_Using palm fronds for concealment, two Marines carefully scout out the
terrain ahead of them on Roi in a firefight with the Japanese forward
of their position._]
Then, on D plus 1, the riflemen of the 32d and 184th Infantry
Regiments landed on Kwajalein Island itself. Because of previous joint
rehearsals held in Hawaii the amtracs carried in the assault troops
with smoothness and efficiency. In addition, Major General Charles H.
Corlett, the division commander, had an assemblage of DUKWs (amphibious
trucks always called “ducks”) available, and it proved valuable in
ferrying priority supplies ashore to the fighting men.
[Illustration: _A rifleman of the 23d Marines moves slowly past a
Japanese airplane and a hangar destroyed on Roi by naval gunfire. The
rifle slung over his shoulder and the adjacent Marine carrying supplies
indicate that combat is no longer imminent._
National Archives Photo 127-GW-1253-70345
]
Once ashore, the assault units found widespread devastation from the
preinvasion bombing and shelling. Smashed seawalls, uprooted trees,
demolished buildings, scarred pillboxes were everywhere. Dug in amidst
all this debris, the Japanese fought resolutely. This kind of close
combat usually forced the issue down to the individual level. An Army
officer, Lieutenant Colonel S. L. A. Marshall, who later interviewed
the troops, gave this account of how they dealt with the deadly
Japanese “spider holes” they encountered:
The holes were everywhere. Each one had to be searched from close
up. Every spot where a man might be hiding had to be stabbed out.
So greatly was the beach littered with broken foliage that it was
like looking through a haystack for a few poisoned needles....
The fire which cut the men down came from the spider holes farther
up the line. It was the kind of bitter going that made it necessary
for the junior leaders to prod their men constantly. The leader of
the 3d Squad had been trying to get his men forward against the
fire. Private First Class John Treager got up, rushed forward about
ten yards, hit the dirt, fired a few shots with his BAR [Browning
Automatic Rifle] and crumpled with a bullet in his head.
Somewhat farther along, a bayonet was seen sticking up through a
patch of fronds. The Jap crouched within it hadn’t room to draw in
the whole length of the weapon. Private First Class Edward Fiske
fired his BAR at the hole; the dried fronds caught fire from the
tracers. At that point Fiske ran out of ammunition.
Private First Class Julian Guterrez then took up the fire with
his M1 [rifle]. He stood directly above the hole and fired down
into it. Then the hole exploded; the Jap inside had turned a
grenade on himself. A man’s shattered arm came flying out of the
hole and hit Guterrez on the shoulder, splattering blood all over
his face and clothing. The arm bounced off and fell to the side.
As Guterrez looked at it, fascinated and horror-stricken, he saw
another bayonet rising out of a patch of fronds just beyond the
outstretched and still-quivering fingers. He yelled to a man behind
him. The man relayed a grenade and Guterrez pitched it with all of
his might into the patch of fronds. It erupted in a shower of palm
leaves and blood and flesh.
Guterrez reeled over toward the lagoon to cleanse himself of the
blood. Before he could reach the water, in sight of all the other
men, he vomited all over the beach. Minutes passed before he could
gather himself together again.
[Illustration: