BATTLE NARRATIVE
Our Last Killing. Saipan: 13 July 1944
The weather turned sour on D-plus-28, as if Saipan itself wanted to get in one last dig at the weary Marines of BLT 1-24. For the past month, prevailing conditions were so predictable as to be almost routine: hot, humid days with scattered clouds or light rain, followed by nights of drenching downpours that forced men to sacrifice clothing, comfort, and sleep to keep their weapons dry. The deluge usually let up before dawn, but on 13 July the rain refused to end.
“We floundered all day through thick muck and driving rain,” complained 1Lt. Frederic A. Stott. “And added to the water hazard was our return to the roughest sort of up-and-down terrain.”[1] The battalion was working its way to a bivouac area near Aslito Airfield, retracing its steps as it headed south and destroying any signs of enemy activity in its path. The route led through the Tapochau foothills where they’d fought in late June, and where the Army’s 27th Infantry Division faced such strong resistance that they were held up for days. It was ideal defensive ground, taken after much bloody effort or circumvented and ignored. The strategy of bypassing strong points worked well when units had to keep to a scheduled advance – but someone still had to go and clear them out. This unpleasant chore now fell to BLT 1-24.
Stott, who was still leading Charlie Company, did not like the look of the jungle-covered ravine that lay in front of his company. The entire area was “infested with caves and thick vegetation” so that movement was confined to a narrow trail. With no space to maneuver – and with orders to investigate any potential hiding place in his path – Stott could only hope that the Japanese in this sector were either dead or gone. Wiping water from their eyes and cursing the mud, Charlie Company entered the ravine.
Three of them would not walk out.
“It was our last killing on the island,” Stott later wrote. A squad sparked a shooting match with a score of well-armed Japanese troops, and “while we accounted for more than twenty, we lost three of our own in the skirmish, and were lucky not to lose more.”[2] Earlier, Stott had fretted over the concept of mopping up as a tactic “that produces a high death rate in proportion to the wounded.” He was proven right on 13 July.
Private General J. McCaleb – who went by “Hollie” – was first to fall. McCaleb, a farm boy from rural Putnam County, Tennessee, registered with Selective Service the day he turned eighteen and was called up in October 1943. He joined Charlie Company straight out of boot camp just four days before they shipped out for combat in the Marshall Islands. A slight wound suffered in the debacle of 22 June knocked McCaleb off the front lines for medical treatment, but he was back three days later ready for more. A bullet through his left hip killed Hollie McCaleb – just two days before his nineteenth birthday.
Michigan native PFC Glen H. Knisley was known as “the ‘music in his bones’ boy” when he played the cornet in the River Rouge High School band. With his snappy dress and musical talents, Glen was something of a lady’s man – until he met Mary June Pogorel. After graduating with the class of 1942, Glen went to work at Bendix Aircraft, but decided to enlist after a few months of toiling as a pipe fitter. He married June on 28 November; five days later, he was on his way to boot camp and eventual assignment with Charlie Company. Glen earned his first Purple Heart at Roi-Namur, but recovered quickly and returned to duty.
At the height of the ravine ambush, PFC Knisley volunteered to rush the cave and managed to get inside, “fighting his gun skillfully and with heroic determination” to kill several adversaries.[3] A single shot in reply drilled through his left eye, killing him instantly. A few days later, PFC Richard Knisely (E/2/23rd Marines) would visit his big brother’s grave in the 4th Marine Division Cemetery. Glen’s posthumous Silver Star Medal was presented to June back at home in River Rouge.
PFC Milford A. Carbino was still breathing when a corpsman reached the scene. The 23-year-old Marine grew up in Malone, New York, just ten miles from the Canadian border. He attended the Franklin Academy with the class of 1940, and went to work for the A&P market at 11 Pearl Street in downtown Malone. Milford loved sports and winter weather; he was an “outstanding skier” on the slopes of the northern Adirondacks. He enlisted from Syracuse on 24 August 1942, becoming the second of four Carbino brothers to serve in the military. Shortly before shipping out for Saipan, he spent two days visiting with his older brother – Army PFC Charles Carbino – in Oahu, and took a souvenir photo to send home to Malone.
Milford was serving as a platoon messenger on 13 July when he suffered multiple wounds to his chest and back, likely from an exploding grenade. Once stable enough for transport, he was carried to a Jeep and rushed to a beach for immediate evacuation to the hospital ship USS Relief. Although he received the best possible care, his wounds ultimately proved fatal, and Milford died aboard the Relief on 15 July. His body was buried on Ennylabegan when the ship stopped at Kwajalein.
