The Cleanup Of Namur

On February 11, 1944, Able Company boarded the SS Robin Wentley and prepared to sail for Maui.

Roi-Namur had been subjugated, cleared entirely of Japanese defenders. On other islands in the Kwajalein atoll, other garrisons of defenders were facing the same fate. The conquest of the Marshall Islands - of which Kwajalein is a part - was the next step in the larger scheme of "island hopping," by which American forces would gradually take strategically located airfields from the Japanese, thereby extending the range of their own aircraft and dominating the skies.

The Marines had had a busy week. After the crumbling of organized resistance, they set about the immediate business of mopping up, a process taking several days. Some Japanese were taken prisoner, others chose to die fighting from isolated holes. C.W. Hussey, of the 295th JASCO (Joint Assault Signal Company) noted that stragglers had accounted for perhaps 20 Marine casualties by February 4th.

The Marines were surprised to find several women on the island; Hussey noted that they "had no visible means of support other than their native attractiveness." They may have been conscripts in the infamous system of "comfort women," by which women from conquered territories were essentially forced into sexual slavery; this is a subject of much debate and shame to this day, and while there is no specific mention of this practice occurring on Roi-Namur, it was by no means unheard of and there would seem to be little other reason for civilians - women in particular - to be on an isolated military post.

When mop-up was completed, there was the yet more odious task of cleaning up the debris of the battle.

Namur has been touched by war and there is nothing tropical or lovely left. It looks as though someone with an imagination of his own had tried to make a Hollywood set for Journey’s End. Namur is a dry, hot, fetid version of the worst section of No Man’s Land that France ever had to offer – no living green thing, blasted tree trunks, huge gaping shell holes - disemboweled trucks, heaps of concrete and lumber that were once fortifications

- Phil Wood letter, dated February 13, 1944

Unexploded shells had to be carefully removed, discarded weapons and equipment were collected, categorized, and repaired (if American) or destroyed (if Japanese) - and many Marines could be seen toting Japanese pistols, flags, helmets, and prized swords as souvenirs. Hussey made a thorough tour of both Roi and Namur, and made the following report:

It is estimated that [Japanese] losses were between 25 and 30 to 1 as compared to ours. It is this observers belief that most of the Japanese casualties occurred before our forces landed. in covering both islands thoroughly, I do not believe you could find a spot where a circle could be drawn with a 12 foot radius that would not contain a shell hole or bomb crater.

Japanese small arms ammunition and aerial incendiary bombs were scattered all over both islands. From the thousands of beer bottles I saw in the pill-boxes and trenches I would say that the Japs were allowed some of the better things of life. Many were cultivating small vegetable gardens closely adjacent to their dugouts.

The pill-boxes and block-houses were built of reinforced steel and concrete and all interior partitions wore of the same construction. The entire shore line was studded with pill-boxes at intervals of 1 to 200 feet. Their large gun positions were all knocked out as were their radar and radio stations. Their radar equipment seemed crude.

But by far the worst duty on Roi-Namur was the disposal of the thousands of Japanese corpses. Someone high up had decided that, as the combat Marines had little fighting to do, they might as well occupy themselves with the disposal of the dead.

...bodies by the thousands – parts of bodies – so disfigured that they beggar description – horrible....

...we camped right in the middle of our own company battlefield and had to clean it up, and it was a mess, but the ocean was only a few yards away and there was a steady breeze to blow the stench away.

- Phil Wood letter, dated February 13, 1944

I saw three trenches each approximately 50 yards long, 15 feet wide, and 8 feet deep half filled with dead Japs, and two others that had been covered over with a sign "279 JAPS BURIED HERE." I saw one water filled bomb crater and counted 15 Japs and 1 pig floating in the bloody water. I saw small fragments of dead bodies being swept from the floor of 1 block-house which the Navy was making ready for headquarters site. The stench of death pervades both islands.

