Paul Cooper Oral History Monologue
Paul Cooper:
This is Paul E. Cooper. I was a member of the Fourth Marine
Division that landed on Saipan. I was born November 18, 1923, in north Oklahoma. I was a student in high school before I went into the military. I graduated from high school May 7, 1943, and left that night to join the Marine Corps. I was sworn in
May 8 and left that day for San Diego aboard a troop train. I was raised on a farm and worked long, hard hours, and also I played high school baseball so I was in pretty good shape physically. So I didn’t have any problems adjusting to military life. Also my father had been a sergeant in World War I and demanded respect and received it from his children and most anyone else who knew my father. I always said, “Yes, sir,”
“No, sir,” “Yes, ma’am,” “No, ma’am,” and always addressed older folks as Mr. or Mrs. I had registered for the draft when I was
18 and wanted to join the military, but my folks wouldn’t make the signature, and they denied me joining before finishing high school. My father also had to register for the draft, but they told him he probably wouldn’t be called because he was more important to the war effort by raising crops and livestock. I volunteered for the military before I was drafted so I could choose the branch of service of my choice. I would have been
1 drafted very shortly anyway. Then I may not have been able to join the branch of service of my choice. I was very angry at the Japanese when they bombed Pearl Harbor. I know that I wanted to go to the Pacific area, and I knew that’s where most of the Marines were sent, and that’s the main reason I joined the Marine Corps, and I wasn’t ever sorry for doing so. Another reason I wanted to go to the Pacific was that was where my father served in that part of the world at the end of World War
I. He was in the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippines, and
Siberian Russia. He was there from 1918 until 1922. I was assigned to Platoon 382. Sergeant L. E. Williamson, Corporal O.
F. McMullen, and PFC H. J. Segelken were our DIs. There were about on average 60 men in each platoon. There were about 10 platoons in our group. We were the senior platoon. We lived in
20-men huts while our junior platoons lived in tents. When we went to Camp Matthews rifle range, we lived in 16-men huts. We ate in the Blue Room mess hall, ate off china while the junior platoons lived in tents, ate in mess tents, and had metal trays to eat off of. I enjoyed the tent, but it was an adjustment to being away from home and friends.
Finished boot camp July 2, 1943, and graduated that day. Was promoted to PFC that day also. Left on a 10-day furlough.
After furlough stayed at Marine Corps base at San Diego until
2 July 19, 1943. Was transferred to Camp Pendleton and Area 13.
Was assigned to the 29th Replacement Battalion. This was an artillery school where we trained on 75 pack Howitzers, 105 and
155 Howitzers. Attended gas warfare school, demolition school, jungle warfare school, long weekend hikes, and was assigned to fire fighting details whenever we were needed in the area around
Camp Pendleton. Clarence P. Schlichting and I were the only two from our platoon sent to this area. We stayed together in the same group throughout the war and were discharged in November
1945.
Toward the end of October 1943, we began to hear rumors that we would soon be going to the Pacific. On November 8, 1943, the whole division left Camp Pendleton by truck with our equipment to the Mojave Desert on maneuvers. November 20, 1943, we came back to Camp Pendleton and continued training and packing gear.
At 2:00 a.m. on November 27, 1943, we left for San Diego. We went aboard the USS Elmore which was a [KA?] ship and went around [San Clemente?] Island and made a few landings. We arrived back in San Diego December 3, 1943, made the trip back to Camp Pendleton, and went through more training. Then at 2:00 a.m. December 27, 1943, made the trip back to San Diego. This time we went aboard LST-248, went out around San Clemente
Island, made more landings, came back in to San Diego January 6,
3 1944. Part of the outfit left that day for the South Pacific.
I was in the group that made the trip back to Camp Pendleton.
We continued training and packing and at 2:00 a.m. January 13 we left for San Diego. We went aboard LSD-4 Epping Forest. We left that day for the South Pacific.
After we left the Hawaiian Islands, we found out we were going to the Marshall Islands. This was the first group division to leave the states and go straight into combat. May 13, 1944, left our base camp on the island of Maui. This was Camp Maui.
We were leaving for Saipan, but we didn’t know it until after we had left the Marshall Islands. The Saipan, Guam, and Tinian
Operation was code named Operation Forager. We went aboard LSD-
340, left that day for maneuvers for around Hawaiian Islands.
We made several beachheads.
We arrived in West Loch Pearl Harbor on Saturday afternoon May
20. There were 44 LSTs that tied up in the West Loch. We were all locked in a very small area. At 3:00 p.m. on May 27, there was a terrific explosion on LS-69 which was directly ahead of our LST. Each of these LSTs had 55-gallon drums of high- octane gasoline secured on the bottom deck of each LST. These drums on LST were exploding sending fire over several other
LSTs. Also the Army was in the process of offloading rockets
4 off of LST-69. These exploded. The fire started on other ships on LSTs. Before this fire and explosion were contained, we lost seven fully loaded LSTs and all of our equipment, two LCTs, and a 167 men were killed. I did remember how many were injured, but I’ve forgotten.
