Some of the best lessons I learned in life came from when we attacked the Japanese at Tarawa, Saipan and Tinian. That is when I learned my most valuable lesson: that life is so precious. Every day can have something very special to look forward to, and something good can come from every day. It pays to keep a positive outlook and be ready for whatever life throws your way.

At age 19, I voluntarily enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. The date was 11 December 1942. I came from Harrison, Michigan, about 150 miles northwest of Detroit. My 20^th birthday was in New Zealand. Fourteen weeks later, as a 60mm mortar man in Company G, 2^nd Battalion, Eighth Marines, we were at Tarawa in the fourth wave wading in to Red Beach 3, not too far to the east of the long Government Pier. Looking back now from the vantage point of my 90 years, I still remember things happening quite fast.

On 1 November 1943, we left New Zealand on the USS Heywood (APA-6), and I have since learned a lot about her storied career during World War II.

USS Heywood (APA-6)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Heywood_%28APA-6%29

Heywood was originally built in 1919 for the Baltimore Mail Line and named SS Steadfast. Acquired by the Navy on 26 October 1940, she underwent extensive conversion, becoming the first in the Heywood-class of attack transports.

In August 1942, Heywood participated in the South Pacific campaign (Operation Watchtower) in the Solomon Islands, at Tulagi and Guadalcanal, by bringing infantry and supplies to the battle and evacuating the wounded and prisoners to Australia. In November and December 1942, she was back at Guadalcanal. In early May 1943 in the North Pacific, she was active in the amphibious landings in the Aleutian Islands of Attu (Operation Landgrab) and Kiska (Operation Cottage) before returning to San Francisco with wounded veterans. Then with fresh infantry and supplies she returned to the Aleutians to debark those men for occupation duty on Kiska, arriving there on 15 August 1943. By early October 1943, she was back in the South Pacific, in New Zealand, in amphibious assault training exercises preparing for our next campaign.

I was on board Heywood when we left Wellington on 1 November 1943, and, ominously, we learned when we boarded that she was fitted out to serve as a hospital ship during and after our next campaign.

Heywood landed infantry at Tarawa on 20 November and returned to Pearl Harbor on 3 December for more amphibious assault training.

In late January 1944, Heywood was in the Marshall Islands bringing men and supplies to the amphibious landings on Kwajalein, Majuro and Eniwetok. In mid-June and mid-July respectively, she landed troops at Saipan and Tinian. On 20 October, she was in the east, central Philippines landing troops at Leyte Gulf on 20 October.

he S.S. City of Baltimore approaching the Landing Stage

S.S. City of Baltimore in the livery of the Baltimore Mail Line, pre-World War II

http://www.gjenvick.com/HistoricalBrochures/BaltimoreMailLine/1930s-Brochure-NewShips-OneClass-LowCost.html#sthash.HqFjBv39.B1to7yAh.dpbs

On 9 January 1945, Heywood landed troops at Lingayen Gulf on the west side of Luzon in the Philippines. A month later, she landed reinforcements on Mindoro in the west, central Philippines, and, after overhaul Stateside on the West Coast, she returned to the Western Pacific to land reinforcements at Okinawa in the spring of 1945. She was in the Philippines when Japan declared its surrender on 15 August (six days after our atomic attack on Nagasaki); was in Tokyo Bay on 2 September when the formal surrender of all Imperial Japanese forces was accepted on board the USS Missouri; and brought occupation troops into Tokyo Bay on 8 September 1945.

http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/03/03006.htm

All told, by the end of the war, Heywood had earned seven battle stars. She returned Stateside in early 1946 when she was put into the Reserve Fleet until 1957 when she was scrapped.

http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/baltimore.shtml

About a week out of Wellington, we arrived off the southwest coast of Efate Island in the New Hebrides, a large island group in the South Pacific some 650 nautical miles west northwest due Fiji.

:LTVR TOOLS:EFATE stuff:Map_of_approach_to_Efate_Island.jpg

A WWII US Navy Seabee map of Efate, New Hebrides

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_approach_to_Efate_Island.jpg

We were in Task Unit 53.1.1 of Transport Division Four of Task Group 53.1 Transport Group … all part of Task Force 53! For almost a week, we had to wait for some other vessels to arrive and join our convoy. We used our time productively for the duration of the wait by practicing more amphibious landings.

