A Grandfather in War - February 1944

Eniwetok Island, 2020. Navy Seabees
built the airstrip after the island was
secured in 1944.

The Battle of Eniwetok began on February 17, 1944, 76 years ago. Many battles were fought in 1944, but this one stands out for me because it was the first that my grandfather Tony was directly involved in.

Tony was then a 40-year-old First Sergeant in Company L, 3rd Battalion, 106th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army's 27th Infantry Division. He had been in the Army since the day he turned 18 in 1921, right after World War I. His regiment was a National Guard unit from Upstate New York, activated into Federal service in October 1940. After training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, the 106th Regiment took part in several Pacific actions, including Majuro and Eniwetok Atolls (February 1944, both in the Marshall Islands), Saipan (June-September 1944, Northern Mariana Islands), and Okinawa (March-September 1945, Ryukyu Islands).

Eniwetok Atoll is part of the Marshall Islands, nearly 3000 miles southwest of Hawaii. This atoll includes about 40 islands, only a few big enough for habitation, with a total land area of only 2.26 square miles. The islands are surrounded by a coral reef enclosing a large lagoon and was an important strategic spot in the Pacific, controlled from 1914-1944 by the Japanese. During World War II, U.S. forces steadily advanced west through the Pacific; island hopping with bitter fighting, slowly driving the Japanese back toward their home islands, with shocking, sickening loss of life on both sides. Eniwetok was another piece to the puzzle, and the U.S. needed to take this atoll. 

Eniwetok Atoll

The assault under the name Operation Catchpole, began in late January-early February 1944, when surface ships and planes shelled the islands in preparation for landing Marines and Army personnel. On February 17, the day the landings began, Tony was on board a ship in the Eniwetok Lagoon, waiting for his unit to be deployed to the beach. As they waited, Marines were already landing on islands in the northern part of the atoll, Canna, Camellia, and Engebi.

A few thousand yards to the south, on the ocean side of Eniwetok Island, a young Lt. Gerald Ford was aboard the light aircraft carrier Monterey. Ford would, of course, later become the 38th president of the U.S.

Tony's regiment, along with the 22nd Marines, waited for the order to board landing craft and assault the beach on the lagoon side of Eniwetok Island. The Japanese forces were dug in; Tony and the rest knew they would be under heavy fire.

Landing craft heading toward Yellow Beach. Tony would
be aboard one of the LVIs in the group on the upper left.

On February 19, a little after 9 am, Tony and his 3rd Battalion landed on the left (east) side of Yellow Beach 1 in the first attack wave. Defensive fire from the Japanese was heavy, as expected, but the group pressed on.

Their job was to extend a line across the narrow island (at that point, less than ½ mile wide) from the lagoon side to the ocean side and prevent any Japanese advance from the eastern end of the island, while other elements of the landing force attacked to the west. 

Eniwetok Island map showing unit assignments.

Later that night, as they held their positions in the dark with the battle still going on, one of Tony's men behind him began yelling that he had been shot. Tony told him to be quiet and use his first aid kit, only to hear the man say he had lost it. Tony told him he would throw his own kit to him, and he reached back to remove it from his gear. Someone saw the movement and fired, hitting Tony in the leg (he could not be sure if it was friendly fire or not).

"When you finish with it, throw it back," Tony told the man. "Now I'm hit."

His wound was not life-threatening, and he patched himself up as best he could, continuing the vigil of watching for advancing Japanese soldiers as the fighting lasted through the night. Tony stopped the bleeding and stabilized the wound, checking on the wounded soldier nearby. Sometime the next day, he was helped to the beach and evacuated to a ship in the lagoon. That was the end of the Battle of Eniwetok for Tony, as that small island was secured by February 21. The Marines landed the next day on nearby Parry Island, and by nightfall the entire atoll was under American control.

Tony spent a short time recovering in Hawaii, anxious to return to his unit as he reported in a letter to his sister back home in Utica, New York. A few months later, Tony was promoted to Master Sergeant; his new assignment was regimental sergeant-major for the 106th Regiment. In June, he and his unit would take part in the Battle of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. 

After being in the National Guard and Army for more than 20 years, Eniwetok in 1944 was Tony's first taste of what war was all about (it would not be the last). He emerged bloodied, but secure in the knowledge that his service and sacrifice were appreciated. 

Larry Manch is an author, teacher, guitar player, freelance writer, and columnist. His books include: 'Twisted Logic: 50 Edgy Flash Fiction Stories', 'The Toughest Hundred Dollars & Other Rock & Roll Stories', 'A Sports Junkie', 'The Avery Appointment', 'Between the Fuzzy Parts', 'Beyond the Fuzzy Parts,' 'Jonathan Stephens Is Just A Kid', 'Jonathan Stephens Is Moving', 'Suspended Logic', 'Descended From Royalty,' 'Covering the Astros,' 'Food Adventures,' and 'The Set List.' His books are available in paperback (some in e-book.)

He writes about sports for Season Tickets, food and travel on Miles & Meals, and music/guitars on The Backbeat.

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