Graduation/Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving week -  Two of our children Brian and Carrie with their families had thanksgiving at our home in Richfield.  They wanted to have us with them, so they sent this picture of Sister Thorne and I at the dinner table.  Her wedding picture and a nylon stocking image of me, that one of the teachers in North Sanpete - (Suzi Harless) - made for me about 25 years ago when I was superintendent there.  At least we were with them and our other children in North Dakota family in spirit.

Our children and Grandchildren - wanted us to join them for Thanksgiving in Richfield - so they improvised

It has been a very busy week.  Sunday November 20th was Seminary graduation.  It was very impressive with all the young men in long sleeve white shirts and the young ladies in white dresses.  Elder and Sister Ogborn were the guest speakers along with two seminary students and another student introduced the theme.  The students sang three songs which were very beautiful.

On Thursday we went to the airport to pick up Elder and Sister Ronnenkamp the area ITEP coordinators and President and Sister Shaw, the Marshall Island, Majuro Mission President.  We also saw our two teachers and their families off - Tongi and Taken - who are going to Fiji to get visas and then to BYU Hawaii for a year to finish their Bachelor Degrees.

We took the Ronnenkamps to lunch at a local restaurant.  Note how they spell Chinese (Chineese).  The food was good.  Elder Ronnenkamp was Superintendent from Granite District in Salt Lake.  So we have known them for many years.  It was fun to host them.

Also on Thursday we had Thanksgiving dinner for the young Elders and Sisters from Tarawa and surrounding islands.  We had turkey, ham, dressing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and all the trimmings.  It was the first time the Missionaries from Tarawa and other islands in the South Pacific had eaten Turkey and pumpkin pie.  They seemed to enjoy it, because there wasn't many left overs.

Missionaries eating Thanksgiving Dinner

Sister Missionaries enjoying Thanksgiving

Food prepared by Senior Couples

                                                        Posting the Kiribati Flag and the Moroni High Flag                 

Moroni High School Graduation: Friday was graduation, the Ronnenkamps were the guest speakers and did a nice job of challenging the graduates.  Two students spoke and did another student who introduced the graduation theme "The Light Within".  The graduation started on time and went like clock work.  Lita, the principal, is very well organized and had committees of teachers who planned everything very well.  They first posted the flag of Kiribati, followed by the school flag of Moroni High School.  The students sang several numbers.  I especially enjoyed "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing" and the "Light within"  All the songs were beautiful.

Sister Janis Ronnenkamp speaking at Graduation

Elder Ronnenkamp speaking 

As part of each Musical Selection students
sang solos and duets

Meauna, one of our FHE student getting a Form 7 Certificate                                                                 

Saturday evening was the Ward Christmas and Noah, one of our FHE students, graduated from high school and also was one of the graduates from seminary the week before. Toanimatang and Meaua also of our FHE group received the Form 7 certificates.  They graduated from institute this past Sunday.  Toaninmatang has submitted his mission papers and is waiting for his call.  He is from Christmas Island in Kirabati.  Meaua is from Betio and hopes to go to BYU
Hawaii.

Following graduation a large meal with a roasted pig (snout, tail and all was served along with many other local dishes including lobster tail, raw fish fried chieken, lots of rice, bread fruit and many other dishes.  The special guest ate in one location and the students and parents ate by the tennis courts.
                    

Decorated stage on tennis court with
fountain and lighting

Following the dinner, each student and their partner were introduced and the young man placed a lay on the neck of the young lady he was escorting.  After each Form 6 and 7 students were introduced a dance and program followed.  All the female teachers, church employees, and members from the area did a native dance.  There must have been at least 50 dancers and they were in sync with all their hand, feet and hip movements.  They were all dressed alike.  It was very impressive.

Decorated Pole at Center court with banners
going to all 4 corners holding balloons

                     
The program was in Kiribati so we didn't understand much until they started pointing at us again.  Elder and Sister Ronnenkamp were asked to lead a Conga line with Sister Thorne and I right behind.  Every one was supposed to imitate each move the Ronnenkamps made and they moved around the basketball court.                    

It was pretty evident that compared with the Kiribati dancers and students, the senior missionaries don't have a lot of dance moves at least we didn't. Several other dances followed with students dancing with their parents, with teachers, with each other.  It was a very fun evening for all involved and  dance continued  for several several hours.
                                                                                      Saturday evening was the Ward Christmas and  farewell party for the students.  Another large meal with roasted pig and all kinds of salads, fish, sausages, rice, bread fruit and other native dishes.  The dinner was supposed to start at 6:00 pm but started at 7:30 by the time they got all the food and students rounded up.

