USS Tarawa (LHA 1) - Naval Cruise Book

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3:30 p.m.: B Medical land on Bairiki, establish field hospital as soon as possible. A and C Medical land Beach Red 2 soon as possible. Bring morphine, plasma, dressings, stretchers. Before gigging in for the night the companies re-formed and moved into defensive positions. The sky deepened from rich purple to blackness. The first stars began to shine. Silence settled, disturbed only by faint scuffing of shovels as the men went on digging their foxholes, Then - Banzai! Blood for the Emperor! Two words went through the line: - Stand Fast. The first lap counter-attacks lasted one hour. The laps leaped from their holes and charged, running like possessed demons, wav- ing sabers, tossing hand grenades, firing light machine guns from the hip, charging with fixed bayonets. With knives, bayonets, rifle butts, the Marines fought them back. They were repulsed but not before opening a gap between A and B companies of the Sixth. Our wounded could not be moved. Men opened their first aid kits, bandaged their buddies in the darkness, and gave them water from their canteens. Non-commissioned officers moved among the men, shaking them, warning them to stay awake. 11:00 p.m.: The laps attempted to create a diversion. A few min- utes later they charged as before, screaming Banzai! The Marines stopped the charge and threw the laps back. 4:00 a.m.: The laps launched their final and most desperate attack. It was now or never. A few laps were naked and armed only with knives. For an hour, hand-to-hand fighting went on. Men gave their lives to save their buddies. 5:00 a.m.: The counter-attack ended. The stars fading. It's all over. .Qi'lM,,.?Q.il1in.pg: X 'il W .Hr ., W. L gi ifjxfi, it, X .l lil X. V' Q l. s.. .gm , M eww' We stopped them. Send stretcher bearers to evacuate the wounded. Navy corpsmen bandaged, applied tourniquets, injected mor- phine, lit cigarettes and stuck them between cracked lips and said, You'll be all right, kid. u Soon after the Sixth had finished its job, the First Battalion of the Eighth succeeded in cleaning out the last remnant of resistance on Beach Red 1. 1:12 p.m.: General Smith had the announcement carried by field telephone to all units on the islet and by radio to the ships of the task force that the battle of Betio was over. November 24, 1943. The assault troops began leaving Betio. It was slow business. They were leaving many comrades behind, in shallow graves, still lying face down in the waters of the lagoon, lying along the battered beaches, hanging on brutal wire. They did not talk much, these men who had done the impossible. There were no longer boys among them, only men. Bloody, bandaged heroes. Private First Class lames Williams of Birmingham, Alabama, stepped forward and liftes his bugle to sound colors for the first time over Tarawa. Men turned from digging foxholes, unloading boats, burying the dead. They stood at attention their dirty tired young hands at salute. Some of the wounded managed to stand up too. The piore seriously hurt could only turn their heads as they lay on their itters. They lost their weariness, a little of their sorrow. They could see their flag. It made them proud. hfor they knew, more than anyone else, what it meant to put it t ere. f s I 8 Q .,,5sxxyxxx 172.9 0 ' s v f -All 72 x ,f as j 'U ' l l mf e 2' ll' Q' A v 24 wks!!