With grim implacability, Charlie Company wiped out the Japanese unit. After a month of fighting, the prevailing attitude among the Marines was one of numbed acceptance of fate. “Death and destruction came to be the natural order,” Stott wrote. “Wounded comrades were given little sympathy, unless the wound was critical. Mostly they were envied for being out of it. No pangs of conscience were felt over civilian deaths, for dead people and wrecked buildings had become commonplace. Our sensitivities were gradually dulled…. Even the death of close friends seldom affected men visibly.”[4] One has to imagine, though, that the deaths of McCaleb, Knisley, and Carbino – quite literally in the final hours of fighting – were difficult to bear once the stress of battle receded.
Charlie Company emerged from the ravine and BLT 1-24 crossed the last few ridges, gradually descending to level ground. They could see American aircraft on the Aslito Field runway. Jeeps zipped back and forth between heavy artillery positions. MPs stood at intersections directing traffic. Marines and soldiers in clean uniforms were everywhere. Tent cities had sprung up in cane fields, and BLT 1-24 filed into a bivouac area that resembled “a simulated rest camp, far more densely populated with flies than Marines.” Thus ended the battle of Saipan “for those of us who had lasted for a part or the whole of twenty-nine tiring days of combat.”[5]
Lieutenant Stott reflected on the experience of the past month.
We felt no more tired on “D plus 28” than on “D plus 3,” probably less so. For after the first four days we were in a constant state of fatigue, but becoming inured to it. Our sensitivities were gradually dulled – hence the lessening of sympathy… Our hatred for the enemy increased little, if any. Substantially the same amount of satisfaction was felt upon killing an enemy soldier at all times throughout the operation.
Essentially it was a period of prolonged physical exertion, spotted with moments of bravery, fear, anger, and cruelty. Individually, and as a unit, our task was completed to the satisfaction of all. We were content to stop and rest.[6]
The reprieve, as always, would be short lived. Ten days later, almost every Marine in BLT 1-24 would embark for their third amphibious assault of the war – the invasion of Tinian.
[1] Frederic A. Stott, “Saipan Under Fire” (Andover: Frederic Stott, 1945) 22.
[2] Ibid, 23.
[3] Glen H. Knisley, citation for Silver Star Medal, Headquarters USMC. Available online.
[4] Stott, 23.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alford, Roy Grey | Able | PFC | Messenger | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Able Company |
| Blomquist, Bertel Erik | Headquarters | HA2c | Corpsman | Sick | Unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown |
| Carbino, Milford Arthur | Charlie | PFC | Messenger | Wounded In Action (Fatal) | Multiple wounds, chest & back | Evacuated to USS Relief |
| Cowan, Hugh Curtis Jr. | Headquarters | Sergeant | Squad Leader | Joined | From HQ, 24th Marines | To HQ Company |
| Fritze, Leonard Otto | Baker | PFC | BARman | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Baker Company |
| Gaminde, Pedro Jr. | Baker | PFC | Rifleman | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Baker Company |
| Gollwitzer, Edward George | Headquarters | PFC | Sniper | Joined | From HQ, 24th Marines | To HQ Company |
| Gum, Charles Bush Jr. | Baker | PFC | Ammo Carrier | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Baker Company |
| Jecture, Joseph Gabriel Jr. | Charlie | Corporal | Squad Leader | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Charlie Company |
| Knisley, Glen Howard | Charlie | PFC | BARman | Killed In Action | Gunshot, left eye | Removed for burial |
| McCaleb, General "J." | Charlie | Private | Rifleman | Killed In Action | Gunshot, left hip | Removed for burial |
| McNeal, Samuel Porter | Charlie | Sergeant | Guide, 3 Platoon | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Charlie Company |
| Naurot, James Bernard | Baker | PFC | Ammo Carrier | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Baker Company |
| Neiderlander, Edward Joseph | Headquarters | Corporal | Clerk | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To HQ Company |
| Perry, Gardner Edward | Headquarters | PFC | BARman | Joined | From HQ, 24th Marines | To HQ Company |
| Reid, Allan Lewis | Headquarters | PFC | Mortarman | Joined | From HQ, 24th Marines | To HQ Company |
| Russell, Walter Bruce | Able | Gunnery Sergeant | Gunnery Sergeant | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Able Company |
| Shurmantine, Donald Holt | Headquarters | PFC | Rifleman | Joined | From HQ, 24th Marines | To HQ Company |
| Tilden, William Austin | Headquarters | PFC | Mortarman | Wounded In Action | Unknown (slight) | Evacuated, destination unknown |
| Tofany, Benedict Francis | Headquarters | PFC | Lineman | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To HQ Company |
| Wood, Roy Irving Jr. | Able | First Lieutenant | Leader, 2 Platoon | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Able Company |
| Wright, Donald Harrison | Headquarters | PFC | Scout | Joined | From HQ, 24th Marines | To HQ Company |