The dinner was followed by each Family Home Evening Group putting on a skit or two.  There were 12 different FHE groups with 8 to 10 students each that performed.  Our group did two numbers.  The first was a lip sync of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".  They really hammed it up and had the audience in 'stitches'.  Then they did the 'Hokey Pokey' in their pillow head costumes, which really had everyone laughing so hard they nearly fell off their chairs.      

About 50 Teachers, School and Church Employees dancing

The party finally ended just before midnight, it was lots of fun.  I think everyone really enjoyed each of the skits.  Our group did a great job, it was amazing how some of the ones that seem very shy.  Once they had a pillowcase over their head and were on    stage, they really "hammed" it up.                                                                       

The Ronnenkamps, Annie, Noah, and Thornes The

6 of our FHE Group having fun before dinner

two video clips are of our FHE visiting at the table and doing their Hokey Pokey dance.

Form 7 - Institute graduates                                             

                   
Sunday evening was Institute graduation, most of the students          were in Sister Thorne's two classes, so she especially enjoyed seeing each get a certificate and then she talked with several of them after the ceremony.  There are a couple of photos of the graduation below.  President and Sister Shaw were the guest speakers at Institute graduation.  It was a good way to top off the school year.

But the week is still not over, on Monday the senior couples prepared a full course thanksgiving meal to thank the Service Center employees for helping the missionaries and the school.  Many of them were not at work for various reasons, so Pres. Shaw invited the school administration, the cooks, and a few teachers that were in the area to share the meal with us. Sister Thorne prepared a large pot of potatoes, which didn't last very long.  Again many of them had never tasted turkey and they had no idea what stuffing or dressing was nor gravy.  But they seemed to really enjoy the meal, which was topped off with cake and ice cream.

On Tuesday was Zone Conference.  Pres. and Sister Shaw provided very inspirational messages in the morning.  A lot of good counsel was provided in the after noon session. He then used the ITEP office to interview each of the missionaries.  He said their were 1129 baptisms in the mission last year and should be nearly that many this year.  The work is picking up in the Marshall Islands.  When you consider there are around 60 missionaries, the work seems to be going very well.

Sister Shaw providing instruction 
at Zone Conference

Pres. Shaw challenging the missionaries
to "Be all they Can Be"

One of the highlights of Zone Conference is to hear the Missionaries sing their Mission Song.  Here to sang it for Elder and Sister Ronnenkamp prior to their departure that day back to New Zealand

Marshall Island Mission Song by Kiribati Sisters and Elders 

To finish the week off, Pres. and Sister Shaw took the senior couples to eat at Mary's, the food was not as good as it usually is.  Sister Thorne was unable to attend because she had scheduled a class with some returned missionaries to help them with the application to BYU Hawaii and to take the SLEP test.  I am going to take President and Sister Shaw to the airport early Thursday morning.

Thanksgiving Time

One of the many things for which we

are thankful are some very cute 

and creative grandkids

Grandkids are one of the most precious blessing in our lives

The video clip shows Anne and her sister Madison campaigning

 for a 6th Grade class officer in her school.  

By the Way she won her election.  Yea!!!

Ten very cute and Precocious - Grandchildren decorating Christmas Tree in 2010

The Thorne Family: Brian, Tracy, Drew, Luke & Jorja

The Foisy Family (Brian, Jalene, Elizabeth, Madison, Anne & Jenna

The Nowers Family:  Kevin, Carrie, Shannon, Jeff, & J.J.

Bye for Now!!!

Battle of Tarawa - November 20-23, 1943

Rusting Japanese gun along shore of Tarawa today

Submerged wreckage of landing craft by the sea wall in Betio


BATTLE OF TARAWA 

November 20, 2011 is the 68th anniversary of the Battle of Tarawa.  It was one of the most intense and bloodiest battles in the Pacific during the World War II.  Below is a monument in Betio near the sports complex honoring the fallen Marines and Sailors who fought in Tarawa.  The monument is located near the site of the Japanese airfield.  
This post is rather lengthy, but it was a very significant battle in winning the war in the Pacific, which eventually led to independence for many Pacific island nations.  Tarawa was a key airbase in the Pacific to capture before moving to the Marshall Islands and then other key locations prior to launching attacks on Japan. 

Monument honoring those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for freedom

Words of the Inscriptions on Monument are below

“Follow Me”

2nd Marine Division

United States Marine Corps

Battle of Tarawa

November 20, 1943

To our fellow Marines who gave their all!

The world is free because of you!

