The Howard Hansen Story of WW2

I forgot. When we were aboard ship toward the island. After we left Hawaii, we got

on a ship to go to Saipan. We were aboard ship several days getting there. Of

course, they have their officers place, room where they stay. Stateroom you call

them, up on the officers' deck. One day he came around. Of course there were

5,000 Marines on that ship headed toward Saipan. He said, "Sergeant", I had three

new squad leaders, two of them were sergeants, one was a corporal, and I was acting

Platoon Sergeant. I was over all of them. One of them was named Fry. The other

was Flesher. Sergeant Flesher looked like Victor Mature. You'd have thought he

was a twin. Fry was a little fellow. Sharper than heck. Anyway, we're on the ship,

the lieutenant found me, said, "Sergeant, I want all the platoon out on the quarter

deck in fifteen minutes for rifle inspection. I said, "Lieutenant, how are you going

to find thiry-five guys, or whatever it is, on this setup?" He said, "I don't care,

Sergeant, that's an order." I said, "Yessir." So I trotted one length around the ship,

long ways, 400 feet long the ship, and each one of my men I'd see, I'd say, "Make

one lap around the ship and any third platoon, tell them to get up to the officers'

deck." We were up there in fifteen minutes. He gave us a good lecture. He wanted

a rifle inspection right up there. He said, "Bring your rifles for a rifle inspection!"

A platoon inspection that way. I'm the sergeant in charge, so I get the platoon

behind me and I'm three steps ahead of them and he's five steps over there. We get

in our position and he comes over and takes my weapon and inspects it. I told the

men before they ever went aboard ship, "Always clean that weapon good. Saturate

it with oil. You hang it down there in the compartments in that salt air, that oil

looks like rust, but when you get ready to clean it, just wipe it off and it's just like

new." Of course he didn't know that. Anyway, he chewed me out for having a bad

looking weapon; then he goes to the first squad leader chewed him out, chewed

everybody down the line; second squad lead down the line; third squad leader down

the line. He got done and said, "Now, before I dismiss you men, I want those rifles

clean from now on." He took off, so I got the three squad leaders together and I

said, "You know something, Fellas, as long as I've been in the Marines, I've never as

long as I've been a NCO had my rifle inspected in front of the men, let alone get

chewed out, get your butt chewed." Sergeant Fry said, "That's right! Boy, that

Shave-tail. He's got a lot to learn." I said, "Yeah, and I'll tell you what. I'm going

to go up there and have a good heart-to-heart talk with him in the stateroom." He

went with me, so we knocked on the door. He came to the door, he seen us and he

suspicioned something. I said, "Can we come in, Lieutenant?" "Yes, come in, men,

come in. Sit down, men." We sat on his bunk. I said, "Lieutenant, we came up to

gripe" I said, "I've never had my rifle inspected in front of my men, let alone get my

butt chewed and," I said, "any officer would know better than pull a stunt like that

for one reason - because if you are going to chew me in front of my men, they won't

have respect for me." Fry spoke up and said, "I never had one inspect my weapon

in front of my men." The lieutenant seen that he had made a mistake, said, "I'm

sorry, I'm sorry." I said, "Another thing, Lieutenant, you said those rifles were rusty."

"Well, they are, Sergeant." I said, "No, Sir, you go look at them now. There's not

a bit of rust on them. Lieutenant, I told the men to saturate their weapons with oil

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before they hang them in the compartments aboard ship because if they don't,

they will be solid rust and you won't be able to fire them. When you get in combat,

you need that weapon. Not a rusty one, but if you saturate it you wipe that off the

day before we hit. Clean them babies, just wipe it off, and they are just brand new.

But if you've got any oil on them, if you're in sand, then sand gets in that oil and you

can't operate them. So the way I've been telling them is the only way to go." "Yeah,

I see it now, Sergeant, I see your point." "And", I said, "Another thing, Lieutenant,

that wasn't rust. That's commonly known as field bronze." He was afraid to ask me

what 'field bronze' was and I don't know myself [laughter]. I just told the corporal

and two sergeants and they laughed, said "Where the hell did you pull that out of?

Field bronze!" I said, "Well, he's gotta learn."

M: What caliber rifle was it?

H: 30.06.

M: You didn't carry BAR's?

H: I did when I was a private - on GuadalcanaI I did. At first, we had 30.06

Springfields, that's bolt action and then before we got to Tarawa, they gave us a

Garand - pull it eight times it fires every time. Some of them had carbines - little .30

carbines, but they were useless.

M: My boys would be interested and want to know about the weapons, but I don't

know enough to ask the right questions. Tell me about your rifles, and how you could

'store' them and go back and go back and get the same one, was there a name on it?

H: You have a serial number on it, but you have it in your own spot all the time. If you

have a bunk, you keep it by your bunk aboard ship. In the barracks, you have them

stacked together in the squad room.

M: So you were issued a rifle that was YOUR rifle .....

H: That's the one you kept.

M: You were issued how many rifles?

H: Let's see. I was issued a BAR (Risom), from there in New Zealand a 30.06. In

Hawaii they gave us a Garand I think, can't remember too well. Never gave it that

much thought.

Anyway, another time this lieutenant asked us - me - to get the platoon up on the

officers' deck a day or so before we hit. The day before. He said, "Intelligence is

saying to be sure and take prisoners. In the past, Marines haven't been taking

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