From Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I entered the U.S. Marines at age 21. I was already 22 and in E Company, 2^nd Battalion, 6^th Marine Regiment in the 2^nd Marine Division when the assault on Betio at Tarawa Atoll began on 20 November 1943.

The Harris-class attack transport USS J. Franklin Bell (APA-16) took us from New Zealand for the rendezvous with the rest of Task Force 53 at Efate in the New Hebrides (present-day Republic of Vanuatu).

USS J. Franklin Bell (APA-16)

A PHOTO LINK TO USS J. Franklin Bell COMES HERE SOON.

Shortly before dawn of D-Day, the Bell took her place with other transports off Betio, but when enemy shore batteries opened the action with salvos at our transports shortly after 5AM, the Bell retired out of range for the first day of battle. Several of our units in the 6^th Marines were being held in reserve, and we just waited that first day for further orders. On D+1, the Bell appeared to depart the initial transport anchorage but sailed around Tarawa to debark units of the 6^th Marines on Bairiki, the island immediately to the east of Betio. This is where a Higgins landing craft full of us Marines went ashore. My equipment included a Springfield 03 rifle, its ammo, a cartridge belt, a gas mask, some rations, a poncho, some grenades and artillery shells.

We were supposed to go over to Betio (really only a few hundred yards to the west of Bairiki on late on D+1), but because so many landing craft and amtracs had been lost on the first two days of the battle, we did not go over to the west side of Betio (Green Beach) until the morning of D+2. I remember that first night on Bairiki when a Japanese soldier almost stepped on me as I lay on the sand, not in a foxhole, trying to sleep. I did not have my rifle ready, and then he passed silently by me and many other Marines as he tried to make his way further east and escape the death and destruction going on at Betio.

Our trip over to Green Beach was not without its own peril, though, due in part to a nearby tower from which the enemy was firing on us as we passed by. Fortunately, one of our aircraft came by and blew up that tower before we got too much closer to it.

When the ramp dropped on our boat, we waded in the last few feet, but there were many bodies of Marines floating at the water’s edge. The odor was really strong, and it only got much worse as the day went on. Once ashore, our main activity was to bury the dead, as long as that did not unduly expose us to enemy fire. By the end of D+3, I think, we were over on the south side, near the airstrip, in the Black Beach area.

We had been on Betio perhaps one full day, but then on I think D+3 or D+4 we were transported to Buoto, the small islet at Tarawa further to the east of Betio and Bairiki, over slightly above the southeast corner of the atoll.

The reason for that relocation was to pursue any enemy we might find on the rest of Tarawa Atoll by progressing up the back spine of Tarawa Atoll, islet by islet, wading between islets, all the way to the north end of the atoll where Buariki is located.

MAP OF TARAWA ATOLL

A PHOTO LINK TO TARAWA ATOLL COMES HERE SOON.

We did not find many enemy as we made our way north, and some of the native people actually came out to greet us and even offer us coconuts. They were friendly and happy to see us.

The enemy apparently kept a step or two ahead of us as we pursued them all the way up to Buariki at the north end of the atoll. There the Japanese cleverly ambushed E Company, causing the deaths of over 30 Marines in the 2^nd Battalion, 6^th Marines. None of the enemy survived that encounter, though.

My unit in E Company stayed on Tarawa until late January or February 1944, because of concerns the enemy might try to retake Tarawa. But that never happened.; almost nightly sorties over Tarawa by enemy aircraft, but no amphibious assault.

All told, I was in the campaigns at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan and Tinian. Medals I got were the Presidential Unit Citation for our action at Tarawa and the other usual campaign medals for different battles.

PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION (Tarawa)

A PHOTO LINK TO THE PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION COMES HERE SOON.

Arnie, life in “Easy” Company was never easy. Your buddies from Tarawa remember you and wish you well – as we do too! Your steady and purposeful performance contributed to the win at Tarawa under very trying circumstances, and all of us are better off because of your devotion to duty. Thank you for your service to our country. At age 89, you are proof that “Once a Marine, Always a Marine!”

SEMPER FI, ARNIE !

Received 24 November 2010

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