In Times of War: A Son's Remembrance of the Times in Which His Father Served
Preface
In the 1930s the world was going through a major
workover. This was in part a result of the world-wide depression, but it was also
a consequence of the unfinished Great War more than a decade earlier. At home,
the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave many people hope. Public works
projects were getting people back to work but the needs were still great. As
conditions improved in the late 1930s, workers started demanding a more-fair
wage and better working conditions. Unionism was starting to gain a hold.
Nationally, the United States had become isolationists, not wanting to again
become involved with the troubles that were gathering steam in Europe. Strong
political divides were being created in America between the isolationists and
the interventionists. Many thought the defense of our country was solely the
two great oceans that bound us. In Europe, Fascism and Nazism had taken root.
The restrictions on the re-militarization of the aggressor in the Great War
were being given a blind eye. The League of Nations, formed after the Great War
to prevent a future major conflict was fracturing. In Asia, the Japanese were
looking to expand their empire. And to secure the natural resources it would
need for the empire it envisioned. The world was starting to smolder. For
America the fire would ignite on Sunday, December 7, 1941.
In Part I of In Times of War we take a look at the world and national events leading up to America’s entry into World War II with an eye towards those taking place in Pittsburgh. Including its contributions to the Arsenal for Democracy and the America Firsters Rally at Soldiers & Sailor’s Hall on December 7, 1941, and the response of Pittsburgher’s to these events.
Part II of the book covers my Dads
time in the service during the war, from his enlistment in August of 1942,
through the various battles on Bougainville Island in the south Pacific that
his regimental combat team was engaged in. And finally, his recovering from
injury and returning home to Pittsburgh where he and my Mom would raise our
family.
The information
sources for this story are primarily books on World War II, including personal
accounts written by several marines who my Dad served with, military and other
historical records of these times, and extensive newspaper reporting of the
times, mostly from local Pittsburgh newspapers.
My original
motivation for this work was a genealogy research project of the time my Dad
spent in the Marines Corp between 1942 and 1945. As with much genealogy work,
as one starts to learn about the subject, it creates more questions for which
one would like an answer.
As our family
was growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1960s, Dad didn't talk much about his time
in the service. In hindsight, I wished that I had asked him more about it.
Whether it was immaturity on my part, or a recognition that the war was not
something we were supposed to talk about, I am unsure. When Dad did talk about
his time in service it was always about the pleasant memories.
Now, I wish that
I knew where Dad was when he learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor and his
thoughts and feelings at the time. When and why did he decide to enter the
service? And his thoughts before going into battle, and after being wounded on
the battlefield. And how did his time in service
affect the rest of his life? Did he think of it often? Or did he put it out of
mind?
While I will
never know Dad’s answers to these questions I have gained insight on the
answers to some of these questions from the stories of other Marines who also
served In Times of War.
Daniel Patrick
Birmingham
North Canton, Ohio
June 2016 (updated for Blog May 2022)
Chapter 1: America in the 1930s
Recovering from Depression
Isolationism
Labor/Capital Challenges
In 1930 my father was seventeen years old and living with his mother and sister at a house they rented at 164 East Sycamore Street in Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood. This area of Mount Washington was heavily populated with families of mostly Italian and Irish immigrants many of whom worked in the steel mills and railroads that lined the rivers in the city of Pittsburgh. His father, Daniel Collins Birmingham had moved to Pittsburgh from Cumberland, Maryland around 1895. He was the son of Daniel and Ellen Collins Birmingham who had emigrated from Ireland to Baltimore in the 1830s. In Pittsburgh my grandfather took employment as a Roll Hand at the Sligo Iron Works in the South Side of Pittsburgh. He lived in company housing, known as Sligo Row, adjacent to the mill which was located along the south bank of the Monongahela River, at the foot of Mount Washington. My grandfather would later work as a night watchman for the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad. Around 1899 Daniel boarded at a house on 153 West Carson Street and it was there where he met his wife to be, Mary Rodgers. Mary was the daughter of Tom and Mary Rodgers who lived at 143 West Carson Street, nearby where Tom operated a grocery store. Tom and Mary were also immigrants from Ireland, having arrived in America in 1868.
My grandparents, Daniel Collins Birmingham and Mary Rodgers were married on January 24, 1905 at Saint Malachy’s Catholic Church on West Carson Street. They gave birth to four children, Stella in 1909, my father Daniel James in 1913, Mary Rodgers in 1916, and Genevieve in 1918. Daughters Stella and Genevieve would live for only a few years before succumbing to pneumonia and meningitis in 1913 and 1919.
My grandfather, Daniel Collins Birmingham, died of chronic myocarditis in August 1928 at the age of 68. The following year, after completing the eighth-grade at Saint Mary of the Mount School, Dad would drop out of school to become the sole wage earner for the family. He found part-time work delivering packages on his bicycle in downtown Pittsburgh as well as other odd jobs. In 1932-1933 he worked as a laborer on the Chatham Village townhouse project, built on the back slopes of Mount Washington. This Depression-era demonstration of good housing for the middle class survives today as one of the most attractive places to live in the city of Pittsburgh.
Recovering from Depression
By 1932, many Americans were fed
up with the “hear nothing, see nothing, do nothing government” (FDR quote) of
Herbert Hoover. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, promised a change “to a New Deal for
the American people.” Pittsburghers voted heavily for the Democrats that year making
the city a stronghold of the New Deal Coalition. Though the New Deal alone did
not end the Depression, it did provide a safety net to millions of suffering
Americans.
Over the remainder of the decade
Roosevelt’s New Deal created a new role for government in American life. One of
the first New Deal programs established by Roosevelt was the Civilian
Conservation Corp, a public works project
intended to promote environmental conservation and to build good citizens
through vigorous, disciplined outdoor labor. The CCC operated under the
army’s control. Camp commanders had disciplinary powers and corpsmen were required
to address superiors as “Sir.” By September 1935 over 500,000 young men had
lived in CCC camps, most staying from six months to a year. The army’s
experience in managing such large numbers of men and the paramilitary
discipline learned by corpsmen provided unexpected preparation for the massive
call-up of civilians that would follow in the 1940s.
Dad joined the CCC in 1934 and was part of Company 348 at Pennsylvania State Camp
#133 in Hammersley Fork, Pennsylvania. He was paid one dollar a day and sent
most of this home to help his mother and sister meet their needs. It would cover their rent which was $23 per month. During
Dad’s year in the CCC he helped build roads and parks, fought forest fires, and
planted trees. Dad spoke proudly of his time in the CCC and I believe it was
one of those foundational times in his life that helped establish him as the kind, hard-working, compassionate person that he was.
Isolationism
Nationally, throughout the decade
of the 1930s the combination of the Great Depression and the memory of losses
in World War I contributed to pushing American public opinion and policy toward
isolationism. Isolationists advocated non-involvement in European and Asian
conflicts and non-entanglement in international politics.
In 1935 the anti-war sentiment, combined
with American isolationism resulted in the passage of the Neutrality Act. This
law was designed to keep the United States out of a possible European war by
banning shipment of war material to belligerents at the discretion of the
President, and by forbidding U.S. citizens from traveling on belligerent vessels, except at their own risk. The Neutrality Act would be amended several times in
recognition of the increasing threat posed by Hitler’s Germany.
The demand for this legislation (Neutrality
Act) arose from the conviction of many Americans that U.S. entry into World War
I had been a mistake. This belief was fueled by Senator Gerald P. Nye, a
Republican from North Dakota, who fed this belief by claiming that American
bankers and arms manufacturers had pushed for U.S. involvement for their own
profit. Senator Nye would become the leader of the isolationist movement. Towards the end of the 1930s the threat of war loomed much
larger on the horizon.
By this time powerful
isolationists in the US Congress were committed to keeping America out of any
European alliance and their wars. The isolationists were men and women from
every walk of American life but the core of the movement were the Republican
senators, many from the progressive movement. There were also Democrat
isolationists. Many of the isolationists not only opposed American involvement in the European war,
but even opposed the country’s military preparedness. Most military
expenditures were strongly opposed in the Congress.
Labor/Capital Challenges
In the background another revolt
was going on in the country that was not related to the question of
isolationism or intervention. Labor had been for years seeking the right to
organize and bargain for better wages, hours, and working conditions. The National
Labor Relations Act in 1935 stated that "employees shall have the right to
organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own
choosing." As the Depression dragged on through the 1930s workers grew
more militant. In December 1936, the United Auto Workers started a sit-down
strike at a General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan that lasted for 44 days and
spread to some 150,000 autoworkers in 35 cities. A union victory over GM was
likely to bring hope to industrial workers everywhere because GM’s profits had
rebounded in 1935 and 1936, leading to $10 million in salaries and bonuses for
350 officers and directors in 1936, while its workers averaged $900 a year,
well below the $1,600 that was considered to be the minimum necessary for a
family of four.[1]
By 1937 some 8 million workers had joined unions and were loudly demanding
their rights. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 aligned business and
organized labor to the idea of minimum wages, maximum hours, and the abolition
of child labor.
The labor union movement was
further strengthened in 1940 by the rapid defense build-up, an industrial
conversion of unprecedented speed and proportions that put everyone back to
work, including previously excluded women and African Americans. This rapid
defense build-up led to tight labor markets and created a potential for labor-management
conflict that would be detrimental to the national defense effort. Immediately
after America entered the war after Pearl Harbor leaders of industry and labor
met at the call of the president and “agreed that for the duration of the war
there would be no strikes or lock-outs and that all labor disputes would be
settled by peaceful means.” An agreement was reached in which companies accepted
that newly employed workers would automatically be part of already existing
unions in exchange for a no-strike pledge by union leaders. A War Labor Board
was created that would mediate disputes between management and labor. This
agreement provided a huge boost to union membership -- from 9 million in 1941
to 15 million in 1945. This agreement would be rigorously tested in 1943 with
the United Mine Workers.
Chapter 2: State of the World in 1940
Versailles Reshaping the World
Events in Asia
Events in Europe
Versailles Reshaping the World
For Americans, World War II would
begin on December 7, 1941. But elsewhere in the world, war had been going on
for years. While the fighting in World War I would end in 1918 it was the Paris
Peace Conference at Versailles where the formal armistice was signed in 1919 that
ended World War I. Though nearly thirty nations participated, the
representatives of the United Kingdom, France, United States, Italy and Japan
were known as the “Big Five” and were to control the conference.
Japan relinquished its role in the peace conference because of its limited
interest in European affairs and
instead it focused on two demands: the inclusion
of their racial equality proposal in the Covenant
of the League of Nations, and Japanese territorial
claims with respect to former German colonies in the Pacific. Incredibly Great
Britain and Australia opposed the racial equality proposal thus it
was not included in the league’s covenant. As a result Japan turned from
cooperation with the West towards becoming a more nationalistic country which
would directly lead to their being a part of the Tripartite Pact twenty years
later.
The remaining “Big Four” leaders became
the dominant figures at the conference leading to the Treaty of Versailles.
Perhaps most importantly the Allied Powers excluded the defeated Central Powers
of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria from the peace conference. The
victors laid the guilt for the war on the aggression of Germany and her allies
and new geographic boundaries were drawn for the winners and losers. Germany,
the aggressor, was treated most severely by the Allies and had a great deal of
territory taken away. It was also punished by having to pay heavy reparations
to the Allies. Italy felt it had not been given as much territory as it
deserved in the treaty. The Japanese thought they deserved a larger empire than
they were being allowed to have in East Asia and believed the structure of
international peace being embodied into the League of Nations favored the
western nations that controlled the world's resources.
So, the time between the first
and second world wars was a time of great instability that began around 1930 during
the worldwide depression. It was also a time when Germany, Italy and Japan
developed intense nationalist feelings that led to a desire to expand their
territorial boundaries, Germany in northern and Eastern Europe, Italy in Africa
and Greece, and Japan in China, Southeast Asia and the south Pacific. The seeds
had been sowed for extreme nationalism leading to Nazism in Germany, Fascism in
Italy, and Militarism in Japan. The common factor that led to aggression by
these three countries was unhappiness with their status quo as imposed by
Versailles. All three states felt that they were treated unfairly. This led to
unrest and aggression and, ultimately, World War II.
Events in Asia
For the Chinese, the war began in
1931 when Japan invaded northeastern China, setting up a Japanese state called
Manchukuo (Manchuria). When China appealed to the League of Nations to
intervene, the League condemned Japanese aggression. But the only real
consequence of this was that an outraged Japanese delegation stormed out of the
League of Nations, never to return. In 1937 Italy would pull the same stunt
over sanctions imposed on it over Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
By 1938 Japan occupied much of
China and had taken Nanking, the longtime capital of China, where Japanese
troops slaughtered an estimated 300,000 civilians and raped 80,000 women (known
as the Rape of Nanking). There were
also savage reprisals carried out against Chinese peasants, in retaliation for
attacks by partisans who waged a guerrilla war against the Japanese invaders
that led to the death of millions of Chinese civilians.
In July, 1940, in response to
continued aggression in China, Roosevelt declared a partial embargo of U.S.
shipments of oil, gasoline, and metals to Japan.
In July 1941, Japanese troops
began to occupy the French colonies of Indochina, today's Vietnam, Laos, and
Cambodia to gain access to the oil reserves of French-Indochina. Japanese
forces occupied Cam Ranh (Bay) naval base in Vietnam, 800 miles from the
Philippines, where America had troops, and the British base at Singapore. Now
that Japan had advanced into Indochina, Roosevelt decided upon a concrete expression of American displeasure.
At a Cabinet meeting held on July 24 he secured agreement to the prompt
freezing of the assets of both Japan and China[1].
The President’s action shook the imperial
ship of state from stem to stern. Perhaps
the phrase of our order which struck deepest into the sensibilities of the
Japanese was that at last the United States has shown this country that it is
no longer bluffing![2]
Several days later, July 30, a
formation of Japanese naval planes were winging over Chungking and suddenly one
of the pilots headed for the American Embassy area and aimed a bomb at the
United States gunboat Tutuila anchored nearby. Although the ship was damaged and another bomb again came dangerously
near our Embassy fatalities were escaped only by a miracle.[3] American witnesses unanimously agreed
that the attack was deliberate. The Japanese foreign minister apologized and
the next day the United States accepted Japan’s prompt apology, and officially
that ended the matter. Two days later, August 1, 1941, Roosevelt slammed an
embargo on high-octane gasoline as well as crude oil. With the oil spigot
turned off, Japan estimated that its Navy would be disabled in two years, and
important industries paralyzed in less than half that time.
It was in response to these
sanctions that Japan began looking
southward to Malaya, the Philippines, and the Netherlands East Indies, areas
bursting with the rich resources it craved.[4]
The launching of these so-called Southern Operations was expected to lead to
war with America, Britain and Holland (the Dutch). Isoroku Yamamoto, the
Japanese Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet, believed the U.S. Pacific Fleet must be barred from
southern waters, at least during the first critical months.[5] This would insure
the Japanese Navy’s ability to transport the troops, hold the Allied warships
at bay, and keep Japan’s sea-lanes open while they took occupation of these
nations in the south Pacific.
This, holding America’s ships at
bay while Japan took occupation of these nations in the south Pacific, was the
Japanese rationale for attacking the naval forces at Pearl Harbor. Yamamoto
first spoke with his chief of staff about a daring raid on Pearl Harbor in March or April of 1940.[6] Since the
embargoes Yamamoto was all the more determined to strike a sudden initial blow
against the U.S. Pacific Fleet.[7]
The clock in the Pacific was ticking!
Events in Europe
In Europe sixty countries sent
delegates to the Disarmament Conference that convened in Geneva in 1932 to
consider reductions in armaments, with particular emphasis on offensive
weapons. Germany, whose army and navy already were limited by the Treaty of
Versailles, demanded that other states disarm to German levels and, in the
event they refused to do so, claimed a right to build up its armed forces. The
conferees became deadlocked over how to achieve disarmament. In October 1933, nine
months after Hitler had become Chancellor, Germany announced its withdrawal
from both the Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations, ostensibly in
response to the Western powers’ refusal to meet its demand for equality (of
armament level).
In March of 1935, Adolf Hitler
announced that he would rearm Germany in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
Hitler revealed that Germany had begun to construct an air force, and unveiled
plans to reinstitute conscription and create a German army of more than half a
million men. Britain, France, Italy, and the League of Nations all issued
statements condemning Hitler's decision, but did little else to penalize
Germany.
