J+1

The 4th Marine Division shook itself off and peered out of its foxholes. Behind them, perhaps one hundred Marines stumbled back to their aid stations, or were carried back on stretchers. Before them lay 1,241 Japanese bodies and the smoking hulks of five tanks. In one impetuous assault, the Japanese commander Colonel Ogata had destroyed a seventh of his garrison, and nearly half his tanks. The 23rd, 24th, and 25th Marines, along with 1/8, had scored an overwhelming victory.

The Marines collected themselves, took care of their wounded and bade farewell to the dead. They were so low on ammunition that the order to advance was delayed three hours until 1000. The remainder of the day was to be spent landing the 2nd Division, and expanding the beachhead.

The first elements of the 2nd Division - the balance of the 8th Marines - began landing shortly after 0900. 1/8 was attached to the 24th Marines, and replaced the battered companies of 1/24 on the front lines. The rest of the division landed piecemeal over the small White beaches over the rest of the day.

The 4th Division began to move inland. The 23rd Marines faced only light opposition, while the 25th Marines ran into a more serious fight on Mt. Maga. The assault was coordinated with heavy mortars and tanks - the wide open plains of Tinian made for excellent teamwork between the tankers and the infantry - and by afternoon they had overrun one of the island's most intimidating natural obstacles.

The 24th, meanwhile, broke out in two different directions; 2/24 headed to the south, while 3/24 made for the east coast. 1/24, badly mangled the night before, stayed in reserve. The two assault battalions moved forward with a thin line of skirmishers closely following tanks. They would repeat this highly effective tactic each day for the rest of the campaign.

(The 8th Marines follow suit.)

The Division's artillery regiment, the 14th Marines, had their worst day of the entire campaign. Their First Battalion's fire direction center took a direct hit from enemy artillery, killing the battalion commander, the intelligence officer, the operations officer, and seven others. Fourteen were wounded. The 14th put the commanding heights of Mt. Lasso under heavy concentration, and together with supporting aircraft blasted two large guns that were frowning down on the Americans.

Marine infantry tied in securely that night along their objective line. The bulk of two divisions were ashore, and the Japanese seemingly too exhausted to try another counterattack. Occasional attempts at infiltration were handily put down. One flare-up along the right flank of the 24th Marines was later described by Lt. Victor Maghakian, commanding a recon platoon attached to the 24th:

After getting the men in position . . . near the road junction . . . I went on a reconnaissance. . . . I spotted a large enemy patrol coming down the road with a scout out in front.

After seeing that they moved into position in a cane field about 50 feet from my platoon, I crawled back and told Captain Key [commanding the division reconnaissance company] what I planned to do.

In the meantime the Japs were digging in and were making a lot of noise talking and did not suspect that we were so close. . . . I passed the word down the line to open up and fire rapid fire into the cane field, knee-high grazing fire, upon my signal.

. . . we opened up and let them have it as fast as we could pull our triggers. They began screaming . . . and making awful noises. Then after a few minutes I ordered my platoon to fall back to the division lines because I was afraid that maybe our own division might fire on us.

After falling back, I reported what happened, and our troops opened up . . . with mortar and machine gun fire.

Next morning I took my platoon back to the road junction and the cane field and found between 35 and 40 dead Japs in that area. I did not lose a man that night.

- quoted in Maj. Carl Hoffman, The Seizure of Tinian

On one of the hospital ships waiting offshore, Corporal Howard Haff was carried below decks and made comfortable. Haff had seen many of his friends in the weapons platoon wounded and killed, but had escaped injury until the Tinian landing. He was scared and alone, but the young corporal was determined not to show it. As he took stock of his surroundings, he was overjoyed to notice that he recognized the man in the bed next to him. Haff leaned over to talk to fellow corporal Claude Henderson, and stopped short.

Henderson had been shot through the throat, and couldn't speak.

Howie Haff probably thought back to the time that the boys in the weapons platoon had found Claude's extra blouse in his seabag. Everyone knew that Claude wanted to be an NCO more than anything, and sometimes he forgot that he was only a PFC like his friends. When they found the blouse with the two stripes of a corporal already sewn on, George Smith remembered, "boy, we would never let him go!" Despite all the teasing, they liked Claude, and when he was finally made a corporal they celebrated with him.


Claude Henderson died in his bed that night.

Able Company Casualties, July 25, 1944
Killed:
Sergeant William Pinkney Linkins, Jr. Silver Spring, MD. Age 21. Fragment wound, head.
PFC Richard Joseph Brodnicki. Buffalo, NY. Bullet wound, forehead.
PFC Charles Edward Seader. Philadelphia, PA.
Private Joseph Dale Sexson. Indianapolis, IN. Age 18.

Died of Wounds:
Corporal Claude T. Henderson, Jr. Norfolk, VA. Wounded July 24. Died aboard hospital ship.

Wounded:
Sergeant George M. Lowry
Corporal Wallace Morgan Holt (second wound)
PFC Winston McKay Cabe (second wound)
PFC Amadeo A. Izzo
PFC Howard M. Kerr (second wound)
PFC William Ralph Pettyjohn
PFC George Raspotnik
PFC Joe Westley Roff [Roff was listed as MIA on the battalion muster rolls; evidently he had been hit and in the confusion had taken off to find medical help on his own.]
PFC Robert U. Santerre
PFC George W. Secor
PFC Kenneth J. Shea
Field Music 1c Harold J. Fritz (not evacuated)
Private Ronald Paul Bartels
Private Joe Preston Locke
Private Albert Smith
Private Edward J. Solak
Private Cecil Ray Tolley


Total: 22