Grunts: Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, World War II Through Iraq

by John C. McManus

  10 John Keegan, The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme (London: Penguin Books, 1976).

  11 The Checkerboard: Newsletter of the 99th Infantry Division Association, February 1993, p. 11.

  Chapter 1

  1 Task Force 53, After Action Report (AAR), Record Group (RG) 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 49, Folder 3; Lieutenant Colonel W. F. Coleman to Major O. R. Lodge, September 23, 1952, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, “The Recapture of Guam,” RG 127, Box 12, Folder 5; Colonel Edward Craig to Commandant, November 19, 1952, RG 127, Box 12, Folder 5, all at National Archives, College Park, MD; Major O. R. Lodge, The Recapture of Guam (Washington, D.C.: Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps, 1954), pp. 34-35; Harry Gailey, The Liberation of Guam, 21 July-10 August, 1944 (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1988), pp. 87-88.

  2 3rd Marine Division, Invasion plan and landing diagrams, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 65, Folder 7, National Archives; Lieutenant Colonel C. H. Kuhn, “The Guam Operation, 21 July-10 August 1944: The Importance of Planning,” U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School Paper, 1947-1948, found at the Gray Research Center (GRC), U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division (USMCHMD), Quantico, VA; Cyril O’Brien, Liberation: Marines in the Recapture of Guam (Washington, D.C.: Marine Corps Historical Center, 1994), pp. 5-8; Robert Arthur and Kenneth Cohlmia, The Third Marine Division (Washington, D.C.: Infantry Journal Press, 1948), pp. 142-46; and Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 16-20.

  3 3rd Marine Division, Special Report, Medics, Guam Operation, Enclosure I, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 50, Folder 10; “Report on Guam Operations,” Box 50, Folder 8, both at National Archives; Staff Sergeant John O’Neill, personal diary, John O’Neill Papers, Box 1, Folder 2, GRC, USMCHMD; William Morgan, oral history, William Morgan Collection, #30140, Veterans History Project (VHP), American Folklife Center (AFC), Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; the spud locker quote is in Louis Metzger, “Guam 1944,” Marine Corps Gazette, July 1994, p. 93.

  4 Jack Kerins, “The Last Banzai” (self-published, 1992), pp. 76-77. For the bombardment ship order of battle and their placement off the beaches, see appendix chart in Lodge, Recapture of Guam.

  5 3rd Marine Division, “Report on Guam Operations”; Eugene Peterson, unpublished memoir, pp. 76-77, Eugene Peterson Collection, #477, VHP, AFC, Library of Congress; Philip Johnson, unpublished memoir, p. 1, copy in author’s possession, courtesy of Mr. Johnson. Peterson and his colonel shared the meat loaf that night. Both men agreed that it was the best meal they ate on Guam.

  6 3rd Marine Division, D3 (Operations) Comments on Naval Gunfire Support, Annex C, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 50, Folder 9; Task Force 53, AAR, both at National Archives; Philip Crowl, The United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific, Campaign in the Marianas (Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1960), pp. 324-25; William Putney, Always Faithful: A Memoir of the Marine Dogs of WWII (Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 2001), pp. 140-41; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 37, 106.

  7 3rd Marine Division, D3 Comments on Air Support, Annex D, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 50, Folder 9; Lieutenant Colonel J. R. Spooner, close air support officer, to Major O. R. Lodge, August 12, 1952, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, “The Recapture of Guam,” RG 127, Box 12, Folder 8, both at National Archives; Maury T. Williams, unpublished memoir, no pagination, John G. Balas Papers, Box 1, Folder 6, United States Army Military History Institute, Carlisle, PA (hereafter referred to as USAMHI); William Welch, unpublished memoir, in author’s possession, courtesy of Mr. Welch; Crowl, Campaign in the Marianas, p. 324.

  8 Major L. A. Gilson to Major O. R. Lodge, February 11, 1952, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, “The Recapture of Guam,” RG 127, Box 12, Folder 8; Admiral Richard Conolly to Commandant, November 12, 1952, also in Publication Background Files, RG 127, Box 12, Folder 5; Lieutenant Colonel Hideyuki Takeda to Marine Corps Historical Center, February 20, 1952, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, RG 127, Box 68, Folder 17, all at National Archives; I. E. McMillan, “Naval Gunfire at Guam,” Marine Corps Gazette , September 1948, p. 56; Crowl, Campaign in the Marianas, pp. 325-26; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 106-07.