In October 1935 Italy invaded Abyssinia
(Ethiopia). The League of Nations placed economic sanctions on Italy for
aggressions against Abyssinia in November of that year. Italian forces captured Addis Ababa, Abyssinia in May of 1936 bringing
an end to Abyssinian resistance. The Italian-Abyssinia crisis signaled
an end to peace in Europe and it was clear by 1937 there were two defining
sides on the continent, and it was clear as to the aggressors. The Pact of
Steel between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany was signed on 22 May 1939
For Europeans, war began (or
resumed) in 1938 when Germany occupied the northern and western border regions of Czechoslovakia under the pretext that the ethnic German population
living in those regions were being denied the basic necessities of life. This
ruse by Hitler had convinced the British people that Germany could not be
trusted and that going to war was the only way to stop him. And again in 1939,
when Germany invaded Poland. Both the United Kingdom and France had pledged
protection to Poland. British troops were sent to France, however neither
French nor British troops gave any significant
assistance to the Poles.[8]
The German–French border remained mostly calm until April of 1940 when Germany
invaded and conquered Norway and Denmark. Then on May 10 Germany began their offensive
against the Low Countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg)
and France. This time was also a turning point for Britain’s home front. The
German offensive began on the same day, May 10, which Chamberlain, the dominant
figure of British politics throughout the 1930s, was evicted from Number 10
Downing Street.[9]
The Low Countries surrendered and
were annexed into Germany in May 1940. French and British forces were pushed back
to the sea at Dunkirk where the British and some French troops escaped across
the channel. After withdrawal of the British forces the Germans launched a
second offensive, this time marching into an undefended Paris. This effectively
ended organized French military resistance and on June 24, 1940 an armistice was signed
between France and Germany. This resulted in a division of France whereby
Germany would occupy the north and
west, Italy would control a small Italian occupation
zone in the southeast, and an unoccupied zone would be governed by
the newly formed Nazi puppet-government in Vichy. France remained under Axis
occupation until the liberation of the country in August 1944 following the Allied landings.
Britain now stood alone against
the power of Germany’s military forces, which had conquered most of Western
Europe in less than two months. But Prime Minister Winston Churchill rallied
his people and outmaneuvered those politicians who wanted to negotiate with Hitler.
Britain’s situation was more favorable than most of the world recognized at the
time. Britain possessed an effective air defense system, first-rate fighter
pilots, and great military leaders. On the other hand, the German Kriegsmarine (Nazi
Navy) had suffered significant losses in the Norwegian Campaign, the army was
unprepared for any form of amphibious operations needed for an invasion of
Great Britain, and the Luftwaffe had suffered heavy losses during their attack
on the Netherlands. While the British people would undergo months of bombing
raids across the country, between July and October 1940, the British Royal Air
Force (RAF) would prevent the Germans from gaining air superiority. More than
40,000 people would die in the Blitz as Londoners called the air raid campaign.
This failure of Germany to achieve its objectives of destroying Britain's air defenses, or forcing
Britain to negotiate an armistice,
or even an outright surrender, is considered Germany's first major defeat. The
Battle of Britain was a crucial turning point in the Second World War.
On September 27, 1940, Germany,
Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, which became known as the Axis
alliance. At this time the Axis were at war with France and England.
Some historians view the Second
World War as starting with the 1919 Paris Peace Conference that ended the First
World War. In the Introduction to his recent book, The Long Shadow[10],
British author David Reynolds describes the 1920s and 1930s as the ‘interwar’ era and notes the Great War itself was relabeled as the ‘First
World War’ implying a job half-finished that had to be done properly a quarter
century later.
References Chapter 2
[1] Prange, Gordon W. (1991-12-01). At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor; Revised Edition, p. 167
[2] Prange, p. 167
[3] Prange, p. 168
[4] Prange, p. 11
[5] Prange, p. 12
[6] Prange, p. 14
[7] Prange, p. 182
[8] Http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/History/polandbetrayal.htm
[9] Reynolds, David (2014-05-12). The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century W. W. Norton & Company, p. 247
[10] Reynolds, Kindle Edition, Location 170
Chapter 3: “Linking the Future of Our Two
Democracies”
Churchill’s Request for Help
Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat on National
Security
Arsenal of Democracy
Pittsburgh’s Role in War Production
War Preparations
As 1940 was coming to an end, the
world was clearly on a path to a world war. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(FDR), having just been re-elected to an unprecedented third-term, reflected on
the dying year— the dull winter months of
the phony war; the lightning attack on Norway; the
remorseless impalement of Belgium, Holland, and France; the third-term
nomination struggle; the mounting air attack on Britain; the draft; the Willkie
challenge; the gathering Nazi invasion fleet; the destroyer deal; the election
victory; the lull; and the letter from Churchill.[1]
Churchill’s Request for Help
The letter correspondences
between Roosevelt and Churchill started in 1939 shortly after Hitler’s Army
unleased their attack on Poland.
Roosevelt reached out to establish contact with the person he thought
would be the next Prime Minister of Great Britain (as Chamberlain was expected
to step down). The letter was the start of a long friendship between the two
leaders. Perhaps without their close relationship the two democracies that we
know today might be significantly altered.
About a month after Roosevelt’s
re-election Churchill wrote to the President, I feel you will not mind my saying that I prayed for your success and
that I am truly thankful for it. [2]
In another letter to FDR, dated December 7, 1940, Mr.
Churchill provided an assessment of the grim situation in Great Britain and a detailed
outline of the help that he needed from the United States in order to survive.
Before getting to the specific assistance needed by the
British Empire, Churchill started his letter by linking the future of the two democracies, by emphasizing the
importance of their two navies (both Churchill and Roosevelt were ‘navy men’),
and explaining the time required to convert industrial operations over to a war
industry.[3]
- The safety
of the United States as well as the future of our two democracies and the kind
of civilization for which they stand are bound up with the survival and
independence of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
-
The
control of the Pacific by the US Navy and of the Atlantic by the British Navy
is indispensable to the security of the trade routes of both our countries and
the surest means to preventing the war from reaching the shores of the US.
Churchill then, being well aware of the strong
isolationist sentiment in the US Congress, advises Roosevelt of the time
required to prepare the country for war…
-
It takes
between three and four years to convert the industries of a modern state to war
purposes. He notes that Germany had completed this in 1939 and Great
Britain was a year and a half away from completing their industrial conversion
to a war footing. The United States, I
should suppose, was by no means so far advanced as we. Moreover, I understand
those immense programs of naval, military and air defense are now on foot in
the United States, to complete which certainly two years are needed.
Here, Churchill is telling Roosevelt that German
industries are already prepared for war (despite the provisions of the
Versailles Treaty) and that the British Commonwealth, and the democracies of
the western world need America’s industrial strength in order to survive.
At the end of the twenty page letter Mr. Churchill notes
to Roosevelt,
-
If, as I
believe, you are convinced, Mr. President, that the defeat of the Nazi and
Fascist tyranny is a matter of high consequence to the people of the United
States and to the Western Hemisphere, you will regard this letter not as an
appeal for aid, but as a statement of the action necessary to the achievement
of our common purpose.[4]
Roosevelt’s Fireside Chat on National Security
Perhaps inspired by the letter he
received from Winston Churchill three weeks earlier, President Roosevelt, began
his Fireside Chat on National Security[5] to an anxious
nation on the evening of December 29, 1940 by saying, this is not a fireside chat on war. It is a talk on national security…
He reminded them of the banking crisis of 1933 and how he told the American
people what that crisis meant to them in their daily lives. He wanted to
do the same thing, with the same people, in this new crisis which faces
America. He reminded the people of America of the Nazi stated intent to enslave the whole of Europe, and then to
use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world… That the Germans and the Italians are being blocked
on the other side of the Atlantic by the British… and by thousands of soldiers
and sailors who were able to escape from subjugated countries. And he
reminded the people, that in Asia the Chinese are defending their nation from
Japanese aggression. He commented that in
the Pacific Ocean is our fleet.
President Roosevelt talked about
the two oceans that we like to believe will keep us safe. But he reminds the
people how airplanes could fly from the
British Isles to New England and back again without refueling, and that the
distance from Africa and Brazil to
Washington can be covered in only five hours by the latest bombers.
President Roosevelt, in December 1940 is reminding the people of America what
we would learn twelve months later in Hawaii; and again sixty years later in
New York, Washington and a field in Western Pennsylvania. That even an ocean
does not protect us from our enemy. He reminded the people that there is danger ahead -- danger against for which we must prepare.
In his fireside chat of December
1940 President Roosevelt also reminded Americans that secret emissaries are active in our own and in neighboring countries…
who seek to stir up suspicion and dissension to cause internal strife… try to
reawaken long slumbering racist and religious enmities which should have no
place in this country… they are active in every group that promotes
intolerance.
After reviewing the existing
threats with the American people President Roosevelt then outlined what America
needed to do about it.
Arsenal of Democracy
We are planning our own defense with the utmost urgency, and in its
vast scale we must integrate the war needs of Britain and the other free
nations which are resisting aggression.
We must have more ships, more guns, (and) more planes -- more of
everything.
The purpose of the nation (is) to build now with all possible speed
every machine, every arsenal, (and) every factory that we need to manufacture
our defense material. We have the men (and women) -- the skill -- the wealth --
and above all, the will.
The nation expects our defense industries to continue operation without
interruption by strikes or lockouts
We must be the great arsenal of democracy
The president ended his fireside
chat, As President of the United States I
call for that national effort. I call for it in the name of this nation which
we love and honor and which we are privileged and proud to serve. I call upon
our people with absolute confidence that our common cause will greatly succeed.
This speech by the FDR marked the
decline of the isolationist and non-interventionist doctrine that had dominated
interwar U.S. foreign policy since the United States' involvement in World War
I.
To put the need for increased
materials production in perspective consider the inventory of the German
arsenal with that of the United States and its allies in 1940. In the spring of
that year Germans Blitzkrieg warfare, consisting of aircraft, tanks, mobile
units, artillery, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, drove the British and
French armies back to the sea at Dunkirk, leading to the capitulation of France
on June 24, 1940. At this time the Germans had 25,000 aircraft while the US
Army Air Corp had 2,665 planes.[6]
The Germans had several thousand Mark III and Mark IV tanks. The United States
had no heavy tanks, 144 medium tanks, and 648 light tanks on hand or on order.
The Germans had motorized panzer units that swept across Western Europe. The
United States was still in the early stages of motorizing its horse cavalry
regiments.[7]
A significant percentage of the ammunition for the American military consisted
of deteriorating World War I stock. The United States and its allies lagged
significantly behind the Germans in all the weapons of war.
In the face of the Nazi
aggression in 1940 the United States government pledged the fulfillment of
$7.27 billion of materials goods to the British and Soviet allies through the
Lend-lease Act in 1941. The subsequent entry of the United States into the war
against the Axis powers made it imperative to build up the United States naval,
air, and ground forces for a two ocean offensive. Between July of 1940 when the
nation’s munitions product program began, and August of 1945 when the Japanese
surrendered, the total value of munitions production in the United States
equaled $183.1 billion dollars.[8]
To become the arsenal of
democracy some US industries, like the automobile industry, were transformed
completely. In 1941, more than three million cars were manufactured in the
United States. Only 139 more cars were made during the entire war! Instead,
Chrysler made fuselages. General Motors made airplane engines, guns, trucks and
tanks. Packard made Rolls-Royce engines for the British air force. And at its
vast Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, the Ford Motor Company performed something like a miracle 24-hours
a day. The average Ford car had some 15,000 parts. The B-24 Liberator
long-range bomber had 1,550,000 parts. One came off the line every 63 minutes.[9]
General Motors became the largest
United States military prime contractors based on the total value of munitions
produced from June 1940 through September 1944 supplying trucks, tanks, and aircraft
parts. Bethlehem Steel along with its subsidiary company, Bethlehem
Shipbuilding Corporation, ranked sixth among United States corporations in the
value of wartime production contracts. Bethlehem Shipbuilding’s 15 shipyards
produced a total of 1,121 ships, more than any other builder during the war and
nearly one-fifth of the U.S. Navy's two-ocean fleet. It employed as many as
180,000 persons, the bulk of the company's total employment of 300,000.
Pittsburgh’s Role in War Production
Pittsburgh and its surrounding
area played a special role in the United States becoming the "Arsenal of
Democracy". It provided much of the raw materials, primarily steel and aluminum,
to produce the ships, tanks, aircraft, machinery and munitions required to
defeat the enemy. Between 1940 and 1945, Pittsburgh epitomized
the concept of "Arsenal of Democracy" by manufacturing more steel for
the Allies than any other steel-producing hub in the world—an amount over
one-fifth of that made worldwide. Pittsburgh's mills contributed 95 million
tons of steel to the war effort. And to produce this steel a continuous supply
of coal drawn from nearby mines was required – “metallurgical coal” produces
the “coke” which forms the high purity carbon used to given steel its strength,
and “thermal coal”, the solid fuel that produces the electricity and heat
needed for the steel making process. Each ton of steel produced, required
roughly a ton of coal. All supplied from mines in western Pennsylvania. Coal
was crucial to fueling America’s war production machine.
The picture in Figure 1 shows
coal barges on the Monongahela River with the Jones & Laughlin Steel
Corporation’s Pittsburgh Works in the background. Under normal operating
conditions at the steel works and coke ovens, approximately 20,000 tons of coal
were consumed each working day, which required a fleet of a dozen towboats and
several hundred 1,000-ton steel barges for transport service between mines and
mills.[10]
Figure 1 Barges and Towboats at Jones & Laughlin
Steel Corporation’s Pittsburgh Works Library & Archives at the Senator
John Heinz History Center
Both big and small integrated
iron and steel companies from the area would produce the steel plate needed for
producing the tools of war. U.S. Steel ranked sixteenth among all military
prime contractors, primarily supplying steel to those companies who supplied
the armored ships, cargo ships, landing craft, armored tanks and other heavy
military vehicles. The majority of that steel was produced along the rivers
that form the golden triangle of Pittsburgh.
In the summer of 1941, as the threat of war in the
Pacific continued to mount, U.S. Steel and the Navy agreed to a major expansion
of production facilities at the Edgar Thomson, Duquesne, and Homestead works.
The largest of these expansions, in fact the largest expansion of an existing
steel facility in the nation, was at Homestead. The Defense Plant Corporation
financed the $90,000,000 expansion of the Homestead Works to supply the urgent
need for steel plate, both forged and rolled, and ship shafting.[11]
The picture below shows a
trio of flags outside the gate at the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Homestead Steel Works in July 1942. The presence of
the navy flag underscores the close relationship between the Homestead steel
works and the United States Navy.
Figure 2 Carnegie-Illinois Steel Homestead Steel
Works July 1942
After the United States went to war in December 1941,
the Navy Department realized that victory would be possible only through the
physical invasions of Europe and Japanese-held territories in the Pacific.
Special ships were needed for this new type of warfare. In January 1942, less
than two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral S.M.
Robinson, Chief of the Navy Bureau of Ships, approached Dravo chairman J.D. Berg
and president V.B. Edwards with a preliminary design for an invasion craft and
a large purchase order. Dravo quickly converted its Neville Island facility on
the Ohio River, and another in Wilmington, Delaware, for landing ship, tanks (LST)
production
Rolled carbon steel plate produced locally was used in
the production of LSTs at the Ohio River shipyards of Dravo Corporation and
U.S. Steel’s American Bridge Company.[12]
The 1,051 LSTs built by shipyards during the war enabled the U.S. Navy to
deliver men, ammunition, tanks, trucks, fuel, and even railroad locomotives to
the bloody beaches of North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific.
Figure 3 Dravo built LST landing a tank on a beach during World War II Image by Corbis-Bettmann [13]
Another Pittsburgh firm with
numerous war-time manufacturing accomplishments was Mesta Machine. Mesta was
founded in 1898 by George Mesta. They located in West Homestead along the banks
of the Monongahela River and manufactured everything from ship propeller shafts
to giant turbines for power plants and dams. During the war effort Mesta specialized
in manufacturing 16 inch naval guns, ship-propeller shafts, artillery carriages
and "Long Toms" 155-mm cannons. Mesta earned the coveted Army-Navy E
Award and was only one of seven factories to earn six stars.[14]
Ten of the top fifteen military prime contractors were
aircraft companies who assembled the thousands and thousands of parts that were
made by thousands of firms to produce thousands of aircraft.