Some of these landings took place in the Havannah Harbor area on the northwest coast where construction of a naval support base was begun by personnel of the 101^st Engineer Regiment of the US Army’s Americal Division, some 19 months before we arrived.

https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/Building_Bases/bases-24.html

https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ACTC/actc-18.html

Cronin, Francis. Under The Southern Cross: The Saga of the Americal Division. Boston: Americal Division Veterans Association, 1978. 15-16, 31-32.

Havannah Harbor, Efate Island, New Hebrides (now, Republic of Vanuatu)

www.treesandfishes.com

Other practice landings took place at Mele Bay on Efate’s southwest coast.

Mele Bay, Efate Island, New Hebrides (now, Republic of Vanuatu)

http://www.vanuatubeachbar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/air-view-of-Mele-Bay.png

For us Marines, Efate was heaven compared to the hell we would soon face.

Years later, with historical hindsight, I was to learn that shortly before we left Efate, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief, Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, had Operation Galvanic (that’s us Marines!) us in mind when he said,

"Our time has come to attack!"

http://www.usmcmuseum.org/Exhibits_UncommonValor_p10.asp

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq36-4.htm

We left Efate on 13 November 1943. Inexorably, our convoy continued the long trek from New Zealand on a north, northeast heading toward our still unannounced destination. Out on the open ocean, our convoy could be seen for miles ahead in all directions.

A representative photograph of a US Navy convoy in WW II

http://navyvets.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/wwiiconvoy.jpg

This convoy was an impressive sight! The men of the 2^nd Marine Division (Reinforced), consisting of three infantry regiments (2^nd, 6^th and 8^th) were carried in at least eleven transports. We were reinforced by an artillery regiment (10^th); a combat support regiment (18^th), with engineers, pioneers and Seabees; at least two tank companies; a medical battalion; and an amphibious tractor battalion.

Also, ready to protect our convoy en route to our destination and ready to provide fire support from offshore positions during the ensuing battles was an impressive array of vessels: three battleships, two heavy cruisers; three light cruisers; three aircraft carriers; and nine destroyers. As well, we were joined by more vessels carrying portions of the US Army’s 27^th Infantry Division.

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_tarawa.html#USassault

A few days out of Efate, all Marines were notified that Tarawa and Abemama Atolls in the Gilbert Islands were to be our destination. The Marines’ primary target was Tarawa, described as a strategic and recently reinforced stronghold for the Japanese. Importantly, Betio Island at Tarawa Atoll (the site of the main battle) had an airfield of strategic importance. Our southern flank was to be secured by our defeat of the small Japanese garrison on Abemama Atoll, about 80 nautical miles southeast of Tarawa. Our northern flank was to be secured by the 27^th Infantry Division’s defeat of the small Japanese garrison on Makin Atoll, about 105 nautical miles north Betio. The Japanese control of Tarawa Atoll and nearby atolls was described as being a threat to the security of supply and communications lines between the United States and her allies in New Zealand and Australia. These were the reasons given to explain and justify upcoming events.

We were also told that pre-attack naval and air bombardment of Betio - “the greatest concentration of aerial bombardment and naval gunfire in the history of warfare” - would neutralize any opposition we might encounter, but events proved that was an empty promise with tragic and costly ramifications.

In fact, on 19 November 1943, Major General Julian C. Smith, Commander of the 2^nd Marine Division, had the following message read to all officers and men:

“A great offensive to destroy the enemy in the central Pacific has begun. American air, sea, and land forces, of which this division is a part, initiate this offensive by seizing Japanese-held atolls in the Gilbert Islands, which will be used for future operations. The task assigned to us is to capture the atolls of Tarawa and Abemama. Army units of our Fifth Amphibious Corps are simultaneously attacking Makin, 150 miles north of Tarawa.

For the past 3 days Army, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft have been carrying out bombardment attacks on our objectives. They are neutralizing, and will continue to neutralize, other Japanese air bases adjacent to the Gilbert Islands.

