My earliest recollection of D+2 finds Charlie Company on the plato atop the O1 line ridge, where we are in the process of attempting to dig foxholes. I have no recall how we got there from the foxholes we occupied the night before.

Here I am on my knees cutting through vines that covered the section of the ridge we were at for the purpose of having in ground cover should it be needed. Using my kabar with my right hand while holding 3 or 4 vines with my left hand and slashing through them. Why I hadn’t used my Machete I have no idea but using the kabar was working out quite well until I had a handful of dead brittle vines that the knife went through like it was melted butter. My right arm expected resistance, which wasn’t there and I stabbed myself in the lower left leg thigh muscle The cut was not deep but was bleeding some so I sought out the Corpsman, who gave me a few iodine vials to disinfect it.

When I got back to my fire group I was told that Merrill had been killed when he tried to take a look from a sheltering bush on the military crest of the ridge. Word of his death had already been reported and I was summoned to report to the CP. There, an officer I had never seen before told me I was temporarily in charge of the fire group and Merrill’s demo pack. I told him I was the BAR man already loaded with as much as I could carry and could not possibly take on another 20 or 40 pounds of demolitions. He said I was ordered to carry the demo pack or assign it to my assistant or rifleman. I told him Dan and Ray were carrying my extra ammo for the BAR plus their own gear and attempted to reason with him, that Merrill was the only one in our fire group that qualified to handle demolitions. (I had seen the demonstrations but had merely used composition C to cut off a tree – once) Merrill, because of his stature and demo training was qualified for that assignment while we were not and if we are overburdened with the demo pack we lose our effectiveness as BAR men. He concluded that he had given me an order and if I refused that order he would write me up for court martial. I responded that I was unable to do what he ordered and if he saw fit to court martial me to do so.

At that moment shouts announced to prepare to move out. I ran back to where my gear was and Dan Pedroza and Ray Ramon helped me get my gear. I did not pick up Merrill’s demo pack but did take his Colt 45 automatic.

At the command to move out, we crossed the military crest on the run and were met instantaneously by everything the Japanese defenders had in their arsenal to cut us down. Our tanks that were intended to break out with and lead the infantry attack were stopped cold. The lead tank was hit and disabled immediately as it emerged from a narrow gully south of our position blocking the following tanks that were unable to get around the lead tank to engage in the action. Meanwhile, as we ran down the easy grass covered sloping hillside from the ridge, artillery shells exploded in the air and on the ground, along with mortar rounds and grenades. We were caught in the cross fire of machine guns, and rifles from concealed positions and from spider holes. Bullets streaked through the air and whistled through the grass as we dashed, zigged and zagged, dropped to the ground, rolled fired our weapons at mostly unseen enemy positions, jumped up dashed and dropped numerous times.

Because a muzzle blast caught my sight, I saw something to shoot at, a Japanese mortar crew perhaps 200 yards ahead that was firing at us and I sent a few bursts in their direction knocking down a bicycle rider attempting to flee from that mortar position.

Larry Yates saved my life a few seconds later by pushing me out of the range of a Japanese bayoneted rifle emerging from a spider trap directly ahead of me that I had not spotted and fired his weapon, presumably killing the Japanese soldier.

All of a sudden I felt a sharp piercing pain on my right hip as I dropped and rolled, thinking I had been hit. But then I saw my ammo pouch was on fire. Attempting to drop my belt, I unbuckled it but forgot that my pack straps were over the ammo belt suspender straps and the belt would not fall free. In my haste I had gotten one arm free of the ammo belt strap and when I tried to get it back where it should be, I could not. This is when I heard the shouts to fall back. I yelled also for Dan and Ray to fall back but had not seen either of them since we had made our charge from the ridge. Zagging and firing wildly and my ammo belt dangling I made my way back to the safety of the ridge. When safely of the ridge the enemy barrage ceased. There on the ridge I discarded the magazines that had been destroyed by an enemy bullet.

This episode took longer to write than the total time we were on the hill.

We did not remain on the ridge but continued down the reverse side where the company was assembling and making a head count. I looked for Dan and Ray and could not find them among the survivors gathered at the western flat below the ridge line. It was then I realized that were missing and believed they were still on the battle field. About this time, it dawned on someone that our sector of the ridge was no longer being defended. Two riflemen and I were ordered to return to the ridge and set up an outpost on or near the ridge to make sure the enemy did not counterattack over the ridge and catch us unprepared to encounter them. The riflemen sent with me were not Marines that I knew. I picked a position beneath an overhanging bush from where I had a good view of the plato. We were each lying low watching the terrain, one rifleman on each side of me. We saw no movement or anything suspicious. There was no sign of any counter action but suddenly a machine gun, definitely a Japanese Nambu, opened up with a few bursts aimed at the bush we were beneath and immediately there were no more leaves on the bush. We had not been hit but the riflemen, who had been sent to this outpost with me, left me there and returned to the company area and did not return. I remained alone at the bush on the crest of the ridge for a considerable length of time. There was no incursion by the enemy unto the ridge during my watch. At least an hour passed before I was summoned to come down. During my time on outpost water and rations had been distributed and none had been set aside for me. Ray Parnitzke shared what he had with me

I never saw the officer who had ordered me to pick up Merrill Quick’s demo pack and threatened me with court martial. Many times since that day I’ve thought of what might have happened had I obeyed his command and been hampered with the extra burden during my time that I had been a sitting duck on that hill. I thanked God for having spared me that day. During the period of a half hour or less, I was the only remaining member of our fire group and it has haunted me to this day.

Footnote regarding Gas Masks: We did not have gas masks with during our assault from the ridge on 17 June. I remember having deposited mine on a large pile of them as we filed past. Our gas masks were at one location where they could be under someone’s custody and readily distributed if it became necessary. If this was on the 16th or 17th I am not certain. They were not needed on either Saipan or Tinian.

Details escape me as to how and when we resumed our assault Robert Higley and Ray Parnitzki became my assistant and rifleman