LAVERNE  A. “Verne” COULTHARD
Sadly, Verne Coulthard passed from this life on 14 June 2013, at over 90½ years of age.
At the end of this report is a moving eulogy by his nephew, Marine Sgt Steve Berntson.
I was from Hope, Idaho on the shores of beautiful Lake Pend Oreille in Northern Idaho.    Part of me will always be in Hope.
“Verne grew up with this view of Lake Pend Oreille …
taken from the porch of the parents’ house when he joined the Marines.”
With vistas like these, there is always hope!
Steve Berntson, email to author,  November 12, 2013.
Beautiful Lake Pend Oreille
http://www.redfircabin.com
To think that I traded this God-beloved country around my home for an obscure pile of sand called Betio in far-away Tarawa.   Few people had ever heard of this place, and two adversaries turned that place into a bloody, God-forsaken pile of sand that became one of the most storied battles in Marine Corps history!
Here begins my story of memories of the Battle of Tarawa, told 69 years after this brutally short battle happened.
I joined the Marines in Portland, Oregon when I was 20 years old, and I had my 21st birthday in a foxhole on Betio on 23 November 1943, as the battle was beginning to wind down.   For a birthday present, a company sergeant threw me a can of C rations and said, “Happy Birthday!  At least you have lived to see your 21st birthday!”  It was a very short celebration!
At Tarawa, I was in Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment in the 2nd Marine Division. I was a PFC and worked as a runner for the Executive Officer, 1st Lt. Maher.  He was a good and brave man and a good leader.
On 1 November, I shipped out from Wellington, New Zealand on the USS Harry Lee (APA-10), but nobody was told where we were going.   After a few hours, we learned about our destination when we heard over the ship’s loud speakers:
USS Harry Lee (APA-10), May 1943
http://www.shipscribe.com/usnaux/APA/h_lee3-08.jpg
“To all Marines:
We are not returning to our camps. This convoy is now proceeding into combat. Our destination and plans will be announced in a few days.”
I have since learned this vessel was formerly the SS Exochorda of the American Export Lines, used for cruises up to 40 days in length between New York City and various ports in the Mediterranean.  Any Marine or Navy sailor who was ever on the USS Harry Lee knows her nickname:   “Lister Lee”  or  “Listing Lee”  But how did she get that nickname and why was she often referred to as “The Wackiest Ship the Navy Ever Saw?”  Here is the explanation for all to see:
http://www.ussharrylee.com/main_page.htm
On 3 August 1943, “Lister Lee” departed Norfolk, Virginia bound for New Zealand, via the Panama Canal and San Francisco, arriving in Wellington on 12 October 1943.
For two weeks, “Lister Lee” loaded equipment, ammunition and Marines, and I was one of those Marines. On 1 November 1943, we departed from beautiful Wellington, New Zealand as part of Task Force 53.  A couple of days out of Wellington, we stopped for a couple of days for practice landings on Mahia Bay (at the north end of Hawkes Bay on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island.
On 27 October 2013, several New Zealander veterans remembered us and those practice
2nd Marine Division conducts practice landings on Mahia Bay
Mr. Beale lives in nearby Gisborne, New Zealand
Robin Beale, email to author, November 8, 2013.
landings on Mahia Bay with a memorial ceremony. Back in 1943 and 70 years later, those Kiwis are great and friendly people.  They were wonderful hosts.  We knew nothing about where we were going, but knowing that we were ultimately going to go into combat, the more practice we got, the better … especially when nobody was shooting at us!
Another view of the 1943 practice landings at Mahia Bay
Robin Beale, email to author, November 8, 2013.
The familiar headland of Mahia Peninsula 70 years after our practice landings
Kevin Simmonds, email to author, November 4, 2013.
Memorial plaque on the beach of Mahia Bay – 70 years after we were there!
Robin Beale, email to author, November 8, 2013.
Not all good things can last forever, so we returned to our transports … me to the USS Harry Lee (APA-10), and we continued on some 1,600 miles to the north-northwest to Mele Bay on the island of Efate in the New Hebrides.   We arrived on 7 November 1943, for about one week of more practice in amphibious landings still without having been told our ultimate destination.
Mele Bay, Efate, New Hebrides (now, Republic of Vanuatu)
http://www.vanuatubeachbar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/air-view-of-Mele-Bay.png
On about 13 November, a few hours out of Efate, officers in charge were told over the ship’s PA system to release all confidential information on the upcoming campaign and what was expected of all units.  Our destination, we finally learned was to be Betio, one of 25 small islets in an atoll named Tarawa.  Code-named Helen, Betio was another 1,350 miles northeast of Efate.  This meant we had another week of travel to exercise, conduct live-fire drills, stand in endless chow lines and contemplate about what was ahead for us.
A representative photograph of a US Navy convoy in WW II
http://navyvets.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/wwiiconvoy.jpg
We learned that Tarawa was one of several atolls in the Gilbert Islands, then a dependency of the United Kingdom.   Since then, I  have  learned  that between 1892 and 1916, the Gilbert Islands and the nearby Ellice Islands formed the British Western Pacific Territories.   For the next 60 years, including while we were there to displace the Japanese occupation forces, the Micronesian people of the Gilbert Islands and the Polynesian people of the Ellice Islands co-existed as the British Colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands. By 1974, long-held ethnic differences between the Micronesians and the Polynesians prompted a vote leading to the creation in 1975 of the short-lived British Colony of Tuvalu, which became the Kingdom of Tuvalu in 1978 (and the fourth-least populous sovereign state in the world).   By 1979, the British Colony of the Gilbert Islands became the Republic of Kiribati. In September 1999, Tuvalu and Kiribati re-formalized themselves, respectively, as a kingdom and a republic and by May 2000 both became United Nations Member States.
