The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-05-06
Memo For Frisco
By 1T. JIM G. LUCAS, UsMC

out repeating. After Sapan after Tinian, after
Tarawa, after New Georgia I wrote this is
the toughest thing the Marine Corps ever did
That is did, That is true today. 1t will not,
l am sure, be true for long. There are tough
er jobs ahead.
Our losses have been heavy. So soon after
the Marianas this is doubly hard for us in
the fourth. We have known each other for
what seems to us to be long time. We know
great deal about each others families. We
have seen the pictures OF wives and klddies
and mothers That makes for a close friend
ship. 1t is increasingly difficult to give up
your friends. Death here bears no relation to
death at home 1t is violent cruel, unreason-
able. l have found it comparatively easy to
accept the death of friend during the heat
of battle; but extremely difficult to reconcile
it when the last gun is fired. l do not think it
| has ever been quite SO hard as here on 1Wo
For one thing there have been more of them
than before.
| 1t was not our choice, this battle for 1Wo
We took it because the Army Air Corps needed
it, Any comparison with MacArthur's landings
on Luzon is misleading. We had no alterna-
tive We could only make frontal attack
on an island which Admiral Turner has de-
scribed as 1.-The most heavily fortified in the
world
| I am a veteran of TaraWa and Saipan
They were nothing like Two. The Japs fought
bravely and intellgently. Our men fought more
bravely and more intelligently. 1t took pure
CUTS to do what they have done. Macarthur is
brave and good soldier. We have had so
many of the bloody ones that we admire and
respect a man who seize an objective with
minor casualties We would like some OF that
for ourselves, But, SO far, that has not been
our job. We are, primarily, shock troops. Ger
tainly the nation cannot expect to WIN war
without losses. If it is difficult Tor you at
| how
difficult must it be for us. 1t is not easy for
our leaders to take us into a battle OF this
kind. It is to their credit that they led us m
| to win We have had no room to maneuVer.
We have had no opportunity for any other
strategy than to walk into the muzzles OF enc
my guns and silence them with our hands.
If believe in heaven-and l do--there
must be particularly good spot IN 1t re-
served for the men who stormed this island.
You've got to see 1t to believe it can't be-
lieye it, You must discard every pre-concelv-
ed notion you've formed about human cour-
age. This sort of thing simply isn't in the
books
| I'd like to tell you about these friends of
mine who are dead. I can't do that now. We
cannot mention names until their tamlhes nave
been notified. Their names would mean little
unless you knew them. There was, Tor IN
stance Bill Bill and Bob and l were close
friends on the trip to Two. We had not known
each other until we sailed. But we were more
than eight weeks in the same compartment.
We all liked bridge. We Usually picked fourth
and started our game soon after breakfast.
Often we did not stop until the lights went
| off at midnight. AS we became 1rlendS, we
shared our letters from home. We got to
know each others families and friends. We
came to think great deal Of each other. Bill
went ashore in one boat Bob in another,
l went in third. did not see any of them
| for more than week l heard later that Bill
| had been wounded l was relieved to near 1t
was not serious. Yesterday, learned he was
dead By chance met Bob Bill is dead, l
told him. A major overheard the conversa-
ton. who was Bil? he asked. He wasn't
important Bob replied. HE was just young
lieutenant like us. 1 won't make any differ
ence to many. We're still going to win the
war. But he was our friend.
| And there was another Bill. By odd chance,
we knew the same guy. had not seen this
other fellow for Is years. AS matter OF fact,
I'd forgotten him. But knowing the same
guy-hoWever remote-iS an Introduction, and
always leads to friendship. Bill was wounded.
1 saw him the day before he got it. 1 knew
war was horrible he said ut was his flrst
combat, but, Jim, l never had any idea it
was like this Tonight they told me. The
second Bill is dead
| Nor will l ever forget Frank. Big, tall,
gangling, rebel Frank whose southern draWl
was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
| 1--WE get along Luke Frank frequently said.
Everyone else crabs at me, but we've never
had a cross word" We kept it that way,
Frank and I, until he died. They never found
anything of him. A mortar landed in his lap.
| Harry was one of the most popular officers in
| the Division. He loved a party. lie loved a
crowd. He loved his fellow man. He'd been
an assistant to Colonel Carlson when he was
with the Division. He went to the reconnals-
sance company. Harry is dead now. recall
the celebration the night we got back from
Saipan. Harry was all over the place, making
more noise than all the rest of us. The party
this time won't be so merry without Harry
We've got to write his wife. They shot him
between the eyes, A week before we sailed
we made a recording of Harry's getting the
Bronze Star. His plans after the war? Il
want to 60 back to Pittsburgh he said. I'll
never leave the place again. But Harry isn't
going back.
There was guy called Hank Sometimes
he was our fourth at bridge aboard ship. He
was big and clustering and loud. whenever
he got in a tight spot at cards, he'd run his
hand through his blond hair, and he'd YELL
''nnoowww, wait minute You could hear
him all over the ship. Hank got it the first
night. His company was pinned down by ma
chine gun fire. Hank stood up to see where
it came from. They shot him through h e
chest Hank had baby boy. He'd never seen
the kid.
And Bob. I only met Bob once, but liked
him. l liked him, 1 guess, because he was