Part I Part II Part III Poems from LCI 450 LCI 450: Iwo Jima SPECIAL DISPATCH TO NEW YORK TIMES : ' CUSSED ' LCI SAVES FIFTY FROM DROWNING

4/18/44 - Hi Folks, Well here we are again started on another adventure. We don't know just where we are going yet but it is somewhere below the equator. Most likely Guadalcanal. We will know for sure in a few days. We left Pearl Harbor this morning at 8 o'clock. I think all the boys had a pretty good time for themselves in Honolulu. Well by tomorrow we will know more bout this trip will be able to tell you where we are headed so until then, Be good. George. 5/14/44 - Hi Folks, It has been almost a month since I have written you now so I will see if I can make up for lost time. The first thing of any interest that happened on this trip was that we crossed the equator. It may not mean anything to you but it has a very special meaning to all sailors. I think in general speaking you can say that you are not really a sailor until you have crossed it. We had a big party that day. There are three fellows on our ship that have been across before they took over the ship. They had to initiate the rest of the crew. They had the Captain doing dishes, the Eng. officer running the engines, the Exc. officer swabbing decks. They weren't the only ones that got it. I had one red spot on my body that was so sore that I couldn't sit down for a week. A lot of other things went on that I will tell you about when I see you. A few days later we pulled into port in one of the Ellis islands. As you know these islands belong to England. We only stayed there a couple of days. Long enougho get fuel. While we were there some of the natives came out to our ship and sold us beads that they made out of shells. I have some of them down in my locker now and will try send them home as soon as possible. A week or so later we came into a well known group of islands. Also that are owned by the English. I think they are known to most people as the Solomon Islands. That is where I am now. In this group of islands I have been to several of which Guadalcanal, Florida, (sp) Tologia are the most well known. We have been hanging around here for almost two weeks now . Expect to be here at least another week maybe two. If the people back home could see these islands as we are seeing them now, they would wonder how the boys ever drove the Japs out of here. All there is jungle more jungle. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there were still Japs up in those hills. I guess Uncle Sam wouldn't either because you can only go so far from camp. Well that's about all for today but if anything happens, which I doubt very much I will write again if not I will wait until we get underway. Love as always, George June 10-44 - Hi Folks: We have been under way for some time now there are a lot of things that I want to tell you. First off, we left the Solomon Islands on May 30. They did not say just where we were going but we all had a pretty good idea. After we were out for a couple of days they told us that our first stop would be the Marshall Islands. On June the 6th we got there. On the way there we lost two engines but had them fixed by the time we got into port. When we got into port we found that our gear box was shot that we only had one quad to get under way with. We only had two days layover there. They told us we were on our way to another invasion that we had to have it fixed. Well, we had fully a week's work ahead of us to do in about 60 hours. We started right away. They sent out five men from another ship over to help us. From then on everything became a night mare. We worked 24 hours a day. We each got about 2 hours sleep a night then back to work. Our orders were to sail at two o'clock . June 9 at 12 olock we were turning the engines and making last minute adjustments. We made it. The engines are all in good condition now but the men are so worn out they spend all the time in bed except when they are on watch. Yes, I am on watch now. Well, anyway we are under way again headed into another invasion. What invasion? Guam! Yes it is going to be some fight but I think we are prepared for it or they would not send us. Oh yes, we went along side a LST the first night we were in the Marshalls to get fuel. I was talking to a marine. I asked him if there was anybody from Detroit on that ship. He said he did not think so but there was a fellow in his Co. from there on another ship. I believe he said the PA-3. He said the man's name was Dowell. That's right it is Robert Dowell but I did not get to see him. He is in the same convoy I am but there is so much to do that I have not the time to look him up. Well we are about five days from Guam. Many things can happen in that time so I may have some more exciting things to tell you in the near future. So until then, I will say so long. Love as always, George June 10-44 - Hi Folks: We have been under way for some time now there are a lot of things that I want to tell you. First off, we left the Solomon Islands on May 30. They did not say just where we