6 1st Marine Regiment, History, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 300, Folder 5; 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, History; 7th Marine Regiment, AAR, all at National Archives; Corporal Leo Zitko to Mom and Dad, Collection Number 68, World War II Letters, Box 40, Folder 3463, Western Historical Manuscript Collection, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (hereafter WHMC); Henry Andrasovsky, oral history, Henry Andrasovsky Collection, #23434, and Alexander Costella, unpublished memoir, pp. 7-8, Alexander Costella Collection, #30258, both at Veterans History Project (VHP), American Folklife Center (AFC), Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; William Martin, unpublished memoir, pp. 1-2, copy in author’s possession, courtesy of Mr. Martin.
7 5th Marine Regiment, AAR, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 299, Folder 4, National Archives; E. B. Sledge, With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. 59-60; Richard Bruce Watkins, “With the 1st Marine Division on Peleliu: The First Day,” Marine Corps Gazette, August 2004, pp. 63-64. Watkins also posted this account on a Web site, www.brothersinbattle. net: Garand and Strobridge, Western Pacific Operations, p. 115.
8 1st Marine Division, SAR, and Annex D, Medical, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 298, Folder 19; III Marine Amphibious Corps, Operation Report, Enclosure J, Medical, Box 298, Folder 13; Captain James Flagg, personal diary, September 15, 1944, Box 307, Folder 12; 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, History, all at National Archives; Lieutenant Commander William Turney, “1st Medical Battalion in Action—Peleliu, 1 May 1944-20 October 1944,” Amphibious Warfare School, 1947-1948, USMCHMD; Leslie Harrold, oral history, copy in author’s possession, courtesy of Mr. Harrold; Leslie Harrold, conversation with the author, May 5, 2008.
9 1st Marine Division, SAR; 1st Marine Regiment, AAR, both at National Archives; Fred Harris, unpublished memoir, p. 2, Peleliu accounts, Folder #2149, GRC; Charles H. Owen, “Capture of Peleliu: Bravery on the Beach,” World War II, September 1998, pp. 35-40; Russell Davis, Marine at War (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1961), pp. 29-31; Colonel Dave Grossman with Loren W. Christensen, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace (Portland, OR: PPCT Research Publications, 2007), pp. 30-49.
10 1st Marine Regiment, AAR, History, Intelligence Section History, all at National Archives; George Hunt, Coral Comes High (New York: Signet, 1946), pp. 56-58; George Peto, interview with the author, April 25, 2008.
11 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Record of Events, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 300, Folder 8; 1st Marine Regiment, AAR and History, all at National Archives; “Marines of K-3-1 Killed in Action During the Peleliu Operation,” USMCHMD, Reference Branch Files; Braswell Deen, “Trial by Combat!” (self-published), pp. 246-48; Hunt, Coral Comes High, p. 74; Captain George Hunt, “Point Secured,” Marine Corps Gazette, January 1945, pp. 39-40; Colonel Joseph Alexander, “Peleliu 1944: ‘King’ Company’s Battle for ‘The Point,’ ” Leatherneck, November 1996, pp. 18-21.
12 1st Marine Regiment, AAR, Record of Events, both at National Archives; Fred Fox to General C. C. Krulak, September 9, 1996; Fox, unpublished memoir, pp. 7-8, both at USMCHMD, Reference Branch Files; Alexander, “Peleliu 1944,” p. 21; Hunt, “Point Secured,” p. 40; Hunt, Coral Comes High, pp. 59-61.
13 1st Marine Regiment, Record of Events, National Archives; Alexander, “Peleliu,” pp. 21-22; Hunt, “Point Secured,” p. 40; Hunt, Coral Comes High, p. 54.
14 1st Marine Regiment, AAR, History, Record of Events, all at National Archives; Fox, unpublished memoir, pp. 9-10, USMCHMD; Alexander, “Peleliu,” pp. 22-23; Hunt, “Point Secured,” p. 40.
