Robert Sorenson, WWII Service: US Marine Raiders

Rita’s uncle, Robert Spencer Sorenson, was a member of the Fourth Marine Raiders Battalion in the Second World War. I have pieced together what I could on his service, based on a few diary entries that were handed down to us, and a lot of Internet research. Robert was born 30 Aug 1925 in Racine, Wisconsin. He was still in high school at the start of the war. Robert’s father, Arthur J. Sorenson, had served in the U.S. Army in England during the First World War. His brother, Arthur Jr., would serve in the U.S. Army during the Second World War.

The Marine Raiders were an experimental, elite light infantry group of Marines formed during World War II. Four battalions were created, but the raiders concept was abandoned after two years, and the Raider Battalions were eventually reformed into a regular Marine infantry regiment.

Units that would evolve into the Raiders were started by Gen Holland M. “Howlin’ Mad” Smith (1882-1967), known as the father of modern amphibious warfare. He directed extensive amphibious training and landing exercises in 1939-1941. As a result of experiences in these exercises, Smith created many innovations to insure the success of the landing assaults, including the idea of a small, elite force which would land behind enemy lines apart from the main force and capture key points to protect the main landing from counterattack. The unit he used in the trials was the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, commanded by Lt Col Merritt Edson.  They were assigned to the Navy’s APD (High Speed Transport) squadron, and came to be called the “APD battalion”. Landing in rubber boats, they would not have vehicles or heavy weapons. When the US entered the war following Pearl Harbor, Smith requested that this arrangement be made permanent, and on 7 January Edson’s battalion became the 1st Separate Battalion.

The original intent for the Separate Battalion was that it would support major island landings by placing this small group behind enemy lines. Although the mode of transport was different, the battalion would be used in much the same way that the Army used the airborne divisions for the Normandy invasion. But at the same time that all this was going on, there was a parallel, more political movement aimed at creating a different sort of elite amphibious unit. The actual Raiders idea is usually credited to Evans F. Carlson (1896-1947), a Marine Corps Captain (later Brig. General) and friend of the Roosevelt family. Carlson had been stationed in China in the 1930’s as a military observer with the Chinese Army in their fight against the invading Japanese. He also spent time traveling with the Communist guerrillas and observing their tactics against the Japanese Army. He believed that guerrilla units were the future of warfare, and urged the President to form a guerrilla force within the Marines. He resigned his commission for a year, to write and speak on the coming war with Japan. He rejoined the Marines, now as a Major, after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and continued to push for guerrilla units. Carlson’s friend James Roosevelt (1907-1991), son of the President and a Marine Captain (later Brig. General), also lobbied the President. The idea gained favor as the US was being pushed back badly in the Pacific, and it was felt we had to do something, however small, to strike back. William J. Donovan, head of the OSS and considered to be the father of the CIA, independently wrote the President in Dec 1941 with a similar idea of organizing small guerrilla bands -- he wanted them to fall under a completely new service, separate from the Army and Navy.  President Roosevelt himself had been leaning toward something on the order of the British Commandos. In Jan 1942 the Navy Chief relayed to the Marine Commandant the President’s interest in commando-type units with the aim of destroying advanced Japanese seaplane bases. The same month, Capt James Roosevelt wrote to the Commandant himself, proposing the “Development within the Marine Corps of a unit for purposes similar to the British Commandos and the Chinese Guerrillas”.

In response to pressure from the Roosevelt administration, the Navy directed the formation of a Marine commando unit. They decided to go with Edson’s Separate Battalion, since it was already formed and trained and was close to what they wanted. A 2nd Separate Battalion was formed in February, taking one-third of the 1st Battalion as a cadre and having them train the new recruits. Major Evans Carlson was placed in command of the 2nd Battalion, and Captain James Roosevelt became the Executive Officer. In mid-February the units were renamed the 1st and 2nd Raiders. The two battalions were quite different: the First Battalion was more conventional, highly trained for assault and special operations, more like the British Commandos, while the Second Battalion was trained more as a guerrilla force to be used in operations in enemy territory. See usmarineraiders.org for more information.

The US did not do very well at the start of the war. We had lost a large part of the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and our small ground forces had outdated equipment. It would take months to train and equip the armies needed to fight the war, and even then it was decided that Germany was the greater threat and would receive the most attention -- our goal in the Pacific was just to slow down the Japanese advance. In December the Japanese captured Guam and Wake, and invaded the Philippines, as well as many of the British possessions.

The 2nd Raiders arrived at Pearl Harbor on 18 May 1942. By that time the Japanese had captured the Philippines and Corregidor as well as Hong Kong, Singapore and Burma, and had invaded Indonesia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. But they had also suffered their first defeat of the war, at the naval Battle of Coral Sea in May.

The Raiders first involvement in the war came almost immediately upon their arrival at Pearl Harbor. Two companies of the 2nd Raiders were sent to Midway in anticipation of the Japanese attack there. Arriving on 25 May, they were placed on Sand Island and Eastern Island. The Battle of Midway on 4 and 5 Jun 1942 is considered to be the turning point of the war in the Pacific. As it turned out to be mostly an air and naval battle, the Raiders did not have much involvement other than defending against a large air attack on 4 Jun.

The 1st Raider Battalion was shipped to American Samoa, arriving in pieces between April and June. Their first operation was an assault on Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands on 7 Aug, as part of the 1st Marine Division. For a more detailed description, usmarineraiders.org/tulagi is a good starting point. The 1st Battalion was also engaged in  several raids and battles on Guadalcanal in September and October, after which they were shipped to New Zealand for several months rest. The 2nd Battalion made an assault landing in the Gilbert Islands on 17 Aug, then in September they moved their base from Pearl Harbor to the New Hebrides Islands.

Robert S. Sorenson celebrated his 17th birthday in Racine, Wisconsin on Sunday, 30 Aug 1942. Two days later, on 1 Sep, he enlisted in the Marines at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was sent to San Diego for basic training, arriving there on 15 Sep 1942. The basic training was expected to be about 7 weeks. He was assigned to Platoon 817 for training.

On 29 Sep 1942, the Third Raiders Battalion was formed at American Samoa. About 50 men were taken from the two existing battalions to form a cadre to train the new members. This battalion consisted of volunteers from the 2nd and 3rd Marines; it was the only one of the Raiders battalions to be formed and trained overseas. They spent about 2 months organizing and training the new battalion, and it was trained more along conventional assault lines, similar to the First Battalion.

On 23 Oct 1942, the Fourth Raiders Battalion was formed at Camp Pendleton, California. Their first commander was Lt Col James Roosevelt, who had earlier been the executive officer of the Second Battalion, and this Battalion would probably be trained, like the Second, for guerrilla warfare.

Robert apparently was inspired to join the Raiders by Lt Col Roosevelt himself. Robert states in his diary that he was urged to join the Raiders by James Roosevelt. It’s possible that Lt Col Roosevelt may have visited the basic training camps and gave a speech to the men who were near graduation. Robert also says that on 25 October he “went to Camp Pendleton”. This could have been the date he transferred to Raiders training after basic training. But he also stated earlier that basic training was to take seven weeks, and only six weeks have elapsed at this point. Since 25 Oct was a Sunday, it seems likely that this was a day off, the last week before graduation, and some of the men were taken to Pendleton for a tour of the Raiders facilities, to entice them to volunteer. It might be that this was the point at which Lt Col Roosevelt talked to them.

In any case, Robert volunteered for the Raiders, and started three months of training, possibly as early as 25 Oct, more probably about the first week of November 1942. Most of the training was in “special areas” 35 miles out of Camp Pendleton. Started on 23 October, the Battalion at first consisted only of the Headquarters, and Companies A, B, and C. Robert was in Company A. They had enough men coming in to form Company D on 7 November, and companies E and F on 8 December. The fact that their commander, Lt Col Roosevelt, had been the executive officer of Second Battalion, as well as being a personal friend of Carlson and sharing his philosophies on guerrilla warfare, leads me to believe the Fourth Battalion was probably trained along the lines of the Second Battalion. Where the First and Third Battalions were more conventional, trained for special operations in support of island landings, the Second (and probably the Fourth) was trained more toward behind-the-lines guerrilla operations, and was modeled after Chinese Communist guerrilla units. Their training included a lot of hand-to-hand fighting, knife fighting, demolitions, landings with rubber boats in heavy surf, scaling cliffs and crossing ravines, and long hikes -- the hikes were mostly walk a mile, run a mile. Robert’s diary mentions a 35-mile hike back to Camp Pendleton near the end of their training.  In mid-January they spent about two weeks aboard Navy ships for amphibious training.

The Fourth Battalion structure was also similar to that of the Second Battalion. The Battalion started out with six companies, and cut down to five before shipping out. Four of these were rifle companies, and the fifth was a demolition and engineering company. The Battalion Headquarters Company consisted of the command staff, Intelligence, Operations, and Supply, along with some medical, food and communications services. Each of the rifle companies consisted of about 140 men, broken into two rifle platoons and a weapons platoon. Each rifle platoon had three rifle squads. The basic unit was a 10-man squad consisting of the squad leader and three, three-man fire teams. Each fire team had a Thompson model 1928 submachine gun, a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR, model 1918A1) and a Garand M1 semiautomatic rifle. The weapons platoon had two .30-caliber machine gun sections, a 60mm mortar section, and a .55-caliber anti-tank gun. We of course have no idea how Robert fits into this, he could have been in any one of these positions. I assume that Company A through D were probably the rifle companies. We know from one first-hand source that in at least one battle on Okinawa Robert used the Thompson submachine gun, but we don’t know that this was always the case.

Garand M1 Rifle. Semi-automatic,.30 Caliber, 8-round clip, effective to 500 yards	Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). Automatic rifle or light machine gun, .30 Caliber, 20-round clip, fired 10 rounds per second, effective to 1500 yards
Thompson Submachine Gun. .45 caliber, 30-round clip or 100-round drum, fired 10 rounds per second. Inaccurate and not very powerful, but a nice spray of bullets at close range.	Raider Stiletto. Not happy with existing military issue knives, the raiders had their own stiletto designed and made.

While the Third and Fourth Battalions were being trained, the First Battalion was still in New Zealand, recuperating and building back up to strength; they were then moved in January to the island of New Caledonia. The Second Battalion made an assault landing on Guadalcanal on 4 November, and then began a 30-day guerrilla mission on the island. They engaged in numerous fights during this mission, see usmarineraiders.org for details. They reentered American lines on 4 Dec, and were then withdrawn back to New Hebrides. The Third Battalion completed training, and was sent first to Espiritu Santo on New Hebrides Islands, arriving on 25 Jan 1943, and then moving on in February to Pavuvu in the Russell Islands, Solomon Islands.

The Fourth Battalion probably completed their training around the first few days of February 1943. On 5 Feb, Company F was removed from the 4th Battalion, and remained at Camp Pendleton as the Raider Replacement Training Company.  This left the Fourth Raiders with five companies; Robert is in Company A.

PACIFIC

The Fourth Raiders sailed from San Diego CA on 9 Feb 1943 on the President Polk. They received only two meals a day on the ship, plus a dry sandwich. The ship sailed without escort, so went in a zig-zag pattern the whole way. They arrived at Espiritu Santo on 25 Feb 1943, but Robert’s diary says they stayed on board when they got there, and did not leave the ship until 9 Mar. It probably was nice and warm. The average temperature during February in San Diego is around 60 degrees; the temperature in Espiritu Santo at that time of year is around 85 degrees.