God rest your souls

1,113 killed     2,290 wounded

The Central Pacific spearhead

To world victory in World War II

“Semper Fidelis”

                                              To the People of Tarawa 

During World War II, many lives were lost in the Battle of Tarawa, which restored liberty to these islands under British administration at the time. Through the evolution of political development the Gilbert Islands gained its independence on 12 July 1979 from Britain and became the Democratic Republic of Kiribati. The political processes that took place on these islands, since the Battle of Tarawa, would have been difficult to achieve without the gallantry and the blood of these most remarkable men  of the United States Marines.    

Enjoy your independence and guard it well.”

*************************************************

Marker reverse, upper plaque (not shown):

United States Navy

Battle of Tarawa

November 20, 1943

In grateful memory to those men who paid for liberty 

with their lives Sailors, Airmen, Chaplains, Doctors 

and especially to the Navy Corpsmen 30 killed 59 wounded

To the crews of supporting United States ships carriers, battleships, 

cruisers and destroyers, submarines, transports and landing craft,

Well Done

We, your fellow Marines, salute you one and all!

God rest your souls


******************************************************

The information that follows is from eyewitnesstohistory.com/tarawa.htpp

Regarding Battle of Tarawa Memorial

In their advance across the Pacific in World War II, U.S. forces made their first major amphibious landing at the atoll of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, heavily defended by the Japanese. The invasion planners wanted for a flooding tide so the Marines could race ashore in small amphibious crafts and Higgins boats.  The planners were well aware that the date chosen for the invasion — November 20, 1943 — was a time of neap tides (tides of reduced range because the Moon was near first or last quarter). But calculations indicated the boats should still clear the surrounding coral reef at the appointed H-hour, 0830, and the boats would get in. 

Instead, as it turned out, the boats got stuck on the coral 600 yards from shore and the Marines were forced to wade in, rifles over their heads, under withering fire from Japanese shore batteries. According to Col. Joseph Alexander’s Utmost Savagery — The Three Days of Tarawa (Naval Institute Press, 1995), Tarawa’s mysterious “tide that failed” lacked scientific interpretation until Donald W. Olson published his seminal essay in Sky & Telescope magazine for November 1987, page 526. Olson showed that the neap tide on November 20th happened to coincide with an apogean tide (when the Moon was at the far point of its orbit around Earth).  The combined effect of the two factors was a tide of such minimal range as to fully explain the disaster.

Marines using a flame thrower during the Battle of Tarawa

The momentum of the assault was lost, and fierce fighting lasted three days. Four soldiers won the Medal of Honor. As the marker records, the Marines paid a high price for their eventual victory at Tarawa

The Battle of Tarawa, code named Operation Galvanic, was a battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II, largely fought from November 20 to November 23, 1943. It was the first American offensive in the critical central Pacific region.

It was also the first time in the war that the United States faced serious Japanese opposition to an amphibious landing. Previous landings met little or no initial resistance. The 4,500 Japanese defenders were well supplied and well prepared, and they fought almost to the last man, exacting a heavy toll on the United States Marine Corps. The US had suffered similar casualties in other campaigns, for example over the six months in the campaign for Guadalcanal, but in this case the losses were suffered within the space of 76 hours. Nearly 6,000 Japanese and Americans died on the tiny island in the fighting.

Map showing location of Tarawa

In order to set up forward air bases capable of supporting operations across the mid-Pacific, to the Philippines, and into Japan, the U.S. needed to take the Marianas Islands. The Marianas were heavily defended, and in order for attacks against them to succeed, land-based bombers would have to be used to weaken the defenses. 

The nearest islands capable of supporting such an effort were the Marshall Islands, northeast of Guadalcanal. Taking the Marshalls would provide the base needed to launch an offensive on the Marianas but the Marshalls were cut off from direct communications with Hawaii by a garrison on the small island of Betio, on the western side of Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. Thus, to eventually launch an invasion of the Marianas, the battles had to start far to the east, at Tarawa.

Following the completion of their campaign on Guadalcanal, the 2nd Marine Division had been withdrawn to New Zealand for rest and recuperation. Losses were replaced and the men given a chance to recover from the malaria and other illnesses that weakened them through the fighting in the Solomons. On July 20, 1943 the Joint Chiefs directed Admiral Nimitz to prepare plans for an offensive operation in the Gilbert Islands. August saw Admiral Spruance fly down to New Zealand to meet with the new commander of the 2nd Marine Division, General Julian Smith, and initiate the planning of the invasion.