- C. W. Hussey, 295th JASCO

Hussey notes that the "dead disposal squads" he encountered were composed of volunteers, though the general impression I've gotten was that dealing with the bodies of the dead was abhorrent to every Marine - some of whom grumbled that if they'd known they'd be stuck with the clean-up, they wouldn't have killed so many - and everyone pitched in, if unwillingly, thinking that the sooner they got the problem dealt with, the sooner they'd be done.

I was involved in the burial of the thousands of dead Japs who had been allowed to lie in the hot sun for days. Their bodies were rotten. The purple flies covered their wounds and mouth. The flies would fly into our mouths if they were open. The smell was beyond comparison. I tried to use my gas mask but got sick in it and had to clean it out and just hold my breath as long as I could. We lost our grip on their arms and legs when we tried to toss them into the 6x6 truck and their bodies would hit the tailgate and drop to the ground. After we got the truck loaded with the bodies we had to stand on top of the bodies until we got to the hole where they were to be buried and then we had to pull them off the trucks. I was working with a corpsman and he had about 15 small bottles of peach brandy in his medicine bag. We drank this up during our work detail. By the end of the day we were feeling no pain. We jumped into the ocean to get the goop off and reduce the stench. We fell asleep on the beach at night rather than get shot by some trigger-happy marine should we try to find our way back to our company in the dark. This was my worst experience on that island, one that I will never forget.

- Alva Perry, personal recollection. The Fighting Fourth

Often, Japanese prisoners were conscripted for the worst of the mess, taking bodies of their former comrades and dumping them into shell holes, which were then filled in by bulldozers. After four days in the sun, the dead - many of them already shattered by explosives - were putrifying fast. Disgusted Marines often wound up with rotted meat on their hands and clothes, and nothing would get the foulness off except a dip in the ocean. Even that could be dangerous, as some of Able Company's mortarmen found out:

That damned sea - beautiful but deadly and treacherous - about a week ago I went swimming with three of my boys from the Mortar section - it is waist to chest deep for a hundred yards out, until the point where the waves break on the big jagged sections of the coral reef, where it drops sharply off - we had no intention of going all the way out - were twenty five yards from the danger point, when suddenly all four of us were caught in a terrific undertow and carried out. A couple of the boys were really powerful swimmers, but they were as lost as I - we were sucked out to where the enormous waves rolled in and smashed onto the reef – thrown in and sucked out for what seemed to be an eternity – way over our head most of the time – gasping for air and getting only foam and water – thrashing and twisting in an infinity of dazzling white pure clean foam, tossed about like a chip by a vast impersonal malevolent force - finally too weak to fight any longer, just trying to breathe and thinking that it was all over, what a silly way to die, of home and you, but over and over again – what a silly, pointless way to die – and finally when the ocean was through with us one enormous wave picked us up and vomited us into the shallow water, washed clean of any strength or thought or feeling - the four of us held on to each other and staggered in and collapsed on the sharp but dry coral rock - three of us passed out - it was a horrible experience, one which I will never forget.

- Phil Wood letter, dated February 13, 1944

The whole experience of cleaning up the dead was so horrific that there was an official objection in the battalion report, and in subsequent operations a rear echelon detachment was organized to handle the cleanup.

As the Seabees and naval staff started to move in and take over, the Marines had a little more free time - some, like Phil Wood, did some exploring:

Namur Island must once have been a lovely spot - it and Roi are the largest of a chain of a thousand or more islets strung on a thread of coral around a lagoon – the water is all shades – bright green, robin’s-egg blue, a deep, satisfying cobalt blue - you can walk, hip deep, from one island to another and I went to four or five and they were idyllic – soft rich brown earth, mangoes, breadfruit and coconut crowding each other for a chance at the sunshine, forming glades of shade roofed over by the vivid green leaves. The steady breeze keeps it always cool – no mosquitoes - the only sound being the hissing of the surf.

- Phil Wood letter, dated February 13

Others traded souvenirs, wrote letters, told and re-told stories of what they'd seen, or watched the Seabees repair the newly-christened Dyess Field on Roi. One airstrip was repaired and ready to receive planes by February 5, and already new anti-aircraft positions were being installed in the wrecks of Japanese fortifications. Dozens of cargo ships arrived, unloading supplies around the clock, and a few more holdout Japanese were killed. Namur was evidently home to a rather serious network of underground tunnels, which had to be explored and cleared out one by one.

