_Aerial photograph of the northwestern tip of Betio (the “bird’s beak”)
taken from 1,400 feet at 1407 on D-Day from a Kingfisher observation
floatplane. Note the disabled LVTs in the water at left, seaward of
the re-entrant strongpoints. A number of Marines from 3d Battalion, 2d
Marines, were killed while crossing the sand spit in the extreme lower
left corner._]
By day’s end, only two of the 14 Shermans were still operational,
“Colorado” on Red Three and “China Gal” on Red One/Green Beach.
Maintenance crews worked through the night to retrieve a third tank,
“Cecilia,” on Green Beach for Major Ryan. Attempts to get light tanks
into the battle fared no better. Japanese gunners sank all four LCMs
laden with light tanks before the boats even reached the reef. Shoup
also had reports that the tank battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel
Alexander B. Swenceski, had been killed while wading ashore (Swenceski,
badly wounded, survived by crawling atop a pile of dead bodies to keep
from drowning until he was finally discovered on D+1).
Shoup’s message to the flagship at 1045 reflected his frustration:
“Stiff resistance. Need halftracks. Our tanks no good.” But the
Regimental Weapons Companys halftracks, mounting 75mm guns, fared
no better getting ashore than did any other combat unit that bloody
morning. One was sunk in its LCM by long-range artillery fire before it
reached the reef. A second ran the entire gauntlet but became stuck in
the loose sand at the water’s edge. The situation was becoming critical.
Amid the chaos along the exposed beachhead, individual examples of
courage and initiative inspired the scattered remnants. Staff Sergeant
William Bordelon, a combat engineer attached to LT 2/2, provided the
first and most dramatic example on D-Day morning. When a Japanese shell
disabled his LVT and killed most of the occupants enroute to the beach,
Bordelon rallied the survivors and led them ashore on Red Beach Two.
Pausing only to prepare explosive charges, Bordelon personally knocked
out two Japanese positions which had been firing on the assault waves.
Attacking a third emplacement, he was hit by machine gun fire, but
declined medical assistance and continued the attack. Bordelon then
dashed back into the water to rescue a wounded Marine calling for help.
As intense fire opened up from yet another nearby enemy stronghold,
the staff sergeant prepared one last demolition package and charged the
position frontally. Bordelon’s luck ran out. He was shot and killed,
later to become the first of four men of the 2d Marine Division to be
awarded the Medal of Honor.
In another incident, Sergeant Roy W. Johnson attacked a Japanese tank
single-handedly, scrambling to the turret, dropping a grenade inside,
then sitting on the hatch until the detonation. Johnson survived this
incident, but he was killed in subsequent fighting on Betio, one of 217
Marine Corps sergeants to be killed or wounded in the 76-hour battle.
On Red Beach Three, a captain, shot through both arms and legs, sent
a message to Major Crowe, apologizing for “letting you down.” Major
Ryan recalled “a wounded sergeant I had never seen before limping up
to ask me where he was needed most.” PFC Moore, wounded and disarmed
from his experiences trying to drive “My Deloris” over the seawall,
carried fresh ammunition up to machine gun crews the rest of the day
until having to be evacuated to one of the transports. Other brave
individuals retrieved a pair of 37mm antitank guns from a sunken
landing craft, manhandled them several hundred yards ashore under
nightmarish enemy fire, and hustled them across the beach to the
seawall. The timing was critical. Two Japanese tanks were approaching
the beachhead. The Marine guns were too low to fire over the wall.
“Lift them over,” came the cry from a hundred throats, “LIFT THEM
OVER!” Willing hands hoisted the 900-pound guns atop the wall. The
gunners coolly loaded, aimed, and fired, knocking out one tank at close
range, chasing off the other. There were hoarse cheers.
[Illustration: _“D-Day at Tarawa,” a sketch by Kerr Eby. This drawing
captures the desperation of troops wading ashore from the reef through
barbed wire obstacles and under constant machine gun fire. The artist
himself was with the invading troops._
U.S. Navy Combat Art Collection
]
_Time_ correspondent Robert Sherrod was no stranger to combat, but the
landing on D-Day at Betio was one of the most unnerving experiences in
his life. Sherrod accompanied Marines from the fourth wave of LT 2/2
attempting to wade ashore on Red Beach Two. In his words:
No sooner had we hit the water than the Japanese machine guns
really opened up on us.... It was painfully slow, wading in such
deep water. And we had seven hundred yards to walk slowly into
that machine gun fire, looming into larger targets as we rose onto
higher ground. I was scared, as I had never been scared before....
Those who were not hit would always remember how the machine gun
bullets hissed into the water, inches to the right, inches to the
left.
[Illustration: