Warning: Little Joe is on our side

After Little Joe left the guys told me what he had told them the first day he met them: It turned out that when the Japanese occupied Guam Dec. 12, 1941 it was the first American outpost to fall. The Japanese bombarded Guam for five days after Dec. seventh. The Chamorros were very American friendly, and extremely loyal, but they had no choice, obey or die. The Japanese demanded and got sexual favors from any woman they chose, or else; Little Joe's wife was no exception. It was impossible to stop them and Little Joe wasn't stupid; he just waited his time and the hatred of the Japanese was smoldering. Therefore, on the day the Americans landed he shot or used his machete on the head of two Japanese who were at his thatched roof house or hut. He said his wife was hysterical that the Japanese might win the battle, but he smiled and told the guys he knew we would win!! It turns out he was an expert shot, but he was just as good with a machete and I had later heard first hand that it was the machete he used! It turned out he was quite friendly and his smile opened up - but not a lot. He was on a mission - to kill as many Japanese as he could. It didn't matter whether it was the gun or the machete! He could carve up coconuts in seconds it seemed like. His machete was super sharp! I will tell you something that I should probably save for later but before I left Guam I heard he had killed 31.

"Little Joe" at Barrigada

(Cont'd) I had heard of other battles where the Japanese were in a hopeless situation; drank Saki and then charged the Marines. Quite often this involved hand to hand combat and the Marines were very good at this also. I thought of the private, er sergeant, er private at Camp Pendleton. Anyway, my first day had a surprise for me. The Lt. asked me to "post up" and be the guard, for today. We rotated this assignment. The Lt. returned to camp and I assumed my guard duties. I hadn't done this for very long when I suddenly looked to my left and out of the jungle came a little brown man! I quickly turned to face him and realized he had both hands in the air, with a gun in his hand. I was slowly bringing my carbine around, with the muzzle not pointed exactly at him and I yelled to the guys to watch out when several yelled, "Don't shoot, that's Little Joe! He's not a Jap, he's a Chamorro!" I kept my eyes on him and he was watching me all the way. I was very relieved when he walked up and greeted the other guys, who had met him a day or two before. He looked every one of us in the eye, talked very little, smiled only slightly; looked the area over quietly and after a short while left just the way he had come. He was only about 5'1", but he was a powerful package it turned out. Little Joe! (Cont'd)

Ah, Lovely Lovely Barrigada!

My first day I'm to go to Barrigada the Lt. asked me to do a chore for him and he said he would be back for me shortly so he took as many of the men as his Jeep would hold and then came back and got the rest of us. As we approached the sentry the Lt. noticed he had just taken the previous sentry's place and when we told him we were going to Barrigada he sort of paused and then he told us, "You guys are crazy to go in there; the Japs are still out there and last week some Navy people went out there and were killed!" The Lt. didn't say anything but, as we cleared the sentry, he said it was true that men were killed but the Marines "had cleared the area." The Lt. felt it was o.k. to go out. We all had our carbines & ammo and we understood we were only going about 500-1000 yards so we felt confident we were o.k. Also, the Seabees had cleared about a hundred yards or so from where we would be so it would be hard to sneak up on us. Naive, that's what we were. As we went in we greeted the other 4 guys who were clearing an area by hand; we observed there was a Japanese 2 man tank that was disabled; all over the area there were canteens and as we picked them up they were made of aluminum because they were very light. I opened one and could get a liquor smell, probably Saki, and it looked like this was a major fighting area. It was confirmed it was. Probably the Japanese had seen the situation wasn't good and had Saki and then attacked, probably took a few lives and then were killed.

Is that big building for us?