Following the Makin Island raid of August 1942, the Japanese command was aware of the strategic significance of the Gilberts, and had been working intensely for a year to fortify the island.  These preparations were ongoing right up to the day of the invasion. To aide the garrison in the construction of the defenses, the 1,247 men of the 111th Pioneers, similar to the Seabees of the U.S. Navy, along with the 970 men of the Fourth Fleet's construction battalion were brought in. Approximately 1,200 of the men in these two groups were Korean forced laborers. The garrison itself was made up of forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy. 

The Special Naval Landing Force was the marine component of the IJN, and were known by US intelligence to be more highly trained, had better discipline, better small unit leadership and were more tenacious than comparable units of the Imperial Japanese Army. The 3rd Special Base Defense Force assigned to Tarawa was the former 6th Yokosuka Special Naval Landing Force, and had strength of 1,112 men. The 7th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force was also stationed at Tarawa, with strength of 1,497 men. It was commanded by Commander Takeo Sugai. This unit was bolstered by 14 Type 95 light tanks under the command of Ensign Ohtani.

Japanese Coastal Defense Gun (Still in Betio Park today)                                                                              

A series of fourteen coastal defense guns, including four large Vickers 8-inch guns purchased from the British during the Russo-Japanese War, were secured in concrete bunkers and located around the island to guard the open water and the approaches to the lagoon. It was thought these big guns would make it very difficult for a landing force to enter the lagoon and attack the island from the north side. The island had a total of 500 pillboxes or "stockades" built from logs and sand, many of which were reinforced with cement. Forty artillery pieces were scattered around the island in various reinforced firing pits. An airfield was cut into the bush straight down the center of the island. Trenches connected all points of the island, allowing troops to move where needed under cover. Kaigun Shōshō Keiji Shibazaki, who commanded the garrison, encouraged his troops in their defensive preparations, saying "it would take one million men one hundred years" to conquer Tarawa.

Located about 2,400 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor, Betio is the largest island in the Tarawa Atoll. The small, flat island lies at the southern most reach of the lagoon, and was home to the bulk of the Japanese defenders.

Aerial view of Tarawa 

Shaped roughly like a long, thin triangle, the tiny island is approximately two miles long. It is narrow, being only 800 yards wide at the widest point. A long pier was constructed from the north shore from which cargo ships could unload out past the shallows while at anchor in the protection of the lagoon. The northern coast of the island faces into the lagoon, while the southern and western sides face the deep waters of the open ocean. As a number of large coastal guns were mounted to protect the approaches into the lagoon, an attack on the island was anticipated to come from the open waters of the western or southern beaches.

The battle - - November 20

The American invasion force to the Gilberts was the largest yet assembled for a single operation in the Pacific, consisting of 17 aircraft carriers (6 CVs, 5 CVLs, and 6 CVEs), 12 battleships, 8 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers, 66 destroyers, and 36 transport ships. On board the transports were the 2nd Marine Division and a part of the army's 27th Infantry Division, for a total of about 35,000 troops.

Taking the dead and wounded
back to hospital ships

As the invasion flotilla hover to in the predawn hours, the islands four 8-inch guns opened fire on the task force. A gunnery duel soon developed as the main batteries on the Colorado and Maryland commenced a counter-battery fire. The counter-battery proved accurate, with several of the 16 inch shells finding their mark, one igniting a huge explosion as the ammunition storage for one of the guns went up in a massive fireball. Three of the four guns were knocked out in short order. Though all four guns fell silent, one continued intermittent, though inaccurate, fire through the second day. The damage to the big guns left the approach to the lagoon open. It was one of the few successes of the naval bombardment.

Following the gunnery duel and an air attack of the island at 0610, the naval bombardment of the island began in earnest and was sustained for the next three hours. Two mine sweepers with two destroyers to provide covering fire entered the lagoon in the pre-dawn hours and cleared the shallows of mines.  A guide light from one of the sweepers then guided the landing craft into the lagoon where they awaited the end of the bombardment. The plan was to land Marines on the north beaches, divided into three sections: Red Beach 1 to the far west of the island, Red Beach 2 in the center just west of the pier, and Red Beach 3 to the east of the pier. Green beach was a contingency landing beach on the western shoreline and was used for the D+1 landings. Black beaches 1 and 2 made up the southern shore of the island and were not used. The airstrip, running roughly east west, divided the island into north and south.

