U.S. Marines raised an American flag on the Japanese island’s highest peak exactly 80 years ago. But the fighting, some of the deadliest of World War II, would rage on for a month.

www.nytimes.com

 

[CyValley2]

A little off topic, but The Fat Electrician is a great content creator on YouTube. Focuses on how n military history ( mostly WWII). Just dropped an hour long video yesterday about Billy Waugh, the Godfather of the Green Berets. Encourage you all to check him out.


Oh, and he lives in Mason City.

TFE presented an excellent program on my favorite admiral, Willis Lee, our top WWII gunslinger. As a kid, Lee damaged his eyes fooling around with gunpowder, yet went on to win Olympic gold medals for sharpshooting. Wow.

He cut through beaueacratic red tape like a knife through butter. He would not put up with nonsense, yet had a staff of a couple or three officers he trusted, not a bloated retinue to appear important.

Willis was key in saving Guadalcanal, fighting the USS Washington, sinking a cruiser/battleship and driving off the IJN. Really, his story is worth hearing.

(Note: Just watched this again. The man was a genius, amazing what he got done. One of our greatest warriors that no one knows about.)

 

[BryceC]

In today's New York Times. Many large photos from Iwo Jima battle. (Sloppy copy editing, imho, here and there. Labelling Marines soldiers will not do. Left a comment saying the same.)

Honest question, why not call Marines soldiers?

 

[farm85]

Honest question, why not call Marines soldiers?

Marines are called "Marines," while members of the Army are called "soldiers.

If you want to refer to someone in the Marine Corps, always use the term "Marine" to be respectful.

 

[CyValley2]

Honest question, why not call Marines soldiers?

Oh. I dunno. Quick online look: Different mission than Army soldiers, in the same way sailors and airmen are not called soldiers. Marines, afterall, are part of the Navy department.

Quora (some fun in the answers, too):

Why are marines not referred to as soldiers even though they are infantrymen like soldiers in other branches, such as the Army?

Answer (1 of 8): The Marines have a special relationship with the Navy and the Navy carries them all over the world in specialty ships called Amphibious Warfare vessels. These ships are specifically designed to carry Marines and their equipment all over the world and be able to rapidly deploy to ...

www.quora.com

Here's a 6-1/2 minute video:

 

[farm85]

My dad was on Peleliu as well as a few other islands including occupied Japan. He was in the Navy but assigned to the Marines as radio support. While he was in the Pacific: I was born, my dad's only sibling was killed by a sniper on Iwo Jima (post #3 this thread), and my aunt's husband was killed in the kamikaze attack on the USS Bunker Hill.

My dad was also on Peleliu Island. He would get together with a few of his Marine buddies, but they never talked about their experiences in the Pacific to their families. Once in awhile for a history project, I would ask him a few questions, but I could tell he didn't really want to discuss it & I felt disrespectful.

After I graduated from HS, he did share a scrapbook/photos he had from his time in the Pacific. Mostly he was proud of the relationships/bonds he had with his Marine buddies. He had a photo from Camp Pendleton with his Boot Camp class all identified.

One of his close buddies once told me to read this book, as it was very factual & described what really happened over there.. I have read it more than once. Proud to say my dad & his buddies were true heroes.

 

[Kinch]

My uncle was killed in the Iwo Jima invasion on the 3rd of March. He was trying to save a buddy who had been hit; his buddy survived.

We thank your family for your sacrifices.

 

[Kinch]

My families story.
My Great uncle, on my Moms side. Was WW 2 Vet. That served in the pacific theatre.
i was a young teen when I asked him one day “ Uncle Harvey, why do you limp so bad”?
without hesitation He raised both, his one pant leg and his shirt, revealing old wounds that literally looked like someone had took a chainsaw clear across his belly and his one leg.
I was stunned.
He then proceeded to tell me when where and how this happened, (I’m sure my mouth was hanging open).
He said he was part of the invasion ground forces that landed on Okinawa. During this he was machined gunned across his belly and across his one leg. He said “I fell into a foxhole, and knowing they were starting to overrun our positions I grabbed a dead body and pulled overtop of me”” Then the “Japs” we’re using bayonets on both the dead as well as those not quite dead yet.”
He said he had to play dead for hours until the “Japs” retreated. Then U S forces could search and remove bothe the survivors as well as the dead.
Uncle Harvey lived to the age of 96!
Follow up to many years after Uncle Harvey told me this story. I’m in a movie theatre watching the movie HackSaw ridge. One scene depicts a very similar scene play out. I’m a grown assed Man in a theatre bawling my eyes out thinking what uncle Harvey must have went thru.
Follow up #2. 2016 My family went on an Asian cruise. 1st stop… Okinawa!
surreal feeling stepping on land there!
sorry for the long post.

Thank you for sharing this story.

 

[CyValley2]

Just started watching this video Army infantry and Marine Corps infantry compared.

Here the differences in the missions for the two forces becomes clear. Love 'em both!

 

[Kinch]

Talking about the USS Iowa, in June, 1944, the Marianas Great Turkey Shoot was one of the USS Iowa’s finest hours. When Japanese planes came to try for our carriers, the Battleship group, as she was a part of, lit up the sky like a Christmas Tree and nailed plane after plane. Battleships offered solid anti-aircraft protections which the Japanese were not prepared for. After the Turkey Shoot, the Japanese government collapsed. The turkey shoot was within a few days as D-Day.

 

[Kinch]

My first job was a carhop at an A and W and my boss was a veteran of Iwo Jima, and was associated with one of the photos taken of the flag being raised.

 

[Drew0311]

Honest question, why not call Marines soldiers?

It’s the one offensive thing we have in the Marines. Being called soldiers. It’s basically like asking why call us Cyclones when Iowa and Iowa State are from the same state. We are Marines.