In addition to its role as the “steel city” Pittsburgh
was also the birthplace of the nation’s aluminum industry. The Pittsburgh
Reduction Company, later renamed Aluminum Company of America. (ALCOA)
controlled every aspect of the nation’s aluminum industry from bauxite mining
to the production of finished products until the late 1940s.[15] Aluminum
was the principle material in the huge fleet of airplanes that played a crucial
role in World War II.
Curtiss-Wright Corporation, having its roots in the
earliest successes of the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss, placed its focus
on the development and mass production of reciprocating engines and propellers during
the war effort. In 1942 they built a plant in nearby Beaver Falls on the Ohio
River and there they fabricated more than 100,000 new propeller blades for a
variety of aircraft each year.[16]
They employed more than 4,000 workers skilled in forging, machining, welding,
and heat treating operations needed to manufacture the propellers which were
used on several different aircraft models, including the B-26 and B-32 bombers.[17] Alloy steel plate
fabricated in nearby Pittsburgh steel mills would be used at the plant.
Figure 4 Aerial View of the Curtiss-Wright Plant in Beaver, Pa. May 1945 Beaver Area Heritage Museum [18]
Westinghouse
Electric Manufacturing Company, another corporate giant located in Pittsburgh
produced everything from gun mounts to electric power plants for aircraft
carriers. Contributions by engineers in Westinghouse's fabled Research
Laboratories in Forest Hills and its East Pittsburgh Division works included
critical breakthroughs in plastics, radar, x-rays, bombsights, and atomic
energy. In August 1942 Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company was awarded
the prestigious Army Navy E Award. Westinghouse ran newspapers across the state
expressing their pride that read Westinghouse
is producing war equipment now at the rate of 4,000 carloads per month… enough
to fill a freight train 37 miles long every 30 days.[19]
The ‘parts’ were being supplied
through numerous Westinghouse plants within their East Pittsburgh Division, as
well as at the Steam Division in Philadelphia, and the Transformer Division in
Sharon, Pennsylvania.
The Heppenstall Company was located on Hatfield Street
in the Lawrenceville section of the city. It was a family owned specialty steel
company producing forgings, dies and shear knives. The end product from their
materials may be a locomotive axle or a shaft that drives the propeller of a
ship, or the propeller of an airplane. During the war effort Heppenstall
produced forged artillery gun tubes. The Company was also awarded a prestigious
Navy E-Award for efficiency in defense production on November 17, 1941.[20] The poster below,
published by the Heppenstall Company, served as a reminder that we need to be
smarter than the enemy in whatever we do.
My Dad, Daniel J. Birmingham,
would start working at Heppenstall a few weeks after the attack on Pearl
Harbor. After returning home from his Marine Corp service in 1945 he would
return to work at Heppenstall for another 33 years before retiring in 1978.
War Preparations
On 19 July 1940 President
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the second Naval Expansion Act to authorize the
construction of naval vessels for a Two-Ocean Navy. This meant 7 new battle
ships, 18 carriers, 29 cruisers, 115 destroyers and 42 submarines to add to the
fleet.
On September 3, 1940 Roosevelt
approved the “destroyers for bases” deal with Great Britain. Through this deal,
the United States transferred destroyers to the British Navy in exchange for
leases for British naval and air bases. Trading 50 old U.S. Navy destroyers to
England in return for leases on military bases on English possessions in the
Caribbean.
On September 16, 1940, the
Burke-Wadsworth Act was passed by Congress and the first peacetime draft in the
history of the United States was imposed. It required the registration of men
between the ages of 21 and 36. It began by drawing draft numbers out of a glass
bowl. The numbers were handed to the president, who read them aloud for public
announcement. There were some 20 million eligible young men. About 1.2 million
were drafted for a year’s service, and 800,000 reservists were called to active
duty. In October 1941, just before the 18-month period expired, Congress
fortuitously voted to extend the draft. But it was a very close vote: 203 to
202. By war’s end, approximately 34 million men had registered, and 10 million
served with the military.
In March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was passed
which authorized FDR to sell, trade, lease, or just plain give military
hardware to the government of any country whose defense the President deems
vital to the defense of the United States.
September 11, 1941, President
Roosevelt declared that the U-boat attack on the U.S. destroyer Greer was
"piracy" and ordered the U.S. Navy to shoot-on-sight any German or Italian ships found in protected
zones. He then spelled out the 'shoot on sight' order. He explained that the ...
very presence in any waters which America
deems vital to its defense constitutes an attack.
References Chapter 3
[1] Burns, James MacGregor (2012-05-08). Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom (1940–1945) (p. 33). Open Road Media. Kindle Edition.
[2] Burns, p. 9
[3] Burns, p. 12
[4] Winston Churchill to FDR. Letter regarding British and American efforts for the war, 12/7/40; The National Archives. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park N.Y. “Morgenthau Diary” – Book 337 (December 8-9, 1950); http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box34/a311s02.html
[5] Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, Fireside Chat on National Security, December 29, 1940. http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/122940.html
[6] Steel Production for War: The Impact of World War Two on the Pittsburgh Industrial District, HAER No. PA-343, p. 9
[7] Steel Production, p. 10
[8] Steel Production, p. 10
[9] War Production at Home. https://www.pbs.org/thewar/at_home_war_production.htm
[10] Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation Collection Photographs, 1864-1953, Library & Archives at the Senator John Heinz History Center
[11] Historic American Engineering Record, U.S. STEEL HOMESTEAD WORKS HAER No. PA-200; p.48
[12] Steel Production, p. 15
[13] Explore PAHistory.com; http://explorepahistory.com/displayimage.php?imgId=1-2-D50
[14] O’Boyle, Thomas. “Rise, Fall: How Mesta Machine Co. Made It Big and Lost It All”. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9 Jan. 1984: 1, 10
[15] Steel Production, p. 6
[16] Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Big Propeller Plant Will Be Built Near City,” February 27, 1941
[17] Historic American Engineering Record, PITTSBURGH INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT - WORLD WAR II STRUCTURES HAER No. PA-343, p. 26
[18] http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/blog/at-the-history-center/a-history-of-curtiss-wright-during-wwii
[19] Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Westinghouse Army Navy E Award Advertisement” August 10, 1942, p. 10
[20] Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Local Firms to Get Navy Pennants Today”, November 21, 1941, p. 15
Chapter 4: December 7, 1941
Americans
Respond to Japanese Attack
America Firsters Rally in Pittsburgh NO
WAR!
Swell of Patriotism - War Declared on Japan
Dear Mr. President from Pittsburgh, PA
Everyone alive on that day would
remember what they were doing when hearing the news of the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor. Just as future generations would remember November 22, 1963 and
September 11, 2001.
Americans Respond to Japanese Attack
Events were unfolding rapidly
across the country as people learned the news of the Japanese attack, starting
about 1:00 Sunday afternoon, Pittsburgh time. Late that Sunday night in
Pittsburgh, the Navy and Marine recruiting offices opened at 11:30 PM. Men
rushed to the Old Post Office building on Smithfield Street and by 3:00 AM thirty-five
men had applied for enlistment in the Marines.[1]
Figure 7 These Fellows Can’t Wait to Get at Japs Pittsburgh Press, December 8, 1941
Robert W. Taylor, 20, a Negro of
1101 Webster Avenue was the first man to enlist. I wouldn’t mind going tonight
and get it over with.[2]
The number of potential enlistees
grew with time. Some were told to come back later for physical examinations,
others were rejected because they were too old. One man told the marine
recruiter that he had lung adhesions and that he had two or three years to
live. He said I haven't got much more time. So I'd like to fight the Japs, if
you'll take me.[3]
The next day another man, Charles Will of 43rd Street in Pittsburgh, a father
of three, made the rounds of recruiting stations but was refused by the Army,
Navy and Marines Corp because he had a wife and three small children.[4]
Albert Crawford grew up on the
North Side of Pittsburgh in a family of seven children. He had dropped out of
Oliver High School to join the Civilian Conservation Corps to help support his
family. On this day in 1941, the 17-year-old heard radio reports about the
attack on Pearl Harbor and asked his dad whether he could join the service.
Yes. That’s one less mouth to feed, his father replied. Albert Crawford devoted
the next four decades of his life serving his country. In May 2013, Mr.
Crawford received the French Legion of Honor medal for his contributions in the
liberation of France from Germany.[5]
The Allegheny County Draft Board
announced that as many as 4,000 men from the area may be summoned for draft
next month.[6] Also on this day
all men who had been honorably discharged, because of reaching age 28, were
being called back to active duty by the Army. This would be in addition to the
21,112 Allegheny County men already serving with Uncle Sam’s armed forces.[7]
On that day the War Department
informed the parents of Private George G. Leslie that their son had been killed
yesterday in the Japanese attacks in the Hawaiian Islands.[8]
Pvt. Leslie, from Arnold in Westmoreland County, was a member of the U.S. Air
Corp and was the first Pittsburgh District causality of the war. Unfortunately,
this notice would be repeated to thousands and thousands of parents over the
next four years.
Extra armed-guards, police and
FBI agents were being concentrated at every major defense plant in the
Pittsburgh district. City officials ordered out 150 additional policeman last
night and another 250 were added today.[9]
Extraordinary precautions were being taken to protect this key industrial
center against sabotage as a result of the declaration of war. More than
two-hundred million dollars’ worth of war materials were being built in
Pittsburgh mills and factories, including shells, bombs, anti-aircraft guns,
artillery, battleship equipment, tank parts, and sea-going fighting vessels.
Over 200 mills and factories in the Pittsburgh area were affected, including
Carnegie-Illinois Steel (subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation),
J&L Steel, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing, ALCOA, and
Heppenstall. On the west coast today air-raid listening devices were activated
at scores of defense factories to be alert to any sign of attack from land, sea
or air.[10]
Union officials called off a
strike planned at Mesta Machine in Homestead that would have halted production
of vital Army ordnance materials and equipment.[11]
In San Francisco a nation-wide welders strike planned for the following week
was cancelled. The president of the welders union announced that every welder
available will report for work on Monday and every day thereafter.[12]
Needless to say there was a very
patriotic reaction immediately after the events of Pearl Harbor. People pulled
out their encyclopedias to find out where Pearl Harbor was. People listened
intently to radio broadcasts of the news. Those with short wave radios searched
their dial to get any additional news. People were also scared especially those
living on the coasts.
Nationally, it was reported that
Federal agents were prepared to seize every Japanese national regarded as
potentially dangerous. About 93,000 Japanese had registered under the Alien
Registration Act the previous year. On both coasts FBI agents were ready to act. In San
Francisco the mayor proclaimed a state of emergency and ordered all its Civil
Defense Council members to take all proper steps to protect the lives and
property of San Francisco citizens. The police Department placed a heavy guard
in San Francisco's Japanese colony near the Fillmore district. Jap town is
under strict surveillance said the police department.[13]
In Indianapolis a young man by
the name of Doan Helms was working at the war plant producing ammunition for
shipment to Russia. His brother had already been drafted and was scheduled to
leave for Army duty. Doan’s girlfriend Jeanette and he had already made a
decision to marry. On Saturday, December 6th they were driving to Greenfield,
Indiana to meet a justice of the peace. The JP noted an oversight. They had not
signed the blood test. He told us he would marry us after we went back to the
doctor and signed them in his presence. The next day was December 7th. We were driving to Lafayette … the radio was
suddenly interrupted with news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. The
young couple was confused and knew we would soon be in war.[14] Doan Helms knew
the world had suddenly changed and that his and Jeanette’s plans would also need
to change. Within a week Helms had joined the Marines, resigned from his job at
the war plant, went home and told his parents of the news, met with his gang of
friends to pass on his news, and then went to see Jeanette who had already
heard the news. Four years later on a 72 hour pass from his military station in
Philadelphia, and after serving in the 3d Marines as part of the initial
landing forces in Bougainville, Doan Helms would drive back to Indiana where he
and Jeanette would marry.[15]
America Firsters Rally in Pittsburgh NO WAR!
On that first Sunday afternoon in
December while the Japanese attacks were going on 5,000 miles away a large
antiwar meeting was being held at the Soldiers & Sailors Hall in the
Oakland section of Pittsburgh. The hall was filled
to capacity, decked out in red, white and blue bunting, and America First placards. America First
was the foremost non-interventionist
pressure group against
American entry into World War II.
Those who attended the meeting that afternoon carried their American flags to demonstrate their Americanism, even
though they opposed the policies of their president.[16]
The anti-war meeting started at
3:00 PM just early enough that the audience would not have heard the news
flashes of the attacks on America in Hawaii.
But prior to the start of the meeting the speakers learned what had happened as
newsmen rushed to them to get their reactions. The featured speaker for this
meeting, Senator Gerald P. Nye, Republican from North Dakota, a prominent
isolationist, immediate reaction to the news was the same kind of suspicion he
later voiced to his followers. It sounds
terribly fishy to me… can’t we have some details? Is it sabotage or is it open
attack?[17]
The meeting started at 3:00 PM with
the audience of 2800 people unaware that the United States had been attacked.
The speakers, in addition to
Senator Nye, were C. Hale Sipe, a former Pennsylvania state senator, and Mrs.
Irene Castle McLaughlin, a celebrity dancer and animal rights activist. On the walls behind the speakers, inscribed
with Lincoln's words from the Gettysburg Address, were the group’s large
placards saying NO WAR.[18]
The animal rights activist spoke
first and she told the story of how her husband had died in the First World War
and said that she did not want her son to also die in war.
The former state senator spoke
next and attacked the president saying that Roosevelt was trying to make everything Russian appealing to the United States, and
that he (Roosevelt) was the chief war-maker in the United States. A
white-haired man sitting in the back with his wife began calling out from the
floor, apparently trying to disrupt the proceedings. “Do you know that Japan has attacked us and that Manila and Pearl
Harbor have been bombed by the Japanese?” The shouting man seemed to be a foreigner as his broken
English gave the impression that he was an agitator. The boos and jeers that America
First is accustomed to give to those who interrupt drowned out most of his
words. Get out, you don’t belong here, the
crowd shouted. Police and ushers
hustled down the aisle to the man. He told them he was an Army colonel. They told him to get out.[19]
It turned out that the
"foreign agitator" was U.S. Army Colonel Enrique Urrutia, executive
officer of the Pittsburgh military reserve area. He was trying to tell the
speakers on the stage about the Japanese attack that had just taken place on
Hawaii and in the Philippines, which had rendered all their talk about keeping
the United States out of war irrelevant.
The former state senator went on
with his talk, still blasting the interventionist leaders, Wendell Willkie, and
Secretary of War Henry Stimson who he said sleeps
at cabinet meetings. The collection basket was then passed and America
First asked a dollar from each person.
Senator Nye, the featured
speaker, would speak next. It was now 4:50 in the afternoon and the meeting had
been going on for nearly two hours. And for two hours the speakers knew that
America had been attacked and said nothing to the audience. Nye continued to ignore
the news as if nothing happened and went ahead with his speech denouncing President Roosevelt as a warmonger.[20]
Nye was good at stirring up the
crowd and started with Never, never,
never again he roared, must America
be let herself made a monkey of as she was 25 years ago. He asked the crowd
whose war is this? “Roosevelt's” was the well-rehearsed
response. At 5:20 PM a reporter walked onto the huge Memorial Hall platform and
placed a note on the rostrum directly in front of Senator Nye stating that
Japan had now formally declared war on the United States of America. Nye looked
at the note, nodded his head, and then continued speaking with his impassioned anti-war
talk. He talked about giving away the ships
despite laws forbidding it. Treason yelled some of the
America Firsters in the audience. Cries for impeach
him followed from the riled up crowd.
Finally, Nye acknowledged the
messages that had been given to him earlier… stating that he had received the worst news that I have encountered in
the last 20 years. He read the note aloud “The Japanese Imperialist Government at Tokio today announced a state of
war against America and Great Britain”.[21] An excited murmur swept through the
packed hall. I can't somehow believe this
said Nye. I can't come to any conclusion
until I know what this is all about. I want to find out what's behind it.
Senator Nye continued his rant on
criticizing the administration accusing the government of doing its utmost to provoke a quarrel… at every turn our negotiators
denied the Japanese representatives a chance to save their face.[22] Suspicion and
skepticism about the media and its collusion with the Roosevelt administration
were an integral part of isolationist politics.