USS President Polk (AP-103) was a Troop Transport used by the Navy in the South Pacific in World War II. The Polk was a 9000 ton, 490-foot long transport ship built in 1941 for APL (American President Line). From Dec 1941 to Sep 1943 it was contracted by the US Government for transport. In Sept 1943 it was requisitioned by the Navy and renamed USS President Polk, but at the time Robert was on it, it was still a civilian boat. It is listed as having a capacity of 96 passengers, but they somehow squeezed the whole Battalion (probably around 800 men) into the cargo area, as well as 35 members of Marine VMD-154 Squadron (aerial photographic reconnaissance) for the 6000-mile trip. The ship transported troops for several Pacific battles, and earned six battle stars. It was decommissioned by the Navy and returned to APL in 1946, renamed President Polk once again. It was sold to Liberia in 1965 and renamed first Gaucho Martin Fierro, then Minotauros. The boat was used for cargo until scrapped in 1970.

New Hebrides is an island group northeast of Australia. It was settled by both the British and French, and they formed a joint Anglo-French colonial government which governed the islands from 1906 to 1980. The New Hebrides attained independence in 1980 as the nation of Vanuatu. During the Second World War, the Japanese advance was stopped in the neighboring Solomon Islands, and the New Hebrides were never invaded. Espiritu Santo, the largest island in the group, was used by the Allies during WWII as a supply and support base. James Michener was stationed here during the war, and it formed part of the setting of his book “Tales of the South Pacific” and the derived musical “South Pacific”. It’s about 50 miles from one end of the island to the other; the location of the Raiders base is uncertain, but most of the American bases were around the town of Luganville on the southeast part of the island. The people mostly all spoke English and French.

Robert arrived about the middle of summer. It was also the middle of the rainy season. Dan Marsh’s site says the heavy rains started about two days after they set up camp, and they had mud flowing in under the tents. There were many cases of malaria and jungle rot.

According to his diary, Robert got off the ship on 9 March 1943, and was camped on Santu Espiritu. This is the last dated entry we have from him, so there will be a lot of assumptions and guesswork from this point. He remained on the island for about three months. Dan Marsh, another member of the Fourth Battalion says they spent this time in “extensive training with emphasis on night operations”, and training with the high-speed destroyer transports (APD’s) that were the Raiders main transportation. Also during this time there was a major reorganization of the Raiders.

The Marine Corps created the First Raider Regiment on 15 March 1943, with Headquarters on Espiritu Santo. All four Raider battalions were placed under this Regiment: the First Battalion, on New Caledonia; Second Battalion, on Espiritu Santo; Third Battalion, on Pavuvu in the Solomon Islands; and Fourth Battalion on Espiritu Santo. The first commander of this new regiment was Col. Harry Liversedge, who had been commanding the Third Battalion. He replaced Carlson with Lt Col Alan Shapely to command the Second Battalion, and replaced Roosevelt with Lt Col Michael Currin to command the Fourth Battalion. The new commanders were all quite orthodox and had no use for guerrilla units or Chinese philosophy. The Second and Fourth Battalions were reformed to be conventional assault units like the First and Third. All four battalions were also reformed to be the same in size and structure. Each battalion would now consist of four companies (three rifle and one  weapons), and each rifle company would consist of three rifle platoons and a weapons platoon. The only thing that survived of Carlson’s and Roosevelt’s concepts were the small fire teams which made up each squad. The First Battalion kept its Companies A, B, C and D; Company E was disbanded. The Second Battalion changed its Company B to E, C to F, D to G, and E to H, and disbanded Companies A and F. The Third Battalion changed its Company A to I, B to K, C to L, and D to M, and disbanded Company E; Third Battalion also move to Espiritu Santo at the end of March. The Fourth Battalion changed its Company A to N, B to O, C to P, and D to Q, and disbanded Company E. Nothing is said about what they did with the men from the disbanded companies.

Robert remained in what was Company A (now called Company N), 4th Raider Battalion, 1st Raider Regiment, camped on Espiritu Santo.
The Second Raider Battalion moved from Espiritu Santo in April, joining First Battalion on New Caledonia. They were joined by Third Battalion at the end of May, at which time the First Battalion moved to Guadalcanal.

NEW GEORGIA

After camping on Espiritu Santo for almost twelve weeks, the Fourth Battalion boarded the USS Penn on 31 May 1943. They sailed about 600 miles northwest to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, arriving on 2 Jun and going into camp there. The Regiment Headquarters were also moved here at the same time. They stayed in the area of Tetere, on the north side of the island, training for a planned operation against New Georgia.

USS John Penn (APA-23) was an attack transport used by the Navy in World War II.  It was a 9000-ton, 475-foot long transport ship built in 1931 for American Export Lines, named Escambion and used for cargo and passengers. The Navy acquired the ship in 1942, renaming it USS John Penn after a Revolutionary Patriot. The ship was first used as a transport (AP-23) to ferry cargo and troops from Virginia to Morocco for the invasion of North Africa. It then moved to the Pacific, arriving at New Caledonia in January 1943. The Penn was sent out to rescue the 1000-man crew of the cruiser USS Chicago, which had been sunk by Japanese submarines south of Guadalcanal on 29 Jan. The ship was reclassified from transport (AP) to attack transport (APA) on 1 Feb, and spent the next six months transporting men, equipment and supplies to Guadalcanal, including Robert’s battalion in June. The John Penn was sunk by Japanese torpedo planes just off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal on 13 August 1943. It is a popular diving spot today.

Guadalcanal is a large island in the Solomon Islands. It was discovered by the Spanish in 1568 and named after a town in Spain. The British established a protectorate in 1893 to stop the forcible recruitment of islanders for plantation labor in Fiji and Australia. Guadalcanal then became part of the British Solomon Islands, until they attained independence in 1978 as the nation of Solomon Islands.

During the Second World War, the Japanese occupied the undefended island in June 1942 and began constructing an airfield. The US Marines landed on Guadalcanal on 7 Aug 1942 to begin our first offensive campaign of the Pacific war. The landing was largely unopposed, since most of the Japanese on the island at that time were unarmed construction workers. But both sides quickly began pouring troops into the island and this became one of the longest and hardest-fought campaigns of the war, lasting from August 1942 to February 1943. There were numerous battles on the island, many involving the First and Second Raider Battalions. Seven naval battles were fought in the neighboring waters. The Japanese abandoned the island on 7 Feb -- it was our first combined arms victory of the Pacific war, and the end of Japanese offensive operations. But although we now owned the island and built it up as a base, the area was not entirely peaceful, as we see by the sinking of the John Penn just offshore in August.

Robert, in the Fourth Raider Battalion, camped on Guadalcanal through most of June. They were somewhere around Tetere, about 10 miles east of Honiara. The island is only 9 degrees south of the equator, but luckily it was the start of winter and the temperatures were only in the mid-80’s. This was also the start of the dry season.

Part of the Battalion finally got to do something in June, when the US invaded New Georgia. New Georgia is actually about a dozen islands, all surrounded by hazardous coral reefs and bars. The Fourth Battalion’s operations on New Georgia were part of a larger series of battles for the islands from 20 Jun to 25 August.

The Battalion was assigned two tasks, using half the Battalion for each. The Battalion Commander took Companies O and P in fast transport destroyers (APD’s) on 20 June and moved from Guadalcanal to New Georgia. They landed unopposed sometime after midnight on the southeast end of the main island. The Marines were followed the next day by a couple of companies from the 103rd Infantry, and occupied Segi Point. On 27 Jun they got into small rubber boats and paddled to Regi Village. From there they marched overland toward Viru Harbor. They fought in the Battle of Choi River on the 29th, and attacked and captured Viru Harbor on 1 July. They returned to Guadalcanal on a pair of small landing craft on 10 July. For details of this New Georgia operation, see usmarineraiders.org.

Robert’s turn came on 28 June 1943, with the other half of the Battalion under the command of the Executive Officer, Maj James Clark. Company N was boarded onto a fast transport destroyer, USS Schley (APD-14). Q Company also went, on the USS McKean (APD-5). They left Tetere Point on Guadalcanal and arrived on 30 Jun atWickham Anchorage, Oloana Bay, Vangunu Island, New Georgia.
Vangunu is a small circular island just off the southeast end of New Georgia, about 15 miles across. It’s a volcanic island covered with jungle and mangrove swamps. About 2000 people live there today. It was occupied by about a hundred Japanese troops when Robert’s company landed.

The Raider companies were placed under the command of a battalion from the Army’s 103rd Infantry. The Raiders were supposed to land just before dawn on a beach on the south side of the island, but the ships landed them in the wrong place and they ended up scattered by heavy rain, strong wind and heavy seas over seven miles. Luckily the south shore was all undefended. The Army Battalion and about half a company of Marines started moving northeast toward the Japanese garrison; the scattered Marines were all able to catch up by the time they reached the attack position. They formed up to the north of the Japanese, and would attack southeast, toward the village of Kaeruka.  Robert in Company N was in the center, with Company Q on their right and one of the Army companies on their left.

The first attack on 1 July was able to push back the Japanese line, but they were unable to break through. That night another 100 Japanese came in on barges -- they were unaware of the battle going on, and the Americans surprised them and completely wiped them out. The next day the Americans pulled back to a neighboring village and let the Navy and Air Force pound the garrison a little. The second attack on 3 July was able to capture the town against very little resistance. The Marine Raiders were taken by landing craft back to the original landing beach on 4 July. On the 9th they were sent to Gatukai Island (a smaller island just southeast of Vangunu) to investigate reports of a Japanese force there. They carried out combat patrols there, but were unable to find any Japanese and returned to Vangunu the next day. The two companies boarded landing craft on 12 July, and landed back on Guadalcanal on the 13th. They had lost about a dozen men killed on this mission, and about 20 wounded. More details can be found at usmarineraiders.org.

The main invasion of New Georgia started on 30 June, and consisted mostly of the Army’s 43rd infantry Division.

The First Raiders Battalion was also involved on New Georgia. They made an assault landing at Rice Anchorage on the west side of the main island  on 4 July, and fought in several battles through the rest of the month -- See usmarineraiders,org.

USS Schley (APD-14) was a fast transport destroyer of the Navy in World War II. It was a 1200-ton, 300-foot long destroyer built in 1918 for the US Navy in the First World War. It was named after Admiral Winston Schley, a naval officer in the Civil War and Spanish-American War. The ship was first used as a destroyer (DD-103) in WWI, patrolling the Mediterranean. It was decommissioned in 1922 and stored at San Diego, then recommissioned in 1940 and sent to Pearl Harbor. The Schley was present during the attack on Pearl Harbor, but was being overhauled at the time and had no guns. The ship spent most of 1942 patrolling outside Pearl Harbor, but was then converted to a fast transport. In Feb 1943 the Schley was reclassified from destroyer (DD-103) to fast transport destroyer (APD-14) for the Marine Raiders. The 30 June landing of Robert’s company on New Georgia was its first such operation. In fact, as far as I can tell, it was the first actual combat ever for the destroyer. It continued to be used by the Marines for assault landings for most of the war, earning eleven battle stars. By July 1945 it was no longer fit for front-line duty, was reclassified as DD-103, and sent back for overhaul. The ship was decommissioned in November 1945, and scrapped in 1946.

