BATTLE NARRATIVE
No Beach To Speak Of Tinian: 24 July 1944
The sea voyage from Saipan to Tinian was among the shortest in the history of amphibious warfare. A mere five miles separated loading beaches from landing beaches; a combatant with a good pair of binoculars could have seen his adversaries mid-preparation. Tinian’s northernmost prominence, Ushi Point, was within easy range of American artillery grouped on Saipan’s southwestern shore. Even an LST – mockingly called a “large, slow target” – could steam from the berthing area to the debarkation station in under ninety minutes.[2] “The trip from Saipan to Tinian was so brief, so inconsequential and unspectacular that it received no mention in any of the major action reports,” notes historian Carl Hoffman. “For the Marines, however, the voyage had at least one satisfactory feature: the food. Tired of their monotonous diet, they partook of ship’s fare with gusto. In most cases Navy personnel realized and appreciated this situation and made special efforts to provide interesting menus.” [3] The cooks aboard LST-486 turned to with a will, with “the customary steak, eggs, and fried potatoes” provoking the usual jokes about a “condemned man’s breakfast.” PFC Alva R. Perry wanted none of it. “I was sure that if the breakfast didn’t kill me, the Japs would,” he said. “I was sick to my stomach – seasick, and worried about the landing.”[4]
As transports took positions and Marines ate their chow, the preliminary bombardment from sea and Saipan increased in tempo. Four destroyers, one heavy cruiser, two battleships, and 156 artillery pieces saturated the area around the White Beaches with shells of all calibers.[5] To the south, another Navy force was shellacking Tinian Town, laying waste to any fortifications they could find. This was an elaborate ruse, similar to the one practiced at Saipan, and complete with troops climbing nets into landing craft and making a show of preparing to attack. It drew a furious response from the Japanese – the battleship USS Colorado was hit by 22 shells in the span of fifteen minutes – and kept a significant part of the garrison waiting to meet the Marines on the beaches. By the time the demonstration group withdrew, the real landings were well underway.
At 0600, the first LST bow doors swung open and the troop-laden LVTs lurched into gear. Within 35 minutes, the eight assault waves bound for White Beach One were in the water and getting into position. Riding a tractor out of an LST was an unsettling experience for the uninitiated. “What makes that big iron monster float, I will never understand,” admitted PFC John C. Pope. “The [tractors] would rumble out on a short ramp and hit the water with a big splash. At first it looks and feels like it’s going to the bottom, but amazingly it comes back up just before water comes pouring in over the sides.”[6] Six LVTAs from Company B, 2nd Armored Amphibian Battalion, led the way; about 300 yards from shore, they split off to the north and opened fire with their 75mm howitzers.[7] Now fully exposed, Easy Company made for the beach as quickly as possible and touched dry land at 0750. “In caves and in crevices right along the high-water line were Japanese defense forces, armed with rifles, machine guns, and grenades,” noted the regimental diary. “They began firing on the landing craft as they came into range. ‘E’ Company effected the landing with considerable difficulty.”[8] Ross’ 130 men fought “close-in and vicious” and pushed forward off the sand, clearing the way for Able Company.
The sight of the beach – what could be seen through the smoke and dust of battle – was not inspiring. “There [was] no beach to speak of,” recalled PFC Lionel “Pappy” Salazar. “The [LVT] I was on could not get on land. We had to climb off and go through the reef.”[9] Only a few LVTs could land on the sand at a time; the rest bellied up to the four- to six-foot-high coral ledges, and Marines either dropped over the sides into shallow water or climbed straight from the tractor onto the shelf. “We had to go over the side, which was most unusual.” said PFC Howard M. Kerr. Those who exited towards the front of Kerr’s LVT found “good cover and a good spot,” while those who went off the back discovered deep holes the hard way. “Some of us were loaded with all kinds of equipment… they’d jump off the back and go straight down,” Kerr recalled. Fortunately, nobody drowned.[10]
The Japanese defenders gave Able Company a warm reception. When bullets rattled against his LVT, PFC Walter S. Kildow climbed up behind the cab to man the tractor’s machine gun. Crouched in the same vehicle, Captain Irving Schechter thought, “it didn’t seem as though our shelling had killed anybody.” The Able Company skipper hopped out of the vehicle and started wading ashore, with his radioman – PFC Kildow – close behind. “I turned to give some orders to my radio operator, only to see the poor guy floating in the surf,” Schechter continued. “He had been hit in the head with a bullet. The Japanese would almost always go for the man with the visible equipment. That’s the way it was.”[11] Kildow received a posthumous Bronze Star for valorous service on Saipan and Tinian.
