World War II Chronicles

A Quarterly Publication of the World War II Veterans Committee ISSUE XXXIX, Summer 2007 Sinking the Rising Sun

PLUS

Baseball Goes to War Okinawa: The Typhoon of Steel Currahee! World War II Chronicles

A Quarterly Publication of the World War II Veterans Committee WWW.WWIIVETS.COM ISSUE XXXIX, Summer 2007

Articles -In This Issue- Sinking the Rising Sun: Dog Fighting and Dive On December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japa- Bombing in World War II by 6 nese fighters and bombers launched from William E. Davis the aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, The man who helped deliver the final blow to the Hiryu, Shôkaku, and Zuikaku on their last Japanese aircraft carrier to take part in the fateful mission to attack the American remembers his experience. base at Pearl Harbor, plunging the U.S. Baseball Goes to War by into World War II. Three and a half years 13 James C. Roberts later, all but the Zuikaku had been sunk. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the stars of In October of 1944, as the Japanese navy America’s pastime knew there was only one team steamed toward Leyte in an attempt to they wanted to play for: the thwart MacArthur’s return, the Zuikaku—the last Japanese carrier to take military. part in the attack on Pearl Harbor—presented itself as a ripe target for one American pilot, allowing him to personally avenge the treachery of December 7. Okinawa: The Typhoon of Steel with 19 Donald Dencker, John Ensor, Leonard Lazarick, Features & Renwyn Triplett The Japanese Empire makes its last stand in the An Unstable Past by final battle of history’s greatest war. 28 Mohammed Al-Haroun As part of the World War II Veterans Committee’s Currahee! with youth program, our summer intern examines the 24 Donald Burgett role, and legacy, of World War II in Iraq. The veteran of the and legendary author shares his story. World War II Roundtables An excerpt from the radio documentary series 30 Get involved, locally, to preserve the history of Veterans Chronicles. World War II.

Now Available From the World War II Veterans Committee

The story of the last surviving interrogator of the top Nazis prior to their trials at Nuremberg... Pattern of Circles An Ambassador’s Story Sixteen million Americans served their country during World War II, each with a story to tell. Among the most extraordinary is that of John Dolibois. A native of Luxembourg, he immigrated to America as a boy, only to find himself back in Europe during World War II as an interpreter for the U.S. Army. His expertise in strategic interrogation would meet its ultimate test in late spring of 1945 when he was given the assignment of gathering information directly from the surviving Nazi leadership—among them Goering, Doenitz, Ribbentrop, Streicher, Keitel, and Jodl.

For weeks, Dolibois spent his days talking to, and learning the minds of the leaders of history’s most notorious regime. Some pled ignorance of the Nazi atrocities, while others were proud of the evil they had committed. Throughout, Dolibois had access to these war criminals like that of few other Americans.

John Dolibois would return to Luxembourg later in life—this time as U.S. Ambassador. His life epitomized the “American Dream,” and his insights into the world of Hitler’s henchmen make for one of the great stories of World War II.

Pattern of Circles is available in paperback for $14.95 (plus $2 shipping) by calling 703-302-1012 or writing to:

World War II Veterans Committee / 1100 N. Glebe Rd. Suite 910 / Arlington, VA 22201

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 2 From the Editor Our Other Mission By Tim Holbert

As a supporter of the World War II Veterans Committee, you know of in Portuguese. He took two years off from school to serve as a mission- our mission to preserve the history of the World War II generation. Part ary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Maceio, Brazil, of that mission is carried out through this publication, which is dedi- and has since returned home to start his own podcast show at cated to providing an outlet for the veterans of the war to share their own www.americansatire.org. Ian currently writes editorials for several online experiences, in their own words. journals and hopes to be a nationally syndicated radio host in the future. Both of Ian’s grandfathers served in the military and his article, “One Equally important, however, is our mission to encourage today’s young Man’s War,” will appear in a future issue. people to develop an understanding and appreciation for the bravery and sacrifices made by those who served in World War II—without which, Each of these interns came to work every day with a tremendously posi- we could not enjoy the freedoms we have today. Throughout the year, tive attitude, honored to help do their part in telling the stories of our the Committee sponsors a number of programs designed to give stu- veterans. And we were proud to have them with us. dents the opportunity to learn about, and from, those who served dur- ing World War II. Among these is our recently completed summer intern The World War II Veterans Committee’s youth programming does not program, during which we welcome several college students into our end with the summer internships. Each year, at our annual conference offices. Throughout their internship, the students research a topic related over Veterans Day weekend, hundreds of high school and college stu- to our military’s history, interview veterans personally, then write an ar- dents are brought in to meet with some of America’s most distinguished ticle to be printed in this publication. We would like to take this opportu- veterans. And at the National Memorial Day Parade (sponsored and co- nity to introduce to you our intern class for the summer of 2007: ordinated by the World War II Veterans Committee and American Veter- ans Center), over 1,000 high school students and members of youth Mohammed Musaed Al-Haroun. Mohammed was born in Washing- groups as the Young Marines and National Guard Youth ChalleNGe ton, DC, and originally from the Middle Eastern country of Kuwait. participate in marching bands, by carrying banners, and by passing out Growing up, Mohammed has lived in numerous countries, including water to spectators. The Committee also sponsors two annual scholar- Kuwait, France, and throughout the United States. Living in so many ships for students entering college and is currently developing a World different areas has influenced Mohammed’s outlook on different cul- War II Curriculum for use in high schools across the country. tures. Mohammed is an avid reader, and plans on developing his writing style and pursuing a career in journalism. He currently lives in Ottawa, Finally, I would like to bring to your attention our annual student essay Canada, where he is a senior in Ashbury College. His article, “An Unstable contest. Each year, in conjunction with our fall conference, the Commit- Past,” on the role of World War II in shaping the Middle East (specifi- tee sponsors an essay contest for high school students around the coun- cally, Iraq), appears in this issue of World War II Chronicles. try. These students are asked to research and write the story of a veteran, whether it be a famed hero like Audie Murphy, a distinguished general Emily Tibbets. Emily is in her third year at Ashland University, double like Dwight Eisenhower, or even their own grandfather. They can then majoring in Political Science and Electronic Media Production with a mi- submit the essay to us by October 15, and be eligible for cash prizes given nor in Journalism. She is a recipient of Ashland’s Presidential Scholar- to the most outstanding essays (more information is available at our ship and is a participant in the honors program. Emily is also an Ashbrook website, www.wwiivets.com). Now, we already hope you share World War Scholar in the Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs, and hopes to return to II Chronicles with a young person after you are finished reading it, so they Washington, DC after graduation to pursue a graduate degree in Media too can learn from the experiences of our World War II veterans. But if and Public Affairs or Political Science. Emily’s article on the role of media you do not do so already, encouraging a young person in your life to take in military history will appear in our next issue. part in the essay contest is one more way you can help us in our other mission, to bring the legacy of the Greatest Generation to the latest Ian McConnaughey. Originally from California, Ian is currently a senior generation. at Brigham Young University majoring in Political Science with a minor WWII

World War II Chronicles, Issue XXXIX, Summer 2007. A quarterly publication of the World War II Veterans Committee, 1100 N. Glebe Rd. Suite 910, Arlington, VA 22201. Telephone: 703-302-1012. Fax: 571-480-4141. The World War II Veterans Committee is a division of the American Veterans Center. World War II Chronicles is mailed to donors to the World War II Veterans Committee who make a contribution of $50 or more per-year. Contributions help James C. Roberts - President to fund the Committee’s various speaker conferences, student programs, the Na- tional Memorial Day Parade, documentary and oral history projects, and this pub- Tim Holbert - Editor/Program Director lication. To make a contribution or subscribe, call 703-302-1012 or e-mail Jim Michels - Director of Development [email protected]. Michael Paradiso - Publisher

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 3 Register now!!! Tenth Annual Conference Presented by the American Veterans Center November 8-10, 2007 Washington, DC

From November 8-10, 2007, some of America’s most distinguished veterans will once again gather in Washing- ton, DC, for the American Veterans Center and World War II Veterans Committee’s Tenth Annual Conference. Here, the heroes of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Afghanistan & Iraq will share their personal experi- ences in battle. Highlights include three days of speakers and panel sessions, wreath laying ceremonies at our nation’s war memorials, private receptions with decorated veterans, and a gala awards banquet honoring our greatest heroes. In all, the Tenth Annual Conference will prove to be a weekend none who attend will soon forget.

To request a schedule and registration form, call 703-302-1012 ext. 220 or e-mail [email protected]. Speakers and Topics to Include D-Day: The Invasion of Normandy Featuring Donald Burgett - Veteran of the 101st Airborne in World War II and author of several books including Currahee!, the only book on World War II endorsed by Dwight D. Eisenhower Walter Ehlers - Recipient of the Medal of Honor for actions in the Normandy campaign with the 1st Infantry Division John Robert Slaughter - 29th Infantry Division veteran who was the driving force behind the National D-Day Memorial; author of Omaha Beach and Beyond

Bob Feller - Hall of Fame and veteran of the USS in World War II

Lt. General Harry W.O. Kinnard - Aide to General Anthony McAuliffe during the siege of and author of McAuliffe’s legendary Christmas address “Buck” Compton of the famed “Band of Brothers” recounts his story at the 2006 conference. The Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne Division Featuring Lynn “Buck” Compton, Bill Guarnere, Ed “Babe” Heffron, Don Malarkey

The Pacific War: A War Without Mercy Featuring Donald Dencker, Leonard Lazarick, Marvin Margoshes, Renwyn Triplett

Celia Sandys - Noted author and granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill The Featuring Veterans of 3rd Platoon, E Company, 28th Marines - the men who fought in the bloody battle for Mt. Suribachi

America’s Greatest Aviation Heroes Featuring Veterans of The Tuskegee Airmen and the Black Sheep Squadron

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team The Japanese American unit which became the most decorated outfit for its size & length of service in U.S. Army history

Celia Sandys speaks on Winston Churchill at the The Medal of Honor - Veterans who have received our nation’s highest military award Ninth Annual Conference. With We Were Soldiers: The Battle of Ia Drang Featuring Joseph Galloway, Lt. Col. George Forrest, Col. John Herren, Col. Tony Nadal And Medal of Honor recipients Bruce Crandall, Ed Freeman, and Walter J. Marm

Adrian Cronauer - Famed Vietnam War disk jockey and subject of the movie Good Morning, Vietnam

Brig. General R. Steve Ritchie- The only Air Force “ace” pilot of the Vietnam War B.G. Burkett - Vietnam veteran and co-author of Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heroes and its History Veterans of 3rd Platoon, Co. E, 28th Marines on Iwo Jima with Medal of Honor recipient George “Bud” Dr. Mark Moyar - Author of Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War 1954-65 Day, following the wreath laying ceremony at the World War II Memorial on Veterans Day, 2006. And Special Guests The greatest heroes of the latest generation... SSgt. David Bellavia - Recommended for the Medal of Honor for valor during the 2004 Battle of Fallujah, and author of House to House: An Epic Memoir of War Major Kim Campbell – Air Force pilot nicknamed “Killer Chick” who received the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor for actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom 1st Lt. - Platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division and recipient of the Bronze Star; Executive Director of Vets for Freedom SSgt. Timothy Nein - Recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross for leading a counterattack against enemy insurgents outside of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad SSgt. Jeremiah Workman - Recipient of the Navy Cross for heroism in rescuing wounded comrades while fighting off enemy insurgents during the Battle of Fallujah A new Band of Brothers - soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division who have served in Iraq share their experience at last year’s conference. With panels on the Korean War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom Plus A reception at the historic Army & Navy Club in honor of America’s greatest heroes: The recipients of the Medal of Honor and our decorated service members from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Former Army SSgt. David Bellavia (center) with one of the high school classes attending the 2006 conference. A private reception with our young wounded warriors currently recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center Wreath laying ceremonies at the National World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial The annual gala awards banquet, saluting our military heroes from World War II through today Presentations of: The Audie Murphy Award for Outstanding Service in World War II The Raymond G. Davis Award for Outstanding Service in the Korean War “Bud” Day, recipient of the 2006 Joe The Joe Ronnie Hooper Award for Outstanding Service in the Vietnam War Ronnie Hooper Award, with Marine SSgt. The Paul Ray Smith Award for Outstanding Service in Operation Enduring Freedom and Anthony Viggiani, recipient of the 2006 Paul Operation Iraqi Freedom Ray Smith Award for service in Afghanistan.

