I went through Boot Camp in San Diego, and it was everything you have ever heard of. I had 10 days leave at home and had to report into Camp Elliott, California afterwards, then went through approximately 3 months of real tough Infantry training, long hikes, one canteen of water for the day, crawling all over the desert on your belly, etc. The 4th Division was getting organized in Camp Pendleton, so one day they loaded us into recons and off to Pendleton. They pulled along different barracks, and at each one so many men would be off loaded into those companies. When it came to my turn a Buck Sergeant jumped off the truck and said, "You, you, and you, etc. get off the truck." It so happened the Sergeant was a poker game buddy back in Camp Elliott, so he picked his poker game guys off the truck. That’s how I became a member of the Regimental Weapons Company, 24th Marines, 4th Division. The company was made up of 4 Platoons of 37mm Anti-Tank Guns, 4 Platoons of Half-tracks, and a Staff (C.O., Platoon Leaders, Clerks, Mechanics, etc.)

The platoons were assigned to various companies in the Infantry Battalions for various types of support, such as knocking out pill boxes, machine-gun nests, digging in on the line at night, etc. The 37’s had a special anti-personnel shell that was loaded with buckshot. When we were dug in at night on the front lines and heard any kind of noise in front of you, we would just point the barrel that way and pull the trigger. It would wipe out a path about 15 yards wide and about 20 yards deep. If it didn’t hit them, it would scare them to death. My gun crew spent most of our time in support of "G" Company, 2nd Battalion of the 24th Marines. One officer in the company became quite well known... Capt. Joe McCarthy, received the Medal of Honor and later became a General.

We covered a lot of ground in the hills around Pendleton in training exercises until Christmas time. I spent New Years Eve 1943 working on a ship loading party in San Diego harbor. We had everything loaded aboard the ships and set sail a few days later. I want to describe the living conditions and activities aboard a troop transport. Some people believe it was a nice cruise. Far from it. Your "sack" was a canvas sheet stretched with rope through eyes all around it and lapped over a metal rail. They were stacked about 5 or 6 to a row, so that lying on your back, the bottom of the one above you was about 6 inches from your face. It was hot, and that many guys in one compartment of the ship made some real odors. You got the regular 3 meals a day, Navy Chow, sometimes in your lap when the sea was rough. You got used to beans for breakfast, and s--- on the shingle, which was a creamy white hash spread over a piece of toast. There wasn’t a lot to do ... a few exercise sessions, reviews of terrain and conditions on the island you were headed for. You read everything you could get your hands on, and took lots of naps. Navy personnel their exercises also. Firing practices at targets towed by airplanes, abandon ship, etc. There weren’t any chairs on deck, so you sat on hot steal plates, and if you could find any shade you were lucky. Evening hours were the best, cooler. We would sit around and talk about all the great things we were going to do when we met the "Japs." We couldn’t wait to get into action, boy did that change in a hurry. I should mention that if you were lucky enough to get aboard a Merchant Marine ship, living conditions were much better and the chow was excellent. Enough of life and times aboard ship.

We pulled into Maui waters about a week after leaving San Diego, milled around there for a few days and then took off for the Marshall Islands. I had never heard of them before, small islands (Atolls) stretched out in a line, and not too far apart. Our target was Roi-Namur, two islands with a connecting cross over in the middle. One had a runway for small airplanes. I wouldn’t even call it an airport. I landed with my platoon of 37mm guns, just after lunch on D-day, after several hours in a landing craft. The one thing that sticks in my mind after landing on the beach was, the heavy, sweet, musky odor. I don’t know to this day what it was,... powder from the shells, sugar cane, dead bodies or what. There wasn’t much resistance on the island. The Japs were not 1st team caliber, and of course, they took a heavy bombardment for several days before we landed. It was all over in about 3 days, as I remember, and some of us were assigned mop-up duty. This entailed cleaning out a few bunkers and ensuring no live ones were around. My first encounter with the Enemy was when I came around the corner of this sunken bunker. It had palm tree logs stacked in front, and on top, and open on both ends, and there he was, standing, looking right at me with rifle lowered but pointing right at me. My rifle was in the same position, and we both froze. He was about my age... I guess I don’t need to tell you what happened next or I wouldn’t be writing today.

This initial invasion served many purposes, and I am sure our leaders planned it that way. It was a good "Breaker-Inner." You got your first taste of combat, lying in your foxhole at night, pitch dark, flares going off above you every 5 minutes, you think you hear noises out in front of you and you see things, dead bodies lying all around, theirs and a few of ours. An ammo dump exploded one afternoon and the force of the "wave" killed quite a few of our boys. We boarded ships and headed for Maui, which was to become our rest and training camp. I’ll never forget the first night arriving at the camp. It was raining cats and dogs. We were in mud up to our ankles. No one had been there before, so didn’t know exactly where we were going. Finally we found our tent row and tent and bedded down in our bed rolls, fully clothes. We were tired.

In about 3 months we boarded the ships again, made a short stop in Pearl Harbor, and we were on our way to the Mariana Islands (Saipan and Tinian). I landed on the beach with my platoon, again in the afternoon on D-day. We didn’t move too far inland, there was a lot of incoming mail, (mortars and artillery). Siapan was a big island and it took several weeks to secure it. There are several instances that stand out in my memory of the events. My Platoon Leader had me carry a message back to the beach on the 2nd day, (phones were out). I remember well coming up on one of our artillery companies. It was completely knocked out. Dead Marines lay all around the guns. Some of the guys had been hit and torn up. It was like a graveyard at midnight. I don’t know what the record was for the 100 yard dash with full gear, but I’m sure I established it. I went through that area like a blue streak, and needless to say, took another route back. I should say also that I noticed some of the same odor I noticed in the Marshalls. Another instance took place on the north end of the island, just a few days from the battle’s end. There was a pretty high hill up from the beach where we were advancing, quite a few caves in the side of the hill, and the Japs were taking pot shots at us from the cover. Lucky me, the "Old Man" sent my buddy and me up there to clean them out. There were narrow catwalks in front of the cave openings, and every time we would try to get near enough to the openings to toss in a grenade, they would open up with rifle fire. We finally got enough grenades into the openings and thought we got them all. I was walking back down one of the narrow walkways when a Jap appeared in front of me with his rifle on me. There was nothing to do but jump off the catwalk and I landed about 5 feet down, right on my belly. My buddy shot the Jap. We both received a citation for this action, but I had the "runs" for about 3 days from the hard landing.

I got hit with shrapnel a couple of times, one in the hand and small pieces in the head, nothing serious, but enough to get me a couple of Purple Hearts.

At the far end of Saipan there was a high cliff overlooking the beach. All of the civilians and soldiers had been pushed to the end. Rather than surrender some chose to commit suicide by jumping off the cliff to the beach below. Terrible sight.

One night we were about in the middle of the island, the Infantry company we were supporting didn’t have enough men to cover the entire front line. Again I lucked out. The "Old Man" assigned my buddy and me to help out. We were placed at the most forward position of the line, overlooking a small ravine. Talk about a long night. We heard noises all night. Bogie wheels on Jap tanks and sometimes we couldn’t tell which way they were going. We never slept a wink all night. We were never so happy to see daylight. If you ever meet someone who served in the Infantry during the war, shake their hand because they have lived through hell.

After Saipan was secure, we had about a weeks rest before heading for Tinian. It was just across a short channel from Saipan. I went onto the beach in an amphibious tank. This type of tank ride about 1 foot above the level of the water. We ran into light rifle fire from the beach, but one of the tanks machine-guns took care of them. I wasn’t about to be a hero and put my head up for a target. I do remember the first night very well. We dug in about 500 yards from the beach and were subjected to mortar and artillery fire all night long. The Japs used a pattern to their firing. They would start inland a few hundred yards from the beach and fire rounds about every 10 yards down to the beach, move left or right about 10 yards and do the same pattern back inland. So if you detect the pattern and rhythm of the fire, you could prepare accordingly.

The resistance wasn’t too bad on Tinian. I believe it took about 10 days, and it was all over. Pretty normal pattern of fighting. You would move so far every day, dig in for the night, and do it all over the next day.

After securing Tinian, we loaded up on the troop ships and headed back to Maui. Regular routine at base camp. Some replacements came into the company, maneuvers around the island, and a couple of ship to shore landings exercises. Liberty on Maui was daylight hours only and after Saturday morning inspections until 6:00 PM. Not much to do in the nearest town. Big meal of steak and eggs, couple of drinks, walk around and head back to camp.

We loaded up on ships right after New Year’s 1945. Went to Pearl Harbor and had liberty every day for about 10 days, daytime only. They fed us like kings, chow was excellent. We knew something big was coming by the way we were being treated. We finally pulled out and were told where we were going,... Iwo Jima. Of course most of us had never heard of it. It looked like a big pork chop, not really very big. We thought it would only take a few days to secure. We were in for a big surprise!!!!!

Iwo was bombed every day for I don’t remember how many days before D-day (Feb. 19). Dive bombers from the carrier and big 16 inch shells from the cruisers. The Japs were so well dug in, in caves, etc., that damage was minor. I was again the Liaison NCO for my platoon, and landed shortly after noon on D-day with the battalion staff. The beach was a mess, equipment busted and scattered everywhere. Just a few yards off the beach, the ground (sand) level rose 6 to 8 feet on about a 30 degree rise. The sand was so fine you couldn’t get a hand or foot hold to climb up it. Attempting to get equipment up it was near impossible, but the guys made it, most of them, quite a few didn’t. The Japs had staked and marked the beach before we landed, with distance markers. When they wanted to hit a specific target, they read the marker with their binoculars and zeroed in on the target. Of course, the guys wised up pretty quick and tore out all the markers.

I’m not going into the details or happenings on Iwo. It was a nightmare. Some of the nights were long and cold. It was February and Iwo is on a line with about San Francisco. There were quite a few rainy nights. It was miserable. The Jap soldiers were a higher quality product than we had met before. He was bigger, younger, smarter and committed to die defending the island.

A book that describes the battle of Iwo much better than I could ever do is, "Iwo Jima - Legacy of Valor", written by Bill D. Ross. It doesn’t cover much of the 4th Division action, but it was about the same as he describes.