Don't Tell Anyone

 3/10 75 mm Howitzer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division

Recollection of John Adie

John wrote in 1944:

June 15, 1944 Saipan, Mariana's Islands

Waded in water up to chest. Radio  dry - ok. From OP we saw a Jap ship sunk by U. S. Destroyer with 3 salvos - Perfect Firing by U. S. Navy. Correspondent wrote home.

July 25, 1994 John wrote a letter to Joan, enclosed was a newspaper clipping. The clipping reads as follows;

World War II

Fifty years ago today

July 7, 1944

American B-29 bombers strike the Japanese home islands for the second time, attacking naval installations at Sasebo. The 3,000 Japanese still alive on Saipan throw themselves at U. S. Marines in a last ditch, fanatical charge, but are massacred after fierce hand to hand fighting.

End of article

John wrote,

Enclosed is a couple of clippings from the papers.

Note - My outfit stopped the last charge at Saipan -(3000 fanatics) (but don't tell anyone)

The following account of this battle is taken from "Follow Me, The Story of the Second Marine Division in World War II", by Richard W. Johnston, page 230-233.

Despite the difficulties of mustering their men, the Japanese staff had contrived the attack ingeniously. It was not a wholly disorganized charge, Advance infiltrators located the gap between the two Army battalions and slipped through it; by 0430 , when the Japs began screaming "Banzai!" and abandoned all concealment, many of them were almost upon the Marines of the 3/10. Although an accurate count was never possible, 2,000 is the best available figure. The Japs attacked with tanks, with rifles and machine guns, with mock rifles made into spears by lashed on bayonets, with grenades, with bamboo spears, and with flashing Samurai swords. They hit both battalions of the 105th, and then poured through the gap like rice through a funnel.

There may be some doubt as to the wisdom displayed in the manner of deployment of the 105th regiment the night before the banzai charge; their can be no doubt that the soldiers of the two battalions fought with exemplary heroism. But they were overwhelmed by the fanatic attackers who sought not victory, but death, and without the support of the veteran Marines of the 3/10 and 4/10 and the reserve battalion of the 105th, the Jap offensive might well have swirled all the way into Garapan.

The first battery of 3/10 to be hit was, of course, H Battery. A member of that battery, PFC Robert A. Olsen of New York, has written a dispassionate, but graphic description of what happened next:

"At this time (almost 0500) two enemy tanks, one amphibious, with approximately thirty Japanese behind the first tank, passed within three feet of my position, which was in the rear of H Battery position. At the same time, there was a breakthrough in the Army lines, and approximately 2,500 Japanese charged our position from that direction. There were undoubtedly more acts of unnoticed heroism committed this day than could ever be counted. 

The gunners of the pieces were firing at less than 4/10th of a second, time fire. When the fuses could not be set fast enough, they fired ricochet fire, by lowering the muzzles and bouncing the shells off the ground. Individuals not on the guns were firing every conceivable type of weapon that we could find ammunition for.

Approximately two hours later, when word was given to retreat, the men followed two paths; one led to safety, the other led to a position directly to our rear in the middle of an old enemy equipment dump. It was in this position that about forty of us formed a circle to ward off the enemy. We stayed in this position until about 4 P. M. At this time an Army tank and truck rescued us. During our encirclement, the casualties mounted until by the time we were rescued there were only nineteen of that could still shoot a weapon."

The Japs who thus surrounded H battery and overran the fire direction center and aid station actually came from three directions. The breakthrough of the 105th lines was not entirely in the gap, but on the sea and inland flanks as well. The tanks mentioned by PFC Olsen came down the beach road and turned inland on another road that actually passed between H Battery and the FDC. The Marines, already occupied with the Japs attacking from the front, at first mistook them for U. S. Army troops. Meanwhile, another Jap spearhead had plunged south through the foothills, coming up against the Marines of G battery; The fire from G battery (John's) deflected this Jap force, toward the sea -- and into I and H Battery positions.