Food in the field k rations is healthy we understand but taste-wise it doesn't come close to Mom's food. We eat daily, but what we're really absorbed in is, just what is that large framed building going to be used for here? "Oh, that is to be Admiral Chester Nimitz's headquarters. He has been named Pacific Fleet Commander of the Southwest, and that includes all areas that General MacArthur doesn't command. He is being set up on Guam and our duty is to send, receive and give him instant messaging relating to his new command. " And what is that other good sized building for? "Oh, that's to house the Red Cross. Why? Because that will be a place for officers to sit back and relax in." Oh, I see, I think. We are finally told that a few of us have been chosen for a special detail and I'm one. We move to another safe location where we re-set up the tents and I promptly get Dengue Fever! Yep, it hurt my back; I had a fever; got lots of liquids and then I seemed to recover pretty fast. I went to our new base camp about a day or two after the others got there. There were about eight of us. We found we were all, Navy, Marines and a hut right near our tent, inhabited by Chamorros, being guarded 24-7 by Marines, with modern BAR (Browning Automatic Repeat) rifles and hand grenades. At Agana we had been issued carbine repeating rifles, ammunition, plus belts to carry it; and instructions on cleaning and taking care of our pieces. I loved my carbine and I felt confident in the event I had to use it. We were all given instruction regarding hand grenades, but not issued any.

Guam - Above Agana & Bored

We still have not sent out any Morse Code since we ended Radio School in Farragut, ID (Feb 1944)! Also, we won't until we get set up, so what is holding us up, we ask? "Patience, patience - we just need to wait until the Marines take out a few pockets of Japanese soldiers at Barrigada, which is where we will set up a Receiver Station first and then we will have normal operations!" We nod our heads and then find we are in constant briefings, like this one: "There is a lot of dysentery and dengue fever, with flu like symptoms. No one knows what causes the dengue fever, but the medical community think it is caused by the fly, because there are so many! On the dysentery we feel it is caused by poor sanitation, so wash your hands and body parts that touch anything not YOU! Wow, that clears that up! Try not to catch dengue because it is back breaking painful!" But, we don't know what causes it - right? We left this briefing scratching our heads and that is why I remember it. Except for the hourly briefings each day we just do our own thing; write letters; take a makeshift bath when we think it's time; wash our duds and we are all anxious to hear from loved ones, or friends, so mail call is fun. We get a "smoking and beer break" every day and every day it's the same for me - I give my "smokes" to Bill Evans, from San Francisco, who loves to "French smoke - where you drag the smoke in and as you open your mouth you let the smoke out only to draw it back into your lungs!" Ugh! I don't like beer that Grandma Sophia Don doesn't make so I give this away too; usually 1 to buddy Joe Duran, who is from Durango, CO, and the other to any friend who wants one. Someone always does.

Getting settled on Guam

Guam is volcanic and earthquakes are frequent, but none occurred during our stay; it is fringed with coral reefs and the mean annual temperature is 81 degrees. During the hot summer months, when the southwest monsoons are blowing there are occasional typhoons. (I have garnered the information on Guam, and some following information, from the 1955 Encyclopedia Americana). Guam was the ancient home of the proud and warlike Chamorros, but under Spanish rule around 100,000 of them were slaughtered or dispersed; those remaining intermarried with the Tagalogs of the Philippines, and with the Spaniards, produced the Guamanians of 1944. In the peace treaty with Spain the U.S. acquired Guam and there has been further introduction of American genes into a small amount of the Chamorro population. The Chamorro are a small people, yellowish brown with black hair and they are very strong.

When we disembarked from the Island Mail we were taken by truck up to a high point above the city of Agana, where we quickly set up our tents, set up areas to eat our k rations, and some men prepared heads nearby, with a wire screen protecting from flies. When we finally finished we looked down upon Agana and found it had been almost completely destroyed by naval guns in the storming of the beaches by the Marines. There were no inhabitants, but Agana had 10,000 people in 1940.