15 1st Marine Regiment, AAR, History, National Archives; Fox, unpublished memoir, pp. 12-14, USMCHMD; George Peto, unpublished memoir, pp. 1-2, copy in author’s possession, courtesy of Mr. Peto; Peto interview; Hunt, Coral Comes High, pp. 91-93.
16 1st Marine Regiment, AAR, History, Record of Events, National Archives; Albert Mikel, unpublished memoir, p. 4, Peleliu accounts, #2221; Russell Honsowetz, oral history, both at GRC; Fox, unpublished memoir, pp. 16-18; “Marines of K-3-1 Killed in Action During the Peleliu Operation,” both at USMCHMD; Peto, unpublished memoir, p. 2; Peto interview; Alexander, “Peleliu,” pp. 23-25; Hunt, “Point Secured,” pp. 40-42; Hunt, Coral Comes High, pp. 115-22; Matthew Stevenson, “Personal Perspectives on Peleliu,” Military History Quarterly, Winter 1999, pp. 78-79; Jon Hoffman, Chesty: The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC (New York: Random House, 2001), pp. 273-80. After the war, Captain Hunt taught at the Marine Corps Education Center in Quantico, VA. With his assistance, the school built an exact replica of the Point and used it to educate young officers on how to assault fortified positions. Not only was this educational process instructive, it preserved the Point battle in Marine Corps lore. Hunt left the Corps and returned to his prewar job with Fortune magazine. Over the years, he wrote many articles about the men of his company. Fred Fox returned to Peleliu, and the Point, four separate times after the war.
17 1st Marine Division, SAR; D3 Journal, September 15, 1944; 5th Marine Regiment, AAR, all at National Archives; Technical Sergeant Joseph Alli, “First Two Days of Hell on Peleliu Described by Marine Combat Correspondent,” dispatch found at USMCHMD, Reference Branch Files. There are literally dozens of accounts of the Japanese tank attack. I have consulted them all but have only listed the ones upon which I relied most heavily.
18 1st Marine Division, SAR; 1st Marine Regiment, History; Major Waite Worden to Commandant, April 6, 1950, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, Assault on Peleliu, Box 6, Folder 3, all at National Archives; Robert “Pepper” Martin, Time, October 16, 1944; Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary (New York: Berkley, 1984), p. 231; Robert Leckie, Helmet for My Pillow (New York: Bantam Books, 1957), p. 273; Davis, Marine at War, p. 99.
19 1st Marine Division, SAR, Annex D, Medical, Annex I, Engineers; Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Drummond to Commandant, March 14, 1950, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, Assault on Peleliu, Box 6, Folder 1, all at National Archives; George Parker, unpublished memoir, p. 49, George Parker Collection, #5375, Veterans History Project (VHP), American Folklife Center (AFC), Library of Congress; John Arthur Huber, unpublished memoir, p. 8, Peleliu Accounts, #3856, GRC; James W. Johnston, The Long Road of War: A Marine’s Story of Pacific Combat (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1998), pp. 78, 88; Hough, Assault on Peleliu, pp. 94-97; Leckie, Helmet for My Pillow , p. 273; Sledge, With the Old Breed, p. 76; Charlie Burchett, interview with the author, March 6, 1995; Harrold, oral history.
20 1st Marine Division, SAR, Annex A, Infantry, Annex B, Intelligence; D2 Journal, September 16, 1944, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 299, Folder 2; 1st Marine Regiment, History, all at National Archives; Peto interview.
21 III Marine Amphibious Corps, Operation Report, Enclosure A, Strength Report, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 298, Folder 5; 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, War Diary, Box 301, Folder 2; 1st Marine Regiment, History; Record of Events, all at National Archives; Parker, unpublished memoir, pp. 50-51, Library of Congress; Brigadier General Gordon Gayle, Bloody Beaches: The Marines at Peleliu (Washington, D.C.: Marine Corps Historical Center, 1996), p. 20; Davis, Marine at War, pp. 103-04. Gene Burns was a professor of mine in graduate school. He told me this story in November 1989.
