Ace of Spades HQ

January 16, 2012

Pictures from Saipan, 1944
— Dave in Texas

The article says they're rare. New to me anyway. Photographs taken by Life magazine photographer W. Eugene Smith of Americans in action on the island of Saipan in June and July of 1944.

The photographs were taken during a battle that claimed the lives of 22,000 Japanese civilians - many by suicide - and nearly all 30,000 Japanese troops on the island. Of the 71,000 American troops who landed on Saipan, 3,426 perished, while more than 13,000 were wounded.
The battle was a turning point for the American battle against Japan's forces. The Japanese situation became so desperate that commanders pleaded with civilians to 'pick up their spears' and join the fight.

via Kevlarchick

update: commenter EBL adds some thoughts.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 06:12 AM | Comments (88)
Post contains 128 words, total size 1 kb.

1 You are making me want to read With The Old Breed again

Pissing on a Corpse....shit

Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 06:16 AM (zyaZ1)

2 I just love it when the revisionists say we didn't need to drop the atom bombs to end the war. How many tens of thousands of lives did it save, on both sides?

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at January 16, 2012 06:17 AM (f9c2L)

3 Chi-

I always put it this way, We are still giving away Purple Hearts minted for the Jap invasion. Usually it stops the idiots in their tracks.

Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 06:19 AM (zyaZ1)

4 2 I just love it when the revisionists say we didn't need to drop the atom bombs to end the war. How many tens of thousands of lives did it save, on both sides? Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at January 16, 2012 10:17 AM (f9c2L) Luap Nor for President!!!1!!!!11111

Posted by: Equal Rights Amendment at January 16, 2012 06:20 AM (x7g7t)

5 I just love it when the revisionists say we didn't need to drop the atom bombs to end the war. How many tens of thousands of lives did it save, on both sides?
Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at January 16, 2012 10:17 AM

Racist.

Posted by: noted WWII scholar, Tom Hanks at January 16, 2012 06:21 AM (lXi+d)

When I was a kid my mom let me enroll in one of those Time-Life things, one book a month on World War II. Lots of amazing photographs. I really wish I had kept them.

She also bought me a book, a comprehensive one full of Life photos about WWII. She wrote inside the cover things about what the war meant to her as a child (mom was born in 33). She went to live with an aunt while her father and uncle were fighting in the Pacific. Victory Gardens, saving rubber and cans, War Bonds, listening to the news every night on a radio with her brothers.

Her dad and uncle both came home in late 1945.

I still have that one.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at January 16, 2012 06:22 AM (PjVdx)

7 1 You are making me want to read With The Old Breed again Pissing on a Corpse....shit Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 10:16 AM (zyaZ1) Exactly. What a load of Liberal bunk. As though anyone but Leftist pansies gives a crap.

Posted by: CoolCzech at January 16, 2012 06:23 AM (niZvt)

8 Well, strictly speaking, we didn't need to drop the atomic bombs to end the war. We could have sent in troops and suffered 10s or 100s of thousands more lost, as well as however many millions of civilians would be killed. And then we likely would have been facing an insurgency for years. Dropping the atom bombs sent a message - unconditional surrender of your entire country or absolute annihilation with no hope of victory or even inflicting casualties on the United States forces.

Posted by: blindside at January 16, 2012 06:24 AM (x7g7t)

9 I was in the doctor's office so I missed the DOOM thread. Good.

Gotta pick up my goofballs at the pharmacy and go see an old friend in a little while. Looks like today might be okay.

My dad's biggest experiences in WWII were the Philippines and Okinawa. Saw lots of kamikazes onboard ship at Okinawa. He said it might have been the closest he got to getting killed. A low flying kamikaze flew between the ship he was on and another. Both were firing on it. 20 mm cannon shells hit his ship like a dotted line and he was between the dots. He's a very lucky man.

