Long Time! No Updates! What Have I Been Doing?

Been up to a lot, actually. Rosters for Baker and Charlie Companys are complete, Headquarters nearly so - touched up their main page as well - and Dog Company is trailing along, since most of its members wound up in the other rife companies anyway.

I've been in touch with some new family members as well; Jack Ball (son of Sandy Bradford Ball, Charlie Company, machine guns) and Jeff Launiere (son of Ray Launiere, Headquarters Company, assault and demolitions) both wrote in with information on their fathers. Jack was kind enough to send along some incredible pictures, which will be added to the site very soon, as well as some stories. Jeff made some great corrections, and also provided me with contact information for Mr. Domenick Tutalo, another veteran from the Assault platoon, who has been interviewed for many publications including "Iwo Jima" by Larry Smith and "By Dammit We're Marines" by Gail Chatfield. Frances Harris, widow of Kye Harris, wrote in to say how much she appreciated the site, and to offer one or two small corrections. Also, I was recently contacted by Ted Dodd, whose uncle Walter Dodd was a corpsman with Charlie Company. Ted graciously corrected the many errors I had made on his uncle's page, and volunteered to provide more info at a later time. Thank you all!

Through Findagrave.com, I made the acquaintance of the wonderful Marnie Weeks, who has taken it upon herself to photograph every member of the Battalion who is buried in the Punchbowl Cemetery. She has been sending along great photographs, as well as correcting problems with burial listings and physically maintaining the gravestones themselves. She visited the graves of Phil Wood, Arthur Ervin, and Stephen Hopkins this past July 4th, to leave flowers and visit with them.

Gretchen Williams (Phil's sister) has been sending periodic updates to family members about her memories of the past, particularly life with Phil and the various shenanigans he managed to perpetrate, including a stolen can of beer from a Martha's Vineyard house to selling violets to Amelia Earhart herself (while Gretchen labored behind the scenes busily picking the flowers).

The search for Arthur Ervin's gravesite took a promising step forward and then one back again. A Seabee researched suggested contacting the National Seabee Museum to look through the records of units stationed on Saipan, one of whom located Ervin's remains (or at least his personal belongings), identified them, and sent them on to his widow. Of course, the museum is in California, and due to the large number of records they can't spare a staff member to page through them all. Looks like another stop added to the Great Western Research Tour. The question remains, though, as to why there is no record of Ervin being returned to the Marine cemetery even after being found. I did manage to locate the approximate area on Google Earth; it's the Kalaberra Pass on Saipan, which is consistent with the position of the battalion on July 5 and also with contemporary recollections of the terrain.

Had a visit with George earlier this month, during which I cooked and cleaned in exchange for war stories. He and Doris are both doing well, and I charmed their cat Liza (the grumpiest cat in existence, I think) with a laser pointer. I put the new anecdotes from George up on his page, but here are the highlights:

• Was wounded twice, not once. The first time was on Namur; he jumped into a hole and was suddenly face to face with a Japanese soldier. "I emptied a clip in there to make sure I was the one jumping out." Cut his leg slightly on the enemy bayonet when he jumped. He didn't notice at first, until someone mentioned his pants were ripped. Later, it "hurt like a sonovabitch."

• Second wound on Saipan, June 22. Towards the end of the day, the gunners are watching another company from the regiment trying to blow Japanese out of a cave. George and company are on top of a ledge overlooking the cave, the Japanese are underground below them, and the Marines are in a gully to their front. When the marines throw in grenades or explosives, they cheer! When the japanese retaliate, they boo! "Kid stuff, like a football game." Someone comes running, says they are needed up the hill, so off they trot. They arrive on the lines under fire, can't see any enemy. George and his assistant "Cease" Stafford get the gun set up. One of their crew (who shall remain nameless; George "didn't like the guy. Lazy.") - had not adjusted the headspace, which is necessary to get the ammo belt moving freely - and the gun jams after two rounds. George is clearing the jam when he and Cease are both hit in the arms. George in the wrist, "I bounced up like I was doing pushups" and Cease more seriously, "he was sittin there a real mess, it took some of the bone out." Platoon Sergeant Yaniga, who george did not like at all, yells for them to get out of there - George goes off down the hill with Cease. he has Cease on one arm; Cease is dragging "Tiny" Jordan who is blinded and crying, and Prentis Parsons on the other arm, who has a sucking chest wound. "Every time he would go to talk there'd be a whistling sound, I had my hand on the opening and whenever I'd take it off Parsons would whistle and I'd start laughing cause I was so scared." The only weapon among them is George's Ka-bar. "A Boy Scout coulda taken the lot of us, we got lucky." Everyone gets evacuated. He remembers most clearly his friend Norman Reber dead on the ground, lying on his stomach, "he got hit first thing, never had a chance."

• After being released from the hospital the first time, George tries to go back to Company A. However, they say he's not yet ready for duty. George goes back to he hospital, and a few days later is surprised to see his friend Howard Smith out front with a jeep. Howard says not to ask questions, just get in. They go joyriding around the island and see a pair of military-age hitchhikers. Howard yells at them, "Join up and get one of your own, you sonsabitches!" George is deposited back at the hospital, and Howard roars away.

Finally, also thanks to George, I learned that the late Robert Fleischauer became an illustrator after the war as well as a career Marine; he worked for Leatherneck Magazine as cartoon editor for many years and was reported to have perfected the time-honored Marine dish of creamed chipped beef on toast - SOS, or Shit On A Shingle. It will be posted in due time.