The Japanese defenders had a few heavier weapons emplaced, ranging from .50 caliber machine guns to 40mm anti-boat weapons, and these crews fought hard until the bitter end. When shrapnel cut down the gunner on his LVT, PFC Orville E. Wright, a lineman with the comms platoon, dropped his spool of telephone wire and climbed into the turret to “deliver devastating counter-fire” on the beach. Another shell burst nearby, and the twenty-year-old Texan dropped to the deck with a fragment in his head. He would later receive a posthumous Silver Star Medal. A tractor carrying Charlie Company Marines came under fire from a heavy machine gun; bullets bit through the hull, sending a piece of armor plating into Corporal Joseph G. Jecture’s hand.[12] Mike Mervosh – recently promoted to sergeant – led his machine gun section over the side and splashed into chest-deep water. One of his gunners, PFC Dawson J. Brewer, was shot in the chest as he tried to climb the coral barrier. “I grabbed him and tried to lift him up on the coral, and at the same time plug the hole in his chest with my finger,” Mervosh said later. “It was a big struggle there in the water.”[13] The wounded man’s gasps grew fainter as Mervosh yelled for a corpsman; when the sailor arrived, he pronounced Brewer dead. The LVT was still close by; Brewer’s buddies placed his body back aboard. The twenty-year-old Kentuckian, who recovered from a July 8 wound in time to make the landing, joined his fallen comrades in the Fourth Marine Division Cemetery back on Saipan.[14]
Lionel Salazar’s diminished squad suffered a casualty on the slog to shore: their flamethrower. Saltwater got into the ignition, turning the fearsome weapon into a 70-pound backpack. They missed the weapon almost immediately as they crept through a crevice in the coral. “I saw half a Marine as I was crawling,” Salazar remembered. “I can still see him. But you keep on going.”[15] Despite these early casualties, most Able Company Marines walked ashore standing up – a marked contrast from their earlier experiences. “The landing of the assault waves was executed with excellent control and precision,” noted the Fourth Marine Division’s report of the battle. “Resistance at the beach was light and the troops debarked quickly and the initial advance inland was rapid.”[16] As Easy forged ahead and Able swung to the left to work north along the coastline, the next company was already approaching the beach. The two Battalion Landing Teams came ashore so “expeditiously” that they were only one minute slower than the time predicted in planning.
Able Company machine gunner Corporal Edward DuBeck had already experienced more than his share of traumatic combat, but the landing on Tinian stood out. He met Massachusetts-born Theodore Droszcz while in boot camp in the fall of 1942; “Ed” and “Ted” had served together ever since. An acquaintance born of alphabetization developed into a bond strengthened by combat and comradeship. “We had a pact going on,” DuBeck related. “We were going to give up our lives for each other.” Despite Ed’s recent promotion to squad leader and Ted’s perennial role as an ammunition carrier, the two stuck together during the White Beach landing. They were just twenty feet apart when a bullet slammed into Ted’s skull. “I made a dash for him,” DuBeck continued. “He dropped like a ton of bricks, and I couldn’t get up to him. There was too much confusion going on.”[17] When his machine gun was put out of action, DuBeck took charge of a leaderless rifle squad and led them to knock out an enemy pillbox. He was subsequently hit in the hand and evacuated back to the beach, receiving both the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for July 24. In Baker Company’s sector, PFC John Gilboy performed a similar feat, taking on a Japanese machine gun alone and killing the crew with his BAR. He, too, would receive the Silver Star.