22 1st Marine Division, SAR, Annex L, Air Support, Annex J, Tanks; 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, Operation Report, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 301, Folder 8; Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Stuart to Commandant, April 25, 1950, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, Assault on Peleliu, Box 6, Folder 3, all at National Archives; Major Richard Kennard, Combat Letters Home (Bryn Mawr, PA: Dorrance & Company, Inc., 1985), pp. 16-17; Davis, Marine at War, p. 104.
23 1st Marine Regiment, History; 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Hi
story; Captain Everett Pope to Commandant, March 8, 1950, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, Assault on Peleliu, Box 6, Folder 2, all at National Archives; Everett Pope, interview with Rob Taglianetti, USMCHMD, August 3, 2006, interview made available to author by Mr. Taglianetti; Martin, unpublished memoir, pp. 2-3; Ray Davis, The Story of Ray Davis, General of Marines (Fuquay Varina, NC: Research Triangle Publishing, 1995), pp. 68-70; Garand and Strobridge, Western Pacific Operations, pp. 146-48, 156-61; Davis, Marine at War, pp. 108-14; Kennard, Combat Letters Home, p. 17; Hoffman, Chesty, pp. 279-87. Many men in the 1st Marines, particularly the C Company survivors, felt that Hill 100 should have been named Pope’s Ridge.
24 Hoffman, Chesty, pp. 284-85; Bill Ross, Special Piece of Hell, pp. 235-40; Peto, unpublished memoir, p. 3; Oliver Butler, unpublished memoir, p. 67, copy in author’s possession, courtesy of Mr. Butler.
25 Oliver Smith, Ray Davis, Russell Honsowetz, Harold Deakin, oral histories, GRC; Bill Sloan, Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944—The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005), pp. 340-41; Dick Camp, Last Man Standing: The 1st Marine Regiment on Peleliu, September 15-21, 1944 (Minneapolis, MN: Zenith Press, 2008), p. 269; Hoffman, Chesty, pp. 285-88; Davis, The Story of Ray Davis, pp. 72-73; Gailey, Peleliu 1944, pp. 123-124; Ross, Special Piece of Hell, pp. 244-50, 261; Jon Hoffman, “The Truth about Peleliu,” Naval Institute Proceedings, November 2002, pp. 51-54; Stevenson, “Personal Perspectives on Peleliu,” MHQ, pp. 81-82.
26 Smith, Honsowetz, Deakin, oral histories, GRC; Hoffman, Chesty, pp. 296-98; Gailey, Peleliu 1944, pp. 133-35; Ross, Special Piece of Hell, pp. 261-64; Hoffman, “Truth about Peleliu,” pp. 53-54; biography of Major General William Rupertus at www.arlingtoncemetery.net. General Geiger later told General Smith that, had he known about Rupertus’s broken ankle, he would have relieved him before the invasion.
27 Colonel Walter Wachtler to Commandant, March 1, 1950, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, Assault on Peleliu, Box 6, Folder 3; Colonel William Coleman to Commandant, no date, Box 6, Folder 1, both at National Archives; Oliver Smith, unpublished memoir, pp. 61-62; Smith, Deakin, oral histories, all at GRC; George McMillan, The Old Breed: A History of the First Marine Division in World War II (Washington, D.C.: Infantry Journal Press, 1949), pp. 318-19; Gailey, Peleliu 1944, pp. 134-35; Kennard, Combat Letters Home, p. 31; Hoffman, Chesty, pp. 281-91; Ross, Special Piece of Hell, pp. 264-72; Davis, Marine at War, p. 116; Hoffman, “Truth about Peleliu,” p. 54. Joe Rosenthal, the famous photographer, witnessed the meeting between Geiger and Puller. In Rosenthal’s opinion, Chesty looked like “a tired guy.”
28 321st Infantry Regiment, AAR, RG 407, Box 12324, Folder 8; 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, History; 1st Marine Division, D2 Journal, September 23, 1944, all at National Archives; Thomas Climie, unpublished memoir, p. 22, World War II Questionnaire #10149; Robert Francis Heatley, “Breathes There a Soldier” (self-published), p. 9, World War II Questionnaire #12720; George Pasula, World War II Questionnaire #4333, all at USAMHI; Honsowetz, oral history, GRC; Peto, unpublished memoir, p. 3, interview; Hoffman, Chesty, p. 289.