We are currently accepting registrations for the 10th Annual Conference, to be held from November 8-10 at the Renaissance Washington Hotel in Washington, DC. To request a full conference agenda and registration form, write us at: World War II Veterans Committee / 1100 N. Glebe Rd. Suite 910 / Arlington, VA 22201 Call 703-302-1012 ext. 220 or e-mail [email protected]

Hotel reservations should be made directly with the Renaissance Washington Hotel / 999 9th St. NW / Washington, DC 20001. Telephone: 800-468-3571 or 202-898-9000. Be sure to tell the reservation clerk that you are attending the American Veterans Center’s conference to obtain the rate of $209 per night (single/double/triple/quad). Reservations can also be made online at www.renaissancehotels.com/wasrb. Enter group code wwtwwta. Please note that all speakers and events are tentative and subject to change Sinking the Rising Sun By William E. Davis

Bill Davis was a senior in college, and ready to embark on a career and pulled over next to him. He gave me a thumbs-up as as an engineer with RCA when on December 7, 1941, the Japanese we rendezvoused and headed back to the fleet. As it turned launched their surprise raid on Pearl Harbor. Putting his other out, all was not well with Bill. He almost made it to the plans on hold, Davis immediately decided to join the Navy—ready ship but went into the ocean. He was quickly picked up to do his part in avenging the attack. Davis always had a passion and was back aboard before nightfall. for flight, and would become a pilot in the Naval Air Corps, as- signed to the Pacific flying combat missions against the Japanese. His The next day was memorable. Weather was building to the squadron would amass a remarkable record, shooting down 155 west, which was where we were going. Shortly after take- enemy planes while only losing two of their off, we ran into a front that seemed to own in aerial combat. He would see action slope down to the sea. We couldn’t get at , Palau, Iwo Jima and Haha Jima, underneath it, so we had to climb and Formosa. But it was in October of through it. With the dive-bombers and 1944, just days after General MacArthur’s torpedo planes, we numbered forty air- return to the Philippines, that Davis would craft. Flying formation in clouds is not find himself attacking his most satisfying recommended for long life. You could target yet—the Japanese aircraft carrier go one of two ways: The first was to Zuikaku, the last remaining Japanese car- fly very tight formation so that you rier to take part in the attack on Pearl Har- could see your leader, but someone bor... competent had to be on instruments, or the whole flight would go in. The other choice was to spread out, but Once again we the airfields of now you couldn’t see another plane, southern Luzon. There was no air op- and you had to fly instruments, and position, but the antiaircraft fire was there was always the chance of a mid- heavier than ever. The number of air collision. I elected to stay tight and planes parked on the fields was small, but I managed to was flying blind a few feet from the next plane. find one and blow it up. Then, it was on to the docks, where sampans were waiting. I caught one tied up to the dock and We continued to climb for what seemed an eternity and blew it up, taking the dock along with it. were still in thick clouds. Suddenly, at fifteen thousand feet, we broke out—right in the middle of a flight of Japanese We passed another field on our return, and Smiley led us in planes rendezvousing for an attack on our fleet. In some a dive on the aircraft on the field. I was flying behind and cases our planes were within two feet of a Japanese plane. slightly to the right of him when he took a hit. His plane I didn’t have to aim; I just pressed the trigger and shot down headed for the ground as I held my breath. Smiley disap- a twin-engine bomber only twenty-five feet away. We were peared under my wing, but I was surprised to see him still in so close that if the plane had blown up, it would have taken the air when he reappeared. Then it hit me: the part of his me with him. plane forward of the cockpit was skewed twenty degrees to one side. He’d already hit the ground and bounced back up. We were all so stunned that it took a few moments to real- I hoped he might make it, but it wasn’t to be. The plane ize the situation. There were airplanes everywhere. I flew nosed over and crashed in a giant fireball. We were losing past a Zero and could see the Japanese pilot in the cockpit, skippers at an alarming rate. but we were so close we couldn’t get a shot at each other. I slid in behind another bomber and fired a blast, and the I lined up on another plane and started to fire as I caught a plane started down, but I couldn’t follow it, as I was lined glimpse of Masoner’s plane taking a hit. I broke off my up on another plane and started to fire. This plane also

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 6 started toward the ground, but again I couldn’t stay with it, and engine, then eased back to knock out the gunner. The as there were others immediately ahead of me. The result run was successful, in that the return fire stopped, and I was that I shot down a number of planes, but I broke off could see gasoline streaming from the wing. One tracer in before they blew up. Therefore, they only counted as that gasoline, and he was finished. probables at the time but were later confirmed kills. I stayed with the next two until they blew up and I was sure they I slid down, being very careful not to hit a tree, and pulled were on my gun-camera film. the trigger. Only one gun fired, and only three shots, when it jammed. I pulled out, charged the gun, and slid in again. Once again, the sky was filled with columns of smoke as The same thing happened again, only one gun firing, and one Jap plane after another bit the dust. Having cleared the only three rounds. I couldn’t light up that gasoline. air, we proceeded to Lingayen Gulf and bombed the ship- ping in the bay. Pulling out of my dive, I spotted another In total disgust, I called Bill. “I’ve only got one gun firing, twin-engine bomber out over the sea. and only three-bullet bursts. She’s all yours.”

Calling it out, I pulled in front and Masoner slid down into firing po- headed for the enemy plane. We sition, but nothing happened. He flew for quite some distance until pulled back up. “What’s wrong?” someone in the group came on the I asked. radio. “Does anyone else see a plane out there?” he asked. No “I’m completely out of ammuni- one answered. By this time I could tion,” Bill replied. “Let’s get out see the meatballs on the wings. of here.” This was also the first time I real- ized that I had considerably bet- We hugged the ground as we ter than twenty-twenty vision. found our way across Luzon. There were a number of Japanese “Stick with me another thirty sec- The men of Bill Davis’ squadron in Air Group 19 prior to fighters above us, but none saw onds, and if you don’t see it by their first combat mission. Davis is seated second row, second us. We held our breaths as we then, we’ll give it up,” I replied. from right. neared the ocean on the eastern By this time, I could see the pilot. We continued a short side of the island. Once again, we were in low clouds but time, and I made a run on the plane, splashing it. broke out into the clear every so often.

We turned back toward land with my section leader flying We climbed to five thousand feet, as we didn’t want to ap- as my wingman. We crossed the beach, and I spotted an- proach the fleet at low altitude. They fired on anything that other twin-engine bomber, no doubt left from the big fight, came in low. As we were nearing the fleet, a Japanese plane trying to sneak away at very low altitude. I called him out. approached us at the same altitude but going in the oppo- site direction. Since we were out of ammunition, we did Masoner replied, “Go get him. I’ll cover you.” nothing and flew past each other. Once we had our carrier in sight, we also discovered the carrier Princeton burning I slipped down to find that the guy was flying about five fiercely. The plane we passed had come out of the clouds, feet above the ground down a dirt road that was tree lined dropped one 500-kilo bomb on the carrier, and set it on and just wide enough for him to stay between the trees. fire. There was no way to get a shot at him. In addition, the plane had the twin-20mm on the top. He was The moment we landed, we checked out the information roaring away at me, and I couldn’t get a shot. on the Princeton. It was not good. They were refueling planes when the Jap plane appeared, which meant they had gaso- I couldn’t let him get away, so I side slipped down behind line pumped up to the flight deck. Once that fuel was set him and yawed the plane to try to get a burst into the wing on fire, it was almost impossible to put out. A cruiser pulled

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 7 up next to the Princeton and took the crew off. Not long I took off, only to be advised that the dive-bomber I was to after, it sank. escort had engine trouble, and I was to go on alone. I headed north for 375 miles, which took me within 60 miles of the The fighter squadron had shot down sixty planes in one southernmost island of Japan. I expected to run into the day. However, the air group had destroyed sixty-one. One entire Japanese air force, but as luck would have it, I saw of our dive-bomber pilots had shot down a Zero. When we nothing but blue sea. At the end of that leg I headed east broke out of the clouds, he found himself directly behind for 75 miles, then south and hopefully back to the carrier. the Jap fighter and let go with his two forward-firing .50- caliber machine guns and downed him immediately. We Harry Bensen, a dive-bomber pilot, had the exact reverse didn’t know what to do with this turn of events, and after happen to him. His fighter escort had engine trouble, and much thought we decided to make a sitcom out of it. How he went on the search alone. However, he had unexpected else can you explain a bomber shooting down a fighter? luck. He was to search the area two sectors west of me, and near the end of his first leg he spotted a Japanese fleet I enlisted the help of both Bruce coming down from the home islands. Williams, who had been a journalism The fleet was protected with a swarm major in college, and the Associated of Japanese fighters. Press correspondent who was aboard. In addition to his experience, he had Fortunately, there was cloud cover, a typewriter and knew how to type. and Harry quickly pulled up into the The dive-bomber pilot who shot clouds to make his contact report. He down the Zero was named Parker, did this so that if he were shot, down so we named the series Zeke Parker, our command would know there Boy Hero, Zeke being the code name were Jap ships coming down on them. for the Jap fighter. We worked up a theme song, “Let Me Get One Of “Contact, contact, this is Mohawk Those Yellow Bellies, I’ll Beat Him Twelve, Japanese fleet, approxi- Davis in an F6F on the deck of the USS Lexington. Red, White, And Blue”. mately twelve ships.” Harry gave the distance and direction in code. He waited for an As the story unfolded, the pilot he shot down parachuted, acknowledgement but didn’t receive one. and we recovered him. His name was Ensign Noki Moto, and this was his solo flight. He spoke perfect English, as Circling in the cloud for a few minutes, Harry dove from a he’d attended “UCRA.” We put the series on over the ship’s different direction and took a longer look at the ships, pull- intercom to mixed reviews, but the number of episodes was ing back up before the fighters arrived. Harry got on the limited due to the war. radio again.

That evening, word went around that contact reports had “Amplifying report, confirm twelve ships including four been received from several American submarines that units carriers, two , two cruisers and four destroyers. of the Japanese fleet were at sea. We were going on ex- Course 180 degrees, estimated speed twenty knots. Ac- tended searches the next day. knowledge.”

Battle of the Sibuyan Sea Again, there was no acknowledgement from the American fleet. Harry sent one more message and finished it with the The procedure for searching for the Japanese Fleet was quite words, “I am now going to attack.” simple: We’d go out in two-plane sections made up of one dive-bomber and one fighter. The dive-bomber, being a two- Breaking out of the clouds over the Japanese fleet, Harry man plane, was better equipped to do the navigation, and it opened his dive brakes as well as his bomb-bay doors and had a larger radio that could cover the distance we were armed the bomb. He headed straight for one of the carriers, going. The fighter was for protection. with Zeros on his tail. Nearing the carrier, he released his

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 8 bomb, closed the dive brakes, and pushed the throttle against me you received our acknowledgements, I’m going to rec- the stop to try to outrun the Zeros. They chased him for ommend you for the Congressional Medal of Honor for at- fifty miles, but gave up. His rear-seat man saw smoke rising tacking the Japanese fleet single-handedly. Did you receive from the carrier. our acknowledgement?”

