My father was a Marine. When WWII began, he was only 18 years old. After completing his first year of college, he joined the Marines. Below is an excerpt from his war memoir.
Let’s start by saying that it was February 1944. Eniwetok Atoll was occupied. Eniwetok joined the Kwajalein Atoll’s invasion. Eniwetok, who was at the eastern end of the atoll’s invasion force, was his name.
Photo of my dad, taken in San Francisco December 4, 1945. The left side is that of my dad. His buddy Marine friend is also on the left.ThMarines. His name might be Robert Webber. Robert Webber was his real name. Mr. Webber was a character actor who appeared in many movies in the 50s and 60s, likely best known from “12 Angry Men” and the “Dirty Dozen.” They had just returned from three years of war, and were “out on the town”.
“Over the side, down the Life Net and into the landing craft. Our boat reached the rally point once it was fully loaded. The signal was given and then the boat headed to Engibi. The landing craft struck the sand on the southern end of the island. After the ramp fell, we fled for cover. Rounds were zipping past us. After hitting the sand I looked up to see where the fire was coming and then got up to move for shelter. As I ran for better spots, a Marine from my company was on my landing craft and took a shot in the chest. Thump. Thump. He collapsed like a bag of potatoes. I stopped, and shouted for a corpsman. A corpsman eventually took control and I started to look for something or a hole. I fell into a hole in the shell.
Just as the grim reaper was getting ready to greet us, he appeared. Even though it felt like forever, the time we spent on the beaches was just a few seconds. It was a scene of guys hopping from one shell hole into another. I was standing next to Captain Blood, the company captain. He died instantly from machine gunfire. Captain Blood was hit directly and died instantly.
Later, when the battle was over and the graves detail was preparing Captain Blood’s body to be taken back to the ship or buried I asked the Marine removing his personal effects if I could look at his wallet. Captain Blood died right beside me and I was interested in learning more. A photograph was found in his wallet. His beautiful wife and his two young children were staring at me. My heart was broken. What was running through my mind was – A wife would never see her husband again. Children would never again feel their father’s touch. This photograph was permanently etched in my mind. It is still there.
It was a unique smell to experience war in the Pacific. It’s a smell of saltwater, smoke, diesel exhaust and blood.
It was over when the war ended. I never thought I had “PTSD”. During the war it was called “battle fatigue”. For me it was a normal thing that I had to do. I didn’t have nightmares or flashbacks. The men I killed didn’t haunt me. Many decades later my wife and I went to see the film “Saving Private Ryan”. The film begins with Normandy’s landing on Omaha Beach. D-Day. All of it came back quickly. I was there – on a beach, smelling diesel, smoke the screams for help and death. I could almost smell the diesel and smoke. My heart stopped beating and I began to sob. I was a complete wreck, something my wife hadn’t seen before. It was time to get out of the theatre.
Where there’s death there’s life. The mostly featherless chicken was running down the beach, dazed. He was clearly featherless from the bombardment. This was quite bizarre. The chicken’s alive. The Captain has died. I said “Someone’s going to have that bird for dinner!”.”
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