Company A, 24th Marines: The Personal Photo Album

Gretchen Williams sent me a package. I'm absolutely overwhelmed, so I'll let these speak for themselves.

Italicized captions handwritten by Phil Wood.

Phil Wood before the war. Age and location unknown.

As drawn by his sister, Gretchen.

Looking very dapper and military, date and location unknown.

With two friends, date and location unknown.

Private Wood strikes a pose at boot camp.

...pack, gas mask, carbine, etc. [illegible] so that you can see what we carry around.

...five oclock shadow - but about a week's growth - tired and dirty from a week's maneuver.

Semaphore practice in front of the Company tent. Good shot of the California hills - a straight rise of 1000 feet or more and all of our problems seem to take place on top of these sons of guns. Certainly makes for beautiful scenery though.

The company jeep...

This lad made the mistake of sitting in some cactus - of which there is a hell of a lot out here. One of the four Company corpsmen is straightening him out.

Haff again. Wonder if the gyrene on the left takes it off when he hits the sack? A little pond Co. A dammed up in the San Ohofne [?] Creek.

A true infantryman. Feet feel just about this big and important after 30 miles in 6 1/2 hours. Although strangely I've never had a bit of trouble with them.

Wanagaitis and Flat-foot Hall.

"Mother" Geesaman - machine guns - why so called is a platoon mystery that I've never solved.

[Note: "He was just one of those people who would fuss over every little thing, as many of us viewed our mothers, but when push came to shove Mother was right there and in spite of his fussing was well liked." - George Smith]

Izzo on top - member of a N.Y. bootlegger mob before he came in - Hurley below. Camouflaged "shelter halves" - each man carries half and two sleep in the net product of their labors.

Haff & Kerr.

Franey. You'd be amazed at the number of letters these boys write and receive, even though a lot of them never went through eighth grade and their folks are illiterate. It's a great thing to see them sweating with a pencil.

The jeep driver Smitty, actually only 34 though he looks like a colonel of 60.

Company Police Sergeant Cominsky - a Russian Marine with 26 years of straight service! 12 in China where he lived like a king with a chauffeur and three White Russian concubines and knew Uncle Paul.

Franey - mortar section. These are only a few of my boys. I have 30 now and will have 38 in the next week or so.

Franey looking a little unimpressed.

Hurley on left. Squad leader machine guns - great friend of Fred Reid's (Swarthmore) - a steam fitter for DuPont, with two children. Jowers - a big tough woodsman from the Okeefenokee Swamps in Florida.

Spangler the company music. A trifling part of a pack on the ground to the right.

Sgt. Major Dolly - a NY newspaperman and my favorite character in the Battalion. Really a great guy. Now Sgt. Major of the battalion, used to be First Sgt. of Co. A. The only enlisted man I've ever palled around, gotten drunk with.

Izzo getting the word from Corp. Shaw. Squad leader mortars, a North Carolina boy, blood thirsty for Japs to revenge his brother on Guadalcanal.

Sgt. Tucker - section leader machine guns. A lot of these boys nicknames are strictly masculine but you can guess his - "Taxi" Wanagaitis sitting on one of our three light machine guns. Light? 62 pounds is plenty, even without ammo.

Kerr and Haff - inseperable [sic] buddies. Notice how well built all of the boys are?

The one with the goggles on his helmet went to Penn and talked about parties... [rest of caption illegible].

[caption illegible]

[caption illegible]

[The Mortar Section on Maui, April 1944. Absent from the picture are Cpl. Arthur Ervin (presumably still in the hospital), PFCs Dale Owings and Kenneth Shea, and 1st Lt. Phil Wood (reasons unknown). Present are an unknown Marine dead center - possibly the one who "went to Penn" - and someone labeled as "Geesaman," though Merle Geesaman was a machine gunner. Perhaps Geesaman swapped from one weapon to the other - while that seems improbable, the caption listing him with mortars came from George Smith, machine gunner and close friend of Geesaman's, so a mistaken identity is possible, though unlikely. For my money, it does look like "Mother" in both pictures.]