Posted by: Ed Anger - Certified Kos Kid at January 16, 2012 06:25 AM (7+pP9)

10 I can't imagine what those men went through - fighting in jungles against an enemy that would not surrender. If WWII were fought today, we couldn't win it because the leftist-controlled media would conspire against us - as they have done in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Posted by: blindside at January 16, 2012 06:26 AM (x7g7t)

11 Dropping the atom bombs sent a message - unconditional surrender of your entire country or absolute annihilation with no hope of victory or even inflicting casualties on the United States forces.

This is what drives me up a fucking wall. Read the Wrong War by Bing West. We should have fucking obliterated those villages that ambushed our guys.

War never solves anything. If you are the loser.

Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 06:26 AM (zyaZ1)

Posted by: CoolCzech at January 16, 2012 10:23 AM (niZvt)

The modern idea that Man can somehow go to War, and kill the enemy with clinical detatchment... without strong emotions being generated as you kill, and see your friends killed... flies in the face of how Humans are built...

Which is one major problem with modern society... they do not believe that reality is concrete... they think it is subjective and can be modified at whim... (see modern Gender rolls, and the gelding of the modern man... or their stance on Global Warming, where they think we contol the weather).

ie... they think they are more powerful than God, or Evolution... (depending on your belief system... result is the same... Hubris).

Posted by: Romeo13 at January 16, 2012 06:28 AM (NtXW4)

13 My dad's biggest experiences in WWII were the Philippines and Okinawa. Saw lots of kamikazes onboard ship at Okinawa. He said it might have been the closest he got to getting killed. A low flying kamikaze flew between the ship he was on and another. Both were firing on it. 20 mm cannon shells hit his ship like a dotted line and he was between the dots. He's a very lucky man. Posted by: Ed Anger - Certified Kos Kid at January 16, 2012 10:25 AM (7+pP9) Yeah my dad was on Iwo Jima and I have all his personal photos. Some are pretty brutal. Plenty of Jap bodies blown to smitherenes.

Posted by: nevergiveup at January 16, 2012 06:29 AM (i6RpT)

Did we pee on any of the corpses?

Posted by: SGT Ted at January 16, 2012 06:29 AM (arV2e)

15 O/T, but the Marines who are going to be tried under "war crimes" for the urination exhibition is very irritating, and I have a question. I seem to remember that either Gen. Pershing or Gen. Patton did almost the same thing, however, they also threw bacon on the corpes. Does anybody remember which it was? They were certainly not charged with war crimes. Only (as far as I know) only Alan West and Rick Perry have come to their defense.

Posted by: Chilling the most for perry at January 16, 2012 06:29 AM (6IV8T)

16 From all the hell i've read about, nothing really eclipses what EB talked about trying to dig a fighting hole and running into a dead Jap.

I could only imagine the smell of the field, let alone breaking into a shallow grave while digging a position.

At least in Korea the goddamn dead froze. I could only imagine the smells

Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 06:31 AM (zyaZ1)

17 @14: That is what is so disgusting about Hillary's and the Left's reaction. If I was one of those soldiers, knowing what the Taliban would do to me if I fell in their hands, if I lived in fear if dismemberment by IED each day, if I saw my friends killed and mutilated by those monsters, DAMNED RIGHT I would "dehumanize" them and take a piss on them. The Liberals, as ever, are living in their personal Holodeck, imagining the world run by the United Federation of Planets.

Posted by: CoolCzech at January 16, 2012 06:32 AM (niZvt)

18 July '44, time of my birf. Mayhap a corpse or two got peed upon?

Posted by: I am the walrus, goo-goo-ga-joo at January 16, 2012 06:32 AM (ybkwK)

19 Only (as far as I know) only Alan West and Rick Perry have come to their defense. Posted by: Chilling the most for perry at January 16, 2012 10:29 AM (6IV8T) They are not going to charged with War Crimes. And I hope they just get non-judicial punishment like Lt Col West suggests.

Posted by: nevergiveup at January 16, 2012 06:34 AM (i6RpT)

20 Only (as far as I know) only Alan West and Rick Perry have come to their defense.

Everyone that served their Country should rise to their defense. To do less is dishonorable. I calling my congress critter now.

