September 15^th was the beginning of the worst days of my life. Nothing before or since has equaled the experience of my visit to Peleliu. We were high spirited, well trained and, in our minds, we were the best troops on the face of the earth. After fifty-three years to reflect on it, I am sure we were the best.

Peleliu was a natural fortress. Nowhere in my 32 months of island hopping through the south west pacific did I see anything that could equal it in natural defenses and by the time the enemy put their extra touches to it, it was a formidable obstacle.  To this you add 13,000 well-trained and highly motivated Japanese warriors and all hell breaks loose, as the 9,600 marine riflemen found out on D-Day.  When you go into the hold of an L.S.T. loaded with 25 amphibian tanks motors running it is like descending into a cloud of gas. I wonder to this day why some of us didn't die of the fumes. One by one the tanks take to the water your relief is short and after a good gulp of fresh air you realize you now have to contend with motion sickness.  By the time we lined up to make the run to the beach we all looked like green men from mars, some of the men were up chucking their breakfast. The three-mile ride was slow.  The tanks moved slow in the water.  The Navy was still firing over us to keep the Japanese holed up until we could get ashore. About one half mile from shore we heard a round go overhead.  When we realized this was not friendly fire we hunkered down and the tank driver tried to get more speed up. Soon we hit the coral reef.  It felt like we hit a brick wall; water came over the back as we crawled up on the reef to make the final 300 yards to the beach.    We were the lucky ones.  The water was full of knocked out tanks and men trying to make it to land.

Captain Hunt, K Co C.O., and Lt. Haggerty, PL leader for the 81MM Mortars was in the same tank as was yours truly.  My job was forward observer for the 81s.  Our tank was not the latest model.  It did not have a ramp in back, so we had to go over the side.  A 6-foot drop on sharp coral was bad enough, but the Marine following me landed on my back driving me into the coral.  After I got my eyeballs focused and back into their sockets, I dove into a tank trap that ran the length of the landing beach.  It was full of Marines.  One thing that gets drilled into your head is to get off the beach as fast as you can, so I picked up my "rusty-dusty" and moved out.  A Marine crawled up to me; he was shot up bad.  He said he was a scout and when he went down a small incline the Japanese were buried in the ground with lids over them.  After his unit went past, the Japanese cut them to pieces. I was asked to pass the word on, which I did, then went on toward the point.  By now everything was a mess and I was separated from everyone I landed with.  Soon I saw Lt. Haggerty and my morale went up a notch.  We soon found our communicators Bob Johnson and Danny Sullivan.  Things were looking up.  We all made it with no injuries and were ready to get on with our jobs.  K-Co had the left flank of the regiment.  The plan was to advance up the beach and take the anti-boat gun out that was devastating the beach.  The gun was in a cove protected by l0 feet of coral on top with trees growing on top, at least 20 year old trees.  The only thing visible was a small slit for the gun to shoot through.  An unfortunate tank made the mistake to get in front of it.  The knocked out tank was still there when I left the island two weeks later.   The 81s lost one gun coming in, but we could not establish contact with them so we could not fire any support for K-Co the first night.  Lt. Haggerty asked how we felt about staying with K-Co. and giving them a much-needed hand since we could not do our specialized jobs.  We all agreed to help salvage a .30 Cal light machine gun off the disabled tank and two cases of hand grenades.  We were on the right end of the Co line.  There was no one on our right; we were isolated on the point.  Danny and I were both ex-machine gunners so things went well until the tide went out and the Japs came up from behind us, so we were vulnerable on 3 sides.  We kept the machine gun humping most of the night.  The Japs probed the lines all night.  The Army had the longest day but the Marines had the longest night on September 15, 1944.

When the sun came up on the 16^th, 18 Marines were left on the point, but over 500 dead warriors surrounded the perimeter from the Japanese Empire.  They had a new anti-boat gun that they were intending on putting back into the knocked out gun emplacement.  The bodies were stacked 4-deep over the gun.  My hatred was subsided somewhat over the years.  I will give them their just dues; they were a formidable enemy. Col. Puller visited the point and when he saw the carnage, his comment was he would recommend the 18 survivors for the Navy Cross. But that never came to pass. So go the fortunes of war.  Personally, I was glad to come out of it with sound body and mind.  It has been said that I was cheated on both counts.  I observed Jap bodies armed with a sack of grenades and a 6 to 8 foot long pole with a bayonet tied to the end of the pole.  My thought is that they were to harass us at night but not be able to fire and give away their position or they could have been short on rifles.  Either way it worked.  It kept us on our toes and fear in our hearts.  I heard a Marine scream that was stuck with one of those rigs and to this day I still can hear that cry.  This happened around day 4 or 5 when I was I-Co.  Lt. Haggerty sized up the situation and came to the conclusion that if we did not get some reinforcements we would not survive another night.  He went back to Battalion Headquarters to apprise Lt. Col. Sable of our predicament and to try to get help.  We wished each other luck and he took off.

