While the embattled peninsula still swarmed with patrols, Admiral
Spruance; Generals Smith, Geiger, Larsen (the future island commander),
and Shepherd; Colonels Shapley and Schneider, and others who could
be spared, arrived for a ceremonial flag raising and heartfelt
tribute to an old barracks and those Marines who had made it home.
General Shepherd called it hallowed ground and told the distinguished
assemblage, which included a hastily cleaned-up honor guard of brigade
troops: “you have avenged the loss of our comrades who were overcome
by a numerically superior force three days after Pearl Harbor. Under
our flag this island again stands ready to fulfill its destiny as an
American fortress in the Pacific.”
Many of the Marines standing at attention, watching the historic
ceremony, could only thank God that they were still alive. At the end
of this ceremony, engineers moved onto the airfield to clear away
debris and fill the many shell and bomb holes.
Only six hours after the first bulldozer clanked onto the runways, a
Navy torpedo bomber made an emergency landing. Soon the light artillery
spotting planes were regularly flying from them.
The capture of Orote Peninsula had cost the brigade 115 men killed,
721 wounded, and 38 missing in action. The enemy toll of counted dead
was 1,633. It was obvious that on Orote as at Fonte, there were many
Japanese still unaccounted for and presumably ready still to fight to
prevent the island’s capture.
[Sidebar (page 27): War Dogs on Guam
In the late summer of 1942, the Marine Corps decided to experiment
with the use of dogs in war, which may have been a new departure for
the Corps, but not a new idea in warfare. Since ancient times, dogs
have served fighting men in various ways. The Romans, for instance,
used heavy mastiffs with armored collars to attack the legs of their
enemies, thus forcing them to lower their shields.
[Illustration]
On Guam, First Lieutenant William R. Putney commanded the 1st Dog
Platoon and was the veterinarian for all war dogs on Guam. First
Lieutenant William T. Taylor commanded the 2d Platoon. Both landed on
the Asan-Adelup beach on Guam, while the 1st Platoon under Gunnery
Sergeant L. C. Christmore landed with the 1st Provisional Brigade at
Agat.
Sixty dogs, 90 handlers, 10 NCO assistants, two war dog corpsmen, and
three kennelmen were distributed among the regimental and division
headquarters of the 3d Marine Division. Lieutenant Putney commanded the
36 handlers and 24 dogs out of division headquarters. Overall, some 350
war dogs served in the Guam operation.
Handlers were trained dog specialists and skilled scouts as well.
Man and dog searched out the enemy, awaited his coming, and caught
him by surprise around the Marine perimeter or while on patrol. In
addition, they found snipers, routed stragglers, searched out caves and
pillboxes, ran messages, and protected the Marines’ foxholes as they
would private homes. The dogs ate, slept, walked, and otherwise lived
with their masters.
The presence of dogs on the line could promise the Marines there a
night’s sleep, for they alerted their handlers when the enemy came near.
Early on in the Guam operations, some dogs were wounded or killed by
machine gun and rifle fire, and incoming mortars were as devastating to
the dogs as they were to the Marines. When the dogs were wounded, the
Marines made a point of getting them to the rear, to the veterinarian,
as quickly as possible. In the liberation of Guam, 20 dogs were wounded
and 25 killed.
From the end of the campaign to the end of the war in the Pacific, Guam
served as a staging area for war dogs, of which 465 served in combat
operations. Of the Marine Corps war dogs, 85 percent were Doberman
Pinschers, and the rest mainly German Shepherds.
At the end of the Pacific War, the Marine Corps had 510 war dogs. Of
this number, 491 were deprogrammed, a process that could take a year,
and returned to their owners, given to their handlers, or returned to
the Army, which had provided 41 to the Corps. Only four dogs could not
be returned to their masters because, even after extensive retraining,
they proved “incorrigible” and were considered to be unsafe for
civilian life.
]
_Securing the Force Beachhead Line_
With the breakthrough at Fonte and failure of Takashina’s mass
counterattack, the American positions could be consolidated. The 3d and
21st Marines squared away their holds on heights and the 9th Marines
(July 27-29) pushed its final way up to Mount Alutom and Mount Chachao.
[Illustration: