The Pacific (91 page)

181
Lena Basilone interview, Traditions Military Video,
www.militaryvideo.com
.

182
Adolf Bursa interview, author's collection; William Lansford interview, author's collection.

183
Interview with Lena Basilone, in the documentary
The Saga of Manila John
, undated Chuck Tatum Productions.

184
Lena Basilone interview, Traditions Military Video,
www.militaryvideo.com
.

185
Wells,
Give Me Fifty Marines
, p. 110.

186
Conner,
The Spearhead
, p. 13.

187
Ibid. p. 15.

188
Wells,
Give Me Fifty Marines
, pp. 112-113.

189
Appendix #1 Annex E to Operation Plan 1-[?], CT-5, Cont'd p. 3, file: B13- 1 5th Marine Regiment, administrative order 1-44 (11 August 1944), NARA.

190
Garand and Strobridge,
USMC Operations in WWII, Vol. IV
, p. 95.

191
Report on Fitness of Officers of the USMC, Lt. Col. Austin Shofner USMC File, August 18, 1944, to September 20, 1944, signed by Colonel Harris.

192
"Operations of the Fighter-Bomber Group," Annex A, After Action Report, VB-2, NARA.

193
F6F Hellcat
, documentary, produced by Teleteam, Inc.

194
Captain Flagg, War Diary: Peleliu, RG 127, Box 299, NARA.

195
USMC Photo #57862, Still Pictures Branch, NARA.

196
Boyes letter to Sledge, January 28, 1980, SCAU.

197
Conner,
The Spearhead
, pp. 15-16.

198
Tatum,
Red Blood Black Sand
, p. 82.

199
Clinton Watters photographs and interviews with author.

200
Basilone letter, undated, Basilone Family Collection. This letter was written before September 15, since Lena's photo of George and John together in Hawaii was dated September 17, 1944.

201
USS
Hornet
(CV-12) War Diary, September 1-30, 1944, NARA.

202
After Action Report, VB-2, NARA.

203
Sid Phillips letter to Mrs. Sledge, October 1, 1944, SCAU.

204
Sterling Mace (K-3-5) interview, author's collection.

205
This meeting is based on an entry in John Basilone's Service Record Book, stipulating his 20-minute flight on September 14; on the photograph of him and George that Lena had dated September 17; and on the undated clipping "Basilones Meet in the Pacific," from an unidentified newspaper, which described the meeting, in the Basilone Family Collection.

206
Pfc. George W. Basilone to Sgt. Lena Basilone, May 8, 1945, Basilone USMC Personnel File.

207
Sterling Mace interview, author's collection.

208
Appendix #1 Annex E to Operation Plan 1-[?], CT-5, Cont'd p. 3, file: B13- 1 5th Marine Regiment, administrative order 1-44 (11 August 1944), NARA.

209
Sterling Mace interview, author's collection.

210
R. V. Burgin interview with author.

211
Record of Operations of the Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, FMD, During the Period 26 August 1944 to 7 November 1944, SCAU, original in NARA (hereafter 3/5 Record).

212
Eugene B. Sledge interview in "Combat Leadership," USMC training film, courtesy of the USMC.

213
Sledge,
With the Old Breed
, p. 57. Sledge wrote that his LVT stalled after a near-miss from an enemy shell. In his recorded interviews, and in the memories of R. V. Burgin, it was the coral reef that stalled their craft.

214
Dr. Eugene B. Sledge interview, in the documentary
Peleliu 1944: Horror in the Pacific
, Kenwood Productions, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1991 (hereafter KPI). The unedited version of this interview was provided to the author by R. V. Burgin.

215
Dr. Eugene B. Sledge interview, Lou Reda Productions, used by permission (hereafter LRP).

216
3/5 Record; Captain Flagg War Diary: Peleliu, RG 127, Box 299, NARA.

217
Air Intelligence Group Excerpts from Narratives of Action--Palau, US Army Report, NARA.

218
LRP.

219
Thomas Stanley to Sledge, February 18, 1980, SCAU.

220
Henry "Hank" Boyes to Sledge, May 5, 1980, SCAU.

221
R. V. Burgin interview, author's collection.

222
Sterling Mace interview, author's collection.

223
Photograph of 3/5 HQ on the morning of September 15, 1944, USMC Photo #95503, 127-GW-713, Still Pictures Branch, NARA.