Hello Tinian, Saipan and Guam

At last we come into view of the Marianas; we saw Tinian and Saipan and as we went by we had a review of the facts regarding many of the Japanese forces jumping off the cliffs to their deaths. It is rumored that some women jumped also. It is obvious they did not want to be captured because of their brutality to our forces at Bataan and Corregidor. Soon we by-passed Rota which still had a capable, active force but they were ineffective and weren't worth losing a life over. When Guam came into view there was a collective quietness, then murmuring, when we entered Apra Harbor. We were told we had arrived at our final destination. We were told Guam was about 20 miles long and about 8 miles wide (It is about 30 miles long) and it is almost completely jungle. It is the most southerly of the Marianas group; Agana (accent over the n) is the capital and is situated by Agana Bay. One of the areas we saw and inhabited is Barrigada, which you will read more about. Before my 14 month stay was over we would see a lot of coconut trees, breadfruit and very small bananas (all organic, of course!). In each bunch of bananas there was always one that stung the inside of your mouth! We saw lots of rats; heard there were small deer; we saw wild chickens and heard there were wild pigs, but saw none; we saw lots of small lizards and every once in awhile we saw large lizards about 12-16 inches long. The cockroaches were about 2" long and very fast, plus they could fly! There were flies everywhere. When the monsoon rains appeared they left pools of water which were breeding spots for mosquitoes. There were no snakes on Guam. I counted 19 frogs around one large tree and you could see all stages in the pools of water.

The War: May-Sept. 1944 (Continued)

August 25 Allies liberate Paris; 31 Soviets enter Bucharest; 1 U.S. forces secure Tinian; 3 Stillwell's troops secure Myitkyina; 8 Japanese capture Hengyong, China; September 4 British take Antwerp; 8 First V2 strikes England; 12 U.S. forces cross German frontier near Aachen; 12 Allies breach Gothic Line - Italy; 17-26 Operation Market Garden, Allied airborne attack to seize Rhine, bridge at Arnhem falls; 22 Soviets take Tallinn (Estonia); Heavy fighting at Tarawa impressed U.S. Marines and from here on the saying was "Golden Gate in Forty Eight!); 4 Japanese seize U.S. Airbase at Lingling (China); 9-14 U.S. carrier planes sink 59 Japanese ships in the Philippines; 15-Oct. 14 U.S. forces take Peleliu; 23 U.S. forces occupy Ulithi atoll.
Tarawa changed our attitude as to how long the war would last. The Japanese fought bravely and hard. Golden Gate in '48 seemed realistic when we considered how fanatical the Japanese would fight to protect their homeland. It was at this point that our thinking was that all forces would take a heavy death toll to occupy Japan, with many wounded. It was disappointing that the war might last until 1948, but we had to more on. We weren't at that stage yet.

The War: May -September 1944

1944: May 12 German Forces in Crimea surrender; 13 Allies break through Gustav Line into Liri Valley - Italy; 18 Polish troops capture Monte Cassino; 23 U.S 5th Army breaks out of Anzio beachhead; 10 U.S.-Chinese army crosses Salween River (Burma); 17 Merrill's Marauders take Myitkina airfield; 18-20 U.S. forces seize Wadke Island, New Guinea; 29 U.S. forces land on Biak Island, New Guinea; U.S. shoots down Japanese observation aircraft, hampering Japan's efforts to defend Marianas; June 4 U.S. troops enter Rome; 6 D-Day Allies land in Normandy (Operation Overlord); 13 Germans fire first V-1 into England; 20 Soviets take Viipuri (Finland); 22 Soviets launch Operation Bagration main summer offensive; 27 U.S. troops liberate Cherbourg; 14-15 First B-29 raid on Japan from China; 15 U.S. forces land on Saipan; 19-20 Battle of the Philippine Sea (The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot); July 13-18 Battle of Saint Lo (France); 13 Soviets take Vilnius; 20 Bomb Plot: German Generals try to kill Hitler; 25 U.S. forces launch Operation Cobra; breakout from Normandy; 27 Soviets take Lvov, liberate Western Ukraine; 8 Japanese withdraw from Imphal; 18 Tojo resigns as Japanese Prime Minister; 21 Marines land on Guam, Marine infantry, supported by tanks, take three weeks of heavy fighting to defeat 19,000 Japanese defenders of Guam (to Sept 6); 24 U.S. troops land on Tinian; 24 U.S. carrier aircraft raid Bonin Islands; August 1 Polish Home Uprising begins in Warsaw; 15 Allies land in S. France; 19 Paris Resistance rises against Germans; 21 Falaise Pocket closed; defeat of Germans in W. France. (Continued)

