Cpl. Gerald A. Boeve, Special Weapons Group
Sgt. Sam Burns, 2nd Defense Batallion
Sgt. Robert L. Hoffmann, MG/Special Weapons Group
PFC Robert T. Keelin, Special Weapons Group
Jim Nelson, 2nd Defense Battalion
P.F.C. John "Jack" E. Pease, Special Weapons Group
Colin D. Romoff, 2nd Defense Battalion
Captain Robert W. Rose Executive Officer
"On 24 November, the last day of the fighting, Colonel Norman E. Trues 2d Defense Battalion relieved the assault units that had captured Betio. The defense battalion set up guns and searchlights to protect the airstrip on Betio repaired and named Hawkins Field after First Lieutenant William D. Hawkins, one of the 2d Marine Division's heroes killed in the battle and another airfield built by Seabees at adjacent Bonkiri. The defenders emplaced radar and searchlights to guard against night bombing raids, employing a combination of radar-directed and free-lance searchlights that could pick up approaching aircraft at a slant range of 60,000 feet. Between November 1943 and January 1944, the Japanese hurled 19 air raids against Trues battalion, along with numerous harassing raids by lone airplanes known as "Washing Machine Charlie." Only once did the enemy escape detection. According to one of the unit's officers, Captain John V. Alden, the Japanese raiders usually aimed for the airfields, often mistaking the beach for the runways at night and, in one instance, hitting gun positions on the coast of Bairiki."1Bombing raids by the Japanese occured on 3, 5, 6, 12, 13, (one unknown date), 20, 23, 24, and 27 December 1943. Further bombing raids occured on 3, 4, 7, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, and 21 January 1944.2
The Special Weapons Group, 2nd Defense Battalion's participation in the attack on Tarawa involved 10 officers, one of whom Captain Robert W. Rose was killed, and 278 enlisted men, three of whom were killed.3
Please send an email if more information is known about the 2nd Defense Battalion on Tarawa.
Notes:
1. Major Charles D. Melson Condition Red: Marine Defense Battalions in World War II.
2. Service records of PFC Robert T. Keelin.
3. Samuel E. Morison, Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls, Vol VII, June 1942-April 1944, pg. 185.
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copyright 2003 T.O.T.W.
Created 7 September 2003 - Updated 18 March 2005
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