It had blue Japanese characters on it. Then I noticed a tall and heavily laden Marine carrying a big roll of telephone wire on his shoulders and leading a white nanny goat tied to a string. He was Pfc. Ben Glover of Baird, Texas. He was a telephone lineman at home and that's what he is here.
Linemen are always among the first ashore.
There are lots of goats on Okinawa and the little ones were so white and so cute that we animal-loving Americans couldn't resist adopting them. I saw one Marine who had commandeered a horse and had it carrying his pack. Another had a bicycle. By Love Day plus three, I'm sure they'll be carrying little Japanese babies on their backs. Nine days later, Pyle was dead, the result of a Japanese sniper's bullet on the small Pacific island of Ie Shima.