Like the good Col. said, give them a letter, or NJP and lets move on.

Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 06:34 AM (zyaZ1)

21 Chilling, there's a story about Blackjack Pershing doing that to some dead Moros when he was Governor of the Moro Province in the Philippines, but I think it's likely apochryphal.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at January 16, 2012 06:35 AM (PjVdx)

Posted by: Chilling the most for perry at January 16, 2012 10:29 AM (6IV8T)

Are you serious???? Do you have a link?? The public really needs to start being more vocal about this stuff. War crimes. Good Christ...

Posted by: jewells45 at January 16, 2012 06:35 AM (l/N7H)

23 As I reported a few months ago, obama is going to shit can a whole carrier group: Down from 11 to 10.

Posted by: nevergiveup at January 16, 2012 06:35 AM (i6RpT)

24 Another good story: dad stopped to take a leak and washed off a grenade with a trip wire on it. Like I said before, he was very lucky.

Posted by: Ed Anger - Certified Kos Kid at January 16, 2012 06:35 AM (7+pP9)

25 Like the good Col. said, give them a letter, or NJP and lets move on. Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 10:34 AM (zyaZ1) I suspect that is what will happen. especially since obama is in charge and the NY Times is not printing front page stories about it.

Posted by: nevergiveup at January 16, 2012 06:36 AM (i6RpT)

26 After all of these years and all of the sacrifices that so many Americans made to defend and preserve our nation. It's disgusting to see what it's devolving into because a bunch of traitors have been allowed to run rampant.

Posted by: TheQuietMan at January 16, 2012 06:37 AM (1Jaio)

27 First thing Patton did when he got to the Rhine was piss in it.

Posted by: Ed Anger - Certified Kos Kid at January 16, 2012 06:37 AM (7+pP9)

28 They are not going to charged with War Crimes. Is that official? Damn, I sure hope so. Posted by: Soap MacTavish at January 16, 2012 10:35 AM (vbh31) No. But just common sense. It was stupid to do and film it, but stupidity is not a war crime

Posted by: nevergiveup at January 16, 2012 06:38 AM (i6RpT)

29 Go to the linked article, read it, look at the pictures and then go back and look at the second and third pictures.

I don't want to hear another g-d damned word condemning our guys for pissing on an enemy corpse.

Posted by: Retread at January 16, 2012 06:38 AM (joSBv)

30 yeah, not terribly funny Zakn. Go easy now. [DiT]

Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 06:38 AM (zyaZ1)

31 No. But just common sense.

If they're expecting "common sense" to prevail, they're fucked.

Posted by: HeatherRadish at January 16, 2012 06:41 AM (ZKzrr)

32 My dad said they didn't even bury the Japs. They took a lot of Lap bodies from the Philippines and just dumped them on some little out of the way island. He said you could smell the island before you could see it.

Posted by: Ed Anger - Certified Kos Kid at January 16, 2012 06:43 AM (7+pP9)

33 Lap Jap bodies . . .

Posted by: Ed Anger - Certified Kos Kid at January 16, 2012 06:45 AM (7+pP9)

34 The mini series Hiroshima (1995) is pretty good. The Japanese generals are meeting and discussing how civilians, including the elderly, must fight. Suzuki, who was 77 year old mocks them by describing how he will fight to the end. It's worth renting.

Posted by: mike at January 16, 2012 06:46 AM (WNvlG)

35 The story I saw was at WeaselZipper.us. There is not a Loy of coverage about this-just like Fast &Furious. BTW, when does Holder testify?

