It was also the next to the last day for General Obata. His Mount
Mataguac position was strongly defended, so much so that when the 306th
had tried to force it earlier it failed. On the morning of 11 August
1944, when the general knew his headquarters had been discovered and
that his enemy was coming for him, Obata signalled to his emperor:
... We are continuing a desperate battle. We have only our bare
hands to fight with. The holding of Guam has become hopeless. Our
souls will defend the island to the very end. I am overwhelmed with
sorrow for the families of the many officers and men. I pray for
the prosperity of the Empire.
The 306th made the last assault supported by tanks and demolition
squads. The enemy defenders killed seven Americans and wounded 17
before they went down to defeat, buried in the rubble of blown caves
and emplacements. General Obata took his own life or was killed
sometime during those last hours of the battle of Guam.
[Illustration: _Prisoners of war in the Guam stockade stand with bowed
heads as they are read the August 1945 surrender announcement._]
Major General Henry L. Larsen assumed command of the Guam Island
Command at 1200, 15 August. Under him, and largely with the forces of
the 3d Marine Division, the mopping up continued.
Part of Japan’s terrible cost on Guam was the 10,971 bodies already
counted. Yet there were some 10,000 Japanese still on the island. At
first some of these men fought and staged ambushes, and a few sniped
at the Americans, but soon the remaining Japanese sought only one
thing--food! Most of the others fled when encountered. The Japanese now
had no central command. They starved, died of dysentery, became too
weak to flee, and then blew themselves up with the one precious grenade
which they saved to take their own lives. Aggressive American patrols
were soon killing or capturing 80 Japanese soldiers and sailors a day.
A daring few stole into Marine food storage areas at night. One soldier
scribbled: “All around me are enemy only. It takes a brave man indeed
to go in search of food.”
[Illustration: _Enemy holdouts accompanied by their mascot are brought
in to surrender after intensive preparations by the Island Command
Psychological Warfare Unit._]
In addition to the battlefield casualties, more than 8,500 Japanese
were killed or captured on Guam between August 1944 and the end of the
war in August 1945.
In the 21 days of the Guam campaign ending 10 August, Marine units
of the III Amphibious Corps reported 1,190 men killed in action, 377
dead of wounds, and 5,308 wounded. The 77th Division’s casualties were
177 soldiers killed and 662 wounded. The Army and the Marines were a
closely knit team in the recapture of Guam. It is reputed that General
Holland Smith was the first to refer to General Bruce’s troops as
the “77th Marines.” Major Aplington, a battalion commander in the 3d
Marines, commented on the soldiers:
In their fatigues so different from our herringbone utilities and
their olive drab ponchos (ours were camouflaged) so different from
us ... there was no doubt in our minds that the 77th were good
people to have alongside in a fight and as a result we referred to
them as “The 77th Marine Division.”
On the same busy day, 10 August, only hours after Major Culpepper’s
battalion had knocked out the last of the Japanese tanks, the
_Indianapolis_ (CA 35) steamed into Apra Harbor with Marine Corps
Commandant Lieutenant General Alexander A. Vandegrift on board,
accompanying Admiral Nimitz. On 15 August, Admiral Nimitz directed that
his forward CinCPac-CinCPOA headquarters be established on Guam, and
from here, he directed the rest of the Pacific War. Soon after, from
airfields on Guam, as well as those on Tinian, B-29s were blasting
the Japanese home islands. Hard fighting was yet to be experienced by
Marine divisions on Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. But whether they
knew it or not, the end of the war was less than a year away.
[Illustration: _The architects of victory in the Pacific met together
on Guam on 10 August 1944, when_ Indianapolis _(CA 35) brought
Commandant of the Marine Corps LtGen Alexander A. Vandegrift together
with Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, Adm Chester W. Nimitz and Fifth
Fleet Commander Adm Raymond L. Spruance to the island. From left are
MajGen Roy S. Geiger, Commanding General, III Amphibious Corps; Adm
Spruance; LtGen Holland M. Smith, Commanding General, Fleet Marine
Force, Pacific; Adm Nimitz; and Gen Vandegrift. While together they
discussed the future course of the Pacific War._
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 92087
]
[Sidebar (page 39): PFC Witek’s Medal of Honor Hailed ‘Inspiring Acts’
[Illustration]
Private First Class Frank Peter Witek’s Medal of Honor citation reads
as follows: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk
of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the
1st Battalion, 9th Marines, 3d Marine Division, during the Battle of
Finegayan at Guam, Marianas Islands, on 3 August 1944. When his rifle
platoon was halted by heavy surprise fire from well camouflaged enemy
positions, Private First Class Witek daringly remained standing to fire
a full magazine from his [Browning] automatic [rifle] at point-blank
range into a depression housing Japanese troops, killing eight of the
enemy and enabling the greater part of his platoon to take cover.