The
next morning, Monday, December 8, the Pittsburgh Press ran an Editorial titled DISGRACEFUL.[23]
AMERICA HAD been attacked by Japan – had been attacked while in the
midst of trying to preserve peace
Senator Gerald P. Nye and other America First speakers knew this fact…
but the audience didn’t know it. And the speakers did not reveal the awful
truth until the meeting was at an end.
Meanwhile President Roosevelt was denounced as a warmonger and a cheat;
and an American colonel who tried to tell the meeting that America had been
attacked, that Americans were already dead and dying from Japanese bombs, was
hooted and hissed.
Never has there been such a disgraceful meeting in all Pittsburgh
history. Those who participated in it should forever hang their heads in shame.
Swell of Patriotism - War Declared on Japan
The bitter debate between the
Roosevelt Administration and the isolationists ended on December 7, 1941 when
the Japanese attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. The carrier
attack was a stunning military tactical success, temporarily crippling the
fleet. The Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor was, however, one of the great
strategic miscalculations in history. The American people overnight were
galvanized into a formidable national consensus to wage war. Democratic Senator
Burton K. Wheeler of Montana, a strong isolationist and spearhead of
congressional opposition to President Roosevelt said the Japanese bombs dropped
at Pearl Harbor mean war and we'll have
to see it through.[24]
Even the isolationists joined the war effort. The next day, Senator Nye would
join the rest of the Senate in voting for a unanimous declaration of war.
Just after noon on Monday,
December 8, President Roosevelt stood before a joint session of Congress and
delivered his seven-minute, 500 word extraordinary speech, ending with the
pledge that we will triumph so help us,
God. The resolution, proclaiming existence of a state of war between the
United States and the Japanese empire, was now before both houses of congress.[25] Within
fifteen-minutes of the time Mr. Roosevelt completed his speech, the Senate
acted, adopting the war resolution by a unanimous vote of 82 to 0. The house
voted immediately afterwards and by 1:13 PM a majority of the house members had
voted aye. The House of
Representatives vote was 388 to 1. The lone exception was Republican, Jeanette
Rankin of Montana. Ms. Rankin also cast a dissenting vote against our entering
the First World War in 1917.[26]
There was a swell of patriotism
now taking over the country. Senate Republican Leader McNary of Oregon, when
leaving a late night conference at the White House said party lines were declared erased for the duration of the war. Although
the form of action had not been decided on, the Republicans will go along on
whatever is done.[27]
Senator Robert A Taft, Ohio
Republican and thrice presidential contender said Undivided and unlimited prosecution of the war must show that no one
can safely attack the American people.[28]
Symbolic of the unity that had
spread over the nation was the comment of Representative William Stratton,
Republican from Illinois who had previously adamantly opposed the president’s
foreign policy. This treacherous attack
on the United States by Japan will be met and avenged by a united and aroused
people. Japan must be destroyed as a
military power.[29]
On that day Eleanor Roosevelt wrote
in her weekly ‘My Day’ column… it will
probably take us a few days to catch up with our enemy, but no one in this
country will doubt the ultimate outcome…the clouds of uncertainty and anxiety
have been hanging over us for a long time. Now we know where we are.[30]
That same day the national board
of directors of America First urged all its members to give full support to the war effort of this country until the
conflict with Japan is brought to a successful conclusion.[31]
On this same day the Pittsburgh
Chapter of America First announced it will
cease to exist tonight… formal burial services will be held at 8:00 PM in its
headquarters. The chapter said there
is not the slightest doubt about what our actions should be or what it will be
– America is at war![32]
President Roosevelt and Congress received the unqualified approval of the man on the street. The people's view was that we are in the right and everyone approves of what Mr. Roosevelt and Congress has done.[33]
Three days later on, December 11,
1941, Germany and her axis partner Italy
declared war on the United States. Congress answered immediately with a
declaration of war on Germany and Italy. The turning of machinery that plunged
five continents into unprecedented conflict was swift but the men on the
fighting fronts were already in action. A 29,000 ton Japanese battleship sank
in flames under American aerial bombs off the Philippines, and defense forces
were opposing a Japanese landing force in northern Luzon.[34]
In the December 12, 1941 edition
of the Mount Washington News the editor said last week there were two
factions in the nation - one thought we should go into the war, the other
thought we should stay out. That question is settled now. We are at war and
every American will do his utmost to bring that war to a speedy and successful
conclusion.[35]
Dear Mr. President from Pittsburgh, PA
In
1941, fieldworkers for the Library of Congress's Radio Research Project made
documentary recordings of Americans from around the country who described their
lives, sang their songs, and told the stories of their own regions. On December
8, 1941, the day following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a telegram (was sent)
to fieldworkers in ten different localities around the United States asking
them to collect "man-on-the-street" reactions to the bombing of Pearl
Harbor and the declaration of war by the United States. A second set of
recordings, in which the interviewees were asked to address their thoughts and
opinions on the attack and the declaration of war directly to President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, was made in January and February 1942. These recordings
were used to create a radio program, entitled "Dear Mr. President,"
which was broadcast in May 1942. The recordings and subsequent transcriptions
reflect the voices of the people speaking in their own words. Below are
transcriptions of the "Dear Mr. President" series made with six
people from the Pittsburgh area in January or February of 1942.[36]
Mrs. William
Houghton
I am Mrs.
William Houghton of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A mother of two small children
and a housewife. My dear Mr. President, I welcome this opportunity of pledging
my wholehearted support in any small way that I can help in these troubled
times, and also to thank you for many past benefits, because in the past the
government has been such a good friend of ours. For six years, my husband held
a position in the liquor stores, which he would never had had but for the
repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment.
In the past
year and a half we have lived in the government housing projects and so have
lived under much better conditions than we could have privately. And my husband
has just finished a government sponsored defense course which has enabled him
to procure a better position. So I feel that any small thing we have had to do
up to now is insignificant and any greater demands that are made on us later
will be small repayment to a good and great friend of ours, the United States
of America.
Clark W.
Kelley
This is Clark
W. Kelley of Pittsburgh representing western Pennsylvania newspapers. Dear Mr.
President, it is a pleasure for me to tell you as director of the central
office of our newspaper organization, that there is complete unity among these
publications in the support of every phase of our war effort. Every day, there
come to my desk many newspapers large and small. Some are the last word in
typographic display, others are printed in less-modern style. Together they
represent every type of community life, a real cross-section of America. They
are rightly called papers of the people because they truly reflect public
sentiment on all vital questions. The greater Pittsburgh territory covered by
these newspapers is known as the workshop of the world from which much comes of
the war munitions for our cause.
Whatever the
differences of opinion were that existed among these newspapers and their readers
before December 7th, they have now all disappeared. Since then, like the men in
the armed forces, the newspapers like the workers in the workshop of the world,
are enlisted as soldiers under you, their Commander in Chief.
Gladys Crawley
I am Gladys Crawley,
a Negro girl employed by the city of Pittsburgh as a clerk in the city deeds
registry. I feel, Mr. President, that it is largely due to the position you
have taken in seeing that the Negro citizens and other members of minority
groups are accorded equal opportunities that the members of my race are more
hopeful than ever before. I know I speak for them when I pledge my deepest
loyalty to you and all your efforts.
We do feel
that Negroes have not been given equal opportunities for service in the camps
and defense industries. But our faith in you is such that we know that you will
do everything that can be done to remedy this condition and at the earliest
possible time.
I know you
will be glad to know that all the groups of which I am a member are doing their
full share as American citizens in Red Cross work, purchase of defense stamps,
and all other activities which will help speed us to victory.
Paul L.
Houston
This is Paul
L. Houston, president of the Yellow Cab Company of Pittsburgh. More and more
each day, I am impressed with the tremendous importance of having Franklin D.
Roosevelt in the White House during these uncertain and trying days when our
world is being made over before our eyes.
Men today, as
always, want, need, and must have a flesh and blood leader in whom they trust
and in whom they have implicit faith, and this requirement, I feel, is met to
its highest degree in our president. Everyone I talk to seems to feel that the
old world we lived in before December 7, 1941 has passed out of existence. And
we are in a whole new universe which each of us in our own way, day-by-day, are
fashioning into a better place in which to live. I never felt so confident or
so hopeful in my life. Heavy burdens, such as we all must bear, and trying days
such as we must experience seem to bring out the best in us. We seem to
appreciate the real things in life such as our homes and our families and they
seem more precious to us as we feel that we are fighting to protect them. With
President Roosevelt to chart the course, we all feel the ship is headed for a
very, very safe port.
John Forelli
Mr.
President, I am John Forelli an ordinary coal miner, Library, Pennsylvania. I
work for the Pittsburgh Coal Company, one of the world's largest producers of
coal. We miners all know that our country's at war. And the war will only end
when the enemies of democracy are destroyed. Our part is to produce coal in a
larger scale and we're the guys who can do it. We also know that while we're
producing coal everybody else must be doing his bit for coal alone won't win
this war.
The miners
are behind you, Mr. President, always as in the past. And we'll endeavor to
perform any task our government may ask of us. We all have friends in this
battle as we have had before. And no miner is going to be a slacker by letting
our government down.
George J.
Shale
Mr.
President, my name is George J. Shale, superintendent of public safety
equipment and maintenance for the city of Pittsburgh. I wish to report that our
police and fire equipment has been prepared to take its part in the civilian
defense effort for a final victory. We have added cruising patrol ambulances
equipped with two-way radio communication, warning devices, first-aid kits,
stretchers, and machine guns. Fifty other cars with similar equipment patrol
the city continuously. The past month a twenty-five percent reduction in
mileage to save tires was accomplished.
Our ninety pieces of fire apparatus are in a high
state of efficiency and sixteen current deliveries will bring our firefighting
power to the recommended point of preparedness. The restrictions placed on
tires, parts, and cars has not been felt very seriously to date. We hope that
the vital public safety services can be maintained efficiently. But we are
prepared if any act of war visits Pittsburgh.
These and many other “letters” to
President Roosevelt and “man on the street” reactions to the Pearl Harbor
attacks of December 7. 1941 would reinforce others statements that Americans
were united and agreed with the president on his declaration of war.
References Chapter 4
[1] The Pittsburgh Press, "Rush To Colors Is On Here - Many Volunteers Too Old", p. 4, December 8, 1941
[2] “Rush”, The Pittsburgh Press
[3] “Rush”, The Pittsburgh Press
[4] The Pittsburgh Press, "Father of 3 Tries In Vain to Enlist", p. 4, December 8, 1941
[5] Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Obituary: Albert N. Crawford / Devoted to Serving his country and family”, October 13, 2014
[6] The Pittsburgh Press, "War May Step Up Draft Quota for County to 4,000", p. 6, December 8, 1941
[7] The Pittsburgh Press, “21,000 County Men in Armed Forces”, p. 5, December 8, 1941
[8] The Pittsburgh Press, "Arnold Youth Dies in Battle", p. 2, December 8, 1941
[9] Pittsburgh Press, "Armed Plants Here Guarded", p. 41, December 8, 1941
[10] The Fresno Bee, “Plane Plants Use Listening Devices For Air Raids, p. 2, December 7, 1941
[11] The Pittsburgh Press, "MESTA Strike Called Off by Union Leaders", p. 5, December 8, 1941
[12] Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Welders Quickly Cancel Strike Call", p. 23, December 8, 1941
[13] Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "U.S. Agents Ready To Seize Any Japanese" December 8, 1941
[14] Helms Jr., Doan, Bougainville: A Marine's Story (Kindle Locations 77-82)
[15] Helms, Locations 1142
[16] Adam Smyser, The Pittsburgh Press, "American Firsters Jeer President as Nye and Others Conceal Awful Truth" December 8, 1941
[17] Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Nye Slow Giving News To Firsters” , p. 13, December 8, 1941
[18] Smyser
[19] Smyser
[20] “Nye Slow Giving News to Firsters”
[21] “Nye Slow Giving News to Firsters”
[22] “Nye Slow Giving News to Firsters”
[23] The Pittsburgh Press, Editorial, DISGRACEFUL, p. 18, December 8, 1941
[24] Beal, John R. The Pittsburgh Press, ”Isolationists Change Views As Japs Attack”, p. 2, December 8, 1941
[25] The Pittsburgh Press. “Full Text of President’s Message”, p. 1, December 8, 1941
[26] Wilson, Lyle C., The Pittsburgh Press, “Senate’s Vote Unanimous, House Votes 388-1, Victory Pledged”, p. 1, December 8, 1941
[27] Beal
[28] Beal
[29] Wilson, Senate vote, p. 21
[30] Eleanor Roosevelt, The Pittsburgh Press, “My Day”, p. 25, December 8, 1941
[31] The Pittsburgh Press, “America Firsts Asks Support of War”, p. 2, December 8, 1941
[32] The Pittsburgh Press, “America Firsts Unit Disbanded Here”, p. 2, December 8, 1941
[33] St. Louis Star-Times, "Man on Street Solidly Approves War Declaration", December 8, 1941, p. 3,
[34] Morris, Joe Alex, The Pittsburgh Press, “Rome and Berlin First to Issue Hostile Edicts”, December 11, 1941, p. 1
[35] The Mt. Washington News, "War Has Come", December 12, 1941, p. 1
[36] Library of Congress American Memory Home, War, Military: HTTP://MEMORY.LOC.GOV
PART II
Chapter 5: Joining the Corp
Dad’s Enlistment
A New Third Marine Division
Time Out to Get Married
More Training on the West Coast
Dad’s Enlistment
Dad enlisted in the US Marine
Corp on Monday, August 10, 1942. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette headline the next
morning was Marines Drive into Solomons. The
U.S. marines had launched a surprise attack on Guadalcanal in the British
Solomon Islands and took control of a Japanese air base under construction. About
fifteen-months later the Marines would again launch an attack against the
Japanese in the Solomon’s, this time at Bougainville. That is where Dad would
serve.
The day Dad enlisted at the old
Post Office on Smithfield Street in downtown Pittsburgh he would be one of 186
men to join the Army, Navy or Marines that day.[1]
Two other men from Mt. Washington also enlisted that day. Charles Hyde of
Oneida Street, and Joseph Tighe of Augusta Street. This was not an unusual
number of enlistees for a given day.
Dad spent about eight weeks in boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. Boot Camp would have included physical conditioning, field training, small arms practice and more physical conditioning. It is also where one learns about chain-of-command and whose in-charge.
A New Third Marine Division
In 1942 the Marine Corp was
forming the new Third Marine Division. The Division was needed quickly as the
First Division and part of the Second Division had landed on Guadalcanal thus
committing a large part of the attack force.[2]
It was recognized that additional forces would be needed in the Pacific.
The Third Marine Division (3d
Marine Division) would be made up of three infantry regiments; the Third Marine
Regiment, Ninth Marine Regiment, and the
Twenty-first Marine Regiment. A Marine regiment is usually referred to just by
their number; such as the Twenty-first Marines. The Third and Ninth Marines
were reactivated early in 1942 and were now building up to full strength with
new recruits. The Twenty-first Marines was the youngest of the three regiments
in the new 3d Marine Division having just formed in July 1942 from a cadre of
men from the 2d Battalion of the Sixth Marines.[3]
The cadre was being supplemented by many new men from Parris Island who began
arriving at New River in the later part of July. New River Training Center in
Jacksonville, North Carolina was the training site for the new regiment.
By September 27, 1942 the Twenty-first
was still only at half-strength.[4]
More recruits arrived almost every day bringing them closer to combat strength.
When at full strength the Twenty-first would have 3,548 men. My Dad was one of
those new recruits when he arrived at New River on October 4, 1942. Note that
the New River Training Center was later renamed Camp Lejeune.
The Marine Corp Muster records of
October, 1942 shows Dad assigned to ‘A’ Company, 1st Battalion, Twenty-first
Marines (Reinforced), Third Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force.[5]
A 31-day training schedule for
the new recruits of the Twenty-first Marines was planned, commencing on October
1. The initial part of this training was subject related basic-training,
probably on weapons, equipment and tactics. In the last two weeks of October
the men were moved to a bivouac area (temporary encampment in the woods) to
prepare themselves for later amphibious training. During the training there was
an attack of food poisoning that temporarily incapacitated 1,650 men. The training was to culminate in a
series of unit proficiency tests, however the frequent rains and food poisoning
problem required the training be cut short.