  9 3rd Marine Division, AAR, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 50, Folder 9; “Report on Guam Operations,” both at National Archives; War Dogs of the Pacific, documentary by Harris Done, copy in author’s possession, courtesy of Mr. Done; Williams, unpublished memoir, USAMHI; Kerins, “Last Banzai,” p. 79; Bill Conley, interview with the author, March 21, 2008; Henry Shaw, Bernard Nalty, and Edwin Turnbladh, History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II: Central Pacific Drive (Washington, D.C.: Historical Branch, 1966), pp. 457-58; for more on the physiological effects of fear in combat, see Lieutenant 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. 16-49.

  10 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, War Diary, RG 127, Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 57, Folder 11; Unit Report, July 21, 1944, Box 57, Folder 13; 22nd Marine Regiment, Journal, July 21, 1944, Box 61, Folder 1; Tank Company, Special Action Report (SAR), Box 61, Folder 9; Lieutenant Colonel Robert Shaw to Commandant, September 29, 1952, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, “The Recapture of Guam,” Box 12, Folder, all at National Archives; O’Neill, diary, GRC; Shaw et al., Central Pacific Drive, p. 461; O’Brien, Liberation, pp. 11-17; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 47-53.

  11 9th Marine Regiment, SAR, RG 127, Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 50, Folder 10; R3 Journal, July 21, 1944, Box 59, Folder 3, both at National Archives; Welch memoir.

  12 21st Marine Regiment, SAR, RG 127, Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 50, Folder 10; Operation Report, Box 51, Folder 2; Anthony Frances, “The Battle of Banzai Ridge,” unpublished manuscript, pp. 4-7, USMCHMD, Reference Branch Files; Frank Hall, interview with the author, March 24, 2008; Frank Goodwin, interview with the author, March 25, 2008; Conley interview; Paul Jones, unpublished memoir, p. 19, Paul Jones Collection, #41436, VHP, AFC, Library of Congress; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 40-42. Jones’s memoir provided firsthand context and description that added to my account of the 21st Marines’ ascent up the cliff.

  13 3rd Marine Regiment, SAR, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 50, Folder 10; Operation Report, Box 51, Folder 2; Unit Journal, July 21, 1944, Box 58, Folder 5; 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Journal, July 21, 1944, Box 58, Folder 8; Lieutenant Colonel Royal Bastion to USMCHMD, August 23, 1952, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, “The Recapture of Guam,” Box 12, Folder 5, all at National Archives; Pete Gilhooly, interview with the author, March 17, 2008; Mack Drake, unpublished journal, p. 7, copy in author’s possession, courtesy of Drake family; Alvin Josephy, The Long and the Short and the Tall: Marines in Combat on Guam and Iwo Jima (Short Hills, NJ: Burford Books, 1946), pp. 43-45; Gailey, Liberation of Guam, pp. 95-97; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 42-47.

  14 Takeda letter, National Archives; Major General Haruo Umezawa and Colonel Louis Metzger, “The Defense of Guam,” Marine Corps Gazette, August 1964, p. 38; Lieutenant Colonel Hideyuki Takeda, “The Outline of Japanese Defense Plan and Battle of Guam Island,” in Lester Dessez Papers, Box 1, Folder 11, GRC. In the quoted passage, Takeda was referring specifically to the 38th Infantry Regiment, but the sentiment applied equally to the entire Japanese garrison.

  15 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, War Diary, Journal, July 22, 1944; 22nd Marine Regiment, Journal, July 22, 1944; Tank Company, SAR; Captain Ben Read to Major O. R. Lodge, January 3, 1952, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, “The Recapture of Guam,” Box 12, Folder 8, all at National Archives; Takeda, “Outline of Japanese Defense Plan,” pp. 3, 5; O’Neill, diary, both
at GRC; First Lieutenant Millard Kaufman, “Attack on Guam,” Marine Corps Gazette, April 1945; Sergeant Boondocks, “Facts from a Foxhole,” Infantry Journal, September 1945, p. 20; Corporal Fred Travis, “75s on Guam,” Field Artillery Journal, April 1945, pp. 233-34; Umezawa and Metzger, “The Defense of Guam,” pp. 40-41; Welch memoir; Shaw et al., Central Pacific Drive, pp. 471-76; O’Brien, Liberation, pp. 17-18; Gailey, Liberation of Guam, pp. 104-06; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 54-56.

  16 Takeda letter, National Archives; Umezawa and Metzger, “Defense of Guam,” pp. 41-42; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 79-80; Lieutenant P. W. “Bill” Lanier in a letter printed in the Washington Star, November 26, 1944, claimed to have found hypodermic needles and narcotics on the bodies of several dead Japanese.

