The road to Ie Shima for that farm kid from Indiana, Ernie Pyle, led through Washington, D.C., Africa, Europe, back to New Mexico to recuperate, then to the Pacific. The road for our local kid, Jerry Hastings, took a different route to Ie Shima on that day in April 1945 when a Japanese machine gun bullet ended the life of America's most celebrated WWII war correspondent.
Jerry was born in Martintown, Wis. on the Wisconsin-Illinois border. He grew up in Winslow, Ill. where his father ran a grocery store. He attended Winslow schools and graduated in 1941. How's that for timing?
Jerry was drafted in February 1943 at age 19. His younger brother, Ike, enlisted that same day. They were inducted in Chicago, sent the next day to Camp Grant in Rockford, and immediately issued uniforms. Incredibly, it seems, they were allowed to mosey over to the PX that same day for some ice cream. On the way, they passed a large house that read "Post Commandant." Ike tells Jerry, "That's the guy we want to see."
So, these two babes in the woods, second day in the Army, walk up to the commandant's door and knock. The commandant answers the door and these two rubes, not even knowing enough to salute, didn't even yet know how, tell - not ask, but tell - the commandant they want to stay together.
How's that for audacity? What follows is even more bizarre.
The commandant tells them that the Army won't allow it, but he'll see that they leave on the train together. So these boys leave on the train together the next day. It's doubtful that their request of the dumbfounded commandant had anything to do with it. He probably figured that before this war was over these two lads would be dead ducks, so might as well humor 'em for now.
They are sent to Massachusetts and assigned to the 132nd Combat Engineering Battalion of the 77th Infantry Division. And with a series of shenanigans, deceptions, and ruses that would make P.T. Barnum look like a novice, and Wall Street suede shoe artists look like amateurs, they spend the next several years in the Army, in combat, not only in the same unit, but even sharing the same foxhole. It shouldn't have happened, but that's the Army for ya.
Rather than formal basic training, they trained with their unit. They were separated briefly during radio school - Jerry as a technician and Ike as a radio operator, but were reunited in the same unit. Because there was still the possibility of invasion, or German infiltrators on the coast, the 77th Division patrolled the northeast coast of the U.S. for a time. Later, in preparation for being shipped to the Pacific, the division went through amphibious training in Florida. Ike also received demolition training.
The 77th Division takes a troop train through Canada and northern U.S. to Fort Lawton, near Seattle, Wash. From there, it is to Hawaii where they go through jungle training, April-July 1944. Then it's aboard ship, across the International Date Line, to the Marshall Islands and a brief stop at Enawetok that had been captured in early 1944.
Then it was back aboard ship to the Marianas. The 77th Division would participate with the First Marine Brigade and the 3rd Marine Division for the invasion of Guam. The conquest of the Marianas, beginning with Saipan, then Guam, then Tinian, put American bombers within range of Japan's homeland. It was from Tinian that the two American bombers would take off with the atomic bombs that ended the war. But that would be over a year, and many casualties, later.
For Jerry and the 77th Division, it was back aboard ship, crossing the equator to the Solomans and an Island called "Manus," for rest and recuperation, but not for long. It was another 32 days aboard ship to Leyte, Philippines for three months.
It was on a day in Leyte when Jerry, the communicator, was given a message to send to an adjoining island. "Sir, we don't have radio contact."
"Improvise, and get this message out," was the terse reply. Jerry improvised by climbing a coconut tree with the radio antenna. It's dangerous enough to be traipsing around a combat zone with a radio antenna strapped to your back. Then to climb a tree with Japanese snipers around is an invitation to sudden death.
It's probably the same audacity that enabled Jerry and his brother to tell the Post Commandant on their second day in the Army what they wanted that impelled Jerry to climb a tree with a radio antenna in the midst of Japanese snipers. Jerry says that either no snipers sighted him that day, or, they figured it was better to let live any American soldier who was that dumb. But good soldier that he was, Jerry got the message out.
After three and a half months on Leyte, and a second battle star for Jerry and brother Ike, it was 41 days aboard ship to the Ryukus. Since Iwo Jima had been captured, American bombers now had uncontested air space from the Marianas to Japan. But the final, dreaded invasion was still ahead.
Only a handful of scientists and the president yet knew of progress on the atomic bomb. The bomb was still untested and scientists were unsure of its eventual success. As the Ryukus were to be the staging area for the ultimate invasion of Japan, the main island of Okinawa, and the adjoining island, Ie Shima with its three airfields, would have to be taken.