Posted by: Chilling the most for perry at January 16, 2012 06:47 AM (6IV8T)

36 The mini series Hiroshima (1995) is pretty good. The Japanese generals are meeting and discussing how civilians, including the elderly, must fight. Suzuki, who was 77 year old mocks them by describing how he will fight to the end. It's worth renting. Posted by: mike at January 16, 2012 10:46 AM (WNvlG) Which is why it is not on TV that much. Doesn't jibe with the liberal anti-nuke meemee

Posted by: nevergiveup at January 16, 2012 06:48 AM (i6RpT)

37 Stupid auto correct. Loy=lot. Sorry

Posted by: Chilling the most for perry at January 16, 2012 06:48 AM (6IV8T)

38 My dad said they didn't even bury the Japs. They took a lot of Lap bodies from the Philippines and just dumped them on some little out of the way island. He said you could smell the island before you could see it..

Some were burried. Some were not. Disease was a consideration

Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 06:49 AM (zyaZ1)

39 @38: all these acts are being discovered because the dummies take their own incriminating pics and videos. Makes me wonder if the one that took these pics didn't secretly hate these guys. A Taliban stooge, serving as a "translator"?

Posted by: CoolCzech at January 16, 2012 06:50 AM (niZvt)

40 Some were burried. Some were not. Disease was a consideration Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 10:49 AM (zyaZ1) What was NOT done was giving them a respectful funeral like we gave Bin Laden!!!! What a farce.

Posted by: nevergiveup at January 16, 2012 06:51 AM (i6RpT)

41 Victory Gardens, saving rubber and cans, War Bonds, listening to the news every night on a radio with her brothers.

I read an article years ago that exposed a little known fact that all those rubber drives and scrap collections were nothing but a PR drive to make the people on the home front think they were doing something.

They collected all that crap and it just sat in huge fields rotting until the war was over and nobody knew what do do with it. The tires actually became a huge problem.

Posted by: Vic at January 16, 2012 06:51 AM (YdQQY)

42 I was arguing with someone who said we should have given the Japanese a demo. Well, we told their leaders some serious shit was coming their way, and we dropped leaflets on the civilian population. We only had two bombs and wouldn't have more for quite a while. And even after destroying one city, they still refused to surrender. Japanese civilians were starving to death. The numbers killed by the bomb are far less than the number who wd have died from starvation if the war had continued.

Posted by: mike at January 16, 2012 06:52 AM (WNvlG)

43 all these acts are being discovered because the dummies take their own incriminating pics and videos. Makes me wonder if the one that took these pics didn't secretly hate these guys. A Taliban stooge, serving as a "translator"? Posted by: CoolCzech at January 16, 2012 10:50 AM (niZvt) No just another young Marine. Hey these kids, and they still are kids, I know I treat them, still act like kids sometimes.

Posted by: nevergiveup at January 16, 2012 06:52 AM (i6RpT)

44 all these acts are being discovered because the dummies take their own incriminating pics and videos. Makes me wonder if the one that took these pics didn't secretly hate these guys. A Taliban stooge, serving as a "translator"?

Didn't someone say it was an "imbed journalist" the other day? Kids got to learn those guys in the press are just as much the enemy as the Taliban.

Posted by: Vic at January 16, 2012 06:53 AM (YdQQY)

45 That is some shitty attempt at humor. Whether a fed holiday is required or not, I believe all morons can toast the life of MLK Jr, or at least a country that can allow such men to exist. What the Sharptons of the USA have done to his memory is another issue entirely

Posted by: dr kill at January 16, 2012 06:53 AM (ELPgk)

46 Moooslem burial practice does proscribe that the body be washed prior to burial. Perhaps the Marines were out of water. Improvise...

Posted by: RioBravo at January 16, 2012 06:54 AM (eEfYn)

Yeah, I know Vic. We weren't that good with logistics and supply.

But to an 11 year old little girl, and a lot of Americans, it felt like they were doing something to help. Plus the gardens, that was food for home,

Posted by: Dave in Texas at January 16, 2012 06:54 AM (PjVdx)

48 Didn't someone say it was an "imbed journalist" the other day? Kids got to learn those guys in the press are just as much the enemy as the Taliban. Posted by: Vic at January 16, 2012 10:53 AM (YdQQY) No it was another young Marine

Posted by: nevergiveup at January 16, 2012 06:55 AM (i6RpT)

49 dr kill

Agreed

Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 06:55 AM (zyaZ1)

50 Didn't someone say it was an "imbed journalist" the other day? Kids got to learn those guys in the press are just as much the enemy as the Taliban.