On the extreme southwest corner of Tarawa Atoll is where you will find Betio.  Its precise geographic location is 1° 21' 0" North, 172° 56' 0" East.  Yes, it is in the Eastern Hemisphere, about 80 miles north of the equator about 2,400 miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii.  In terms of its physical properties, Betio is rather unpretentious: its greatest width (on its western end) is about 800 yards; it tapers in width off to a very small point of land 3,800 yards to the southeast; at about .7 of a square mile, its area is about 291 acres (less than half the size of Central Park in New York City); its height of land above sea level is about 10 feet; and its chief climatological characteristic is drought.  On this small islet, the Japanese had constructed an airstrip which was held to be of important strategic value in the larger plan to bring and end to the war against Japan.
During the battle, day-time temperatures hovered around 115 degrees Fahrenheit, but night-time temperatures dropped to a balmy 90 degrees!  Potable water consisted mainly of what we carried ashore.  The combination of high temperatures and limited water supplies pushed the physical capabilities of all combatants to their limits.
As planned, Task Force 53 arrived in the pre-dawn darkness of 20 November 1943, anchoring 5 to 7 miles northwest of Betio, out beyond the lagoon entrance – ready to initiate the amphibious landings when the order was given.  The mission of our 2nd Marine Division was to attack Imperial Japanese garrison forces and remove them and their influence from that area of the Pacific.   Over a 76-hour period, we succeeded in doing exactly that, but a terrible cost was paid to achieve that victory!
Now, 69 years later (based on the original version of Verne’s report) I can still imagine how beautiful Tarawa must have been before we landed.  It must have been paradise for the native people there, except for the harsh occupation of Japanese forces which began a little over a year before we arrived.  Come to think of it, I have never actually seen the paradise that Tarawa was and is.    One fact, though, stays indelibly in my mind:  the Battle of Tarawa was hell when we were there.   Considering the numbers of Japanese killed and Marine killed and wounded, one casualty happened every 1.7 seconds in almost non-stop combat.  Not surprisingly, Betio looked like hell when we left.
Tarawa Atoll … Betio is located at the southwest end of the islets
To the northwest of Betio, this map shows the marshalling area for our transports
and planned assault routes into the beaches on Betio and Bairiki.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Tarawa/maps/USMC-M-Tarawa-1.jpg
As planned, Task Force 53 arrived in the pre-dawn darkness of 20 November 1943, anchoring 5 to 7 miles northwest of Betio, out beyond the lagoon entrance – ready to initiate the amphibious landings when the order was given.  The mission of our 2nd Marine Division was to attack Imperial Japanese garrison forces and remove them and their influence from that area of the Pacific.   Over a 76-hour period, we succeeded in doing exactly that, but a terrible cost was paid to achieve that victory!
Now, 69 years later (based on original version of Verne’s report) I can still imagine how beautiful Tarawa must have been before we landed.  It must have been paradise for the native people there, except for the harsh occupation of Japanese forces which began a little over a year before we arrived.  Come to think of it, I have never actually seen the paradise that Tarawa was and is.    One fact, though, stays indelibly in my mind:  the Battle of Tarawa was hell when we were there.   Considering the numbers of Japanese killed and Marine killed and wounded, one casualty happened every 1.7 seconds in almost non-stop combat.  Not surprisingly, Betio looked like hell when we left.
First, a look at the paradise of Betio . . . views of the hellish reality of war follow.
Tarawa:  as this paradise must have looked like before we landed
http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/24017615.jpg
Betio, as it must have looked like in more peaceful times
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/7a/18/41/north-tarawa-was-a-more.jpg
Numerous islets separated by channels, as they appeared when Verne was there
http://m4.i.pbase.com/o2/39/733439/1/106555134.A2TA4KNc.TarawaChannel.jpg
On the same day as the attack on Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941), Japanese forces attacked the Gilbert Islands, formally occupying these islands on 10 December 1941.  On 17 August 1942, US Marines of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion attacked Makin Island (140 miles north of Betio), succeeding primarily in stirring up unwanted Japanese interest in American intentions in the Gilbert Islands.  Then the 2nd Marine Division arrived on 20 November 1943, and our Operation Galvanic was the American ‘remedy’ for Japanese occupation of the Gilberts.   In the larger view, Operation Galvanic was one starting point in bringing the war in the Pacific that the Japanese had started at Pearl Harbor back to the Japanese homeland.  Like I learned a long time ago, it is not so important as to who throws the first punch in a fight; the last punch decides who the victor is!  And that ‘fight’ had to start somewhere.
On D-Day off shore on the “Lister Lee,” all of us were up by about 0300 and had a typical early breakfast of “styke-n-eygs” (steak-n-eggs), something we had grown accustomed to while in New Zealand. I remember cleaning my rifle; checking the rest of my equipment; and discussing with a few others what was ahead of us.  We were probably playing cards, too.  Just like in cards, surviving the upcoming battle was going to involve a healthy mixture of skill and luck. It didn’t take long for us to hear the announcement: “Now hear this!  All Marines proceed to your debarking stations!”  We put on our packs and began the crowded procession through the ship to our embarkation points … and waited.  Perhaps we had too much time to think at that point.  For sure, we knew we would have our work cut out for us during the day ahead, but, at the same time, I’m sure all of us wondered who would not see the end of the day … alive.
We worked our way through passageways and up ladders lighted only by red battle lights, then stepped out on deck.  The night sky was clear … the stars were out … the air was warm … a slight breeze came in from the south. Gradually, the pre-dawn light began to appear on clouds forming on the eastern horizon.  It was obvious to most of us that this was going to be a clear and hot day.