29 81st Infantry Division, History of Operations, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 300, Folder 4; 321st Infantry Regiment, AAR, both at National Archives; “The 321st Infantry Regiment from Camp Rucker to Guadalcanal, Angaur, Peleliu, New Caledonia, Leyte and Japan”; Pasula, questionnaire; Heatley, “Breathes There a Soldier,” p. 11, all at USAMHI; Captain Pierce Irby, “The Operations of Company ‘L,’ 321st Infantry (81st Infantry Division) in the Capture of the Island of Peleliu, 23-29 September, 1944, Personal Experience of a Company Commander,” pp. 17-18, Advanced Infantry Officer’s Course, 1948-1949, Donovan Library, Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia.
30 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, War Diary, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 301, Folder 5; Operation Report, Box 301, Folder 14; 321st Infantry Regiment, AAR, all at National Archives; Irby, “The Operations of Company ‘L,’ 321st,” pp. 14-17; Robert Ross Smith, The U.S. Army in World War II: The Approach to the Philippines (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1953), pp. 537-38; Garand and Strobridge, Western Pacific Operations, pp. 197-98; Ross, A Special Piece of Hell, p. 277; Camp, Last Man Standing, pp. 290-91; Smith, oral history, GRC. General Paul Mueller, the commander of the 81st Division, believed, with some justification, that his soldiers never got the credit they deserved for their part in the Battle of Peleliu. He felt that Marine publicity overshadowed the Army’s vital role in the battle. Sensitive to any criticism of his troops, Mueller downplayed K Company’s problems in an April 14, 1950, letter to Brigadier General Clayton Jerome, head of the Corps’ History and Museums Division. Mueller felt that “the incident was exaggerated.” The letter is in the National Archives at RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, Assault on Peleliu, Box 6, Folder 2.
31 81st Infantry Division, History of Operations; 321st Infantry Regiment, AAR; 1st Marine Division, SAR, Annex H, Artillery, Annex L, Air Support; 11th Marine Regiment, Operation Report, all at National Archives; General Oliver Smith, “Comments and Recommendations as a Result of the Peleliu Campaign,” Box 22, Folder 5, Oliver Smith Papers; William Burnett, unpublished memoir, p. 9, Peleliu Accounts, #3723, both at GRC; Kennard, Combat Letters Home, p. 25; Staff Sergeant Ward Walker, “Marine Tells of Cave Fighting on Peleliu,” USMCHMD, Reference Branch Files; Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Walt, “The Closer the Better,” Marine Corps Gazette, September 1946, pp. 38-39.
32 321st Infantry Regiment, AAR; 1st Marine Division, SAR, Annex A, Infantry, Annex J, Tanks; 5th Marine Regiment, AAR; 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, Record of Events; Captain James Flagg, diary entries, October 1-10, 1944; Stuart letter, all at National Archives; U.S. Armored School, “Armor in Island Warfare,” p. 86, Donovan Library, Fort Benning; Climie, unpublished memoir, p. 25, USAMHI; Huber, unpublished memoir, pp. 13-14, GRC; Burchett interview.
33 1st Marine Division, SAR, Annex D, Medical; 5th Marine Regiment, AAR; 321st Infantry Regiment, AAR, all at National Archives; Edward Thul, unpublished memoir, p. 12, Edward Thul Collection, #19069, VHP, AFC, Library of Congress; Climie, unpublished memoir, p. 24; Heatley, “Breathes There a Soldier,” p. 11, both at USAMHI; Sledge, With the Old Breed, pp. 129-32, 142-44; Burchett interview.