Posted by: Vic at January 16, 2012 10:53 AM (YdQQY)

I think the person who said that was our NYC troll.

Posted by: Tami at January 16, 2012 06:57 AM (X6akg)

51
Some were burried. Some were not. Disease was a consideration

Posted by: Zakn at January 16, 2012 10:49 AM (zyaZ1)

I'm sure the ones they didn't dump on the island got mass buried in trenches dug by the Seabees.

Posted by: Ed Anger - Certified Kos Kid at January 16, 2012 06:57 AM (7+pP9)

Another debate.

YIPPEEE!!!

Posted by: Dave in Texas at January 16, 2012 06:57 AM (PjVdx)

53 And even after destroying one city, they still refused to surrender.

Even after the second bomb was dropped there remained resistance to surrender, and fanatics made a good attempt to sabotage the emperor's announcement.

I'm sure some moron will remember more of the details than I do at the moment.

Posted by: Retread at January 16, 2012 06:58 AM (joSBv)

54 our NYC troll.

Speak of the devil... it's on the thread below with a lovely new name.

Posted by: Piter DeVries at January 16, 2012 07:00 AM (tWSgZ)

55 60 And even after destroying one city, they still refused to surrender. Michigan Liberals, you mean?

Posted by: CoolCzech at January 16, 2012 07:02 AM (niZvt)

56 I remember reading in the LAT around the time communism was going belly up about a hill in Russia that was covered with the bleaching bones of dead german soldiers. The commies refused to bury them and wouldn't allow the krauts to remove them for burial. The germans were hoping with the fall, they could now bury them. Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly where this was.

Posted by: mike at January 16, 2012 07:04 AM (WNvlG)

57 27 As I reported a few months ago, obama is going to shit can a whole carrier group: Down from 11 to 10.

Isn't the US required to have 11 carrier groups by law?

Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at January 16, 2012 07:09 AM (9hSKh)

58 Have recently watched "Nanking" and "John Rabe." It is astonishing to see the violence that can be excused on the basis of tribal differences. Libs make so many excuses for islam, which is also driven by the same barbaric superiority of its tribal customs.

Posted by: we will never surrender, never, never, never at January 16, 2012 07:10 AM (Sipdy)

59 There were stories Dad wouldn't tell me until I enlisted in '68.

He was a lifelong Dem...but they were a different breed of Dem back then.

Posted by: minuteman (formerly trainer) until Juggy is gone at January 16, 2012 07:11 AM (Rojyk)

60 Isn't the US required to have 11 carrier groups by law? Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at January 16, 2012 11:09 AM (9hSKh) Not sure if it is a "law" or a congressional suggestion? But since when do laws matter to obama. he will issue an executive order. There is a Nuclear Carrier coming up in it's midlife fuel change and it is that Carrier, I forget which one it is , which will NOT be refueled but decommissioned.

Posted by: nevergiveup at January 16, 2012 07:12 AM (i6RpT)

61 Isn't the US required to have 11 carrier groups by law?

Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at January 16, 2012 11:09 AM (9hSKh)

I and Robespierre Holder Laugh At Your Laws!

Posted by: Obamao The Sun King at January 16, 2012 07:14 AM (i3+c5)

62 Now that I think about it, I know I've seen that pic of the soldier holding the baby.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at January 16, 2012 07:17 AM (PjVdx)

63 Dad was a P38 crew chief in the Pacific and would have been sent to invade Japan - so thanks to all the gang at Los Alamos. You know Soap, hardcover copies of With the Old Breed go for 2,000 bucks on Amazon - used.

Posted by: Skookumchuk at January 16, 2012 07:20 AM (btzPD)

64 I forget which one it is , which will NOT be refueled but decommissioned.

The last I heard it was my old ship. The USS Enterprise. It is getting rather long in the tooth.

