Marine Corps Turns 246: Role in World War II

And still as mean as ever.

Happy birthday USMC!!

During World War II, Marines performed a central role in the Battle of the Pacific, along with the U.S. Army.  

The Battles of Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Tarawa, Guam,  Tinian, Cape Gloucester, Saipan, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa saw fierce fighting between the Marines and  the Imperial Japanese Army.

Some 600,000 Americans served in the Marines during the war.

The Battle of Iwo Jima, which began on February  19, 1945, was arguably the most famous Marine engagement of the war.  The Japanese had learned lessons from their defeats during the Marianas Campaign and prepared many fortified  positions on the island, including pillboxes and a huge network of tunnels.

They put up a fierce resistance, but American forces reached the top of  Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945.  The mission was accomplished with high losses of 26,000 Americans and 22,000 Japanese.

--GreGen

Wilmington's WW II Heroes-- Part 3: USS Cole, Tunisia, Saipan, Leyte, Solomons

MEDITRRANEAN THEATER

Lieutenant EDWARD  HINES, JR. was on the destroyer USS Cole in the invasion of North Africa, November 1942.

Squadron Leader Major JOHN CAREY flew in the theater for  two years in four invasions, landing behind enemy lines in Tunisia and capturing 97 Germans.

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PACIFIC THEATER

Lt. (jg) GEORGE MITCHELL, JR., serving on a LST (landing ship tank) for sixteen months during  the Saipan, Tinian, Emirau, and Green Islands Campaigns.

Seaman 2nd class ROBERT LOCKAMY saw action at Surigao Strait, Leyte, Luzon, Iwo Jima and Okinawa after also seeing Atlantic convoy protection duty.

Staff Sgt. GEORGE BROWDER , 11th Airborne Division squad leader, led the assault on  Nichols Field, Philippines, suffering two wounds.

Lieutenant CARL WELKER, with the 470th AAA Battalion defending New Guinea airfields, downed a Japanese airplane by himself.  Later, he fought at Manila with the 37th Infantry Division.

B-17 bomber crewman Tech Sgt. WILLIAM BUTLER flew more than 200  combat flights against the Solomons, Rabaul and New Guinea, 1942-1943.

--GreGen

U.S. Marine Corps in World War II-- Part 1: Many Engagements in the Pacific

Fom Wikipedia.

The United States Marine Corps played a central role in the War in the Pacific along with the U.S. Army.

Actions included Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Tarawa, Guam, Tinian, Cape Gloucester, Saipan, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

The Battle of Iwo Jima began 19 February 1945.  The Japanese had constructed many fortified positions along with pillboxes and tunnels.  The Marines reached the summit of Mt. Suribachi on 26 February.  Fighting was fierce, but the island taken with 26,00 American casualties and 22,000 Japanese.

--GreGen

USS Dent (APD-9)-- Part 2: Lightning Strike Forces

The USS Dent was at San Diego during the attack on Pearl Harbor and immediately got underway to screen the USS Saratoga in a high speed run to Pearl Harbor.  It returned to San Diego 29 December 1941, and then did convoy duty along the West Coast and then went to Alaska until January 1943 when it was converted into a high speed transport 7 March 1943.

It was at New Caledonia 20 April 1943.  Landed troops for assaults on New Georgia, Rendora, Vella Lavella, and Cape Torokina, Bougainville.

It then had an overhaul in Sydney, Australia.

It next landed the 4th Marines on Emirau Island 20 March and then it was at the Altape Islands.  It patrolled off Saipan and Tinian.

From 8 November 19444 to the end of the war, the dent served in San Diego as part of the Amphibious Landing Force.  20 October 1945, it sailed to the East Coast of the U.S. and was decommissioned 4 December 1945 and sold 13 June 1946.

--GreGen

U.S. Military Plans to Use Pagan Island-- Part 3: Why Not Tinian?

Some people say the Marines should use Tinian which is already mostly leased by the military, but the Marines insist they couldn't practice full-scale landings there.

Tinian, about twice the side of Pagan Island, is best-known as the take-off point for the U.S. planes that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Today, there is a casino on it.

Under Attack Again.  --GreGen

The Famous Runway at Tinian Island

Tinian Island is just 40 square miles and has Runway Abla, made of crushed limestone.

On July 24, 1944, 30,000 Marines landed and eight days later had possession of the island.  Of the 8,800 Japanese defenders, 8,000 died.  The Marines had lost 328 men.

Four months later, the Seebees had built an airfield.  B-29 Super Fortresses launched from there attacked the Philippines, Okinawa and the Japanese mainland.

On August 5, 1945, a B-29 named the Enola Gay maneuvered over a pit and a bomb called  Little Boy and at 2:45 AM, August 6th, took off.

Three days later, another B-29 named Bockscar (a pun on box car) under Captain Fred Bock likewise maneuvered over another bomb pit and loaded the atom bomb going to Nagasaki.

The two bomb pits are still at the airfield which gets very few visitors.

Go WWII Sight Seeing.  --GreGen

Body of USS Colorado Sailor Identified

From the Jan. 30, 2009, WKBL News, El Paso, .New Mexico.

The body of a teenage sailor, 19-year-old Moyses Alfonso Martinez, killed July 22, 1944, off the island of Tinian in the Pacific Ocean, has at long last been identified.

The battleship USS Colorado was bombarding the island when a Japanese hidden battery opened fire on it, striking the ship 22 times with 7.7 shells, killing 42 and wounding another 198, one of the heaviest losses sustained by any US ship battling shore batteries during the war.

Martinez's body was one of several unidentified. Four days later, his family received news of his death and that he was probably buried at sea.

It was found that the 42 were buried on Saipan and later, his body and two other unidentified from the ship were moved to Fort mcKinley near Manila in the Philippines.

Raymond Emory identified Martinez's body last summer using dental records. It is believed that both his parents and all siblings are deceased so DNA confirmation is not to be done.

At Least His Grave Will Now Be Marked. The Greatest Generation. --GreGen