It was on Ie Shima that the paths of Jerry Hastings and Ernie Pyle would cross, and that fateful Japanese machine gun bullet would take the life of America's most celebrated war correspondent.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
Jerry was born in Martintown, Wis. on the Wisconsin-Illinois border. He grew up in Winslow, Ill. where his father ran a grocery store. He attended Winslow schools and graduated in 1941. How's that for timing?
Jerry was drafted in February 1943 at age 19. His younger brother, Ike, enlisted that same day. They were inducted in Chicago, sent the next day to Camp Grant in Rockford, and immediately issued uniforms. Incredibly, it seems, they were allowed to mosey over to the PX that same day for some ice cream. On the way, they passed a large house that read "Post Commandant." Ike tells Jerry, "That's the guy we want to see."
So, these two babes in the woods, second day in the Army, walk up to the commandant's door and knock. The commandant answers the door and these two rubes, not even knowing enough to salute, didn't even yet know how, tell - not ask, but tell - the commandant they want to stay together.
How's that for audacity? What follows is even more bizarre.
The commandant tells them that the Army won't allow it, but he'll see that they leave on the train together. So these boys leave on the train together the next day. It's doubtful that their request of the dumbfounded commandant had anything to do with it. He probably figured that before this war was over these two lads would be dead ducks, so might as well humor 'em for now.
They are sent to Massachusetts and assigned to the 132nd Combat Engineering Battalion of the 77th Infantry Division. And with a series of shenanigans, deceptions, and ruses that would make P.T. Barnum look like a novice, and Wall Street suede shoe artists look like amateurs, they spend the next several years in the Army, in combat, not only in the same unit, but even sharing the same foxhole. It shouldn't have happened, but that's the Army for ya.
Rather than formal basic training, they trained with their unit. They were separated briefly during radio school - Jerry as a technician and Ike as a radio operator, but were reunited in the same unit. Because there was still the possibility of invasion, or German infiltrators on the coast, the 77th Division patrolled the northeast coast of the U.S. for a time. Later, in preparation for being shipped to the Pacific, the division went through amphibious training in Florida. Ike also received demolition training.
The 77th Division takes a troop train through Canada and northern U.S. to Fort Lawton, near Seattle, Wash. From there, it is to Hawaii where they go through jungle training, April-July 1944. Then it's aboard ship, across the International Date Line, to the Marshall Islands and a brief stop at Enawetok that had been captured in early 1944.
Then it was back aboard ship to the Marianas. The 77th Division would participate with the First Marine Brigade and the 3rd Marine Division for the invasion of Guam. The conquest of the Marianas, beginning with Saipan, then Guam, then Tinian, put American bombers within range of Japan's homeland. It was from Tinian that the two American bombers would take off with the atomic bombs that ended the war. But that would be over a year, and many casualties, later.
For Jerry and the 77th Division, it was back aboard ship, crossing the equator to the Solomans and an Island called "Manus," for rest and recuperation, but not for long. It was another 32 days aboard ship to Leyte, Philippines for three months.
It was on a day in Leyte when Jerry, the communicator, was given a message to send to an adjoining island. "Sir, we don't have radio contact."
"Improvise, and get this message out," was the terse reply. Jerry improvised by climbing a coconut tree with the radio antenna. It's dangerous enough to be traipsing around a combat zone with a radio antenna strapped to your back. Then to climb a tree with Japanese snipers around is an invitation to sudden death.
It's probably the same audacity that enabled Jerry and his brother to tell the Post Commandant on their second day in the Army what they wanted that impelled Jerry to climb a tree with a radio antenna in the midst of Japanese snipers. Jerry says that either no snipers sighted him that day, or, they figured it was better to let live any American soldier who was that dumb. But good soldier that he was, Jerry got the message out.
After three and a half months on Leyte, and a second battle star for Jerry and brother Ike, it was 41 days aboard ship to the Ryukus. Since Iwo Jima had been captured, American bombers now had uncontested air space from the Marianas to Japan. But the final, dreaded invasion was still ahead.
Only a handful of scientists and the president yet knew of progress on the atomic bomb. The bomb was still untested and scientists were unsure of its eventual success. As the Ryukus were to be the staging area for the ultimate invasion of Japan, the main island of Okinawa, and the adjoining island, Ie Shima with its three airfields, would have to be taken.
It was on Ie Shima that the paths of Jerry Hastings and Ernie Pyle would cross, and that fateful Japanese machine gun bullet would take the life of America's most celebrated war correspondent.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