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l know that you are well trained and fit for the tasks assigned to you. You will quickly over-run the Japanese forces, you will decisively defeat and destroy the treacherous enemies of our country, your success will add new laurels to the glorious tradition of our Corps. Good luck, and God bless you all. As the sun went down on the eve of the assault, the men stretched out on the decks earlier than usual to get as much rest as they could. Reveille was scheduled for 3:45 in the morning. Few of the men slept. 3:45 a.m.: Saturday, November 90, 1943 - D-Day: The transports, several miles off Tarawa and its coral reefs, lay-to in darkness. The warshipsmoved in closer. The moon was at quarter, the sky emptying itself of stars. Over the transports sounded the thin piping of bosun's whistles and the whines of winches as the landing boats were lowered over the side for their load of men. 4:41 a.m.: Tension was beginning to build up on our side and among the Japanese. It broke with them first. From the long black fringe of the islet came a burst, a red star cluster. Our warships loomed through the darkness, moving in closer, their guns trained, waiting. . 5:07 a.m.: Daylight was coming. Suddenly the Japs opened up with their big coastal batteries. The firing was close. Casualties were claimed among the boat crews. 5:19 a.m.: The flagship pointed her bow beachward and, supported by two of her sister ships, let go a salvo from her 16-inch guns. The Jap's 8-inchers were silenced, wiped out. They had been in action twenty mintues. The flagship had been in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Many of her crew had been survivors of that day. 6:13 a.m.: The aerial bombardment began. It was not haphazard destruction for their bombs found home. The first phase was swift and brief. It lasted nine minutes. 6:58 a.m.: The Navy was having its day. The task force ceased scheduled firing and began to silence individual batteries at their own discretion. Ships competed with ships as they worked in for the kill. 8:99 a.m.: The first assault waves left the Line of Departure on their journey to the reef - their journey to hell. The Japanese guns were ominously silent. The amphibious tractors moved stoically toward the reef. Fire from the Japanese coastal guns were intermittent at first. The deluge of steel from the bombardment had shocked and dazed the defenders. The amphibious tractors in the first three assault waves therefore managed to lumber over the reef and reach the beach with relatively few casualties. 9:10 a.m.: Second Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment landed. Half hour later the commanding officer messaged: Heavy opposition. 9:19 a.m.: Second Battalion, 9nd Marine Regiment landed. Shortly the commanding officer messaged, Meeting heavy resistance. 9:17 a.m.: Third Battalion, 9nd Marine Regiment landed. The commanding officer messaged, Troops receiving heavy fire in water. Shortly after the action opened, the wounded began to move back to the transports. Men risked their lives to swim to their wounded buddies and drag them back to the boats. Many of these became casualties themselves. The first of the landing craft took off for their return to the transports loaded down with the wounded. They carried, on this tragic journey, boys who thirty minutes earlier had been among the finest physical specimens in the country. A 10:45 a.m.: The commanding officer of the 8th Marine Regiment reported: Stiff resistance. Need half tracks. Tanks no good. 11:05 a.m.: The Third Battalion operations reported Heavy casualties. 19:03 p.m.: The carrier-based planes roared in. 1:00 p.m.: In a gashed tractor were bodies of two Marines and a Navy doctor. The shell that killed them also wounded ten other men. In the blazing sun, Marines and bluejackets removed their steel helmets. We are in the presence of the last great enemy, Death. Almost as an echo, strident through the loudspeaker on the bridge, came the report: The issue is in ou 1:45 p.m.: Colonel Shoup received this message: Reserve teams unable to land. Heavy enemy fire. Is there another beach where we can land ? 4:11 p.m.: All planes in the air were ordered to expend every round of ammunition before leaving the area. 4:45 p.m.: The Sixth Marine Regiment was released. This was all that was left of available manpower. The bolt was shot. 5:90 p.m.: General Smith received first fragmentary casualty reports. They were bad. 10:00 p.m.: Colonel Shoup summed up D-Day in this report to General Smith: Have dug in to hold limited beach-head. All through the night and into the early morning hours of November 91st, boats held back from the Line of Departure tried to run the gaunlet to the beach. There were casualties. The transports by now were being converted into hospital ships. Marines on top of the pier weathered heavy enemy shelling as they struggled to bring ammunition ashore. The inferno lighting up the shore prevented any chance of secrecy. ' 9:00 a.m.: Firing from behind was discovered coming from the wrecked hull of a Japanese tramp steamer on the reefs off Beach Red 9. The Task Force promised: Will bomb at daylight. 8:93 a.m.: Colonel Shoup to General Smith: Urgently request rations and small arms ammunitions landed on the beach. 10:50 a.m.: The Third Battalion of the 9nd Regiment reported it was pinned down. They wanted dive-bombers, they wanted tanks. Both requests were filled. 19:00: First indications Japs were beginning to break reported. Cases were starting to be found of hari-kari. The tide had turned definitely, in favor of the Marines. November 93, 1943. 1:00 p.m.: Casualties were again heavy. Medium tanks had to be dispatched to replace light tanks in neutralizing pillboxes.

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THE FIRST TARAWA USS TARAWA CLHA-19 is the second ship named in honor of the battle of TARAWA. The previous TARAWA CCV-407 was one of the Navy's potent new 97,000-ton aircraft carriers and sister ship of the ESSEX, YORKTOWN, SHANGRI-LA and PRINCETON. She served from 1945 until her decommissioning in 1960. First Navy ship so named, the TARAWA was built in Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, and launched in the Elizabeth River on May 19, 1945. In a speech at the launching of the TARAWA, Marine General Smith, who commanded the furious 76-hour fighting on Tarawa atoll, said: lt is eminently fitting that this great ship should be named for an operation which marked the turning point of the war in the Pacific and began a new era of amphibious warfare. The same battle flag that went ashore with the Marines at Tarawa on November 20, 1943, was presented to the new carrier. The colors, under which 786 Marine and Naval medical personnel died, were hauled down from a riven coconut palm on February 13, 1944, by a picked color guard of men who had taken part in the assault and who had come into the Marine Corps from all sections of the United States. The big carrier, although nominally a sister ship of the other Essex class carriers, was given improvements in design and equipment that set her apart. The vessel was 856 feet in overall length, 110 feet extreme beam and 24 feet draft. Fully loaded the TARAWA displaced more than 34,000 tons and was able to be driven at a top speed of more than 30 knots. The TARAWA carried 80 planes and was equipped to launch and land the first developed jet-propelled aircraft. To operate the ship, man and service the aircraft, the TARAWA carried approximately 9,500 men. Heavily armed, the TARAWA carried twin and single mount five-inch guns, quadruple 40 millimeter and twin Q0 millimeter anti-aircraft weapons. Profitting from the lessons learned in the Pacific carrier war, the ship had new improved facilities for the stowage of bombs and rockets.