Card games are over; Marines go over the side and down the nets!
http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/03/100300814.jpg
Over the side we went climbed down the cargo nets.   In the ocean swells, boarding the LCVPs  (Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel; also called “Higgins boats”  after their designer and builder Andrew Higgins in New Orleans, Louisiana) was not easily done, considering that we were loaded with our gear and that we were scrambling down the unstable nets in low-light conditions.
Departing transport area heading for departure point
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Coast_Guard_manned_combat_transport_at_Tarawa.jpg
At about 1130 on D-Day, 17 of us went ashore in the 2nd wave in an amtrac (amphibious tractor), but we had to wait for other amtracs north of the reef because we weren’t sure which beach was our destination.   We managed to get over the reef and got up to Red Beach 2, about 100 yards west of the pier.  Just getting there was plain scary.
En route to Betio’s northern beaches, 20 November 1943; from the defenders’ point-of-view
http://www.commandposts.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Tar-09-02-654x350.jpg
Map of Betio: landing beaches, location of the airstrip and Red 2 where Verne landed
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Tarawa/maps/USMC-C-Tarawa-1.jpg
In the aerial photo following, my unit Company B, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines came ashore on Red 2, very close to the black spot on the beach to the right (west) of the long Government Pier.
Betio at 1400 hrs on D-Day
Orientation:  to the south from over seaward end of the long pier
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/npswapa/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003120-00/images/fig30.jpg
By the time the photo above was taken, we had probably already left the cover of the palm log seawall and had advanced a short distance into the small group of palm trees still standing, though shown here to be partially obscured by smoke.
In the above photo, Red Beach 3 is to left (east) of the pier; Red Beach 2 is to the right (west) of pier; “The Pocket” and Red Beach 1 lie beyond the right edge of the photo.  On the south shore in the distance, Black Beach 2 is on left and Black Beach 1 is on right, and the long white area running parallel to the Black Beaches is the airstrip which was one of the main objectives for our attack on this God-forsaken place!
Looking west on Red Beach 2 from about ¾ of the way from the long pier
Verne waded ashore about 100 yards behind the left margin of this photo
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Tarawa/img/USMC-M-Tarawa-p38.jpg
The above photograph gives a close-up view of the approximate area on Red 2 where I came ashore on D-Day.  These images now look so quiet and tranquil, but I still remember, in general terms, all the noise, shooting, smoke and stench of burning wood, oil and flesh of bodies in the heat.
It was hell, and these photos almost deceive the viewer into thinking that all the mess, smells and destruction are ‘just’ photos …  that they are somehow unreal.  But they are all too real!  They give me the chills to see this all over again, all these years later.
The aerial photo below graphically shows a much larger view of the devastation over the western third of Betio.  This photo is oriented toward the southeast, with the point in the immediate foreground called the “Bird’s Beak.”   From the “Bird’s Beak” around the cove (often called “The Pocket”) is Red Beach 1.  To the right of the “Bird’s Beak” is Green Beach.
The pall of smoke over the battlefield obscures much of the devastation …
at the Bird’s Beak, northwest point of Betio
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Tarawa/img/USMC-C-Tarawa-p18.jpg
Betio: Looking east shortly after the battle;  Temakin Point in foreground, Green Beach to its left
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/III/img/USMC-III-p41a.jpg
So, back to our amtrac stuck on the reef … the equipment I carried consisted of my M-1 rifle, a lot of ammunition and a lot of grenades.  The man in front of me got hit when we went out of the amtrac.  Wading in the rest of the way to the beach, we were in water up to our waists.  Shore fire came from several directions ahead.  One guy on each side of me was killed.  Going ahead was my only option, and I waded as fast as I could to get ashore and to the seawall.
Troops wade ashore on Red 2 around 1200 on D-Day
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Gilberts/img/USA-P-Gilberts-p136a.jpg
I may be somewhere in this group of Marines in the above photo.  It was about noon or a little after that I got in to Red 2.  Funny how a still (and quiet) photo like this one makes it look like the guys are just strolling around on a picnic.
Arriving at the shore, I had barely caught my breath when someone said, “We’re going over the seawall!”  And that’s what we did.
“Follow me!  We’re going over the seawall.”
http://www.ww2gyrene.org/assets/tarawa_seawall_cover.jpg
Pinned down prior to advance
Photo by SSgt Norman Hatch
http://www.warshotsbook.com/
Marines advance under fire somewhere on Betio
20 November 1943 – D-Day, Verne’s 21st birthday
http://www.2ndmardiv.marines.mil/portals/47/Site%20Images/tarawa1.jpg
Every step was dangerous and could have been my last step.  Caution and determination were essential to getting the job done.
This Marine cautiously inspects a Japanese pillbox to be sure it is out of action
http://realwarphotos.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/B24037.340122813.jpg
There was just no time to think about specific sights while on that deathly pile of sand - I certainly was not a tourist!   Some images stand out all these years later, but many are just a blur.  Just like every other Marine, I worked non-stop to contribute to our success and to simply stay alive.  On Betio, it seems like staying alive was largely a matter of luck.   Our lives depended on staying alert, being careful, working hard to fulfill our mission and working together.  If we did that and were lucky, we believed we had a chance to come out of this alive.
Post-battle photo from center of Betio, looking northwest
from near airstrip’s west end to “The Pocket” and the Bird’s Beak in the distance
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Tarawa/img/USMC-M-Tarawa-p11.jpg
Statistically, casualty totals on Betio were remarkably high, so high that the Battle of Tarawa is often referred to as “Bloody Tarawa” and  “one of the bloodiest battles in United States Marine Corps history,” partly because so many were killed in the 76-hours of combat.   At Tarawa, 333 Americans, on average, died daily. Ironic and sad it is that numbers are used so impersonally to describe such horrible situations.