Returning from the longest flight I had ever made from the Harry didn’t hesitate. “No, sir.” carrier, I arrived at the rendezvous point, only to realize the worst fear of a naval pilot: the carrier wasn’t there. One of The admiral stood for quite a while before putting his hand the search planes had spotted another Japanese fleet west out and shaking Harry’s. of the Philippines, and our fleet had already turned west to close with it. Fortunately, I didn’t have to search long, and “I admire your guts, and I sure as hell admire your honesty.” landed aboard. I caught a wire and let the plane roll back- The admiral awarded Harry the anyway. wards so the crew could disconnect the hook from the wire. Once my plane was free, the signalman gave me the sign While Harry was going through his session with the admi- for full power. I opened the throttle and the engine quit; I ral, the rest of us grabbed a quick bite as the crew prepared was out of gas. Crewmen had to push my plane past the our planes for the Jap fleet that had been sighted west of barrier. the Philippines, heading for Leyte Gulf. Somewhere up the line, the brass made a terrible decision that both the dive- The moment Harry Bensen came aboard, the admiral sent bombers and torpedo-bombers would be armed with gen- word to report to the bridge immediately. Harry presented eral-purpose bombs. They felt the waters in the straits might himself to the admiral, who addressed him: be too shallow for torpedoes. We never heard a reason the dive-bombers weren’t armed with armor-piercing bombs. “Lieutenant, I want to congratulate you on your action. It is above and beyond the call of duty.” Flying west, we found the Jap fleet headed through the Sibuyan Sea. There were no aircraft carriers, but a number “Thank you, sir,” Harry replied. of battleships and cruisers, as well as escorting destroyers. The moment we came into view, they started to turn and “You got off a very quick contact report,” the admiral con- throw up intense antiaircraft fire. We carried out a coordi- tinued. “I imagine you were in some peril at the time.” nated attack on battleships and cruisers, and both of our bomber squadrons scored a number of hits, but since the “There were Zeros hounding us, yes sir.” bombs were general purpose, all they did was burn the paint off the ships. A few of the cruisers sustained minor dam- “Then you sent an amplifying report, then a further report.” age, but the fleet was still battleworthy.

“Yes sir.” Our photo planes took pictures of the hits, and as we were leaving the scene of what came to be known as the Battle “You never indicated you received our acknowledgement of the Sibuyan Sea, the Japanese fleet was still in a turn and of any of these reports.” heading west. Once the staff on our carrier had made an intelligence appraisal, they decided the Japanese were seri- “That’s right, sir,” Harry answered. ously damaged and were heading back to Hong Kong. We told Jack Wheeler, our intelligence officer, that this wasn’t The admiral continued. “You realize that if we hadn’t re- the case, but the staff didn’t take our comments seriously. ceived your reports and you got shot down, we wouldn’t That night, after dark, the Japanese fleet turned east again know the Japanese were out there. Since you didn’t know and headed for MacArthur’s landing beaches on Leyte. we’d received your reports, your first duty was to get away and get the information to us.” Harry just stood there, not Admiral Halsey, feeling there was no threat from that fleet, knowing what to say. The admiral looked Harry in the eye. took the fast carriers and the six newest battleships and “You know we did receive your contact reports. If you tell headed north to attack the Japanese fleet that Harry had

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 9 spotted. Although Admiral Halsey wore wings on his uni- enemy fleet. On the order, I cranked up my engine and form, having gone through flight school at an advanced age, waited to taxi to the catapult. he was still a admiral and wanted nothing more than to close with the Jap fleet and slug it out, ship to ship. The catapult takeoff required the usual precarious balance He had saved the gun barrels of the battleships for just between stalling and diving into the sea, but once again such an action. He wanted them to be perfect. That night luck was with me. I searched in the darkness for the as we slept, we could feel the pulse of the engines as the turtleback light on the plane ahead of me and started to carrier drove north at full speed against the relentless sea. rendezvous. Once the entire air group was together, we Tomorrow would be a big day. climbed slowly toward the north. We hung in the night sky, unaware of speed. The noise of my engine had long since disappeared. The entire scene was unreal. We were each in The Battle off Cape Engaño our own universe, that tiny cockpit. It’s the only world that was real. At breakfast at three o’clock a.m. on October 25, 1944, you could feel the difference and the tension. There was no I was strangely calm; in fact, I was totally relaxed. I had small talk. We’d been in a lot of never felt real fear despite the dan- combat by this time, but we knew ger of the action I’d been in. Why this would be different. We were was that? I certainly wasn’t par- going against a major unit of the ticularly brave, and I certainly Japanese fleet. didn’t want to die. Could pure ha- tred drive someone to do the un- “Did you hear they revised the imaginable? Did everyone in the number of Jap ships?” Hutto squadron feel the same way? asked. There were many questions but no answers. “How many,” someone inquired. The Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku - the last remaining Two hours of this, and suddenly “Four carriers, two battleships, carrier to take part in the attack on Pearl Harbor. the sun spread its light and brought two cruisers, and ten destroyers,” me back to reality. The sea was Hutto answered. “Know how many antiaircraft guns that still dark and invisible, but in only a matter of moments it means?” No one answered. “More than four hundred,” appeared. “Contact, ships’ wakes visible, thirty miles ahead,” Hutto threw out. Somehow the powdered eggs lost their came over the radio. The Japanese fleet was exactly where taste. it was supposed to be. I could make out the white wakes of eighteen ships dead ahead. The dull, red glow of the night-vision lights in the ready room seemed even eerier than usual. Hugh Winters, the air Automatically, I took my guns off safe and fired a few rounds group commander came in. as everyone else did the same. I took the plane off auto- matic lean and increased the rpm of the engine as I vented “Listen up, fellows, I’m going to be the target coordinator. the gas tanks and opened my Eustachian tubes. I was at I’ll be up above you and pick your target. Since you’re now 22,000 feet, and I didn’t want trouble with my ears when I the senior group out here, you’ll get first shot. Any ques- dove. tions? Good luck.” He started to leave then hesitated for a moment. “One of the Jap carriers out there took part in the We continued toward the target, picking up speed as we attack on Pearl Harbor. I’ll assign it to you if I can.” went. We were still twenty miles from the fleet when we saw a tremendous explosion on one of the battleships. Some We manned our planes in total darkness. I took a momen- other groups must have been attacking, although I thought tary glance at the 500-pound bomb hanging under my wing we were to go first. Moments later an antiaircraft shell ex- and hoped I wouldn’t have to dump it before we got to the ploded in the center of our formation, fortunately missing

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 10 everyone. The Japanese were firing antiaircraft shells from The response was instantaneous, as all of the antiaircraft their 16-inch guns and laid it right on target—not a wel- guns in the Japanese fleet opened up. They knew where I come greeting. We continued toward the enemy, still cir- was going, and they didn’t have to lead me. They fired di- cling the formation and watching for Zeros. rectly up over the carrier.

Our division happened to be on the side of In moments, at ten thousand feet there was the formation closest to the Japanese when a black cloud of bursting shells from the 40- the order came over the radio from Hugh to mm and 5-inch guns. It was so thick I attack. Bill Masoner never hesitated; he couldn’t see through it. I knew I’d be dead turned toward the Jap fleet and nosed over. in the next thirty seconds, but I also knew The problem was, we were so far away that that if I had it to do over again, with all of our dive was too flat. We were going to come the other alternatives I had, I’d be here now. in fast and low without much chance of get- ting a hit. The surest way was coming I flashed through the cloud, knowing it was straight down, but then you’d pick up too filled with screaming metal from the explo- much speed. Our fighter planes didn’t have sions. I expected to feel the plane jolted any dive brakes like the dive-bombers to keep second, but I continued on. A second deadly our speed within reason, but we were on our cloud was forming at four thousand feet way. from the exploding 20mm shells. It was di- rectly over the carrier, I had no choice but Diving from twenty-two thousand feet to to fly through it. eight thousand feet, we picked up speed and kept going in our flat approach. I’d come too Once again my luck held as I screamed down far, and now that I had a chance to do some- The Zuikaku showing Davis’ bomb on the carrier, which now completely filled thing, I wasn’t going to let this go by de- hit, the white spot located to the my gunsight. I rested my finger on the bomb- right and center of the flight deck. fault. This was a chance to avenge Pearl release button. I kept going. I wanted to Harbor, and I wasn’t going to miss. make absolutely sure I got a hit. I searched the sky and saw no Ze- When it seemed I was going to hit ros near us. I pulled up. The other the ship, I pushed the release and three continued in their dive. pulled out. I had not looked at my altimeter or air speed. I was way I throttled back and let the plane over the red line of the aircraft, coast up to thirteen thousand feet. and of course blacked out from the It was relatively quiet, and I took G forces on the pullout. a few moments to survey the Japa- nese fleet. A feeling of calm came After a moment, I was conscious over me as I slowed almost to stall- but couldn’t see. I heard a slight ing speed. I was directly over the change in the pitch of the noise carrier that was our target. The The crew of the doomed Zuikaku salute, as their flag is and eased forward on the stick. three planes of my section dropped lowered. The last carrier to take part in the Pearl Harbor Blood instantly returned to my attack was now finished. their bombs short and were already brain, and I could see again, and out of there, and the rest of the air group was still approach- what I saw scared me to death. I was so low I was clipping ing. I was going in alone, which would make me the only the spray from the waves. I was also forty knots over the target of all of those antiaircraft guns. maximum speed for the plane. But the main thing was, I made it—until I looked up ahead. I was flying right into the I allowed the plane to stall and let the nose drop. All I could side of the Oyodo, a Japanese light cruiser. I pulled back on see was the deck of that aircraft carrier. I cracked the throttle the stick, and nothing happened. I couldn’t gain altitude. slightly so the engine wouldn’t stall, and let the plane fall. The elevator control must have been frozen due to the speed.

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 11 Putting both hands on the stick and bracing myself against chance to avenge that attack. I felt the greatest satisfaction the rudder pedals, I pulled with all of my strength. The I’d ever felt in my life. nose rose slightly, enough to clear the , but not enough to clear the superstructure. I was going to hit the ship. At Flying back to our carrier from the Battle off Cape Engaño, the last moment I tried the aileron. It responded, and in I thought of the way I’d struggled to take those cans of that instant I rolled the plane on its right side and flew be- peas to school to feed the Japanese. What if some of the tween the cruiser’s second gun turret and the bridge. Japanese I fed were on that ship? I cursed the fact that my mother wasn’t the ordnance officer on the carrier. I wouldn’t I was perhaps three feet from the windows on the bridge have had a 500-pound bomb; it would have been at least and could see the Japanese officers and enlisted men com- 1,000 pounds or maybe 2,000 pounds, even if I could barely manding the ship. There was an admiral in dress whites, fly with it. complete with sword. The other offic- ers and men were also in dress whites. I We had sunk the Zuikaku. Her sister was going 530 miles an hour, and I only ship, the Shokaku, had been sunk in the got a glimpse, but that image is im- Battle of the Coral Sea. They were the pressed on my mind forever. two largest operational carriers the Japa- nese ever had. The Zuikaku was the last I quickly distanced myself from the ship Japanese aircraft carrier afloat that had and slowed to a reasonable speed. I taken part in the raid on Pearl Harbor, made no effort to take evasive action, and assisting in her sinking was beyond as I knew no one was paying special my wildest expectations. attention to me any longer. Somehow, my subconscious alerted me that I The Zuikaku had been commissioned shouldn’t be flying in a straight line, re- on September 25, 1941, and was the gardless. At the speed I was going, it flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy was painful to make a sharp turn, but I Bill Davis receives the Navy Cross on the deck as well as the flagship of Admiral did. Moments later, there was a gigan- of the USS Lexington for his role in sinking the Ozawa. She displaced thirty thousand Zuikaku. tic explosion where I would have been. tons and could carry eighty-four aircraft. That cruiser had turned one of its 8-inch gun turrets and Her antiaircraft guns numbered sixteen 5-inch and ninety- fired at me. If I hadn’t taken evasive action, they would six 20mm cannons. have hit me. I made another turn, with the same results. They were really determined. One more shot and I pulled We had a number of hits on the carrier: 500-pound bombs up into a cloud, where I circled, then came down in another from the fighter planes, 2,000-pound bombs from our dive- direction. bombers, and several torpedo hits from the torpedo squad- ron. We lost one torpedo plane and a crew of three. The We had barely rendezvoused when Hugh called on the ra- Japanese lost 843 officers and men when she went down. dio. “The carrier’s sinking, and they’re trying to take the They and other countries were learning the consequences admiral’s staff off on a cruiser. Go down and strafe it.” of a sneak attack on the United States.