34 1st Marine Division, SAR; 81st Infantry Division, AAR; 323rd Infantry Regiment, AAR; Terrain and Intelligence Summary, RG 407, Box 12338, Folder 7, all at National Archives; “History of Cannon Company”; “History of E Company,” both with 81st Infantry Division material at USAMHI; The 81st Wildcat Division Historical Committee, The 81st Infantry Wildcat Division in World War II (Washington, D.C.: Infantry Journal Press, 1948), pp. 200-201; Smith, Approach to the Philippines, pp. 573-75; Gailey, Peleliu 1944, p. 192.
Chapter 3
1 General J. Lawton Collins, interview with Charles B. MacDonald, January 25, 1954, Record Group 319, Records of the Office of the Chief of Military History, History Division, The Siegfried Line, Box 184, Folder 4, National Archives, College Park, MD; 1st Lieutenant Harry Condren, “The Fall of Aachen,” located in World War II Combat Interviews Collection #4, microfiche copy of the entire collection in the author’s possession (hereafter referred to as CI); Christopher Gabel, “ ‘Knock ’Em All Down’: The Reduction of Aachen, October 1944,” paper prepared for the Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, KS, copy in author’s possession; Captain Monte Parrish, “The Battle of Aachen,” Field Artillery Journal, September/October 1976, pp. 25-27; Charles B. MacDonald, The U.S. Army in World War II: The Siegfried Line Campaign (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1963), pp. 280 -308.
2 Derrill Daniel, biography, Charles B. MacDonald Papers, Box 2, Folder 2, United States Army Military History Institute (USAMHI), Carlisle, PA; John Corley file, McCormick Research Center (MRC), Cantigny 1st Infantry Division Foundation, Wheaton, IL; Michael D. Run
ey, “Chaos, Cohesion, and Leadership: An American Infantry Battalion in Europe, October-December 1944,” Master’s thesis, Pennsylvania State University, pp. 13-17.
3 “Combat in Towns,” RG 407, Entry 427, Box 14193, Folder 1, National Archives; 26th Infantry Regiment, “Battle of Aachen,” Combat Interview, CI-4; Lieutenant Colonel Derrill Daniel, “The Infantry Battalion in Offensive Action, Aachen, 8-20 October 1944,” pp. 3-4, Box 89, MRC; Matthew D. Bacik, “White Battalion Draws Red Blood at Aachen,” unpublished paper, United States Military Academy, p. 3, copy in author’s possession; Gabel, “ ‘Knock ’Em All Down’ ”; Captain Harold Keebaugh, “Offensive Action in Cities,” p. 9, Advanced Infantry Officer’s Course, 1955-1956, Donovan Library, Fort Benning, Columbus, Georgia; “The Battle for Aachen,” After the Battle, Number 42, pp. 6-13.
4 26th Infantry Regiment, AAR; S2 Journal, October 10-12, 1944; S3 Journal, October 10-12, 1944, all at RG 407, Entry 427, Box 5268, Folder 2, National Archives; Periodic Report 128, “The Ultimatum Presented to the City of Aachen,” CI-4; “1106th Engineer Group South of Aachen,” Combat Interview; “The Fall of Aachen,” both in CI-4; “Aachen: 26th Infantry Regimental Combat Team, Operations in Urban Terrain, October 1944,” copy in author’s possession; John Curran, oral history, MRC; Ed Wilcox, “Battle for Aachen: Death of a City,” Stars and Stripes, October 28, 1944. Technically, at the time the Americans extended their ultimatum, Lieutenant Colonel Maximilian Leyherr, one of Wilck’s regimental commanders in the 246th Volksgrenadier Division, was in charge at Aachen. However, Wilck soon arrived and, as division commander, he assumed responsibility for the defense of Aachen.
5 26th Infantry Regiment, AAR; S3 Journal, October 13-14, 1944, both at National Archives; 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment Unit Journal, October 13-14, 1944, copy in author’s possession; 26th Infantry Regiment Combat Interview, CI-4; Daniel, “Aachen,” pp. 4-5, 7-8, MRC; “Aachen: 26th Infantry, Operations in Urban Terrain”; Bacik, “White Battalion Draws Red Blood,” pp. 6-7; Charles Dye, interview with Doug Canin, July 16, 1992, MRC.
Grunts Page 59
