The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1944-10-10

Olu lOl hSSbAOy SASi ciAa PASt4Ny
of action ensued including a Jap
bomber shot down by Ellis de-
stroyer and landing on the deck
of a nearby U. S. destroyer, and
causing 80 casualties with its ex-
plosion.
TOUGH SPOT
Cape Gloucester was tough
spot too. Zill again went ashore
in a Higgins boat with the first
wave of Marines, through a ter
rifle smoke screen that nearly
spoiled the operation and forced
the Higgins to heaVe to at the
control boat on the way back
because Of the danger of crash
ing into succeeding waves of
landing boats. After that, Sal
dor, where LCTs put on the first
rocket bombardment as they
landed, and Signalman Zill in
the first wave of landing boats
ducked many machinegun
bullet.
Then came Los Negros, when
General Douglas MacArth u r
took one of the greatest CANDLES
of his military career and or
dered Kincaid'S little 7th Fleet
TO land the second squadron, 5th
Cavalry (Texas) Regiment, of
the 1St Cavalry Division at
Hayne Harbor-the very spot
where Jap military intelligence
figured fool-hardy Americans
would not land.
LIGHT SUPPORT
Five deStroyers Of Admiral
Kincaid'S little fleet accomplish
ed the landing, three Of them old
1917 models with two Of their
four tunnels chopped off and
their guns gone to let them car
ry a heavy top hamper of men.
The Japs were $50 sorry"
about their southwark facing
pillboxes on South Beach and
that they never got chance to
fire two seawardfacing five
inch Naval guns mounted be-
hind breadfruit trees.
Zill went in with the first
landing party, while Macarthur,
Kincaid and General George
Kenney watched the heroism of
unmounted cavalrymen show
ing the infantry how to secure
a beachhead. 1t was a great day
in the history of MacArthur's
march to Halmahera through
the Admiralties, with New
Guinea, New Ireland, New Bril-
tain and the Solomons stretch
ing behind him. MacArthur's or
der to capture and prepare Mo-
mote air strip for transport and
fighter plane use was accomp-
lished, but only after typical
sacrifice that suCL stepping
stones to Tokyo demand.
Hollandia was next, but since
the Single-track minded Japs
had figured on landing at
Weewak, the Humboldt Bay en-
gagement was productive of
comparatively light casualties.
THEN SAIPAN AND TINIAN
Then came Saipan and later
Tinian, and it was at these land
ings that Signalman Zill learn
ed about the Marine raiders and
the advance parties which he
accompanied at dead Of night 48
and "a hours before the actual
landings, TO reCOnnolter the
coral refs and even land on the
beachheads to size up the Jap
forces. They killed Sentries in
the dark of night with sharp
knives and set explosive charges
in neck-high water beneath the
coral barriers so that they could
easily be blasted for the landing
craft in the morrow's landing
operations.
The emotions Of men going
in in the landing boats against
the uncertainties and possible
death on Jap beach are
summed up in two classes by
Signalman Zill:
EVERYONE is Scared
"Everybody's scared, and
don't let them tell you differ
ent," he said. But there are
two kinds: those who are scared,
but brave, and those who are
scared, but yellow. l won't tell
you what | Was-but l was
scared, and I'm not hiding it.
When you're caught in machine
gun croSs-fire and Jap mortars
start lobbing heavy stuff across
your bows, it amt no picnic.
When you see men in your boat
catch machine gun bullets, and
when you run on a hidden reef
in the surf and are left like a
sitting duck for the Jap marks
men, you know what fear is.
The bravest man can be scared
stiff"
Ellis stories of action would
fill volumes. He can tell of the
gruesome sights that float by
on the blue waters of the Pa
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