On May 22, I was transferred and went aboard the USS Leon, which was an APA ship. This ship was tied up at Sand Island, which was close to Honolulu. We left Sand Island May 25, 1944, and arrived in the Marshall Islands June 6, 1944, and transferred back aboard the LST-340 for the trip on to Saipan. Arrived at
Saipan June 15, 1944. We went ashore near [Chernekenoa?], which was near Beach One. Our gun position was about 200 yards just off the beach. We had lots of trouble getting our 105 Howitzers unloaded due to heavy artillery fire and other things. The artillery fire was heavy and accurate. We discovered that the
Japanese had (inaudible) smokestacks at the sugar mill near
Chernekenoa. This was destroyed, but we were still getting some fire, and also we were getting people hit by small arms fire.
Behind our position, we discovered a well-camouflaged OP. It was buried in the ground and had a heavy, round metal cover that could be lifted from inside so that the officer could raise it to determine what adjustments needed to be made for more effective results. This was discovered and destroyed and the
5 artillery shelling subsided considerably. Next was to do something about the small-arms fire. After all it was discovered that the fire was coming from the top of the coconut tree out in front of our position about 200 yards. Someone talked one of the tanks come along and directed the crew that was -- told the crew what was needed. He went about 50 yards on down the road in front of our guns and made a sharp 90-degree turn to the left and leveled his onboard 37-millimeter at the top of the coconut tree and fired one round, and the Japanese fell out of the tree along with his weapon. Each gun section posted a guard out in front of each gun. This guard was changed each hour because it was a constant pressure. During the night, we heard something come through the brush across the road in front of our gun. The guard shouted “Halt” three times, and it didn’t halt so he opened fire with several rounds, and the noise stopped. The next morning about 30 feet in front of our gun was a huge oxen lying on his back with all four feet straight up in the air.
The second night we were strafed by a Jap Zero. He was down so low you could see his face when he came by. That afternoon
Lieutenant Faulkner got two of the men and me, and we went forward to survey for another artillery position. We went about two miles and were looking over toward Tinian Island where we
6 saw four fighter planes coming towards us. We all remarked how good it was to have that Navy planes for protection when all of a sudden they opened fire upon us. We were close to an embankment so we dropped behind this embankment, and the bullets went over our heads. At that time we were laying on our backs, we saw four Navy planes come into view. They were right above us when they engaged these planes that we thought were our planes. The dogfight lasted maybe four or five minutes. One
Jap plane went down in a trail of smoke and fire. Then one of our planes went down. Then another one of the Jap planes went down, and the other two high tailed it out of there. It was getting late so Lieutenant Faulkner suggested we had better get back to our position as it wasn’t safe to be out after dark as you might get shot by your own people. June 20, 1944, we moved forward to our new position just north and east of [Osleto?]
Airstrip. That night we put out our guards in front of each gun, and two and three men guards on the right flank and on the left flank.
On the morning of June 21 over on the right side of our position out in front about 200 yards, two or three men were walking in a stooped position, walking toward the guard post. These men out in front were men of the CP, which were the communications section. They were checking phone lines. This was done by
7 letting the phone line slide through their hand as they walked along checking to see if the Japs had tapped in during the night. These two guards over on our right opened fire on them, and the CPs returned fire. We saw what was happening and started running toward them trying to get them to stop. Both of our guards were hit. One was Private George A. Eisten, and the other one I don’t remember. Both of these boys were just out of boot camp a short while. This was their first combat. They were taken aboard one of our hospital ships where they both died a few days later.
Every night since we had been on Saipan, we were bombed around midnight. We called this Midnight Charlie. Around June 22 at midnight this plane made another run on Osleto Airstrip. What they didn’t know was that the Army had put up 90-millimeter anti-artillery guns or anti-aircraft guns. On the third trip over that night, they hit him. All of the guys started yelling and cheering, and our CO Captain John Kribokapich told them in a loud voice to keep it down. What he didn’t know was some of the men had gotten some sake and were about half lit up. They wanted to go out and attack the Japs that night. (inaudible) and Captain Kribokapich would get them settled down. He threatened them with court martial if they didn’t quiet down.