224
Thomas Stanley to Sledge, December 17, 1981, SCAU.

225
D-2 Journal, 1st Marine Div., Peleliu, RG 127, Box 299, NARA.

226
Sterling Mace interview, author's collection.

227
Henry "Hank" Boyes to Sledge, May 5, 1980, SCAU. Reconciling the many interviews and the official sources became easier when a distinction was drawn between the airfield and the airstrip.

228
Ibid

229
Ibid. Boyes earned a Silver Star for this action, and a copy of his citation (typed by Hank) is in the Sledge Collection. Sledge, however, wrote on p. 70 of
With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa
that the marine who performed this act was "tragically . . . killed by a sniper." He may have been referring to the first individual who approached the tank.

230
D-2 Journal, 1st Marine Div., Peleliu, RG 129, Box 299, NARA.

231
Garand and Strobridge,
USMC Operations in WWII, Vol. IV
, p. 118.

232
3/5 Record, p. 3. The grid maps "Special Map--Oct. 4, Central Section," which were used by 3/5, were used by the author to chart the daily course of 3/5 during the battle for Peleliu. The Special Map was found in folder B12-3 1st Marine Div. Field Orders--Peleliu, Box 305, "Geographic Files, Peleliu," RG 127, NARA (hereafter Special Map).

233
3/5 Record; Boyes to Sledge, January 28, 1980, SCAU.

234
R. V. Burgin interview, author's collection.

235
Lieutenant Colonel Shofner to Commandant of the Marine Corps, 9 March 1950, RG 127, Box 6, NARA.

236
LRP.

237
KPI. There are a number of differences between the events he recounts in the Kenwood Productions documentary
Peleliu 1944: Horror in the Pacific
as opposed to his book
With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa
and in his LFP interviews.

238
LRP. Dr. Sledge says this incident took place after his unit had been pulled back from its farthest point of penetration, but this could not be so. All other accounts have King being pulled back after nightfall.

239
Thomas Stanley to Lt. Col. James Rogers, August 21, 1980, SCAU.

240
Sledge,
With the Old Breed
, p. 69.

241
Thomas Stanley to Lt. Col. James Rogers, August 21, 1980, SCAU; Hank Boyes to Sledge, January 28, 1980, SCAU; 3/5 Record.

242
Comments of Col. Harold Harris, p. 130, Box 2 of 5, RG 96, SCAU (hereafter Harris Comments); 3/5 Record.

243
Hank Boyes to Sledge, January 28, 1980, SCAU; Naval Gunfire Report, Palaus [sic] Operation, p. 4, October 14, 1944, A4-8, Box 298, RG 127, NARA.

244
R. V. Burgin interview, author's collection.

245
3/5 Record, p. 3.

246
Hank Boyes to Sledge, May 5, 1980, SCAU.

247
KPI.

248
R. V. Burgin interview, Playtone Collection; Richard Higgins interview, author's collection.

249
Harris Comments; 3/5 Record, p. 3.

250
KPI.

251
Sledge mentioned this decision in several letters he wrote during the completion of his manuscript, including his letter to Walter McIlhenny dated May 31, 1977 (SCAU).

252
Sledge,
With the Old Breed
, p. 80.

253
R. V. Burgin interview, Playtone Collection. Bucky Harris also describes a "friendly fire" incident at this location in Harris Comments.

254
D- 2 Journal, 1st Marine Div., Peleliu, RG 127, Box 299, NARA.

255
Boyes to Sledge, May 5, 1980, SCAU.

256
G-2 Report No. 5, September 19, 1944, III Amphibious Corps, A4-16, Box 298, NARA.

257
Harris Comments, p. 132.

258
3/5 Record, p. 4; Special Map.

259
KPI.

260
Harris Comments.

261
Army Report of Japanese Defenses, Box 305, NARA; 3/5 Report, p. 4.

262
Thomas J. "Stumpy" Stanley, " To the Men of K-3-5," unpublished MS, October 17, 1980, SCAU.

263
Photograph of Lt. Col. Austin Shofner on Peleliu, Peleliu Collection, Still Pictures Branch, NARA.

264
In
USMC Operations in WWII, Vol. IV
, p. 58, Garand and Strobridge say the jungle "cloaked the contours beneath and defied all attempts of pre- invasion aerial reconnaissance." See also General Harris to Stumpy Stanley, July 17, 1981, SCAU.

