- 3 -

That night as we were sleeping I was awakened and cautioned to remain quiet and go to the outside porch which surrounded the main building. This was because someone had seen Japanese infiltrators getting in position to attack. As luck would have it I also had a bottle of captured Japanese rice wine, so it went along with us to the porch where we laid quietly, waiting for whatever might be forthcoming.

Some grenades were thrown into the building, but since we were all outside no harm was done. I had one finger in the barrel of the rifle and another in the neck of the bottle to keep any dust and dirt from getting into the critical areas. At that point it came to me that while we fought during the day and rested during the night, the Japanese kept just the opposite schedule.

(On October 25, 1999, it was my extreme pleasure to meet with Harry Akune who had been attached to Regimental HQ as an interpreter. We talked of many people and experiences. During the discussion we reminded each other of the terrible fly problem. They swarmed and lit on everything. It was impossible to eat the food without having to brush the flies off it just as you would put it in your mouth. He had several papers and books and the photos on the following pages have been taken from them.)

The route taken by the combat patrol of "C" Co., 1st Bn, on each of the mornings of the 19th and 20th February was down the east side of Crockett Ravine to the South Shore road, and then up towards Btry Boston, on the west side of the ravine.

A little to the left of the center and near the bottom of the picture you can see a short white open angled line. This is a part of the road that the platoon was on. To the left of the intersection of the angle and against the side of the hill is a domed-like darker spot; this is the cave opening. We came from the right and passed across in front of the cave mouth. Where the dark shrubbery shows to the left of the cave is where we climbed the ridge to the path that can be seen as a white mark (a little obscured by the shrubs) above the shrub line angling off to the right from the somewhat oval white smoke from an explosion and leading to the top.

Next morning was the fateful day for a platoon of Company C, and for me in particular. The mission was to descend the south hillside via a roadway down to the road which circumnavigated the main part of the island. All went well until as we were going west on that perimeter road we came to a large cavern in the side of the hill. It was at least 20 feet tall. The lead squad had crossed in front of it and had fired rifle grenades into the area which contained several trucks. They followed those with white phosphorus grenades. Suddenly from the cave three Japanese soldiers ran out across the road and down the remainder of the hillside toward the ocean. The undergrowth was so heavy that they quickly disappeared from sight.

A moment of panic ensued but was rapidly brought under control by the Lieutenant. Our force was divided on each side of the cave. Getting us back into a cohesive unit was of paramount importance. In small groups of two or three we ran across the front of the cave while covering fire was used by one or two guys stationed at the corners of the cave opening. A few of the platoon were wounded and some were killed, including my friend, the other intelligence man. He felt nothing as he was shot right in the head and killed instantly. Another was the radio man.

When we all were assembled on the other side of the cave the decision was to climb the hill and report back to HQ. We had to climb the hill as to cross in front of the cave to go back the way we had come would invite other casualties. We were somewhat protected from the cave's weaponry since we rounded a small point which put us on a more westerly side of that portion of the hill. Some of the platoon started climbing when it was noticed that we should get the radio from the body of our fallen comrade. I did that and began the climb. Part way up, one of the troopers from a squad took over the task of carrying the radio. It was a difficult climb because of the steepness of the hill and the undergrowth. Added to the arduous task was the fact that we were all scared that the enemy was below and our backs were exposed to any fire that he might wish to send our way. This added emphasis to the speed with which we got back to the top.

That night was not a pleasant one for sleep, as you might imagine.

/4