Early this morning combatant ships of our Navy bombarded Tarawa. Our Navy screens our operations and will support our attack tomorrow morning with the greatest concentration of aerial bombardment and naval gunfire in the history of warfare.

It will remain with us until our objective is secured and our defenses are established. Garrison forces are already enroute to relieve us as soon as we have completed our job of clearing our objective of Japanese forces.

This division was especially chosen by the high command for the assault on Tarawa because of its battle experience and its combat efficiency. Their confidence will not be betrayed. We are the first American troops to attack a defended atoll. What we do here will set a standard for all future operations in the central Pacific area. Observers from other Marine divisions and from other branches of our armed services, as well as those of our allies, have been detailed to witness our operations. Representatives of the press are present. Our people back home are eagerly awaiting news of our victories.

I know that you are well-trained and fit for the tasks assigned to you. You will quickly overrun the Japanese forces; you will decisively defeat and destroy the treacherous enemies of our country; your success will add new laurels to the glorious tradition of our troops.

Good luck and God bless you all.”

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Tarawa/USMC-M-Tarawa-J.html

http://www.2dmardiv.com/Major_General_Julian_C_Smith.html

In the darkness of night on 19/20 November 1943, Task Force 53.1 arrives off the west coast of Betio Island … the westerly-most and largest island in Tarawa Atoll. The stage is set for what would eventually be called “Bloody Tarawa” and one of the most significant Marine Corps battles in history.

On Saturday, 20 November 1943, we are awakened at about 0300. We check all our gear once more. In my case that means my M1 carbine and 10 - 12 clips of ammo, each clip containing about 12 rounds. You better believe it: we know we have to conserve our ammo! I also have with me one 60mm (2.36” diameter) mortar tube in my pack. As well, I’ve got a gas mask; a first aid pouch; and some grenades. We’ve had a good breakfast of steak and eggs, and I remember a doctor saying that all that food might not be the best for us in terms of trying to digest it while in combat.

Heywood finds its anchorage at Transport Area Baker (a few miles out to sea, southwest of Temakin Point on Betio Island). With some of my squad, we’ve gone out went on deck to watch the Navy shell Betio. It didn’t take long, though, for Heywood to be repositioned to Transport Area Able (a few miles further out to sea and northwest off the northwest point of Betio, often called the “Bird’s Beak” because of its contours). In darkness, debarkation began as Marines begin crawling down cargo nets strung down the sides of Heywood and board amtracs (amphibious tractors) and LCVPs (landing craft, vehicle, personnel).

I remember going over the rail and scrambling down cargo nets to a LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel; also commonly called a Higgins boat) rising and falling on the ocean swells. Not easy doing that in the dark way back then, and only a little less difficult in daylight.

Based on calculations aided by the U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department, the next photograph was obviously taken after I had boarded the LCVP. The photograph was taken in the early daylight hours after sunrise (0611) on D-Day, 20 November 1943. This calculation is based on the presence of full daylight, the clear images in the distance and the number of smaller craft appearing in foreground and distance. Heywood is seen on the left, middle distance offloading amtracs shortly before they and their precious cargo - our Marines - depart for their run to Red Beach 3 on Betio’s northern shore. By the time this photograph was taken, I had already departed Heywood for the rendezvous area used prior to our departure for Red 3.

USS Heywood (middle distance, left) lowers an amtrac on D-Day at Betio, 20 November 1943

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/npswapa/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003120-00/sec4a.htm

U.S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY

ASTRONOMICAL APPLICATIONS DEPARTMENT

Sun Data for Saturday, 20 November 1943 Universal Time + 12h

Betio, Tarawa Atoll [1.26° N, 172.53° E]

Begin civil twilight 05:49

Sunrise 6:11

Sun transit 12:13

Sunset 18:16

End civil twilight 18:38

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php

I was one of about 30 guys in our boat. Milling around waiting nearly three hours to rendezvous with other boats was uncomfortable for a lot of guys; diesel exhaust and pitching and rolling in the water does strange things to a guy’s sense of balance and the stability of a guy’s stomach!