While Robert was on Vangunu, the Regiment Headquarters was moved from Guadalcanal to New Georgia on 4 July, accompanying the First Battalion in its assault landing on the northwest side of the island. They captured the area of Enogai Inlet and Dragon’s Head Peninsula, and were trying to get to Bairoko Harbor (there is a nice map at wikimedia). The Fourth Battalion moved to Enogai, New Georgia on 18 July. The battalion used USS McKean (APD-5), Waters (APD-8), Kilty (APD-15) and the USS Ward (APD-16). We don’t know for certain which one Robert was on, as the Raiders source does not break it down to companies. We know from Robert’s diary that he sailed on the McKean and Ward -- it was probably one of those, but he does not give dates so we don’t know which one. By matching up all the ships, dates, and places, I think it was most likely the Ward.

USS Ward (APD-16)was a fast transport destroyer of the Navy in World War II.  It was a 1200-ton, 300-foot long destroyer built in 1918 for the US Navy in the First World War. It was named after Commander James Ward, the first naval officer to be killed in the Civil War. The ship was first used as a destroyer (DD-139) in WWI, escorting Atlantic convoys. It was decommissioned in 1921 and stored on the West Coast, then recommissioned in 1941 and sent to Pearl Harbor. On 7 Dec 1941 the Ward was patrolling the entrance to Pearl Harbor. It found and sank a Japanese submarine trying to enter the harbor, a few hours before the Pearl Harbor attack, and the first shots fired by the U.S. in the war. The ship was then sent to the west coast and converted to a fast transport. In Feb 1943 the Ward was reclassified from destroyer (DD-139) to fast transport destroyer (APD-16) for the Marine Raiders. It was used for transport and escort over the next two years, and was involved in many landing operations. On 7 Dec 1944, the Ward was patrolling off Leyte in the Philippines when it was attacked by kamikaze bombers. One plane hit the ship, disabling it. The crew was evacuated, and the Ward was then sunk by gunfire from USS O’Brien.

Col Liversedge, commanding the Raider Regiment, attacked Bairoko Harbor on 20 July 1943. He had the First and Fourth Raider Battalions, and one battalion from the Army’s 148th Infantry Regiment (an Ohio National Guard unit, it still exists today), plus another battalion kept in reserve. They were all understrength -- the Fourth Battalion had already lost 200 men on New Georgia, and First Battalion had to merge its four companies down to two. The Raider battalions moved west from Enogai, while the Army battalion came up from the southeast. There was supposed to be an airstrike coordinated with the attack, but it never happened. They started moving toward Bairoko at 8:00 am on the 20th, and First Battalion made contact with the Japanese at 10:00. They got through the outposts, but were stopped at the main line about noon. The Fourth Battalion (with Robert) was to the left of the First. They tried to move around the end of the Japanese line, but were also stopped. The Japanese line was actually a series of four fortified lines and bunkers. Both battalions continued to advance slowly, and by late afternoon had gotten through two of the lines, being hit by mortars and machine gun fire the whole time. The Army battalion, a half-mile south of the Marines, were also stopped. By 5:00 pm the Americans were out of water and bullets and had to pull back. The next day they returned to Enogai. It had taken two hours to walk from Enogai to Bairoko, but the whole day to return. They were out of water, and had to carry all the wounded back, and had to stop and rest every hundred yards. American losses were 49 killed and 200 wounded, almost all from the Marines. The failure of this attack was mostly because the Raiders were not equipped for this sort of action. They were meant for fast movement and surprise assaults, and did not have the heavy weapons needed to attack fortified lines. Bairoko Harbor was finally captured on 24 August by the Army.

The two Raider battalions withdrew back to Dragon’s Head Peninsula and stayed there in defensive positions through July and August. Their only actions were patrols through the surrounding jungles and defense against some Japanese air raids. John Kennedy’s boat, PT-109, was sunk in Blackett Strait between the neighboring islands of Arundel and Kolombangara on 2 August. On 29 Aug 1943, both battalions along with the 1st Raider Regiment headquarters moved from New Georgia back to Guadalcanal. They had lost over 25% of their men in combat on New Georgia, and even more from disease. Fourth Battalion probably had about 600 men at the start of the campaign, and was now down to 154. Robert shipped aboard the USS McKean (APD-5), and landed back at Tetere Point on Monday, 30 August, his 18th birthday.

USS McKean (APD-5) was a fast transport destroyer of the Navy in World War II.  It was a 1060-ton, 315-foot long destroyer built in 1918 for the US Navy in the First World War. It was named after Admiral William McKean, a naval officer in the War of 1812 and Civil War. The ship was first used as a destroyer (DD-90), patrolling the Atlantic Ocean. It was decommissioned in 1922 and stored at Philadelphia, then recommissioned in 1940 as a fast transport (APD-5) and rejoined the Atlantic Fleet. McKean was sent to the South Pacific after the US entered the war. The ship took part in the landings at Tulagi, Guadalcanal, New Georgia and Bougaineville; the First, Second and Fourth Raider Battalions all used it at one time or another.  On 17 November 1943, the McKean was making a run from Guadalcanal to Bougaineville, carrying 185 Marines in addition to the 100-man Navy crew. They were hit by a torpedo from a Japanese plane at 3:50 am, exploding an ammunition magazine and rupturing the fuel oil tanks. The ship sank within 20 minutes, spreading burning oil over the water. 64 sailors and 52 marines were killed in the explosions and fire. Another destroyer of the same name was launched in 1945 (DD-784).

After New Georgia, the next major step through the Solomons chain was Bougaineville. The Second and Third Raider Battalions would be used there, and their station at New Caledonia was to be taken over by the First and Fourth Battalions.  On 4 Sep 1943 the First and Fourth Battalions, along with the 1st Raiders Regiment Headquarters, boarded ships at Tetere Point, Guadalcanal, and sailed to New Caledonia. Robert, with the Fourth Battalion, was aboard the USS American Legion (APA-17). They arrived at Noumea, New Caledonia on 8 Sep 1943. The Fourth Battalion was stationed at Camp Allard, at Mission St. Louis. On 12 Sep the 2nd Raiders Regiment was formed for the invasion of Bougaineville. The Second and Third Raider Battallions were removed from the 1st Regiment and placed into the 2nd Regiment, under the command of Col Shapely (he had been the Second Battalion commander). The 1st Raiders Regiment now consisted of First and Fourth Battalions. On 15 Sep 1943, Maj Robert Thomas took over as commander of the Fourth Battalion.

USS American Legion (APA-17) was an attack transport used by the Navy in World War II. It was a 13,000-ton, 500-foot long passenger ship built in 1921 for the US Shipping Board. It was first named Badger State, but renamed American Legion in 1921. In 1925 the ship was sold to a private company, which used it as a passenger liner until 1939. It was then owned by the US Army and used as a transport ship on the east coast. In 1940 the ship evacuated Crown Princess Martha of Norway after the Germans invaded her country. In August 1941 the ship was transferred from the Army to the Navy, and classified as a transport (AP-35).  The American Legion was used as a transport on the east coast until April 1942 when it was moved to the South Pacific. The ship landed troops for the invasion of Guadalcanal, and rescued survivors of the cruiser USS Quincy, which was sunk in the Battle of Savo Island. In Feb 1943 the American Legion was remodeled and reclassified as an attack transport, APA-17. Its final combat mission was transporting troops involved with the Bougaineville invasion. The ship then went to San Francisco for repairs, and spent the rest of the war used as an amphibious training ship. The American Legion was decommissioned in March 1946, and sold for scrap in 1948.

New Caledonia is an island group northeast of Australia, and southeast of New Hebrides (Vanuatu). It consists of one large island (about 50 miles wide and over 200 miles long) and several very small islands. Both New Caledonia and New Hebrides were discovered and named by Captain Cook in 1774. New Caledonia was taken over by Napoleon III of France in 1853 and was used as a penal colony. Over 20,000 French were transported here, and much of the original native population died from disease or was removed for plantation labor. After the fall of France in WWII, New Caledonia refused to recognize Vichy France and joined the Free French forces. It became an important army and naval base for Australia and the United States, and was never invaded by Japan.  The Raiders were based around the capital city of Noumea on the southeast part of the island. New Caledonia is still held as a territory of France.

NEW ZEALAND

In October the Fourth Battalion was split in half and took turns going on a rest break. Robert was in the first group, and sailed from Noumea, New Caledonia on 1 October, on board the USS Mormac Port. There is very little mention anywhere of the Mormac Port. I found a list of ships used as transports which includes a half-dozen Mormacs, so it must have been some kind of commercial transport line taken over by the Navy. And I found a first-hand account by another Marine who sailed on the Mormac Port. He described it as a “tub”, with canvas curtains over the wide-open windows. They arrived at Auckland, New Zealand on October 3rd for two weeks of rest and rehabilitation. Half of the First Battalion, along with half of the 1st Raiders Regiment headquarters company also went. Of course we don’t know what all Robert did on vacation -- obviously swimming, and whatever the city had to offer for entertainment. We do know he made good friends with a New Zealand Flight Sergeant, John Wellbourn. And we know from a pamphlet found in his possession that he saw some horse races on Saturday, 9 October, at the Auckland Racing Club.

While the 1st Regiment was starting their vacation, the 2nd Raiders Regiment, and the Second and Third Battalions, were moved from New Caledonia to Guadalcanal.

On 18 Oct the other half of the First and Fourth Battalions boarded ships for New Zealand, arriving on the 21st.
Robert’s group left New Zealand on 19 October on board the USS Tryon (APH-1), and landed back at Noumea, New Caledonia on the 22nd.

The Second Raiders Regiment (Second and Third Battalions) made an assault landing on Bougaineville on 1 Nov 1943, and fought in several battles over the next few weeks. See usmarineraiders.org for details. The other half of the First and Fourth Battalions returned from their New Zealand vacation on 20 November.

USS Tryon (APH-1) was an evacuation transport used by the Navy in World War II. It was a 10,000-ton, 450-foot long transport built in 1941. Originally named Alcoa Currier, it was acquired by the Navy in Sep 1942 and renamed Tryon. It was named after James Tryon, a medical doctor in the Navy during the Civil War, and later Surgeon General of the Navy. The ship was used as a hospital ship and evacuation transport (APH-1). The ship served in the Solomon Islands from Nov 1942 to Jan 1944, carrying out wounded troops, and bringing in fresh troops on the return trips -- one of those return trips brought Robert’s company back from New Zealand. It then spent the next year participating in numerous island invasions, including the Mariannas, Palaus and Philippines. Tryon was sent to San Francisco for overhaul in Feb 1945; the war ended during the return trip to Guam. The rest of 1945 was spent transporting troops home. Deactivated by the Navy, the ship was given to the Army for a troop transport. Transferred back to the Navy in 1950, it was used as a transport until deactivated in 1954.

On 21 Dec 1943, Robert and the Fourth Battalion boarded the M.V. Bloemfontein and sailed to Guadalcanal, landing on 24 December. This time they were stationed at Tassafaronga, about 10 miles northwest of Honiara.
The M.V. Bloemfontein is another one that has little published information. The “M.V.” is for Motor Vessel; it was built in the Netherlands in 1934, and named for the capital of the Orange Free State in South Africa. It was 488 feet long and could carry over 2000 passengers. The Allies used it as a transport during WWII. The ship was sold for scrap in 1959.

The Fourth Battalion was joined at Tassafaronga by the Second and Third Battalions on 12 Jan 1944, and by the First Battalion and the First Regiment Headquarters on 21 Jan.