Goodbye EWA, hello Eniwetok

All of us are tired of waiting to get going and we just did mundane things to keep our interest up. Finally, June came, then July and we heard that Saipan had been secured, as had Tinian. At last we have seen increased emphasis that we could be going somewhere--soon. We guessed the Marianas, but no one said that was the destination. Somewhere around the middle of Aug. we saw increased activity; then, toward the end of August we were given specific instructions to leave EWA. In September we loaded up and with a huge convoy we took off. There was no return of the seasickness that had plagued us leaving S.F. There were all sorts of ships; troop, cruisers, destroyers and others we heard. As we had traveled several days we saw a small speck of land, Eniwetok, and it looked to us like it was only about 15 feet out of the water! We had recaptured it a few months back. As we were sitting there in the water we were surprised to see tuna zipping around the ships, probably being chased by something and a few enterprising sailors pulled out a line and hook they brought and promptly caught a small fish with vicious looking teeth! No one could identify it. We stayed there and we understand that some of our submarines are with us. We took off the next a.m. and the convoy stretched forever. We still traveled in a zig zag pattern and then one day the Captain came on and told us to keep an eye out for enemy submarines, as some were in the area. Most of us were on the main deck and all talk ceased; with everyone looking out for submarines!

Dec.7, 1941 and May 21, 1944

I just reviewed the Nova TV program that explored the Japanese 2 man submarine question, and Nova made a startling discovery: On Dec. 7 there was a picture that showed a 2man sub, which had fired its torpedo into battleship row. The Navy discovered a 2man sub outside the entrance to Pearl H in 1000' of water. Testing showed this was Japanese sub #5 and it was discovered that the sub was self destructed and yet no evidence was found of the 2 man crew. It turns out that after cutting the nets at the entrance to P.H. the sub fired a 1000 lb. torpedo into battleship row; the other torpedo was found by Naval investigators, on land, unfired. Nova found that the sub had gone into West Loch, where the 2man crew set off the device that destroyed the sub, while the 2 Japanese used directions to get to a safe haven in Pearl City. So, how did the sub end out in the ocean? Nova found that when the Top Secret explosions occurred on May 21, 1944 the Navy quickly pulled up the LSTs and whatever else, cut it up and dumped it into the ocean, outside P.H. It turned out they had cut the sub up for disposal! Nova obtained Naval film footage of the explosions we had witnessed that Sunday, May 21st! We were about 10 miles away in EWA. Two mysteries solved.

To the beach at EWA

We were all certain the safe havens in and around Pearl Harbor had already made the news of the May 21, 1944 explosions available to the Japanese High Command. We all decide to walk through the trees between our camp and the beach and see what the beach has to offer. We found it an idyllic situation; the water was comfortable when going in and we just sort of floated in place. We watched military ships come and go through the Pearl Harbor entrance. After a few hours we walked back to our base and did normal activities. About 2 days later I wanted to go back to the EWA beach but couldn't find any takers so I went alone, something I do not recommend today. Always go in the water with a "buddy." I floated around and then got out when I realized I had fallen asleep; no problem though as I gathered my stuff; then started walking back through the trees, when I noticed movement of a very large "cat" coming down a tree. I kept my same pace while this large animal kept pace with me, but about 30 yards away. We seemed to be watching each other, when I suddenly spotted my base and walked out of the trees. The "cat" stopped at the edge. I told my buddies about the cat and no one could identify it except maybe it was a form of bobcat. Nothing exciting going on at camp.