The southern most island in the Palau's was three mile square Angaur. The 81st Infantry Division was to land there. The island just north of Angaur is Peleliu. The 1st Marine Division was to land there.
The Marines landing on Peleliu on September 14, 1944. We huddled around the radio to hear how the Marine were doing. On the 17th we landed on Angaur.
I remember the ride into the beach with some 40 fellow soldiers. The strongest feeling that I remember is realizing that they all had loaded guns. I must confess that this was disconcerting. I knew most of them and some were a little flakey. Not me, of course.
The above is a page from the scrapbook published by the 154th. The top picture is poor Angaur being bombarded by the US Navy. It was quite a show. Next picture down is a beach scene. I am probably in that picture. Then a land crab. Then a destroyed Japanese installation. Sorry about the poor condition of the photos. They are 70 years old and have faded.
We saw little opposition on our landing (the Marines were not so fortunate on Peleliu) from the Japanese. Our landing did take some enemy fire. The Japanese were mostly in two spots on the other side of the Island. I can remember spending the first night in a foxhole with two others. We took turns standing guard. Every five minutes or so a flare would be fired into the air. As it floated down burning, it lit up the area some. The flares were nice, otherwise it was all black. We would stare into the jungle. There were large land crabs walking around. (Do crabs walk?) The noise of the crabs scared me. I had seen all of the war movies about the Marine Invasion of Guadalcanal early in the War.
We got busy unloading supplies, while the infamtry moved inland.
Chuck,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for writing this. My husband and I just finished watching the series entitled "the Pacific"...produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. While it follows the Marines and their Pacific landings, it is the same islands, etc that you just described. I am astounded at what our military go through for us. This movie was an eye opener. Thank you for being in my class and for your service.
Thank you, Deanne, for your kind remarks. Do not believe that I saw"the Pacific". A good book on the battles I was involved in was written by a Marine named Sledge The name of the book is "The Old Breed" It is about the 1st Marine Division.
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