  17 Provisional War Dog Company, SAR, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 50, Folder 11; 21st Marine Regiment, SAR, both at National Archives; War Dogs of the Pacific; Ed Adamski, interview with the author, March 7, 2008; Roger Belanger, interview with the author, March 4, 2008; Frank Goodwin, unpublished memoir, p. 1, in author’s possession, courtesy of Mr. Goodwin; Goodwin interview; Putney, Always Faithful, pp. 168-69.

  18 21st Marine Regiment, SAR, National Archives; Bill Karpowicz, e-mail to author, June 10, 2008; Lanier letter; Kaufman, “Attack on Guam,” p. 61; Bob Glenn, interview with the author, March 31, 2008; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 78-79; Grossman, On Killing, pp. 5-9.

  19 3rd Marine Division, Report on Guam Operations and AAR, Provisional War Dog Company, AAR, all at National Archives; War Dogs of the Pacific; Adamski, Goodwin interviews; Putney, Always Faithful, pp. 170-71.

  20 3rd Marine Division, D3 (Operations) Journal, July 26, 1944, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 54, Folder 3; 21st Marine Regiment, SAR, both at National Archives; Drake, unpublished journal, p. 7; Belanger interview.

  21 12th Marine Regiment, SAR, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 59, Folder 8; 21st Marine Regiment, SAR; Lieutenant Colonel R. R. Van Stockum to Lieutenant Colonel Harry Edwards, October 15, 1952, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, “The Recapture of Guam,” Box 12, Folder 7, all at National Archives; Frances, “Battle of Banzai Ridge,” pp. 27-29, USMCHMD; Staff Sergeant James Hague, combat correspondent, untitled article on Banzai Ridge; Jim Headley, interview with the author, March 3, 2008; Walt Fischer, unpublished memoir, p. 3, copy in author’s possession, courtesy of Mr. Fischer; Walt Fischer, interview with the author, March 18, 2008.

  22 3rd Marine Division, D3 Journal, July 26, 1944; 21st Marine Regiment, SAR, both at National Archives; Conley interview; Karpowicz e-mail; Lanier letter; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 80-81.

  23 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, War Diary, National Archives; O’Neill, diary, GRC; Lieutenant General Alpha Bowser, oral history, USMCHMD; Kaufman, “Attack on Guam,” p. 61; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 78-79, 81; Kerins, “Last Banzai,” pp. 120-24.

  24 3rd Marine Division, Report on Guam Operations, D3 Journal, July 26, 1944; 21st Marine Regiment, SAR, all at National Archives; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 81, 85.

  25 3rd Marine Division, Report on Guam Operations, AAR; 2nd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, “Account of Action Opposing Nip Breakthrough,” RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 60, Folder 5, all at National Archives; Frank Hough, The Island War: The United States Marine Corps in the Pacific (Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1947), p. 274.

  26 Frances, “Battle of Banzai Ridge,” p. 30, USMCHMD (in June 1945, Frances published part of this paper in the Marine Corps Gazette); Lanier letter; O’Neill, diary, GRC; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, p. 87.

  27 3rd Marine Division, AAR; D3 Periodic Report, July 26, 1944, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Guam, Box 54, Folder 3; 21st Marine Regiment, SAR, all at National Archives; Goodwin memoir, interview; Kerins, “Last Banzai,” p. 129.

  28 Frances, “Battle of Banzai Ridge,” p. 30, USMCHMD; Jim Headley to author, March 12, 2008.

  29 The handbill is reprinted in Sgt. H. N. Oliphant, “Combat in the Marianas,” Yank, October 13, 1944; S. L. A. Marshall, Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command in Future War (Alexandria, VA: Byrrd Enterprises, Inc., 1947), pp. 50-84; Grossman, in On Killing, also discusses the reluctance to kill and the psychological cost of doing so. Although Grossman’s book is a brilliant, landmark piece of work, he places way too much emphasis on Marshall’s debunked ratio-of-fire claims. In an earlier book, The Deadly Brotherhood: The American Combat Soldier in World War II (New York: Ballantine Books, 2003), pp. 116-21, I discussed the problems with Marshall’s claims and the work of several other historians who have cast doubt on his contentions. Since publishing that book, I have further examined Marshall’s surviving records, and I have interviewed one of the key historians who worked with him during the war, but found no concrete evidence to support his theories. In researching this Guam chapter, I estimate that I have reviewed about five thousand pages of documents and firsthand accounts. Yet I found not one recorded instance of an American refusing to fire his weapon or preferring his own death to killing an enemy soldier.