We didn’t need a second invitation. We peeled off and dove Bill Davis would be awarded the Navy Cross—second only to the Medal of on the Oyodo, which had pulled up at the stern of the car- Honor—for his part in the sinking of the Zuikaku rier. Officers were jumping from the carrier to the forward on October 25, 1944. deck of the cruiser. They were huddled together. We tore This article is adapted from William E. Davis’ book, them to pieces. No one could have survived the fire from Sinking the Rising Sun: Dog Fighting & Dive our machine guns. I only hoped this was the same staff that Bombing in World War II, available from Ze- was aboard when they attacked Pearl Harbor. When that nith Press at bookstores around the country and at attack took place and I was a student in college, I never in www.zenithpress.com. my wildest imagination thought that I would have the WWII

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 12 Baseball Goes To War The National Pastime In World War II

By James C. Roberts

The national pastime played a key role in the American Among the many other baseball stars serving were Stan war effort during World War II and it is a story that has not Musial, Joe DiMaggio, , , Yogi been fully told. Berra, , Phil Rizzutto and .

From the frozen tundra of Iceland to the jungles of the Baseball on the Home Front South Pacific; from the deserts of North Africa to the Nazi stadium in Nuremberg, American soldiers, sailors, airmen Given the loss of professional players to the services, there and Marines played was much speculation baseball whenever, and that professional wherever, they could. baseball would be suspended for the All told, over 500 major duration of the war. league and more than 2,000 minor league However, in his famous baseball players went “green light” letter, to into the armed forces. Major League Baseball Among the first of these Commissioner was , the Kennesaw Mountain former right-handed star Landis, President pitcher for the Roosevelt expressed his . Feller personal hope that was the sole support for baseball would continue his family because his during the war because father, an Iowa farmer, of its impact on the was dying of cancer, and From the islands of the Pacific to the villages of Europe, American servicemen citizenry. found a way to continue to enjoy their national pastime, no matter where they because of this he could found themselves. have easily gotten a Baseball responded to deferment. Instead, upon hearing of the Japanese attack this request, maintaining a full schedule of games and on Pearl Harbor, he drove to Chicago and reported to a drawing on teenagers, over-the-hill veterans and “the lame, Navy recruiting office. the halt and the blind” to fill out the major and minor league rosters. “We were losing the war,” Feller said. “We needed heroes.” Among the more unusual replacement players was Pete Feller subsequently served as a gun captain on board the Gray, an outfielder for the St. Louis Browns. Gray had lost battleship Alabama and saw action in the Atlantic and then his right arm in an accident, but nonetheless managed to in the Pacific theater, participating in numerous battles. But bat one-handed, as well as field fly balls and grounders in baseball was not left behind. Feller played baseball and the outfield and then throw them into the infield by a softball in Scotland, Iceland and on numerous islands in remarkable method of flipping and rolling the ball. the Pacific.

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 13 Although the quality of play may have suffered during the to city, the players nonetheless thrived on the rugged routine war years, the fans turned out in droves to follow their and they became a popular attraction for millions of people favorite teams, with servicemen in uniform admitted free. throughout the region.

Baseball also got its fans to support the war effort financially, Even today the alumnae of the League (which folded in with the players taking part of their salaries in war bonds. 1954) are an active, though dwindling, group, maintaining The players and owners were also active in fundraising an alumnae association with regular meetings and drives. publications. In the years following the popular movie A League of Their Own, the ladies enjoyed a second burst of In one notable fundraising extravaganza Washington Post celebrity status. sports columnist-turned- impresario One of the most poignant packed 30,000-seat examples of baseball’s Griffith Stadium for an appeal could be seen in exhibition game between the internment camps the Washington Senators established in several and a team of Navy All- western states for the Stars featuring such Nisei or Japanese- players as Bob Feller, Phil Americans. More than Rizutto and Joe 100,000 were interned DiMaggio (Needless to during the war and in say, the All-Stars won). most of the camps baseball fields were built Also helping to attract a and leagues were formed. crowd were singers Kate Smith and Bing Crosby Baseball in the and a guest appearance by European . The event Theater raised $2 million – Japanese American children play a game of baseball while interned at the enough to construct a Manzanar Relocation Center in California during World War II. By early 1942 American Navy cruiser. servicemen were beginning to pour into Britain in preparation for the eventual Another successful innovation of the war years was invasion of the Continent and the push towards Berlin. By professional women’s baseball - specifically the All 1944 1.5 million Yanks were in Britain and they were American Girls Professional Baseball League formed by playing baseball all over the kingdom. Chicago chewing gum magnate William Wrigley. Working on the assumption that professional baseball would be The British people, deprived of professional sports for the suspended at some point, Wrigley organized a women’s duration of the war, flocked to watch these games which league as a way of maintaining fan interest in the game. were reported on regularly by the press. Numerous eminent individuals including Queen Mary, Mrs. Winston Churchill Teams were organized in six Midwestern cities (eventually and assorted dukes, bishops and local officials attended growing to eight) and the women chosen were instructed these games and often threw out the first ball. to “look like ladies and play like men.” Numerous games were organized to raise funds for the war All players were required to attend charm school classes effort, with an estimated $344,000 being raised by baseball and to wear short skirts and knee socks. The latter provided in 1943 alone. precious little protection when sliding into base. Heavily chaperoned and forced to endure long bus trips from city

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 14 Following the Normandy invasion, baseball crossed the Following the American liberation of the camp Shepard channel and was soon being played all across Europe in the came home and was fitted with a prosthesis. Shepard had wake of the advancing U.S. troops. been a pitcher in the Washington Senators farm system and he returned to the Among those troops minor leagues and was was private Warren soon called up by the Spahn who participated Senators. Amazingly, in the battle of the Shepard pitched a Hürtgen Forest and the game on his artificial . leg and won. Repeated surgeries, however, In both campaigns sidelined him as a major German soldiers wore league player although captured American he did continue to pitch uniforms to infiltrate in the minor leagues. U.S. lines and, according to Spahn, baseball As the youths advanced terms and lore were across Europe, used extensively by the baseball went with Yanks as identification Baseball great Ted Williams is sworn into the military on May 22, 1942. Williams them and rudimentary tactics. would go on to become a pilot in the Marine Corps. Despite missing five seasons fields were hastily built during the prime of his career due to WWII and the Korean War, Williams never along the way, from complained about his service, considering it one of his greatest achievements. “If you saw an the low countries of unidentified man approaching the lines,” Spahn said, “you Holland and Belgium to the Bavarian Alps. might yell out ‘Who plays second sack for the Bums?’” (Translation: Who plays second base for the Dodgers?). “If Among the millions of British subjects who were exposed he didn’t know the answer, he was a dead to baseball was a young lad by the name man.” of Gary Bedingfield. The boy fell in love with this strange and wonderful Yankee Bert Shepard, an Army Air Corps pilot import and has continued to be a fan who was shot down by the Germans and ever since. Bedingfield now maintains an imprisoned in a German POW camp internet web site “Baseball in Wartime” said, “Every time a new prisoner came – the only one exclusively devoted to into the camp he was besieged by guys baseball in World War II. wanting to know how their favorite team was doing back home.” Of the war’s aftermath Bedingfield writes: Shepard himself provided one of the most amazing baseball stories to come “On May 7, 1945, the day after the out of the World War II. When he was German surrender, engineer units, hit by German anti-aircraft fire formerly engaged in building combat during a strafing run his leg was bridges and airfields, shattered. After parachuting to the Bert Shepard overcame the loss of his leg in World enthusiastically set about War II to make it to the big leagues for a time ground he was rescued from an following the war. transforming the battlefields of angry mob of German villagers by Europe into ball fields, while a German medic who amputated the hundreds of athletic officers set in leg and saved Shepard’s life. motion the administration and organizational requirements. Never before had there been an athletic program of such

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 15 magnitude. The amount of equipment required was Army troops also played the game extensively in Australia, colossal, and shortly after VE Day, the War Department in the Philippines, New Guinea and elsewhere, as did Navy Washington, DC, made available an inventory of sporting sailors. Every ship of any size had at least one team and goods that included 85,964 virtually every port visit ball gloves, 72,850 baseballs resulted in games against and 131,130 bats. By mid- Army or Marine teams or summer 200,000 troops were teams from other ships. playing in competitive leagues, military duties were Perhaps the most famous scheduled around games and competition was the Pacific combat units temporarily put World Series held in Hawaii aside the emotional and between teams of Army and physical scars of recent battles Navy All-Stars. In most of in their pursuit to be the best them were star players from team in their region. While the the major leagues. Admiral Cubs and Tigers battled for the Chester Nimitz threw out the World Series crown back first ball. home, the GI’s World Series in Europe took place before The Marines had their own 50,000 servicemen in a James Trimble, thought by many to be the next great baseball star, “Little World Series” in was killed during the battle for Iwo Jima on March 1, 1945. stadium in Nuremberg, January of 1945 between the Germany. Just six years earlier a similar sized crowd had All-Stars of the Second Marine Division, based on Saipan reached a deafening tone as they cheered a vast array of and Third Marine Division All-Stars based on Guam. Nazi armament that paraded before them. On this day, former National League The star pitcher for that pitcher Sam Nahem, with series was James “Jimmy” able assistance from Negro Trimble, who was a graduate League hero , led of St. Albans School in the OISE all-stars to a Washington D.C. and had thrilling five game victory been signed by against the mighty 71st of the Washington Senators. Infantry Division.” He is still rated the best high school pitcher in Baseball in the Washington D.C. history and Pacific Theater many of his surviving contemporaries think he As in Europe, baseball was could have been the next played throughout the or Bob Pacific during the war. As Feller. the Marines went ashore on Trimble Field, on the island of Guam, is dedicated in memory of island after island across the Jimmy Trimble. A new Trimble Field, built near the original, was Trimble volunteered for a pacific, the Seabees opened in 2005 with the support of the World War II Veterans hazardous scouting mission followed, clearing land for Committee. on Iwo Jima and was killed baseball fields in such exotic in hand-to-hand fighting locales as Tarawa, Guadalcanal, Saipan and Guam. when the Japanese overran his position. (According to Bob Feller the best field was on the island of Ulithi.) Gen. Graves Erskine had the baseball field on Guam named “Trimble Field” in his honor.

