(Late morning) July 24, 44 -Dear folks: Last night when I wrote there was not very much going on. I told you I would write as soon as something happened. Well, it happened at 9:00A.M. this morning. It is now 10:45 and everything seems to be back to normal again. I had figured on sleeping until about noon today seeing as there was nothing to do but at 8:30 G.Q. rang and we were off again.
It seems during the night the Japs drove some of our boys back into the sea and that they had complete control of one part of the beach. This all took place in a little cove about 300 yards across. After our boys got out of the way, they sent five LCI's in to break up the counter attack.
We entered this bay and let go with everything we had. Just about the time we let go so did they. They hit three of our ships which caused quite a bit of damage. One got nine 3- inch shells, another got a mortar on the gun deck and then got it on the fantail. Quite a few of the boys were hurt and some were killed but I do not know just how many. I guess Lady Luck was with us again because we did not get hit once. We had several near misses but a miss is as good as a mile.
Several came so close that I could feel the spray of water caused by the explosion. Well anyway, we stopped the counter attack and that is what we were supposed to do. This only lasted about half an hour but I can truthfully say it was the worst fight that I have ever been in, and we have seen quite a few. They are still shooting mortars at us but most of them are not coming very close. I think we will go in again this afternoon or tomorrow but I'm not sure. If we do I sure will try give you the news later. Love, George. P.S. Three days ago we started with nine LCI' s. We now have four left. George. -
(Late Afternoon) July 24 - 44 - Dear Folks, God have mercy on us! We drew another run this afternoon. All we had to do was go into the beach and locate a gun. We went in, located it, but the big boys were going to wait until tomorrow to dispose of it. That was about 5o'clock. At seven o'clock that gun opened up and got one of our LST's. We were setting about 100 yards from the LST when she got hit. They are in getting rid of that gun now. See you tomorrow.
Aug. 4 - 44 - Hi folks: Up until two days ago there was not much to write about since the invasion itself so I did not write anything. On Aug. 2 we got a call to take a CO of marines down to the southern end of the island (Guam). This part of the island was not bothered much by the marines yet except for a few patrols. When we got there, about 3:o'clock in the afternoon, there were no live Japs in the village. We took the boat over the side and went ashore Then we found out why.
The few Japs that were left after their main column left were all killed by the natives. By this time it was getting pretty dark. We knew there were mines on the beach so we stayed on the ship until next day. The next morn I got to go ashore and saw first hand, what a village looks like after the Japs leave it. This is something that cannot be written down or believed by those that read it.
The houses were all burnt down. There was not a thing left in the village. There were several houses left that the natives said the Japs were living in before they killed them. The houses stand about five feet off the ground and have very little or no furniture in them at all. They sleep on the floor, and eat on the floor when they have anything to eat. They are made of grass and have a wood floor. As you know the Japs are small, so when they found a big man that lived there, they would kill him. Several days before we invaded, the Japs made all the natives, men, women & children, dig large holes. After they were finished they told them to get in them. The Americans would not hurt them. After they would get in and all lie down the Japs would throw hand grenades in on them.
We had a native aboard that was in one of those holes. By some miracle or other he did not get killed and escaped after dark. All the people that could escape went back into the hills and lived in the caves. I saw the holes with bodies of the natives that the Japs killed and hope to God that I never see such a sight again.
Another thing that you have probably read or heard a lot about is what happens to the young girls. The only thing I can say is that every thing we hear is true. Girls from 14 years up all have children with Jap blood. Those that have not have been living and hiding in the caves for over a year. It is the most pitiful thing to see a young girl about 16 years old with one or two babies and another on the way.
