Old Marine Graveyard
On Bloody Tarawa, where they went to die, 65 years ago this past week. Researchers using ground-penetrating radar have found what they believe is a lost USMC graveyard on Tarawa, thanks to a Florida man’s quest to bring them home. News and poignant memories via MSNBC, with a nod to my friend Paul, Vietnam Psyops vet. The 139 graves located there could lead to the largest single idenfication of remains in U.S. military history. USMC historical monograph of Tarawa here. More art follows from Tarawa, where in four days, Nov. 20-23, 1943, 1,687 Americans were killed and 2,296 wounded, while of 4,836 Japanese and Koreans, only 146 were taken alive:
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:18 pm on Wednesday, November 26, 2008
6 Responses to “Old Marine Graveyard”
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November 26th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
According to the lefties Bush is the worst president ever (partly) because 4800 Americans have died fighting in Iraq and Afghjanistan.
Roosevelt, also according to lefties, is a great president, and he managed to get 1700 Marines killed in 76 hours on Tarawa (and 400,000 Americans killed in WWII).
Go figure.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Thanks as always for your historically grounded posts.
And here’s to wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving!
November 27th, 2008 at 1:19 am
“The Marines started their attack on the lagoon at 09:00, later than expected, and found themselves stuck on a reef some 500 yards (460 m) off shore. Marine battle planners had allowed for Betio’s neap tide and expected the normal rising tide to provide a water depth of five feet (1.5 m) over the reef, allowing larger landing craft, with drafts of at least four feet (1.2 m), to pass with room to spare. But that day and the next, in the words of some observers, “the ocean just sat there,” leaving a mean depth of three feet (.9 m) over the reef. (The neap tide phenomenon occurs twice a month when the moon is near its first or last quarter, because the countering tug of the sun causes water levels to deviate less. But for two days the moon was at its farthest point from earth and exerted even less pull, leaving the waters relatively undisturbed.)”
“The Japanese, hiding in deep shelters during the bombardment, quickly manned their guns when the supporting naval gunfire stopped to allow the Marines to unload. Japanese fire from the island started and the boats caught on the reef were soon burning. Troops jumped out and started making their way ashore, under machine gun fire the entire time. The small number of Amtrac amphibious tractors were able to make it over the reef, with some difficulty, but many were knocked out by larger guns as they climbed over, and half of the Amtrac’s were out of action by the end of the day. The first wave was able to land only a few men, who were pinned down against the log wall on the beach…”–wiki
Just try to imagine what they’d be saying about George Bush if something like that had happened in Iraq.
November 28th, 2008 at 8:47 am
God bless those brave and wondrous men.
November 28th, 2008 at 10:53 am
God Bless Them All, indeed. For those of you interested in Pacific War history, the
tall red-blonde officer with the pointer in the color photo is Col.Merritt “Red Mike” Edson. At Tarawa he was Chief of Staff of the 2nd Marine Division. By then he was 46-yrs old, famous as the chief of the First Marine Raider Battalion on Guadalcanal and, for actions at Bloody Ridge in September ‘42 on that island, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He also received The Navy Cross with gold star and the Silver Star for his gallant actions. By the time this picture, just before the Betio landings, he’d been in the Corps nearly 20-years, including a long stretch in Nicaragua. Yes, indeed, God Bless Them All.
November 28th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
The island of Betio, pictured above, is roughly equivalent in square footage to the parking lot at the Pentagon.
Tarawa was proof of concept that amphibious assaults against fortified beaches defended by modern industrial era weapons was possible. Tarawa was also proof of concept that coral could be crossed successfully in the assault, with tracked landing craft.
Tarawa was also the USA’s opening of the Central Pacific Campaign.