were going but we all had a pretty good idea. After we were out for a couple of days they told us that our first stop would be the Marshall Islands. On June the 6th we got there. On the way there we lost two engines but had them fixed by the time we got into port. When we got into port we found that our gear box was shot that we only had one quad to get under way with. We only had two days layover there. They told us we were on our way to another invasion that we had to have it fixed. Well, we had fully a week's work ahead of us to do in about 60 hours. We started right away. They sent out five men from another ship over to help us. From then on everything became a night mare. We worked 24 hours a day. We each got about 2 hours sleep a night then back to work. Our orders were to sail at two o'clock . June 9 at 12 olock we were turning the engines and making last minute adjustments. We made it. The engines are all in good condition now but the men are so worn out they spend all the time in bed except when they are on watch. Yes, I am on watch now. Well, anyway we are under way again headed into another invasion. What invasion? Guam! Yes it is going to be some fight but I think we are prepared for it or they would not send us. Oh yes, we went along side a LST the first night we were in the Marshalls to get fuel. I was talking to a marine. I asked him if there was anybody from Detroit on that ship. He said he did not think so but there was a fellow in his Co. from there on another ship. I believe he said the PA-3. He said the man's name was Dowell. That's right it is Robert Dowell but I did not get to see him. He is in the same convoy I am but there is so much to do that I have not the time to look him up. Well we are about five days from Guam. Many things can happen in that time so I may have some more exciting things to tell you in the near future. So until then, I will say so long. Love as always, George June 16, 44 - Hi Folks: Yesterday started a new period in our lives. I think I told you I would write again as soon as we had a little excitement, well, we have had plenty of it in the last two days. Our convoy has been under constant _____ air attack since early yesterday afternoon. I will try tell you how it all came about. On June 15 we were all setting in the chow hall waiting for chow when the G.Q. rang. Somebody yelled "Here comes the yellow Bastards." We all ran for our stations. My station is below the fantail or after part of the ship I can look out of a hatch see just about everything. As soon as we got outside we could see planes. There were three of them. At first they _____ attacked the Destroyers. We got one of them but the other two got away. They circled made another run at the same time another one came out of the clouds started on our side of the convoy. All this time our boys held their fire. The plane that started on our side headed right at one of the _____ LST's and let go a fish (Torpedo) _____ then turned and headed for us. We were the last ship in the Convoy so he thought he could get us easy. Oh yes, these planes were all torpedo bombers. The nickname for them is "Kate" She has two 7.7 cannons in her nose. Well, as soon as she got in range of us she started to strafe at the same time our boys opened up. I think she was kind of surprised because when she got about 100 yards from our fan-tail, she tried to pull out of it. Our boys had a magnificent idea. They just kept pumping lead as fast as they could. All at once a big black burst of smoke came from her engine. She came within about 1500 yards of our starboard beam. She hit the water with one wing first, turned summersault, blew up. Everybody just stood there for a couple of seconds. Then I would not have been surprised if you could have heard them back in San Diego. You never saw anything like it. They just seemed to go mad with joy. Officers as well as men. Out of the four planes that attacked our convoy only one of them lived to see his home base again. All of this happened between 5:00-5:15 yesterday, just about the time Dad was getting home from work. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you, not a man was hurt on our ship, in fact he didn't even hit the ship. No other planes got close enough to get shot at so things begin to quiet down. About 6:30 they secured us and we went back ate. There was a lot of talk. Everybody was tired so we all hit the sack early. I guess it was a good thing we did because they came back again this morning a little before 4 a.m. They did not bother us then but just circled us several times pretty high and left about 5:30. I guess they couldn't see anything because it was still dark. About 6 o'clock we were secured, came in ate tried to get a little more sleep. About 10:00 a.m., they came back so we had to get up again but the Destroyer got that plane. There only seemed to be the one so they secured us again. It is now 4:45 we are expecting them again very soon. If they come I will write tomorrow tell you all about it. So until later, say a prayer for us. Love, George.