To this day, I remember talking on the way to our rendezvous point with Lt. Kenneth Mosher, a fellow Michigander from Flint. Of all things, we reminisced about pheasant hunting back home! I don’t think I was too worried about what was going to happen; this was my first experience going into combat. However, I do think guys who had already been in amphibious landings at Guadalcanal probably felt differently because they knew how bad things could get. Maybe I should have been more concerned, but I simply did not know what really could happen. I knew how to go through the mechanics of amphibious landings; we had practiced that a lot. Reflecting back on that morning nearly some 70 years later, I must have been partly naïve and partly in denial.

In 1984, my son and I had a chance to meet Lt. Mosher at an event in Minnesota. I was really looking forward to seeing him again and catching up on a lot. Unfortunately, he had a change in plans, and I never have seen him since our time in the Corps. I was told he lived for many years in Texas.

This photo is a good example of what we looked like on our run in to Red 3 at Betio

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/ref/Gators/img/Gators-23.jpg

I guess many of us thought the ride in to the beach and the landing would be fairly uneventful, in view of the tremendous pre-attack punishment given to Betio by our Navy ships. We were soon caught by surprise, though, because it didn’t take too long to figure out that most Japanese defenders had hunkered down underground to wait out the Navy’s bombardment. When we arrived, they really turned their guns on us. That caused a lot of havoc, injuries and deaths.

In the 4^th wave into Red Beach 3, we were in the first wave of the Higgins boats that day, arriving a little after 0900. Amphibious tractors, also known as amtracs, had gone ashore in earlier waves. At about 500 yards out from the beach, our boat got caught on the reef and we quickly got out amid enemy fire coming from shore and waded in to the beach. One particular challenge walking across that reef came as a complete surprise: some of our own aircraft had dropped bombs for some reason on the reef before we even got there. The result was huge bomb craters had been blown into the reef, and, as they were underwater, we couldn’t see them until we suddenly stumbled into them!

The ride in was like a bad dream. Time seemed to stand still. It still seems that way. We were being fired on as we struggled to shore. In chest-high water, we didn’t present much of a target, but a number of guys took head shots and it was all over for them even before they got to shore. There was no place to hide, and lady luck was a companion for some of us, but certainly not for all of us! With oil and blood in the water, some guys would take a gulp of foul air and dirty water and submerge themselves, trying to walk toward shore. When your air ran out, you knew you had to rise up and try to catch another gasp of air, knowing full well you might be picked off by shore fire that reached out beyond the end of the pier. Some of us slowly got over by the long Government Pier to our right, and that’s where I remember coming ashore, perhaps 100 yards east of that pier. We were part of a Weapons Company, and Lt. Mosher was the CO of the platoon I was in.

Things were very hectic. Our entire mortar squad became scattered. Nobody could say we were a coherent fighting unit. We were more like individuals just fighting and trying to stay alive. Most of us went over the palm log seawall within the first 30 - 40 minutes. The seawall saved quite a few Marines, but many of the defenders were in the slit trench just a few yards beyond the wall, and there were a few pillboxes nearby. I think it was an engineer from the 18^th Regiment who threw a satchel charge over the seawall and hit a large ammo dump. Wow! That explosion shook the whole island! Another huge explosion occurred shortly after the first one.

Initially on that first day in my area close to the land end of the Government Pier, we used just small arms, bazookas and flamethrowers. As a mortar squad, we used our mortars very little. The main reason for that relates to the nature of the terrain: Betio was a sandy, flat and small area for a battle to be waged. At about 291 acres, it was less than half the size of Central Park in New York City; its highest point of land was only about 8 feet above sea level. If we used our mortar at all, we fired them just about straight up. If we had fired at a low trajectory, our rounds would have gone all the way across the island into the ocean on the other side!

Our squad had six men. Different guys carried parts of our 60mm mortar, a weapon used for close-in support of ground troops. I carried the 25-pound mortar tube; another carried the 15-pound base plate; another carried the bi-pod leg structure on which the tube was mounted; a gunner carried and operated the sighting unit; a gunner (like I was) dropped the shells in the tube; and all of us carried a few rounds of the unexpended mortar shells as well as all our other gear.