8 On June 29, we were moved forward into a wooded area. K Battery lost six men that night. We were pretty close to the ocean, and a few men from each section were going down to the ocean to clean up a little. The Army had an armed guard on the beach as well as a main guard. (inaudible) Dunlap, George Gobele,
Laverne Wultzen, and I decided to go down and clean up, but we decided to go a different way. We were about 300 yards out in front of our gun over on the right side. We went into a heavy underbrush which was a small pig trail as a path which went along a creek on our left and a high straight up and down cliff on our right. We followed this creek until it was over against the cliff, and it was 8-10 feet down to the creek. So we chose to cross to the other side. So we decided to go back to the position going the other way down to the beach. When we got to the edge of the tinder, we met Corporal Cobb, PFC Smart, PFC
Stewart, and PFC Ruzo. They asked us what was down there. We told them there was a big, deep creek to cross, and we decided to go a different way. They said they were going that way and left. They hadn’t been gone more than two or three minutes when we heard all this shooting and PFC Ruzo came running out of the timber and said that the Japs had killed the other three. We didn’t have our weapons with us and went back to the position to get them, and Captain Kribokapich stopped us. He said that we’d get the tank and go in to the area and clean up things.
9
On July second about 3:00 a.m., PFC Chester Eller and I were on guard duty. Over on our right side next to the tree line, we had a trip wire. This was a fine wire that stretched about four inches above the ground with C-ration cans tied to it with little rocks in them, and if the wire was hit, it would make a loud noise, and that would alert us. This is what happened around in the morning. These trip wires set off a signal that something was happening about that time out in front of our position when these dark figures appeared. The guard on the left hollered “Halt” three times, and they kept moving. He opened up on them, and Chester and I did too. I had an automatic weapon so I fired more rounds than the rest. The next morning we went out when it was daylight. There were dead soldiers and some small children. The sergeant started dressing me down and said I was a murderer, but I wasn’t the only one shooting. He said that didn’t make any difference because I was expending more ammo than the rest so I was responsible.
About that time Lieutenant Joe Fegan from Mike Battery got a hold of the sergeant and turned him around and really gave him down the river. Said what if that Japs had gotten through and in his foxhole what would you have done then? That was the first and only time I ever heard an officer get onto a noncom in front of a lower rank. July 9, 1944, Saipan was declared
10 secure. We moved back that day to the south end of the island to get ready to fire on Tinian. July 17, 1944, set up guns preparing for an invasion of Tinian. This was delayed a few days in order to see how the invasion was going on in Guam.
July 24, 1944, there were 96 105s and 24 155 Howitzers lined up hub to hub firing on Tinian to make the beachhead for the infantry.
On July 27 at midnight, we stopped firing and went aboard an LCT with our equipment and went for the short trip across to Tinian.
We didn’t have initially any place to sleep. No restrooms, no food. We stayed on this LCT the rest of that night, the next night, and the next day until about 3:00 when a lot of our men came down with high fever and dysentery. They took us aboard the USS Cambrian. I remember I was right behind Captain
Kribokapich when we went aboard. We all looked like a bunch of drowned rats and were dirty. No one had any rank showing so you couldn’t tell a captain from a private. Anyway, we were met by this Marine lieutenant in pressed, clean khaki, and he started dressing Captain Kribokapich down that we were the sorriest bunch of Marines he had ever seen. Captain Kribokapich let him go for about 30 seconds, and then the captain got his attention and told him to get us fed, showers, and clean clothes. We got good service. We left this ship on August 1, 1944, at 3:00
11 p.m., went back aboard the ship that we had left from, and landed on Tinian at 6:30 p.m. We stayed on Tinian until August
10, 1944. While we were on Tinian this short period of time, most of what we did was guard duty and when we weren’t doing that we were playing softball. We got a bulldozer and and cleaned us a spot for a ball diamond, and we got the equipment from supply. The total operation on Saipan and Tinian our battery fired 8,420 rounds of ammo. Each round of ammo for 105s weighs a little over 49 pounds. We left Tinian aboard the USS
Typhoon. Operation Forager was complete.
This Paul E. Cooper. I was a member of the 4th Marine Division that landed on Saipan. I was in L Battery, Fourth Battalion,
14th Marines. I was on a 105 Howitzer gun section on gun number two. L Battery was the center battery in the battalion. K battery was set up on our right, and light battery was set up on the left.
I was born November 18, 1923, in north Oklahoma. I was a student in high school before I went into military. I graduated from high school May 7, 1943, and left that night after graduation to join the Marine Corps. I was sworn in in Oklahoma
City May 8, 1943, and left that day aboard a troop train for San
Diego, California, and Marine Corps boot camp.