To put a sharper point on this statistical horror, in the 76 hours of battle at Tarawa, about 7,900 casualties (KIA and WIA) of both adversaries occurred. Of this total, Americans had 3,200 KIA and WIA.  That means there was, statistically, one American casualty approximately every minute and 26 seconds!  Of that total, about 4,700 Japanese were killed (though 17 others surrendered), fighting to their deaths or committing suicide rather than surrender.  So many casualties, so frequently in such a relatively short period of time seems to be the context behind my saying that surviving the battle on Betio really was a healthy mixture of skill and luck.  Also, the idea that many Japanese soldiers obviously chose suicide or engaged in an offensive act in which their own deaths were the likely outcome may have related to a way of looking at their role of a solider, a warrior in battle.  What they might have considered an honorable death was an age-old idea whose roots stem from the Bushido Code, an outlook defining expected behavior of how a professional solider must act.  That certainly was not part of our outlook, but it may explain the Japanese preference to fight to the death, with little regard for their own well-being as a warrior, even suicide, because such behavior was regarded with almost religious fervor as the only honorable way to behave in combat.
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/09/14/the-bushido-code-the-eight-virtues-of-the-samurai/
That is what I meant when I said that surviving the battle involved a healthy mixture of skill (being a more successful warrior) and luck.  I still remember the constant roar of guns and artillery.  The stench of dead bodies on the second day was sickening.  Corpses on the battlefield where the daytime temperatures rose to 100+ F leave indelible and disgusting sights and smells.  It seemed then that everything was a mixed up mess.  Thinking about that now, I’d say it still seems like chaos.  Different units combined to work together, our lieutenant organized us as best he could, and we slowly worked our way in toward the center of the island.  Advancing was slow and very dangerous.  Each Marine tried his best to make the best decisions possible.  Many died, though, and I lost a number of good buddies.
Tragically, the beaches on Betio simply stank.  They were naturally white, very warm, red from blood, mixed with oil and burnt bodies and debris!  But, hey!   A guy has to dream of the shoreline on Lake Pend Oreille and the great fishing streams in Central Idaho.  Having that as a reference point sure helped me keep some balance, some perspective.  I guess you’d say that a strange mix of duty, inspiration and perspiration kept most of us going, if we ever had time to think about that.
General Alexander A. Vandegrift knew well what had happened at Tarawa, and he was very capable in making post-battle assessment of events at Tarawa.   He had already been the Commanding General of the 1st Marine Division at Guadalcanal and the  Commanding General of the First Marine Amphibious Corps in the early phases of the Bougainville campaign.   Verne agreed when he heard what General Vandegrift had written about the battle,
“Tarawa was the first example in history of a sea-borne assault against a heavily defended coral atoll. Marine preparations for this operation were thorough; its plans were executed in a noteworthy manner. In the final analysis, however, success at Tarawa depended upon the discipline, courage and fighting ability of the individual Marine. Seldom has anyone been called upon to fight a battle under more difficult circumstances.”                                                                         (underlining by this writer)
A. A. Vandegrift
General, U.S. Marine Corps
18th Commandant of the Marine Corps (1944-1947)
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Tarawa/USMC-M-Tarawa-Fwd.html
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/vandegr.htm
When the fighting stopped, I was very close to where the flag raising ceremony was held.  I was standing in the formation at that ceremony, but I can’t find myself in any of the photographs, and believe me, I spent many long times looking at photos of that battle!
Old Glory … Marines “stand beside her and guide her”
http://www.ww2gyrene.org/assets/tarawa_flag.jpg
Sixty-nine years ago and for as long as I live, Irving Berlin's beautiful "God Bless America" will bring tears:
“While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,                                  (Western Pacific)
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,                                     (because of the brave!)
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,                                                           (Lake Pend Oreille)
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer
God bless America, land that I love                                                                (China Creek Draw)
Stand beside her and guide her                                                               (the Wop-She-Lee)
Through the night with a light from above                              (starry nights in Bonner County)
From the mountains, to the prairies                         (the Green Monarchs and camas prairies)
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.
God bless America, My home sweet home.”                                            (in Hope, Idaho!)
Through the mists of time, the Marine holding the corner of the flag …
and looking at the reader seems to ask,
“Do you who see this photo years later, still remember what has happened here?
It is up to you to remember, lest all is forgotten.”
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v217/spender222/c1327522.jpg
Early afternoon of 24 November 1943, the Stars and Stripes fly over Betio!
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Tarawa/img/USMC-M-Tarawa-p61.jpg
Tarawa from Space Shuttle Endeavor  . . .  from 209 miles in space
Mission: STS088   Roll: 707   Frame: 6;    December 1998
Image courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center
Very difficult to appreciate that so much death and destruction happened down there.
http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=STS088&roll=707&frame=6
Time and distance sure can provide new perspectives on earlier events.  In the case of the Battle of Tarawa, everything was murderously close-up, in your face, back in November of 1943.  Now, almost 70 years later, the photograph above and the photograph below go a long way to give hope (not too bad for a lad from Hope, Idaho) that at some future point life can proceed and better times can be had by all people.
Sunset at Tarawa Lagoon
http://www.widescenes.com/Kiribati%20Gallery%20Images/200705201841H_Large.jpg
Immediately after the flag raising ceremony, I was delivered to the attack transport USS Calvert (APA-32).  I was alive - not wounded - and very thankful it was over.