The training at New River consisted
of constant field training with simulated combat. The recruits lived in tents
which would prove to be the way of life for the next several years. In addition
to beach landings they concentrated on field training, small arms practice and
physical conditioning.
Dad’s Military Specialty as
reported on his NAVMC 78-PD (Marine Corp Report of Separation) was B.A.R. Man 746. B.A.R. stands for
Browning automatic rifle. Note: the military separation report used now is the Form
DD-214.
The "B-A-R," was the
Marine Corps' squad automatic weapon for many years. It was part of the
infantry Marine's arsenal from the closing days of World War I right through
the Cold War. In World War II, the BAR provided the fire support Marine outfits
needed to fight and maneuver in the rugged Pacific campaigns. The weapon with
its 12 loaded magazines weighed almost 40 pounds. The Browning automatic rifle
is pictured below.
.jpg)
Figure 9 Browning Automatic Rifle (Marine Corp Photo)
The Marine Rifle Squad in 1943 was made up of twelve men – a squad leader (sergeant), an assistant squad leader, two scouts, six riflemen and two automatic rifleman (B.A.R. men). The description for the B.A.R. Man 746 specialty (during WW II) is outlined below.[6]
- Loads, aims, and fires an automatic rifle to provide fire power support to tactical units in capturing and holding enemy positions
- Fires rifle either semi-automatically or in short bursts, as situation demands, upon designated targets or distributed upon portions of enemy lines, changing position as situation demands. Reduces stoppages as they occur and cleans and oils piece
- Must be able to use hand weapons, including rifle, automatic rifle, rifle grenade launcher, bayonet, trench knife, and hand grenades.
- Must be trained in taking advantage of camouflage, cover and concealment, recognizing and following arm and hand signals, and identification of enemy personnel, vehicles, and aircraft.
The Twenty-first Marines would
train at New River until mid-November 1942 before starting their move to Camp
Elliott in California for further training. When training at New River was
completed in early November, all the men were given a 5-day furlough before
leaving for amphibious training on the west coast to be followed by deployment
overseas.
Time Out to Get Married
Dad returned to Pittsburgh on his
furlough and he and Mom were married at St. Justin's Church in Mt. Washington
on November 14, 1942. Dad and Mom met in 1940 when they were both part of a
group of friends call Pi-Al-Pa (Pittsburgh - Allegheny - Pennsylvania). In
Mom’s book of memories she wrote Dad was the best looking guy in the gang and that after she met Dad it was really the start of my happy memories.
They spent the first night of their nearly sixty year marriage at the William Penn
Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. The next day Dad left Pittsburgh to return to New
River. A few days later he was on a train heading for California.
More Training on the West Coast
On November 15 the Twenty-first
Marines began departing New River by train for Camp Elliott in San Diego. By
November 21 all personnel had departed.[7] For most of the men it would be their first
time to cross America on a train. Prior to this I believe the furthest Dad had
traveled from home was to Central Pennsylvania during his time in the Civilian
Conservation Corp about ten years earlier.
Pvt. John Carey of the Third
Marine Regiment described the train ride from New River to San Diego.[8] The trip
across country took about two weeks all the way in the same Pullman coach. The
coaches were sleepers and each seat could be folded down to make two bunks… we
sat up all day playing cards…some places we left the car to eat and other times
they added a dining car.. We went through a desert that I think lasted about
four days and saw absolutely nothing. We came into the outskirts of San
Bernardino… there were flowers everywhere and we saw our first orange tree… we
turned south and headed for San Diego. (There) we were sent to tents set up on
one end of a paved drill field.
On
December 8, 1942, about two weeks after arriving at Camp Elliott, Dad wrote a
letter to his sister Mary to say that everything was still going fine and they
were not working us any too hard and that
don’t make me mad. Dad’s mother was apparently confused about how she would
receive her allotment check from Dad, which she needed for support. In the
letter Dad asked Mary to explain the
allotment to Mom. Dad explained that a wife is considered a Class A dependent
while a mother or father is considered a Class B dependent... By making it out to Helen we would get more. Helen will give Mommy
her share. The day after writing this letter would be Dad’s 29th birthday.
Dad said they were going aboard a
ship for 10 days for maneuvers and then
returning to the camp. He said he was looking
forward to a few days of seasickness, noting a lot of the boys got sick at New River and we were only out for a few
hours but then we weren't out in a big ship. Training at Camp Elliott was
almost exclusively made up of ship-to-shore landings at La Jolla and Santa
Margarita beaches.[9]
References
Chapter 5
[1]
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Army, Navy and Marines Enroll 186,
p. 18, Tuesday, August 11, 1942
[2] Aurthur,
R. A., & Cohlmia, K. (1948). The Third Marine Division. (R. T. Vance, Ed.)
Washington DC: Washington Infantry Press, p. 7
[3]
Aurthur, R. A., & Cohlmia, p. 21
[4] Aurthur,
R. A., & Cohlmia, p. 22
[5]
US Marine Corps Muster Rolls October 1942
[6]
http://www.ww2gyrene.org/weapons_BAR.htm
[7]
Aurthur, R. A., & Cohlmia, p. 23
[8] Carey,
John ”A Marine from Boston” p. 61
[9]
Aurthur, R. A., & Cohlmia,, p. 23
Chapter 6: Moving Overseas
Ocean Cruise Liner to New Zealand
Training in New Zealand
Final Preparations in Guadalcanal
Where is this Place?
The Twenty-first Marines was made
up of three battalions. The 1st Battalion of the Twenty-first Marines, of which
Dad was a part, were led by Lt. Colonel Ernest W. Fry of Prosser, Washington.
The regimental commander of the Twenty-first Marines in 1943 was Colonel Evans
O. Ames.
Ocean Cruise Liner to New Zealand
On February 15, 1943 several
elements of the Twenty-first Marines embarked on a former luxury liner, Lurline, for New Zealand. About a week later
the 1st Battalion under Lt. Colonel Fry would follow.[1] So Dad
would have departed San Diego for New Zealand on about February 23, 1943. It is
likely they sailed on the USS Bloemfontein, alias the “Burp”, a former Dutch
motor ship.[2] It doesn’t quite
sound like a luxury liner.
Regardless, they arrived in Auckland, New Zealand on March 11.
Figure 11 Bloemfontein Transported 21st Marines from
San Diego to New Zealand [3]
Private First Class (PFC) Helms,
in his book, Bougainville, A Marines
Story, described the journey across the Pacific on the Lurline… enlisted men were housed below deck, jammed
together. We had salt water showers, the bunks were so close together that
unless you had a top bunk the guy's butt above you sagged so close that it was
hard to turn over… the bunks across from you were just an arm length away… wait
in line for chow… the cook's helper throws your food into various compartments
of the tray… we were made to wear life jackets because of the threat from
Japanese submarines… they were called Mae West's because of their shape.[4] I doubt life was
much better on the “Burp”!
Helms also describes the
initiation one endures when crossing the Equator for the first time. Pollywogs
crossing for the first time are stripped,
our heads shaved, our bodies covered with 'gun grease' and we were made to
crawl through the foulest garbage the ship could produce. The pandemonium went
on for hours. Gradually, we became a Shellback.[5]
I remember Dad telling me about
his initiation one evening in our downstairs family room as we drank a few Iron
City's. There was also a 'King Neptune' who all "Pollywogs" needed to
worship. Dad showed me a card he carried as proof that he was officially a
"Shellback" but I don't remember the details, or its whereabouts. Dad
told me about this in good humor and it was clearly one of those fun memories
that everyone crossing the equator for the first time would endure.
Pvt. Carey also described his
trip on the SS Lurline in early February of 1943. He was likely on the same voyage
as Helms as they were both part of the same Third Marines regiment. Carey noted
the converted cruise ship was loaded with
fighter planes all packed together with the wings up. He noted the zigzag pattern taken by the ship to
avoid detection by submarines. Seasickness
was a major problem and the confined space compounded the problem. Carey
noted the most outstanding feature on-board was the coffee. Fifty years later I still remember it and
nothing ever tasted as good.[6]
Training in New Zealand
The 1st Battalion of the Twenty-first
Marines arrived in New Zealand on March 11, 1943 and encamped at Waikaraka Park
in the northwest section of New Zealand.[7]
The entire Third Marine Division was now in New Zealand but scattered into
twenty-two separate camps.[8]
After the voyage to New Zealand
there was no let up on the training. Two-day hikes were the first phase of the
new training program. Experience was gained through landing exercises conducted
by battalion landing teams and regimental combat teams, as well as working
through the likely supply and logistical problems that they would encounter
when in a hostile area. Training also included strategic positioning, target
practice and map reading. Firing exercises were conducted to accustom troops to
overhead fire.
For a week at the end of March
the entire regiment conducted landings and debarkation exercises in the Martins
Bay area. Speed and movement at night was the emphasis of the training. During
April the regiment carried out sixty-mile hikes over three days.
PFC Helms noted the great
attraction on New Zealand was the liberty…
men piled on board the train and chugged off for Auckland for wine, women and
song. Reportedly the girls thoroughly enjoyed us, calling us Yanks.
The US serviceman pay was four to five times more than New Zealand soldiers
got. It let us entertain royally.
Steak and eggs, a sirloin or T-bone, with two eggs sizzling on top cost 35
cents.[9] I know Dad enjoyed
this as he would often refer to Styke and
Ike, mimicking the New Zealanders British accent for steak and eggs. Beer
was sold by the quart in New Zealand which I am sure Dad also enjoyed.
While in New Zealand Dad
'hand-made' a ring from a 1934 Half-Crown. It is a beautiful ring that he gave
to my sister Mary Lou. The ring is pictured below as well as a replica
Half-Crown coin from which it was made. On the inside face of the ring the
wording on the coin can be seen - GEORGE V KING EMPEROR / NEW ZEALAND HALFCROWN
1934. Dad told us that he spent many hours working this. My sister Mary Lou recalls
Dad saying he kept tapping it with a
spoon, just kept tap, tap tapping. The actual process remains a
well-guarded family trade secret!
Figure 12 Ring made from New Zealand Coin – D.J.
Birmingham 1943
In June 1943 Major General Barrett conducted
an inspection of the combat readiness of the 3d Marine Division… Satisfied by
his inspection, plans were subsequently made for the move to Guadalcanal and then to Bougainville and the baptism of
fire.[10]
Final Preparations in Guadalcanal
On June 30 the men of the 3d Marine
Division began its movement to Guadalcanal for its final stage of training. Around
August 1, 1943 the rear echelon, of which the Twenty-first Marines were a part,
arrived and joined the remainder of the 3d Marine Division at Coconut Grove Camp,
Tetere Beach in Guadalcanal.
While Guadalcanal was ideal for
training purposes since the terrain was as rugged as any in the south Pacific few
men imagined at the time of the Guadalcanal training that there would be a day
in the near future when they would look back on the island as practically a
tropical paradise in comparison with Bougainville.
PFC Helms noted all of us shared an uneasy feeling. We did
not feel the enemy would be there, but the very name of the island gave us
goose bumps... each of us were immediately ordered to dig our foxhole next to
the tent. We soon found out why when Japanese bombers came in the night. As
time went by we refined our foxholes into works of art, going ever deeper until
we had a little private nest underground.[11]
At Coconut Grove Camp the final
stage of training took place including patrolling, marksmanship, command post
exercises, jungle marches and maneuvers, and all types of amphibious training.
The training was intensified as the Division made ready for combat. The
grueling conditions involved in working through the jungles and mountains would
be similar to what they would experience in Bougainville. But Bougainville
would redefine the meaning of grueling.
Pvt. John Carey, a scout in the
battalion combat intelligence squad of the Third Marine Regiment recalled the
natives of Guadalcanal and the important role they played in assisting the
Allies.[12] He described the Pipeline, a method of communications by
short wave radios which relayed messages back and forth between the spread-out
islands of the Solomon’s. These people became known as “Weatherman”. They were an important intelligence source that
relayed information on ship and airplane movements, troop or fleet movements
and their positions all of which was vital to the Allies. Carey talks about one
of the natives named Jacob Vouza, a
sergeant in the Solomon Islands constabulary who would guide training
patrols on his island along with many other valuable services. The only weapon Jacob carried was a
machete. Carey recalls when they went with Jacob to meet a few of his
friends some of who were formerly cannibals. Believe me, they were not the type to bring home for dinner, although
they may bring you home FOR dinner. Jacob was awarded the Silver Star metal
by Marine General A. Vandergrift. After the war Jacob was knighted by the King
of England for his service to the allies during World War II. There were likely
many natives like Jacob Vouza who were unsung heroes of the war.
The mission of the 3d Marine Division
was announced on September 27, 1943. It was to land in the vicinity of Cape Torokina, Empress Augusta Bay; seize,
occupy and defend an initial beachhead between the Laruma and Torokina Rivers.
The beachhead was to extend about a mile and a quarter inland from Cape
Torokina.[13]
The 3d Division was composed of
three regimental combat teams made up of men from the Third, Ninth, and Twenty-first
Marines along with the specialists and service personnel that would form the
reinforced regimental combat teams. The reinforced Third and Ninth Marines
would be the forward echelon and make the initial assault on the beach on
November 1. The Twenty-first regimental combat team with its attached units
were the rear echelon and would arrive on November 6.
Where is this Place?
When the big news was announced.
PFC Helms recalled a Marine General standing on top of a coconut log platform and
saying You’re going to pull out of here …
and you’re going to make an invasion in Empress Augusta Bay in Bougainville. We
stared at each other. Where in the hell was that? [14]
Let’s look at a map of the
Oceania continent and the route that the Twenty-first Marines took from
Auckland, New Zealand (lower right corner of map) to Guadalcanal and then to
Bougainville.[15]
They departed Auckland, New Zealand on July 18 1943 on-board the USS AMERICAN
LEGION and sailed about 1300 miles northwest to Noumea in New Caledonia,
arriving on July 26. From there they sailed north, towards the New Hebrides
then northwest to Guadalcanal in the southern Solomon Islands,
arriving on July 30, 1943. From Guadalcanal they would later sail to
Bougainville, the northernmost of the Solomon Islands. Bougainville is about
6,000 miles southwest of San Francisco, California.
References Chapter 6
[1] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 24
[2] Aurthur & Cohlmia p. 29
[3] Third Marine Division’s TWO SCORE AND TEN History, Flower of the Sea, p. 36
[4] Helms Jr, Doan. Bougainville: A Marine's Story (Kindle Locations 235-240)
[5] Helms, Kindle Locations 253-258.
[6] Carey, p.63-66
[7] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 29
[8] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 51
[9] Helms Jr, Kindle Locations 404
[10] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 33
[11] Helms, Kindle Locations 463-470
[12] Carey, p. 127-128
[13] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 55
[14] Helms, Kindle Locations 558-560
[15] Based on US Marines Muster Roll, Daniel J. Birmingham, July 1-31, 1943
Chapter 7: Bougainville
Strategy to Defeat Japan
Empress Augusta Bay Beachhead Landing
The Story Back Home
The Twenty-first Marines in
Bougainville
Hellzapoppin Ridge – November 28 to December 18
Remembering Bougainville by Those Who
Were There
By early 1942 the Japanese had occupied much of China and Southeast Asia, including French Indochina (today's Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia), as well as the British and Dutch colonial possessions in the region including the Dutch East Indies, Burma and Malaya. These countries were either rich in raw materials, especially oil and rubber, needed by Japan's aggressive war machine or in food needed by Japan's fast-growing population.
Strategy to Defeat Japan
In 1942 the Allies strategy was
to control key islands along the Solomon chain to serve as forward air bases,
and be within striking range of the major Japanese supply and troop facility in
Rabaul (New Guinea). Japan had taken occupation of several of the island in
this chain by early 1942, including Guadalcanal and Bougainville. Bougainville,
at the western end of the Solomon chain was less than 250 miles from Rabaul (on
the tip of New Britain Island). This was within the range of the American
bomber and fighter aircraft. Bougainville was a key step in achieving this
overall strategy. Bringing AIRSOLS (Allied air units in the Solomon Islands)
planes within striking distance of Rabaul would help take pressure off
MacArthur's troops advancing in New Guinea and New Britain.[1]
During
the spring of 1943 the Joint Chiefs of Staff and their subordinate committees
in Washington had been making a series of decisions affecting the course of the
war in the Pacific. The plan aimed at securing the unconditional surrender of
Japan by air and naval blockade of the Japanese homeland, by air bombardment,
and, if necessary, by invasion. If air bombardment, invasion, or both proved
necessary, then air and naval bases in the western Pacific would be required. These
plans had an immediate impact upon the Bougainville invasion and on MacArthur's
plans to seize Rabaul. While in 1942 there had been general agreement that
Rabaul should be captured, the June 1943 meetings of the Washington planning
committees held that a considerable economy of force would result if Rabaul was
neutralized rather than captured. The Combined Chiefs, meeting The Joint
Chiefs' recommendation that Rabaul be neutralized, not captured were received
and approved during their meeting with President Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Churchill in Quebec during their meetings in August 1943.[2]
Bougainville
is the largest of the Solomon Islands, located near the northwest end of the
chain. It is 125 miles long and 30 to 48 miles wide. It has two active volcanos
that send continual clouds of steam and smoke into the skies. One of the
volcanos, Mount Bagana, overlooks Empress Augusta Bay. Cape Torokina is located
on the west side of the island.
