Stories of Faith and Courage from World War II

phrases of World War II.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven… A time to tear and a time to mend, A time to be silent and a time to speak, A time to love and a time to hate, A time for war and a time for peace.

—Ecclesiastes 3:1, 78

^{World War II Navy recruiting poster. (National Archives)}

September THE CENTRAL PACIFIC CAMPAIGN

Adm. Isoruku Yamamoto, the architect of the Japanese triumph at Pearl Harbor, warned his superiors early in the war that if the conflict lasted more than a year he would not be able to guarantee success against the United States. In 1943, his worst nightmare was realized as America’s industrial might began to show itself in the Pacific. By that time, the U.S. 5^th Fleet was operating with six heavy Essex class aircraft carriers, thirteen smaller carriers, twelve battleships, and large numbers of cruisers, destroyers, and support ships. Commanding this armada was the hero of Midway, Vadm. Raymond Spruance. The spearhead of the fleet was its four Fast Carrier Task Groups, each with four aircraft carriers and an escort of supporting surface ships. The ground combat element was the V Amphibious Corps, commanded by Maj. Gen. Holland M. Smith, affectionately known as “Howlin’ Mad” by the Marines under him. Having anticipated the coming battles in the Pacific for more than a decade, the Marines were ready with the equipment and tactics for an island-hopping campaign against defended beaches.

After considerable debate between Army and Navy planners, the Joint Chiefs decided that priority in the Pacific would go to a Navy and Marine Corps drive directly at Japan, while MacArthur’s Army forces would continue their advance through New Guinea toward the Philippines. Step one of the Central Pacific campaign would be the coral atoll of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands.

The main objective at Tarawa was the tiny two-mile-long island of Betio, the only fortified position on the atoll and site of an airfield. On November 21, 1943, five thousand Marines of the 2^nd Marine Division made a difficult landing on the lagoon side of the island across a wide expanse of shallow reef. In three days of savage fighting more than one thousand Marines were killed attacking strongly fortified positions that had proven impervious to inaccurate naval and air bombardment. Bunkers with six-foot-thick roofs made of logs, sand, and corrugated iron had to be assaulted by individual squads with rifles, hand grenades, and satchel charges. Valuable lessons were learned at Tarawa that would benefit upcoming operations, including the necessity of longer and more accurate pre-assault fire support.

As U.S. forces captured the Marshall Islands in February 1944, the Japanese were forced to a new inner perimeter stretching from the Mariana Islands to the Palaus and western New Guinea. The garrisons east of this line were given the suicidal mission of sacrificing themselves to make the U.S. advance as slow and costly as possible. The assaults on Saipan and Peleliu were accordingly contested to almost the last man. D-Day on Saipan was June 15, 1944, nine days after the invasion of France. Marine and Army units sustained more than sixteen thousand casualties overcoming the thirty-two thousand defenders. The attack on Peleliu in September proved to be the costliest amphibious operation in history, with forty percent casualties.³⁵⁰

In conjunction with these land operations the Pacific Fleet fought a series of important naval engagements that further reduced Japanese military strength in the Pacific. In one two-day period U.S. carrier aircraft and submarines inflicted a crippling blow to Japanese naval air power, destroying three hundred aircraft and three carriers in the Philippine Sea. These operations in the Central Pacific in 1944 brought the war ever closer to mainland Japan. Air bases in the Marianas enabled long-range bombers to reach Tokyo, while new naval bases prepared the way for the long-awaited U.S. return to the Philippines.

September 1 War of Attrition

In a 2004 speech to 1^st Marine Division veterans, Secretary of the Navy Gordon England drew some interesting comparisons between the Marines’ foes in World War II and today’s conflict in the Middle East:

There is a parallel between 9/11 and the island and battle of Peleliu. By 1944, the Japanese recognized that they could not match American firepower and tactics in the air, on the sea, or in land warfare. Therefore, at Peleliu, they shifted their strategy from a war for victory to a war of attrition. Japanese commanders had orders to seek a ‘stalemate’ in which they would inflict the highest possible cost to Americans in blood and time…

What makes Peleliu so significant is that in the face of this new strategy and warfare, the 1^st Marine Division did not hesitate or lose its will. The Marines pressed on until the Japanese were defeated. Despite heavy losses, the Marines would not be deterred.³⁵¹

The secretary pointed out that he was four years old when America fought the first ‘ism’ of his lifetime: fascism. His granddaughter was four years old on September 11, 2001, when America went to war against terrorism. Once again Marines face foes seeking to spill as much blood as possible. This time the targets are civilians as well as soldiers.

In both these wars, Secretary England asserted that the decisive factor has been and continues to be the courage and sacrifice of American men and women in uniform: The raw courage and determination that prevailed in the caves and jungles of Peleliu continues today in Kandahar, Baghdad, Al Kut, Tikrit, Najaf… and other places where the 1^st Marine Division carries on. It’s still about our people… God bless each of you, God bless this magnificent Corps, and God Bless America.³⁵²

Our Armed Forces continue to serve us heroically today, and we continue to pray the same prayer expressed by Secretary England: “May God bless our men and women in uniform, and may God always bless America.”

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship.

—Romans 12:1

September 2 The Spiritual Campaign

The war was closing in on the Christian missionaries of the Dutch East Indies. Dr. Robert Jaffrey, the Head of Mission, knew that in the short run his work would be interrupted. However, like a great general, his vision for a greater campaign in the future inspired optimism. To one of his fellow missionaries he outlined his strategy for “conquests” ahead:

With a steady hand and the voice of one assured of victory, he traced upon the map our coming campaign: