Memorial Day

Here is one thing in particular I remember this Memorial Day weekend:

I remember "George". He was my landlord who lived downstairs in the house from which we rented an upstairs apartment from. He was a short, stocky fellow who was very cheerful and quite chatty. One would not have surmised that George was a Marine WWII veteran with the 1st Marine Division. Being a Marine myself, we had lots to talk about.

George landed on the island of Tulagi near Guadalcanal Island on August 7th, 1942. George was one of 3,000 Marines assigned to take Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo while 11,000 Marines landed on Guadalcanal. Of the 3,000 Japanese soldiers entrenched on the three smaller islands, only 4 survived. Marines suffered 122 losses. In the early morning hours of August 21st, George was patrolling the eastern perimeter of Lunga when 917 Japanese attempted an ill-fated attack. This became known as the Battle of Tenaru. All but 128 of the Japanese invaders were killed. George survived again only to soon come down with with a near-fatal bout of Dysentery.

On October 24th, George again survived the Battle of Henderson Field under command of Lt. Col. Chesty Puller. Later, on September 15th, 1944 at 0832, George and the 1st Marines landed on "White Beach" on Peleliu which was fortified with 30,000 seasoned Japanese soldiers. George's LVT was hit by a 47mm shell and sank is chest-deep water layered in coral. George and his landing party waded through the water while the Japanese raked the water with machine gun fire. George and his men took "The Point" which was the most heavily fortified fortress overlooking the beach. His joy was short-lived when the Japanese attempted four times over the next 30 hours to retake "The Point". 157 Marines lost their lives on "The Point". George was one of only 18 to live to tell the tale.

On April 1st, 1945, George found himself in hand-to-hand combat fighting through the west-central area of Okinawa known as Cactus Ridge, about five miles north of Shuri. 1,500 soldiers were lost there. George fought his way all the way from the Oroku Peninsula on the west-central coast up to the Motobu Peninsula passing what is now Camp Hansen on the eastern coast. A total of 6,319 Americans died and 61,471 were wounded in taking Okinawa. George survived with grenade shrapnel in his legs after diving for cover when a grenade rolled out of a pill box he had assaulted.

George came home, married, raised his children, worked and eventually ended up retired, drinking sweet tea on his front porch many times with me. As we would sit, he would talk and I would listen intently. An average man, an average life, an extraordinary hero.

Thanks George!