My grandpa was there. Served as a radio operator (I think) in D Company, 708th Amphibian Tank Battalion which operated LVT(A)s. His tank was an (A)-4 which had the 75mm howitzer. The battalion had just received them brand new a few days prior to the invasion of the island. Anyways my grandpa’s company was operating in support of 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment. He landed on Yellow Beach 1 in the first wave.
He was nearly killed soon after. Naturally when his tank came ashore it attracted some machine gun fire from the Japanese (the LVT(A)s were beasts), then took a direct hit from an artillery shell and was knocked out of the fight. I have no idea if anyone was killed as a result, but my grandpa managed to get out and took shelter in a “shallow ravine”, but he came under mortar fire pretty quickly so he had to get to safety yet again. As he was trying to do this he ran into a Japanese soldier. Rather than killing my grandfather (who I imagine was probably unarmed) the Japanese pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin, and blew himself up.
Regarding the incident, my grandpa later remarked to a war correspondent, “That completed a very trying day for me, to say the least.”
Nicktator3
Fortunately [he survived the war](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/94127137/neil-innes-shober).
Since we’re talking about Saipan…
My grandpa was there. Served as a radio operator (I think) in D Company, 708th Amphibian Tank Battalion which operated LVT(A)s. His tank was an (A)-4 which had the 75mm howitzer. The battalion had just received them brand new a few days prior to the invasion of the island. Anyways my grandpa’s company was operating in support of 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment. He landed on Yellow Beach 1 in the first wave.
He was nearly killed soon after. Naturally when his tank came ashore it attracted some machine gun fire from the Japanese (the LVT(A)s were beasts), then took a direct hit from an artillery shell and was knocked out of the fight. I have no idea if anyone was killed as a result, but my grandpa managed to get out and took shelter in a “shallow ravine”, but he came under mortar fire pretty quickly so he had to get to safety yet again. As he was trying to do this he ran into a Japanese soldier. Rather than killing my grandfather (who I imagine was probably unarmed) the Japanese pulled out a grenade, pulled the pin, and blew himself up.
Regarding the incident, my grandpa later remarked to a war correspondent, “That completed a very trying day for me, to say the least.”
MW777
What happened to all the bodies?
The island had a couple goats
nuclearwomb
Native? Why does it have a rope tied around it’s neck?
walkingdiseased
My grandparents were born in Guam during the Japanese occupation, hearing and reading about the treatment of native Chamorros is horrid
GoldIsAMetal
That gun looks sleek. What type of gun is that?