12
I arrived at San Diego, California, May 11, 1943, about 3:00 p.m. Our group was met by a huge, burly master sergeant about six foot four and weighing about 225 pounds. He was very rough speaking. He called us names I had never heard before. He told us to get on that bus and to keep our mouths shut, and if we didn’t, he could see that they were closed by knocking a few teeth down our throats. I had never been spoken to like that in all my life. I didn’t say anything as my father had advised me to keep my mouth shut and my ears and eyes open and to do whatever I was told. I was raised on a farm and worked long, hard hours. Also I played high school baseball so I was in pretty good shape physically. I didn’t have any trouble adjusting to military life. Also my father had been a sergeant in the Army during World War I. He demanded respect and received it from his children and most anyone who knew my father. I always said, “Yes, sir,” “No, sir,” “Yes, ma’am,” and, “No, ma’am,” and always addressed older folks as Mr. or
Mrs. I had registered for the draft when I was 18 and wanted to join the military then, but they wouldn’t take without my parents’ signature, and my parents wouldn’t sign for me. They told me I had to finish high school. My father also had registered for the draft, but they told him he probably wouldn’t be called because he was more important to the war effort by
13 raising crops and livestock. I volunteered for the military before I was drafted so I could choose the branch of service of my choice. I would have been drafted very shortly anyway. Then
I may not have been able to join the branch of service of my choice. I was very angry at the Japanese when they bombed Pearl
Harbor. I know I wanted to go to the Pacific area, and I knew that’s where most of the Marines were sent, and that was the main reason I joined the Marine Corps, and I have never been sorry for doing so. Another reason I wanted to go to the
Pacific was that was where my father served toward the end of
World War I. He was in the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippines, and Siberian Russia. He was in the Rainbow Division Company D
27th Infantry. I was assigned to Platoon 382. Sergeant L. E.
Williamson, W-I-L-L-I-A-M-S-O-N, Corporal O. F. McMullen, M-C-M-
U-L-L-E-N, and PFC H. J. Segelken, S-E-G-E-L-K-E-N were our DIs.
There were about 60 men on average in each platoon. There were about 10 platoons in our area at boot camp. We were the senior platoon. We lived in 20-men huts while our junior platoons lived in tents. When we went to Camp Matthews rifle range, we lived in 16-men huts. We ate in the Blue Room and had china to eat off of. The other platoons lived in tents, ate in tent mess halls, and ate off of metal trays. I enjoyed boot camp, but it was an adjustment to being away from home and friends.
14 I finished boot camp July 2, 1943, and graduated that day. Was promoted to PFC that day also. Left for home on a 10-day furlough. After furlough stayed at Marine Corps base at San
Diego until July 19, 1943. Was transferred to Camp Pendleton near Oceanside, California, and Area 13. Was assigned to the
27th Replacement Battalion. This was an artillery school where we trained on 75 pack Howitzers, 105 and 155 Howitzers. I attended gas warfare school, demolition school, jungle warfare school, long weekend hikes, and was assigned to fire fighting details whenever we were needed in the area around Camp
Pendleton. Clarence P. Schlichting S-C-H-L-I-C-H-T-I-N-G and I were the only two from our platoon sent to this area. We stayed together in the same group throughout the war and were discharged in November, 1945. Clarence is still alive the last time I contacted him. After we were discharged, we were sent home. I lost contact with all my buddies. In 1983, I started to search for as many of my buddies as I could find due to the help of a friend in Seattle, Washington, by the name of
Chuck Johnson. He had placed an ad in a military magazine for information from anyone who was at West Loch Pearl Harbor on May
21, 1944, in a group of LSTs that exploded. I answered, and we became good friends, and I visited him in 1985 at the 4th Marine
Division Reunion in Seattle, Washington. He helped me locate many of my buddies. I’m sorry to say that Chuck passed away
15 November 18, on my birthday, in 1996. I had wondered about
Clarence Schlichting all these years, and finally I found out he lived in Duluth, Minnesota, and I called information and got him on the line. He never did really remember me. Told me he had been a heavy drinker, that he had worked for the city of Duluth, and was in an explosion and was badly burned. I wrote him several times, but I never heard from him. Clarence was in gun number three, the gun next to me.
I came home November 27, 1945, after separation from service. I was discharged November 21, 1945, at Camp Pendleton. I came home and farmed with my father until I entered college in
September, 1946. I was one of the first ones to be discharged from the military in our area after the war was over. I didn’t have any of my old buddies that I went in with because they were still in the service, and they didn’t get out for six to eight months after I did. I almost reupped three or four times after
I had gotten out. Then some of my friends and I decided to start college on the GI Bill. I’m glad that I did. I finished college, got my BS degree.
I graduated from college in May 1950. I went to work for North
American Pipeline Company. I played semi-pro baseball, which this company sponsored. In the fall of 1952, I resigned from
16 that company and was hired at Wainwright, Oklahoma, to teach school. I was surprised that the principal resigned before school started that fall, and the board appointed me to be the high school principal. I went back to school and got my master’s degree in elementary administration and finished my career as elementary principal here in Stigler. My wife taught fifth grade. We both retired in 1986. We now raise cattle on our 270-acre ranch. We enjoy retirement and attend military reunions once a year and visit with buddies and their wives.