About 10: o'clock yesterday morning we brought a women with four children aboard to take back to the hospital. The women was 25 years old and her children were 9 - 5 - 2 - 1 years old and there is to be another one in a month or so. The father of the children ( of the first two anyway) was on Midway and they do not know if he is alive yet or not. We had the little kids singing for us. The three youngest ones cannot speak English but can speak a little Spanish and one of our fellows speak it so we got along with them just fine. Here is a song that they are singing now and before when they could without getting caught. - "Mr. Sam" "Oh Mr.. Sam, Sam, Sam, my dear Uncle Sam, will you please come back to Guam - our life is in danger so better you must come and kill the Japanese in Guam. Oh Mr. Sam, Sam, Sam, My dear Uncle Sam, If you will please come back to Guam." That folks is a song that the people have been singing since the boys left 2 and 1/2 years ago. We had the little kids singing it for us yesterday.
Another thing, the young native girls on here are very beautiful. They have long black hair and a very nice complexion. They are the most beautiful and nicest people I have seen since I have been away from home. Yesterday about 3 o'clock when we were getting ready to come back to the ship, a "duck" came up and took a native out of it on a litter. He was just brought back from the front lines about 9 miles up. I never saw such a spectacle in my life. A Jap got hold of him, cut him all to ribbons and bashed his head in. His friend that came back with him did not say a word except "Get machine guns, I show you where Japs are." About ten min. later a platoon of marines and a bunch of natives left in the same direction that the natives had just come from. We left shortly after that. I do not know for sure what happened up in the hills but I have a pretty good idea.
We took that native aboard that evening and started back to Agot town. They were all taken to the hospital. We cleaned up last night a little and went to bed. We are anchored just off Agot town now waiting for another call. There are a lot of stories and things that the natives told us that we know are true and a lot more that we saw with our own eyes but it could take weeks to write all of it down. Folks, you probably wouldn't believe it unless you saw it yourself anyway, will write you soon. P.S. I did get a lot of souvenirs from this village.
George Sept 21-44 - Dear Folks: Some time has passed since I wrote you last, over a month, but there was little to write about. First of all we stayed around Guam for quite some time. We had patrol duty several times but that was about all. I did get ashore a few times and got a good look around the place. There was not much left of the towns or villages but you could tell that at one time it was a very beautiful place. Some day in the not to far future it will be built up and be just as nice as ever. - Sometime around Sept. 5th we left Guam and went to Saipan. This to seemed to be a very beautiful island but is in the same condition as Guam. The fighting here was much different than it was at Guam mainly on account of the natives being Japanese. At Guam, as they took a place they had to fight the civilian population. There are many stories to be told, many of them true but that would just a waste of time because I will tell them to you when I see you. We are still at Saipan now but go back and forth between here and Tinian. That is also a nice island and also in the same condition. Well Folks, that brings me just about up to the present time so I guess I will close. Will write again when something happens or we move to another base. George.
Dec 30-44 - Dear Mom: Again it has been quite some time since I have written you, almost three months. I am now at Guam again but the last time I wrote I was at Saipan so I will start from there. While I was at Saipan we had many air raids but there was only little damage done. They just keep us from getting a full nights sleep. We used to have to get up and lay a smoke screen around the harbor every alarm. About the middle of Oct we got underway and came back to Guam.
We were all glad because we all like this island. We were not here more than two days when we got a call to relieve another ship for patrol duty. This duty was to guard a dynamite barge about 50 yards from a small village at the southern end of the island. This was the best duty I have had since I have been out here.
We had liberty every other day in the village. We each had our own girl friend and everybody treated us swell. Her we drank our first Tuba, (native beer made from coconuts) and had all the bananas we wanted. We got to know the natives well and they gave us everything we wanted. The girls here were very beautiful and would do anything for us. All in all we had one swell time but it did not last long enough. A week later we came back to the harbor and have been here ever since.
As you know Xmas has come and gone again. The only good thing that happened this year was that I did get to midnight mass . Other than that it was just another day. We have not had an air raid since I have been here this last time so lets hope we don't get any. Oh yes, I think we are moving out again pretty soon. Things are beginning to shape up like another invasion so I probably will have more interesting news before long. I have no idea where we are going yet but I will tell you as soon as I find out. So, until next time Happy New Year, say a prayer for all of us. It won't be long before we will all be back home. George.
