One Marine learns about family through battle's history

[thedrifter]

PELELIU ISLAND, Palau —A squad of Marines move as they conduct an amphibious landing unlike any they’ve trained for. They can feel the blistering 120 degree weather sapping them of their energy; they hear enemy bullets fly by their heads hitting the men to their left and right. They expected it to be like this, but they didn’t expect the 600-800 yards of coral they have to fight through before setting foot on the beach.

That was the story Cpl. Donald (Mac) Taggart never told his grandson, Capt. Benjamin T. Taggart, the manpower officer for Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.

Donald couldn’t tell his family the things he witnessed as an engineer with 1st Marine Division Sept. 15, 1944 during the Battle of Peleliu, Taggart said. But his grandson was determined to connect with his late grandfather by unearthing his story, told to him by World War II Historian and Peleliu resident Des Matsutaro.

To honor his grandfather’s memory and find the truth, Taggart, with the help of the Marine Corps University Foundation, organized a battle site study April 6 for Marine Corps Air Station Futenma officers, staff noncommissioned officers and their families at the site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.

“The whole experience was just surreal,” Taggart said as he recalled standing on the beach his grandfather assaulted. “This trip was an indescribable connection to my grandfather’s past and family history.”

The 30 participants toured the six-mile island, visiting several memorials honoring both Japanese and American troops who fought and died during the three-month battle. Leading the group was Matsutaro, who describes Peleliu as the “Forgotten Battle.”

The Battle of Peleliu has become a part of the Corps’ history that many have forgotten, he said. Though the U.S. troops who fought on Peleliu left victorious, poor intelligence and changing Japanese tactics resulted in casualties that the U.S. was not prepared for and many would rather forget.

The attack on the island was intended to cut-off Japanese troops stationed in the Philippines from supply routes and to secure the only working Japanese flight-line in the area, according to Craig A. Swanson, the associate dean of academics at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.

“At this point in the war, Japan knew it couldn’t win the war,” Swanson said. “They had been ordered not to conduct anymore Banzai attacks (suicide attacks.) The U.S. forces didn’t expect the change in tactics.”

What began as a battle involving 15,000 Imperial Japanese soldiers ended with only 223 Japanese survivors and more than 6,500 Marine casualties, a third of the division, and 1,500 Army casualties.

One of the stops on the tour was the 1,000 Man Cave, a series of underground tunnels used by Japanese forces during the battle. The cave derives its name from the amount of Japanese troops believed to be residing there at the onset of the battle.

“The 1,000 Man Cave was intense,” said Staff Sgt. Joseph P. Altman, the Navy Marine Corps Intranet Help Desk staff noncommissioned officer in charge for MAG-36. “So much detail went into building those tunnels. It’s amazing no one got lost in them, and there was so much (unexploded ordnance) left in the tunnels. It really gave you an idea of what took place there.”

Many of the participants agreed one location on the tour stood out from the rest –White Beach, the site where Cpl. Taggart’s unit landed.

Though the location exists today as a quiet tropical beach surrounded by lush jungle, it was a different scene during the battle. Prior to the attack, allied forces bombarded the beach relentlessly, clearing the way for the landing. But in the process, most of the vegetation in the nearby jungle was destroyed, eliminating any cover or concealment the Marines may have had. Despite the bombardment, the Japanese bunkers on both ends of the beach remained intact as the Marines came ashore over the coral reef.

“I’m still trying to imagine what it must have been like to attack that beach,” Taggart said. “Imagine the jungle gone, covered in tree stumps, with no place for any of the Marines to hide. They were sitting ducks.”

At the end of the day, the participants said they had a greater appreciation for the Corps’ history and what happened on Peleliu.

“I really want to thank the Marine Corps University Foundation,” Taggart said. “Without their help, we wouldn’t have been able to make this possible. It was an absolutely unbelievable experience.”

[jinelson]

I had the great honor and prevelege to meet and know Cpl Hobart Cobb here in our chat room and we spoke with each other for several years before he passed. He was a veteran of that battle and told me alot about it and his CO Chesty. I was in awe of that Marine, its funny he was the only Corporal I ever called Sir!.

Semper Fi Mr Cobb

Jim