Third Row:
Claude Henderson (DOW July 25, 1944 - Tinian)
Leo Ksiekievicz (Sick / evacuated July 29, 1944 - Tinian. Returned to duty.)
John "JJ" Franey (WIA June 19, 1944 - Saipan)
Tom Johnson (WIA July 8, 1944 - Saipan)
John Czepiel (WIA June 16, 1944 - Saipan)

Second Row:
Wilbur Plitt (Sick / evacuated June 30, 1944 - Saipan. Returned to duty.)
Edward Hackett (WIA June 16, 1944 - Saipan)
Donald Peters (WIA July 24, 1944 - Tinian. Returned to duty.)
[unknown]
Bartholomew R. J. "Taxi" Wanagaitis (WIA July 28, 1944 - Tinian. Returned to duty. KIA February 20,1945 - Iwo Jima.)
[unknown, possibly Merle "Mother" Geesaman, WIA July 3, 1944 - Saipan. Returned to duty.]
Ronald Paul Bartels (WIA July 25, 1944 - Tinian. Returned to duty. WIA February 19, 1945 - Iwo Jima)

Third Row:
Howard Haff (WIA 7/24/1944 - Tinian)
Edward Lykins (Sick/evacuated July 30, 1944 - Tinian)
Frank Gosiewski (WIA, campaign unknown)
Ronald Palmer (WIA February 24, 1944 - Iwo Jima)
Joe Roff (MIA July 25 - July 31, 1944; later reported WIA - Tinian)
William Imm (WIA July 6, 1944 - Saipan. Returned to duty. WIA February 23, 1945 - Iwo Jima)

Absent:
Phil Wood (KIA July 5, 1944 - Saipan)
Arthur Ervin (KIA July 5, 1944 - Saipan)
Dale Owings (WIA June 16, 1944 - Saipan)
Kenneth Shea (WIA July 25, 1944 - Tinian)

Officers 1st Bn. 24th
Filming of Guadalcanal Diary.

[back row from left] Bill Carbeau - QM, Adj., [unknown], Abe Lincoln [?] - 81mm Liaison, Maj. Masters - "C" Co "D" Co, Frank Shattuck - "B", Osgood - "A", Joe Swoyer - D, Chuck Bechtol - D, 81mm, Harry Reynolds - A, [illegible] Cavanagh - Mess, Joe Stevens -Liaison, [unknown], Pat Rohr - Mess, Murray Fox - C Weapons, Al Santilli - D, Gene Mundy - Bn3, Adam Kvetowicz - C, Gunner Wilson - Bn1, Doc Shiving, Nick Filie - C, Capt. Cokin - B, Cheif Burge, Sick Bay, Charlie Stiles - C (Raiders), Capt. Webster - D Co. Exec, That's Me!, Capt. Parks - C, Capt. Schechter - A, Ted Johnson - C Exec, Roy W. - A, Dave Gownds - B, Gene Cusick - B [front row from left] [unknown], [unknown], The Director, Lt. Col Dyess - Bn. Commander, Maj. Veeder - Bn. Exec, [unknown]

Your moustachioed [sic] friend, Roy Wood. The Captain. Oz - his father just had a book published - "Say I Of Myself" - second or third printing now. But it's boring as the devil! And Smitty - David E. Smith. He wasn't in the company when you were or mother - from Wisconsin, literally. But a good guy.

[Note: "All our officers arrived at the same time in November or December of 42 and we never had replacements until Saipan when they started to get wounded or killed. They were all well like except Roy Wood, and Osgood and Smith were right up there with their Platoons as was Phil with us. Of course what went on at that level after hours we were not privy to. It's been so long, but I think Osgood made it, but I seem to recall Smith being Killed." - George Smith]

[date and location unknown]

The 24th's Agony Quartette - this is our picture for the press. Reading from left-right: the Legal Eagle, "Fire" Stott, Big Harry Reynolds and T. K. Johnson. Also pictured is the biggest piece of open floor on this damn ship.

The pictures with Harry are the conventional thing to do here, but it took a bit of persuading to get Harry to do it. For a quarter more it would show her kissing us, she said, but we said we didn’t have another quarter. You can even see the rosy glow on Harry’s face.

- letter dated May 6, 1944