The Howard Hansen Story of WW2

the defense. He, Vice-Admiral Nagumo, was killed on Saipan. The decisive defeat

shook Tokyo and there were many changes in leadership positions including

Premier Tojo. Secretary of the Navy Forestall (U.S.) said, "the final occupation of

Saipan will enable us to project surface and air operations that will include the

mainland of Japan, the Philippines, and a greater part of the Dutch East Indies."

M: It was the greatest amphibious victory of the Pacific War to that time - the summer of 1944. What a heavy price they paid.

H: We got to little Tinian and that was only a few days here and there. There was

nothing there hardly. We had to get on a ship to go to Tinian. It was only four

miles across, and we were on this ship. I could see around the end of this island.

This ship was a transport. Some guns had been shooting; in fact, one of our

battlewagons moved in on the other side of the little town (can't remember the

name) on Saipan, but we had a bird's eye view of him. Going in there slow, and all

at once a big shell lit within 50 feet. Big guy 50 feet from that big battlewagon; and

he kept easing in there slowly and I thought, boy! he's got to be stupid, cause that

was a big shell. Then another came and hit it midships and he kept going in. Then

all at once, behind me, I didn't see it, a cruiser came up to our left and the whole

side of that cruiser shot all his big weapons and the battleship was decoying to find

out where that artillery was. There was one artillery in a cave going back in a cliff.

It was on tracks; it would come out and shoot, then go in and hide. The only way

they could find it was to decoy it with that battlewagon. They lost 40 men on that

ship, the Navy, but that cruiser, when they opened up the side of that, just a whole

ball of flame. They knocked it out. They've got ways all right, sad they have to do

it that way. Anyway, we got on to that little island and, like I say, it was flat and

even on that far end where the gun came from there was a cliff probably 100 feet high.

M: Now this island was Tinian?

H: Yeah, Tinian. We were going through there was two farms there and we got up to

a sugar cane field probably four feet high, and there was a road all around it. Just

a dirt road like you do on farms. We came to the edge of it, there's a row of trees,

looked like little firs, but they weren't firs. Weren't very big, probably 20 feet high,

maybe 30. We stopped right at the edge of that sugar cane field and we're looking

around good cause we're on the front line. About that time my BAR man down on

the left, I seen him bring up his BAR, and I hollered "Hey, don't fire!" and I seen

something bobbing along on the other side of the sugar cane field probably about

two or three acres, maybe four; looked like a head bobbing, and he thought it was

a Jap. Well, finally, it came down around and jeep pulled up to where he was at.

Some guy in there, of course, he moved it up my way, so the jeep came up there and

it was a commanding general! Holland Matt Smith - and he asked me, he says, "Are

you in charge here?" I said, "Yes, I am." "Sergeant, where's the front line?" I said,

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"You know something, Sir? You are the most fortunate man in the world. You are

now in front of the front line and if you were over there where you was just a half

minute ago, you'd be a dead man, cause that man had a BAR lined in on you and

I stopped him" and I said, "You don't know where the front line is, General?"

[laughter]. Can you imagine that? He had a lot of guts. He wasn't afraid to get out

in front of the front line!

Just before we got there, though, we came across a bunch of brush probably fifteen

feet across. Brush from there on down to the beach, but this happened to be a field.

Bunch of brush and I seen a movement in there, so I alerted everybody. Somebody

in there, so we gave them that "Betta Coy" stuff, come on out, we won't harm you

and all that, they don't listen; and finally, a flame thrower man came up. He says,

"I'll get them out of there." I said, "That's what you're here for, I guess." He just

took that flame thrower and he laid everything flat in five seconds, and they never

knew what hit them, and I thought, well, gosh, they didn't live long enough to hurt,

not that they had to hurt. The flame throwers were really a good thing to have when

you've got people who dig in underground and all that, like the Japs generally do,

and the thing is, they've got a law that says you call them Japanese now. But I'll

never call them Japanese, I'll always call them Japs. It's too bad that people have

to go through hell just because somebody wants to 'whip' somebody. Over there in

the Far East those people are all brothers, sisters. Israel, Palestine, they're all

brothers and sisters. Why do they insist of killing each other, or killing anybody?

NOTE from "The Complete History of World War II"

"The Second and Fourth Marine Divisions with only a week's rest on Saipan after

capturing that island, undertook the conquest of Tinian (small island separated

from the southern end of Saipan by a channel 2-1/2 miles across). The Jap forces

made several equally futile suicide attempts to break out of the trap and organized

resistance ended, nine days after the invasion: No casualties are mentioned."

H: Anyway, after we got off that (Tinian), why we come to go through the Golden Gate

Bridge. We got to see that Treasure Island. We got our first good meal - man! Was

that wonderful! and they took us Marines that just came back from overseas, and that

was a Navy base. This guy that was leading the way for us, I didn't know who he was,

he wasn't one of our men, takes us down, come around the curve, then to that

Treasure Island deal where they had the galley. I looked and, oh, my gosh, "isn't

there someplace I can buy a sandwich?" The sailors was four deep for a long ways.

"I'm not going to get in that line". He said, "No, hang tight, Sergeant." He took [us]

around the whole bunch, clear down to the front; let us go in first and then no one

even squawked. We got in there and they had T-bone steaks and all ... Just go

through and help yourself, cafeteria style. The most delicious food in the world when

you've just been in the Marines for three years.

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