"The only combat I was in was Iwo Jima." Carl, and the 5th Marine Division, was slated to invade Japan on the first of November 1945. After Iwo, the Marines were shipped back to Hawaii in order to refit for the invasion. Lost supplies were replaced, and men filled the decimated ranks. The notion of invading Japan filled the men with dread. As Carl iterated, "We just figured, boy this isn't going to be good, cause of all the trouble we had on Iwo. If we were going to survive Japan, we'd have to be damn lucky. But, that was our mission!"
Of course, fate intervened, and Japan formally surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945, just two months prior to Carl's intended landing date. At the time, there were no newsreels to convey the news of the surrender, just radio. The Marines responded with pure, unbridled ecstasy. Says Carl, "It took such a load off our shoulders, all of us! We just shot everything into the air that we could, to celebrate."
Surprisingly, no liberty was granted. During one of the most momentous occasions of the 20th century, the Marines were confined to base. Carl explained, "We weren't allowed into Hilo for liberty, because we would've freaking tore the place apart! I'm not kidding you - the 1st Marine Division was out there, and one day a couple guys went into town with a .50-caliber machine gun, and set it up outside an eating place that was run by a Jap. They just shot that place all to hell! I don't know what the reason really was; I think they said a Jap was there, or something. But they just shot the heck out of that place. I went in there later, and I could see the bullet holes and shells - that's why they wouldn't let us on liberty ..." And the Marines weren't happy, though that wasn't exactly the word Carl used.
Lack of liberty aside, Carl had never heard of the atomic bomb, and had no idea what it could be. This was 1945 - what kind of weapon could possibly obliterate an entire city? Although the invasion would never happen, Carl loaded up and was shipped to Japan as part of the peacekeeping army. He soon would get a firsthand look at the devastating effect of this new weapon.
During World War II, the military used a point system to determine when a soldier or Marine could go home. Said Carl, "You got two points for overseas duty, so much for state duty, but I didn't have enough. I was shy just a few points from going home, so I went to Japan for Occupation Duty."
In light of the supposed controversy over America's use of the atomic weapon against the Japanese, let's join Carl as he arrives in Japan. Very little ever is spoken about how prepared the mainland really was. Here are the words of a man who was there:
"When we arrived, there were these huge hills, with only a small opening. At the top of the hills were big guns, on both sides (a natural bottleneck). We were scared of it - our captain even said, 'Here we go!' Nothing happened, and we went in. It was the biggest seaport I've ever seen in my life! It was a huge shipping place, and we docked right there.
"When we got off the ship, there were all these pillboxes - it would've been just unreal if we would've had to (invade). They had trenches all over the city, from one bunker to another bunker, to all those pillboxes. The trenches were nice - there was grass growing in them! You could walk through the trenches, and never be seen. The whole city was like that - it would've been fighting from one end to the other - just horrific.
"I went into a cave, and it was filled with boats. They were going to load the boats with explosives, to hit our ships. There were thousands of these! Then, there were thousands of planes, made just to go so far. That's all they were - suicide planes, and there were thousands of them. Things like that, the Japs had all over the place. It was just unreal to see - God (the invasion) would've been awful.
"After we landed, my unit was shipped home, but I had to stay six months. I joined up with the 2nd Marine Division and moved up to Nagasaki. We went through, where the atomic bomb had been dropped. That whole area was still hot; they were still digging up bodies, and there was a lot of fallout. We walked right through that area - there was nothing there! Miles out, the buildings had just collapsed; nothing left but framework! That was in a big valley, and (the bomb) just blew everything flat - just unreal.
"We went through a lot of cities, anything that was big had been bombed, and they were just all burned out. There were blocks and blocks just burned, where we had dropped these incendiaries - pure devastation.
How did the Japanese react to the American forces? Carl went on, "We ran into a few of the kamikazes, and you had to be careful; we had to watch them. The rest of the people were so nice! Two or three of us would go up into the hills, walk around, go into the houses, and talk to the Japanese as best we could. They'd offer us sake - they could've poisoned us so easy!"