July 17, 44 - Dear Folks: One month one day ago is the last time that I wrote to you. A lot of things have happened since then but I have not had the time to write. I will try sum them all up now. I do not remember the exact days or dates but for about a week after I last wrote things were pretty hot. We were attacked about three or four times a day by Jap aircraft. Mostly in the morning at night _____sunset, sometimes during the day. For about a week-and- a-half we just circled the island of Saipan while the rest of the boys went in. Our convoy was supposed to go in on Guam. During the fight on Saipan they got ahold of the plans for the fortification of Guam and found there were many more gun emplacements and pill boxes than they expected so they postponed it until a later date and sent us back to the Marshall Islands. By this time we were just about out of fuel, water and supplies. When we got back we got all the necessary things and some more ammunition which we were also running low on. We stayed here for seven days and had a pretty good time. We had swimming parties every day and a show party every night. We also got to go ashore one morning. On July 15 at 11:30 we weighed anchor and got under way again to finish the job that we started over a month ago. I am most sure that we will finish it this time or die trying. It is going to be a tough deal . We know we will not all come out alive. From where we stand now things look pretty good but from what went on in the Island of Saipan we know that it is going to be rough. More fellows lost their lives there than you or anybody back home know about. I am sure that those boys felt the same as we do now -- that is that it is better for a few of us to die so the rest of us can live the kind of life that they are used to living. Well Folks, there are a lot of things that must be done before we go in . We have such a short time, today being the 17th. The 21st is the big day so I guess I had better close. I will try write again before I go in but I am not sure that I will have time, so until we meet again Say a prayer for all the boys that lost their lives in the last invasion and the ones that will die in this one. July 22, 44 Dear Folks: It has been five days since I wrote you last but nothing happened up until yesterday. It was a very peaceful trip. No air raids _____ and no nothing. You know we invaded _____ Guam yesterday morning. Will try give you a picture of what happened. I got up at 3:AM so I could take a shower and put on old clean clothes before I went on watch at 4:AM. We always do this because of infection if we happen to get hit. A little after 4:00 I went up on top side to see what was going on. The ship was lit up like mid-afternoon with flares dropped from our planes. Also there were many fires on the island caused by bombs. (I had better stop here give you a description of the island of Guam) It is a large island which covers about 125 square miles. There is a line of mountains running the length of it. Start from the outside, there is a sandy beach which is about 50 feet wide and runs most all the way around the island. Then in some places there are 100 or 200 yards of tall palm trees. After the palm trees, for about two or three miles comes some fields and low grass. Then starts the mountains about 2/3 of the way up it just grass underbrush. Near the top there is more trees. (To sum it all up it is very much like Guadalcanal) Now on with the invasion. From 4:00 until 7:00 all we did was get things ready although most of it was done the day before. About 7:15 we went G.Q. _____ About 7:30 we started in. At 1200 yards from the beach we let go with our 40mm. At 500 yards we let everything go. This included 1000 rockets , three 40mm four 20mm. Brother, we blew "hell" out of that beach. About 30 yards behind us were the first wave of marines. During this time we were receiving as well as giving out. Mortar fire was landing all around us. About six of them landed just off our fantail. A lot more landed on our sides forward. Lady Luck rode with us again because we were not hit. Not one man is hurt. We stayed in this position _____ yards off the beach _____kept up firing until the first wave of marines landed then turned broadside started to strafe the beach down away from the marines. The enemy were firing back on us. At 10:00 AM we got word that the Stars and Stripes were waving over Guam. Once again the boys were started in. Here, in less than three hours we had made our beachhead and the flag was unfurled over the island. We ran patrol all last night up and down the island to make sure that none of the Japs got away or that they got no replacements but nothing happened. Today, 22, there is still much fighting going on but time is all we need before it will be secured again in the hands of the U.S. Well folks, this is about as close as I can give as to what happened today. It was a tough fight but I think they are learning not to fool around with the "YANKS." Keep those home fires burning because if things keep going as they are it will not be long until I will be home all together once again. So until later, say a prayer for this thing to be over fast maybe I will be home for Christmas . Love, George. - (Early Morn) July 24,44 - Dear Folks: It is now about 1:00 AM on the second night after the invasion of Guam. By this time you probably have heard the most favorable results of what is going on. We heard a broadcast over the radio yesterday they said that everything was advancing well. I wish some of those so called reporters could be out here and see for themselves. We are doing patrol duty. All we do is run back forth from three hundred yards to twenty five yards hundred yards off the beach. We are supposed to stop any counter attacks that starts from this end of the island. It's rather a dark night out, or it would be if it were not for the _____ flares. I went up on top sides before could see tracers over the island. When we get in to 300 yards the "can" on our starboard lets go with a flare. You can see the marines in there in hand to hand combat. You don' t need glasses to see it either. We can see the Jap troops are moving about. All of a sudden a cruiser or a can will lay a big shell right in the middle of them. Boy, they got the hell out of there in a hurry. It is hard to give you a picture of just what is going on. We are setting here watching it but it just doesn't seem real. Oh yes, Robert Dowell is in there someplace. I do not know what wave he went in on but lets hope it wasn't the first one because a lot of those boys are not going to come back out. Did you ever think of what happens when they invade, what becomes of all the wild life, the birds, even fish.? That's right , they are all killed . For days after you can see fish floating around. Big one, small ones, pretty ones, plain ones. Come to think about it I have not seen a bird here once we came in. We got word yesterday that one of our ships got hit the day we came in. Six men were killed and sixteen were injured. I knew those fellows Mom. In fact I went to school with one of the fellows that was killed. Well that's war. Well Folks, I guess that's all for tonight. Maybe I will have some news to tell you tomorrow. Love, George. -