"Where DO We Get Such Men!"

Jim,

I watched “The Longest Day” again Friday night. When I think of Diana West’s conclusion in “The Betrayal of America” that the war could have been ended in 1943 but for the Reds in the U.S. government, it makes my blood boil. Of course, there was not even the slightest mention of the anniversary of the D-Day landings in 1944 from our fake “president”.

As much as I have read about the horrors of the wars of the twentieth century, I still cannot get my head around what those guys were going through as they climbed down the nets into the landing craft for the run into the assault beaches. The first wave at Normandy suffered 90 per cent casualties!

I am reading a great book I came across in the library when I was looking for the book about Admiral Nimitz.

The title is “Goodbye Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War” by William Manchester. You may recognize him as the author of “Death of a President: November 20  - November 25, 1963” . He is also the author of an excellent biography of General Douglas MacArthur titled “American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880 – 1964”

Manchester was a U.S. Marine sergeant in the Pacific Theatre in WW II who left college at Amherst to join the Marines, hoping to join the same Marine regiment in which his father had served in the Argonne Forest, the wounds from which had resulted in his premature death. The book chronicles Manchester’s  visit of rediscovery to the sites of the major battles in the Pacific campaign, including many of the battles in which he participated and survived. As he visits these sites, he flashes back to his personal memories of his feelings and experiences as a combat Marine, and of the buddies who did not survive.

It has many details of the Pacific campaign and of the individual assaults on New Guinea, Guadalcanal, Saipan, Guam, Tarawa, Peleliu, Iwo, and Okinawa from the perspective of an ordinary Marine – details which are not included in the biographies of the generals and admirals who led the allied forces.

One interesting story you have probably heard involves the work of the UDT teams who were formed in preparation for the assault on Tarawa, and whose effectiveness was repeatedly demonstrated in subsequent operations. After clearing the underwater approaches for the landings on Guam, the Frogmen left an underwater sign in shallow water which said “Welcome U.S. Marines”.

A more important revelation is that the bloody fight for Peleliu was completely unnecessary. The taking of this island was part of the plan for MacArthur to land on Mindanao in his return to the Philippines, but a late decision was made to bypass Mindanao in favor of landing at Leyte much farther north, making the Peleliu assault unnecessary*. Yet for some unknown reason Admiral Nimitz insisted that the Peleliu assault force, then only two days steaming from Peleliu, continue with the Peleliu landings as planned. It turned out to be an ugly fight for the Marines in a steamy tropical climate with heavily fortified Japanese emplacements manned by almost 11,000 enemy fighters who knew they were doomed but determined to fight to the death. The battle was remembered for its “ghastly stage” in the ferocious struggle for Bloody Nose Ridge, a place described by TIME Magazine as “that horrible place”.  (The last Japanese soldier hold-out was not flushed out until eleven years after the battle.)

Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote that the order to assault Peleliu “should have been countermanded”, being “hardly worth the price of over ten thousand American casualties – three times Tarawa’s”.  

[Note: This was a brilliant move by MacArthur, which completely surprised the Japanese, cost them 65,000 experienced troops, and was responsible for his later unopposed landing at Lingayen Gulf on northern Luzon followed by his triumphant arrival in Manila.]

Regards,

D

Subject: Fwd: My Uncle Parachuted Into Normany This Night 69 Years Ago With The 101st Airborne.

Received this yesterday from an online ‘Nam Veteran friend….  I asked & received his permission (sans personal info) to share b/c this was such a heartfelt, truly wonderful tribute –

My Uncle Kenny Hit Omaha Beach, at 06:30 Tomorrow, 69 Years Ago.  Was at Battle of The Bulge, Taking of Cologne'

and Liberated Magdeberg Concentration Camp.  Then Captured the Remagan Bridge Over The Rhine Into Hitler's

"Fortress Europa."

My Father & His Brothers Fought at Guadalcanal, Philipine Liberation at the Baseball Field in Manila ( Hand to Hand With

the Japs ), Saipan, Iwo & Okinawa ( Worst Losses ).

They Never Spoke of The War, Until I Went Off To War & Came Back.  Then I Couldn't STOP Them From Talking About

WWII To Me.  I Think It Was Cathartic For Them?  Like Most Vets, We Lose Contact With Our Battle Buddies.

So I Was Blessed of "Tales of Great Ulysees" By The Hardest SOB's, and At Once The Most Gentle Souls I Ever Knew.

My Old Man Was As Stoic As a Spartan.  But I Saw Him Cross Two Lanes of Speeding Traffic on a Bridge to Save a

Terrified Lost Kitten, About to Be Run Over.

I Also Saw Him Warn a Jerkoff Neighbor:  "You Hassle My Sons?  You'll Face ME!"

There Was a Dichoctomy With Those Men.  Hard as Nails, Soft at Heart.  All I See With Non Warriors is Soft.

When My Wife's Sister Died, My Uncle Moved in With Me.  My Friends Called Us "Fred & Lamont" From "Sanford & Son."

I Got Called "Dummy" and I Called Him "Unc."  Taught Me To Shoot a Rifle at 7.  "You'll Need To Learn This.  Our

Country CAN'T Mind It's Own Damn Affairs."

Couple Times a Month He Would Awake in The Dead of Night Screanimg.  He Always Said:  "Ahh, No Big Deal, Bad

Dream."

Yeah, Bad "Dream" Of Stacking Your KIA'd, Frozen Stff Comrades Up as Defilade at Bastogne', against  Incoming

7.92 MM Incoming MG-42 MG Fusillades of 1100 Hundred Rounds per Minute, Machinegun Fire.

By The Time The Weather Broke at Bastogne' & Supplies Could Be Air Dropped In, My Uncle Was Down to TWO Enbloc

Clips of .30.06 Ammunition, ONE Mark II Hand Grenade, and His Mi-Garand Bayonet.  To Defend Against  Piper's

Waffen SS Panzers Trying to Take the Essential Road Junction of Bastogne'.

Those "Dubya, Dubya Two-ers" Didn't Hug, Nor Weep, Nor Even Confide to Their Wives About What They Went Through.

They "Suffered in Silence,"  But They Would Tell a 21 Year Old "Buck Sergeant" in 1975 What They'd Seen, 30 Years

Before.

I Have, In A Miniscule Sence, Become Them, Although I AIN'T Fit to Strap On Their Leggings.  My Grandson Was 

Wounded in Afghanistan, and I Have to Counsel Him On How to Deal With The Horrors He's Experienced. 

It's Not That Warriors Won't Talk of War.  It's That They WON'T Talk of War to Those Who Haven't.

THIS Year is The 150th Anniversary of Gettysburg.  Next Year is the 70th Anniversary of D-Day.  We Need to Remember

These Men.  And ESPECIALLY The Recent Vets As Well.  For DOD Is Maltreating Them.

"For We Sleep In Soft Beds, Because Rough Men Stand Ready."  Forgive Me If I Misquoted Rudyard Kipling?

As The Admiral in Jame's Michener's Novel "The Bridges at Toko Ri" Observed in Awe:

"Where DO We Get Such Men!"

Where, Indeed?  Despite the Betrayals to Our Warriors by Our Government, Every Generation of Americans Has It's

BEST, Stand and Defend?

WHERE DO WE GET SUCH MEN?

WHERE?