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 16 Before the war began baseball was, of course, segregated thought about it, he started to cry. I said, “Don’t cry, just on the home front and that practice persisted in the armed don’t do it anymore.” services. In their segregated units the black soldiers, sailors and airmen formed baseball teams and leagues just as their Japanese Baseball white counterparts did. An interesting sidelight to the story of baseball in World The evils of segregation persisted also with even legendary War II is Japanese baseball. Americans introduced baseball African-American players such to the Japanese in the late 19th as John “Buck” O’Neil not century and in the 50 years being exempted. leading up to the war the game grew steadily in popularity. In O’Neil played on nine the 1930s baseball or basa baru championship teams during an as the Japanese called it – was eighteen-year career in the played at the professional level Negro Leagues (O’Neil later with an eight-team league and served as President of the two seasons. Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City and was active in Baseball historian Gary baseball up until his passing in Bedingfield notes on his 2006). Baseball in Wartime website:

Despite qualifying for an “During World War II, the exemption from military Japanese professional league service O’Neil insisted on continued to play until August doing his part and he joined 1944. Just as in the United the Navy Seabees and was sent States, the game served as a to the South Pacific. One of major morale booster to the Seabees’ more pleasant civilians and servicemen, and duties was using bulldozers to despite being at war with the carve baseball fields out of nation that introduced them islands from New Guinea to to baseball, the Japanese Future Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller left his job with the the Aleutians. Cleveland Indians on the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor to people could not curb their enlist in the U.S. Navy. He would attend the Naval War College in insatiable appetite for the Assigned to Subic Bay in the Newport, R.I., and was made chief of a 24-man gun crew on the game. Philippines towards the end of USS Alabama, serving in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters. the war O’Neil recalled an “Professional teams such as incident there in which he and his fellow soldiers took a Kyojin (Tokyo) and the Hanshin (Osaka) Tigers played 80- load of ammunition to a destroyer. plus games a season between 1940 and 1943. However, the draw on manpower reduced teams to a 35-game season “We got there in an LST, and started sending ammunition in 1944, playing one game every four days. By 1945 nearly up. Then somebody started blowing taps. The little ensign all professional players from Japan’s eight teams were in on the deck got on and said, “Attention Niggers!” When military service and 69 of them were killed, including he said that I went up that ladder and said, “Do you know national superstars Eiji Sawamura and Shinichi Ishimaru.” what you’re saying? I am a Navy man! I just happen to be black. I’m fighting for the same thing you are.” Not only were the Japanese passionate fans of their own teams, they followed the American game closely as well The captain was called and the ensign berated. O’Neil and many American baseball stars such as Babe Ruth and continued, “The thing about it was when he sat back and

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 17 toured Japan and received wildly enthusiastic DiMaggio, Mize, and Greenberg all would have hit more receptions. than 500 home runs. As it was, none of them came close. DiMaggio had the most, 361, two more than Mize, and 30 Washington Senators catcher Moe Berg worked on the side more than Greenberg. as an intelligence agent for the U.S. government and he took advantage of several pre-war tours of Japan to take home For , Winnie’s formula shows Feller would have won movies of several Japanese another 107 games, giving him cities. These films were later 373 for his career instead of used in the planning of Jimmy 266, plus another 1,070 Doolittle’s famous raid over , five no-hitters Japan in 1942. instead of three, and 19 one- hitters instead of 12. War’s End Feller would have ended his Following the war the major career with twenty-one full leaguers came back home (with seasons instead of seventeen the exception of two – years and six weeks in 1945. Washington Senators outfielder Spahn would have had the third Elmer Gedeon and most wins in history instead of A’s catcher Harry fifth.” O’Neil, both of whom were killed in combat). Many of the Gilbert adds: players retired because they had become too old or, like “The players who lost that time perennial All-Star Senators and those additional numbers short stop Cecil Travis, have never expressed any sense because of war injuries. of bitterness or resentment. Feller, Slaughter and Williams Most, however, returned to the are typical. Appearing on ballparks where they faced a “Major League Baseball tough year of readjustment. Magazine,” they spoke Even those who went on to unselfishly about the time they great success had lost several The program from a baseball game played in Britain between the lost during World War II. & Navy, 1944. years of prime playing time. Feller said “I’m very proud of A Seattle computer specialist, Ralph Winnie, did an analysis my war record, just like my baseball record. I would never of the data on the major leagues and published a projection have been able to face anybody and talk about my baseball of what their stats would have been if they had not served record if I hadn’t spent time in the service.” during the war.

Bill Gilbert in his book, They Also Served, summed up the James C. Roberts is president of the World War II Veterans Com- findings: mittee and author of Hardball on the Hill: Baseball Stories from Our Nation’s Capital. “Winne discovered that (Ted) Williams would have become the all-time RBI champion if he hadn’t lost those three years WWII during World War II and two more in Korea. He also would have hit 222 more home runs, giving him 743, second only to ’s 755. Instead, he hit 521 and ranks eighth.

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 18 Okinawa The Typhoon of Steel

The Battle of Okinawa—nicknamed the “Typhoon of Steel”— At the American Veterans Center’s 9th Annual Conference last was the last and largest amphibious assault in the Pacific during fall, four veterans of Okinawa—Donald Dencker, John “Bos” World War II. On April 1, 1945, the Ensor, Leonard “Laz” Lazarick, and U.S. Tenth Army, under the command Renwyn Triplett—recounted their expe- of Lt. General Simon Bolivar Buckner, riences in infantry combat against the Jr., commenced the invasion of Okinawa, Japanese. In this issue of World War II preparing to take on over 100,000 well- Chronicles, we share their remarks, as entrenched Japanese defenders. Though they remember the bloodiest battle of Okinawa proved to be the final major World War II. battle of World War II, it was not ex- pected to be, as the island was intended to be the staging ground for what was Donald Dencker: The 96th Infan- codenamed “Operation Downfall”—the try Division, of which we were a Allied invasion of Japan. Yet the Japa- part when we landed on Leyte in nese on Okinawa fought as if this were 1944 and later Okinawa, was a typi- their last stand, unleashing a wave of cal Army triangular division consist- kamikaze attacks on U.S. ships offshore ing of three infantry regiments, while the defenders of the island hid in three light supporting 105mm artil- caves, only emerging to rain mortar and lery battalions, one heavy 155mm machine-gun fire upon the advancing artillery battalion, an engineer com- Americans. bat battalion, a medical battalion, and a recon troop. The table of or- The carnage on Okinawa was stagger- ganization strength was 14,253 ing. U.S. casualties numbered over men. We were never at that 72,000—over two and a half times strength, however. We landed on The invasion plans for Okinawa. Upon landing, the more than on Iwo Jima. Among the dead Marines were to turn north, while the Army was to Okinawa with about 13,000 men. were famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle turn south. and General Buckner himself—the high- Okinawa is located on the Ryukyu est-ranking American officer killed by enemy fire during World War Islands chain, about 340 miles south of the Japanese home II. Japanese military casualties numbered over 90,000, with over island of Kyushu. We landed on the China Sea side—the 100,000 civilians dead. The ferocity of the fighting, combined with west side—of Okinawa with four divisions: the 1st Marine the massive number of casualties, led American military strategists Division, the 6th Marine Division, the 7th Infantry Divi- to seek an alternative means of ending the war, as the destruction sion, and the 96th Infantry Division. It was April 1st—April on Okinawa would pale in comparison to any invasion of the Japa- Fool’s Day, and we were the fools, I guess. nese home islands. While continued fire-bombing of Japanese cities might have forced an eventual surrender short of invasion, the de- Fighting the Japanese was completely unlike fighting the ployment of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki con- Germans. It was an entirely different war, a war without vinced the Japanese to finally surrender, with what most historians mercy. First of all, we lost exactly zero prisoners to the agree was fewer casualties than additional fire-bombing campaigns Japanese. While quite a few men were taken prisoner by or a land invasion. Yet had Okinawa not been so bloody, an am- the Germans, none of ours were taken by the Japanese. If phibious invasion of Japan would have been a distinct possibility. you were in a hopeless situation, you either fought your

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 19 way out or you died. Nobody wore any insignia or rank on Leonard Lazarick: History tells us that the Japanese had their uniforms in our outfit. If you wore any sign that you amassed the largest concentration of artillery and heavy were an officer, you were just signing your death warrant. weapons in the whole Pacific War. They had two years to Our medics and chaplains carried rifles, and they used them. prepare for us and they proved their worth. They had close It was truly a fight to the end, so those of us who are here to 200 heavy weapons. Now, in terms of the war in Eu- today are very fortunate. rope, that might sound like an insignificant number. But remember this: on Okinawa the concentration of the Japa- The Japanese army was thoroughly indoctrinated to fight nese defenses were on the southern one-quarter of the is- to the end, and it was considered an honor to die for the land. This translates into roughly 120 square miles of land. emperor, Hirohito, rather than survive the war. Imagine six by 20 miles, and all this weaponry in one con- centrated area—not only 150mm howitzers, but 100 anti- John Ensor: The civilians had been told by the Japanese tank guns, and the giant spigot mortars which fired huge military that it was better to die than to come with us, be- 800-pound shells. They were so large, you could actually cause we would rape the women see them in flight. They left a cra- and kill the men, so there was a ter about 15-feet deep and just tremendous number of suicides about 40-feet in diameter. Per- among the locals. I saw no evi- sonally, I never thought that it dence of this until the very last was a good military weapon, day I was in the battle, which was though it would scare the day- the 14th of June, 1945. It was in lights out of you. a rural village called Ozato, which is on the lower part of the Having so much time to prepare, island. The Japanese soldiers had the Japanese had the entire south- taken off to the south but left ci- ern end of Okinawa zeroed in. vilians behind. About 4:00 in the They had bracketed in exactly morning on the 14th, we heard where their weapons could go, some moaning coming from Soldiers of the 96th Infantry Division use ladders to scale what their trajectory should be, houses on the other side of a the sea wall during the initial invasion of Okinawa. what the elevation and angle stone wall at which we were sta- should be, so they could just tioned. At first we thought the Japanese were trickier than about put a shell in your hip pocket. They had the high we thought; maybe they were waiting for us to stick our ground, and could see every movement we made. We were heads over the wall. So we waited until dawn, and I put a no mystery to the Japanese soldiers; they knew exactly helmet on the end of my carbine and raised it a little above where we were. the top of the wall. I got no action, so I got up and looked over the wall, and before me were a little child with a grand- Donald Dencker: They had a great many anti-tank bat- mother and grandfather. The grandfather had committed talions on Okinawa, and succeeded in knocking out 113 hara-kiri on both of the women, as well as himself. He Sherman tanks. A sizeable portion of the tanks we had died about ten minutes later. I have had that in my mind were knocked out or disabled. There were also a lot of for over sixty years. It is sad that this had to come to these mines. Renwyn Triplett was in the mine platoon, and was civilians. supposed to lay mines but ended up removing them.

Donald Dencker: That was quite typical, and unfortu- Renwyn Triplett: I was in charge of a 3-57mm anti-tank nately, over 100,000 Okinawans died. One incident I re- gun platoon and demolition. I alternated between the gun call was when I came across a family of about a dozen platoon and the mine platoon whenever I was needed there. Okinawans. They were all dying after having taken strych- Our first mission on the island was to remove a mine field nine which was given to them by the retreating Japanese that had stalled a convoy truck. Our squad went out there soldiers. and were surprised to find that it wasn’t the type of mine that we had anticipated. These were large, conical-shaped

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 20 mines that had two horns on each side and looked like a as long as possible, so they could prepare for the defense teakettle—we called them teakettle mines. In these horns, of the home islands. which were made of soft lead, was a vial of acid. When the horns were crushed, the acid went down to make a con- Leonard Lazarick: It was customary for the Japanese to nection to the fuse and blew the mine. We would get down lob a few shells onto our lines every night, just to remind on our stomachs and disarm the mines by unscrewing the us that they were there. However, on the night of April 12, horns. I generally got my pliers out and eased it out really at about 9:00, they opened up with some very heavy shell- quick with about two turns. After we got them all removed, ing for what it seemed to me was hours. There were over we’d take them all and put them in a pile, put two satchel 2,000 shells that fell on the lines of the 96th Infantry Divi- charges on them, blow the fuse and run like the dickens to sion during that night. The Japanese had planned an attack get out of the way. to pierce through our lines and get beyond our frontline troops and back to the service personnel and headquarters On one instance, we went off to clear another mine field. people to raise as much mischief and havoc as possible. While on our way there, our Their goal was what they lieutenant, myself, and our called “Seven to One.” They squad approached a road. We wanted to kill seven Ameri- looked to see if anything was cans for every one Japanese out of the ordinary, and the that gave up his life. It was a lieutenant crossed the road. very ambitious undertaking. About that time machine guns There was a Japanese started firing right across the named Yohara who was a ge- center of the road, bursts of nius tactician and had de- three or four shots at a time, signed most of the defensive then pause for a second or positions on the island. He two, and start back up again. discouraged the attack be- We timed it so that when it cause he felt that they could paused, we would jump across inflict more casualties by forc- the road. Well, I was the last ing us to attack their en- Men of Co. L, 382nd Infantry display captured Japanese weapons. one to get across, and when I trenched positions. started I had a full canteen of water. When I got to the other side, it was gone. I looked down and my web belt on Their attack ultimately failed, thank goodness, because if which the canteen was fastened was cut, just like you would they had gotten behind our lines, we would have been cut with a pair of scissors. That bullet hit pretty good to trapped. I might point out that on Okinawa, the Army and take that canteen out. It was my first close call. Marines suffered 26,000 non-battle casualties. A lot of men could not handle the bombardment—in those days we Donald Dencker: Unfortunately, many of us had close called it combat fatigue. We had men who had been through calls on Okinawa. the Philippines and had fought well through the early part of Okinawa, but as the battle continued, just could not We landed against very light opposition and turned south, take it anymore. One night, as we were under bombard- while the Marines went north. The Japanese were mainly ment, the assistant squad leader in my hole yelled out, “I on the southern fifth of the island in prepared positions, gotta get up and get out of here!” I had to jump on top of deeply entrenched in caves and pillboxes. Typically they him and hold him down in the hole. I told him, “Mac, you would hide in caves on the reverse slopes of the ridges to go out there and you’ll be cut to ribbons!” I stayed on him be sheltered from our artillery bombardment. But they kept until the shelling stopped. He left the following morning quick access to their firing positions. The Japanese had a and went back to the medical aid station and I never heard beautiful defensive plan and it really proved to be a war of or saw from him again. attrition. They fought to hold us from taking Okinawa for

