thedrifter
07-03-09, 08:28 AM
July 2, 2009
Proud Marine reminisces on World War II battle with Japanese for strategic island
By RICK MALWITZ
STAFF WRITER
When Victor Varanay spent the Fourth of July on the Japanese island of Saipan in 1944, the rockets' red glare was real.
Serving with the 4th Marine Division, Varanay spent the holiday on a mountain looking down at a town under siege, firing his Browning Automatic Rifle.
Instead of soda, hot dogs and potato salad, the Navy sent the men of 4th Division containers of coffee and fresh bread.
Five days later, Varanay suffered a severe hand wound that would end World War II for him. It would also be a career-changing event. No longer would he work as a plumber. Instead, he would become the first mail carrier in the Iselin section of Woodbridge, in 1949.
The day Varanay was injured — July 9, 1944 — the Japanese surrendered the island, and Saipan was secured. Nine days later, the Americans secured the neighboring island of Tinian.
Control of the islands, located 1,600 miles south of Tokyo, gave the American B-29 bombers access to Japan — including the Enola Gay, the plane that would drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
"This is how the war ended — when we captured Saipan," said Varanay, who lost countless buddies in battles through the Pacific.
Of the 71,034 Americans who participated in the invasion of Saipan, 3,100 were killed. The day Varanay was injured he was given a ride to a hospital in a Jeep, along with an injured private and injured lieutenant.
"When they were shooting at us on the way to the field hospital we jumped in a ditch. They both died later on," he said of the two injured Marines.
Virtually all of the 30,000 Japanese defenders were killed. Those not killed in battle committed suicide, as did thousands of civilians who were convinced they and their children would be tortured by the Americans.
For Varanay, devotion to the Marine Corps continues. In 1958, he attended his first 4th Division reunion, held in Philadelphia. This year he will attend the reunion in Reno. It will be the 52nd in a row for Varanay, who has been to places like Hawaii, New Orleans and Seattle.
Varanay was born in New York, and came to Iselin at the age of 4 with his parents and three older sisters. "They wanted to get out of the city, so they bought this little house," said Varanay. The house at 1424 Oak Tree Road still stands.
Iselin was dominated by cornfields, and was a great place for a boy to grow up - with woods, swimming holes and ballfields as their playgrounds.
His father was a house painter. He also painted cars.
"He'd paint cars with a brush. I'd help him and paint the chassis," said Varanay, who went to New Brunswick Vo Tech to learn the plumbing trade.
He joined the Marines in 1942, and on Jan. 13, 1944, set sail from San Diego.
He saw his first action on the islands of Roi and Namur. It was on Namur that he had his first brush with death when he was about 100 yards from a Japanese ammunition blockhouse that blew up.
Debris from the blockhouse killed men stationed on nearby ships. The concussion from the explosion lifted airborne planes about 1,000 feet in the air.
Varanay, who was temporarily blinded by the debris, sought treatment for a back wounds, when a Navy corpsman said to him, "What are you worried about. Look at these other guys." Other guys lost limbs, and worse.
When he landed on Saipan with the 4th Division, he secured a position on the beach by digging a fox hole. As he dug, he came across an obstacle. "A leg. It was the leg of a Japanese soldier" who had been killed when the beach was blanketed with American bombs before the invasion.
Following his injury, Varanay was flown to Hawaii, and was in a hospital there when President Franklin D. Roosevelt came in his wheelchair to visit the wounded.
Because of his wounds Varanay was not with the 4th Division when it participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima in February 1945.
On his return to civilian life, he married the former Dorothy Blanchard of Fords in 1948, and the next year got the job with the post office bringing mail to residents of Iselin. Until then, residents had to pick up their mail at boxes in a store at the corner of Oak Tree Road and Correia Avenue.
He also bought his first house when a swath was cut through Iselin to built the Garden State Parkway. An auction was held to sell houses that were in the way, and Varanay got the house for $2,301.50. It cost him another $500 to move it to a lot he owned in Iselin.
He moved to Edison in 1961, putting down a $20 deposit on a new ranch house.
The 88-year-old Varanay has a keen memory for dates, names and places. He regularly speaks to students in Iselin schools, telling them about his experience in World War II.
Varanay said it's common at reunions for strangers to come up to him and tell him, "Thank you for our freedom." At a reunion in Spokane, someone - the waitress never said who — sent him and his Marine buddies a bottle of Champagne.
"Sometimes when we fly (to reunions) and some of us are together, the pilot will make an announcement about us. Passengers always clap," he said.
