The simple approach to caves consisted merely in covering the opening with Tommy-gun or rifle fire, and tossing phosphorous and fragmentation grenades into the deeper parts until the Japs inside were dead or so dizzy from concussion that they were helpless.

However, with stores of ammunition all over the island, there was always danger that the caves might blow up, and in a number of  cases they did.

 On Monday Feb. 19th, a single explosion of a cave at  BATTERY POINT killed Lt. Bonnell Stone,  Dave Beatty, James Moore, Albert Levenguth and William Shanklin and seven more men were wounded. Dom Dimassio was blinded in one eye, and his face was swollen about twice it's normal size. His lips and eyes were so puffed out that his  nose seemed to have sunk in his head.  

The bodies of Moore and Lovenguth had simply ceased to exist, there was nothing we could find which could be recovered of them.

Capt. James Mullaney
"H" Company.