Jan. 25, 1945 - Hi Folks: Here I am again. I told you I would write as soon as anything happened that would interest you. We got underway this morning about 11:o'clock and are now headed out in another invasion. We have a couple of stops before we hit the beach yet. We are headed for Ulithi now, a small island in the Carolina group. From there I do not know for sure where we are going but will be able to tell you in a few days. We are out to sea once again and it sure feels good. There is nothing of interest going on now but there most likely will be in the near future. As soon as I find out for sure where we are going I will write again and give you all the details but until then I will have to say so long until later. Hope us the best of luck. Hope to see you soon. George.
Feb. 16, 45 Dear Mom: It doesn't seem like such a long time since I wrote you last but a lot of things have happened since then. First of all we got into Ulithi on the 28th of Jan. Here we got supplies and fuel, and had maneuvers for several days. We did not have any time to ourselves there and we left without going ashore. We left there on Feb 5 and went back to Saipan where we had several more days of maneuvers. Then one night, Feb 13th we left there and headed out again. Yes, but this time you know we are headed for Iwo Jima.
That is an island in the Volcano group, but I will be able to tell you more about that later. In just 13 1/2 hours we are going to hit that beach. It may seem funny that we are going in so early but we are not waiting for the invasion force. We are going in to clear the way for them. We are what are known as the demolition squad. There are nine LCI's and a bunch of marine raiders. The invasion force cannot get ashore until we take the mines out and get rid of the big guns. Again I will be able to give you more information about this tomorrow. I have a hundred and one things to do before tomorrow morning so I think I had better close but will tell you all about it as soon as it is over. Again say a prayer for not only me but for all the fellows that are going in with me, Thanks. Love, George. You're damn well right I'm scared. -
Feb. 17, 1945 - D-2 09:30 - We are headed into the beach now. The wagons are really giving them hell. Our planes are dive bombing all over the island. 12:10 We have finished. We have just spent a half hour of hell on earth. Am too nervous to write now but will write tonight if possible. -
D-2 22:00 - I am on watch now. I have had time to calm down a little so I will try and give you an account of what happened. First of all we just fooled around until 10:45 that morning and then we went inch When we got 1200 yards from the beach we openfire with all our guns. Everything went just fine. When we got from 900 to 1000 yards we let go with our rockets, but just before we did all hell broke loose.
My God, I never saw so much enemy fire in all my life. First we got an eight inch shell in the bow then we got another one in the center of the ship then the third one in the bow again then two large mortars hit our well deck and knocked all our rocket launchers off then we got another eight inch shell amidships. That gave us four holes all at least three ft. across.
Then somebody yelled that the #1 compartment was on fire. Just as the fellows started to go up to put the fire out we got another mortar amidships. This hit the first fellow out the door and blew both his hands off and the biggest part of his right shoulder. Two of the fellows picked him up and got him out of the way and the rest went to work on the fire, or tried too. When they picked up the fire hoses, they were all burnt and blown to hell. Here we were with a fire in the same compartment as our ammunition and no water.
We kept it under control until we got new hoses but in the meantime we had taken several more hits and had lost another man. This fellow got it right in the chest. I can't tell you just how many hits we did take because I could never count them. We took several three inch shells and God only knows how much machine gun fire.
Besides losing two men, we lost four of our guns. Those two men was far from the only ones hit but they were the only ones killed. Altogether I think we had about 15 men hit . Thank God I was not one of them, at least not yet. Eleven LCI's hit the beach this morning and we got the least damage of any of them so you can tell just about what we ran into. One of them did not even come out.
Out of twelve of us that left Guam a few days ago there is only one that is in condition to make another run. I want you to know that this all happened in about a half an hour or less, so you can see how fast things happen. I also want you to know that there were many a Mother's prayer answered today or a lot more of us would not be here to tell about it. It is almost time to go off watch now. I have had a busy day so I think I had better close. Tomorrow will be another long day so I will say so long and say an extra prayer for the boys we lost today. Don't forget me either. Love, George.
( Editor's note - This was the last entry in 'ol George's log. I must say he did an outstanding recording job. Vaughn Hampton )