War Stories II by Oliver L. North

Author:Oliver L. North
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Published: 2013-02-04T16:00:00+00:00

MAJOR MICHAEL RYAN, USMC

Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll

22 November 1943

1650 Hours Local

I came on active duty as a Marine second lieutenant, a platoon leader, and we were sent out to join the 1st Marine Division.

We didn’t land on Guadalcanal. We landed to the north on two small islands—Gavutu-Tanambogo—that formed the Japanese seaplane base. That was my introduction to operations and to combat.

The Japanese had made a counter-attack and overran the Marines there. When I got there you could see Japanese bodies all over the ground. None of our guys had seen combat but they did well.

I was promoted to first lieutenant. Within a couple of months I was promoted to captain and made a company commander. After a while we were ordered to Guadalcanal itself, and participated in a number of operations there. We moved from Guadalcanal and were on our way to Fiji when we heard that we were going to a place called Tarawa.

I was hoping that Tarawa would be a short operation. We thought that it would be relatively easy, because we were told the tonnage of bombs that were going to be used and how much the ships were going to fire. We heard that the bombardment would go on for four or five hours. We were to land in boats, form in the center of the beach, and await orders. Our orders were to go as far as we could in the boats, and if we couldn’t get over the reef, to wait for the tractors to come back and then go in.

Well, from where we were sitting it didn’t look like any tractors would get back out again. Implied in the order was, “Get in the best way you can.” And that’s what we planned to do.

The tractor right in front of my boat was on fire. But all the Marines were out—I thought—until two Marines climbed up on the side with their clothing on fire. I could see when they fell that they’d probably died before they hit the water.

We got out and started to walk in, and it’s about 1,300 yards to the beach. By the time we got there, K Company was ashore. And so was what was left of I Company. When we got out and started in, other casualties were in the water. You didn’t know whether they were dead or wounded.

When I and K Companies landed, they moved behind the seawall. When I got over the parapet, Captain Crane came over and said, “Captain Tatem was killed. Lieutenant Turner has taken over I Company. That was the one that got so shot up over there.”

If the Japanese didn’t kick us off the island, they were going to lose it. We fully expected the battalion headquarters to come in with more troops, but they didn’t show up, and so I became the battalion commander.

Regimental headquarters now consisted of a major—me—and a runner. Everyone else was dead or wounded and there were no radios. We could see that the 2nd Battalion was advancing on Red Beach Two.

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