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Volume CXXXII, Number 21 |
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The dark places of the earth, storming the Pacific
KID WONGSRICHANALAI
STAFF WRITER
Amidst the malaria infested islands of the Pacific Marines of the First Division trained for their next mission. The environment was inhospitable. As the sun beat down mercilessly and the humidity soared to near one hundred percent, the men marched on in the soft soil, which turned to mud with the slightest touch of rain. And in the tropics, there was a lot of rain.
On one such march, Eugene Sledge remembered:
a heavy rain set in. As we plodded along Pavuvu's muddy roads, slipping and sliding under the downpour, we began to feel that whoever was leading the column had taken a wrong turn and that we were lost. At dusk in the heavy rain, every road looked alike: a flooded trail cut deeply with ruts, bordered by towering palms, winding aimlessly through the gloom.
Chilly and feeling forlorn in the deep, thick, slick mud, Sledge noticed a large man walking up from the rear of the column. "He walked with the ease of a pedestrian on a city sidewalk." He was also quite friendly. "Lovely weather, isn't it, son?" he asked. Soon, the two began a conversation about Sledge's home and his family. "As we talked the gloom seemed to disappear, and I felt warm inside." The man reassured the recruit that it would not rain forever and then moved on, chatting with the other men ahead. The man who had stopped to speak with him was an athlete and had "a rare combination of intelligence, courage, self-confidence, and compassion that commanded our respect and admiration."
Sledge later remembered, "His sincere interest in each of us as a human being helped to dispel the feeling that we were just animals training to fight." These were the qualities, which made him "the finest and most popular officer" Sledge ever knew in his years as a Marine. These were the qualities of the Marine captain known as "Ack Ack" or "skipper," who, in another life, had won the hearts of his fellow students and teachers at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
Here then was Andrew Allison Haldane of the Class of 1941. Hailing from Methuen, Massachusetts, Haldane quickly made a name for himself on the football field, rising to the position of captain. Elected as President of the Student Council he was also voted the most popular man in his class. Early in the war he received the Silver Star. But despite his strengths as a leader he did not enjoy military life, commenting that, after the war, he "would much rather be a civilian." Wherever he went, Haldane remained closely attached to Bowdoin, writing to President Sills, "If ever I do get back you can be sure I will visit Bowdoin for there is a section of my heart set apart from the rest which carries an undying love for the school + its members."
Before Haldane could return to his alma mater, however, there was one more campaign to face. In preparation for the re-entry into the Philippines, military planners singled out the island of Peleliu, in the Palau Islands, as the next target for the First Marine Division, which counted among its ranks two other Bowdoin men-Everett Parker Pope also of the Class of 1941, and Paul H. Douglas, a member of the Class of 1913!
Douglas was a former college professor and when the war broke out he was 50-during the Battle of Peleliu someone called him, "that crazy old gray-headed guy." This Bowdoin graduate went to basic training at Parris Island, rose to the rank of captain and earned himself a Bronze Star. After the war, he would be elected to the United States Senate.
The other Bowdoin graduate who now served in the First Division as captain of Company C of the First Marine Regiment was also a school prodigy. Former captain of the tennis team, former president of his fraternity, a lifetime class officer, and Phi Beta Kappa member, Everett P. Pope of Quincy, Massachusetts had enlisted in the Marines long before Pearl Harbor. Serving with the First Marine Division since Guadalcanal, he was, like Haldane, a hardened and seasoned veteran by the time orders came for the troops to embark for Peleliu.
Due east of the Philippines about five hundred miles lies the Palau islands, the centerpiece of which was Peleliu-a six by two mile wide rock with dense jungles and an inhospitable terrain. The beaches were defended not just by Japanese gunners but also by sharp coral reefs, which lay just below the surface-a danger to landing craft. The main goal of the assault was an airfield. And then, there was also Umorbrogol Ridge the main base of Japanese operations, complete with tunnels, caves, entrenched lines, and 10,000 defenders.
On September 15, 1944, thousands of Marines of the First Marine Division stormed the beaches. Immediately they began to receive Japanese defensive fire. Casualties were high as Marines attempted to cross the deadly fire-swept beach to reach the cover of the underbrush. The weather was over one hundred degrees and the men were sweating heavily thanks to the humidity. Soaked with salt water, splattered with sand, grease, dirt, and under fire of both automatic weapons and mortars, the Marines did their best to consolidate their positions on the beach.
Four days after the U.S. landing, as the First, Fifth, and Seventh Marine Regiments attempted to gain their objectives, Captain Pope found himself at the base of Hill 100-also known as Walt Ridge-with orders to take it. The hill was an isolated knob-according the Marine Corps maps-which overlooked the East Road as well as a swampy patch of ground, which the men would have to pass through. As the commanding position, Hill 100 was targeted and the twenty-five year old Bowdoin graduate was ordered to take his ninety men and three officers up to its summit and claim the high ground.
As the Marines made it to the foot of the hill, they began to climb the steep, barren rock as enemy fire thinned their ranks. Despite the terrain and the opposition about twenty-four of Pope's men made it to the summit only to find that it was not the summit. Walt Ridge itself was merely a part of a longer ridge, dominated by higher ground only 50 yards away. Stuck in a crossfire between the dominating heights and another enemy position to his west, Pope knew that he was in trouble.
Deciding to hold the ground, which had been won at great human cost, and await reinforcements, Pope soon learned that none were available. As the sun set, Pope and his men created what defensive works they could at the summit. Isolated from the rest of the regiment and lacking sufficient grenades and ammunition, Pope's men did their best as Japanese troops attempted to infiltrate their lines. The enemy attacks were thrown back but it was a long and horrible night.
As September 20, 1944 dawned, Pope and his remaining men were down to their last rounds of ammunition and had to use rocks to hold off the attackers. The fighting became hand-to-hand as the parameter was assailed with increased ferocity. Enemy troops were hurled off the cliff and desperate, savage fighting ensued.
Down to twelve men, Pope was finally ordered to withdraw. The men scrambled down the hill, they had so desperately fought to hold as Japanese troops fired after them. Of the ninety-three men who had followed Pope up the Ridge the day before only nine had survived without serious injury. Pope himself had been injured but refused to seek immediate medical attention. His company had been decimated.
Later on in the battle for Peleliu, to the Fifth Marine Regiment's front, Eugene Sledge happened upon Captain Andy Haldane at Company K command post:
Ack Ack [Haldane] was studying a map by the light of a tiny flashlight … I sat on it and watched my skipper with admiration. Never before had I regretted so profoundly my lack of artistic talent and inability to draw the scene before me. The tiny flashlight faintly illuminated Captain Haldane's face as he studied the map. His big jaw, covered with a charcoal stubble of beard, jutted out. His heavy brow wrinkled with concentration just below the rim of the helmet. … He requested a certain number of rounds … to be fired out to Company K's front. A Marine on the other end of the radio questioned the need for the request. Haldane answered pleasantly and firmly, "Maybe so, but I want my boys to feel secure." … Next day I told several men what Ack Ack had said. "That's the skipper for you, always thinking of the troops' feelings," was the way one man summed it up.
But Andy Haldane was not immortal; on October 12, 1944 as he was examining the island's terrain under heavy sniper fire, he raised his head from cover and a bullet found him-killing him instantly. His death was one of the almost 9,000 U.S. casualties suffered in the battle for Peleliu.
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