“Here’s my squad’s weapon. We were good with it.”

http://marines.togetherweserved.com/usmc/voices/2010/13/m224-60mm-mortar.jpg

For all of D-Day, I was in the area near the north turn-around area of the airfield. At about 1100, near the center of the airstrip, I was wounded by a sniper some distance away. He was obviously aiming for my head; instead, he only got me in the back in my right shoulder area. Just a flesh wound, it was only 12 inches away from the back of my head! Thank God his aim was off! At about 1830, after dark, I was wounded again, this time by some sporadic machine gun fire from, I think, over on the nearby big concrete bunker. I still have a bluish scar under my jaw, but I never really suffered from those rounds in later years. Lady luck was with me again! I spent the rest of that night bandaged in the shoulder and neck areas lying as close to the ground as I could in the slit trench near the palm log seawall. My one concern was surviving the night so that I could be evacuated the next morning.

“This shows where I came ashore and was wounded on D+1” (SEE TEXT)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USMC-M-Tarawa-3.jpg

Out there in the tropics, the temperature really didn’t go down much at night from the high temperatures of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit! We were very concerned the Japanese defenders would stage some sort of counterattack, but in our area that did not happen. I think that was because some of our shelling had killed the Japanese commander, Admiral Shibasaki. With him dead, nobody was in the position to order a counterattack. All I was concerned about was just hanging in there until sunrise. It wasn’t nice. I didn’t sleep all night. I thought I might not even live through the night and might not even see the sun come up. I can tell you … strange things and strange sounds happened during the night, making me feel really vulnerable.

The next day (D+1), I was evacuated. I was really one of the walking wounded. One guy helped in the dangerous process of supporting me and wading with me next to the Government Pier out to its end where I was picked up by a Higgins boat and taken to one of our transports. I can’t remember its name now. I was hoisted up the side of the transport because I could not climb up the cargo nets. They patched me up, and for a few days I stayed on that transport before we departed on the long journey to Honolulu. While we were still there and on our way to Honolulu, I remember seeing and hearing several burials at sea. The firing party would fire three volley salutes, and then came the playing of “Taps.” It was very sad, but it was necessary. I guess the trip to Honolulu took about 10 days.

In my case, our arrival in Honolulu was on 7 December 1943, two-years to the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. We came in right through the harbor entrance and up to the East Loch. I was out on deck because I was beginning to feel better by this time. I could see several ships still sticking up out of the water and some buildings were still in wrecked condition from the Japanese attacks. We went to a dock where we disembarked to be taken to the Aeia Naval Hospital. My stay there lasted perhaps a week, and I remember when a group of about 17 of us were taken from the hospital to Waikiki Beach where Admiral Nimitz came and pinned Purple Hearts on us. He seemed like a really decent, straightforward kind of guy.

Aiea Naval Hospital, Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii

http://ww2db.com/images/other_none814.jpg

From Honolulu, I was taken by ship to Hilo on the east coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, and from there by truck I was taken to Camp Tarawa to rejoin my unit. My arrival there was sometime between Christmas and New Year’s Day; I’m not sure now exactly what day it was. At Camp Tarawa, we received a lot of replacement Marines and trained really hard every day. We had marches of varying lengths, were taken frequently for live firing drills, and practiced rubber boat landings on nearby beaches and on beaches near Hilo. There were softball and volleyball teams, with games often between us enlisted guys and officers. I still remember the time when the 2^nd Marine Division rodeo was held; it went on for 2 or 3 days and was a lot of fun. In my mind then, I thought the area of the Parker Ranch where Camp Tarawa was located looked a lot like what I thought Texas looked like. Oh, and the cold! After the heat at Tarawa, the cold here had its own downside. It really stimulated us, and we moved a lot faster just to keep warm. One day, there was a big explosion caused by some guy who had what he thought was a dud of a shell that he had brought back to his tent. Tragically, it was not a dud and a couple of guys got killed. We also did a lot of construction there with the Seabees, and we got to eat with them. That was good because their food was better than ours!

Looking back now, over 70 years later, I have to say that the Battle of Tarawa was very intense and hectic. They said we needed to take Tarawa because of the strategic value of the airfield. It was named after Lt. Hawkins, one of the first guys to land on Betio when us Marines landed. In retrospect, taking Tarawa was the first stepping stone for many of us in a series of battles across the western Pacific.