In reflection, I would like to add one comment to future readers of this narrative.  It will be one thing to read about my time at Tarawa, focusing primarily on the Battle of Tarawa, but two aspects of my time at Tarawa will forever be missing:
1)     the noise … it was everywhere: engines, explosions, and screams;
2)     the smells … these were unavoidable: smoke from fires from burning wood, oil and flesh; decomposition odors (in 100+ heat, bodies do not last long); cordite, and possibly other odors of exploded ordnance.
The noises and the smells will never leave me.  All of us came in as young recruits, but we aged fast.  You can bet that every combatant wanted to live.  I will never forget my buddies who never came home from Tarawa.  I trust future readers will remember all of us, too.
Battle of Tarawa Memorial marker on Betio
Courtesy: Roger W. Sinnot, July 21, 2009
http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=25737
This memorial marker is located in Prince Philip Park, a sports complex, which was once part of the runway used by Japanese forces during World War II.
Marker front, upper plaque:
“Follow Me”
2nd Marine Division
United States Marine Corps
Battle of Tarawa
20-Nov-43
To our fellow Marines who gave their all!
The world is free because of you!
God rest your souls
1,113 killed     2,290 wounded
The Central Pacfic spearhead
To world victory in World War II
“Semper Fidelis”
Marker front, lower plaque:
To the People of Kiribati
“During World War II, many lives were lost in the Battle of Tarawa which restored liberty to these islands under British administration at the time.
Through the evolution of political development the Gilbert Islands gained its independence on 12 July 1979 from Britain and became the Democratic Republic of Kiribati.
The political processes that took place on these islands, since the Battle of Tarawa, would have been difficult to achieve without the gallantry and the blood of these most remarkable men of the United States Marines.
Enjoy your independence and guard it well.”
So, back to the Calvert … she was a Crescent City-class attack transport and served between September 1942 and May 1966 in a many roles during World War II (earning 8 battle stars); in the Korean War (earning 2 battle stars); and in the Vietnam War until January 1966 (earning 2 more battle stars), before being decommissioned in May 1966.   Throughout her history, her mission was to land troops on enemy held beachheads and support those troops in their campaign ashore.  Quite an illustrious lady!
http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/03/03032.htm
http://www.usscalvert.com/2013/11/15/1944-16mm-color-film/
http://www.hullnumber.com/APA-32
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/c2/calvert-ii.htm
USS Calvert (APA-32)
http://www.hullnumber.com/APA-32
From Tarawa, the trip to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii took, I think, about a week, and we were taken by trucks to Camp Tarawa.  That camp was located on the Parker Ranch. We enjoyed our time there. Training was intense.  I remember having two liberties over the six months I was there:  one to Kona on the west side and one to Hilo on the east side of the island.  On one occasion, I was asked to referee a basketball game because I had played basketball all through school.  The game was between an Army team and a native team.  I had no shoes that were proper on the court, so I refereed barefoot.  It was a lot of fun.  The natives won big time, but I gave the Army all the advantage I could.  The crowd caught on to what I was doing, applauded loudly and treated me very good!
http://www.camptarawamcl.com/
http://waimeagazette.com/Mar95_WaimeaRemembersTarawa.htm
http://www.pacificwarmemorial.org/Pages/prct/prctMonumentCenterPanel.htm
After Tarawa, I was at Saipan and Tinian, in the Marianas. That was Operation Forager.   Okinawa, (Operation Iceberg) was the most brutal of all the Pacific operations, and, in hindsight, one can see how the battles in the Solomons (Guadalcanal); Gilberts (Tarawa); and the Marianas (Saipan and Tinian) were progressively more complicated and brutal events.  Each of those battles prior to Okinawa was a progressively bigger and more consequential event, and each presented harsh lessons that we had to (and did) learn in amphibious assaults on fortified enemy garrisons.
I look back and realize that the Marine action taking Saipan and Tinian was the turning point in the overall campaign across the Pacific. By taking these two islands (about 4 miles apart from each other), our efforts made it so that hundreds of thousands, some say millions, of our soldiers did not have to die trying to invade the Japanese homeland.
US Marines go ashore on Saipan, 15 June 1944
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-C-Saipan/index.html
www.battleofsaipan.com
US soldier helps a woman with baby who had been hiding in a cave while the battle raged on
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087023/World-War-II-photographs-American-soldiers-fight-survival-brutal-Battle-Saipan.html
Mt. Tapotchau, highest point on Saipan at 1,554 feet, as seen from Tinian.
Orientation:  north, northeast; Courtesy:  Pamela Flynn
http://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/saipan
Verne was part of a special unit (comprised of elements from Combat Teams 2, 6 and 8) that broke through Japanese lines and set up an observation post on Mt.Tapotchau, (at 1,554 feet, the highest point on Saipan) affording commanding views of combat operations in all directions.  This activity is the central part of a Letter of Commendation (following) to Verne Coulthard presented by Major General LeRoy P. Hunt, Commander of the 2nd Marine Division.
http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/III/USMC-III-IV-5.html
LIFE magazine shows a Marine, probably from Verne’s unit,
setting up a field telephone switchboard at the temporary command post
on Mt. Tapotchau on 30 June 1944
Courtesy:  W. Eugene Smith
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/3ba5038ca8c43ffb.html
View (to the northwest) from the shoulder of Mt. Tapotchau, highest point of land on Saipan
(USMC photo)
One other experience worth telling here is about the time on Saipan when, on our way up to the summit of Mt. Tapotchau, I captured a flag from a man who had committed hari-kiri when he saw another Marine and me approaching him in his hiding place.  I had kept that flag in a trunk for many years after the war.  Once while talking with my nephew, I said I would like to return the flag to the family of the Japanese soldier if there was some way they could be located.  After a couple of years of trying, a man who was head of the National Public TV station in Tokyo contacted me and came with a crew to interview me in October, 2009, for a subsequent broadcast on Japanese television.  That prompted a nephew of the man who had committed hari-kiri in 1944 to come forth and identify himself as a member of the soldier’s family. Because of health issues I had at that time, I could not go to Japan, but my nephew and his wife made the trip to deliver the flag for me.