On 26 Jan the 2nd Raiders Regiment was disbanded, and all four Raiders Battalions were back in the 1st Raiders Regiment. Col Shapely, who had been in command of the 2nd Regiment, now commanded the 1st Regiment.

END OF THE RAIDERS

So, on 1 Feb 1944, the 1st Raiders Regiment became the 4th Marine Regiment. The Second Battalion was so decimated that it was disbanded and became the weapons company. First Raider Battalion was now 1st Battalion, 4th Marines; Third Raider Battalion was now 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines; and Robert’s Fourth Raider Battalion was now the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines. They kept the same Company name string: 1st Battalion was Companies A, B, C, D; 2nd Battalion changed its Company N to E, O to F, P to G and Q to H; and 3rd Battalion kept its I, K, L, M.

The 4th Marines is an infantry regiment. It was started 16 Apr 1914 at Puget Sound, Washington, under the command of Col Joseph Pendleton (for whom the Marines’ Camp Pendleton was later named). The regiment was started because of problems between the US and Mexico at that time, and they were deployed in Mexican waters around Acapulco from the end of April to June 1914. Their next deployment was in Jun 1916, when a civil war broke out in the Dominican Republic. They were sent to Santo Domingo as part of the US peacekeeping force, and were stationed there for eight years. In February 1927 they were sent to Shanghai, China due to internal disorder; they stayed there for 14 years, mostly in garrison duty at the international settlement around Shanghai. With the Japanese invasion of China, the regiment was evacuated in November 1941 to Manila in the Philippines. When Japan attacked the US and invaded the Philippines in December, the 4th Marines had only two battalions of two companies each. They absorbed two more companies from Olongapo Marine barracks, and added the Cavite Special Defense Battalion. In December 1942 they were moved to Corregidor, and were part of the Defense of Corregidor from January to May 1943. In April 1943 the regiment added a fourth battalion, composed mostly of Navy personnel evacuated from Bataan. They continued absorbing unattached Army, Navy and Filipino personnel throughout the siege. Gen Wainwright surrendered the Philippines on 6 May 1943. Completely out of food and ammunition, the 4th Marines burned their colors, and temporarily ceased to exist. On 1 February 1944 the 4th Marines was reestablished on Guadalcanal, using the former Marine Raiders Regiment. They captured Emirau Island, and took part in the invasions of Guam and Okinawa as part of the 6th Marine Division. Following the Japanese surrender, the regiment was stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan in August 1945. They moved in January 1946 to Tsingtau, China, and were stationed there until September. In October 1949 they were deactivated. The 4th Marines was reactivated on 2 September 1952 at Camp Pendleton because of the Korean War, and was stationed in Japan from August 1953 to Feb 1955, when they moved to Hawaii. They served in Viet Nam with the 3rd Marine Division from May 1965 to November 1969. Their last deployment as a full regiment was for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, September 1990 to April 1991. Today, the 4th Marines is stationed on Okinawa and is assigned to the 3rd Marine Division. They are somewhat unusual in that only the Regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Company are actually on Okinawa permanently. All three battalions are assigned to other regiments, and the 4th Marines serves as a host to other battalions for training in jungle warfare. Currently the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines (1/4) is serving with 1st Marine Regiment at Camp Pendleton, California. The 3/4 Marines is serving with 7th Marine Regiment at the Marines Air Ground Combat Center in California. Robert’s unit, the 2/4 Marines, have been serving with 5th Marine Regiment at Camp Pendleton since 1994; they have been deployed to Iraq several times.

{We have a lot of sources to draw on for the Raiders; but even though the same battalions continued through the rest of the war, most sources stop at the point where the Raiders became 4th Marines. Some details on what the battalions did may therefore be lacking from this point on.}

EMIRAU

The capture of Bougaineville completed the Solomons campaign. The next area we were concerned with was the Bismarck Archipelago, lying northwest of the Solomons and northeast of New Guinea. The main island groups within this archipelago are New Britain, New Ireland and the Admiralty Islands. Rabaul on New Britain was the main Japanese strong point in the South Pacific, but it was decided that instead of attacking it head on, we would bypass it and isolate it, making it useless. MacArthur was also interested in capturing islands in the Bismarck chain to use as his jumping-off point for retaking the Philippines. The Bismarck campaign started with MacArthur capturing the Admiralty Islands in March 1944. MacArthur then wanted to go after Kavieng in the New Ireland group -- the new 4th Marine Regiment was training and practicing for the Kavieng invasion. But Admirals Nimitz and Halsey convinced the Joint Chiefs that this should also be bypassed, and they went for the small island of Emirau instead. This would give us a small airbase and PT boat base, and further isolate Rabaul.

The 4th Marines were picked for the landing force; they boarded ships at Tassafaronga, Guadalcanal on 18 March 1944 and sailed for Emirau, 800 miles to the northwest. The Regiment used nine APD’s and one APA, so we aren’t completely certain which one Robert would have been on. From matching ships that he has listed in his diary with their known places and times, it is most likely that he was on the USS Brooks. Their little fleet was escorted by nine destroyers. They arrived on 20 March; four old battleships bombarded Kavieng as a distraction, but it wasn’t necessary -- the Marines went ashore on Emirau against no opposition, and found that the Japanese had evacuated the island.

USS Brooks (APD-10)was a fast transport destroyer of the Navy in World War II.  It was a 1200-ton, 314-foot long destroyer built in 1919 and commissioned in 1920. It was named after Lt John Brooks, a Marine officer who was killed in the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. The ship was first used as a destroyer (DD-232), patrolling the Baltic, Mediterranean, Caribbean and Pacific. It was outfitted as a fast transport and reclassified APD-10 in Dec 1942. In addition to the Bismarck operations in which Robert probably sailed, the Brooks landed troops on New Guinea, Saipan, and Philippines. On 6 Jan 1945 during landings on Luzon in the Philippines, the Brooks was struck by a kamikaze plane, killing three of the crew. The ship was towed to San Pedro, California, and in 1946 was sold for scrap.

Emirau (or Emira) is part of the St. Matthias Group in the Bismarck Archipelago, northeast of New Guinea. The Bismarck Archipelago was first visited by the Dutch in 1616, but Emirau itself was not discovered until the British explorer William Dampier sighted it in 1699 -- he called it “Storm Island”, and it has also been known as “Squally Island”. The islands were not settled by Europeans until the Germans established a protectorate in 1884. The area was named Bismarck Archipelago after Otto von Bismarck, and was part of German New Guinea. Australia seized the islands in the First World War, and after the war they were given the Bismarck Archipelago as a mandate from the League of Nations. In November 1940, German raiders dropped off 500 civilian prisoners on Emirau from passenger ships that they had sunk; the people were later picked up by the Australian Navy. Japan invaded and captured Rabaul in New Britain and Kavieng in New Ireland in January 1942, and built up a strong base there, from which they attacked the Solomons and New Guinea. They landed some patrols on Emirau, but we don’t know whether they built up any permanent force there -- if they did, they were evacuated before the American invasion. The islands remained under Australian control after the war, until independence in 1975. Emirau is currently a part of the New Ireland Province of Papua New Guinea.

As soon as they captured the island, the Navy started building airfields for Marine and New Zealand bomber squadrons, which would be used to bomb Rabaul. They also built up a harbor for PT boats.The 4th Marines provided the main defense for the construction workers, and also ran patrols and investigated some of the neighboring smaller islands. Robert stayed on the island from 20 March until 11 Apr 1944, when the 4th Marines were relieved by the Army’s 147th Infantry Regiment. The 4th Marines returned to Tassafaronga, Guadalcanal. As far as I can tell, of the ships mentioned in his diary, only the Brooks or the Ward are likely candidates for the return trip.

GUAM

Shortly after their return to Guadalcanal, on 19 Apr 1944, the First Provisional Marine Brigade was formed, consisting of the 4th and 22nd Marines under Brigadier General Lemuel Shepherd. At some point a couple of artillery battalions were added to the Brigade. “Provisional” means that it was a temporary brigade formed for a specific purpose. The First Provisional Brigade was first formed after Pearl Harbor to quickly put a garrison on Iceland; it was disbanded in March 1942. The First Provisional Brigade was activated again on Guadalcanal, for the purpose of the Guam invasion. The third and final incarnation was at the start of the Korean War, when the Marines had to pull together a force and send them to Korea as quickly as possible. The 22nd Marines was an infantry regiment formed in June 1942, and was disbanded after WWII. They had fought at Eniwitok prior to linking up with the 4th Marines, and would remain with the 4th through the rest of the war.

The 4th and 22nd Marines started training immediately for the next mission, but were not told what it would be. The U.S. during this time had taken back the Gilbert Islands and Marshall Islands. They had a full dress rehearsal, with live ammunition and bombs, 25 to 27 May 1944. Immediately after the exercise they prepared to board ships at Kukum, Guadalcanal. Only after they boarded the ships were they told that they would be attacking the main Japanese line of defense, the Marianas. The plan was for two or three islands to be invaded. The 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions, with the Army’s 27th Infantry Division, would land on the northernmost island of Saipan on 15 June, probably to be followed by the neighboring island of Tinian.

The 1st Provisional Brigade, including Robert in the 4th Marines, was now part of the III Amphibious Corps, along with the 3rd Marine Division and the Army’s 77th Infantry Division. It was planned that they would land on the southernmost island of Guam on 19 June. Once again we don’t know which ship Robert was on. I can’t find any ship listed in his diary that was involved in the Guam landings (the list is transcribed, and I have found several known spelling errors, so it could be one of the unknown ships).

The Mariana Islands were discovered in 1521 by Magellan. They were formally claimed and colonized by Spain in 1667, naming them after the wife of Philip IV. They remained a Spanish colony until ceded by Spain to the U.S. as a result of the Spanish-American War in 1898. The U.S. kept Guam for a naval station, but didn’t want the rest of the islands and let Spain keep them. Spain then sold the Marianas to Germany the following year. After the First World War, Japan was given the Marianas (except Guam) by a League of Nations mandate. The U.S. kept a small naval station on Guam, but did not want to put the money into building up a major base there. When the Japanese invaded on 8 Dec 1941, there were only 400 Marines and Navy personnel, with 300 Guamanian defenders. During the Japanese occupation, about 1000 civilians died from concentration camps, executions, forced prostitution and forced labor. The U.S. regained Guam and captured the rest of the Marianas in 1944. Since 1950 Guam has been a Territory of the United States, and the inhabitants are U.S. citizens.

Robert’s group sailed from Kukum, Guadalcanal about 1300 miles north to their staging area, Kwajalein Atoll. They arrived there on 8 June to take on fuel, water and food. They then headed another 1300 miles west to the Marianas. The carrier planes started bombing the islands on 11 Jun, and the northern group’s invasion of Saipan went as scheduled on the 15th. The southern group arrived at their assembly area, 100 miles east of Saipan, on the same day.  But the Japanese fleet came out from the Philippines headed toward the islands, so rather than continue to Guam the southern group was held out of the way on the other side of Saipan. The Japanese fleet was stopped at the Battle of Philippine Sea on June 19 and 20 off the Mariana Islands, the largest aircraft carrier battle in history. Three Japanese carriers were sunk and 600 planes destroyed, at a cost of 123 American planes. However, the southern group was still not allowed to make its Guam landing because the Saipan resistance was much heavier than expected. Robert’s group was held in their landing ships off Saipan in case they were needed to land there. About 30 June, the 4th and 22nd Marines were taken to Eniwetok so they could go ashore for a few days for some fresh air and exercise.