It was Able Company’s job to secure the left flank of the Marine line, which meant their leftmost squad moved along the edge of the cliffs closest to the sea. The rest of BLT 1-24 filled in the gaps to their right, connecting with BLT 2-24 and establishing a beachhead, allowing the regiment’s reserves and eight medium tanks to come ashore. The shoreline offered the best defensive positions, and thus, “while BLT 2-24 had little difficulty moving forward… heavy enemy resistance in thick brush and caves near the beach on the left flank held up the advance of BLT 1-24.”[18] The surviving demolition experts worked overtime clearing natural and man-made defenses. “It was quite a sight to watch an infantryman wrap three charges of TNT around a thermite grenade, pump his arm two or three times to adjust his aim, then toss it perfectly into an opening,” commented Harlan Rosvold of the 2nd Armored Amphibian Battalion. “His exposure to enemy fire, plus the risk of his charge missing and tumbling back, was a tribute to his profession.”[19] The LVTAs assigned to BLT 1-24 kept abreast of the infantry; from the water, they fired into troublesome positions from the flank until they ran out of ammunition. Flamethrowing tanks helped, too; PFC Clyde F. Mason, Jr. checked the fire of the LVTAs when they came too close and guided the “Satan” tanks into position to burn out enemy snipers. Mason was awarded the Bronze Star.
In most histories of Tinian – and in most primary sources, too – the landing on White Beach One resulted in “light” casualties. Similarly, veterans who had just endured the battle for Saipan (and would go on to survive the cataclysm of Iwo Jima) tend to gloss over their role in securing the first foothold on Tinian. These are, of course, relative assessments. For the men who were wounded or lost buddies, July 24 was a defining moment in the war. Alva Perry was chatting with his squad leader – the popular and much admired Sergeant Mike Frihauf – when a Japanese sniper’s rifle barked. Frihauf died mid-conversation with a bullet in his back. PFC Frank Vallee of Charlie Company, who by official accounts “annihilated approximately fifty enemy soldiers” in a one-man charge on Saipan, was also felled by a sniper’s bullet. Frihauf and Vallee were both heroes in the making; each received a posthumous Silver Star. Corporal Joe W. Browning and PFCs Eugene L. Moore and Samuel K. Grimes, Jr., suffered battle wounds or sickness on Saipan, and returned to duty only to die a few yards from the Tinian tideline; Moore received a posthumous Bronze Star for “attacking in the face of heavy enemy ground fire.” Baker Company reported only six casualties; their one KIA, PFC Edward T. Lloyd, was a replacement who spent less than a month in the combat zone. PFC George Raspotnik (A Co), who served his first hitch in the Marines from 1930 to 1934, reenlisted only to lose his left eye at Tinian. Scottish-born PFC James McWilliams Brown (C Co) could call Rasponik a “boot”; he had served from 1919 to 1924 and was forty-two years old when a bullet creased his scalp on Tinian. Both Raspotnik and Williams joined as replacements on July 12. Corporal Robert F. Fleischauer, an Able Company “plank owner” already wounded on Saipan, received the most fortuitous wound of all. A Japanese bullet hit him in the left arm – and took out the misspelled “Semper Fidles” tattoo that made him the butt of jokes since leaving for the Marianas.[20] For these men and many more, an “easy” landing was the red-letter day of their lives.
By 1600, most of RCT-24 was ensconced on the O-1 line and feeling pleased with their progress. On the left, BLT 1-24 halted about 400 yards short of their objective and elected to dig in on favorable ground rather than expend lives to take an arbitrary point on the map. The Marines knew full well that if the Japanese garrison planned to counterattack – and, in their experience, such garrisons usually did – the heaviest blow would fall on the first night. “Our officers told us, ‘you guys gotta prepare your foxholes, dig ‘em deep,” recalled PFC Robert D. Price. “The Japs are gonna give us everything they got, because if they can’t kick us off the island this first night, they’re gone, we’ll take over.”[21]
The combat veterans in BLT 1-24 had defense preparations down to a science. Every fighting position supported another; each housed two or three men, for they knew not to fight alone nor to bunch up. “We set up a crossfire with the machine guns, and we were protecting the guns with riflemen on the line,” recalled Howard Kerr. Every spare Browning was brought forward, with additional crews made up of headquarters personnel. Extra ammunition for all weapons was hauled up from the beach but belted .30 caliber was in short supply. “We were under orders to be careful with our firing and conserve ammunition,” continued Kerr.[22] Captain Schechter received a pair of 37mm guns from the regimental weapons company, with an extra supply of anti-personnel canister rounds. He had anticipated this situation since his conference with Colonel Hart and, as a precaution, asked for as much barbed wire as his company could carry.[23] Working parties strung the wire in a tangle between their foxholes and the nearest treeline. Individual Marines followed their own rituals of readiness. Robert Price “found” himself an unattended BAR and straightened the cotter pins on his grenades.[24] Al Perry laid out ammunition for his own BAR – 30 magazines, totaling 600 rounds – for easy access. He expected trouble, but little suspected “our cakewalk was to soon be over in [our] most violent single fight until Iwo Jima.”[25]
- Carl Hoffman, Tinian, 27. Hoffman led a company of the 8th Marines into battle on Tinian.