Marines started to board the transports starting on February 8.

We received 100 marines from the assault forces this afternoon.... We expect about 1500 marines aboard tomorrow. They present a miserable spectacle, with a week's growth of beard, and fatigue uniforms torn and dirty.

- C. W. Hussey, 295th JASCO

Finally, at 1300 on February 11, Roi-Namur was officially turned over to the Navy. The 4500 man garrison under a Captain Gwen was composed mainly of Seabees, base personnel, and a small Marine guard detachment.

The Japanese struck back early in the morning of February 12.

[We] were lucky enough to have left the island before it was bombed by Jap planes – we watched that from the lagoon – it reminded me of the Fourth of July – that time we were on the Boston boat and watched the fireworks along the sound.

- Phil Wood letter, dated February 13, 1944

Well, Tojo reaped his revenge upon us this morning. Quoted below is the Navy Intelligence Officer's report of the air raid:"0200--By radio from Island Base Commander of Roi Island. TG alerted for approaching enemy aircraft bearing 245 degrees, distance 51 miles; succeeding bearings and distances 295 degrees--45 miles; 285 degrees--45 miles; 325 degrees--45 miles. Number and types undetermined

0209--Condition Red assumed--all hands called to G.Q.
0215--Smoke pots on ships and small boats set off
. 0220-- four search lights on Roi Island searching skies
. 0229--AA firing on Roi Island and from 3 ships in the lagoon.
0240-_Several large bombs were dropped on Roi Island and direct hits made on the fuel and munitions stores piled on the southern beach, setting off tremendous fires and explosions from the munitions and rolling flames and smoke from the fuel. Immediately after the first bomb struck a stick of about 8 small bombs were observed bursting in succession north of the southern beach of Roi. All AA fire ceased and searchlights went out when first bombs hit.
0420--smoke pots secured by order of Island Base Commander.
0440--All clear.
0600--Ships of TG sent boats and medical officers and corpsmen and medical supplies to Roi and to SS TYPHOON--that ship having been designated to receive all casualties from Roi.
0900--Fires on Roi Island still burning.

_ _ _ _ _ _

At about 0240 a bomb struck the water about 1000 yards off our starboard quarter. We were well Covered by our smoke screen at this time, as were most of the ships in the lagoon; however, some ship abeam of us in the vicinity of the MARYLAND and the BALTIMORE opened up with AA fire. Fires started on the beach simultaneously, with direct hits made in our oil and ammunition dumps. As the oil drums exploded it sounded like heavy gunfire, and the tracers from the ammunition dumps looked like a mammoth 4th of July celebration. I counted 8 different fires at one time.

At 0600 the Commodore ordered me to Yokohama Pier on Camouflage to dispatch the casualties in LCV'S to the SS TYPHOON. I dispatched 23 boats with a total number of 252 wounded to the TYPHOON BY 0930. Better than 65 percent of these men had head injuries, and 5 died enroute to the TYPHOON. After combing both islands and seeing that the stream of wounded was reduced to a mere trickle of walking cases I moved back out to the TYPHOON. We were not able to get all the wounded aboard until 1400. At about 1700 we saw the last fire extinguished on Burlesque. When I left the TYPHOON there were only 11 known dead, although we hadn't had any recent intelligence from the beach.

At 1800 we departed along with the SS ROBIN WENTLEY bound for Maui with about 3100 marines aboard the two ships.

- C. W. Hussey, 295th JASCO

[All quotes by Hussey are from this website: http://jasco295.tripod.com]

The final tally of casualties for the operation were as follows:

4th Marine Division:

190 killed, 547 wounded

Imperial Japanese Navy

[61st Guard Force, 4th Fleet Construction Unit, 24th Air Floatilla HQ, 275th, 281st, and 735th Air Units]

3,472 killed, 264 captured