The main recognition I received during the war was a letter of commendation that I value highly from Major General LeRoy P. Hunt, commander of the 2nd Marine Division in 1945.  He was a good man, a great model and a good influence on all of us guys.
Major General LeRoy P. Hunt
https://www.mcu.usmc.mil/historydivision/Pages/Who%27s%20Who/G-I/Hunt_LP.aspx
That letter refers to the role that others in my unit and I had on Saipan when our company commander, Captain Williams, was wounded.  We looked after him and soon after we were formed into a special unit that broke through Japanese lines to set up an observation post on Mt.Tapotchau, the highest point on Saipan.  That Captain Williams was a good and brave man.  At Tarawa, Williams had been the one who was instrumental in deciding who and what landed on the long pier that jutted out into the lagoon.
The action in the following letter referring to where Verne “… unhesitatingly and without regard for his own personal safety went forward under intense enemy fire to assist in the evacuation of his company commander…” is a direct reference to Verne’s actions on Mt. Tapotchau.
Major General LeRoy P. Hunt said it best of Verne in the following citation:
“For meritorious conduct in the performance of his duties as a member of a Marine infantry battalion during the action against enemy Japanese forces on TARAWA, GILBERT ISLANDS, SAIPAN AND TINIAN, MARIANAS ISLANDS, and OKINAWA, RYUKYU ISLANDS from 20 November 1943 to 16 April 1945.  Sergeant COULTHARD has displayed outstanding courage and ceaseless devotion to duty throughout his long and faithful service to his organization. Serving as a runner during the action on SAIPAN, he unhesitatingly and without regard for his own personal safety went forward under intense enemy fire to assist in the evacuation of his company commander who had become a casualty.  His conduct throughout was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”
Verne was also in combat at Tinian, a short distance south of Saipan.  Combat Team 2 (CT 2), of which Verne was a part, landed up on the northwest coast area on the second day of operations.   The landing was in fine weather with bright sunshine glittering off the smooth tropical seas, but the weather did not hold.   Remnants of a nearby typhoon lashed the Marianas and the heat of the good weather led to steamy fighting conditions, and the rich red soil turned into mud everywhere.  The bright calm seas enjoyed during landings became frothing waves and hampered further landings and supplies.  One LST was driven ashore and even had to be abandoned.
US Marines go ashore on Tinian, 24 June 1944
http://www.wwiiarchives.net/servlet/action/photo/212/0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg7-zFsokC0
http://flgrube1.tripod.com/id172.html
http://worldwar2headquarters.com/HTML/museums/lvt-museum/battle-tinian.html
For 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines on Tinian, I remember we held the left flank on a combined action getting over some cliffs south of the runways, but, all told, after about a week on Tinian, the island was ours and overall Marine KIA casualties were something like one-tenth of all those we suffered at Tarawa.
After US Marines secured Tinian, USAAF B-29s used North Field (with its four long airstrips)
to attack numerous targets in the Japanese Home Islands,
including the atomic missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki
http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/mp/introduction.shtml
Once Saipan and Tinian were secured, we were able to repair, expand and upgrade existing runways on both Saipan (Aslito/Isley Airfield) and Tinian ( North and West Airfields) that allowed many, many B-29 Superfortress raids on Japanese targets.  Ultimately, it was on August 6, 1945 that an atomic bomb (“Little Boy”) was dropped on Hiroshima by the aircrew of the B-29 named “Enola Gay.”  Then, on 9 August 1945, another atomic bomb (“Fat Man”) was dropped on Nagasaki by the aircrew of a B-29 named “Bockscar.”  Those planes would not have had those missions if we hadn’t taken Saipan and Tinian.  Those two bombs effectively broke the back of Japanese military and civilian will to continue the war they had started back on 7 December 1941.
Another experience I would like to share deals with a Japanese air force man I captured in the jungle on Tinian.  It just illustrates some of the strange and unexpected circumstances some people have in war.  I was alone when I confronted him, and using my Japanese phrases I ordered him to surrender.  He raised his hands, came to me, and I grabbed his arm and twisted him to the ground and patted him down looking for grenades.  This is because if the Japanese surrendered (which they almost never did), they were known to pull out a grenade to blow up themselves and their captor.  He kept saying “No Weapons!” … “No Weapons!”  I asked how he spoke such good English.  He said he was born in Los Angeles, California.  His family had returned to Japan and he was put in the Japanese Air Force at the age of 17.  I’ve often wondered since as to what happened to that man.  I just hope all turned out well for him later in life.  The Japanese had a practice of executing people who had surrendered, even going after the families of ones who had surrendered.
Verne and his company (B-1-2) were sent to Hawaii after Saipan to prepare for their next engagement, which turned out to be Okinawa and an almost three-month period between April and late June 1944.  Okinawa was the last, biggest and bloodiest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, and the 2nd Marine Division was fortunate enough by that time to have had the learning experiences of amphibious assaults at Guadalcanal, Tarawa Saipan and Tinian.
Verne, continuing his narration of events after Saipan and Tinian, reports … I was in the attack on Okinawa, too.  Units of the 2nd Marine Division were in floating reserve and participated in a feint attack there.  Some of us had been at Guadalcanal, and many of us had survived the short but brutal battle at Tarawa, so, when we finally landed, we really weren’t disappointed that we landed at beaches already in our control!  And something else, on April 1st (Fools’ Day) 1945, we were in that huge typhoon that went right over our landing sites and created a lot of havoc for our transports, not to mention the men on board those vessels.