- For example, LST-486 carrying the first waves to hit White One got underway at 0441 and was on station preparing to launch boats by 0600.
- Hoffman, Tinian, 39-40.
- Perry, “The Men Of ‘A’ Company.”
- Hoffman, Tinian, 42.
- Pope, chap. 20.
- 2nd Armored Amphibian Battalion USMC WWII (2nd Armored Amphibian Battalion Association, 1991), 200.
- 24th Marines War Diary (April-September 1944), entry dated 24 July 1944.
- Salazar interview. The reef at White One extended about sixty yards from the beach.
- Kerr interview.
- Berry, 226.
- “Marine Corporal Brings Back to Naugatuck Tale of Battles With The Japs,” The Naugatuck Daily News, (22 December 1944), 8.
- Stoner, 49.
- Tinian would eventually have its own cemetery, but in the first hour of the operation there was no time or place to bury a friend. Because Brewer had previously been wounded in action on Saipan, some newspaper reports erroneously claim that he died of his older wound.
- Salazar interview.
- Division Report (Tinian), 20-21.
- DuBeck, 2010 interview.
- Division Report (Tinian), 274.
- 2nd Armored Amphibian Battalion, 200.
- Keene, “Because Marines Never Forget.”
- Price interview.
- Kerr interview.
- Berry, 226.
- Price interview.
- Perry, “The Men Of ‘A’ Company.”
Battalion Daily Report
Casualties, Evacuations, Joinings & Transfers
KIA/DOW
WIA & EVAC*
SICK
JOINED
TRANSFERRED
STRENGTH
Out of an original landing strength of 599 officers and men.
* Does not include minor wounds not requiring evacuation from the line.
| Name | Company | Rank | Role | Change | Cause | Disposition | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allen, Stockton Norris | Charlie | Private | Basic | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, head | Evacuated, destination unknown | Visit |
| Armiger, Charles Joseph | Charlie | Private | BARman | Sick | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | Visit |
| Bauknecht, Earl Charles | Charlie | Private | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, right arm & left hip | Evacuated, destination unknown | Visit |
| Boxx, Ottis Oliver | Charlie | PFC | Machine Gunner | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | Visit |
| Brewer, Dawson James | Charlie | PFC | Machine Gunner | Killed In Action | Gunshot, left chest | Removed for burial | Visit |
| Brown, James McWilliams | Charlie | PFC | Scout | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, scalp | Evacuated, destination unknown | Visit |
| Browning, Joe William | Charlie | Corporal | Squad Leader | Killed In Action | Gunshot, head | Removed for burial | Visit |
| Cesco, Otto | Charlie | PFC | Machine Gunner | Wounded In Action | Compound fracture, right radius | Evacuated, destination unknown | Visit |
| Chisholm, James Leo | Charlie | Corporal | Basic | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | Visit |
| Ciecierski, Frank Walter | Charlie | Corporal | MG Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, left lower abdomen | Evacuated to USS Fuller | Visit |
| Cuthbertson, John Allen | Able | PFC | Machine Gunner | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, right forearm | Evacuated to USS Heywood | Visit |
| Darby, Ansel | Charlie | Sergeant | Section Leader | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | Visit |
| Davis, James Edward | Able | PFC | BARman | Wounded In Action | Foreign body, left shoulder | Evacuated, destination unknown | Visit |
| Droszcz, Theodore | Able | PFC | MG Ammo Carrier | Killed In Action | Gunshot, head | Removed for burial | Visit |
| DuBeck, Edward Walter | Able | Corporal | MG Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, left hand | Evacuated, destination unknown | Visit |
| Eddy, William Alfred, Jr. | Baker | First Lieutenant | Executive Officer | Wounded In Action | unknown (slight) | Not evacuated | Visit |
| Elissagary, Bernard Carol | Able | PFC | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, right leg | Evacuated to USS Heywood | Visit |
| Fleischauer, Robert Frederick | Able | Corporal | Messenger | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, left foreart | Evacuated to USS Fuller | Visit |
| Fox, John Murray | Charlie | First Lieutenant | Mortar Platoon Leader | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | Visit |
| Frihauf, Michael Anthony | Able | Sergeant | Squad Leader | Killed In Action | Gunshot, back | Removed for burial | Visit |
| Grimes, Samuel King Jr. | Charlie | PFC | Messenger | Killed In Action | Gunshot, head | Removed for burial | |
| Gunther, Harry Richard | Charlie | PFC | BARman | Wounded In Action | Lacerations, hands | Evacuated to USS Fuller | |
| Haff, Howard Frank | Able | Corporal | Mortar Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, left shoulder | Evacuated to USS Heywood | |