Eniwetok (or Enewetak) is an atoll in the Marshall Islands, about 900 miles east of the Marianas. It consists of about 40 tiny coral islands in a ring around a central lagoon, 16 miles in diameter. Technically a Spanish colony, it was ignored until the Germans established the Marshall Islands colony in 1885. It was given to Japan by a League of Nations mandate after the First World War. It was captured by the U.S. in February 1944. Robert spent several days on the island in early July. The highest elevation is 15 feet, and the islands are all coral sand and palm trees. After the war, the people were evacuated and the atoll was used by the U.S. for nuclear testing. The island was decontaminted in the 1970’s and declared fit for habitation in 1980, and about 800 people live there today.

After their break, the marines were loaded back onto the boats and returned to the holding pattern off the Marianas. They put up tents on the decks, and spent their days playing cards. Now they were waiting for the 77th Division to arrive from the U.S.  During all this time, U.S. planes and ships were bombarding the island. They were finally given the orders to land, and the invasion started on 21 July. Other than the few days on Eniwetok, the marines had spent nearly 50 days on board the ship. The landings would take place on the west side of the island. Robert’s group, the 1st Provisional Brigade, was to land just to the south of Orote Peninsula, while the 3rd Marine Division landed on the north side. There were 18,500 Japanese defenders on the island, but since they didn’t know where the attack would take place they had to be spread around the whole island.

Guam is ringed by coral reefs up to 500 meters wide, and the water is only a few feet deep over the reefs. To get to shore, the marines used tracked landing vehicles (LVT). The 4th Amphibious Tractor Battalion provided this transportaion for the Provisional Brigade. Regular landng craft brought the men up to the edge of the reef, and they were then shuttled by the LVTs from landing craft to shore. The 77th infantry coming in after the initial assault had to wade across the reef.

The first LVTs reached the shore about 0830 on 21 July. They had to land facing intense fire from the shore, and the 3rd Marine Division had seven of their LVTs sunk. Robert in the First Provisional Brigade had it even worse, and they lost 13 LVTs. The 1st and 2nd Battalions were in the first wave, and the 3rd Battalion was brought on the next trip.

Once they got ashore it was mostly open ground and low hills, but lots of Japanese pillboxes. The 22nd Marines was on the left (north) end of the line, and the 4th Marines was on the right, with Robert’s 2nd Battalion being the left half of the 4th Marines. We know from a first-hand account that Robert’s platoon (1st Platoon, Co. E, 2nd Bn, 4th Marines) came up in an LVT which drove about 10 yards up onto the beach. They unloaded and had to walk through a strip of land mines two yards wide, then up the beach through obstacles made from coconut logs and barbed wire. The whole line pushed inland about a half mile the first day.

The Japanese made numerous attacks all along the line throughout the night, from individuals infiltrating to throw a grenade, to massed bayonet charges by 500 or more men. We know that four tanks attacked the line where Robert’s platoon was. Two were knocked out by U.S. tanks and two by bazooka fire -- at least one fired by Robert’s platoon. And at least one “banzai” attack with swords fell on Robert’s platoon. The Marines were able to fight off all of the attacks. In the morning (22 July) the Army’s 305th Infantry joined the Marines, and they continued to moved inland and expand their line, with the 22nd Marines on the left, 305th Infantry in the center, and 4th Marines on the right. In order to accomplish this “squeezing in” of the infantry between the two Marine regiments, Robert’s 2nd Battalion was relieved by the 305th Infantry. They went back to the beach for some time and waited in reserve, and were brought back in to fill gaps in the line as it continued to stretch wider.

1st Provisional Marine Brigade landing on Guam. This could be either 22nd or 4th Marines.	The 4th Marines on Guam, 22 July.

The 4th Marines moved east, uphill, having to clear out many caves and bunkers along the way. They reached the high point shown in the above photo, about a mile inland. The 3rd Battalion then pushed the beachhead further south. This stretched the line out, so E Company (Robert’s) was temporarily attached to 3rd Battalion to fill the gap between 1st and 3rd. The 4th Marines were held in their line for the next couple of days, while the 22nd Marines and 305th Infantry pushed north. On 23 and 24 July, the rest of the 77th Infantry began coming ashore to replace the Marines. The 4th Marines were relieved by the 306th infantry, and they pulled out of the line and headed north to join up with the 22nd Marines. The 22nd Marines moved north and cut off the Orote Peninsula on July 25th. Both regiments then started out to capture the peninsula on the 26th. Up to this point, the Provisional Brigade had lost 137 men killed, 700 wounded and 87 missing. They don’t break it down by Regiment, but I think the 22nd probably had the worst of it.

The Orote Peninsula is about 3 miles long and half a mile to a mile wide, with cliffs dropping to the ocean. It was one of the main objectives because it had an airfield, and the old pre-war Marine barracks. The 22nd Marines had sealed up about 2500 Japanese defenders on the peninsula, and they were determined to die rather than surrender. The night of 25/26 July the Japanese got themselves drunk and made a banzai charge at the Marine line, falling mainly on Company L of the 22nd and Company A of 1st Battalion, 4th Marines. They were hit by over 26,000 artillery shells from the Provisional Brigade, the 77th Infantry, and III Corps. Many still made it through, and were killed in hand-to-hand fighting in the Marine lines. Marine casualties were very light, but over 400 Japanese died.

The Orote Peninsula advance began on the morning of 26 July, with 4th Marines on the left and 22nd on the right. At the start of the advance the peninsula was quite narrow, so only the 1st Battalion was on the front line, following behind some Sherman tanks. The 4th Marines started out as scheduled at 7 am, but the 22nd was hit by Japanese artillery and did not start until 8:15, opening a gap between the regiments. This was filled by a company from 3rd Battalion 4th Marines. Halfway through the day the peninsula widened so that 2nd and 3rd Battalions joined the 1st on the front line. They were slowed by very dense vegetation, and increasing Japanese mortar and machine gun fire throughout the day. They got a little less than a mile onto the peninsula the first day.

More of the same the next few days, pushing on about 1500 feet a day through mangrove swamps, minefields, machine guns and mortars. Robert’s platoon on the 27th followed a tank, which mashed down the dense growth for them, but was still described as walking over railroad ties. They ran into a row of pillboxes halfway through the day, having to crawl under the macine gun fire in a cold pouring rain to get at them.

The fighting on the 28th was the most intense of the campaign -- Robert’s platoon had to face more pillboxes and was under heavy machine gun and mortar fire -- but as it turned out, this was the final effort by the Japanese on the peninsula.

Moving out on the morning of the 29th, the Marines found that Japanese resistance had mostly disappeared, and they quickly swept over the airfield. Robert’s platoon and one other was sent out to see if there were any more Japanese troops. They rode on tanks out to the end of the peninsula but found nothing, and Orote was declared to be captured. They held a flag-raising ceremony at the ruins of the old Marine barracks that afternoon.

In four days of fighting for the Orote Peninsula, the Provisional Brigade had lost 115 men killed, 721 wounded, and 38 missing. Robert’s platoon lost over half its men. Nearly all of the 2500 Japanese defenders were killed.

While the Provisional Brigade was capturing the Orote Peninsula, the 3rd Marine Division and 77th Infantry Division had linked up the two beachheads. It was believed that the Japanese had all moved north. The 77th Division sent out a series of patrols over the southern half of the island between 28 July and 2 August to make sure there were no Japanese strong points in the south. They found that only a few small groups of Japanese were wandering around in the jungles, everyone else had moved north.

On 31 July the next phase of the invasion was started; the 3rd Marine Division and 77th Infantry Division were to swing around from their present north-south line and form an east-west line cutting across the island. They would then start pushing north. Two battalions from the 22nd Marines were held in reserve. The 4th Marines, 306th Infantry, and 3rd Battalion of 22nd Marines would take over the 77th Division beachhead line and continue sending patrols out into the southern part of the island. A couple of days later they appear to have changed their minds and wanted everyone on the front line.

At 10:30 am on 2 August the 4th Marines were ordered to assemble at Maanot Pass, and prepare to move north the next day. Two battalions of the 22nd Marines were to follow on the 5th. On 3 August they were ordered to move up to the town of Toto. The Provisional Brigade reached the area around Tiyan Airfield, a little behind the front lines, by evening of 4 August. The 4th Marines had left behind Companies A and F, who were out on long-range patrols, and the 22nd Marines left behind one battalion for defense and patrols on the southern part of the island. While they were waiting behind the lines, Robert’s platoon played a few games of baseball using homemade bats. They had to play in silence to avoid drawing Japanese fire.

By 6 August less than a third of the island was controlled by the Japanese. The Americans planned to make a final all-out assault on the morning of the 7th, and the Provisional Brigade was brought into the main line. The 22nd Marines were on the far left, extending to the western shore. The 4th Marines were next to them, then 3rd Marine Division.  The 77th Infantry Division was on the far right, extending to the eastern shore. The objectives of the Provisional Brigade were Mount Machanao and Ritidian Point. The 7 Aug advance was relatively quiet, the main obstacle being the dense jungle. Same on 8 Aug, and 22nd Marines reached the northern Ritidian Point by evening. The 4th Marines reached Mengagen Point on the 9th, sent out patrols along the coast to the west to make contact with the 22nd. The last Japanese strong point, Mount Sant Rosa, was taken by the 77th Infantry Division. The entire island was in American hands by 10 Aug.

Although organized Japanese resistance had ended, thousands of Japanese had either been cut off during retreat or had purposely escaped into the jungles and hills. The Marines camped in the areas around their final positions, and continued to send out patrols every day to find the small groups of Japanese. We know from a first-person account that Robert went on several of these patrols, the last one to Ritidian Point. At one point on this patrol they had to use a narrow trail along a cliff face, several hundred feet above the beach.

Individual Japanese continued to be discovered for years after; an American soldier was killed several years after the war ended, and the last surviving Japanese soldier was found in a cave in 1972.

The 4th Marines started loading onto their ships on 21 August. Robert had his 19th birthday on 30 August, and the next day sailed back to Guadalcanal.

OKINAWA

In early September, the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was expanded and changed to a division, the 6th Marine Division. The 29th Marines was added, and two artillery battalions that had been attached to the brigade were combined to form the 15th Marine Artillery Regiment. Some of the old Raider battalions had been temporarily attached to divisions in the past, but this was the first time that the 4th Marines as a whole was part of a division structure. The 6th Division was formed on Guadalcanal specifically for the invasion of Okinawa and for the planned invasion of Japan.

Robert’s new mailing address has him still in Company E, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division. But, he is now a corporal. He was a PFC while on Guam, so must have been promoted to corporal shortly after arriving back on Guadalcanal.

The 6th Marine Division was an infantry division of World War II. It was created specifically for the planned invasions of Okinawa and Japan, and was only in existence for 19 months. The division was formed 7 Sep 1944 on Guadalcanal by expanding the First Provisional Marine Brigade, which had consisted of 4th Marines and 22nd Marines. To this was added the newly formed 29th Marine Regiment. The artillery battalions from all three units were combined to form the 15th Marine Regiment. The division also had a tank battalion, engineer battalion (for building bridges, etc), and pioneer battalion (for making roads through jungles, etc). In addition to these combat troops, there were services, medical and transportation battalions, and a sniper company. The division landed on Okinawa in April 1945 and spent 3 months in the battle for that island; six members of the division won Congressional Medals of Honor, and 1700 men were killed in the battle. Some rifle companies were reduced to the size of platoons and lost all of their officers. Following Okinawa, the division moved to Guam in preparation for the invasion of Honshu, Japan, planned for April 1946. That of course never happened. After the Japanese surrender in August 1945, the division (except for 4th Marines) was sent to Tsingtao to handle the surrender of Japanese forces in northern China. The division was disbanded at Tsingtao on 31 March 1946. The 6th is the only Marine division which was formed and served wholly overseas, and never saw duty in the continental United States.