Sorry to say I have lost several good buddies in the past couple of years.
Toward the end of October in 1943, we began to hear rumors that we would soon be going to the Pacific. On November 6, 1943, the whole division left Camp Pendleton by truck with all of our equipment to the Mojave Desert on maneuvers. November 20, 1943, we came back to Camp Pendleton and continued training and packing gear. At 2:00 p.m. on November 27, 1943, we loaded up our gear and left for San Diego. We went aboard the USS Elmore,
E-L-M-O-R-E, which was a cargo ship and went out around San
Clemente Island and made a few landings. We arrived back in San
Diego December 3, 1943, made the trip back to Camp Pendleton, went through more training. Then around 2:00 p.m. December 27,
1943, made the trip back to San Diego. This time we went aboard
17 LST 248, went out around San Clemente Island, made more landings, came back into San Diego Harbor January 6, 1944. Part of the outfit left that day for the South Pacific.
I was in the group that made the trip back to Camp Pendleton.
We continued training and packing and around 2:00 p.m. on the
12th of January, 1944, we left for San Diego. We spent the rest of that night and day and the next night until about 3:00 p.m. on loading ships. We went aboard LSD-4 Epping Forest, E-P-P-I-
N-G F-O-R-E-S-T. We left that day for the South Pacific. After we left the Hawaiian Islands, we found out we were going to the
Marshall Islands. This was the first division to leave the states and go directly into combat. May 13, 1944, left our base camp on the island of Maui for Saipan, but we didn’t know then we were going to Saipan. We found this out after we left the Marshall Islands. This operation was code named Operation
Forager. We went aboard LST-340 and left that day for maneuvers for around Hawaiian Islands. Almost from the beginning, we ran into bad luck. On the night of May 14, 1944, on the way to maneuvers several LSTs rain into heavy storms and high waves.
Three LSTs in the convoy were carrying LCTs on the top decks of
LCTs loaded with rocket launders and 2,500 rounds of 4.2-inch rockets. LST-485 which was carrying one of these LCTs loaded with a rocket launcher and 2,500 rounds of 4.2-inch rockets --
18 I can’t remember the number -- came loose from the LST and went over the side, and the next LST in the column rammed this LCT sinking it. LST-340 was carrying LCT-984 another rocket launcher LCT and 2,500 rounds of 4.2-inch rockets. It came loose and went over the side. It was damaged so badly that it was sunk so as not to cause a hazard for other ships. LST-71 was carrying LCT-999, was lost over the side, but it was taken in and towed back to Pearl Harbor. The maneuvers were over on
May 19, and all ships started back to Pearl Harbor.
Our LST-340 came into Pearl Harbor on May 20. By evening, all ships in our group were tied up in the West Loch in Pearl
Harbor. There were 34 ships in our group. On Sunday afternoon around 3:00 p.m. LST-69 which was directly in front of our ship blew up sending fire over the first line of ships. Most of these LSTs were carrying 55 gallon drums of high octane gasoline which was strapped down to the deck on the ships. On LST-69’s port side was LST-43, LST-179, LST-353, LST-39, and LST-480 was in the row that 340 was in which was the row I was in. LST-354 was the other LST carrying an LCT, which was LCT-963 on deck equipped with rocket launchers and 2,500 rounds of 4.2-inch rockets. An Army outfit was offloading the 4.2-inch rockets and rocket launchers. There was no more ammo that was available, and it was decided to scrap that part of the operation. A total
19 of six LSTs and two LCTs were destroyed. One hundred and sixty- two men were killed, and 396 were injured. We left Pearl Harbor a day late, but made up for it in route to the Marshalls.
On May 22, several of my group were transferred and went aboard the US Leon, L-E-O-N, which was an APA. I asked my friend Jack
Marshall what APA stood for, and he said he thought it meant all-purpose transport. I don’t know if that is right or not.