Two hours passed and the Lt. did not return.  Thinking he was dead, we decided to move on.  Danny Sullivan and Bob Johnson was to attempt to get a phone from the guns to the point so we could stop the attack that was sure to come. As soon as darkness fell, the night belonged to the Nips. We ruled in the daylight.  I planned to go back to Bn. and do what Lt. Haggerty was going to do.  I got lost on the way back to Bn. headquarters.  Meanwhile Bob and Danny ran into a machine gun nest.  They decided to charge through a thicket in between bursts.  Bob went first but when Danny made his run it was his last.  He went down in a hail of machine gun fire.  Bob took one look and knew it was over for Danny.  He went on to complete his mission.  Not only was I lost but I was pinned down by a machine gun, the coconut log was all between me and the hail of lead passing over head.  The sun was high and hot, 130 degrees in the shade.  My water was long gone, my mouth was parched.  Every time I got enough nerve to make a run for it, that gunner would lay on the trigger.  I lay there for what seemed like an eternity, probably 15 minutes.

Finally I moved out on a dead run, dove headfirst into a hole with another Marine.  He was in a sitting position, the hole was only 18 inches deep, so I said,  "You better get your head down", but I did not get a reply.  My advice had fallen on dead ears.  Sensing something wrong I looked up at his face, just above the bridge of his nose was a neat little hole.  I had been in the corps over three years and this was the first black marine I had ever seen.  I later learned he had been a member of a shore Party.  Eventually I made it back to BN. Headquarters it was located at the waters edge behind some logs the first person saw was major McNulty our BN.

Executive officer, he offered me a cup of coffee and was eager for news of the situation on the point.  Back in Melbourne Major McNulty always wore riding breeches and carried a riding crop, I always thought he served with the horse Marines at some time in his career.  He did have good news for me. Lt. Haggerty had been there rounded up some men and was back at the point.

After coffee and conversation with the Major I felt good about our situation it appeared like there was hope after all.  All that comes to an abrupt halt when I got caught in a Mortar barrage, as the mortars traversed upon the beach I would follow the bursts as the shells dug my foxholes I progressed toward the point.  While laying in one of the holes with stuff exploding all around me I started to think, "This would be a good time to ask for a little help from above".  Never being much on religion I thought this was a good time to give it a try.  Being a novice at this I thought a direct approach would be the way to go so I said: "Lord if you can help me now is the time to help me I am desperately in need.  Do something to assure me you are there for me."  The shelling continued, the machine guns kept up their chattering, people were still dying around me.  I decided if I was going to get help I would have to do it for myself.  So much for the old adage that there are no Atheists in foxholes.  But now that I reflect back on it, he was there all the time riding shotgun for me I was just too dumb to realize it.  How could I come through 24 Months of combat including training, which was sometimes, as dangerous as actual combat and never miss a day of duty or even get a scratch.

Just before I reached the point I saw a grizzled old man limping along carrying an M1.  He looked just like any marine except for his age.  He had his bodyguard with him and I think his name was Jan Bodey. As we passed he said, "Hi son" nodding his head, That encounter did more for my well being than a good drink of cold water, which I was in bad need of.  That gentleman was none other than our Regimental Commander Col. Chesty Puller.  As the old saying goes I would follow that man to hell and that is exactly what we did at Peleliu. A few months earlier back at Pavuvu we were having an inspection by the Col. we had all our equipment laid out in the Co. Street just waiting for the Col. to arrive.  When the gunny bellowed "Fall out" we hit the street and stood by the first piece of equipment we came to. It just so happened I was by the base plate and next to me was Clarence Keele at 6'6" and 250 lbs. and me at 5'6" and 135 lbs. was quite a contrast.  Clarence was holding the aiming stake.  When the Col. Came to Clarence and I, he smiled and looked at me and said "are they picking on you son?" I don't recall if I made any reply - probably not - but it showed that Chesty had a sense of humor.  Another time there wasn't enough mattresses for all to have one so the officers had first pick. When Col. Puller heard about it he ordered all officers to return all mattresses to the quartermaster until there was enough for all.  Chesty had a soft spot for the enlisted man. At heart he was one of us. As a Jungle fighter he had no peers. He was the best, and he was sadly missed at Okinawa.

By the time I arrived back at the point, we had communications with the 81 mortars and they were dug in and ready to fire when they would be called upon.  It was probably the firs time in history that the guns had to be moved back because they were closer than 200 yd - the minimum range to fire the 81's.  In Capt. Hunts Book, "Coral Comes High", it said they were firing at 2000yds.  No doubt that was a typographical error.  There was about 35 men on the point for the second night, ammo was in good supply and we had the additional firepower of the three 81 mortars.  And the morale of the troops was good.  As darkness fell, the Gaps Started to probe the lines and soon we were desperately trying to hold on to the point. Capt. Hunt & Lt. Haggerty had a tough decision to make. They decided to Drop a barrage of mortar bounds closer to the lines than was safe but it looked as the Japs would drive us off the point so the order was given. You could hear shrapnel buzzing all around the area and, in my humble opinion, it saved the day. Without the help of the 81 mortars, we would have been driven back from the point.  Had the point been lost and the enemy been successful in getting another anti-boat Gun in place it would have put the entire beachhead in jeopardy.  Some of the mortar men told me they hat to brace the rube to keep it from flipping over backwards due to such a high angle of fire.  After another hellish night, morning finally came and K-Co was relieved by 1-Co.  That ended the battle for K co. They had over 150 casualties.  When you loose two thirds of your personnel you are no longer combat efficient.