Helpfully, Captain Stott breaks down his narrative into almost day-to-day segments, which will be added into the Saipan account from June and July. It's a well written and much more focused account than I'd been previously able to find.
This was one of the mementos sent over by Gretchen.
To the men of the 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division
This is our story of Saipan. It is being sent to the families of our comrades who were killed,and to all men who landed and survived Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima.
I have neither highlighted nor dramatized. I have tried to tell what we accomplished, to tell it accurately, in the the telling to bring out our pride in the Battalion.
Frederic A. Stott, Andover, Mass.
Tonight I shall begin an attempt to relive our twenty-seven days of combat on the island of Saipan, the former Japanese citadel of the Marianas Islands. I shall not attempt to color or stress any aspect, or to draw special attention to certain trains of thought--critical or otherwise. rather I am trying to present a factual running account of what elements of the First Battalion, Twenty-Fourth Marines, of the Fourth Marine Division, accomplished during almost four consecutive weeks of action against the Japanese defenders. This report seldom deals with individual persons or performances. Heroic acts were many; such as Sgt. Aeby's fatal attempted rescue of wounded men on deadly Hill 700, or Corporal Newbury's similar act on the beaches north of Tanapag. Yet the most outstanding feature of the engagement was the performance of the Battalion as a unit. It was the teamwork born of training and mutual confidence and respect of which I write, and of which we of the Battalion are proudest.
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