The USS Leon was tied up at Sand Island next to Honolulu, and we left May 25, 1944, and arrived in the Marshall Islands June 6,
1944, and was transported back aboard LST-340 for the trip on to
Saipan. We arrived at Saipan June 15, 1944, very early in the morning. (inaudible) of steak, gravy, biscuits, eggs, and coffee. After that we started to get our gear on, to get it on and making preparation to get going as soon as orders were given. Our 105 Howitzer was loaded on the decks which were in the lower deck of the LST. Each deck was loaded into the decks prior to loading on the LST before we left Maui. Each battery had an A frame with a hoist on the deck to lift the 105 out of the decks when we got onshore. Each deck could carry the 105,
50 rounds of ammo, and a crew of seven men. Each gun section had 14 men and enough for two crews so when we got into combat we could give around the clock support. The first two or three days everyone was working getting the guns dug in and getting
20 additional ammo and other things that needed to be done like doing guard duty. After a while we were able to set up a reasonable schedule. I was in the section that went ashore in a
LCVP, landing craft vehicle personnel. We landed near
(inaudible) which was near the beach. Our gun position was about 200 yards off the beach. We had trouble getting our guns unloaded due to heavy artillery fire. We discovered that the
Japanese had an OP in one of the towers in the sugar mill near
(inaudible). This was destroyed, but we were still getting artillery fire, and some of the men were getting hit by small- arms fire. Behind our position, we discovered a well- camouflaged OP. It was buried in the ground and had a heavy, rounded metal cover that could be lifted up from inside so the
Japanese soldier inside could make adjustments from the artillery fire. This was destroyed and the shelling subsided considerably. After a while, it was discovered that a sniper was in the top of a coconut tree about 200 yards out in front of our gun position and a little to the right. A tank came along and someone flagged him down and told him the problem.
The tank went down the road in front of our guns about 50 yards and made a 90-degree turn to the left. The gunner lowered the
37-millimeter and fired one time at the top of the coconut tree, and out came the Jap soldier and rifle.
21 Mike Battery or M Battery was set up on the left across the road that led up to (inaudible) airfield. One of Mike Battery’s gun crew got a direct hit in the gun pit and killed or wounded 14 men. My good buddy, Mike Banus B-A-N-U-S, was one of those who lost his life that day. Mike was an outstanding baseball player. Each gun section posted a guard in front of the guns when they were not firing, and this was only at night. This guard was changed every hour, not so much to pressure as I said before, but because everyone was too tired because no one had slept in probably 24 hours or more. Some of the guards in other sections had their throats cut, but not in our battery. That in itself was enough to keep a close lookout whenever you were on duty.
During the second night, we heard something come through the brush across the road in front of our gun. The guard on duty hollered “Halt” three times, and started firing. The noise stopped. The next morning out in front of our gun was this huge oxen laying on his back with all four feet straight up in the air. On the morning of June 18, the Japanese tried to counterattack by boat from Tinian. Part of the 27th Armament
Division had just landed that morning and were in our area. We were given an order to turn our artillery guns toward Tinian.
This was over a 90-degree turn to the right, and it was
22 difficult as we were dug in. The Army guide jumped into the gun pits and helped us. After we got this done, we found out that the Navy had come to the rescue, and we didn’t fire a round.
Then we had to move the guns back like we had it before. Just after this a jeep came down the road from (inaudible) airstrip with two Marines in it giving orders to get our gas masks on as the Japs had released some gas. Everyone made a wild scramble to get their own gas mask. When we landed everyone took their gas masks and other gear and stacked it behind each gun pit. It was a good thing that it turned out to be a false report as most of us had trouble finding our own gas mask.
You asked about loading an M track or whatever type of landing track we landed in. This is pretty nerve wracking as we could see where shells were exploding when they hit the water and the
Japanese were indeed firing at any of our landing craft. We were late in making our beachhead, and I really don’t know why because I thought if we could get ashore we could at least get in a foxhole for a little protection. As we were coming in, we could see some of our landing craft turned upside down on the coral reef out about 100 yards or so from the beach. On the shore, there were all kinds of equipment burning like tanks, trucks, jeeps, landing craft. Wounded and dead were laying everywhere. There were doctors and corpsmen treating the
23 wounded, and boats were offloading supplies, and as soon as they were unloaded, they were loading them with the wounded to be transported to hospital ships offshore. It was wild, and I was scared to death as most of the others. Just as soon as we got off they gave each of us a round of 105 ammo to carry forward to our gun crew. None of us knew for sure where our outfit was so we just started walking and luckily we found it. On the afternoon of June 18, Lieutenant Faulkner, F-A-U-L-K-N-E-R, got to other men and me to go forward to survey for another artillery position. We went about two miles or so and were studying this position, and we looked over toward Tinian and saw these four fighter planes coming towards us. We supposed they were our planes and we remarked how good it was to have this protection. All of a sudden, they opened fire on us. We were close to an embankment and we dove behind it, and the bullets went over our heads. All of a sudden off to our left, four Navy planes come in to view, and the dogfight was on right above us.
This probably lasted four or five minutes. First one Jap plane and down it went, smoke and fire trailing it toward the ground.
We didn’t see anyone get out. Then one of our planes went down, and no one got out as we could see. Then the second Jap plane went down, and no one got out. It was getting late so
Lieutenant Faulkner suggested that we had better get back to our position. We just got back to our position when this Jap Zero
24 came over strafing us. The plane was low, and you could see the pilot when he came over. I can remember only the guns on the right wing were firing.
