Imperial Valley press., 1945-04-23
Marine Souvenir
Hunters Get
Two Japs Instead
BY ERNIE PYLE

OKINAWA-(By Navy Radio)-
Now I've seen my first Jap soldiers
in their native State-that is, before
capture. But not for long, because
the boys of my company captured
them quicker than wink.
1t was mid-forenoon and we had
just reached our new bivouaS area
after a march or an hour and a
half. The boys threw off their
packs, sat down on the ground, and
took off their helmets to mop their
perspiring foreheads.
We were in a small grassy spot at
the foot of a hill. Most of these
hillSides have caves and have house
hold stuff hidde min them. They
are a rich fie.d for souvenir hunters
And all marines are souvenir hunt
erS.
FIND JAPS UNDER BUSH
So Immediately two of our boys
instead of resting, started up through
the brush, looking for caves and
souvenirs. They had gone about so
yards when one Of them yelled:
There's a Jap soldier under this
BUSH" .s5,
We didn get too excited for most
of us figured he meant dead Jap.
But three or four of the boys got up
and went up the hill. A few mo-
ments later somebody yelled again
Hey, here's another one. They're
alive and they've got rifles
So the boys went at them in earn
est. The Japs were lying under two
bushes. They had their hands up
over their ears and were pretending
to be asleep. ...-...
The marines surrounded the BUSH
es and, with guns pointing, they Or
dered the JapS out. But the Japs
were too scared to move. They just
lay there, blinking. se
The average Jap soldier would
have come out shooting. But. thank
/ goodness, these were of a different
stripe. They were SO petrified the
marines had to go into the bushes
lift them by the shoulders and throw
them out ~ the open.
My contribution to the capture
consisted of standing to one side
| looking as meaII as I could.
FROM HOME ISLE
One Jap was small, and about 30
years old. The other was just a
kid of l6 or II. but good-sized and
well. built. The kid had the rank
of a superior private and the other
was a corporal. They were real
Japanese from Japan, not the Okin-
avian home guard.
They were both trembling all
over. The kids face turned a sick
ly white. Their hands shook. The
muscles in the corporai's jaw were
twitching. The kid was so paralyzed
he couldn't even understand sign
! language.
We don't know why those two Japs
didn't fight. They had good rifles
and potato-maSher hand grenades.
They could have stood behind their
bushes and heaved grenades into our
tightly packed group and got them
selves two dozen casualties, easily.
The marines took their arms. One
marine tried to direct the corporal
in handbook Japanese, but the fel-
low couldn't understand.
The scared kid just stood there,
sweating like an OK. guess he
thought he was dead. Finally We
sent them back to the regiment.
DRAW THE HONORS
The two marines who flushed
these Japs were Corp. Jack Ossege
of Silver Grove, Kentucky, across
the river from Cincinnati and Pic.
Lawrence Bennett of Port Huron,
Michigan.
OkinaWa was the first blitz for
Bennett and this was the first Jap
soldier he'd ever seen. He is 80
years old, married and has baby
girl. Back home he was a freight
dispatcher.
The Jap corporal had metal
photo holder like a cigaret case. In
it were photos which we took to be
of three japanese movie stars. They
were good looking, and everybody
had to have look.
Ossege had been through one Pa
cific blitz, but this was the first
Jap he ever took alive. AS an old
hand at souvenir hunting he made
sure to get the Jap's rifle.
That rifle was the envy of every
body. Later when we. were sitting
around. discussing the capture, cile
other boys tried to buy or trade him
out OF it. Pop Taylor, the black
whiskered corporal from jackson,
Michigan, offered Ossegc 800 for
/ the rifle.
The answer was no. Then Taylor
offered four quarts of whiskey The
answer was still no. Then he Offer
ed eight quarts. Ossege weakened
little. He said, where would you
get eight quarts of whiskey?" Pop
said he had no idea. SO Ossege kept
the rifle.
So there you have my first two
Japs. And I hope my future JapS
will all be as tame as these two. But
| doubt it.