Okinawa: where Verne and the 2nd Marine Division served as floating reserve.
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_okinawa2.html
http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/history/history/worldwar2/okinawa.htm
Verne was also sent to Nagasaki for occupation duty. “We arrived there about 5 days after the bomb had been dropped (on 9 August 1945, three days after the atomic strike on Hiroshima).”  He walked the streets seen in the image immediately above.  The following before and after aerial views of the city graphically convey the scene that thousands of American servicemen ran into when they got there.
In Nagasaki so much was destroyed, nothing was left.   We saw bodies in the water down by the harbor.   We went to near Miyazaki, southeast of Nagasaki, where we set up camp and where natural scenery abounds.  My job there was to be the battalion personnel sergeant and keep things straight in that regard.
Thomas, G. and Morgan-Witts, M. RUIN FROM THE AIR:  The atomic mission to Hiroshima.      London:  Hamish Hamilton, 1977.  [ISBN 241 89726 2]
Nagasaki:  before atomic blast on 9 August 1945
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/USSBS/AtomicEffects/
Nagasaki:  after atomic blast on 9 August 1945
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/USSBS/AtomicEffects/
Physical map of Kyushu Island, showing location of Nagasaki  and Miyazaki
http://www.freeworldmaps.net/asia/japan/kyushu.html
Manai Waterfall, Takachiho Gorge, Miyazaki Prefecture near Verne’s camp location
Courtesy:   Michelle Madden
http://en.japantourist.jp/photos/takachiho-gorge0
Even if it is 69 years too late (based on Verne’s age when the first version of this report was written), we want to belatedly wish you Happy Birthday for your all-too-brief 21st birthday celebration in that foxhole on Tarawa.  We hope the recent celebration of your 90th (November 2012) birthday was happily longer and your food tasted better than the C rations you ate at your 21st birthday party!
#5  Verne Coulthard on his high school basketball team, 1939
photograph provided by his nephew, Steve Berntson
Steve Berntson, email message to author, November 15, 2013.
For anything the reader wants to know about the Marine Corps, use the following link.
Verne is an outstanding example of “Once a Marine, Always a Marine.”
You will find numerous examples of the character and promise Verne displayed.
http://www.marines.com/history-heritage/timeline
Verne Coulthard,
in front of his parents’ home at Hope, Idaho in about 1946
He is one of the lucky ones who came home after the war.
Now, he has come home to Hope to stay.  Rest in Peace, Marine!
photograph provided by his daughter, Audrey
Audrey Dammon, email message to author, November 14, 2013.
Thank you for your service to our country, Verne.
Well done, Marine!   We will remember!
SEMPER FI,  VERNE !
Sadly, Verne Coulthard passed from this life on 14 June 2013, at over 90½ years of age.
This writer had the privilege of meeting him and his loving wife Betty.
This writer had the opportunity to visit Verne in the spring of 2012.  He was attentive, alert, still interested in history and his involvements in World War II.  He had a strong and hearty handshake, and he had a clear and earnest look in his eyes. He was quick to smile and appreciative of every experience in his well-lived life.  He knew about his place on the Living Tarawa Veterans Roster and was really pleased to know that the story of his World War II experiences would live on and on.
When the news came that Verne had passed on, his family very thoughtfully shared that sad news.  At that time it was made clear that his nephew Steve Berntson had delivered the eulogy at Verne’s funeral.  Steve served our country during the Vietnam War, at some of the worst battles our Marines had during that war.   Because both Verne and Steve were battle-tested United States Marines, their relationship was especially close.
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Here is Marine Sergeant Steve Berntson’s eulogy at his Uncle Verne’s funeral … a gift from his heart to all who would want to know more about his Uncle Verne.
I JUST CALLED HIM “UNC”
I am honored to be given an opportunity to speak today about the man whom I loved from my earliest childhood to today ---- the man I call “UNC.”
But first, I want to say “Thank You” to Aunt Betty for being a loving, forgiving and devoted wife.  You are a wonderful role model for living the wedding vows “For better and for worse until death do us part.”  Without you standing strong by his side and loving him through good times and hard times for 64 years, there would not have been the man we knew and loved called Laverne Coulthard.
To his children and grandchildren, I say “Thank You” for giving him the joy and the love everyday which made him so proud and thankful.  “Thank You” also for confirming to him that he succeeded in helping develop in each of you the importance of strong family bonds.
Families are a complex human structure in which each of us plays multiple roles depending upon our relationships with each other.  There!  Doesn’t that sound like something straight out of Sociology 101?
LET ME PUT THAT MOUTHFUL INTO PLAIN ENGLISH!
Each one of us in this room knew “UNC” in a different role.
He was:
•    A brother to three sisters who knew he was their protector in the sunny days and the rainy days of their lives;
•   A loving and faithful husband whose light of devotion and respect for his true love never flickered;
•   A father who worked tirelessly to provide the best safety, security, and opportunities for his family;
•   A father-in-law who shared his love of the outdoors and shared his thoughts on life and happiness;
•   A grandfather who loved unconditionally exah grandchild and great grandchild and gave much of himself so he could be a role model supporting them in all their adventures;
•   A brother-in-law who could always be counted upon when a friendly ear of when a willing heart was neede;
•   A friend, neighbor, businessman and a brother of the faith who was always ready to help others in their time of need or supported;
“UNC,” as we all know, was a serious fisherman.  He never said but I believe he had in his heart a desire to live the famous motto ...
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day . . .
Teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime.”
UNC TAUGHT US HOW TO FISH FOR A LIFETIME
Today, tomorrow, and in the years to come, the steelhead will continue to roll over in Wop-She-Lee; the chuckers will continue to flutter out of the China Creek Draw; and the mule deer will continue to graze in the meadow just beyond “No Peak.”
