The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-04-13
BY ERNIE PYLE

OKINAWA- Cby Navy rad:o) -
During our first afternoon on Oki-
nawa my group of marines went
about a mile and a half inland.
Our vehicles were not ashore yet,
so we had to pack on our backs
everything we had.
Personally, I was overladen as
usual l had two canteens, a mu-
settle bag. a blanket rolled up in a
poncho, three rubber life preserv-
ers, a shovel, and assorted knives,
first aid kits, etc. Furthermore I
mad on two pairs of pants. was
carrying two jackets, and it was
hotter than hell.
The result of all this was that
for the first time in my life I
couldn't keep up. I hated to do it,
but I had to sit down now and then
to rest and let the others go ahead
Moral: A lifetime of sin and crime
finally catches up with youD.
Anyhow, we finally got where We
were going. We stopped on hill
side, threw down our gear, con-
nected our phones to wires on the
ground, and were ready for bust
ness. That is, the others were. Me,
1 lay down on the grass and rest
ed for an hour.
After that we began getting ready
for the night. We figured the Japs
would bomb US all n; ght, that their
artillery would soon start up from
the hills, and that when it got dark,
some slinky infiltrators would start
infiltration.
So we dug foxholes. The slope
was so steep I chose a nice de-
preston at the foot of a small EN-.
pankment that didn't require much
digging.
Now we come to the life preserv.
ers. You may have wondered why
l was carrying three lifebelts or
dry land. Well I knew what l was
doing all right.
| l just blew up my three life pre-.
servers, spread them in the fox
hole and I had, the incest inpro
vised Simmons you ever saw. We
finally got onto that trick after q
few invasions in Europe and | slep1
all last summer in France com
fcrtably on three bloWn-up preserv
erS.
And it was worth the struggle 81
carrying them just to see the reac
ton of the marines. They woulc
come up to look at this strange de
vice and stand there, staring, ane
then say:
well, I'll be damned. Why IL
the hell couldn't I have thought
of that"
Then we got out our K rations
and my friend, Maj. Reed Taylor
came and squatted Indian-fashior
while I made hot coffee for us WITH
some new heat tablets the ma
rines had issued. By the time we
finished it was almost dark.
Everybody who wasn't on guaro
at the edge of our little camp, OF
who wasn't standing duty at the
field telephones went to bed, for ir
Jap country you don't move arounc
at night unless you have to.
Going to bed was merely figure
of speech for everybody except me
seemed to be the only one who
had brought a blanket and I def
initely was the only one who hac
nice soft life preservers to sleep on
The others slept on the ground ir
their foxholes with their ponchos
wrapped around them. A poncho is
wind and waterproof, but it has nc
warmth. In fact, it seems" to draw
all the warmth out of your body
and transmit it into the air.
The day had been hot, but the
night got mighty cold. And a very
heavy dew came gradually, soak
ing everything. All the others prac
tically froze and got very little
sleep. But for once in my life,
was warm as bug.
! But l didn't sleep too much
There's always a flaw somewhere
My flaw was the mosquitoes. I've
never been SO tortured by mos.