We Have Our Own Bloody Ridge Here.
Letter from Pennock B. Bowen
to Mrs. Ruth T. Bowen
Pennock Barnard “Penn” Bowen served as a radioman with the First Battalion, 24th Marines from the unit’s origins at New River, North Carolina in 1942. He wrote this letter shortly after the battle of Saipan concluded. The next campaign, Tinian, would be his last – Bowen passed the test for officer candidacy, and returned to the United States in the fall of 1944 to attend Colgate on the V-12 program. He worked with radios professionally and as a hobby for the rest of his life – unfortunately, the fate of his souvenir radio from Saipan is not known.
Mrs. Ruth T. Bowen, of 309 Davis Road, Llanerch, received the following letter recently from her son, Cpl. Pennock B. Bowen, of the U. S. Marine Corps. Cpl. Bowen was graduated in 1941 from Haverford High School. He enlisted in July, 1941 and went overseas last January. Cpl. Bowen participated in the invasion of the occupation [sic] of the Marshall Islands and was later at Saipan. This letter was written following the latter action.
Dear Mom:
At last I have a chance to write since things have quieted down. First of all, I am perfectly all right and never got a scratch, although I had almost hair-line escapes during the 25 bloody days of battle.
We landed around 3 on June 15 and found the enemy to be in A-1 condition, and soon every artillery piece on the island and every Jap mortar was trained on us, and took its toll. The Japs gave us repeated counterattacks, and for a few days the situation was grave. The island was figured to take about eight days to secure, but instead, lasted to 25.
It rains all the time here. Only about two nights have gone by without rain. Often you wake to find four or five inches of mud creeping up on you. Last night we had our first meal for we have been living on K and C rations ever since we landed. You have no doubt heard of Bloody Ridge on Guadalcanal, but we have our own Bloody Ridge here.[1]
It is very rugged terrain, and the Japs have used it to excellent advantage. They had to be blasted from thousands of caves on Mt. Topotchan [sic] and all the rocky cliffs.[2] I was radio operator for the radio engineers for a few days and saw how they blasted 30 or more with TNT from their holes cut deep into the lava and coral rocks.[3] The roads were all mined with 100 pound aerial bombs, buried nose up. The jungles were so dense, you had to cut your way every foot.
I’ve seen every shape and form of yellow cowardice now. We were blasting the Japs from the side of a cliff, and when it got too hot for them, they came out. Oh yes, they came out with women and children in front of them and firing machine guns behind them. [4]
Another incident: Our planes dropped leaflets on three different dates, giving instructions to surrender. Several civilians had white flags flying from their home, and as the Marines advanced upon them, they were met by a hail of machine gun fire. Another time, an English speaking prisoner said he could lead us to a lot of civilians who wanted to surrender. Our A Company sent out a patrol. They were ambushed, and only one man returned alive.[5]
I guess you want to know whether I got any Japs. Well, I killed three. One with my rifle, and two with a hand grenade, and I took a fourth, also wounded by the grenade, a prisoner. I was furious and wanted to shoot him, but gave him a break and marched him back to the reception committee.
The Japs have copied everything they own. Their artillery was French 75s, their machine guns were copied from the British Bren and Lewis guns, their pistols were copied from the German Luger and the American Browning. Very few Jap .25 calibre rifles have been found here on Saipan, in sharp contrast to the exclusive use of them in the Marshalls. The Nips are replacing the .25 calibre with a .31 calibre or 7.7mm.
I have a Jap flag which is burned in the center, and sports about 6 bayonet wounds, and 15 machine gun holes. I also have a Jap bayonet, belt of a thousand stitches, a broken Jap watch, lots of Jap money, insignia, and a coupe of Imperial Marine hats. I also have a Jap radio I took from the radio station on Mt. Topotchan, but I doubt if you’ll ever see it.[6]
Bye for now. I’ll write when I get a chance.
Your son,
Penn
Footnotes
[1] It’s not clear if this a specific reference to an action fought by Bowen’s battalion, or simply a general statement – many ridges on Saipan could well be termed “bloody.”
[2] Mount Tapotchau was the highest elevation on Saipan, over in the 2nd Marine Division’s sector.
[3] This is possibly referring to a two-day patrol led by 1Lt. Endecott Osgood. “A Marine patrol of 26 scouts and 40 engineers killed 29 Japs and captured 53 others in a two-day search through the cave-honeycombed cliffs of Magicienne Bay,” wrote Sergeant Jack Vincent, combat correspondent. Exact dates of the patrol are not known.
[4] Tragic scenes like this occurred many times on Saipan, with numerous instances involving 1/24 alone.
[5] Referring to a patrol led by 1Lt. Philip E. Wood, Jr. and Sgt. Arthur B. Ervin on 5 July 1944. The ambush resulted in the deaths of six Marines, including Wood and Ervin. An estimated 60 civilians were rescued.
[6] Bowen is likely mistaking another hill for Mount Tapotchau, which was outside of his regiment’s area of operations. He might mean “Radio Hill” or “Radar Hill,” so named for a large communications center perched at its summit, which was overrun by the 24th Marines on 4 July.
I was Penny’s son. Thanks for the information.
Dale Chapman, i was related to Pennock Bowen through my mother’s second marriage. I would be interested in talking to you as I was very fond of Uncle Penn.