On June 20, 1944, we moved forward to a new position just north and east of (inaudible) Airfield. That night we put out our guards in front of each gun, and two and three men guards on the right flank and left flank. On the morning of June 25 over on the right side of our position out in front about 200 yards, three men were walking in a stooped position, walking towards this guard post. These three men out in front were men of the
CP or communications section, checking phone lines. This was done by letting the line slide through their hands as they walked along checking to see if the Japs had tapped into the line during the night. These two guards over on the right opened fire on them, and the CPs returned fire. We saw what was happening and started running toward them trying to get them to stop. Both of our guards were hit. One was Private George E.
Eisten, E-I-S-T-E-N, and the other one I don’t remember. Both of these boys were just out of boot camp for a short while.
This was their first combat. They were taken aboard one of our hospital ships where they both died a few days later. Every night since we had been on Saipan, we were bombed around midnight. We called this Midnight Charlie.
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Around June 26 at midnight this plane made another run on
(inaudible) airstrip. What they didn’t know was that the Army had put up a 90 millimeter anti-artillery gun. On the third trip over that night, they hit him, and fire started coming out, and pretty soon he went down in a flame and exploded. All of the guys started yelling and cheering, and our CO Captain John
Kribokapich, K-R-I-B-O-K-A-P-I-C-H told them in a loud voice to keep it down. What he didn’t know was that some of the men had gotten some sake and were about half lit up. They wanted to go out and attack the Japanese that night. It took a while for
Captain Kribokapich to get them settled down. He threatened them with court martial.
June 29 we moved forward into a wooded area. K Battery lost six men that night. I don’t know any of the details except they were killed. We were fairly close to the ocean, and a few men from each section were going down to the ocean to clean up a little. The Army had an armed guard on the beach as well as a
Marine guard. (inaudible) Dunlap, D-U-N-L-A-P, George Gobele,
G-O-B-E-L-E, Laverne Wultzen, W-U-L-T-Z-E-N, and I decided to go down and clean up, but we decided to go a different way. We were about 300 yards out in front of our guns over on the right side. We went into this heavy underbrush with a small pig trail
26 as a path. This went along a little creek on the left and a high straight up and down cliff on the right. We followed this creek until it was over against the cliff, and it was 8-10 feet down in the creek. So we chose to cross to the other side. So we decided to go back to the position and go the way the rest were going. When we got to the edge of the tinder, we met
Corporal Horace W. Cobb, C-O-B-B, and Wendell D. Smart, S-M-A-
R-T, Robert A. Ruzo, R-U-Z-O, and [Courtland?] J. Stewart, S-T-
E-W-A-R-T. They asked us what was down there. We told them that there was a deep creek across, and we decided to go a different way. They said they were going that way and left.
They hadn’t been gone more than two or three minutes when we heard all this shooting, and PFC Robert Ruzo came running out of the tinder and said that the Japs had killed the other three.
We didn’t have our weapons with us, and we went back to position to get them, and Captain Kribokapich stopped that. He said that we’d get a tank to go into that area and take care of things. I don’t remember what happened to that tank because I could have been asleep when it happened.
On July 2 about 3:00 a.m., Chester Eller, E-L-L-E-R and I were on guard duty. Over on our right side next to the tree line, we had trip wire set out. This was a fine wire that stretched about four inches above the ground with C-ration cans tied to
27 the wire with little rocks in it, and if the wire was hit, it would make a loud noise, and that would alert us. This is what happened in the morning at around 3:00 p.m. or so. This trip wire was set off a signal that something was happening. About that time out in front of our position, these dark figures appeared. The guard on the left hollered “Halt” three times, and they kept moving. He opened up on them, and Chester Eller and I did too. I had an automatic weapon so I fired more rounds than the rest. The next morning we went out when it was daylight. There were dead soldiers and some small children.
This sergeant started dressing me down and said that I was a murderer, but I wasn’t the only one shooting I told him. He said that didn’t make any difference because I was expending more ammo than the rest so I was responsible. About that time
Lieutenant Joe Fegan, F-E-G-A-N, from Mike Battery got a hold of the sergeant and turned him around and really gave him down the river. Said what if those Japs had gotten through and in his foxhole. That was the first and only time I ever heard an officer get onto a noncom in front of a lower rank. I felt bad about the children being killed, but I didn’t know the soldiers had the children with them. There were no women and no survivors that we could find.