From Camp Tarawa, we left for Honolulu. Evidence of the attack on Pearl Harbor was everywhere, including near the harbor entrance. Some of the LSTs ahead of us in our convoy got caught up in some huge explosions over in the West Loch of Pearl Harbor.

ttp://www.cnic.navy.mil/navycni/groups/public/@pub/@hawaii/documents/image/cnicd_a072231.jpg

The wreck of LST480 in the Pearl Harbor West Loch explosions of May 1944

http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160480.htm

http://www.cnic.navy.mil/HAWAII/AboutUs/History/WestLochDisaster/index.htm

We had not completed our rendezvous with the others ahead of us, but if we had, we too would have been caught up in those explosions. Lady luck visited us again! We saw and heard these explosions, and we saw smoky fires that burned for quite a while. To this day, one of the wrecked LSTs in the explosion remains, as you see, where it was scuttled some 70 years ago … stuck on the shore of Waipio Peninsula, not far from the entrance to Pearl Harbor.

Seven months after Tarawa, we were in the initial landings of Operation Forager on Saipan. We had a very tough time there, where on 15 June 1944, D-Day, I was in the 2^nd wave to the right of the beachhead on the southwest shore. I think we were the last company on Yellow Beach 3, and the Japs really tried to drive us off even before we landed.

At Tinian on 25 July 1944, on D-Day, our unit was part of the fake assault not far from Tinian Town (presently known as San Jose Village). On D+1 at Tinian Town itself, we actually landed, right behind the 4^th Marine Division.

Here’s something that will interest you: One day several years ago I saw the book Pacific Warriors, by Eric Hammel (2006). On the cover of that book (above) is a photo of Marines landing at Tinian, and was I ever surprised to see that I am actually in that photograph!

"That’s me, the guy behind the group of three in the left front area of this, as we came ashore at Tinian!"

USMC photo

http://www.stamfordhistory.org/ww2_tinian.htm

I remember moving up the western side of Tinian for about a week and a half. We even saw some of the suicide jumps there, though not nearly as many as jumps as those whichoccurred from the cliffs up on Marpi Point on the north end of Saipan. That was awful. As was done on Saipan, our Marines tried to talk those people out of jumping, but we weren’t very successful in our efforts. Two corroborative and poignant statements on these suicide jumps on Saipan and Tinian may be found at …

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/pacific-koyu-shiroma/

and

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/tinian.htm

I remember, too, that we built a camp up on the northern end of Tinian, near the airfields built by the Japanese. Only much later did I learn that it was from these airstrips that B-29s later came in and made regular raids on Japan and that it was from these airstrips that the atomic bombs were taken by B-29s to attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki and bring the war to an end.

Thomas, Gordon and Max Gordon-Witts. Ruin From The Air: The Atomic Mission to Hiroshima. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1977.

It was at our camp by the airstrips on Tinian that that I was called in one Sunday to the 1^st Sergeant’s office. I had been wounded on my left leg earlier on Tinian, shortly after going ashore. I was told that a new law had gone into effect where, if a guy had been wounded twice in situations where, in each incident, at least 48 hours of hospital rehab was required, that guy would be ordered home. That was my situation, and so it was from Tinian that I was ordered back Stateside. I remember being on a transport (can’t remember which one) coming into San Francisco Bay, under the Golden Gate Bridge, seeing large billboard signs for Lucky Strike cigarettes and Coca Cola! It was 31 October 1944 … Halloween! What a treat! Wow! Did it ever feel good to be back home!

I took the train down to San Diego to check in, get new uniforms and a health check, and then I was given a 30-day “en route” pass to go home. I went to Chicago, then Detroit and then back to Harrison, Michigan where I had enlisted in the Marine Corps back in December 1942. I was home between 13 November and 15 December, and then new orders came in that took me to a most unusual opportunity. Here's a hint!

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, age 65

Photo taken at the Yalta Conference

about two months before he died

http://www.firetown.com

I was ordered to Washington, DC, to the Marine Corps Headquarters on 8^th and I Street, and assigned to the Presidential Guard at the White House!

My living quarters were up in the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland at what is now called Camp David. Back then, FDR called the place “Shangri-la.” With other Marines in the Presidential Guard, we lived in nice cabins and commuted to Downtown DC.