265
Harris Comments; Stanley to Sledge, " Thoughts on Bucky's Notes," August 17, 1981, SCAU.

266
Garand and Strobridge,
USMC Operations in WWII, Vol. IV
, p. 94.

267
D-2 Journal, 1st Marine Div., Peleliu, RG 127, Box 299, NARA.

268
Harris Comments; 3/5 Record.

269
G-2 Report No. 5, September 19, 1944, III Amphibious Corps, A4-16, Box 298, NARA.

270
Ibid.

271
3/5 Record, p. 5; R. V. Burgin interviews, author's collection.

272
R. V. Burgin interview, author's collection.

273
Boyes to Sledge, May 5, 1980, SCAU.

274
R. V. Burgin interview, author's collection. Sledge wrote on p. 102 of
With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa
that the lieutenant (Hillbilly Jones) called battalion HQ and spoke to Major Gustafson. It's possible, but it is outside the normal chain of command. This is what R. V. Burgin, who used a telephone regularly, recalled.

275
3/5 Record.

276
Thomas J. "Stumpy" Stanley, "To the Men of K-3-5," unpublished MS, October 17, 1980, SCAU. Stanley and Sledge were both sharply critical of the USMC's casualty figures and went to great time and expense to come up with their own, based upon official records and buttressed by interviews with their comrades.

277
USS
Hornet
(CV- 12) War Diary, 1-30 September, 1944, NARA; After Action Report, VB- 2, The National Museum of Naval Aviation.

278
USS
Hornet
(CV-12) War Diary, 1-30 September, 1944, NARA.

279
Annex G--Phase II--Special Action Report--Palau Operation, p. 1, Box 298, RG 127, USMC Geographic Files, Peleliu.

280
Sledge to Walter McIlhenny, May 31, 1977, SCAU: "As a young Marine P.F.C., a 60mm mortarman in K-3-5, during World War II, I carried a book of Kipling's poems, which included his 'Prelude.' The theme of the poem was constantly in my mind [on Peleliu]."

281
3/5 Record, p. 6.

282
LRP.

283
Sledge to Stanley, January 16, 1984, SCAU.

284
G-2 Report No. 5, September 19, 1944, p. 3, III Amphibious Corps, Box 298, NARA.

285
Commanding General, III Amphibious Corps to CMC, 18 October 1944, "Defective Ammunition," Box 298, RG 127, USMC Geographic Files, Peleliu, NARA.

286
3/5 Record; Harris Comments, pp. 132-133.

287
Harris Comments, p. 134.

288
Unit Report, 26 September 1944, No. 11-44 0800 25 September to 0800 26 September, CT- 5, file A6-3.

289
Sledge,
With the Old Breed
, p. 103.

290
Conner,
The Spearhead
, p. 19.

291
Ibid.

292
Ibid. p. 23; Charles Tatum interview, Playtone Collection.

293
Gen. Gordon Gayle interview, November 22, 2006, author's collection; Thomas Stanley, "Peleliu Veterans--A Roll of Honor with K-3-5 at the End of Okinawa," unpublished MS, undated, SCAU.

294
Stanley to Sledge, August 17, 1981, SCAU.

295
3/5 Record, p. 6; Harris Comments, p. 134. Both of these accounts are clear about the battle. Sledge recalled it differently, but it's obvious he did so without consulting the 3/5 Record--and he also almost certainly received the Harris record too late in his writing process to include it.

296
Harris Comments, p. 134. Harris Comments disagree slightly with 3/5 Record; the author chose Harris's account, since the night obviously meant so much to him.

297
Harris Comments, pp. 134-135, 136.

298
Commanding General, III Amphibious Corps to CMC, 26 May 1945, p. 2, Army Intelligence Report, Box 306, NARA.

299
Sledge,
With the Old Breed
, p. 106.

300
R. V. Burgin interview, author's collection.

301
Ibid.; Sterling Mace interview, author's collection.

302
Unit Report, 26 September 1944, No. 11-44 0800 26 September to 0800 27 September, CT- 5, file A6-3.

303
William "Bill" Leyden interview, Playtone Collection. Bill Leyden could not say for sure when this event occurred. However, it had taken place on a hilltop or ridge. Since Starlight Hill was the only hill Bill encountered before he was wounded on Ngesebus, the correlation was strong enough to merit inclusion of the story here.

304
3/5 Record, p. 6.

305
Harris Comments, p. 135.

306
Unit Report, 28 September 1944, No. 11-44 0800 27 September to 0800 28 September, CT- 5, file A6-3.

307
Harris Comments, p. 136.

308
3/5 Record, p. 6.