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 21 Donald Dencker: That happened to a few of my buddies that ridge and start firing! The second platoon is trapped from Love Company—Company L—after the Japanese down in that village.” So we did. We had a light machine counter-attack. It was a blessing to have the Japanese try gun from our weapons platoon, a BAR, and I had an M-1. to attack us because that was the easiest way to kill them. But almost immediately after the opened up, We took a great number of casualties trying to dig them the gunner was killed. Jim Peters, who was with me, pushed out of their reinforced pillboxes, tunnels, and caves. the body aside, slid the BAR over to me, and continued to fire. Looking over to my left, I saw one of the strangest On April 19, the Army made a big push in an attempt to things I have ever witnessed. Here was Sgt. Davis Dovel, break the Japanese defensive line. At the time, the 96th from M Company, cradling a water-cooled machine gun, in Infantry Division was in the center, and we attacked the his arms, and firing it from the hip, raking it into a com- highly defended Japanese lines at Tombstone Ridge and pany strength attack by the Japanese. They were so close, Nishibaru Ridge. We broke the Japanese outer defenses, ladies and gentlemen, that I could see the whites of their but with casualties so heavy eyes. Don Dencker and his that we were relieved from mortar groups kept raising combat on the 22nd of April the elevation of their mor- because we were no longer tars, higher and higher, until in fighting shape. Laz took they were firing almost part in repelling the Japanese straight up in the air. Thank counter-attack on Nishibaru God the wind didn’t change Ridge. because those shells would have landed on our own Leonard Lazarick: As lines. They couldn’t have Don likes to point out, been more than 50 yards in though the Japanese had their front of us. In short, we were share of artillery, the Ameri- able to repulse the attack. can Army and Marine Corps They tell me that 195 Japa- were no slouches them- nese soldiers lost their lives selves. In preparation for the The 96th Infantry Divisions returns to the front lines of Okinawa on that morning. I don’t know. I May 9, 1945 - V-E Day. For the men going back into battle, the victory taking of Tombstone Ridge, in Europe meant little. never went around to count. every piece of artillery on that island was firing for at least half an hour, directly onto Don Dencker: On the night of May 9, we were marching the ridge to try to soften it up. To show you the tenacity of back into the front line after some time off when word the enemy, after all that shelling, when we left our line of came down that Germany had surrendered—V-E Day. It departure and attacked Tombstone Ridge, out popped the didn’t mean a doggone thing to us. We were going back Japanese soldiers, firing back on us. They were very, very into the front lines and many of us would be wounded and tough, and well-entrenched. After two days of hard fight- killed. It was so meaningless—absolutely meaningless. ing, Tombstone Ridge came under American arms. Shortly after, we were to take Nishibaru Ridge, and our company Our next assignment was to finally break the main Japa- was ordered to make a flanking movement to go down into nese defense line at Zebra Hill. the gorge between the ridges, then come up from the west side to attack. Two platoons from my company made it Leonard Lazarick: On May 9, we were ordered to re- into the town of Nishibaru, and once they were there they lieve the 7th Infantry Division that had been on the lines were swept with heavy machine gun fire. My platoon was since April 1. You could see the relief in the eyes of these still supposedly in reserve, and we were hiding behind a fellas when we came in. They left, and we took over their stone fence, with bullets ricocheting off the top of the positions, and were ordered to attack on the 10th. We set fence. And while we were crouching and waiting for this out the next morning, and no sooner did we show ourselves firing to stop, along comes a captain from regiment, with a that we were raked with heavy machine gun fire. One half bullet hole in his arm. He told us, “You’ve got to get up on of my platoon was either killed or wounded within a minute

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 22 or two. My squad leader, Jim Peters, was severely wounded, again, I had been in the front of my squad. We turned to catching a bullet through his leg. The medics were busy get out of there, and I was in a dead run when two Japa- trying to care for the rest of the wounded so I ripped off nese soldiers took aim at me and started firing. I could hear Peters’ uniform to expose the bullet hole in his leg and the bullets whining and snapping, before one of them shot took his first-aid kit and ripped open the bandages and me. That was the end of the war for me. poured the sulfamid powder into the wound. I told him, “Pete, you’ve got yourself a winner.” In our terms, that Donald Dencker: This was the biggest attack of the meant he was to win a ticket home, and this would be the battle, finally breaking the Japanese inner defenses. The end of the war for him. He said that was fine, and to get 6th Marine Division came in from the north to help the him out of there. Army out. We broke the right flank of the When the litter bear- Japanese defense line ers came, I was left in and precipitated their charge of the rem- withdrawal to the nants of the squad. south. The Japanese We tried again to take made their last stand the hill that afternoon, there at the southern and for some reason, end of the island. We it was much easier swept in from the this time. The only north, to the end of thing I can attribute it the island, and were to is the heroism of a able to clean out the lieutenant named remaining defenders. Seymour Terry, who I We are darn proud of believe was from 1st that. The Presidential Battalion. That morn- Unit Citation was ing he had single- awarded to the 96th handedly destroyed Infantry Division for several Japanese The 96th Infantry Division Okinawa Cemetery No. 1. Cemetery No. 2 was equally as its extraordinary large. The men’s remains were later re-interred at the National Cemetery of the Pacific, caves and pillboxes known as the “Punchbowl,” in Hawaii. heroism on Okinawa before being mortally from April 1 to June wounded. He would 30, 1945. Only four be awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. He made entire Army divisions were awarded the Presidential Unit our job quite a bit easier. Citation during the war, and the 96th was one.

That night, we made it to the reverse slope of Item Hill, There were over 1,600 graves of men from the 96th Infan- facing Zebra Hill. The following day, we advanced on Ze- try Division on Okinawa. All of us who made it home are bra Hill. The Japanese pulled a nice trick, allowing us to fortunate to be here today, and we will never forget those get into an open space where they had a good fix on us in who were lost. our exposed positions, they would open up on us in a crossfire with their automatic weapons. It was a death trap. Donald Dencker, Leonard Lazarick, and Renwyn Triplett will be Fortunately, I was able to get to the slit-trenches that the speaking on the Pacific War at the American Veterans Center’s Japanese had dug in the area before. The fellows who were 10th Annual Conference in Washington, DC, from November 8- out in the open were severely wounded and killed. We had 10, 2007. Their stories were featured on the History Channel docu- to retreat, and retake the same ground the next day, May mentary Shootout!: Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War 12, which was my last day in combat. Again, the Japanese II, available from www.history.com. let us get down into the open, in a nice, flat area. No sooner did we expose ourselves that they opened up on us, and WWII

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 23 Currahee! An Excerpt From Veterans Chronicles Featuring Donald Burgett

The World War II Veterans Committee began with the production I was in one of the lead flights, and we circled around of the award-winning radio documentary series, World War II England. I always liken it to a comet; we circled over Chronicles, commemorating the 50th anniversary of World War England, adding planes to the tail, which got longer and II. This program, hosted by the late, great “Voice of World War longer as we circled. All the planes couldn’t take off at II,” Edward J. Herlihy, aired on over 500 stations nationwide one time, so we continually circled as more planes would between 1991 and 1995 on the Radio America network. In the come up to rendezvous with us, and fall into the comet tail years since, the World War II Veterans Committee has produced which grew longer and longer. dozens of radio documentaries and series, in an effort to bring the history of the Second World War to We were coming into Normandy the American public. from the backside; we were heading back toward England The Committee’s tradition of quality when we jumped. That is why radio programming continues with you read of cases when the stick the weekly series, Veterans dropped too late, they landed in Chronicles, hosted by Gene Pell, the English Channel and they former NBC Pentagon drowned. So we had a small win- Correspondent and head of Voice dow in which you had to start of America and Radio Free jumping, otherwise you are go- Europe/Radio Liberty. With ing to land deep in enemy terri- Veterans Chronicles, listeners are tory if you jumped to early or taken back in history, and told the you were going to land in the story of World War II by the men channel if you jumped too late. and women who fought, and won, the As we came over Jersey and war. The series is broadcast on the Radio America network and Guernsey, we were ordered to stand and hook up. We re- past shows can be heard at www.wwiivets.com. In this issue, we moved the door from the plane and as we came over the print an excerpt from a recent episode. coast of France, we could see the fires on the ground. There were bombers that preceded us in, so they knocked out key anti-aircraft positions. At the same time, it gave the Donald Burgett was one of the first airborne troops to land in Germans the impression that this was a bombing run— Normandy early in the morning of D-Day as a member of the they didn’t expect that there were a lot of paratroopers 101st “Screaming Eagle” Division. He would later parachute into coming out of that plane. Holland, fighting for 72 days behind enemy lines. During the Battle of the Bulge he and the 101st successfully held out against nine We ran into a cloudbank, and only the lead plane of each German armored divisions in the . He subse- flight had a directional finder which was compatible to the quently fought through the Ruhr Valley, the Black Forest, Bavaria, pathfinders who had jumped in on their drop zones an hour and Austria. He was one of only eleven men out of 200 in his before we were to drop. When we entered the cloudbank, company to survive from Normandy to the end of the war. many of the planes had to divert from each other, since they could not see. Without the guidance system, which The D-Day landings were originally scheduled for June 5th, but foul only the lead plane had that we could not see, our flight weather in the English Channel, low visibility, and heavy seas forced fragmented. But it was not the pilot’s fault. Eisenhower to postpone for 24 hours. The following morning— June 6th—Burgett was once again on a plane which would drop him behind enemy lines.