Spring had already arrived when FDR and his staff relocated to the Little White House in the hills outside of Warm Springs, Georgia on 30 March 1945. The entire entourage went to the train station in DC and then had about a 14-hour ride to our destination. Consisting of about 50 guys (including our own support staff and cooks), the Marine Guard itself lived in six-man tents about 50 yards away from the Little White House. We did our four-hour shifts of guard duty from small guard shacks located discreetly in various places on the grounds not far from FDR’s residence.

On the train trip south, FDR really was not well at all. I did not actually see FDR, but various people on his staff and several Navy doctors were around him all the time. On Sunday, 15 April, FDR was supposed to come to our mess for supper. We built a wooden ramp so he could be wheeled up and into our mess, but at the last minute, his plans were changed because as that week progressed, he was feeling progressively worse. More Navy cars and Navy doctors arrived. And then, on Thursday, 12 April, while he was sitting for a portrait, he had a stroke and died about two hours later. He was only 65.

250px-USA-Georgia-Warm_Springs-Roosevelt%27s_Little_White_House

President Franklin Roosevelt’s Little White House

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_White_House

On the day FDR died, I was on guard in one of those duty shacks. The ramp we had built to help him get into our mess was used, instead, to assist his casket up to the railroad car that transported his body back to Washington, DC. I accompanied the hearse to the railway station, but I did not accompany the funeral party back to Washington. A group of other Marines accompanied the casket back to Washington, and I had to stay at the Little White House for a few more days before taking a train back to Washington.

Up until I was discharged on 13 October 1945, I lived in the barracks at the Marine Corps Headquarters and was involved with a number of very different activities.

For example, on two occasions I remember, we escorted prominent returning military people in homecoming parades in Washington. One parade was for Brigadier General James P. S. Devereux, one of the Marine commanders at Wake Island who, as a Major, led the stiff, 15-day defense but ultimate surrender of the 1^st Defense Battalion Marine defenders at Wake Island in December 1941.

Major James P.S. Devereux Brigadier General James P.S. Devereux

CO, 1^st Defense Battalion, Wake Island USMC photo

Seen here as a POW at Shanghai, c. Jan 1942

Sources of biographic information and both photos of General Devereux are, with thanks:

http://www.ibiblio.org

http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/worldwari1/p/wakeisland.htm

http://dundalkeagle.com

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jpsdever.htm

General Devereux (1903-1988), Navy Cross recipient and Republican congressman, represented Maryland from the 2^nd Congressional District House of Representatives for four terms from 1951-1959.

Another homecoming parade was held for General Jonathan Wainwright who had led American and Filipino forces against the attacking Japanese on Corregidor in the Philippines in the spring of 1942. After General MacArthur obeyed FDR and left Manila and headed for Australia, Wainwright was given command of Corregidor, and he was the American officer obliged to surrender all American and Filipino forces to the Japanese on 6 May 1942. The infamous Bataan Death March was one result of that surrender.

http://eyewitnesstohistory.com/bataandeathmarch.htm

Wainwright, by this time a Lieutenant General, had been the highest-ranking American POW during the war (for 40 months), incarcerated and very badly treated by the Japanese throughout the rest of the war until liberated by the Soviet Red Army in August 1945.

http://www.historylink.org/db_images/wainwright_Jonathan_portrait.jpg

General Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (1946)

Wainwright, on left behind MacArthur President Truman bestows Medal of Honor

WWII surrender ceremony, 2 Sep 1945 White House Rose Garden, 10 Sep 1945

Sources of biographic information and all photos of General Wainwright are, with thanks, from Duane Colt Denfield, Ph.D. (18 November 2009) and www.historylink.org at http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9212

Live news film footage of celebrations welcoming General Wainwright home follows:

https://ia700602.us.archive.org/12/items/September101945Newsreel-NationWelcomesHeroOfCorregidor/45_09_10_Newsreel_Nation_Welcomes_Hero_Of_Corregidor_512kb.mp4

[Henry continues …] I also participated in many funerals details at Arlington National Cemetery, where often there were four or five burials a day. After Japan’s formal surrender on 2 September 1945 up until early October 1945, I and other Marines were occasionally dressed in dungarees and war paint and driven around in trucks as part of war bond drives. I guess you could say I was also a part-time actor doing that!