Unlike some earlier banzais, the attack did not end quickly, however. The canefield just ahead of the 3/10 positions, between and to the rear of the army battalion, was alive with enemy troops. All the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon was spent in digging them out and killing them. The Army moved up the reserve battalion of the 105th and parts of the 106th. The Marines of 4/10 came to the assistance of the valiant survivors of 3/10. As noted earlier, many pages would be required to record the heroic deeds of that terrible dawn, even if they had all been reported. The Marines in the Fire Direction Center were among the first to be assaulted, and they had retreated not an inch, fighting and dying at their posts. An ex-raider named Lea Bell, a staff Sergeant had lain beneath a jeep and shot Jap after Jap, despite frightful wounds of his own. He died squeezing the trigger. A BAR man, PFC Bailey Naber of California, was attacked in his foxhole by more than a squad of Japs. He fought them off, killing several. Early in the attack Major Crouch, aware of the desperation of his position, hurried over to the coastal road to request the assistance of two Army tanks parked there. The tank men were unwilling to leave their own areas without orders. Returning to his battalion, Crouch was shot and killed by Jap riflemen in the open field. Both the BN2 and the BN3, and nearly all of the computers in the FDC, already had been destroyed. The surviving officers carried on brilliantly and bravely, with Captain Gavin Young of California and Lieutenant Arnold Hofstetter of Oregon providing particularly outstanding leadership. 

When the fury of the attack became apparent to the nearby Marines of 4/10, a young PFC named Harold C. Agerholm instantly volunteered to go to 3/10's assistance. Agerholm found an unmanned ambulance jeep and headed it straight into the battle, in reckless disregard of Jap rifle and mortar fire. Reaching the 3/10 zone of action, the youthful Marine from Wisconsin loaded as many wounded men into the jeep as it would hold and ran the hot gauntlet back to safety. Then he returned. Again and again Agerholm made this trip, loading, returning, loading, returning. In three amazing hours, single handed, he evacuated forty five wounded Marines. On his last trip, Agerholm spotted two injured comrades lying in the open, in a field of intense Jap fire. He vaulted out of the jeep and went to get them. A Jap sniper shot Agerholm dead. He became the sixth member of the Second Marine Division to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

The banzai charge cost 3/10 and 4/10 forty five killed and eighty two wounded,. But these two artillery battalions, fighting with the big guns and with rifles, with bazookas and grenades and bayonets, paid back the enemy six fold. They killed at least 300 Japs, and they formed the unbreakable line beyond which the enemy could not advance.

This is the end of the written account in "Follow Me". 

Another Description of the attack; from "A Fellowship of Valor, The Battle History of the United States Marines", Colonel Joseph H. Alexander, USMC (RET.), page 176

"Nearly 4000 Japanese poured out of the highlands to fall upon surprised elements of the 27th Division in the greatest banzai attack of the war. 

Hundreds of screaming, sword waving imperial troops found a gap in the Army lines and streamed through to assault Marine artillery positions well to the rear.

Desperate cannoneers leveled their 105 MM Howitzers to blast the attackers at point blank range, but many died at their guns before reinforcing Marines could fight their way through to close the gap. Savage fighting swirled in every ravine and canefield throughout the day."

One week later the battle for Saipan was over.

Subsequent to the letter noted above Joan talked with her father on the phone.

"Did you read about my outfit", he asked

Joan replied, "Yes, that must have been something", not really knowing at the time what his unit was and not having "Follow Me", she did not have any details other than the note he wrote, which simply said, "My outfit stopped the last charge at Saipan".

"When I say don't tell anyone, I (especially) mean don't bring it up to Gil. I don't want him to remember it right now; because he isn't feeling well", John reminded her of his request in the note. (Gil was battling cancer at the time. Joan and I had gone to Morenci to visit Gil and his wife)

Joan felt if he wanted to expand on it he would. If he wanted to keep it private she would respect that. If he didn't want her to  tell anyone else, she would respect that too.

I'm sorry Dad, but it is time to tell.

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