And in my heart, I will always see that little yellow guide boat, the old pickup with camper, and “UNC” at the wheel, bouncing down the ruts of the China Creek Road.
Now, if you will bear with me just a couple minutes more, I want to pay my respects to my favorite US Marine.  “UNC” and I share the bonds of being Marines and of being blood-tested in combat.
I want to salute a fellow Marine who served God, country and Corps with honor.  I am here to honor the last of the “Boys from Company B,” Second Platoon, First Battalion, Second Marine Regiment, Second Marine Division in the Pacific in World War II.
From Wellington, New Zealand … to wading ashore in machinegun fire on Tarawa … to fighting in the caves of Saipan … to taking the airfield on Tinian (the same airfields from which B-29s took off with the atomic bombs to end the war) …to risking his life in a fake landing on Okinawa … to occupying Japan and helping the people of whatever remained of Nagasaki, Japan.  SSgt. Laverne Coulthard never failed or faltered.  He was one of the many whose personal sacrifices gave us the freedoms we cherish today.
SEMPER FIDELIS, UNC!
SGT. BERNTSON RELIEVES YOU OF YOUR POST HERE
AND RELEASES YOU TO YOUR NEW POST AT THE PEARLY GATES.
STAND TALL, MARINE!   WELL DONE!
Steve Berntson, email message to author, July 30, 2013.
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Steve Berntson also shares the following information:
“Let me elaborate here on some of your questions.
Regarding Verne's rank … on Tarawa he was a PFC (Private First Class).  Before Saipan he had been promoted to Corporal.  After Saipan was secured, he was put to work in B company (B-1-2) personnel office by the company SGTMAJ (Sergeant Major), and he promoted to Tech Sgt (TSGT) at that time.
The Corps had that rank of Tech Sgt then, but I believe it was done away with during or after Korea.  He was a Sgt but the tech rating was allocated to those assigned to support functions and the rani of Sgt was assigned to guys in the infantry MOSs (Military Occupation Specialty).  His company was sent to Hawaii after Saipan and they were doing special training for the invastion of Okinawa which he always said would have been a death sentence for the company.  When he got to Nagasaki, he was put in charge of the company personnel office and promoted to Staff Sgt.  His uniform, lovingly stored in his "war chest," has SSGT chevrons.
Regarding my comment that he was the last of the Company B Boys … I'm sure there are other members of B Company still alive.  My reference was made to the ‘family’ of WWII Marine veterans who knew that Verne was the last one of his group of B Company Marines he kept in touch with over all the years.  At one time, there were nine of them, including his Lieutenant and First Sgt who lived in Idaho and Washington.  I had the pleasure of meeting seven of them when they met up over the years at annual 2nd Marine Division reunions.  Time and age reduced the ranks to just Verne in the end.”
Regarding my service in the Marines … I enlisted in September 1965 and trained as a combat correspondent/photographer. (I had worked as a reporter for two weekly papers before enlisting)  I arrived as a Lance Corporal (LCPL) in Da Nang SVN (Republic of South Vietnam) in late April 1967.  I was promoted to Corporal in July 67 and SGT December 67.  I was assigned to the 1st Marine Division Information Services Office (ISO) and further assigned to 2nd Battalion, First Marine Regiment.
Later, I covered combat operations with 1st Battalion and 2nd Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment. My first Purple Heart happened on 25 June 67 when the squad I was with got ambushed during a night movement. I received shrapnel in my right leg, right hand and right forehead.  I was not medevac'd.
I participated and wrote stories and photos published in the Marines ‘in country’ weekly newspaper, THE SEA TIGER and Pacific Edition of STARS AND STRIPES in eleven major named combat operations.
I covered battles from as far south of I Corps as Chu Lai and as far north as Con Thien, one mile south of the DMZ.   For a candid and authoritative information sources of Con Thien …
http://documentaryheaven.com/vietnam-war-battle-of-con-thien/
http://www.vietvet.org/jhconthn.htm
My last operation was the Battle for Hue City during the TET Offensive of 1968. I arrived in Hue on 2 February and on the 19th I was seriously wounded while carrying wounded Marines off the battlefield.
http://lancrew.tripod.com/Battle.htm
http://www.vwam.com/vets/tet/tet.html
http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/hue-city-1968-winning-battle-while-losing-war
In April 1969, after a year of in and out of Navy hospitals, I was medically retired from the Marines due to combat-related disabilities. My personal awards include 2 Purple Hearts; Bronze Star with Combat V (for my efforts to save wounded Marines); South Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry (small unit award) for being involved in combat on the south side of the Citadel. That is much more than you probably want to know, except to say that I know that, all too often, there have been cases where some "Vietnam Vets" have made huge claims of bravery and such, but I do have formal documentation for every statement I have made.
Steve Berntson, email message to author, November 6, 2013.
I wasn't a brave Marine.  I just did what I was trained to do and try and get myself and as many of my fellow Marines back home alive.  I didn't always succeed but then neither did the Marines on Tarawa.
Steve Berntson, email message to author, November 11, 2013.
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Two men in one family, one generation apart, are blood brothers in a band of brothers who honorably served our country.  People and families who serve and support our country - as have Verne and Steve - are very special people deserving our thanks and admiration.  Thank you, Steve, for your service to our country and to this writer for useful background information.
SEMPER FI,  STEVE!          SEMPER FI,  VERNE!
THE LOVE AND PRIDE
YOU AND YOUR UNCLE HAVE SHARED WITH EACH OTHER
ARE PROFOUND.
Received  27 November 2010; updated 27 November 2012 and 15 November 2013.
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