Finally, I returned to my hometown of Harrison, Michigan where, as a PFC, I received my Honorable Discharge for services rendered during the war. The date was 13 October 1945. I worked at a variety of jobs between late 1945 and October 1956, when I applied for and was accepted as a civilian employee by the National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Meade, Maryland. In 28 years of service for NSA, I worked in a variety of positions and retired in 1984 at age 60 as a GS-12.

From my time at Tarawa, I still remember with fond memories and the utmost respect Major H.P. “Jim” Crowe and Major William C. “Bill” Chamberlin, both of whom were awarded the Navy Cross.

http://tarawaontheweb.org/crowe.htm

http://tarawaontheweb.org/chamberlin.htm

Like I said at the beginning of this report, in those battles across the Pacific, I really became appreciative of every day of my life, and I learned that life is very precious.

Henry, thank you from a grateful nation for serving our country faithfully and with distinction. Vicariously, readers can now be witnesses to events you actually lived through. Thank you for sharing. We will remember.

SEMPER FI, HENRY!

ANd9GcS5ZIFEVDDaEiliyiwJbUkySogwdvXJ_mHojVm_BJTEpw31nof5

Service awards earned include:

(1) Purple Heart (with star) (2) WWII Victory (3) American Defense

(4) American Campaign (5) Combat Expedition Medal (6) Asiatic & Pacific Campaign

(3 stars: Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian)

(7) Combat Action Ribbon (8) Overseas Service Ribbon (9) Combat Action Badge

(10) Presidential Unit Citation – Tarawa

"For outstanding performance in combat during the seizure and occupation of the Japanese-held Atoll of Tarawa, Gilbert Islands, November 20 to 24, 1943. Forced by the treacherous coral reefs to disembark from their landing craft hundreds of yards off the beach, the Second Marine Division (Reinforced) became a highly vulnerable target for devastating Japanese fire. Dauntlessly advancing in spite of rapidly mounting losses, the Marines fought a gallant battle against crushing odds, clearing the limited beachheads of snipers and machine guns, reducing powerfully fortified enemy positions and completely annihilating the fanatically determined and strongly entrenched Japanese forces. By the successful occupation of Tarawa, the Second Marine Division (Reinforced) has provided our forces with highly strategic and important air and land bases from which to continue future operations against the enemy; by the valiant fighting spirit of these men, their heroic fortitude under punishing fire and their relentless perseverance in waging this epic battle in the Central Pacific, they have upheld the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service."

http://tarawaontheweb.org/puc.htm

(11) Combat Service Medal*

1 https://www.trentonmi.org

2 https://www.vetfriends.com/catalog/images/4332_wwii_victory_medal.jpg

3 https://www.usamilitarymedals.com/american-defense-medal-ww-ii-p-5.html

4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Campaign_Medal

5 www.precisionmedals.com

6 https://www.usamilitarymedals.com/asiatic-pacific-campaign-medal-wwii-p-15.html

7 https://www.officialmilitaryribbons.com/images/all_service_ribbons/combat_action.jpg

7.1 https://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=2362

8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Service_Ribbon#Navy_and_Marine_Corps

9 https://www.usamilitarymedals.com/combat-action-badge-1-1-4-lapel-pin.html

10 https://www.commons.wikipedia.org

11 Combat Service Medal* (no photo reference available)

Finally, one additional act of recognition, Henry Norman himself … (via two photographs). Here the reader sees images revealing the warm-hearted spirit of a man who devoted decades of his life to the service of our country. Here are the winning smiles of a proud and patriotic Marine revealing the youthful, positive, engaging and upright character this man has shared with countless others in our national family for many, many decades. We are so fortunate to have this gentleman in our midst. Thank you for your service, Henry!

(3 stars: Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian)

Once a smiling Marine, age 19 . . . . . Always a smiling Marine, age 87

Henry C. Norman, USMC

(writer’s personal photo collection)

S E M P E R F I !

Received: 21 May 2012; updated 15 November 2012 and 30 September 2013