On the war, "They were absolutely done; when they quit, they quit."
- Dan Wegmueller is a columnist for The Monroe Times. He can be reached at dwegs@tds.net.
Of course, fate intervened, and Japan formally surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945, just two months prior to Carl's intended landing date. At the time, there were no newsreels to convey the news of the surrender, just radio. The Marines responded with pure, unbridled ecstasy. Says Carl, "It took such a load off our shoulders, all of us! We just shot everything into the air that we could, to celebrate."
Surprisingly, no liberty was granted. During one of the most momentous occasions of the 20th century, the Marines were confined to base. Carl explained, "We weren't allowed into Hilo for liberty, because we would've freaking tore the place apart! I'm not kidding you - the 1st Marine Division was out there, and one day a couple guys went into town with a .50-caliber machine gun, and set it up outside an eating place that was run by a Jap. They just shot that place all to hell! I don't know what the reason really was; I think they said a Jap was there, or something. But they just shot the heck out of that place. I went in there later, and I could see the bullet holes and shells - that's why they wouldn't let us on liberty ..." And the Marines weren't happy, though that wasn't exactly the word Carl used.
Lack of liberty aside, Carl had never heard of the atomic bomb, and had no idea what it could be. This was 1945 - what kind of weapon could possibly obliterate an entire city? Although the invasion would never happen, Carl loaded up and was shipped to Japan as part of the peacekeeping army. He soon would get a firsthand look at the devastating effect of this new weapon.
During World War II, the military used a point system to determine when a soldier or Marine could go home. Said Carl, "You got two points for overseas duty, so much for state duty, but I didn't have enough. I was shy just a few points from going home, so I went to Japan for Occupation Duty."
In light of the supposed controversy over America's use of the atomic weapon against the Japanese, let's join Carl as he arrives in Japan. Very little ever is spoken about how prepared the mainland really was. Here are the words of a man who was there:
"When we arrived, there were these huge hills, with only a small opening. At the top of the hills were big guns, on both sides (a natural bottleneck). We were scared of it - our captain even said, 'Here we go!' Nothing happened, and we went in. It was the biggest seaport I've ever seen in my life! It was a huge shipping place, and we docked right there.
"When we got off the ship, there were all these pillboxes - it would've been just unreal if we would've had to (invade). They had trenches all over the city, from one bunker to another bunker, to all those pillboxes. The trenches were nice - there was grass growing in them! You could walk through the trenches, and never be seen. The whole city was like that - it would've been fighting from one end to the other - just horrific.
"I went into a cave, and it was filled with boats. They were going to load the boats with explosives, to hit our ships. There were thousands of these! Then, there were thousands of planes, made just to go so far. That's all they were - suicide planes, and there were thousands of them. Things like that, the Japs had all over the place. It was just unreal to see - God (the invasion) would've been awful.
"After we landed, my unit was shipped home, but I had to stay six months. I joined up with the 2nd Marine Division and moved up to Nagasaki. We went through, where the atomic bomb had been dropped. That whole area was still hot; they were still digging up bodies, and there was a lot of fallout. We walked right through that area - there was nothing there! Miles out, the buildings had just collapsed; nothing left but framework! That was in a big valley, and (the bomb) just blew everything flat - just unreal.
"We went through a lot of cities, anything that was big had been bombed, and they were just all burned out. There were blocks and blocks just burned, where we had dropped these incendiaries - pure devastation.
How did the Japanese react to the American forces? Carl went on, "We ran into a few of the kamikazes, and you had to be careful; we had to watch them. The rest of the people were so nice! Two or three of us would go up into the hills, walk around, go into the houses, and talk to the Japanese as best we could. They'd offer us sake - they could've poisoned us so easy!"
On the war, "They were absolutely done; when they quit, they quit."
- Dan Wegmueller is a columnist for The Monroe Times. He can be reached at dwegs@tds.net.