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 24 Burgett had landed 12 miles from his designated DZ, but it wasn’t They could drop a 81mm mortar in the middle of the hole long before his first encounter. He wasn’t sure whether it was friend anytime they wanted to. So we left the hole and went the or foe. other way, and broke through a hedgerow onto a road, and there was Lt. Muir, the jumpmaster of our stick, with about I finally got out of my har- 17 men. Some were 82nd, and ness and loaded my rifle, and some were 101st, most of I saw somebody moving. I put them I didn’t know. We the cricket alongside my rifle looked around and saw a and clicked it—they don’t church steeple, and knew all sound like crickets, you the paratroopers in the area know, they just “click-clack.” would gravitate toward the The figure stopped, and then steeple because that was the no answer, no cricket, so he center of the town. started moving toward me and I could see he was on his Burgett and his buddies managed hands and knees. He got to to reach the town where they dis- about 5 or 6 feet away, and I A map demonstrating the D-Day invasion plans. Note the approach of covered a large contingent of the had the safety off my rifle, so the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions from the west, near the Channel 101st had gathered. All of them I thought that if he made any Islands. would soon be in major battles kind of move, I could blow him away. I recognized him as with the Germans. And it wasn’t just the Germans. To their sur- a man named Hundley from my squad. So I said, “How prise, their fiercest opposition came from White Russian Cossacks come you didn’t answer me?” He told me, “I lost my cricket on horseback who had signed on as mercenaries with the Nazis. and my throat was so dry, I couldn’t talk!” They would come down over We had, you know, a challenge the hedgerows, guiding their on the cricket, which was mounts with a schmeiser in one “click-click,” and the answer hand and a saber in the other, was, “click-click, click-click.” so we shot a lot of them out So if you lost your cricket the of their saddles. They would way he did, your challenge cut you in half with that saber word was “Flash,” and the if they got a good swing at other person was to answer you. We hit the German “Thunder.” And the reason Wehrmacht—the infantry— they picked “Thunder” is be- who drove us back a little bit, cause if a German overheard and after a counter-attack we what you were doing and he drove them back. Then the SS tried that, he’d say “Toonder” came in and they drove us and you would know to pull the U.S. Army Signal Corps photo of members of 2nd platoon, A Co., back, so we counter-attacked trigger. 506th PIR of the 101st Airborne loading on their plane on the again, back and forth. We must evening of June 5, 1944: D - 1. Included with the group is Donald have been in some tough fight- Burgett and his comrade were soon Burgett. ing, because I remember every joined by two other members of the 101st Airborne and the four day of combat from Normandy all the way up to Hitler’s paratroopers suddenly found themselves under heavy enemy fire. Eagle’s Nest, but there are times in that particular battle that I just can’t remember to this day. Something must have So the Germans were opening up on us, there were a lot of happened that my mind took care of it. fireworks, mortar shells dropping, machine guns cross fir- ing, and we hid in a ditch. I said, “If we stay in this hole December 16, 1944: The German army launches 26 divisions of the Germans won’t have to work very hard to take us out.” tanks and infantry against Allied lines in France and Belgium. It

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 25 was a desperate gamble that came close to succeeding. One of the Even though the Allies controlled the air, they could not reasons it failed was the 101st Airborne Division, which arrived in control the fog. Day after day it blanketed the entire the town of Bastogne on December 19, and stubbornly held it, battlefield, preventing dropping of essentials, such as food, despite being surrounded by German divisions. They demanded sur- water, clothing, and above all, ammunition. render. The 101st Airborne’s commander, Brig. General Anthony McAuliffe, sent back a one word answer: “NUTS!” Donald The 2nd Battalion went into reserve. We marched the full Burgett was one of McAuliffe’s soldiers. way through Foy, about 3 ½ miles toward Noville. The 3rd Battalion stopped there and formed a second line of de- The Battle of the Bulge started on the 16th of December fense. The 1st Battalion went on to Noville. About four and by the 17th, we were on the road. As we moved down hours before we got there, some elements of the 10th Ar- the road, sitting in open trucks, we saw a sign of what was mored arrived with about 15 Sherman tanks, some going on ahead of us. We knew it must have been big, halftracks, and armored infantry. So when we got there a because the engineers had gone lieutenant from the 10th Armored through and cut knots on the big, went around to the tanks and stately trees that lined the road, begged, borrowed, and stole am- and placed TNT on them. If the munition and weapons for us, Germans got that far, they would which he loaded into a jeep in the start blowing the trees across the middle of the road. As we road. marched by on either side, he handed me two bandoliers of am- We finally pulled to the outskirts munition that I just stuck in my of Bastogne, though we did not pocket. He armed us with gre- know where we were. We had one nades, and got us some bazooka order: hold it. There will be no rockets and so forth. He picked surrender, and no withdrawal. We up everything he could. That was were told to stay there and fight the only time we received weap- Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division watch as badly ‘til you’re dead. needed supplies are dropped into the encircled town of ons, though our command kept Bastogne. telling us that they had ammuni- General McAuliffe and his men tion and weapons coming, though faced formidable odds. They were poorly equipped and they never did. And so we went into Noville and the Ger- armed, physically and mentally worn out, having fought mans started shelling us pretty heavy; our colonel was killed for 72 days previously in Holland. Snow was waist deep, outright in the first barrage. and temperatures were well below zero. Yet they persevered. The fog started coming in. It didn’t drift in; it came straight down, like a curtain on a stage. You would hear engines General McAuliffe had taken command of the 101st be- running in the distance, the fog would lift, and there would cause General Taylor had gone back to the States. Here we be 10-15 German tanks. Then it would come down again were, not well equipped; we had no ammunition and very and go back up, and there would be no tanks. It was spooky. few weapons because we’d just gotten out of Holland, so We attacked up a hill, and the tanks came over, and when we had turned in our machine guns, rifles, mortars, and the fog lifted I looked up and counted 32 German tanks bazookas to be replaced. So when we went into Bastogne, backed by infantry bearing down on us. I had a rifle with a as far as weapons were concerned, we were naked. One of bayonet. We had to pull back into town and that’s when the guys had a stick, another had a knife, another had a the real siege started. But in less than four hours of attack- pistol; and we’re going to go up against tanks. We were ing these tanks, we went from having 140 to 160 men down experienced, so maybe they had faith in us, or maybe they to 58 left. were just putting a cork in the barrel—it wouldn’t hold the Germans but it would gain us some time. They fought their way through, but lost a lot of Shermans on their way. The Germans closed the line behind them,

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 26 so when the other tanks came up the next day and they so impressed that after he read it, he phoned my publisher shot the Germans from the inside and the outside, they and said that it was the closest thing to the truth of any- opened up the line for good. We finally received supplies; thing he had ever read. He said that this was all he was overcoats, gloves, K-rations, ammunition, and even weap- volunteering, a statement for my book, which was more ons. And then our commander ordered us into the attack than he had done for any other book on the war. So he where we fought, day and night, for a month. made a statement to endorse the book.

By January 3, the German Divisions were in full retreat. Hitler’s The kicker is that the publisher was so taken by this that gamble had failed. Moreover, he had lost over they brought my wife and I to for a dinner with 100,000 soldiers, with 30,000 dead. The troops were their top editors. After we had dinner, they brought a phone irreplaceable, as were the thousands of tanks and other to the table, and a voice came on which said, “Mr. Burgett?” materiel destroyed by the Allies. American I responded, “Yes?” “This is General losses were also heavy. Some estimates put Eisenhower,” he replied. I said, “Yeah, and them at 20,000 killed, with 40,000 I’m the tooth fairy!” And he cracked up. wounded and 20,000 taken as POWs. But He laughed so hard I knew he was rolling the Americans could recover; the Nazis on the floor, and my editors did, too. But could not. The magnitude and significance that was my introduction to General of the victory were etched on those who Eisenhower and he immediately sent a let- made it possible. ter off to me from Gettysburg, which I still have in a safe deposit box. But he made General McAuliffe recognized it first. the statement that did appear on the book When he went into the war room that was and he did say that it was the best thing there, he looked over the war map and he that he’d ever read. struck his finger on Bastogne, and he said, “This is it, this is the key to the whole And what was it that drew the endorsement and thing.” He recognized it, and was a very attention of Burgett’s book to the commander in good general. He said this was where the chief of the entire European Theater of war was going to be fought, and there Operations? would be no withdrawal and no surrender A later edition of Donald Burgett’s I think it’s because most of the books were classic book, with introduction by Stephen E. Ambrose. written by people who had been at this a That was the end of the war for Donald Burgett. long time and from their point of view. He was one of only 11 men out of 200 in his company to survive When I wrote it, I didn’t know how to write professionally. from D-Day to the end of the war. Later, in civilian life, he I was never schooled in that, but I could always tell a good became a widely respected author, whose book, Currahee! is the story. After work I would stop and have a cold beer or only book from World War II endorsed by General Dwight D. something, and all the guys that I was working with who Eisenhower. And how did Donald Burgett manage that? had never been in combat would ask me to tell them sto- ries about the war. I finally settled on writing the story When I finished it, I tried to sell it. Then I found out you down. And I told it from my foxhole, eye level. had to have an agent. An agent finally placed it with Houghton Mifflin. They didn’t believe it, that I was the Donald Burgett will be speaking on his experiences at the American Veter- first private or enlisted man who wrote a book about para- ans Center’s 10th Annual Conference from November 8-10, 2007. He is troopers in World War II. They said that nobody could go the author of such acclaimed books as Seven Roads to Hell, The Road through all of this, and had never heard it before. So they to Arnhem, Beyond the Rhine, and of course Currahee!: A Scream- ing Eagle at Normandy. wanted it authenticated and got hold of Martin Blumenson, who at the time was the head of the military archives in This episode of Veterans Chronicles, as well as many others, can be Washington, DC, and knew President Eisenhower. heard at www.wwiivets.com. Blumenson took the manuscript to Eisenhower, who was WWII

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 27 An Unstable Past Anglo-Iraqi Relations from World War II to Today By Mohammed Al-Haroun

In determining causes of the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and events Leading up to World War II, Nazi Germany attempted to take since, often overlooked is the role Iraq played in World War II. advantage of the now rampant anti-British sentiment through- Though Iraq is a country rarely mentioned in discussing the ef- out the country in luring Iraq to help the Axis cause. At this point fects the Second World War has had upon the world, it was, in in time, March 1939, Germany had already invaded Czechoslo- fact, greatly influenced by the events that transpired in the Anglo- vakia. When Italy occupied Albania, Britain and France created Iraqi War of 1941. The anti-British sentiment that first devel- an anti-aggression front, becoming allies with Poland, Romania, oped during when the Greece, and Turkey. Germany and British, at war against the Ottoman Italy soon became military allies and Empire, invaded Iraq, flourished in Germany signed a non-aggression the hands of Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani, pact with the USSR. Germany was Iraq’s Prime Minster in 1940. A de- about to invade Poland and begin veloping country with a corrupt the Second World War. However, leader can yield dangerous results, in 1939, Prime Minister Nuri as-Said as was also the case in the Persian was forced to cut off diplomatic Gulf War under the reign of relations with Germany due to prior Saddam Hussein. Iraq has long been treaty obligations with Britain. a land of constant turmoil and con- flict, dating from Mesopotamia’s fall As Britain had bigger concerns with to the Ottoman Turks to today’s cur- Germany and the Axis Powers, Iraq rent . The events of the became less of a priority in the com- Anglo-Iraqi War help explain Iraq’s ing years. This, in part, explains the future refusals to accept diplomatic ability for Iraq to launch its own war means of resolving disputes. against the British. After Germany British soldiers look across the Tigris River at the Iraqi capital of invaded Poland, Britain, along with Iraq’s first encounter with the Brit- Baghdad during the Anglo-Iraqi War, 1941. a host of other nations, declared war ish occurred in World War I in on Germany. Poland fell quickly due Britain’s war against the Ottoman Empire. The British invaded to the Germans’ implementation of blitzkrieg warfare while the Iraq with intensions of returning control of Iraq back to its people. British focused on blockading the Germans by sea. German In 1920, the British suppressed a revolt by nationalists impatient forces soon overran Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Nether- over the delay in gaining independence, but the Treaty of Sèvres lands, and Luxembourg. Shortly after the Allied disaster in the established Iraq as a mandate of the League of Nations under Battle of France, France signed an armistice with Germany and British Administration. In 1921, Iraq was made a kingdom to be Italy. Soon enough, Britain endured an immense German air at- ruled by Faisal I. The British mandate was terminated in 1932 tack, meant as a prelude to the German invasion of Britain. and Iraq became a member of the League of Nations. Iraq Germany dropped bombs on London and other strategic reluctantly agreed to several treaties, with terms that included the bombing points for four months in what would later be called provision of military bases, a British right of veto over legisla- the Battle of Britain. Germany faced its first major defeat in tion, and a 25-year alliance with Britain. Anti-British sentiment failing to decimate Britain’s Royal Air Force. The Italians also grew as many Iraqis felt these conditions did not grant them full attacked the British in North Africa. independence and still considered the country under British rule. However, Britain would soon receive help in gaining a new ally, The number of internal minority uprisings increased and do- the United States. Americans were reluctant to enter into a new mestic politics were unstable, with many parties competing for war in the aftermath of the Great Depression. The “isolationist” power. The first oil concession had been granted in 1925. Nine movement was quickly gaining popularity as laws were passed in years later, Iraqi oil was first exported. From 1936 to 1941, the 1935 and 1937 that prohibited the sale of American weapons to country experienced seven military coups. any nation at war. As Britain soon found itself alone in its war

