BATTLE NARRATIVE
Did You Have A Noisy Fourth? Saipan: 4 July 1944
The First Battalion, 24th Marines marked Independence Day with a pair of leadership changes.
Lieutenant Colonel Austin R. Brunelli, battalion commander pro tempore, assembled his staff to announce his departure. Brunelli took charge of BLT 1-24 on 18 June 1944 on the orders of regimental commander Colonel Franklin A. Hart. Now he was needed back at Hart’s headquarters to resume his role as executive officer of the 24th Marines. Many in the battalion were sorry to see Brunelli go; his personal bravery and competent leadership helped them get through some of Saipan’s toughest fighting, and they hoped his assignment would turn permanent.[1]
Charlie Company also lost its commanding officer. After several days of battling fever, fatigue, and muscle pains, Captain Horace C. Parks finally reported to sick bay. He was immediately diagnosed with dengue fever and carried off on a stretcher. “He suffered, but he fought on,” said Sergeant Mike Mervosh. “I give him a lot of credit, God bless him. Good leadership means a hell of a lot, and that’s great combat leadership. Here’s a man, sick and so damn weak, and he’s still leading his Marines.”[3] Parks was “the first evacuation of a company commander that the battalion had suffered in combat,” noted 1Lt. Frederic A. Stott. With Parks out of action, leadership of Charlie Company fell to Stott. Private Roy H. Bishop was also evacuated for disease.
Officer or enlisted, a man had to be nearly incapacitated to get a ticket off the front line for illness. Of nearly a thousand men who landed with BLT 1-24, only a handful were deemed sick enough to warrant a trip to the rear, and most returned to duty in a day or two. Those who were sick and stayed mostly suffered in silence, accepting their symptoms as part of the job. Typical was the case of PFC Robert E. Tierney, under the weather for many days; his corpsman thought Tierney had a mild case of dengue, but not enough to be checked out at the hospital. Even with medicine, “I became very weak and was having difficulty keeping up.” Seeing Tierney in crisis, PFC Herbert Mauritz simply said “Give me your gear.” The husky Mauritz carried Tierney’s 45-pound load of BAR, ammunition, and 782 gear in addition to his own. Tierney kept taking his medicine, and his symptoms gradually lessened.[4]
PFC Dwyer Duncan lent a helping hand to his sick buddy, PFC Lawrence Erburu. The two Marines were as close as could be. “I knew his family from spending weekends in Ojai, CA, with them, and I even went there without Larry after I was transferred,” Duncan recalled. “Larry and I were fraternity brothers, and I went to his USC frat house a couple of times. We were in boot camp together and served mess duty together. He always slept on my arm as a pillow in foxholes during training and combat.” Erburu was assigned to Love Company, Third Battalion, 24th Marines, and happened to wander past the BLT 1-24 command post where Duncan stood guard.[5] “He told me that he was ill and had been sent back to a command post to rest,” Duncan continued. “I talked to him and asked him to share my foxhole. I got medicine from sickbay because Larry led me to believe that he had dysentery. We read each other’s mail before dark.”
The two buddies parted on the morning of 4 July; BLT 3-24 was in the assault, and Erburu wanted to be back with his company. A few minutes later, a barrage of American artillery fell short – directly onto BLT 3-24. Duncan volunteered for a liaison mission so he could check up on his buddies in Company L.
“Contempt and Disdain."
“To celebrate the 4th of July, we rested on this vantage point as all types of supporting weapons ranged in on enemy observation below and before us,” wrote Lieutenant Stott. “As the excellence of this observation post became more widely known, the number of observers increased, until by mid-afternoon a well-rounded collection of brass was on hand. The size and importance of the crowd gathered in plain view in the open clearly indicated the contempt and disdain felt for the remaining Japanese and their weapons.”[9]
The battalion’s confidence was soaring. Airstrikes and artillery hammered away at enemy positions on hills to the north. A prisoner informed BLT 1-24 that Japanese troops and civilians were evacuating to the north, fleeing from the central highlands. “Considerable equipment and writing has been collected in buildings and a cave in this area, including radio and radar equipment,” noted the battalion war diary. Corporal Pennock Bowen of the comms platoon added a Japanese military radio to his souvenir stash.[10]
A series of photographs by Sgt. John Fabion, depicting the action in the 4th Marine Division sector on 4 July 1944.
These Kodachrome negatives would have been printed in full color like the examples above.
[1] Brunelli received the Silver Star Medal for his performance as commander of BLT 1-24 on Saipan.
[2] Irving Schechter, “The Lawyer Who Went to War,” Semper Fi, Mac, ed. Henry Berry (New York: Harper, 1982), 224.
[3] Mike Mervosh, oral history interview conducted by The National World War II Museum, “Oral History Part 1,” March 19, 2008.
[4] Robert E. Tierney, “My Marine Corps Experience,” unpublished memoir dated 10 January 2013.
[5] Dwyer Duncan, “Military Career – Dwyer’s Memories.” Posted May 16, 2013; recorded 1995. Dwyer also served with L/3/24 before transferring to HQ/1/24 in early 1944.
[6] Ibid. Duncan recalls the other Marine as “Corp. M. E. Logan of Charlotte, NC” but probably means Corporal Marion E. Lyon.
[7] “July Fourth On Saipan ‘Noisy’ Writes Marine,” The Quad City Times (Davenport, IA), 26 July 1944.
[8] Colonel R. E. Hogaboom, Headquarters Northern Troops and Landing Force, Marianas Phase I (Saipan), Enclosure E, “G-3 Report,” Periodic Report #20 (4 July 1944).
[9] Frederic A. Stott, “Saipan Under Fire” (Andover: Frederic Stott, 1945), 15.
[10] Pennock Bowen, letter reprinted in “Haverford Man Writes Home Of Action Against Japanese Forces At Saipan,” Our Town (Narbeth, PA), 27 July 1944.
[11] Hogaboom, G-3 Periodic Report #20.
[12] “Dwyer’s Memories.” Duncan said he “fortunately” couldn’t sleep the night after Erburu’s death, and killed two Japanese who were trying to infiltrate. The battalion war diary reports “Two Jap officers, evidently doctors, were killed by CP security at 0430 [July 5].
Battalion Daily Report
Casualties, Evacuations, Joinings & Transfers
KIA/DOW
WIA & EVAC*
SICK
JOINED
TRANSFERRED
STRENGTH
Out of an original landing strength of 888 officers and men.
* Does not include minor wounds not requiring evacuation from the line.
| Name | Company | Rank | Role | Change | Cause | Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop, Roy Hayward | Charlie | Private | Rifleman | Sick | Unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown |
| Brunelli, Austin Roger | Headquarters | Lieutenant Colonel | Battalion Commander | Transferred | Ceding command | To H&S Company, 24th Marines |
| Greer, William Thomas | Charlie | PFC | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Blast concussion | Evacuated, destination unknown |
| Pappas, Gust Alexander | Able | PFC | BARman | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, right thigh | Evacuated, destination unknown |
| Parks, Horace Charles | Charlie | Captain | Company Commander | Sick | Dengue Fever | Evacuated, destination unknown |
| Pileckas, Henry | Baker | Sergeant | Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, right foot | Evacuated, destination unknown |
| Underwood, Thomas Ellis | Baker | PFC | Fire Team Leader | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Baker Company |