  30 3rd Marine Division, Report on Guam Operations, AAR; Takeda letter, all at National Archives; Lanier letter; Josephy, Long and the Short and the Tall, p. 65; Lodge, Recapture of Guam, pp. 86-87.

  Chapter 2

  1 Joseph Alexander, “What Was Nimitz Thinking?” United States Naval Institute Proceedings , November 1998, pp. 42-47; Alexander, “‘Everything about Peleliu Left a Bad Taste,’” Leatherneck, September 2004, pp. 28-30; Major Jon T. Hoffman, “The Legacy and Lessons of Peleliu,” Marine Corps Gazette, September 1994, pp. 90-91; George Garand and Truman Strobridge, History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II: Western Pacific Operations (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Marine Corps Historical Division, 1971), pp. 63-65; Bill Ross, A Special Piece of Hell: The Untold Story of Peleliu—The Pacific War’s Forgotten Battle (New York: St. Martin’s, 1991), pp. 134-41.

  2 1st Marine Division, Special Action Report (SAR), Annex A, Infantry, Record Group (RG) 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 298, Folder 19; Sergeant Major Masao Kurihara et al., prisoner interrogations, provided to U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division by Major General Paul Mueller, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, Assault on Peleliu, Box 6, Folder 2, all at National Archives, College Park, MD; Interrogation of Colonel Tokechi Tada and Lieutenant General Sadae Inoue regarding the Palau Campaign, both in Rex Beasley Papers, Box 1, Folder 1, United States Army Military History Institute (USAMHI), Carlisle, PA; Major Frank Hough, The Assault on Peleliu (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Marine Corps Historical Branch, 1950), pp. 192-97, 200-203; Harry Gailey, Peleliu 1944 (Annapolis, MD: The Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America, 1983), pp. 37-51; Garand and Strobridge, Western Pacific Operations, pp. 66-72; David Green, “Peleliu,” After the Battle, Number 78, 1992, pp. 8-9; Alexander, “‘Bad Taste,’” pp. 28-31; Hoffman, “Legacy and Lessons,” pp. 90-91. In speaking to his postwar interrogators, General Inoue said that another reason he sent General Murai to Peleliu was to make sure that Colonel Nakagawa did not “make any mistakes.” However, General Inoue, according to the interrogator, said this “with a twinkle in his eye” and was probably joking.

  3 3rd Fleet, Naval Gunfire Report, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 297, Folder 3; III Marine Amphibious Corps, Operation Report, Enclosure B, Naval Gunfire and Tactics, Box 298, Folder 4; Operation Report, Enclosure G, Naval Bombardment, Box 298, Folder 9; 1st Marine Division, SAR, Annex K, Naval Bombardment, Box 298, Folder 19; Rear Admiral George Fort to Major General Orlando Ward, November 15, 1950, RG 319, Records of the Office of the Chief of Military History, History Division, Approach to the Philippines, Box 306, Folder 4; Rear Admiral George Fort to Brigadier General Clayton Jerome, March 20, 1950, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division, Publication Background Files, Assault on Peleliu, Box 6, Folder 1; Admiral Jesse Oldendorf to Je
rome, March 25, 1950, Box 6, Folder 2; Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Field to Commandant, March 17, 1950,

  Box 6, Folder 1; Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Ramsay to Commandant, February 20, 1950, Box 6, Folder 1, all at National Archives; Vice Admiral Theodore Wilkinson to Major General Roy Geiger, August 17, 1944, Roy Geiger Papers, Box 5, Folder 99; Brigadier General Oliver Smith, unpublished memoir, p. 14, Oliver P. Smith Papers, Box 2, Folder 1, both at U.S. Marine Corps History and Museums Division (USMCHMD), Gray Research Center (GRC), Quantico, VA; Burke Davis, Marine! The Life of Chesty Puller (New York: Bantam, 1991), pp. 190-95; Gailey, Peleliu, pp. 65-68; Garand and Strobridge, Western Pacific Operations, pp. 102-05.

  4 1st Marine Division, SAR; D3 Journal, September 15, 1944, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 299, Folder 6; 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, History, Box 300, Folder 6; 7th Marine Regiment, AAR, Box 299, Folder 4; Oldendorf to Jerome, all at National Archives.

  5 1st Marine Division, SAR, and Annex J, Tanks, RG 127, U.S. Marine Corps Records, Peleliu, Box 298, Folder 19, National Archives; Hough, Seizure of Peleliu, pp. 60-64. This description also is derived from my analysis of literally hundreds of firsthand accounts and official reports. Citing them all would be ponderous.

  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.