During his platoon’s withdrawal for consolidation of lines, he remained
to safeguard a severely wounded comrade, courageously returning the
enemy’s fire until the arrival of stretcher bearers, and then covering
the evacuation by sustained fire as he moved backward toward his own
lines. With his platoon again pinned down by a hostile machine gun,
Private First Class Witek, on his initiative, moved forward boldly
to the reinforcing tanks, and infantry, alternately throwing hand
grenades and firing as he advanced to within 5 to 10 yards of the
enemy position, and destroying the hostile machine-gun emplacement and
an additional eight Japanese before he himself was struck down by an
enemy rifleman. His valiant and inspiring action effectively reduced
the enemy’s firepower, thereby enabling his platoon to attain its
objective, and reflects the highest credit upon Private First Class
Witek and the United States naval service. He gallantly gave his life
for his country.”
]
_Sources_
In addition to the official Marine Corps histories of the Guam
campaign, Major O. Robert Lodge’s _The Recapture of Guam_ (Washington,
1954), and Henry I. Shaw, Jr., Bernard C. Nalty, and Edwin H.
Turnbladh’s _Central Pacific Drive_, vol III, _History of U.S. Marine
Corps Operations in World War II_ (Washington 1966), the author
consulted the Army’s official history, Philip A. Crowl’s _Campaign in
the Marianas_ (Washington, 1960). Of value also were the 3d Division’s
history by Robert A. Aurthur and Kenneth Cohlmia, _The Third Marine
Division_ (Washington, 1948), the classic _U.S. Marines and Amphibious
War_ by Jeter A. Iseley and Philip A. Crowl (Princeton, 1951), RAdm
Samuel Eliot Morison’s _The Two Ocean War_ (Boston, 1976), _The Fall
of Japan_ by William A. Craig (New York, 1967), and LtGen Victor H.
Krulak’s _First to Fight_ (Annapolis, 1984).
Historians at all the Services’ Washington historical offices were
universally helpful, but I would particularly like to thank Dr.
Terrence J. Gough of the Army’s Center of Military History and Dr.
Robert Browning, the Coast Guard historian for their assistance.
Conversations and correspondence, and oral history interviews, with
the following were helpful: Jack Kerrins; MajGen Charles L. Davis, AUS
(Ret); BGen Vincente (Ben) Blaz, USMC (Ret); Col Martin J. “Stormy”
Sexton, USMC (Ret); Col Fraser E. West, USMC (Ret); LtCol Wilcie A.
O’Bannon, USMC (Ret); Col Henry Aplington II, USMC (Ret); Dr. William
H. Putney; Dale M. Quillan; William L. Dunlap; Paul Ulrich; and
Alfred G. Don. Even if their words were not used, their thoughts and
observations were carefully considered. The author’s own experiences on
Guam as a Marine combat correspondent pervaded his whole account.
_About the Author_
[Illustration]
Cyril J. O’Brien served in a line company with the 3d Marines, 3d
Marine Division, on Bougainville, and then as a Combat Correspondent in
the battles for Guam and Iwo Jima. Following World War II, he covered
Capitol Hill as a Washington correspondent, then joined the staff
of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory where he
was a science writer and supervisor of media relations. He attended
St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, and the American University,
Washington, D.C. He lives in Silver Spring, Maryland.
_Erratum_
An editing error appears in the 1994 History and Museums Division
pamphlet, _A Different War: Marines in Europe and North Africa_, by
Lieutenant Colonel Harry W. Edwards, USMC (Ret), from the “World War
II Commemorative Series.” On page 8, the photo caption which begins
“Then-Col Julian C. Smith, left ...”, should read “Then-Col Julian C.
Smith, below....”
[Illustration]
THIS PAMPHLET HISTORY, one in a series devoted to U.S. Marines in
the World War II era, is published for the education and training of
Marines by the History and Museums Division. Headquarters, U.S. Marine
Corps, Washington, D.C., as a part of the U.S. Department of Defense
observance of the 50th anniversary of victory in that war.
Editorial costs of preparing this pamphlet have been defrayed in part
by a bequest from the estate of Emilie H. Watts, in memory of her late
husband, Thomas M. Watts, who served as a Marine and was the recipient
of a Purple Heart.