“Untitled”, 9” x 6”, Intaglio, 2018
Harry, Marine, World War II
Yeah…Easter Sunday. Like I said, two out of three were a holiday. When I was going to New Britain it was a holiday too. But I can’t remember what it was, but it was the day after that we went. Which wasn’t too bad, you could eat your dinner. We landed there at Okinawa and…well two Marine Divisions and two Army Divisions and we were on the left side of the group going in and they were on the right. They were down on the south end, which was where the hill and that were a lot lower. We all figured that was not where they all would go [inaudible] Army. They would go up there to the North end or the Japs would fight the north end because those were mountains. Not big ones, but they were mountains. And it was just turned around the other way. The Army turned south and we went north. And we cleaned out that north. The Army hit it and they ran in….they couldn’t move at all. They were just stuck. They had to take us and pull us off and push us down with the Army. And I will tell you, there’s good guys in the Army, don’t get me wrong, most of them are…I don’t know, aren’t worth a damn. They were always behind us and we got shot at from the back. Japs would be in that [inaudible] part and they would shoot and hit us from the rear. And we had to hang up, hold up I don’t know how many times to let the Army try and catch up with us. I wouldn’t care to fight with the Army bunch anymore. I think most of us felt, these guys are [inaudible] as far as being put in. Probably didn’t want to be there any worse than us even being there. In our case, a Marine…at that time there were no [inaudible] for the Marine Corps. It was all enlisted…I mean you had to enlist regular. So I don’t know. Like I say, I know a lot of Army guys, ex-Army guys are pretty nice damn guys. I have gotten along with them for years. Of course this is peace time. I don’t know what it would be in a war. There is a lot of difference. A lot of difference. Yes sir. No kidding. I hate to say it, but that’s the truth. We were about three months or so of fighting there in Okinawa. Which was a hell of a battle. The worst one we had was Peleliu. And we lost a lot of men on Peleliu. I think when I left, I think they figured out that it was maybe two hundred, two hundred fifty guys left out of a thousand in the whole division. Which you are talking about fourteen thousand guys. They were wounded or killed. The day after I left is when they pulled out. They took the 1st Marine Division out of there. They had to bring in some other outfit, Marine outfit they had on stand-by and to take over because they were just so shot to hell. We had the worst part of the landing too. We had all the real mountains and they had some real mountains. And they were just like this [gestures]. You couldn’t crawl up the sides of them. [Inaudible] full of trenches, not trenches, but tunnels. It was hell. It was hell I tell you. They talk about some of these islands and what they had. They had a big thing now about Iwo Jima. They were just celebrating some…from what I read; these guys got relieved and [inaudible] call back on a phone or a radio and talk to their families. I never got any all the time. I had three years overseas. I never…
Yeah…Easter Sunday. Like I said, two out of three were a holiday. When I was going to New Britain it was a holiday too. But I can’t remember what it was, but it was the day after that we went. Which wasn’t too bad, you could eat your dinner. We landed there at Okinawa and…well two Marine Divisions and two Army Divisions and we were on the left side of the group going in and they were on the right. They were down on the south end, which was where the hill and that were a lot lower. We all figured that was not where they all would go [inaudible] Army. They would go up there to the North end or the Japs would fight the north end because those were mountains. Not big ones, but they were mountains. And it was just turned around the other way. The Army turned south and we went north. And we cleaned out that north. The Army hit it and they ran in….they couldn’t move at all. They were just stuck. They had to take us and pull us off and push us down with the Army. And I will tell you, there’s good guys in the Army, don’t get me wrong, most of them are…I don’t know, aren’t worth a damn. They were always behind us and we got shot at from the back. Japs would be in that [inaudible] part and they would shoot and hit us from the rear. And we had to hang up, hold up I don’t know how many times to let the Army try and catch up with us. I wouldn’t care to fight with the Army bunch anymore. I think most of us felt, these guys are [inaudible] as far as being put in. Probably didn’t want to be there any worse than us even being there. In our case, a Marine…at that time there were no [inaudible] for the Marine Corps. It was all enlisted…I mean you had to enlist regular. So I don’t know. Like I say, I know a lot of Army guys, ex-Army guys are pretty nice damn guys. I have gotten along with them for years. Of course this is peace time. I don’t know what it would be in a war. There is a lot of difference. A lot of difference. Yes sir. No kidding. I hate to say it, but that’s the truth. We were about three months or so of fighting there in Okinawa. Which was a hell of a battle. The worst one we had was Peleliu. And we lost a lot of men on Peleliu. I think when I left, I think they figured out that it was maybe two hundred, two hundred fifty guys left out of a thousand in the whole division. Which you are talking about fourteen thousand guys. They were wounded or killed. The day after I left is when they pulled out. They took the 1st Marine Division out of there. They had to bring in some other outfit, Marine outfit they had on stand-by and to take over because they were just so shot to hell. We had the worst part of the landing too. We had all the real mountains and they had some real mountains. And they were just like this [gestures]. You couldn’t crawl up the sides of them. [Inaudible] full of trenches, not trenches, but tunnels. It was hell. It was hell I tell you. They talk about some of these islands and what they had. They had a big thing now about Iwo Jima. They were just celebrating some…from what I read; these guys got relieved and [inaudible] call back on a phone or a radio and talk to their families. I never got any all the time. I had three years overseas. I never…