Between
the sea and the mountains at Cape Torokina, which lay within fighter range of
Munda (a Japanese airbase on New Georgia, also part of the Solomon Island
chain), was a coastal plain of about seven square miles. It was lightly
defended; Halsey estimated that there were about one thousand Japanese in the
area. So forbidding were the surrounding mountains that the area was almost
isolated from the strong Japanese garrisons in southern Bougainville. Halsey
and his planners estimated that if Allied forces seized Torokina the Japanese
would require three or four months to bring enough heavy equipment over the
mountains to launch an effective counterattack. The marines … took samples of
soil similar to that at Torokina. When tested, it showed that Cape Torokina was
suitable for airfields The disadvantages of this landing site were the heavy
surf in Empress Augusta Bay (located on the west side of Bougainville) which
would make landing operations difficult; no more than 65 miles separated the
cape from all the Japanese air bases on Bougainville; and Rabaul was only 215
miles to the northwest.[3]
Admiral
Halsey decided on Cape Torokina as the landing site. In his words: The conception was bold and the probability
of provoking a violent air-land-surface action was accepted and welcomed on the
premise that the by-products of enemy destruction would, in themselves, greatly
further the over-all Pacific plan. Enthusiasm for the plan was far from
unanimous, even in the South Pacific, but, the decision having been made, all
hands were told to 'Get going'.[4]
Halsey
informed MacArthur of his decision on 1 October. Expressing his complete
agreement, MacArthur promised maximum air support from the Southwest Pacific.
Allied
naval and air forces would conduct a twelve-day raid on Choiseul, about 100
miles southeast of Empress Augusta Bay, hoping to mislead the enemy into
thinking their assault would be on Bougainville's east coast rather than at Empress Augusta Bay. The invasion would
be launched at Cape Torokina, Empress Augusta Bay on November 1, 1943.
Empress Augusta Bay Beachhead Landing
The first wave of Marines moved
ashore on Monday, November 1, 1943. The initial landing was made by the Third
and the Ninth Regimental Combat Teams (RCTs) totaling 14,321 troops (including
the 1st Marine Dog Platoon with their 24 Dobermans and German shepherds). The
plan was to establish a beachhead, then bring in supplies and equipment to
build a landing strip for fighters. Simultaneous with the signal to start the
first assault the destroyers Anthony,
Wadsworth, Terry, and Sigourney commenced their prearranged fires.
Immediately after this fire was lifted 31 TBF's (Grumman Torpedo
Bombers/Fighter) of Marine Air Group 14, flying from Munda (about 180 miles
southeast of Bougainville) bombed and strafed the beaches for about five
minutes.[5] The Allies had re-taken
Munda from the Japanese two months earlier in August 1943. The landing site at Cape Torokina was on the west side of the island
roughly at its mid-length as shown in Figure 13.
The Twenty-first Regimental
Combat Team with attached units was in reserve and remained at Guadalcanal.
They would embark for Bougainville on November 4.
Figure 14 Bougainville Island – 1943[6]
Marine PFC Helms of the Third
Marines vividly described the initial beachhead landing at Bougainville. The
navy bombardment began which was deafening and reassuring… time to go over the
side... down the nets they went with practiced moves, into the shifting,
pitching landing craft (Higgins Boat). Jammed your way in among the other Marines.
The engine roared and moved towards the beach… Suddenly they hit the beach and
the ramp on the front of the craft slammed down. Men shot out of the boat…'keep
moving, keep moving' was shouted... Jap Zeros were streaking towards the men
with guns blazing. The men grabbed their shovels and dug like badgers… this was
chaos time… The men inched forward and began firing into the invisible target -
a solid wall of jungle. The enemy was in there… The heavy training was paying
off for the Marines. They were functioning automatically. They continued to
move forward… into the Bougainville swamp. It was dark, slimy and treacherous.
Hours went by. Finally they reached higher ground and it was time to dig in... Dig those holes and get in there… They
dug in and grabbed nearby vegetation to make their bed more comfortable. The
night was pitch black. Men opened their K-rations and ate silently. Men then
laid with their feet and bayonet-tipped rifles pointed towards the enemy.[7]
When Pvt. Carey first saw
Bougainville he described it as looking like another tropical paradise. Shades of light and dark green vegetation,
long white sandy beaches. A shoreline with coconut palms, and without a manmade
structure in sight… to complete the picture there was a chain of mountains, and
one, Mount Bagana, had smoke coming from its active volcano. All of this was
about to change – war was about to enter this paradise.[8]
The actual conditions on
Bougainville would redefine one’s initial impression from a distance. The
conditions on the ground were described as... thick, twisted, impenetrable jungles-bottomless mangrove
swamps-crocodile infested rivers-millions of insects thriving in the worst rain
forest in the Pacific-heavy daily torrents that wash the sulfur of volcanic
Bagana into the streams- inhabited by a wild, uncultured race of people reputed
to be head hunters. There were Japs there too, nearly forty thousand of them.[9]
The Marines were forced to
disembark under fire and to start fighting the moment they put foot to the
ground. Casualties were lighter than might have been expected--78 men were
killed and 104 wounded in the day's action--but only after fierce fighting and
much valor were the men of the 3d Marines able to establish themselves ashore...
Most of its defenders were dead; the survivors retreated inland… pushing slowly
through dense jungle and a knee-deep swamp...The swamp's existence had not
previously been suspected.[10]
The Story Back Home
Back at home on Monday, November
1, 1943 a front page report in the Pittsburgh Press from Allied Headquarters,
Southwest Pacific was “FLIERS POUND RABAUL AGAIN”. The news report noted the continued allied bombing of the Jap aircraft
at their big base in Rabaul on New Britain Island. A headquarters spokesmen
said the attack on Rabaul, and new blows at Bougainville in the northern
Solomon’s could be viewed as direct support to the ground troops on Choiseul (in
the nearby Treasury Islands).[11]
On November 2, a front page report
in the Pittsburgh Press from Allied Headquarters, Southwest Pacific was under
the banner “YANKS INVADE BOUGAINVILLE”. American
forces stormed ashore on Bougainville Island yesterday to seize Empress Augusta
Bay and doom thousands of Jap troops at outflanked bases on the southeast
approaches to Rabaul. The landing on the largest and most powerfully held
island in the Solomon’s group was carried out by troops under Admiral Halsey
against slight opposition. [12]
Further reporting on Bougainville
on page 6 was under the banner “Cruisers
Bombard Invasion Beach” provided additional details of the Marines landing
at Empress Augusta Bay. From midnight
October 31 to daylight a cruiser force shelled Jap positions from Buka in the
north to Shortland Island at the south end of Bougainville in preparation for
the landing. For an hour at dawn, destroyers raked the invasion beach …
bordered inland by an almost impassable swamp. The Japs had built gun
emplacements, dugouts and other defenses on the beach. As soon as the landing
craft reached shore, the Marines set up guns and dug foxholes. In a few hours,
transports brought more men and equipment.[13]
The map below from the above Pittsburgh
Press story illustrates the location of Empress Augusta Bay where the Marine
forces landed at Bougainville as well as its relationship to Rabaul and the
Treasury Islands.[14]
Figure 15 Bougainville Island in the South Pacific The Pittsburgh Press, November 2, 1943
Dad’s mother, his wife Helen and his sister
Mary would have been aware of his being in the south Pacific training in Guadalcanal
so the news being reported in the newspapers in early November 1943 would have
certainly gotten their attention.
On the domestic side back home the
Pittsburgh Press headline on November 2, 1943 read; “ICKES, LEWIS MAP COAL
PEACE. Mines are Seized by Government; Men Ordered Back”.[15]
United Mine Workers (UMW) president,
John L. Lewis was expected to order his men to return to work today (November
2) under a Presidential order that placed the mines under Government operation.
However, the 530,000 coal miners would ignore the UMW expectation and President
Roosevelt’s order to return to their jobs to produce the fuel on which the
Nation’s war production program depends. Ten blast furnaces in the Pittsburgh
area were shut-down due to the lack of fuel. The issue keeping the coal mines
closed was 37.5 cents a day. This was the difference between the $8.125 a day wage which the War Labor Board
(WLB) said is permissible and the $8.50 a day which the miner’s union accepted
in the Illinois agreement. In a Pittsburgh Press editorial the following
day it was argued that the 37½ cents difference
could hardly mean a difference between life and death to the miner, but it
could make a difference on the fighting front (coal needed to produce
munitions) and to people heating their home in the coming winter. And he argued
that breaking the line of the stabilization program would start a parade of
37.5 cents more for everybody else and higher prices for everybody… What good
to him or anybody else?[16]
On November 4 UMW President Lewis
and Mr. Ickes of the WLB reached agreement on the daily wage of $8.50 per day
and the workers were ordered by their union president to resume production of
coal “at the earliest possible moment”.
The proposed settlement would raise the coal miner’s wage from $7.00 per day,
to $8.50 per day, and require the miners spend one hour more each day at
productive work. The workers return to the struck mines was painfully slow as
they digested the details of the new agreement.[17]
By November 8 the overwhelming
majority of soft coal miners had accepted the contract negotiated by their
leader, John L. Lewis and Mr. Ickes. Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corp. reported
that all 49 open hearth furnaces closed during the strike were now back in
operation. The H.C. Frick Coke Company, which produced the metallurgical coal
(coke) for the U.S. Steel Corp subsidiaries was expecting at least
three-fourths of their normal production that day. The United Steel Workers of
America were now demanding a 15 cent an hour raise.
Meanwhile a five-day strike which
halted war production at the National Supply Company in Ambridge was being
resolved as 3,000 steelworkers returned to work. Nationally a wage increase was
being approved for 1.1 million railroad employees to avert a strike in that
industry. The strike at the coal mines and its impact on war production would
gain more attention in the weeks ahead, particularly in western Pennsylvania.
An editorial in the Pittsburgh
Press on November 8 entitled Boys Won’t
Forget Strikes, She Believes[18] reads…Well we just didn’t know there were so many white-livered cads in
America that could take advantage of the war to strike, in order to get what
they want by closing down the mines, the plants and railroads when our country
and the boys need their help so badly. I wonder what the boys over there think
when they see in the home town papers that we are out on strike because we want
enough money so we can retire when the boys have won the war for us.
The Twenty-First Marines In Bougainville
By November 6 the
ten-thousand-yard (nearly 6 mile) beachfront at Cape Torokina had been extended
inland to a depth of almost three miles. The first ships since the initial
assault five days earlier began arriving at Empress Augusta Bay that morning. This
echelon included the 1st Battalion, Twenty-first Marines led by Lt. Colonel Ernest W. Fry, the first echelon of
the Twenty-first regimental combat team (RCT) under Colonel Evans O. Ames. They
had left Guadalcanal on November 4 and brought with them 3,548 troops and 5,080
tons of supplies and equipment. Troops from the First Marine Amphibious Corp, a
second echelon of Seabees, advance liaisons of the 148th Army
Regiment, and the second echelon of the Marine defense battalion were also
on-board. This echelon comprised eight Landing Ship, Tanks (LST) and eight
Transport Destroyers.[19]
The 1st Battalion, Twenty-first Marines were immediately attached to the Ninth Marines, to be placed in reserve in the Torokina Point area.[21] Dad was part of this RCT, serving as a B.A.R Man in Company ‘A’, 1st Battalion under Lt. Colonel Fry. Their baptism of fire would come shortly.
The October 1943 Marine Corp Muster
Roll of Officers and Enlisted men shows there were 188 members of ‘A’ Company, 1st Battalion Twenty-first Marines.[22] The Recapitulation
sheet shows there were 54 members of the Regular Marine Corp, all enlisted men,
and 134 members of Marine Corp Reserves, including 6 officers. The six officers
were First Lieutenants Averitte, Helgen, Landrum, McKee, Willett and Williams. The
note at the bottom of the Recapitulation shows the Company was at Guadalcanal,
Solomon Islands during the period October 1-31, 1943. This note was added by the
battalion commander’s classification letter dated 10 Nov 43. I assume their
specific location (Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands) remained classified until
after the initial November 1 assault on Bougainville.
Koromokina Lagoon November 7 to 9
In the early morning of November
7 the Japs made their only attempt to land reinforcements on Bougainville.[23] Troop-carrying
destroyers hovered off the beach between the Laruma and Koromokina Rivers in
the predawn darkness and between 0400 and 0600 hours 475 enemy soldiers slipped
ashore.[24]
The Japanese attacked at once in
the vicinity of a lagoon about fourteen hundred yards west of the Koromokina
River. A company of the 3d Battalion, Ninth Marines (3/9) engaged in a heavy
firefight with the incoming Jap reinforcements and destroyed a major portion of
the enemy force. However, the Japs continued to land reinforcements from boats
farther down the beach which the Marines were unable to confront.[25]
The next morning, November 8,
five field artillery batteries, plus mortars, antitank guns and machine guns,
fired a twenty-minute barrage into the Japanese position.[26] The newly arrived
1st Battalion, Twenty-first Marines (1/21), under the leadership of Lt. Colonel
Fry, supported by light tanks assaulted the position. It met only light
opposition as the artillery preparation had come close to achieving perfection.
The 1/21 walked cautiously but steadily through the jungle. It found in the
small area where the Japanese had packed themselves about three hundred men
were killed almost instantaneously, their dead bodies lying beside their
smashed weapons. The combination of vigorous ground action of the infantry, the
fires of the artillery, and attacks from the air had completely broken up and
disintegrated the Japanese counter-landing. Five hundred and fifty-one enemy
were killed during these three days of fighting in the Koromokina Lagoon.[27] The losses to the
two marine battalions during the operation were sixteen killed and thirty
wounded.[28] This would have
been the first combat operation in which my Dad was engaged.
On the morning of November 8 the
Army landed their 148th Regimental Combat Team as Echelon 2A, including 5,715
men and 3,160 tons of supplies. They would receive their baptism of fire on
Bougainville just before noon the same day as their transports were attacked by
Japanese torpedo bomber and fighter aircraft. Five men were killed and 20
wounded in the enemy attacks.[29]
A few days later on Armistice
Day, November 11, the 2d Battalion, Twenty-first Marines commanded by Lt.
Colonel Eustace R. Smoak would arrive as Echelon 3 (refer to Table 1). They would
be immediately given the task of patrolling the Numa-Numa Trail to the
East-West Trail junction as its first combat mission. This would become the
battle of Coconut Grove.
Coconut Grove
November 13 to 14
On the morning of November 13 ‘E’
Company of the 2d Battalion Twenty-first Marines (2/21), commanded by Captain
S.H. Altman, and accompanied by Major Fissell, the Executive Officer of the 2d
Battalion, proceeded up the Numa-Numa trail with orders to establish an outpost
at the junction of the East-West trail.
At 1100 the company was hit by an
enemy ambush and became engaged in heavy machine gun and mortar fire. A runner
reported this news back to 2/21 battalion commander Lt. Col. Smoak and that
Major Fissell had been killed. Later that afternoon it was discovered that ‘F’ Company
of 2/21 could not be located and that the battalion was in a very dangerous
position. The 2d Battalion went into a perimeter defense for the night. Soon
communications were reestablished and artillery was registered in on the Jap
positions.[30]
The next morning, November 14, five
light tanks joined 2/21. Division control had also decided to reinforce 2/21
and sent Lt. Colonel Fry’s 1/21 battalion forward. Fry’s 1st Battalion reached
the bivouac area near the regiment command post at 0900. An air strike to
coordinate with a renewed ground attack on the ‘coconut grove’ was arranged and
directed by a marine ground liaison team. The Avenger aircraft, carrying 100
pound bombs struck a corridor a hundred yards ahead of 1/21. Given the
situation Lt. Col. Smoak did not feel he could launch a ground attack to take
maximum advantage of the air strike. The assault on the Japanese positions did
not come until 1155 which allowed the Japanese time to resume their forward
defenses and pour heavy fire on the marine assault companies.[32]
Further, the tanks attached to
the 2d Battalion mistakenly opened fire on friendly forces and several men were
run over. Captain Altman of ‘E’ Company was able to reorient the tanks and Lt.