28 On July 4, 1944, Saipan was declared secure. We moved back that day to the south end of the island to get ready to fire on
Tinian. July 17, 1944, we set up guns preparing for an invasion of Tinian. This was delayed a few days in order to see how the invasion was going on in Guam. July 24, 1944, there were 96
105s and 24 155 Howitzers lined up hub to hub firing on Tinian to make a beachhead for the infantry. On July 27 at midnight, we stopped firing and went aboard an LCT with all of our equipment and men for the short trip across to Tinian. We didn’t have any place to sleep. No restrooms, no food. We stayed in this LCT the rest of that night, the next night, and the next day until about 3:00 p.m. when a lot of the men came down with high fever and diarrhea. They took us aboard the USS
Cambrian C-A-M-B-R-I-A-N. I remember I was right behind Captain
Kribokapich when we went aboard. We all looked like a bunch of drowned rats, and we were dirty. No one had any rank showing so you couldn’t tell a captain from a private. Anyway, we were met by this Marine lieutenant in pressed, clean khaki, and he started dressing Captain Kribokapich down that this was the strangest bunch of Marines he had ever seen. Captain
Kribokapich let him go for about 30 seconds or so, and the captain got his attention and told him who he was, to get us fed, get showers and clean clothes. We got good service.
29 We left this ship on August 1, 1944, at 3:00 p.m. and went back aboard the LCT that we had left from, and landed on Tinian at
6:30 p.m. The USS Cambrian, C-A-M-B-R-I-A-N was a large troop ship. It was one of the cleanest and most well-kept ships we had ever been on. We were only on this ship for a very short time. Stayed on Tinian until August 10, 1944. While we were on
Tinian this short period of time, most of what we did was guard duty and when we were not doing that we were playing softball.
We got a bulldozer and cleared us a spot for a ball diamond, and we got the equipment from supply. The total operation on Saipan and Tinian our battery fired 8,420 rounds of ammo. Each round of ammo for 105 weighs a little over 49 pounds. We left Tinian aboard the USS Typhoon, T-Y-P-H-O-O-N. Operation Forager was complete. The first five days it was states. The second five days it was presidents. The next five days it was cities of the
United States. The next five days they went back to states and so forth until the operation was over. The password would change at noon every five days. The word was passed down of the chain so everyone would know. The way this password worked if you were on guard duty and someone came through your position you could challenge them. They would give you the name of the state like Ohio. The one challenged could ask for a counter sign which the guard would give a different state like Arkansas.
You could ask this guy again for the password, and he would give
30 you a different state, but if he gave you the same state, you could almost bet that he was a Japanese. The same thing with the presidents and cities.
I remember toward the end of the battle sometime around the fourth of July a lot of men came down with diarrhea, and one night two guys woke up and needed to go to the head which was a
(inaudible) behind the battery. As they were going to the head, they were challenged by the guard on duty. They forgot the password so they ran and jumped into an ammo pit. The guard alerted everyone, and one of the sergeants called out in a loud voice, “You’d better say San Antonio,” because cities were the password that night. One of the guys in the ammo pit called out, “Detroit,” real loud.
From July 2 until July 9, we were more or less in a holding pattern. The area we had for targets was getting smaller, and we fired a lot at night whenever the enemy was detected to be moving. We also fired a lot of rounds when the Japs broke through. We also did a lot of guard and other things. This is what we were doing when the Japs came through our position. As we were going back to the southern shores, we came across a large area where the Seabees were constructing an air strip. It looked like it was over 200 yards wide and maybe two miles long.
31 I know the area had changed a lot in the short period of time.
My duty on the gun was to put the range on the gun, to close the breach block when the round was put in the chamber, and to fire the weapon when the command was given. Also I was on the survey crew that went forward to survey for a new position for the artillery.
I want to give you a list of some of the ships. An LSD stood for landing ship dock. It was a ship that had a ramp in the back, and it could be flooded and it would sink in the water where small boats would float up into the well deck. When the boats were in place, they would pump the water out. The boats would settle into the well deck. They closed the ramp. They were unloaded the same way. An LST was a landing ship tank. It had (inaudible), and it had a ramp in front for vehicles to be driven into the well deck from the front of the ship, and amphibious tractors, and tanks, and things like that could be launched out at sea, but tanks and trucks and things like that -
- the ship had to be landed on the beach head in order for them to be driven out. An LCT was a landing craft tank. It could carry several tanks, trucks along with 125 men or so. An LCM was landing craft medium. It could carry a tank or a truck. An
LCVP was a landing craft vehicle personnel. It could carry several men probably 20 or more. It could carry a one ton
32 truck, or it could carry a jeep. There were 1,051 LSTs were built during World War II. By the end of the war, building an
LST would produce down from four months to two months. An LST could carry a large round of diesel fuel. A lot of times when we were going into combat or coming back from combat a destroyer would come along the side and would be refueling while we were moving. An LST is 328 feet long, has a 50 foot beam. It is built to carry on its top deck an LCT. LCTs come in different lengths starting at 117.6 feet to 192 feet. It could carry several 40 ton tanks, trucks, and other cargo.
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