thedrifter
09-16-04, 06:21 AM
GUAM LEADER THANKS
U.S. MARINES FOR WAR SERVICE
Sixty years after invading the island of Guam, the first American soil recaptured from the Japanese in the South Pacific, the Marines who made it back are getting a special thanks.
"It brought tears to my eyes when I got this in the mail," said John K. Davis, an 84-year-old Tyler man who helped reclaim the island in July 1944. "It brought back so many great and sad memories."
Veterans of the Guam invasion are receiving medals and certificates, signed by Guam Gov. Felix Camacho. The certificate says the Marine effort enabled 60 years of "freedom and progress" which would "not have been realized" otherwise.
The island, whose tallest building in 1944 was two stories, has become an opulent tourist destination dotted with high-rise resort hotels.
Late in 1944, the Courier-Times-Telegraph featured a letter about the invasion written by Davis, then a young Marine Corps lieutenant, to his parents in Tyler.
"We established our headquarters just in from the beach, and started digging in," the soldier wrote. "Digging a fox hole in coral is no easy job, but about that time all you are thinking about is how nice and safe that hole is going to be when you do get it completed."
To aid them in their mission, the U.S. Marine Signal Corps employed Navajo code talkers, who used their native language to create a code the Japanese never broke. Members of the Signal Corps transmitted the code from base camps to other units across the island of Guam, helping American forces reclaim the island from the Japanese in about 20 days.
"We set up a communications tent in which we had different types of equipment, including coding machines," Davis said in an interview for another story two years ago. "On our first night ashore they declared 'condition black,' which meant a Japanese attack was imminent. We had thermite grenades to melt the equipment if it was captured."
The reclamation of the island resulted in about 7,800 American casualties.
"I would say that some people today don't realize how good they have it and how well off they are," Davis said. "We must be vigilant and ever loyal and faithful to the United States."
Davis remembers a heavy price in the three-week battle for the little island 1,500 miles east of the Philippines:
"I just regret that we couldn't have taken it sooner," he said.
Mark Collette covers Southern Smith and Upshur counties. He can be reached at 903.596.6303. e-mail: news@tylerpaper.com
http://images.zwire.com/local/Z/Zwire1994/zwire/images/ACF70C1227.jpg
NEVER TOO LATE FOR THANKS: John K. Davis, pictured in this July 20, 2002, photograph, recently received medals and thanks from Guam's governor for the U.S. Marine-led effort to free the island from Japanese control in 1944. (Staff Photo By Tom Worner)
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12916110&BRD=1994&PAG=461&dept_id=227937&rfi=6
Ellie
U.S. MARINES FOR WAR SERVICE
Sixty years after invading the island of Guam, the first American soil recaptured from the Japanese in the South Pacific, the Marines who made it back are getting a special thanks.
"It brought tears to my eyes when I got this in the mail," said John K. Davis, an 84-year-old Tyler man who helped reclaim the island in July 1944. "It brought back so many great and sad memories."
Veterans of the Guam invasion are receiving medals and certificates, signed by Guam Gov. Felix Camacho. The certificate says the Marine effort enabled 60 years of "freedom and progress" which would "not have been realized" otherwise.
The island, whose tallest building in 1944 was two stories, has become an opulent tourist destination dotted with high-rise resort hotels.
Late in 1944, the Courier-Times-Telegraph featured a letter about the invasion written by Davis, then a young Marine Corps lieutenant, to his parents in Tyler.
"We established our headquarters just in from the beach, and started digging in," the soldier wrote. "Digging a fox hole in coral is no easy job, but about that time all you are thinking about is how nice and safe that hole is going to be when you do get it completed."
To aid them in their mission, the U.S. Marine Signal Corps employed Navajo code talkers, who used their native language to create a code the Japanese never broke. Members of the Signal Corps transmitted the code from base camps to other units across the island of Guam, helping American forces reclaim the island from the Japanese in about 20 days.
"We set up a communications tent in which we had different types of equipment, including coding machines," Davis said in an interview for another story two years ago. "On our first night ashore they declared 'condition black,' which meant a Japanese attack was imminent. We had thermite grenades to melt the equipment if it was captured."
The reclamation of the island resulted in about 7,800 American casualties.
"I would say that some people today don't realize how good they have it and how well off they are," Davis said. "We must be vigilant and ever loyal and faithful to the United States."
Davis remembers a heavy price in the three-week battle for the little island 1,500 miles east of the Philippines:
"I just regret that we couldn't have taken it sooner," he said.
Mark Collette covers Southern Smith and Upshur counties. He can be reached at 903.596.6303. e-mail: news@tylerpaper.com
http://images.zwire.com/local/Z/Zwire1994/zwire/images/ACF70C1227.jpg
NEVER TOO LATE FOR THANKS: John K. Davis, pictured in this July 20, 2002, photograph, recently received medals and thanks from Guam's governor for the U.S. Marine-led effort to free the island from Japanese control in 1944. (Staff Photo By Tom Worner)
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12916110&BRD=1994&PAG=461&dept_id=227937&rfi=6
Ellie