Ellie
Proud Marine reminisces on World War II battle with Japanese for strategic island
By RICK MALWITZ
STAFF WRITER
When Victor Varanay spent the Fourth of July on the Japanese island of Saipan in 1944, the rockets' red glare was real.
Serving with the 4th Marine Division, Varanay spent the holiday on a mountain looking down at a town under siege, firing his Browning Automatic Rifle.
Instead of soda, hot dogs and potato salad, the Navy sent the men of 4th Division containers of coffee and fresh bread.
Five days later, Varanay suffered a severe hand wound that would end World War II for him. It would also be a career-changing event. No longer would he work as a plumber. Instead, he would become the first mail carrier in the Iselin section of Woodbridge, in 1949.
The day Varanay was injured — July 9, 1944 — the Japanese surrendered the island, and Saipan was secured. Nine days later, the Americans secured the neighboring island of Tinian.
Control of the islands, located 1,600 miles south of Tokyo, gave the American B-29 bombers access to Japan — including the Enola Gay, the plane that would drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
"This is how the war ended — when we captured Saipan," said Varanay, who lost countless buddies in battles through the Pacific.
Of the 71,034 Americans who participated in the invasion of Saipan, 3,100 were killed. The day Varanay was injured he was given a ride to a hospital in a Jeep, along with an injured private and injured lieutenant.
"When they were shooting at us on the way to the field hospital we jumped in a ditch. They both died later on," he said of the two injured Marines.
Virtually all of the 30,000 Japanese defenders were killed. Those not killed in battle committed suicide, as did thousands of civilians who were convinced they and their children would be tortured by the Americans.
For Varanay, devotion to the Marine Corps continues. In 1958, he attended his first 4th Division reunion, held in Philadelphia. This year he will attend the reunion in Reno. It will be the 52nd in a row for Varanay, who has been to places like Hawaii, New Orleans and Seattle.
Varanay was born in New York, and came to Iselin at the age of 4 with his parents and three older sisters. "They wanted to get out of the city, so they bought this little house," said Varanay. The house at 1424 Oak Tree Road still stands.
Iselin was dominated by cornfields, and was a great place for a boy to grow up - with woods, swimming holes and ballfields as their playgrounds.
His father was a house painter. He also painted cars.
"He'd paint cars with a brush. I'd help him and paint the chassis," said Varanay, who went to New Brunswick Vo Tech to learn the plumbing trade.
He joined the Marines in 1942, and on Jan. 13, 1944, set sail from San Diego.
He saw his first action on the islands of Roi and Namur. It was on Namur that he had his first brush with death when he was about 100 yards from a Japanese ammunition blockhouse that blew up.
Debris from the blockhouse killed men stationed on nearby ships. The concussion from the explosion lifted airborne planes about 1,000 feet in the air.
Varanay, who was temporarily blinded by the debris, sought treatment for a back wounds, when a Navy corpsman said to him, "What are you worried about. Look at these other guys." Other guys lost limbs, and worse.
When he landed on Saipan with the 4th Division, he secured a position on the beach by digging a fox hole. As he dug, he came across an obstacle. "A leg. It was the leg of a Japanese soldier" who had been killed when the beach was blanketed with American bombs before the invasion.
Following his injury, Varanay was flown to Hawaii, and was in a hospital there when President Franklin D. Roosevelt came in his wheelchair to visit the wounded.
Because of his wounds Varanay was not with the 4th Division when it participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima in February 1945.
On his return to civilian life, he married the former Dorothy Blanchard of Fords in 1948, and the next year got the job with the post office bringing mail to residents of Iselin. Until then, residents had to pick up their mail at boxes in a store at the corner of Oak Tree Road and Correia Avenue.
He also bought his first house when a swath was cut through Iselin to built the Garden State Parkway. An auction was held to sell houses that were in the way, and Varanay got the house for $2,301.50. It cost him another $500 to move it to a lot he owned in Iselin.
He moved to Edison in 1961, putting down a $20 deposit on a new ranch house.
The 88-year-old Varanay has a keen memory for dates, names and places. He regularly speaks to students in Iselin schools, telling them about his experience in World War II.
Varanay said it's common at reunions for strangers to come up to him and tell him, "Thank you for our freedom." At a reunion in Spokane, someone - the waitress never said who — sent him and his Marine buddies a bottle of Champagne.
"Sometimes when we fly (to reunions) and some of us are together, the pilot will make an announcement about us. Passengers always clap," he said.
Ellie