Colonel Smoak immediately took personal command of the assault. Within an hour the
enemy resistance was overcome and a perimeter defense was established.[33]
Forty Japanese bodies were found in
the grove but the size of the defense and the amount of resistance given
indicated a much larger force had occupied the position. The Japanese commander
had skillfully pulled the remainder of his force out of the coconut grove and
they escaped eastward along the East-West Trail. The baptism of fire of 2/21,
supported by 1/21, had secured the vital road junction but at a cost of twenty
dead and thirty-nine wounded.[34]
Cibik’s Ridge
and the Battle of Piva Forks November 20 to 25
Between November 20 and 25 there
was significant actions that would break
the back of the enemy in the Empress August Bay area. The action was known
as the battle of Cibik’s Ridge, followed by the battle of Piva Forks. It
involved men from each of the regiments of the 3d Marines Division, the Third,
Ninth and Twenty-first Marines.
On November 20, 1st Lt. Steve Cibik of 2/3 and his platoon had secured an important high ground that overlooked the main position of the Japanese. They held their position for three nightmarish days and nights standing off wild charges by the Japanese to within a few feet of their foxholes on the crest of the ridge.[35] This high ground was to be known as “Cibik’s Ridge” was Lt. Cibik awarded the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as Leader of a Reinforced Rifle Platoon attached to the Second Battalion, THIRD Marine Division during the assault and capture of a Japanese held ridge at Piva Forks, Bougainville, Solomon Islands on November 20, 1943.[36]
Colonel Steve Cibik was from Leechburg,
Pennsylvania, about 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, and spent 31 years in the
Marine Corp. He served during World War II in Bougainville, during the Korean
War, and in Vietnam.
As part of the Piva Forks battle
Gunnery Sergeant Puckett from ‘A’ Company of Lt. Colonel Fry’s 1/21,
distinguished himself while leading a reinforced platoon. Sergeant Puckett led his men in a fierce
counter attack directing the fire of the mortar guns and personally hurling
approximately thirty hand grenades at the advancing Japanese with devastating
effect. By his aggressive fighting spirit and inspiring leadership platoon
Sergeant Puckett succeeded in completely routing the enemy force.” Sergeant Clarence Puckett of Detroit, Michigan was
awarded the Silver Star posthumously for his heroic actions on November 22,
1943.[37] He would die in a latter battle on Hellzapoppin
Ridge.[38]
Dad
was in the same ‘A’ Company as Sgt. Puckett and I suspect they knew each other.
It was after all, Thanksgiving Day, and a tradition had to be
observed. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had decreed that all servicemen
should get turkey — one way or another.[39]
The Torokina fighter strip had
been completed by this time and one of the first consignments of cargo to be
flown into Empress Augusta Bay area consisted of fresh turkeys for all hands of
the 3d Marine Division.[40]
Pvt. John Carey of the 2nd
Battalion Third Marines wrote … they told us that a large number of wooden
cases of canned “Norbest Turkeys” arrived on the Island. The cases were given
to the cooks, who got together and scrubbed out a number of 55-gallon gas drums
to be used to boil the birds. The turkey dinner would be different than we had
at home. There was no stuffing, no mashed potatoes, vegetables, gravy,
cranberry sauce or pies. Mess gear would be used instead of china… I doubt
there was a tablecloth on the island. But it was Thanksgiving and our
quartermasters were determined to deliver turkey to every man on the beachhead…
by the time it reached us on day 2 there were only scraps. However, despite the
stink many of us nibbled on it. I don’t think any of us got sick or died from
eating it, and it was a Thanksgiving we wouldn’t forget.[42]
The battle in the swamps for
domination of the Piva Forks was still in progress and higher command had
decided beforehand to provide all the troops with real honest-to-goodness
turkey in lieu of the usual rations. The turkeys had arrived on November 23 and
regimental cooks had spent the night before the attack cooking them… The rear
echelon troops could have their dinner warm and eat in relative comfort, but
what about the frontline troops? The commissary officer decided to try to send
the turkey forward. Carrying parties were organized and braving sniper fire
late in the afternoon they carried it to the advance areas.[43]
One Marine recalled… some of the
meat got there, some didn't. But it was a good stunt and a necessity. No one
would have been forgiven if it had been left to rot at the Division Commissary
just because we had a battle.[44]
The men sat on logs eating their
turkey. Near by a Jap lay rotting in the swamps. Heads and arms of dead Japs
floated in the nearby jungle streams. Not a very enjoyable setting but these
were tired, ravenously hungry men who had been fighting all day. And it was
Thanksgiving. Those who were able to get it enjoyed their turkey.[45]
On December 6 the war was
relegated to second place as nature decided to put on a show. The entire island
was shaken by a major earthquake that morning then followed by a series of
sharp aftershocks.
Frazer West, commanding a company
of the 9th Marines, recalled the event - the
big trees were just swaying around and we had built this fortification on this
ridge, pillboxes, and such out of coconut logs and the roofs fell in on the
pillboxes and some of the trenches caved in. The men got down and hugged to
ground. It was impossible to stand up while it was going on. They were scared
to death when these huge trees were breaking down around them. This went on it
seemed for several minutes. The ground really rumbled and shook. It was the
worst earthquake I'd ever been in.[46]
Pvt. Ernest Ewing of ‘D’ Company, 1st Battalion, Twenty-first Marines recalled several earthquakes the day before Christmas, and on Christmas Day we gave the Japs a present in the form of “fireworks”.[47]
Hellzapoppin Ridge – November 28 to December 18
From November 26 through the
first week of December there were only minor patrol clashes with the enemy.
When reconnaissance disclosed that the enemy was not occupying the hill mass
west of the Torokina River General Turnage ordered the occupation of the zone
despite the fact that supply and evacuation would be most difficult. The region
was defined to the north by Hill 1000 and then extend southward roughly
paralleling the Torokina River to Hills 600 and 500. The move forward would
considerably strengthen the marine positions and would deny the Japanese access
to the high ground from which they periodically shelled the airfields and
beachhead.[48]
The first step was to move
portions of all units into the area pending construction of amphibian tractor
trails through the jungle swamp.[49]
The various units of the 3d Division took up their position on the ridge transporting
all equipment by hand. The amphibian tractor trails came in below the ridge
line for bringing in supplies and eventually for evacuating casualties.
The photo below shows part of the amphibian tractor trails and the men of the Twenty-first Marines resting along the road to Hellzapoppin Ridge. The photo is from Dad's copy of The Third Marine Division given to each man who served with the Division as a permanent record of the units achievements. The check mark on the photograph is one of two marks that Dad made in the book.[50]
Figure 19 The Twenty-first Marines on the Road to
Hellzapoppin Ridge [51]
On December 4 the First Marine
Parachute Regiment was given the mission of occupying and defending Hill 1000
on the left flank of the ridge and covering the advance of the Ninth and
Twenty-first Marines. The paratroopers, supplied by air drop, held a 1 mile
wide front with a force of 800 men.[52]
On December 6 the war was
relegated to second place as nature decided to put on a show. Few, if any, of
the planners were aware of the extensive rift lines radiating out from the
central highlands and Mount Bagana, an active volcano. Everyone was therefore
surprised when the entire island was shaken by a major earthquake during the
morning of December 6 and then by a series of sharp aftershocks.[53]
The day following the earthquake
a patrol from the parachute battalion scouted a spur extending eastward from
Hill 1000, which was not shown on any of the maps. No Japanese were discovered
there, but the patrol found a number of well-dug-in positions on the ridge.
They postponed taking and holding the position until the following morning,
December 8, but when they returned they found that the Japanese had reoccupied
it in force. Lt. Colonel Williams's patrol made two attempts to seize the ridge
but was driven back both times. Williams and seven of his men were wounded
before retiring to the Marine lines. It would take eleven days of intense
fighting before the Japanese would surrender the ridge, which by then had
earned the nickname Hellzapoppin Ridge.[54]
The ridge was a razor-back hill jutting into enemy territory just west of the
Torokina River and 7,000 yards inland from the beach.
On December 9 three separate
patrols from the parachute battalion attacked the spur and in confused close
fighting a number of marines were wounded without gaining any advantage. Then
in the late afternoon the Japanese made a sudden direct attack on the marine
positions on Hill 1000. A combination of intense rifle and machine gun fire in
conjunction with the artillery ended the attack, but twelve marines had been
killed and twenty-six wounded during the fire fight. On 10 December the
parachute battalion was pulled off Hill 1000, and the responsibility for taking
Hellzapoppin Ridge fell to the 1st Battalion of the Twenty-first and the 1st
Battalion of the Ninth Marines.[55]
The units of the Ninth and
Twenty-first Marines took up their positions along the ridge. The Ninth Marines
advanced its right flank to a point near Hill 1000. Lt. Colonel Fry’s 1/21
Marines position generally extended from Hill
1000 over the high ground from which jutted Hellzapoppin Ridge. The 2d
Battalion of the Twenty-first took up its position on Hill 600, to the south of
Hellzapoppin Ridge.[56] The established perimeter on December 15 and its
relationship to Hellzapoppin Ridge is shown on the map below.
At first the Americans tried to
neutralize the Japanese by artillery fire but because of the location of the
ridge it was difficult to hit the position. General Geiger then called for air
strikes. The first of these, on 13 December, by three dive bombers and three
torpedo bombers left much to be desired. Some of the bombs hit the target,
marked by smoke shells, but one bomber dropped its load on marine positions
north of the ridge, killing two and wounding five.[58]
Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Butler,
the Twenty-first Marines executive officer, not only plotted the air strikes
but flew on the last two missions with the flight leader to zero in on the
enemy positions. On these, the marine lines were outlined by colored smoke
grenades, while the enemy area was marked by white smoke. On December 14,
seventeen torpedo bombers struck the ridge, and the next day another eighteen
torpedo bombers successfully struck the Japanese positions. Finally on December
18, loaded with hundred-pound bombs with delay fuses, six torpedo bombers
attacked, followed by five more TBFs, which dropped all their bombs in the
target area. The planes then swooped across the ridge in low-level strafing
runs in order to pin the enemy down.[59]
Immediately after the second air
attack, riflemen of 1/21 and 3/21 attacked the ridge from Hill 1000. The air
and artillery poundings had succeeded. There was but token resistance offered
by the dazed survivors, who were quickly eliminated. The marines counted more
than fifty Japanese dead; the remainder of the company, including wounded, had
fled to the east. The eleven-day battle for Hellzapoppin Ridge was over. The Twenty-first
Marines suffered 12 killed and 23 wounded.[60] Without
the excellent cooperation with marine air from the airfield at Cape Torokina
these casualty figures would have been much higher.[61]
Note, Hellzapoppin Ridge was also
known as Fry's Ridge, for the 1st Battalion of the Twenty-first Marines commander,
Lt. Colonel Fry, whose unit finally took it. In some accounts this encounter
has also been called the Battle of Fry's
Nose or Snuffy's Nose, for
Colonel Evans O. Ames, Commanding Officer of the Twenty-first Marines.[62]
Remembering Bougainville By Those Who Were There
John F. Pelletier of Warner, New Hampshire, a lead scout of ‘A’ Company, 1st Battalion Twenty-first Marines, remembers the Battle of Hellzapoppin Ridge…on or about December 10…crawling over the bodies on the newly dead…there were dead paratroopers all over the side of the hill…dead Japanese were still hanging in the trees. Sergeant Pelletier remembers losing Gunnery Sergeant Puckett, his squad leader Sergeant Oliver and Sergeant Rice. He remembers his platoon leader, Lt. Averitte, being wounded in the head and his being assigned to take him back down Hill 1000 to the Battalion Aid Station.[63]
Dad
was also a member of ‘A’ Company of the 1/21 Marines so I suspect he knew Mr. Pelletier
and the others mentioned.
Horace L. Wolfe Sr., Captain (Medical Corps) was a battalion surgeon with the Twenty-first Marines who served with them in Bougainville. He recalled (when the Twenty-first Marines replaced the Marine paratroop battalion on Hellzapoppin Ridge) the terrible odor of our dead in the tropical heat. The smell pinched one’s nostrils and clung to their clothing… during combat in the swamps all one could do was to put two drops of iodine solution into a canteen. Dr. Wolfe recalled that night was the worst, when we could not evacuate our sick or wounded.. For the wounded … morphine, plasma, dressing changes, boosting of morale were all we could offer until daybreak came and we could use our jeep ambulance. The ambulance had room for two litters, two seated ill or wounded and a driver.[64]
Lieutenant Orville Freeman was leading a platoon on a routine patrol and was struck in the jaw by a machine gun bullet. Aided by his men, he managed to find his way back to the perimeter. His remembrance of the field hospital was probably shared by many.
The jeep finally showed up and took me to our field hospital where they started to go to work on me. But this place was no great shakes either. The two nights I was at the field hospital-it was really more of a sick bay. Jap bombers came over. I had to spend those nights in a slit trench right next to two 90-mm anti-aircraft guns that we had firing at the Japs. What a sound! My ears were sore for days. On the third day after I'd reached the beachhead one of those destroyer transports arrived, picked up several of us who needed more attention and took us down the slot to Guadalcanal, where they had a base hospital.[65] Lt. Orville Freeman would later become the Governor of Minnesota and in 1960 became Secretary of Agriculture under President John Kennedy. He would continue to serve as secretary under President Johnson.
Patrick O'Sheel, a Marine combat correspondent, summed up the bitter battle at Hellzapoppin Ridge, No one knows how many Japs were killed. Some 30 bodies were found. Another dozen might have been put together from arms, legs, and torsos.[66]
Pvt. Ernest P. Ewing of Uniontown, Pennsylvania wrote this reassuring letter to his father in late December of 1943 or early January of 1944. I was one of the Marines who landed on Bougainville and am lucky enough to be telling about it… I came through without a scratch but had a couple close ones… I was in the battles at Empress Augusta, Hellzapoppin and Puckett’s Point. Puckett’s Point refers to the battle on November 20 which became known as Battle of Piva Forks. Ewing further writes There isn’t much more to tell you about Bougainville than you have read in the papers. It is, or was, the best Jap-occupied island in the Solomon’s … it rains every day, you can imagine how wet it was to sleep in fox holes. I am well and have loss some weight. You can stop worrying the situation is well in hand.”[67]
Colonel Frazer West, commander of a company in the Ninth Marines commented on another problem, jungle rot, which everyone encountered. We had very little change of clothes. That sand rubbing against your skin and the heat and wet combined made it easy to get jungle rot which is a form of fungus. Got it primarily on scalp, under arms, and in genital areas. I had it all above my knees. And it was miserable-no other word for it. No real cure for it. The only thing you could do was with the jungle ulcers. I'd get the corpsman to light a match on a razor blade, split the ulcer open, and squeeze sulfanilamide powder in it. I must have had at one time 30 jungle ulcers on me. This was fairly typical. I think the lower ranks even had more. At least I could get a little bit more being a company commander although I was right with them. The kids were miserable.[68]
In
2001 Les Gadbury of Monticello, Illinois wrote an account of his
experiences on Bougainville in 1943 as a machine gunner in ‘C’ Company, 1st
Battalion Ninth Marines.
Mr. Gadbury recalled a story about a fellow member of C-1-9, Vince Petrella of Canton, Ohio. Petrella was the BAR man in the squad and was along with two other men. The three were together when a (enemy) machine gun cut them down. Vince dropped his BAR when they fell. Any movement to retrieve his weapon brought heavy fire (in) his direction. Bullets were missing him by inches, as he lay pinned-down. Had the machine gun traversed right or left, he would not be here today. He later discovered he was in between two of the ‘firing lanes’ and could only escape this predicament as it got dark (from the enemy’s dug in position they would create ‘firing lanes or paths to shoot down’). If anyone ventured into one of these cleared areas his chances were not good, for he was in an enemy’s sights That’s how it was in combat, an inch here or a second there were often the determining factors as to whether one was a casualty or not.[69]
Success or failure can often be attributed to seemingly arbitrary actions or decisions that we make in our lives. In war, life or death can truly be measured as a matter of inches or seconds as was the case with Vince Petrella.
