The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945 by Hornfischer James D

Author:Hornfischer, James D.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2016-10-24T16:00:00+00:00

Fourteen separate leaflets had been crafted for use in the Marianas, each designed to overcome prideful Japanese resistance to the idea of surrender. A total of 175,000 pieces had been distributed by air through D Day plus two. Japanese language broadcasts were ongoing, and platoon leaders carried “patrol cards” printed with translated messages to use as necessary. And yet after twenty-five days of combat operations, only about half of the 1,734 military POWs taken on Saipan through July 27 would say they had seen and read the propaganda, and they offered mixed reviews of its effectiveness. Sometimes the messages were too sophisticated in content, the kanji too advanced for poorly educated enlisted men to understand. The messages sometimes failed to take hold because soldiers in groups feared lethal retribution from their officers if they showed any willingness to entertain them. Several Japanese prisoners volunteered to rewrite the texts, assist in broadcasts, or perform calligraphy, saying that they believed a humane dividend might result from educating their comrades as to the true nature of the Americans and their way of treating POWs. But successful persuasion sometimes depended on balls as much as on brains.

That was the forte of a remarkable private first class from the headquarters company of the Second Marines, whose flair for negotiating surrender was unparalleled. Guy Gabaldon was a Mexican American tough from East Los Angeles. His youth had nearly been devoured by gang life before he moved in with a Japanese American family whom he befriended in the neighborhood. He came to consider the Nakanos his own kin. Their children taught him to speak Japanese before their transfer to an internment camp left Gabaldon rootless again. He moved to Alaska at that point to work in a fish cannery, then enlisted in the Marine Corps when he turned seventeen. His wayward spirit survived the drill instructors at Camp Pendleton.

The first time Gabaldon left his post without permission, sneaking outside the perimeter for a long walk, he returned with a group of Japanese prisoners. He was warned sternly not to try such a stupid thing again, but he would. He felt called upon to use his rare language talents to persuade enemies who ostensibly valued death over surrender to give up without a fight. When he brought back fifty more prisoners one day, his commanding officer’s attitude changed. “Let the little jerk go. He’s getting results.” From then on, Gabaldon freelanced as a POW negotiator whenever he sniffed a chance.

After the gyokusai attack of July 7, Gabaldon took two Japanese prisoners to the top of a coastal cliff. “Why die when you have a chance to surrender under honorable conditions?” he had told them. “You are taking civilians to their deaths. This is not part of your Bushido military code.” To keep fighting, he told them, would mean certain death. “Our flamethrowers will roast you alive.” Knowing they had survived in spite of receiving orders to commit suicide by banzai charge, he felt confident he knew what their reaction would be.

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