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T AP ANESE-AME RICANSon!offorGood Soldiers, Says Officerrea| ofCamp Hood. Tex... Aug. 1—Japan-ese-American soldiers played an important part,in. the successes of the daring Merrill's Marauders in Burma, Lt. Col. Charles E. Bench, who commanded a battalion of Whraudera. disclosed Monday night in a talk on combat experiences to the officers oi the Tank Destroyer Replacement Training center at Camp Hood’s north camp.“We used some of these men on Guadalcanal.” the colonel said. “There was some doubt that they might go over to the enemy and tell him ail we had. Now we know how wrong we were—these soldiers are utterly loyal. If you officers who are headed for the Pacific ever have a chance to use Japauese-Americans, do it.” Deep in Burma with the colonel’s battalion were five Japanese-Amerlcan enlisted men. Mostly they worked in the front of the front lines—listening to Jap officers shout commands and then putting the Marauders in the know so that when the next blow came the Japs, had the worst of if iu the middle of a . Marauder attack J !hcy quickly searched the bodies r;f i enemy officers and read off orders which often changed the strategy in mid-offensive. They tapped the Jap anese telephone wires and transit ed enemy messages. They produced scores of the tricks by which three battalions of Marauders outwitted and outfought Jap regiments and divisions “They will go any place. They are damned good soldiers, declared Colonel Beach in adding his praise from the CB1 theater to the laurels won by the Japanese-Americans of fn«* 100th Battalion and the 442d -Combat Team in Italy. France and Germany.Outfoxing the foxy Jap, heating a tricky enemy with cleverer tricks was standard operating procedure with raiders of Brig. Gen. Merrill. Their jobs were hit and run raids, or holding a road block for a day or a trail i town for a week—often cut off fromloutside aid except by air and with divisions of Japs pressing in on them.Their exploits sound like the wil iest pulp fiction, yet everything is true Colonel Beach told the officer audience of the first job given his battalion—to block the Jap supply route deep in Burma at Walawbum. After a night march which carried Colonel Beach’s battalion around the end ofa line held by three Jap divisions*they were given the objective—another 36 hours’ forced march over jungle trails. After the battalion reached Walawbum they held for five days, using the theory of “hit themwhere they’re weak—suck them In— ar.d then mow them down.th(paouofcu\'Ye, theory worked, for when theP Y'vy*J — — |battalion was relieved by Chineseregiments, more than 800 dead Jap ^bodies were counted. Colonel Beach (lost seven men killed and eight woundonT1recd.The tricks they used to accomplishthis slaughter and throw the Jap com-]mand into confusion are still good• re1 ricks, and still useful against the Japs and therefore, restricted information. but Colonel Beach made it impressively clear that deceptive techniques must he coupled with bravery, daring and endurance, qualities \ which Merrill's Marauders possessed;(See BEACH on Page Eight.)'o«»Ain: ..............TWO LLANO MEN ON CRUISER GUAMWith*Fig h tinPiIiuaABOARD THE USS GUAM IN THE PACIFIC—Two I Juno, Texas, Navy ten served aboard this unique battle cruiser while she was proving her worth during nearly six months of combat from Okinawa to the iuges of Japan’s inland Sea.The “Guam, under the command of Capl. Deland P. Lovetto, USN, made her battle debut on the morning of March 18. during the now his-1loric two-day air strike against, the Uyukyus and the Inland Sea area of Japan.Guns of the big battle cruiser were credited with shooting down two Jap planes as they attempted suicide dives on a nearby aircraft carrier. In addition, she is credited with asBists on six attacking enemy planeB, while her 12-inch guns have poured tons of steel on two Jap-lield islands.The “Guam, the American version of the pocket battleship, and a comparatively recent addition to the Pacific Fleet, cruised with her task force-off Japanese shores for 61 days. In recent operations, supporting . the Okinawa invasion, she protected carriers of her escort in a series of battles.Like her sister ship, the USS ‘Alaska, she is designated as a battle cruiser, the two being the only ships of their type in the Fleet. She exceeds many battleships In length and tonnage, she carries 12-inch guns ininMUMHelrlt;rcTirtiw11VLtrtlLSGJ.b•lt;ADTAti(
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Llano News
Llano, Texas, US
Thu, Aug 02, 1945
Page 5
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USA 18 Oct 2018
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