My Dad, Pvt. Daniel J. Birmingham, ‘A’ Company, 1st Battalion Twenty-first Marines, was wounded by shrapnel in the back of the head on December 16, 1943 at Hellzapoppin Ridge. The marine next to Dad was killed by the blast.
[1] Harry A. Gailey. Bougainville, 1943-1945: The Forgotten Campaign (Kindle Location 439-440)
[2] Miller, John. United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific. CARTWHEEL: p. 222-225, http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Rabaul/
[3] Miller, p. 229
[4] Miller, p. 229
[5] Rentz U.S.M.C.R, Major John N. (2013-08-07). Marines in World War II – Bougainville and the Northern Solomon’s (Kindle Location 819-823)
[6] Chapin, John C. “Top of the Ladder: Marine Operations in the Northern Solomons.” https://archive.org/details/TopOfTheLadder p. 1 1997.
[7] Helms, Location Kindle Locations 693-733
[8] Carey, p. 137
[9] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 51
[10] http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Rabaul/USA-P-Rabaul-12.html; P. 246
[11] Don Caswell, UP Staff Writer, The Pittsburgh Press, “FLIERS POUND RABAUL AGAIN”, p. 1, November 1, 1943,
[12] The Pittsburgh Press, “YANKS Invade Bougainville”, p. 1, November 2, 1943
[13] The Pittsburgh Press, “Cruisers Bombard Invasion Beach”, p. 6, November 2, 1941
[14] The Pittsburgh Press, “Map of Bougainville Region During Marine Landing”, p. 6, November 2, 1941
[15] The Pittsburgh Press, “Mines are Seized by Government; Men Ordered Back”; p. 1, November 3, 1943
[16] The Pittsburgh Press, Editorial Page; “37 ½ Cents a Day”, p. 16, November 3, 1943
[17] The Pittsburgh Press, “Text of Lewis Order Cites Need to Dig Coal at Once”, p. 15,November 4, 1943
[18] The Pittsburgh Press, Letters to the Editor, “Boys Won’t Forget Strike, She Believes”, p. 12, November 8, 1943
[19] Gailey, Kindle Location 1258-1268
[20] Rentz, Kindle Locations 1639-1640.
[21] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 65
[22] “Muster Roll Company ‘A’, First Battalion, Twenty-first Marines.” Ancestry.com US Marines Muster Roll. Oct. 1943
[23] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 65
[24] Rentz, Kindle Locations 1187-1188
[25] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 66
[26] Gailey, Kindle Location 1314-1315
[27] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 67
[28] Gailey, Kindle Locations 1314-1317
[29] Gailey. Kindle Location 1263-1268
[30] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p.69 - 70
[31] Aurthur & Cohlmia, P. 51
[32] Gailey, Kindle Location 1384-1389
[33] Gailey. Kindle Location 1390-1391
[34] Gailey. Kindle Location 1394-1395
[35] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 72
[36] “Valor awards for Steve J. Cibik” http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=35716
[37] “Valor awards for Clarence D. Puckett. http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=38287
[38] Third Marine Division’s TWO SCORE AND TEN History John F. Pelletier, p. 45
[39] Chapin, p. 24.
[40] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p.75
[41] Aurthur & Cohlmia, P. 115
[42] Carey, p. 266-267
[43] Gailey, Kindle Location 1474-1480
[44] Monks, Jr, John. A Ribbon and a Star: The Third Marines at Bougainville. Pyramid Edition, February 1966. New York: Pyramid Publications Inc., Feb. 1966. Paperback, p. 186
[45] Monks, p. 183
[46] Gailey, Kindle Locations 1561-1565
[47] The Morning Herald (Uniontown, Pennsylvania), “County Marine is Vet of Many Jap Battles”, January 22, 1944, p. 1
[48] Gailey, Kindle Location 1549-1551
[49] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 76
[50] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 128
[51] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 128
[52] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 77
[53] Gailey, Kindle Location 1558-1561
[54] Gailey, Kindle Location 1565-1575
[55] Gailey, Kindle Location 1571-1576
[56] Aurthur & Cohlmia, p. 77
[57] Miller, Chapter XIII, p. 258
[58] Gailey, Kindle Location 1576-1579
[59] Gailey, Kindle Location 1579-1583
[60] Chapin, p. 28
[61] Gailey, Kindle Location 1585-1589
[62] Rentz, Kindle Locations 2163-2164
[63] Third Marine Division’s TWO SCORE AND TEN History, Hellzapoppin Ridge, John F. Pelletier, p. 45
[64] Third Marine Division’s TWO SCORE AND TEN History, Intro to Tooba, Horace L. Wolfe Sr., Amarillo, TX, p. 37
[65] Gailey, Kindle Locations 1626-1632
[66] Chapin, p. 28
[67] The Morning Herald, Uniontown, Pa, Saturday, January 22, 1944.
[68] Gailey, Kindle Locations 1647-1652
[69] Gadbury, Les. The Battle for Bougainville on the Solomon Islands. Nov. 2001. Website.
Chapter 8: Leaving Bougainville
3d Marine Division Departs
Bougainville
Secret Plans for Japanese
Counterattack
Recovering from Injury
Toward the end of December, Army
units began replacing Marine Corps personnel and shortly after the first of the
New Year most Marines were redeployed elsewhere. Their mission was completed; a
precious beachhead had been secured on which American naval and air bases were
rapidly being constructed. The price paid by the Marine Corps for the seizure
of the Bougainville base sites was 732 killed and 1,259 wounded. The valor and
courage displayed by the Marines demonstrated by the fact that three Marines
received the Medal of Honor: Private First Class Henry Gurke, Sergeant Robert
A. Owens, and Sergeant Herbert J. Thomas; all posthumously.[1]
3d Marine Division Departs Bougainville
It
was now time for the 3d Marine Division to go home, to Guadalcanal, with a
"well done" from Admiral Halsey. The Third Marines left Bougainville
on Christmas Day. The Ninth left on December 28. The Twenty-first Marines, last
to arrive on the island, was the division's last rifle regiment to leave on
January 9, 1944.[2] The 3d Marine Division was now a unit of veterans.
The combat-wise marines were now ready for the next step in the Pacific war
which would include Guam and Iwo Jima.
Secret Plans for Japanese Counterattack
The Japanese had plans to make a
counterattack on Bougainville a few months later in March 1944. A detailed
account of this was a five-page typewritten report found in the belongings of a
Private Keith Caldwell upon his death in the mid-1990s. A transcription of Pvt.
Caldwell’s account was published in 2014 by Robert T. Belie[3]
and provides a fascinating account of the Japanese tactics and their Kamikaze actions.
A significant part of Pvt.
Caldwell’s account was revelation of a written plan for the counterattack that
was obtained from a captured Japanese officer in the month preceding the
attack. From this it was learned that the attack was to include the Japanese 6th Division, which was
infamous for their role in the sacking of Nanking China. This division also had
six years combat experience, and was considered the finest fighting troops of
the Japanese Army.[4]
Because the plans were found, the
Allies were able to locate where the 6th Division was hiding on the island. They were relentlessly bombed … using
nearly every serviceable aircraft on the island. A short time later the
remaining Japanese withdrew from the area.[5]
So well had the Japanese laid their plans that Allied military leaders
on the island consider that, but for the fortunate chance of capturing the
complete Japanese plan of campaign, the enemy would have had a very good chance
of success.[6]
This battle was the final major Japanese offensive in the Solomon Islands
campaign, though fighting continued on Bougainville until the end of
the war in August 1945.
Recovering from Injury
In late December 1943, my Mother
was notified that Dad was wounded on December 16th and taken to the New
Hebrides for treatment. The injury was a shrapnel wound in the back of his
head. Because of the nature of the wound Dad was evacuated from Bougainville to
U.S. Naval Mobile Hospital No. 8, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. The
Muster Record shows that on January 2, 1944 he embarked and sailed from
Guadalcanal aboard the USS MATSONIA to the New Hebrides, arriving on January 6,
1944.[7] There he was taken
to Naval Base Hospital No. 3, in Espiritu Santo.
My sister Kathy recalls Dad talking about when he was wounded. The soldier next to Dad was killed by the blast. Dad was placed onto a stretcher and carried back to an aid station where he would have received immediate medical treatment. Aid stations were as close as 30-50 yards behind the lines.[8]
Dad remembered the all-terrain vehicle used to transport him to the Division
hospital near the beach. From there Dad would have been put onto a Higgins boat
(or LCVP), then boarded onto a ship, along with other wounded men, for
transport to the mobile hospital in Guadalcanal, then later to the base
hospital in Espiritu Santo.
.jpg)
Figure 22 Naval Hospital No. 3. Espiritu Santo in New Hebrides Marine Corp Photo
Dad arrived back in the states in
February of 1944. The first letter that we have from Dad was sent from the
Naval Hospital in San Diego nearly three-months after he was wounded. On March
9, 1944, in a letter to his Mother and sister, Dad said “Just to let you know
that I am well, anxious to get home to see you”. He was not sure what they are going to do with me … there
are ships that come in here every week and that keeps these hospitals all filled
up. Dad said it was like the middle
of summer here … that he was able to walk around outside and seemed to be
enjoying the mild southern California weather.
Dad left the hospital in San Diego in April 1944 and was sent to the Naval Hospital at Bainbridge Maryland. This was the trip where Dad hitched a military airplane ride from San Diego to Ft. Worth, Texas. I suspect the people at the naval hospital helped arrange this for him. From Ft. Worth he took a train back to Pittsburgh. He was excited about this plane ride in 1945 on a military air transport. No doubt first-class as compared to rail travel at the time.
[1] Third Marine Division Association http://www.caltrap.org/history/bougainville.asp
[2] Chapin, p. 30
[3] Recounting Bougainville: The Japanese Counterattack, Transcribed and edited by Robert T Belie, © 2014
[4] Belie, Kindle Locations 131-132
[5] Belie, Kindle Locations 142-143
[6] Belie, Kindle Locations 147-149
[7] US Marines Muster Roll, January 1944
[8] Chapin, p. 19
Chapter 9: Returning Home
Honored by Friends
Recovery and Reassignment to
Philadelphia Naval Yard
Back Home in Pittsburgh
Honored by Friends
During this transfer to the
hospital in Bainbridge Dad was able to take leave and get home. On Thursday
evening April 20, 1944 PFC Danny J
Birmingham was the guest of honor at a social gathering at the Italian-American
Club[1] on Sycamore Street in Pittsburgh's Mt
Washington. His lifelong friend and neighbor Joe Petrolio served as master of
ceremonies. This was really being home for Dad. The street on which he was
born, and had spent most of his life, with the friends that he grew up with,
and with his new wife whom he had not seen for eighteen-months. Among the more
than fifty friends attending the gathering were Norm and Carm Belsterling, Eddie
and Alice Klingensmith, Helen Nader, Stella and Betty Cafaro, the Petrolio
family, Lucille and Carmen Coccaro, his sister Mary and brother-in-law Sam
Alexander, brother-in-law Cpl. Andy Buchner, and of course his wife, and my
mother, Helen Birmingham. Dad and Mom often talked about the Club, a place where they would go on
Saturday nights to dance and be with their friends both before and after the
war. Dad would leave Pittsburgh a couple days later to enter Bainbridge Naval
Hospital in Maryland for further treatment.
Recovery and Reassignment to Philadelphia Naval Yard
On May 2, 1944 Dad wrote to his
Mom and Sister… I had quite a talk with
the Ward Doctor last night…he said the X rays don’t show any depression and
that they wouldn’t need to operate…he says if they would it might cause me more
harm than good and that it healed up well itself. He’s rated as the best
surgeon here so I can take his word for it, he’s a swell guy…so I don't think
I'll be here much longer.
Dad had a steel plate in the back of his head that covered the skull wound.
There was a visible scar, perhaps the size of a penny. The wound never seemed
to cause him any problem.
In July 1944 Dad was assigned to the First Guard Company, Marine Barracks at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. Mom would join him in Philadelphia. They rented two furnished rooms on Broad Street in South Philadelphia and lived with the D'Orazio family. Mr. and Mrs. D’Orazio had a young daughter named Carol Ann, who Mom and Dad adored. Mom and Dad would keep in touch with the D'Orazio family through the rest of their lives. We visited them at their home in "Philly" in 1963.
Mom moved
back to Pittsburgh in the fall of 1945 at her doctor’s suggestion as she was
pregnant with my sister Carol. Carol Anne Birmingham would be born on December
4, 1945 in Pittsburgh. Dad received an Honorable Discharge from the Marine Corp
one day later, and returned to Pittsburgh on December 5, 1945 where he was
reunited with Mom, and their newborn daughter, Carol Anne. Carol was named
after the D'Orazio daughter they so enjoyed and loved when living in
Philadelphia.
.png)
Dad and Mom rented a nice house
on Hallock Street in Mt. Washington that belonged to a friend of Dad’s sister
Mary and her husband Sam. Dad went back to work at Heppenstall where he had
started working almost five years earlier. He would work at Heppenstall Company
for another 33 years before retiring in 1978. In 1947, I was born and Dad
decided it was time to buy a house. He and Mom bought a very nice house on
Amabell Street, just off Grandview Avenue, adjacent to St. Mary of the Mount
School. With more rooms now, Dad's mother moved in with us and she lived there
until her death in 1954. In 1950, another Birmingham girl, Kathleen Marie, was
born, and in 1954, a third Birmingham girl, Mary Lou, was born. At that point
Dad said we were out of rooms so there would be no more kids.
All of us kids went to St. Mary
of the Mount School and we attended Mass every Sunday as a family. We had a
great family life and great parents. When I decided to enlist in the Air Force
in 1965, Dad was very supportive of my decision. I believe Dad was proud that I
would also serve in the military. He was a great example for me to follow.
After the war an Honor Roll for
the men and women from Mt. Washington (the 19th Ward of the city of Pittsburgh)
who served in World War II was built. Over 3400 names are listed on the Honor
Roll including that of my Dad, and that of Charles Hyde and Joseph Tighe who
enlisted on the same day as Dad back in 1942. Many of Dad’s Mt. Washington
friends, and the fathers and mothers of many of my schoolmates are also
honored.
Daniel James Birmingham died on December 15, 1999 at our family home on Edith Street fifty-six years after being awarded a Purple Heart Medal for injury received as a result of enemy action in the South Pacific Area on December 16, 1943. His award letter was signed by Admiral W.F. Halsey, Admiral, U.S. Navy.
[1] The Mount Washington News, “Wounded Marine Honored by Friends”, 28 April. 1944, p. 1
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“ARMS PLANTS HERE GUARDED.” The
Pittsburgh Press 8 Dec. 1941.
Beal, John R. “Isolation Change Views as Japs Attack.” The Pittsburgh Press 8 Dec. 1941:
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Caswell, Don. “FLIERS POUND RABAU: AGAIN.” UP, The Pittsburgh Press 1 Nov. 1943: 1.
“FATHER OF 3 TRIES TO ENLIST IN VAIN.” The Pittsburgh Press 8 Dec. 1941: 4.
“FRISCO CALLS AN EMERGENCY.” The
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O’Flaherty, Hal. “Cruisers Bombard Invasion Beach.” The Pittsburgh Press and the Chicago Daily News Inc. 2
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13 October 2014
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Friends” The Mt. Washington News 28 April 1944
Zitzmann, Bernhard G. “War Has Come” The Mt. Washington News 12 December 1941: 1
“Plane Plants Use Listening Devices for Air Raid” The Fresno Bee 7 December 1941
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[1] The Alien Registration Act was a Federal Statute
enacted June 29, 1940, that set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow
of the U.S. government and required all non-citizen adult residents to register with the government
[2]
At 0753 in Hawaii (1:23 PM in Pittsburgh time) the code words which told the
entire Japanese Navy that they had caught the Pacific Fleet unaware were sung
out “Tora! Tora! Tora!” President Roosevelt was informed by phone of the attack
at 1:40 PM by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox
[3] Mt. Washington is the
neighborhood of Pittsburgh where my Dad and Mom were raised and where family
still lives
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