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George EL Hopkins of w Whitewall In the launting boat with me were Johnny Baker of Troy, captain of Regimental Headquarters Uct, Walt Shuzas of Hoosick Falls, the regi mental communications offcer, sev eral additional specialist officers and about 25 enlisted men—trees- Picians, radio operators, ee, many of them belay tocahows. “Our mission was to get ashore, restablish an advanced command Post, and coordinate the arrival of four battalions. Things went feirty well-the ge2 was moredo cough— bet the area, adjacent to the land ibe beaches was clutterd with art types of craft imaginable. We had Soren into the small chanel and Were heading for the beach when the ‘boat grounded, started to take in water and seen was listing about 83 degrees to starboard . The wat er had risen to waist high so we began get out, over when We were about 26 yards from shore and the water “was about chest deep at that spint, so we be gan wading ashore. Finally Reached Shore. “After many plunges we reached shore, Den who had seen car ving heavy radios had a terrible time trying to watch, ‘ through in See shepe.. Not a piece of ‘equipment had been damaged. The death was known, as Berea Blue and what had once been the proud tittle town of Charan Kanua was now nothing bert a shasbles with twisted weeckaze everywhere. There were plenty of dead Japs all around and the oer of the dead was beyond deservision. “The Marines were fighting ac ts at lisve, rying to establish a’ ‘beathhead. Their tines were per haps 200 yards ie from the beach. “The Japs were throwing over some artillery and mortar shells. sous we had Hale ‘time to be Scared for myself, Lo vbink Y was ‘too bewildered. Later on this be y Nildermen’ restome and I was scared plenty. We started walking up the south, along the beach and ‘after a little while, cane ‘pon the Fourth Marine Division CP where iwe met . Very welcome individual, poor assistant, division: commander. He had been ashore all the pre- rescue night, gathering Information from the Marine commanders. He showed us our assigned assembly ‘arough the map, so‘ we proceeded along the beach and after a lengthy strip, arrived at our destination. Radios were set up and soon we were into cemufication with the spear echelon, still aboard ship. “Shortly thereafter, our bat talions began uurriving. Before proceeding farther, I think it might be advisable w give you a brief terrain analysis of Saipan. The island is approximately ten land a half miles long by two and a half miles wide at aks narrowest point. There are two peninsulas which jut out from the east coast, making the width of the island about tve miles at its widest points. The lower peninsula is known as Mafutan and the upper as Hagman. A mountain range, runs. generally north and south through the center and has as its highest point, 2 mountain, called Mount Teppichay, rising to a height of 1594 see There is’ an other piece of high ground at the northern part of Saipan called Mount Marpi, which is approxi mately §50 feet high. The terrain on the west and west sides, run ning from the “igot of the hills [to the shores, might well be called arrow coastal plains, Found Sugar Cane, “The ground is composed primar y of coral limestone. However, mutch of the Kiod was cultivated and great quantities of sugar cane, was found growing. “The plan of operation placed the Second Marine Division on the left and the Feerin Marina Divis ion on the right, with the 211a Di Serve. As it so hap pened, the higher echelon decided, on D pls one to commmit the 272h Division, which would go right of the Fourth Ma the mission of ¢apturink Aaliro Airport and be prepared to con tinue the attack to the eastern coast. The atteen got under war and the W5th Infantry, with the assistance of the 106th, did a mag nifcent steamwator job and by the afternoon of June 1$. had capt and pushed beyond the enemy field.. In war during the following day, that We first evcountered any of the enemy's aircraft. “We had just completed the for ward displacement of the com mand post of our regiment when we observed the beginning of a dog fight between our planes and Jap Zeros,ithin a short eval of the Jap planes w down arc we noticed one Zero atresking for us. One of Captain Baker's men was sitting in auar ter-ton jeep, that had a fifty caliber gun mounted on it. The lad im mediately jumped behind it, care fully sighted at the oncoming Zero and let go with long burst. Ihe apparently caught the Jap to «a vulnerable spot, as his motor sput tered and appeared to catch fire. Seconds later, he crashed in flames and the Jap pilot was taken prisoner. . vision in an Trapped AV Enemy. “On or about June 21, our divi sion had reached the eastern crast, thereby cutting off and trapping all the enemy that had been in and withdrawn to Nafuten Peninsula. The Second Battalion of the 105th was assigned the mission of clean ing out all the Japs in his area. That battalion was commanded by Lieut. Col. Les Jensen of Schenec tady, and how the sdoperation and great effort of his officers and men, did a marvelous job in an nihilating the Japs that were in the area. IT cannot reveal the number of enemy that were killed, but can say that they outnumbered the battalion. At the termination of this action, a high ranking Ma rine officer personally commended ‘Coronel Jensen and the battalion for their excelent tactics and very fine coat ploined of infantry and other weapons. “While the + tle of Xalutan , ridge was being fought, the balance ‘of the division in conjunction with the Second and Fourth Marine Di vision, had turned northward. The Second Marine Division was on the left, the Fourth Ma jer. By the Fourth Marines had cleaned ou: Ragman Peninsula, the Second Ma rines had entered the Town Garapan and in fighting mountainous terrain as well as the enemy, was moving slowly. It was a physical impos sibility for our division to move as rapidly as the Marines. There were two reasons: First the mountainous and difficult terrain that had to be traveled and second, the fact that the Japs had dug caves all slone the ridges that rent at sight angles to the lae of ad vance. It was quite a joo to re duce the Jap forces that occupied these caves, especially in view of the fact tat most al of them were mutually supporting. In practical Ty ail cases, I was necessary to use flame throwers or self-propelled TV s or one of five howitzers. June, the Some Civilians. “Then again, some of the caves contained Jap civilians as well as soldiers. Our orders’ were to pre+ ‘serve the lives of all civilians, hence it required some paintaking effort to spare the civilians and kill the soldiers. As this took and naturally retarded a rapid £ Ward movement. . However, we did move forward and made good progress, and, in addition, were mopping up the ground, covered by our attacking echelons. The mopping up paid dividends in the saving of the lives of our men, in that the installations of battalion, regimental and division command Posts were always safeguarded against any Jap snipers that might have been by-passed by the attack ing troops. “It was during this phase of the operation that our commanding general, Ralph Smith, teft us. We hated to see him go. To me as one individual, he, was a superior officer and a brilliant tactician. The army defines leadership as the art s and ability of training. fghting and ‘supplying troops in combat. He has all those qualities, plus.. Given. Warning Order. “Getting back to the actual op eration, and it till being the latter part ‘of June, our regiment was dis posed with the Second Battalion, under control of Army garrison forces, fighting on Nafuten Ridge. The First Battalion, commanded by Lieut. Col. Wiliam J. Obrien, assisting the 11 5th Infantry’ and our Third Battalion, commanded by Lieut. Col Ted Bradt, who had made such a distinguished record at’ Makin Atoll in ‘the Gilbert Islands. Ted's battalion, at this time, was in reserve. We had re ceived a warning order to be pre pared to relieve and take over the, line of the 185th Infantry, = Sent forward to contact Col. Jerry. Kelly, commanding officer of the, 185th, and secure all available in formation. During my stay at the command post, we received some Jap mortar fire and it was during this shelling that Colonel Kelly was wounded. while on a reconnais sance, I found too that orders to believe the 163th Infantry would not materialize and instead, their, Second Battalion would be at tached to us, whereupon we would. launch an attack the following morning. ‘The attack got under way,ith she = Seca: right und o the left regged and Ted@’s Nacsa: progress, tun fh abiveo ation wanded Bung forsd on th dartie—I6 in Jups were s area because ‘=. the north 2 X. wazeno call THis captured hours of fiee EWES and count enemy Sip cavaied pully a hires, ground supp base. ¢ which greatly hamiered operations. ertera faster depot initial formn @ distant Jap qerti and it was during this aft Lieus: Col. George EH, Hopkins of aS wounded. As Col was regio 2 exed e was replaced with in the next few days by Lieut. Col onel Jensen, wherepon Maj. Eddie McCarthy of Schenectady was placed in command of the Second Battalion.” . Major Dolan’ then related that the action continued and the 105th steadily pushed forward. The Sec ond Marines had taken Garapa and by July 4, the Fourth Marines were maintaining the right of the ne, the 27th, maintaining the Jet and the Second Marines in re serve. “Up time, “Major Bolen cont in any of our lo cal men were distinguishing them selves admirably, Including Billie Eckherd., . Ray Toomey, Harry Need, Brent, George Denne, Phil Bishop, Joe Robdstalle, Jack Breen, Hank Miller, Jobe Tittering ton, Jack Armstrong, Johnny Minkler and scores of others. Many of these men made the supreme sacrifice, and, in so doing, gave a marvelous account of themselves. _ “The morning of July 5 arrived 'and Col Les Jensen and myself moved forw on @ reconnaissance ‘preparatory to the displacement’ of the regimental command post, also to ‘meet the various battalion commanders for plans to continue the attack. Eventually we arrived at our rendezvous. Of course, Bill y O'Brien was right on top—the old nonchalant O'Rie talking a mile a minute with a cigarette dangling from his lips. O'Rie, with his bat talion and through the great ef fort of his others and men, had just completed one of those very daring Maneuvers which, when successful, go down, with the great deeds of history. Unfortunatels, rare censorship prohibits Sigcussing this particular action. However, every officer and man of that battalion, who participated in that w maneuver should be highly commended.” Form Perimeters. He continued the story of the battle of Saipan, describing the (Continued on Page Eight) “MAJOR LAUDS. VETERAN OF SALRAN
Newspaper Details
Troy Record
Troy, New York, US
Wed, Dec 06, 1944
Page 15
Full Page
Clipped by
Joseph O.
USA 14 Aug 2026
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