| Hart, Donald Richard | Able | Corporal | Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Houck, Harvey George | Charlie | PFC | Mortarman | Wounded In Action | unknown (slight) | Not evacuated | |
| Izzo, Amedeo Albert | Able | PFC | Machine Gunner | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, right arm | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Jecture, Joseph Gabriel Jr. | Charlie | Corporal | MG Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, left hand | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Kildow, Walter Stille | HQ | PFC | Radioman | Killed In Action | Gunshot, head & chest | Removed for burial | |
| Kozakiewicz, Joseph Alexander | Charlie | Corporal | Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, head | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Lamberson, Floyd William | Charlie | PFC | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Lloyd, Edward Thomas | Baker | PFC | Basic | Killed In Action | Gunshot, head | Removed for burial | |
| McGuire, James Michael, Jr. | Charlie | PFC | Ammo Carrier | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, right shoulder | Not evacuated | |
| Mealer, Dennis Elbert | Charlie | PFC | Ammo Carrier | Wounded In Action | unknown (slight) | Not evacuated | |
| Moore, Eugene Leroy | Charlie | PFC | BARman | Killed In Action | Gunshot, head | Removed for burial | |
| Nicoll, James | Baker | PFC | Ammo Carrier | Wounded In Action | Infection, both hands | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Novak, Bernard Blaise | Baker | PFC | Messenger | Wounded In Action | unknown (slight) | Not evacuated | |
| Olliges, Lawrence Herman | Charlie | PFC | BARman | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Osterberg, Leonard John | Charlie | PFC | BARman | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Parker, Henry Travis Jr. | Charlie | PFC | BARman | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Pecori, Peter | Able | PFC | Machine Gunner | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, groin | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Pendleton, Louis Olin | Able | PFC | Machine Gunner | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, left arm | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Peters, Donald Eugene | Able | PFC | Mortarman | Wounded In Action | Intracranial injury | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Plotnick, Eli | Charlie | PFC | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, left eye | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Procida, Philip Charles | Able | PFC | Basic | Wounded In Action | Combat fatigue | Evacuated to USS J. Franklin Bell | |
| Raspotnik, George | Able | PFC | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Traumatic amputation, left eye | Evacuated to USS Relief | |
| Reilly, John James | HQ | PFC | 81mm Mortarman | Sick | unknown | To unknown ship | |
| Roff, Joe Westly | Able | PFC | Mortarman | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated to USS Heywood | |
| Rossi, Paul Joseph | Able | Second Lieutant | Platoon Leader | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, right leg | Evacuated to USS Heywood | |
| Rucker, Harold Robert | Charlie | PFC | Team Leader | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, face & abdomen | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Schramm, Henry Robert | Able | PFC | Basic | Wounded In Action | Combat fatigue | Evacuated to Saipan | |
| Shemansky, Stanley Paul | Charlie | Sergeant | Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, right arm | Evacuated to USS Heywood | |
| Sherwin, Raymond Laurance | Baker | Corporal | Basic | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Slevin, Francis Robert | Charlie | Corporal | MG Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Smith, Albert Fraser | Able | Private | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, both heels & back | Evacuated to USS Fuller | |
| Swoyer, Joseph Dell | Baker | First Lieutenant | MG Platoon Leader | Sick | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Trotta, Frank Dominick | Charlie | Private | BARman | Sick | unknown | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Tullock, Charles Thomas Jr. | Charlie | PFC | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, left hand | Evacuated, destination unknown | |
| Vallee, Frank Jr. | Charlie | PFC | Rifleman | Killed In Action | Gunshot, chest | Removed for burial | |
| Wright, Orville Earl | HQ | PFC | Lineman | Killed In Action | Shrapnel, head | Removed for burial | |
| Yush, Leonard | Able | PFC | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, right arm & knee | Evacuated to USS Heywood |