But this is normal operating procedures for the Dems. Cut the military to the bone, then schedule a shit pot of "humanitarian" missions. That results in extended deployments and people deciding that miitary life sucks and time to get out.

Posted by: Vic at January 16, 2012 07:20 AM (YdQQY)

65 Lee Marvin fought and was wounded at Saipan. In real life, not in a movie.

Posted by: EBL at January 16, 2012 07:21 AM (UwxZ1)

66 I just love it when the revisionists say we didn't need to drop the atom bombs to end the war. How many tens of thousands of lives did it save, on both sides?

When I taught English in Tokyo in the 1980s, I met a nice old man in one of my one-on-one sessions who wanted to talk about World War II. He was trained, he said, as a suicide bomber whose job would be to stand on a cliff overlooking a bay, wearing a bomb vest, and when the American ships came in, he's jump off the cliff and try to go down a smokestack.

They'd told him he'd have a pretty good chance of living long enough to detonate the bomb with the trigger in his hand. I asked him if he'd have done it, and he said the Japanese equivalent of "Hell, yes." And he smiled proudly.

Everyone knows about the kamikazes, but they also used suicide human torpedoes, called Kaiten, and suicide frogmen with explosives on long poles, who would sit on the sand underwater and detonate their bombs on the underside of landing craft.

There's a great novel called Death is Lighter than a Feather, by David Westheimer, which is based on the premise that we didn't have the atomic bomb and had to invade the Japanese home islands. The battle scenes are indescribably horrific. I highly recommend it.

Posted by: Llarry at January 16, 2012 07:27 AM (Rnfm0)

67 I forget which one it is , which will NOT be refueled but decommissioned.

The last I heard it was my old ship. The USS Enterprise. It is getting rather long in the tooth.

Really? Because when my nephew was home over Christmas he told us he had (or would be getting) orders for the Enterprise. Now I'll have to question my brother a bit more.

Posted by: Retread at January 16, 2012 07:28 AM (joSBv)

68 There's another old time actor that was a hero and was at Malmedy. He was suppose to get an award by SAG or the Oscars a few years ago but there was a strike so I couldn't see it. Anyone know who it was?

Posted by: mike at January 16, 2012 07:29 AM (WNvlG)

69 I love the Daily Mail. How come we don't have papers like that?

Posted by: mike at January 16, 2012 07:33 AM (WNvlG)

70 A very good analysis of what would have happened during the invasion of Japan is Hell to Pay by D.M. Giangreco. Horrific stuff.

Posted by: Skookumchuk at January 16, 2012 07:35 AM (btzPD)

71 Japanese civilians were starving to death. The numbers killed by the bomb are far less than the number who wd have died from starvation if the war had continued.

We also killed more in the firebombing raids than in both atomic bombings combined. We firebombed every major city in Japan. Curtis LeMay said that if the firebombing had continued, we would've run out of targets by December of 1945.

That means that without the atomic bombs, we would've continued burning entire cities, possibly killing millions either through burning or starvation and exposure after all the buildings in the city were destroyed.

Posted by: Llarry at January 16, 2012 07:38 AM (Rnfm0)

72
Both my uncle and my Dad served in WW2, Dad at Guadalcanal and my uncle through Normandy. Growing up, neither said boo about it, despite me being persistent about their experiences. Wasn't til one weekend, after my return from the vacation in sunny Southeast Asia that we were bullshitting with one another that I got a first hand account.

Jesus.

Posted by: irongrampa at January 16, 2012 07:41 AM (SAMxH)

73 There's another old time actor that was a hero

There were a lot of them, it was the age. Ernest Borgnine and, I think, Charles Bronson are two more examples.

We baby boomer morons all had fathers who were/are those men. Growing up it didn't seem remarkable but looking back as an adult I find it astonishing.