Most of September was spent in getting the regiments back up to full strength. The 4th and 22nd Marines had both been badly mangled on Guam, and needed to have 2000 replacements brought in and trained. Serious training started in October, beginning at squad level, then platoon and company exercises. Since they now had their own tank battalion they had to learn to work together with it, as well as artillery. Some new weapons were also added to their arsenal, including the napalm flame thrower and M1A1 rocket launcher. Although only a few men in the platoon would be assigned to these, everyone had to learn how to use them. The training culminated in an 8-day practice invasion with the entire 6th Division in January 1945.

While this training was going on, the US invaded the Philippines in October; that would last until June 1945. The island of Iwo Jima was also invaded in February 1945 by 100,000 U.S. troops.

On 12 Mar 1945 the Division was loaded on transports and sailed from Guadalcanal, 2000 miles northwest to Ulithi Atoll, arriving there on 21 March.

Ulithi Atoll is part of the Yap Island Group in the Caroline Islands. It consists of a lagoon, 15 by 30 miles, surrounded by 40 tiny islets -- only four of them are inhabited, with a population of 700. The islands were discovered by the Portugese in 1526 but were largely left alone until WWII. The Japanese set up a radio and weather station there early in the war. The Army occupied the Atoll in Sep 1944, finding that the Japanese had abandoned it. It was then used as a Navy base for the rest of the war. Over 600 ships were gathered in the lagoon in preparation for the Okinawa invasion. After WWII it became part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, administered by the U.S. The Federated States of Micronesia formed a constitution in 1979, and became an independent nation in 1986. Ulithi Atoll is part of the State of Yap.

While they were on the transports to Ulithi, the Marines were told that their mission was the invasion of Okinawa in the Ryukyus. Okinawa was the largest amphibian invasion of the Pacific war, and the last large battle. Over half a million Allied troops were involved, mostly American but also including British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand forces. Japanese defenders numbered over 100,000. During the 2-month battle, over 12,000 Americans were killed and 40,000 wounded. But this island was actually part of Japan; the Japanese would not surrender, and 110,000 were killed. Over 150,000 civilians were also killed, over a third of the population -- the only battle which exceeded this was Stalingrad.

The landing force was the Tenth Army, commanded by Lt. Gen. Simon Buckner. The main pieces of Tenth Army were:

• III Marine Amphibious Corps (Maj Gen Roy Geiger) -- this was the Northern Landing Force
• 1st Marine Division (Maj Gen Pedro del Valle) [5th Marines and 7th Marines in first assault, 1st Marines in reserve]
• 6th Marine Division (Maj Gen Lemuel Shepherd) [4th Marines and 22nd Marines in first assault, 29th Marines in reserve]
• XXIV Corps, Army (Maj Gen John Hodge) -- this was the Southern Landing Force
• 7th Infantry Division (Maj Gen Archibald Arnold) [17th and 32nd Infantry in first assault, 184th Infantry in reserve]
• 96th Infantry Division (Maj Gen James Bradley) [381st and 383rd Infantry in first assault, 382nd Infantry in reserve]
• 77th Infantry Division (Maj Gen Andrew Bruce) -- this was the Western Landing Force [305th, 306th and 307th Infantry]
• Reserve forces: 27th Division [105th, 106th and 165th Infantry]

A complete list of all 10th Army units can be found at US Army in WWII.

Initial planning anticipated that two more Marine divisions would be available. Not part of the Tenth Army, the 2nd Marine Division was in the area as a reserve force, but was not brought in. It was also originally thought that the Iwo Jima invasion would take three days, and that the 5th Marine Division would then join Tenth Army at Okinawa, but Iwo Jima ended up taking a month and 5th Division was never brought in. These “missing” divisions caused a lot of blaming and finger-pointing exercises for years following the invasion.

Okinawa and surrounding islands were bombed for several weeks before the invasion. The Japanese tried to stop this with massive kamikaze attacks, which damaged several dozen US ships. The main effect of the kamikaze attacks was that Japanese air power in the area was almost completely destroyed. About a week before the Okinawa landing, the 77th Division captured the nearby island of Kerama Retto; from this island, US artillery would be able to hit Okinawa.

Almost immediately upon arrival at Ulithi Atoll, Robert was loaded onto the assault craft for the final 1400 mile step to Okinawa. Slower ships left earlier, all were underway by 27 March. While they were making the trip, the Navy was clearing mines and underwater obstacles at the landing beaches. The invasion force reached Okinawa on 1 April 1945.

Okinawa, the largest island in the Ryukyus chain, is part of Japan. It is about 60 miles long, and 18 miles across at the widest point. The original people were probably Ainus, with Chinese settlement and invasions from 600 AD onward. Okinawa was part of the Ryukyu kingdom, independent but having to pay tribute to China until the Japanese invaded in 1609. The Ryukyu kingdom remained nominally independent but under Japanese control until 1879, when the kingdom was abolished and Okinawa was incorporated as part of Japan. The island was captured by the United States in WWII, and remained under US occupation until 1972, when it was returned to Japan. The climate is subtropical, with a rainy season starting in May and temperatures around 60 to 85 degrees.

[For the main movements of the 4th Marines I am following the “History of the Marine Corps in World War II”. We are also fortunate in having a first-person account written by the corpsman for Robert’s platoon, Ed Strohmeier, and I am using that to fill in a lot of the added details.]

The invasion started on Easter Sunday, 1 April. The men got up at 3:00 am and at 3:30 were given a breakfast of steak or ham and powdered eggs. The landing area was on the west side, near the southern end of the island, and all four divisions were to land simultaneously: 6th Marine Division on the left (north) end, then 1st Marine Division, 7th Infantry Division, and 96th Infantry Division on the right (south) end.
Within the 6th Division area, 22nd Marines was on the left, and 4th Marines on the right. The 4th Marines immediate objective was Yontan Airfield.

When the sun came up about 5:30, the whole island was covered with smoke from the bombing and shelling by the Air Force and Navy. There were still a few Japanese planes flying, and some some bombs or artillery were hitting near the ships. The men were loaded into landing boats; this was a dangerous operation, the waves would raise and lower the small landing boats by several feet, while the ship they were leaving would stay almost stationary -- they climbed down the side of the ship on rope netting, and had to judge carefully exactly when to drop off, to avoid breaking a leg or landing in the water. After getting into the boats they went into a circling pattern until their turn to land.

Robert was not in the initial landing. The 1st and 3rd Battalions were the initial assault force, and 2nd Battalion was held back on the landing craft in reserve, until the lines would spread out enough for them to fit in. The water was not rough, but the waves were still high enough that they were all soaked before landing.

The first troops landed about 8:30 and were surprised to find almost no resistance. They moved quickly inland, and 4th Marines captured the Yontan Airfield by mid-morning. They were able to stay in contact with 7th Marines on their right, but as they moved inland a gap opened between them and the 22nd Marines on their left.

Robert in the 2nd Battalion was brought ashore in the ninth wave, about an hour after the first wave had landed. The landing boats brought them as far as the coral reefs, and they then switched to amphibious tractors (amtracks) for the last 100 yards to shore. There was a twelve-foot coral cliff all along the beach, but there were several openings which thery were able to go through without climbing the cliff. At the top were small farm fields of turnips, cabbage and wheat. They patrolled the beach area for a few hours, then in the afternoon they were brought up to Yontan Airfield to fill in the gap between the 4th and 22nd Marines. The Marines continued to move in across rough, wooded ground, clearing some limestone caves, but still no real resistance. By evening they had pushed in about 3 miles over a 10-mile front. Robert’s platoon was told to dig in for the night along the north side of the airfield, near a village of about 50 homes. They sent a patrol through the town but found no one. During the night a Japanese Zero landed on the airfield, not knowing it had been captured. They let him land and park his plane, then shot him as he walked toward the Officers’ Club.

They continued to move through the woods over the next several days, finding only occasional small units of Japanese. Despite all their pre-invasion efforts to gather information on the Japanese defenses, the Americans really had no idea where they were. As it turned out, almost all the Japanese were on the southern end of the island, and everything from the landing area north was mostly undefended. The 4th Marines reached the east coast in 4 days, which they had expected to take 2 weeks. The rapid advances caused thin lines and gaps, so the reserve 29th Marines had to be brought ashore after the second day. This is not to say it was a cakewalk -- they were killing several hundred Japanese a day during this time -- but they were mostly untrained Home Guard units, and American losses were very light.

From Corpsman Strohmeier’s account, Robert's platoon was assigned an area to patrol on April 2, but found nothing of interest and dug in again for the night. That night they killed several civilians. The Americans tried to tell the civilians to move only during the daytime, but the Japanese were telling them to move at night. Many of them were killed when they tried to walk through the American lines in the dark. In this way the platoon ended up with a 3-year-old girl who they had orphaned; she was cared for by two of the E Company corpsmen until they could get her sent further behind the lines. Robert's platoon reached the east coast in three or four days, finding an area of large rice farms and pine trees. They then turned north along the coast to the town of Ishikawa, where they found only a few civilians. They camped on the terraces along the beach.

That night several Japanese soldiers came down the road to the beach. The Americans didn't know if they were soldiers or civilians, and waited too long before shooting. They were killed, but three men from E Company also died. They were buried along the beach the next morning, and were later moved to the 6th Marine Division Cemetery.

The 7th and 96th Infantry Divisions had turned south and were starting to run into heavier resistance now, and their advance became much slower. The 6th Marine Division continued to find only small pockets of Japanese. Having reached the east coast, they turned north to head through the narrow Ishikawa Isthmus. The 22nd Marines was stopped, to be held in reserve and to patrol for any bypassed Japanese behind the front line. The 4th Marines passed through the 22nd lines, and continued up the isthmus along with the 29th Marines on 5 April. The 1st Battalion was detached at the town of Ishikawa to patrol the area behind the lines.

The 4th Marines advanced up the right side of the isthmus by “leap-frogging” the two battalions. Robert in the 2nd Battalion was initially in the lead. As they went up the main road, they would detach small patrols to either side, searching for the enemy. By early afternoon the 2nd Battalion was completely used up, having sent all of its platoons out. Then the 3rd Battalion took the lead, advancing in the same way. They moved 7 miles the first day. The 1st Battalion rejoined them on the second day, and they repeated the leap-frogging, in the order of 3rd, 1st, and 2nd Battalions. Their main problems were poor roads, difficulty in getting supplies from the rear, and gradually worsening terrain. Most of the Japanese resistance was in the form of land mines and a few snipers.

Our first-person account of Robert's platoon says that they encountered no Japanese troops, but killed several more civilians trying to get through their lines in the dark.

About April 6 or 7, Robert's platoon came to a large valley on the east coast, near the town of Ora, which they named 'Peaceful Valley'. There was a pool at the bottom of a waterfall in which they bathed. The company camped here for a time, digging in on the terraced hillside. Robert's platoon was on the top level, along the road. The men were plagued by mosquitoes, as might be expected, but their major problem was fleas. All of the houses were infested, and they soon found their way into the marines' clothing.

