Web Updates

In the ongoing effort to expand the site to contain the experiences of all of First Battalion, I've been working on some new daily narratives of the battles. Baker Company now has a full set of entries for the battles of Namur and Saipan, which may be accessed here:

http://ablecompany24.com/CAMPAIGNS/CAMPAIGN%20HOME.html

Also, while working on these updates, I came across some very exciting news. Despite the proliferation of cameramen attached to the various combat arms, it is usually nearly impossible to identify individual people. I've thought many times that I could see someone from Company A in an action photo taken on Saipan or Iwo Jima, but often that's just wishful thinking. However, one Baker Company marine caught the eye of a LIFE Magazine photographer on July 8, 1944, and became one of the iconic faces of the war. His name was Thomas Ellis Underwood, a twenty-two year old fire team leader from St. Petersburg, Florida.


Here he is in two more recognizable shots. The first one was recently made into a stamp:

http://www.life.com/image/50693676
http://www.life.com/image/50585247

Interestingly, some doubt has been cast on the identity of the man in the picture. The family of Army Special Forces Sergeant Angelo Klonis believes he is the man pictured; they have spent several years attempting to prove their case. It is an interesting story, recorded here:
http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0510/swanson.html

I am of the opinion that the original caption is correct. In his notes, famed photographer W. Eugene Smith wrote that "I believe that the images 6-8 on Roll 10 on July 8, final days of Saipan Invasion, were 4th Division Marine PFC T. E. Underwood (24th Bat.) of St. Petersburg, Florida. A portrait of a weary warrior who has been through one of the toughest days of his life. And still at the moment the picture was taken under fire." Despite the error of substituting "Battalion" for "Regiment," the rest of the information is correct. Further, the caption below the first photograph cites that the image was taken on July 8, while fighting for the beaches "below Saipan's Mt. Marpi." Baker Company was heavily engaged on those beaches on that date; the battalion took some of their heaviest casualties of the campaign while there. Finally, the man in the photograph is wearing Marine HBTs, a camouflaged helmet cover (a unique Marine trait) and appears to have a Globe & Anchor stenciled on the helmet. Unfortunately his pack covers the pocket where the USMC emblem would be stenciled on his blouse. While it is possible that an Army special ops unit would have worn other uniform pieces, it does not explain why they would have been attached to a Marine unit on a routine advance. Furthermore, no documentation of Louvris' service has been located that proves his deployment to Saipan.

"Ellis" Underwood was promoted to corporal ten days after this photograph was taken; he died on March 4, 1945, while fighting for Iwo Jima. Charles Butler, a volunteer from FindAGrave.com took a picture of his headstone in St. Petersburg's Sunnyside Cemetery and reported on other family graves nearby - his older brother George had been in the Army and died in 1957; his mother Cora died in 1946; father George is also buried nearby, having died in 1959. The last of Ellis' many siblings died in 2000, possibly never knowing of their brother's prominence.

It's easy to imagine that they did not recognize him. Ellis sat for the left-side picture in 1943, before months of hardship and combat took their toll.