Posted by: Retread at January 16, 2012 07:44 AM (joSBv)

74 Because when my nephew was home over Christmas he told us he had (or would be getting) orders for the Enterprise. Now I'll have to question my brother a bit more.

Keep in mind that all of this is still Obama conjecture. Nothing official has been released.

Posted by: Vic at January 16, 2012 07:45 AM (YdQQY)

75 Ya gotta love Google..

I was interested what happened to that one soldier tagged "T.E. Underwood".. The one with the cigarette and canteen.

Well, it turns out it's not T.E. Underwood.. Check out this story..

http://tinyurl.com/6qpxhxq

Posted by: Chi-Town Jerry at January 16, 2012 07:51 AM (f9c2L)

76 Okay, I got off my ass and looked it up: Charles Durning. He won a Silver Star and earned 3 Purple Hearts. He landed on DDay, was injured a week later, was treated and released just in time for the Bulge.

Posted by: mike at January 16, 2012 07:54 AM (WNvlG)

77 #75 - Charles Durning? He served in the Army in the ETO; wounded numerous times, including during the Battle of the Bulge.

Posted by: BUTCH at January 16, 2012 07:54 AM (UIbD4)

78 Thanks, Vic.

Posted by: Retread at January 16, 2012 07:58 AM (joSBv)

Posted by: BUTCH at January 16, 2012 07:58 AM (UIbD4)

80 Ha! Thanks!

Posted by: mike at January 16, 2012 07:58 AM (WNvlG)

81 ... on the subject of piss.

Patton pissing in the Rhine ... one of my favorite WWII photos.

(google it, morons)

Posted by: Mark x at January 16, 2012 08:22 AM (ExizH)

82 Isn't the US required to have 11 carrier groups by law?

Sure enough. Until two years ago, it was twelve groups. And next year, it may be ten, or nine. They pass a new version of that law every session.

There was a time that the number of battleships was similarly specified. And if we don't pay more (and, more attention) to missile and AIP sub defense, those carriers will end up the same as the BB's: large floating targets.

Posted by: comatus at January 16, 2012 08:32 AM (ySTXt)

83 Dave in Texas, I expanded on this article. Thanks for the hat tip on this. Great stuff. And thank you USMC. I also have a video narrated by Lee Marvin on the Marines in the Pacific.

Posted by: EBL at January 16, 2012 08:46 AM (UwxZ1)

My late father was in the Fourth Marine Division, and in on the invasion of Saipan. Also of Tinian, Roi Namur, and Iwo Jima, where he won a battlefield commission (which he retained and ultimately retired as a field-grade officer). His company suffered 200 casualties - out of 240 men - on Iwo Jima. (He didn't talk about this. I found it out shortly before he died, when we were going through his old photographs, one of which depicted 40 guys on bleachers, who turned out to be the survivors.)

My father was a Dem too, because they (back then) always supported appropriations for the military. God how times have changed.

Posted by: Jay Guevara at January 16, 2012 08:53 AM (rlCVH)

85 For the best account of the battle for Saipan, read Faithful Warriors: A Combat Marine Remembers the Pacific War (Naval Institute Press).

Posted by: WW2 Guy/lurker at January 16, 2012 10:46 AM (lpDfC)

86 I cannot believe I missed this. My uncle, PFC Harry A. Goldenberg, K Co., 105th Inf. Reg., 27th Inf. Div. was killed on the night of June 30th-July 1st 1944 on Saipan. Despite having never met this man, there is not a day that goes by when he is not in my thoughts and prayers. G-d bless you, Harry.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at January 16, 2012 11:35 AM (UlUS4)

87 Lest we forget, James Doohan, STOS's own Chief Engineer Scott, was in on the D-Day invasion and I believe lost a finger in the process.

Posted by: Xenophon at January 16, 2012 04:46 PM (gHBfR)

Jimmy Doohan killed two German snipers, and lost a finger from machine gun fire.

They used stunt hands on the transporter controls.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at January 16, 2012 07:03 PM (PjVdx)

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