They were told they would be based in Peaceful Valley until the end of the month, patrolling the north peninsula, but they ended up staying less than a week.

By 7 April, aerial photos had located the main Japanese force on the north end of Okinawa, consisting of two battalions in the mountains of the Mobotu Peninsula. The 22nd Marines was brought forward to join the 4th and 29th. On 8 April they sealed off the peninsula. The 29th was left here, patrolling to find exactly where the Japanese line was, while the 22nd and 4th Marines spent several days continuing through the rest of the north end. The 4th Marines was based near Ora. By 13 April, the Marines had found that the rest of the north end was mostly deserted by the Japanese Army, and the 29th Marines had found the Japanese force on Mt. Yae Take on Mobotu. On the same day, they heard the news that President Roosevelt had died (the news didn't filter down to Robert's platoon until the 15th).

YAE TAKE

The Japanese position on Yae Take was too strong for a single regiment, so 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 4th Marines were sent from Ora to Yofuke to join the 29th Marines in the attack. Robert's 2nd Battalion was in the lead, and as soon as they reached Yofuke, they were ordered to continue up the coast toward Toguchi, which they reached about 5:00 pm. The 1st Battalion reached Yofuke around 4:30 and was also ordered to continue onward. One battalion from the 29th (3/29) was attached to them; they would be attacking the west side of the mountain. The rest of the 29th Marines would be attacking the east side.

Corpsman Strohmeier says they left Peaceful Valley early in the morning, and that Robert's platoon was in the lead of the Battalion, with Lt Goheen (their Platoon Commander) and Capt Alford (the E Company Commander) leading. They shared the road with a stream of civilian refugees. The road crossed over one steep-sided hill after another through mostly uninhabited scrub vegetation. When they reached the China Sea they turned north along the coast. By this time they were all exhausted, and most everyone had raw and blistered feet, but they kept walking, a total of 18 miles to Toguchi. They camped between the ocean and a steep hill. They had one random Japanese mortar shell land in their area -- one of the men in the platoon was hit by a small piece of shrapnel and was removed to the Battalion sick bay. Lieutenant Goheen, the Platoon commander, was also hit by the explosion, but his wounds were very minor and he didn't leave.

The attack started at 8:30 on the 14th, with 3/29th on the left and Robert's 2/4th on the right. The 1st Battalion was held in reserve. Their first objective was a 700-foot high ridge about two-thirds of a mile inland. The area was first bombarded by artillery, planes and Navy ships. Robert's platoon went a little farther up the coast, then turned inland up a high hill. From the top of the hill they could see to the west of them, the 77th Division landing to invade the small island of Ie Shima. They continued across the hill and up the first ridge. The Marines went up the ridge against machine gun, mortar and artillery fire -- but less than expected, and they reached their objective easily before noon.

Coming up the first ridge, one of the men in Robert's platoon was shot. The corpsman fixed him up a little, then one man stayed with the wounded man while another ran back to get the stretcher bearers. On E Company's immediate right, several men from G Company were killed.

The 1/4 Battalion was now brought up on the right of the 2/4, and they were sent on toward the next ridge, another 1000 yards inland. This time the going was much harder. The Japanese were in dense undergrowth and would change positions immediately after firing; when the Marines attacked the position, no one was there.
To get down from the first ridge, Robert's platoon had to use a narrow path going down the steep side. They had some trees for cover, but after about three-fourths of the platoon had got down safely, a Japanese sniper on the opposite hillside shot one of the men near the top (Richard Keltesch, from Milwaukee). The corpsman had already made it down safely, but had to go back up for Keltesch. As he was treating him and waiting for stretcher bearers, a second man was shot in almost the same spot. The corpsman and stretcher bearers were being fired at the whole time they were working, but no one else was hit. The two wounded men were evacuated; Keltesch later returned to the platoon, but the second man died on a hospital ship. The rest of the platoon made it down safely, except for one man who received a very slight wound and went back on his own to the battalion medical area. We know E and G Companies were together at this point; presumably others from 2/4 and 3/29 were at the bottom also. They now had to cross a few hundred feet of flat, open ground with rice paddies, and a dry riverbed five feet deep. All of the men were out of water at this point. After a fifteen minute rest in the gully, they went up a small hill. On the hill they found an abandoned schoolhouse that somehow still had running water, and they were able to refill their canteens. They now formed a skirmish line with Company E on the left, Company G on the right, and started up the second ridge.

About 1:50 pm Company G made the first strong contact with Japanese positions, followed a few minutes later by Robert's Company E -- they were pounded with heavy rifle, machine gun, mortar and artillery fire. They continued up the ridge in the face of this, while other companies went around the Japanese to the right. By 4:30 the fighting was over and they had reached the top of the second ridge.

The second day, April 15, found E Company on top of the ridge, with a cliff dropping several hundred feet in front of them. They held this position, while the rest of 2/4 Battalion, along with 1/4 and 3/29, advanced another 1000 yards up Yae Take. The advance was about the same as the previous day: seemingly easy going in the morning, then strong resistance after noon. The 2nd Battalion had the worst of it, climbing up a very steep hillside in the face of intense rifle and machine gun fire, and made very little progress. The 29th Marines on the east side of the mountain were also making slow and difficult progress. The 3/4 and 1/22 Battalions were now brought in on the south side of the mountain.

Meanwhile, Robert's E Company patrolled back over the area they had come through the day before to make sure they hadn't missed any enemy troops. They held their line on top of the ridge, firing occasionally at any Japanese they could see on the opposite hill. They had to carry all of their food and water supplies by hand from the coast. Strohmeier says that it was about this time that they heard of Roosevelt’s death, Russia declaring war on Japan, and the end of the war in Europe.
That night, the 2nd Battalion command post was hit by artillery, and the 4th Regiment command post was attacked behind the lines.

On the third day, 16 April, the main attack was to come from the south, 3/4 and 1/22 Battalions. The 3/29, 1/4, and Robert's 2/4 Battalions were mostly to stay in their positions and provide covering fire. By the end of the day, the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines had taken Yae Take peak. An hour later, 6:30 pm, the Japanese sent a Banzai attack to recapture the peak, but it was annihilated by artillery and 2nd Battalion machine gun fire.
Even though they were in the middle of a battle, they had mail call that day. Robert's platoon spotted some Japanese artillery emplacements and reported the location; they were taken out by bombing.

On 17 April, 1st and 3rd Battalions moved down the north side of Yae Take. The Japanese defenses were of course set up against an uphill advance; they were now useless, and mostly abandoned. The 2nd Battalion once again was held in position and only provided some supporting fire. Robert's platoon again patrolled some of the hills in the area. On one of their evening patrols they caught a civilian woman with a grenade hidden in her hair.

The 18th was spent reorganizing, resupplying, and patrolling captured areas. On 19 April, the 4th and 29th Marines pushed across the rest of the peninsula up to the north coast, finding only a few scattered Japanese. Robert's E Company patrolled the western point about halfway up Motobu. One of the other platoons found a cave in which some people were hiding. The marines were unable to get them to come out, but could hear men talking. Thinking they were soldiers, they threw in a phosphorous grenade. It turned out to be civilians, and a few of them were bably burned by the grenade. They spent much of the morning removing the worst victims to the battalion medical area and caring for the others who had minor burns. There was a cold rain for several hours. In the afternoon Robert's platoon went to the assistance of another platoon that had been pinned down by enemy fire. One of the men was killed during this fight, one had to be evacuated, and two others received minor wounds. They camped that night on a hill alongside a road. They were right across the road from the 4th Regiment command post, and got some fruit cocktail from them. They also got a visit from the Red Cross that evening, who gave out tobacco, stationery and other items. After setting up their camp, the men explored some tombs that were built into the hillside, but found nothing of interest.

General Shepherd, commanding the 6th Marine Division, announced the end of organized enemy resistance on 20 April. Robert's company continued patrolling through the hills, making their way out to the coastal highway. When they came out to level ground they turned south for about a mile, then made their camp on a terrace along the beach. There were two houses there, which were quickly dismantled to make shelters and fires. They cut some of the wheat that was growing in a field next to them, and used it to make beds on the beach sand. During the night, they killed three Japanese soldiers who were trying to cross the beach to get to some fishing boats.

On 21 April their sea-bags were delivered to them, a good sign -- it usually meant an extended stay in camp, and little combat. The bags contained their blankets, and clean clothes to change into. E Company stayed in their camp on the beach for two more days, mostly relaxing. They explored some caves, and played with the fishing boats out in the water. They caught some horses in the area and put on a rodeo. One of the men was accidentally shot through the foot because of a faulty safety on a pistol.

On 23 April, the 2nd Battalion was returned to its patrol area around Ora. Robert's platoon packed up early in the morning, cleaned up their area, and sat by the road waiting for trucks which were to take them back. They sat there all day, and the trucks finally showed up about 3 pm. By the time they loaded their sea-bags, weapons and equipment, the trucks were full, and the men had to climb on top of everything and hold on as best they could. They drove down the beach road, then onto the narrow dirt road cutting across the island, the same road they had walked ten days earlier. The truck ride over the steep hills and narrow, winding roads was not pleasant, but better than walking. One of the trucks carrying some men from F Company went off the road and slid down a steep embankment, but no one was killed.

This time they continued past “Peaceful Valley”, crossed a concrete bridge over a river, and stopped on the other side of the bay, directly across from Peaceful Valley. On one side of the road was a sandy strip of land 30 yards wide, down to the beach. On the other side, some rice paddies and then a steep hill. Robert's platoon was assigned the top of the hill for their camp. The first night they camped in their pup-tents. They were not expecting any trouble here, so they camped in the open and didn't bother digging fox-holes.

The next day (24 April) they found an abandoned village, and stripped out anything that could be used to build shelters. The hill on which they were camped was terraced, and planted with sweet potatoes. On the lowest terrace was the platoon commander, Lt. Goheen, and the platoon sergeants. On the next terrace up were the platoon runners and our narrator, Corpsman Strohmeier. On the next terrace above Strohmeier were 'Doc' Savage, Thomas Carmody, and our own Robert Sorenson, along with several others.

Robert and his buddies had built a rather elaborate shelter, complete with a porch and fireplace. Corpsman Strohmeier mentions that they invited him up several times for pancakes. The rest of the platoon had made their shacks along the top of the hill, 25 yards above Robert's terrace.

The platoon continued to make daily patrols through the area, but found nothing. Although organized resistance in the north had been eliminated, the area was still not safe. There were a lot of ambushes from guerrilla bands, and small pockets of Japanese that had been bypassed in the advance. They eventually had to intern all civilian men of military age to cut down on the guerrilla warfare.

About 27 April they were informed that Third Battalion, which had remained on Motobu Peninsula, had located a large pocket of Japanese troops. They would be attacking them the next day. Robert's group (at least E Company, or perhaps all of Second Battalion) was to move into Third Battalion's bivouac area and hold it for them while they were gone. They packed up on 28 April and crossed the island again. They went by truck this time, arriving in the afternoon about halfway up the west coast of Motobu. They had no sooner got their camp set up for the evening than they were told that the attack on the Japanese, which had been expected to take several days, was already over with complete success. So, on 29 April they packed up to go back to their own camp. As usual, the trucks were late, so the men spent some time along the shore, exploring caves and looking for seashells on the beach.

