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This Is Paul E. Cooper. I Was a Member of the Fourth Marine

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This Is Paul E. Cooper. I Was a Member of the Fourth Marine 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.
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