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 28 against the Axis Powers, Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to further and overtook Baghdad, proclaimed a republic, and announced himself from the isolationists and took up measures to prepare Islam as the national religion. Abd-Ilah, along with the entire for war. He persuaded Congress to approve the Lend-Lease royal family, and Nuri As-Said were killed. The Arab union dis- Act, which allowed the U.S. to supply Allied countries with war banded and Iraq withdrew from the Baghdad pact in 1959. Re- material to help improve the security of the nation, and the first lations with other Middle Eastern neighbors grew tense as Iraq peacetime military , which required men between the ages claimed sovereignty over Kuwait and Iranian land along the Shatt of 21 and 35 to register. However, Americans were still hesitant Al-Arab. In 1962, Kurdish tribes revolted, demanding an au- to enter into a ‘foreign’ war. tonomous Kurdistan. They continued to fight for over twenty years. This viewpoint changed after December 7th, 1941. “A day,” Roosevelt declared “that will In 1979, Saddam Hussein as- live in infamy.” The Japanese sumed the role of Iraqi presi- launched a surprise attack on a dent. The Iran-Iraq War broke U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, out on September 22, 1980, Hawaii. The damage was co- when Iraq commenced a land lossal; there were over 2,400 and air invasion of western Americans killed, over 200 Iran, claiming control over Ira- planes destroyed, and eight nian land along the Shatt Al- battleships sunk or greatly dam- Arab. Iraq began with success, aged. The isolationist move- occupying Khorramshahr, a ment ended abruptly and the port city. Iran soon forced Iraqi United States was immediately troops out of occupied areas at war with Japan following of Iran, but Khomeini, the Roosevelt’s request, and soon Iranian regent, vowed to enough, with Germany and USAF aircraft of the 335th Fighter squadron on a mission over Kuwait overthrow Saddam’s admin- the Axis powers. during the Gulf War in 1991. Below are several of the hundreds of Kuwaiti istration. Iran, in turn, began oil wells that the Iraqi military set on fire during their retreat from the emirate. to launch a series of attacks Britain’s lonely battle against the Axis powers, before the U.S. on Iraq. The militarily weaker Iraq resorted to the use of chemi- entered the war, proved incredibly difficult. Thus, the Iraqi change cal weapons. Air and missile attacks were prevalent throughout in prime minister did not raise any red flags. In 1940, Rashid Ali the war, and soon each nation began to attack its enemy’s capital succeeded Nuri as prime minister. Rashid, strongly anti-British cities. After eight years of mutual attacks, stalemates, and atroci- and pro-Axis, was not as receptive to Britain’s requests. He at- ties committed by both nations (including the use of poison gas), tempted to implement restrictions on British troop movements Iran accepted a cease-fire with the aid of the United Nations. in Iraq and refused to cut communication with the Axis powers. The Emir Abd al Ilah and Nuri as-Said, who cooperated with After the war with Iran, Iraq continued its arms buildup. This Britain, openly opposed Rashid Ali’s approach and asked for his yielded international criticism, much of which came from the resignation. In retaliation, Rashid Ali led a military coup that over- United States, which, though not inclined to support either re- threw the regent Abd al Ilah and Nuri in 1941. The British re- gime, recognized the danger of a decisive Iranian victory in its sponded by reinforcing their troops at Basra. In May of that war with Iraq, and thus lent support to Iraq. Saddam also looked same year, Rashid Ali, with minimal German and Italian sup- down towards its oil-rich neighbor to the south, Kuwait. Iraqi- port, opened hostilities. After 30 days he was completely de- Kuwaiti relations quickly worsened, with Iraq making claims feated and Abd al Ilah was reinstated. The British military occu- Kuwait refused to recognize. Saddam viewed the boundary line pation of Iraq ended in 1947. between Iraq and Kuwait inaccurately decided upon by the Brit- ish. In July 1990, Saddam accused Kuwait of flooding the world In 1948, Iraq participated with four Arab nations in the Arab- oil market with lower prices, hurting Iraq in its attempt to pay Israeli war, unsuccessfully. All political parties in 1954 disbanded off its debt and boost its economy. and a new parliament was elected. A national development plan for Iraq was undertaken, to which the United States extended On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait with an army of 120,000 financial and military aid. In 1955, Iraq became a member of the troops. The U.N. placed economic sanctions on Iraq. However, Baghdad pact along with Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, and Britain. the U.S., Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, and other countries amassed However, General Abd Al-Karim Kassem commanded a coup a large coalition force in case the economic pressure failed. Presi-

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 29 dent George H.W. Bush ordered Operation Desert Shield, a Iraq was devastated after the war. Factories, bridges, and roads defensive mission to protect Saudi Arabia and its oil fields. When were ruined. Oil industry facilities, water purification, and sew- Hussein refused to withdraw his troops by the deadline set by age treatment facilities were demolished. Trade sanctions, which the United Nations, Jan. 15, 1991, Operation Desert Storm was continued after the war, further damaged Iraq’s war-torn put into effect. economy. After Iraq was forced to accept the U.N.’s ceasefire agreement, its biological and chemical weapons were destroyed. The United States led a coalition force of 35 nations and began air attacks on Iraq on January 16, 1991. In retaliation, Iraq launched Anglo-Iraqi tension did not diminish after the war, with Hussein Scud missiles against Israel and Saudi Arabia in an unsuccessful continuously defying the terms of the Gulf War ceasefire. From attempt to expand the war. These missiles, built by the Soviet the Anglo-Iraqi and Gulf War, Iraq’s relations with the West Union, were inaccurate compared to the modern technological have proven unstable. Attempts to use diplomatic means with weapons used by the coalition forces. Though the missiles gen- Iraq proved ineffective, as corrupt, power hungry leaders yearned erated psychological fear, Israel did not enter the war. Six weeks for higher aspirations by resorting to any means necessary. Gov- later, the coalition forces began a successful ground invasion to ernment corruption continually stemmed from internal conflict free Kuwait. Iraq was soon defeated, with a cease fire being and dispute within the nation. Today, Iraq is still a developing declared 100 hours into the Allied ground campaign, and its country undergoing major reconstruction. However, Iraq must troops were forced out of Kuwait, though Saddam stayed in earn the privilege of becoming fully autonomous and prove it power. The most telling sign of the extent to which the coalition can sustain a stable government and society while refraining from forces succeeded is in the number of casualties on each side. The aggression abroad. coalition forces lost less than 300 men, whilst estimated Iraqi deaths are in the tens of thousands. WWII World War II Roundtables Preserve History in Your Hometown

In 1987, retired Army Colonel Don Patton and Dr. Harold rium at historic Ft. Snelling, and includes a staff of 30 people— Duetsch of the University of Minnesota came up with an idea all volunteers. to create a World War II History Roundtable in Minneapolis, where people with an interest in World War II history could The World War II History Roundtable is just one of many groups meet to discuss the war, and listen to veterans and historians give around the country, dedicated to preserving the history of the their special insights on the Second World War. The plan was to war among the people in their hometowns. Groups such as the have Dr. Duetsch lecture,Thank based on his WWIIYou course For taught at YourRoanoke Roundtable Support! in Roanoke, Virginia, are also leading the the university, which was always oversubscribed, if speakers could way in preserving this history, locally. The World War II Veter- not be located. This proved not to be a problem, as there were ans Committee applauds such efforts, and is proud to support a great number of veterans with fantastic stories to share right in them. If you are a part of a discussion group or roundtable on their neighborhood, as well as authors and historians publishing the war, let us know—in the future we will pass the word along, a wide variety of new work. so that readers interested in joining will know where to look. Also, we are glad to provide complimentary photos and back Despite being denied support from the university for a meeting issues of World War II Chronicles which can help facilitate discus- space, due to the focus on military topics, the roundtable was sion. And while we hope our readers will join us for our up- able to find a home at a local American Legion post, and quickly coming annual conference, getting involved with roundtables and took off, due to the public’s desire to learn about the war and discussion groups on the local level is a way we can all do our the tremendous number of veterans who had great stories to part in preserving the history of World War II. share. From simple beginnings, the roundtable grew to include hundreds of members and nine to twelve programs per year, To learn more about the World War II History Roundtable in Minnesota, with such historians as Dennis Showalter, Flint Whitlock, and contact Col. Don Patton at [email protected] or 952-941-5700. For Rick Atkinson participating in 2007. It now meets at the audito- the Roanoke Roundtable, contact Roger Scott at [email protected] or 540- 334-2722. WWII

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 30 Thank You For Your Support!

“Bringing the legacy of the Greatest Generation to the latest generation” has been the motto of the World War II Veterans Committee since its inception a decade ago. Through its various programs, the Committee has sought to provide an outlet for the veterans of history’s greatest and most tragic war to share their experiences with the public, and to preserve them for future generations. The continued support of thousands of individuals across America has allowed the Committee to expands its efforts over the years, instituting a number of quality projects, including:

The National Memorial Day Parade World War II Chronicles Held each year along the National Mall in Washington, DC, and Our quarterly publication, which provides the opportunity for featuring nearly 200 elements and over 250,000 spectators. Since veterans to share their stories, in their own words with an audi- its creation in 2005, the parade has grown to be among the larg- ence of tens of thousands of people. Copies of Chronicles are est in the nation, and serves to remind Americans of all genera- also donated to nearly 200 VA hospitals and vets centers around tions of the sacrifices made by our uniformed men and women. the country, as a way to say “thank you” to our veterans, and Documentaries and Radio Series those who care for them. The Committee has a long history of producing quality radio Youth Activities and Educational Outreach documentaries in association with the Radio America network. The underlying theme of each of our programs is to build an Included is the award-winning World War II Chronicles on which appreciation of World War II history among young people. Stu- this publication is based, D-Day: They Were There and Pearl dents and youth groups are encouraged to participate in Com- Harbor: 60 Years of Echoes. More recently, the Committee has mittee activities, and the Committee sponsors essay contests, a sponsored two weekly radio series, Veterans Chronicles and high school and college scholarship, and an internship pro- Proudly We Hail, both programs featuring interviews with gram, all providing an opportunity for young people to learn America’s great heroes. about - and from - the Greatest Generation. Annual Veterans Conference Supporting Our Troops Every Veterans Day weekend America’s greatest veterans gather In addition to featuring the stories of those currently serving in to share their experiences with an audience of several hundred our publications and radio programs, and including them in the students, fellow veterans, and the public. The 2006 conference National Memorial Day Parade, the Committee is proud to spon- was televised live on C-Span, and viewed by thousands of sor regular events for our wounded heroes currently undergo- Americans. ing rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Two of our summer 2007 interns, Mohammed Al-Haroun and Emily Tibbets. As part of their High school students line up to shake hands with internship, students research topics on the war legendary veterans and Medal of Honor Retired Major General John K. Singlaub signs a and interview veterans and historians before recipients George “Bud” Day and Hiroshi copy of his book, Hazardous Duty, for one of writing an article to be printed in Committee “Hershey” Miyamura at the 2006 conference. our active duty service members at a dinner for publications. our wounded warriors from Iraq and Afghanistan sponsored by the American Veterans Center.

World War II Chronicles - Summer, 2007 - 31 Coming Next Issue... A New Look!

For the past decade, World War II Chronicles has brought the first-hand accounts of America’s Greatest Generation to the public in an effort to preserve their legacy. Beginning in the fall of 2007, we will expand our efforts, to include the stories from not just our World War II veterans, but those generations who have served with honor and valor since. The result will be a brand new magazine, American Valor Quarterly, with a full color cover and glossy paper—a first rate publication dedicated to sharing the stories of America’s greatest heroes of all generations.

Still, as we move forward, each issue of American Valor Quarterly will still contain a World War II Chronicles chapter. Our dedication to sharing the experiences of World War II veterans will not change. Rather, we will use this opportunity to bring the World War II generation together with those who served in Korea, Vietnam, and of course our brave young heroes currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan whose stories of valor have been too often ignored. The veterans of the Second World War have long served as the model for what succeeding generations of uniformed men and women have striven to be, and we are proud, and honored, to help tell the stories of the Greatest Generation through the latest generation.

Look for your issue of American Valor Quarterly in fall, 2007!

World War II Veterans Committee A Division of the American Veterans Center 1100 N. Glebe Rd. Suite 910 Arlington, VA 22201