On 30 April a jeep coming from the west side of the island was ambushed about two miles from where E Company was camped. One man was killed and the jeep disabled, and the other two men were wounded as they ran the rest of the way. Several platoons were told to be ready for immediate patrols. Robert's platoon was supposed to be one of the platoons sent out, but they took so long to get ready that another one went instead. The company and battalion commanders were quite displeased with them, but I don't see anything in Strohmeier's report to indicate that anything ever came of it.

May 1st, their one-month anniversary on Okinawa, was uneventful. But they started hearing rumors that they would soon be leaving, to help out the Army on the south part of the island. That night some trucks drove in with a hot meal, a rare event and a welcome change from the boxed C-rations they usually ate.

While the Marines on the north end of Okinawa had made rapid progress and relatively little real resistance, the XXIV Corps in the south had been having very slow going. They ran into the Japanese 32nd Army, consisting of two full divisions, plus an independent brigade and a naval base, about 100,000 men altogether. The 7th and 96th Infantry Divisions were advancing a couple hundred yards a day through the outer defenses, and facing several Japanese counterattacks. By 15 April the reserve 27th Infantry Division had been added to the front line, along with many of the artillery battalions from the 1st and 6th Marine Divisions.

At the end of April, the 77th Infantry Division replaced the 96th Division, and the 1st Marine Division replaced the 27th Division on the front lines (one might think that they would just throw all five divisions into the fight, but there simply wasn't room to squeeze them all in across the narrow island).

Parts of the 6th Marine Division started moving to the south end in early May, starting with 22nd Marines. Robert's 2/4 Battalion moved on 4 May. It isn't clear whether the whole 4th Marines went at this same time, or just the battalion. They were loaded onto trucks -- clinging on atop the sea-bags, ammunition, weapons, equipment and supplies -- and drove across the island for the sixth and last time. This time when they reached the China Sea they turned south onto the highway and drove down through the Ishikawa Isthmus. Our correspondent does not tell us where they stopped, only that it was the middle part of the island. I am guessing near the bottom of the isthmus, in the general area where they first landed on the island. He says the trees are fewer and much larger than in the north, and there are open fields. The area in which they camped had sugar cane, sweet potatoes and wheat fields. They found a farm with a well, so they were able to bathe. They were told that the only danger in this area was from falling pieces of shrapnel from anti-aircraft fire, so they dug only very shallow fox-holes. There was a house that had been stripped down to nothing but the frame, and some of the men strung hammocks up in that. That night they enjoyed watching the skies filled with tracer bullets as some Japanese planes were shot down by the ships.

They stayed in this area for a few days. On one day they were given some 10 in 1 rations, the next best thing to a trucked-in hot dinner. The 10 in 1 ration was supposed to feed ten men for one day, and had lot of extra cans of meats, vegetables and fruits not found in the ordinary C-rations. They also received some PX supplies -- candy, cigarettes and stationery -- and “almost fresh” baked rolls. During their stay here, they temporarily lost their platoon sergeant due to combat fatigue, and Robert's friend Carmody due to a severe fungus infection on his hand and feet. One of the men in F Company shot himself in the leg -- supposedly an accident, but some of the men suspected he did it to be removed.

The 22nd Marines was put on the front line, on the far right (west coast) next to 1st Marine Division on 8 May. The surrender of Germany was announced on the same day but received little response on the front line. The rainy season had now started, with cold downpours almost every day. Around 9 May two Battalion Chaplains arrived and the company had church services, Catholics on one side of the road and Protestants on the other.

About 11 or 12 May (Corpsman Strohmeier's account loses track of the dates about this time, we may be a day or two off), the company moved again. They loaded into trucks once again and drove south several hours, passing the 6th Marine Division headquarters, and went into camp on the west coast. Again we don't know where, probably some miles north of Naha. That night they were told that some Japanese had left Naha in small boats and were heading in their general direction. The marines set up their machine guns to wait for them, but it turned out the target was the Navy ships, sitting about a half mile out. The marines watched from shore as the boats located the Japanese with their spotlights and blew their boats apart with machine guns and anti-aircraft guns. It was raining almost every night now.

SUGAR LOAF

On 14 May the remainder of the 6th Marine Division was brought south, with 29th Marines being added to the front lines and Robert's 4th Marines as reserve behind the front line. They cleaned up their camp early in the morning. This time they packed up all their spare clothing and blankets into their sea-bags, which were taken back to the storage area, as they were now getting ready to go back to the front lines. They went on foot a few miles toward the lines, crossing a concrete bridge over a river. They were starting to come across dead bodies of Japanese troops, and could see tanks and other units moving around. They moved onto a hill a little way from the shore and camped again. The Platoon Sergeant, who had been sent out for a short rest because of combat fatigue, was returned to the unit. They stayed here for a couple of days, during which the company was hit several times by Japanese artillery. Robert's platoon had one man taken out due to a minor shrapnel wound that became infected.

About 17 or 18 May they moved out again, with Robert's First Platoon in the lead. They had gone only a short way when an American plane that had been hit crashed right in the midst of Second Platoon and exploded. One of the men in the plane was killed, the other badly burned. Eighteen men from Second Platoon were also evacuated with burns and shrapnel wounds. After moving only a few miles closer in behind the lines they camped again.

The American lines by this time had reached the main Japanese defense line. In the 6th Division sector on the west coast these defenses consisted of the Sugar Loaf complex of hills, which included Sugar Loaf, Half Moon and Horseshoe. Taking this line over the next two weeks would be the most intense and bloody fighting of the Pacific war.

After several days fighting, 22nd Marines had two companies on top of Sugar Loaf Hill on May 14th, but after a night of mortar shelling and a Japanese counterattack the next morning, they were taken off the hill on the 15th. The 29th Marines were spread along a line at the bottom of the neighboring Half Moon Hill. They got most of the way up the north slope on the 16th, but they too were driven back that night by a counterattack. The 22nd made another unsuccessful attempt at Sugar Loaf on the 16th. By this time they had taken over 60% casualties -- some companies were reduced to less than a dozen men -- and would have to be withdrawn from combat. The 29th Marines were extended to the west and assigned both Sugar Loaf and Half Moon. On 17 May 1st and 3rd Battalions of 29th Marines attacked Half Moon, and 2nd Battalion attacked Suger Loaf. The top of Sugar Loaf was reached three times, but each time the Marines were pushed back by hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets and grenades. They reached the top a fourth time at evening, but had to withdraw because they were out of ammunition and had hardly anyone left alive. The 1st and 3rd Battalions had made it half-way up Half Moon, but they also had to be withdrawn that night because of the failure at Sugar Loaf -- both hills had to be taken at the same time. Another attack by 2nd Bn 29th Marines, this time with tanks, finally captured Sugar Loaf on the 18th. The 29th also got most of the way up Half Moon; driven back from the top by grenades and mortars, they pulled back a little and dug in for the night near the peak. During nine days of fighting, the 22nd and 29th Marines had suffered almost 4000 casualties.

On 19 May 1945, 4th Marines replaced the 29th on the front lines. During this day, Robert was killed.
The men in Robert's platoon began getting up about 4 am and eating breakfast. Starting at first light, the 4th Marines moved to replace the 29th on Half Moon: Companies K and L from 3/4, and Companies E and F from 2/4. They had been walking only a short time when it began to rain. They continued walking until they made contact with the rear elements of the 29th Marines. Artillery and mortars were coming down all through the area, and they were told to get into the fox-holes with the 29th. The company they were sharing the fox-holes with said they had recently been withdrawn from the line after getting mangled on Half Moon. After pausing here for a while the platoon got up and continued forward. During their “rest stop” two of the men in the platoon had been wounded and sent back. They crossed a long hill, running through the mud from one shell-hole to the next. There was a small valley between this hill and Half Moon, and a railroad track ran through the valley. They got to the bottom of the hill and followed the tracks for a way, passing under a concrete bridge. They had to watch for mines which had been placed along the tracks. About this time it stopped raining. They turned off the tracks and started climbing the steep, muddy hill, as men from the 29th came down. They got into the fox-holes vacated by the 29th; one man was wounded almost immediately by a Japanese grenade.

The replacement was completed by 2:30 pm, during which 2nd Battalion had lost 70 men. The Japanese had noticed the replacement moves, and at 3:30 launched a strong counterattack against 2nd Battalion, which took 2 hours to break up. Several men were killed and more wounded. The Platoon Sergeant who had just rejoined the unit was shot in the center of the chest, but survived. Another was hit in the lower spine and was paralyzed -- but he too recovered, and was not permanently paralyzed. Robert was killed sometime during this attack. He was alone in a fox-hole, and one of the men called the medic up to look at him because he wasn't moving. They found him sitting up, holding his Thompson gun. He had been killed from the concussion of a grenade or mortar exploding behind him. A short time later E Company was withdrawn from the hill due to heavy losses. They had a difficult time just getting the wounded out, and had to leave the four dead men behind. Sgt Daley took some men up the next day and brought them down.

There would be another month of heavy fighting before Okinawa was declared secured on 21 June. This was the last big battle of the war; the 6th Marine Division moved to Guam and started training for the invasion of Japan, planned for April 1946. But Japan surrendered on 14 August following the detonation of atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The 4th Marines were immediately loaded onto transports and sent to occupy Yokosuka Naval Base across the bay from Tokyo, landing on 30 August. They were the first American forces to land in Japan. The reason for picking them was partly because the “old” 4th Marines had been the last defense in the Philippines, and partly because the “new” 4th Marines were the old Marine Raiders Regiment.

Robert was buried at the 6th Marine Division Cemetery on Okinawa. A dedication service for the burial ground was held on 4 July 1945. We don't know exactly when the family was told of his death; a memorial service at the First Baptist Church in Racine was held on 1 July. Robert was exhumed from the Okinawa grave and reburied in Graceland Cemetery in Racine on 26 March 1947.

Since this is just a story of a member of our family, I have restricted it mostly to what Robert's unit did. I got my information from a number of sources, and all of these go into a great deal more detail than I have:

History of the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II, produced by the Marine Corps Historical Division
  Extremely thorough, from overall big-picture strategy and plans, down to what each individual unit did day-to-day. If you have any further interest in any of the battles I have touched on, this is the place to start. Much of it is reproduced online at http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC

US Marine Corps 1941-1945, Gordon L. Rottman, Osprey Publishing 1995

US Special Warfare Units in the Pacific Theater 1941-45, Gordon L. Rottman, Osprey Publishing 2005

1st Platoon, E Co, 2/4 Marines on Okinawa, unpublished (and unfinished) manuscript by Ed Strohmeier, the Platoon Corpsman. Since this is someone else's work I cannot publish the whole thing on this website, but I will provide copies to family members on request.

http://www.usmarineraiders.org
  This is probably the closest thing there is to an “official” Raiders website, and follows all the battalions and the Raiders Regiments. Unfortunately stops at the point where they become 4th Marines.

http://www.usmcraiders.com
  Created by Raiders member Dan Marsh, this follows them all the way through Okinawa. Much of it is general, but also a lot of first-person accounts, including the following,

http://www.usmcraiders.com/1AnnGuam.htm
   follows Robert's platoon and mentions Robert twice by name on Guam

From Makin to Bougainville: Marine Raiders in the Pacific War, by Maj Jon T Hoffman
  much of this book is reproduced at http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extcontent/usmc/pcn-190-003130-00/index.htm

http://www.history.navy.mil
  information on the ships used by the Marines

http://www.marines.mil