Tarawa burning after naval bombardment and airstrikes

Higgins boat with troops being towed preparing to land for battle

Barriers placed by Japanese to steer landing craft and tanks into traps

The Marines started their attack from the lagoon at 09:00, thirty minutes later than expected, but found the tide had still not risen enough to allow their shallow draft Higgins boats to clear the reef. Marine battle planners had allowed for Betio's neap tide and expected the normal rising tide to provide a water depth of 5 feet (1.5 m) over the reef, allowing larger landing craft, with drafts of at least four feet (1.2 m), to pass with room to spare. But that day and the next, in the words of some observers, “the ocean just sat there,” leaving a mean depth of three feet (0.9 m) over the reef. (The neap tide phenomenon occurs twice a month when the moon is near its first or last quarter, because the countering tug of the sun causes water levels to deviate less. But for two days the moon was at its farthest point from earth and exerted even less pull, leaving the waters relatively undisturbed.)

Green Beach (left side); Red Beach 1 (top left); Red Beach 2 (Top Center); Red Beach 3 (Top Right

At 0900 the supporting naval bombardment was lifted to allow the Marines to land.The reef proved a daunting obstacle. Only the tracked LVT "Alligators" were able to get across. The Higgins boats, at four feet draft, were unable to clear the reef.  With the pause in the naval bombardment those Japanese that survived the shelling dusted themselves off and manned their firing pits. Japanese troops from the southern beaches were shifted up to the northern beaches. As the LVTs made their way over the reef and in to the shallows the number of Japanese troops in the firing pits slowly began to increase, and the amount of combined arms fire the LVTs faced gradually intensified. 

The LVTs had a myriad of holes punched through their non-armored hulls, and many were knocked out of the battle. Those 'Alligators' that did make it in proved unable to clear the sea wall, leaving the men in the first assault waves pinned down against the log wall along the beach. A number of 'Alligators' went back out to the reef in an attempt to carry in the men who were stuck there, but most of these LVTs were too badly holed to remain sea worthy, leaving the marines stuck on the reef some 500 yards (460 m) off shore. These men slowly began making their way in to the beach, wading through a withering fire from the shore. Half of the LVTs were knocked out of action by the end of the first day.

Amphibious landing craft (LVT "Alligators")

Higgins Boat required 5 ft of water to clear the Reef

At 0900 the supporting naval bombardment was lifted to allow the Marines to land. The reef proved a daunting obstacle. Only the tracked LVT "Alligators" were able to get across. The Higgins boats, at four feet draft, were unable to clear the reef.  With the pause in the naval bombardment those Japanese that survived the shelling dusted themselves off and manned their firing pits. Japanese troops from the southern beaches were shifted up to the northern beaches. As the LVTs made their way over the reef and in to the shallows the number of Japanese troops in the firing pits slowly began to increase, and the amount of combined arms fire the LVTs faced gradually intensified. The LVTs had a myriad of holes punched through their non-armored hulls, and many were knocked out of the battle. Those 'Alligators' that did make it in proved unable to clear the sea wall, leaving the men in the first assault waves pinned down against the log wall along the beach. A number of 'Alligators' went back out to the reef in an attempt to carry in the men who were stuck there, but most of these LVTs were too badly holed to remain sea worthy, leaving the marines stuck on the reef some 500 yards (460 m) off shore. These men slowly began making their way in to the beach, wading through a withering fire from the shore. Half of the LVTs were knocked out of action by the end of the first day.

                                      View showing some of the US Navy ships preparing to attack Tarawa

Several early attempts to land tanks for close support and to get past the sea wall failed when the landing craft carrying them were hit on their run into the beach and either sank outright or had to withdraw while taking on water. Two Stuart tanks eventually landed on the east end of the beach but were knocked out of action fairly quickly. Three medium Sherman tanks were landed on the western end of the island and helped push the line in to about 300 yards (270 m) from shore. One became stuck in a tank trap and another was knocked out by a magnetic mine. The remaining tank took a shell hit to its barrel and had its 75 mm gun disabled. It was used as a portable machine gun pillbox for the rest of the day. A third platoon was able to land all four of its tanks on Red 3 around noon and operated them successfully for much of the day, but by days end only one tank was still operable.

Marines hunkered down on the beach

Dead and Wounded on Beach

By noon the Marines had successfully taken the beach as far as the first line of Japanese defenses. By 15:30 the line had moved inland in places but was still generally along the first line of defenses. The arrival of the tanks started the line moving on Red 3 and the end of Red 2 (the right flank, looking south towards the island), and by nightfall the line was about halfway across the island, only a short distance from the main runway. 

Reinforcements coming to Green beach

The communication lines on the island had been laid shallow and were destroyed in the naval bombardment, effectively cutting commander Keiji Shibazaki off from command. In mid-afternoon he and his staff abandoned the command post at the west end of the airfield to allow it to be used for wounded and prepared to move to the south side of the island. He had ordered two of his Type 95 light tanks to act as a protective cover for the move. A naval 5" high explosive round exploded in their midst outside the central concrete command post, resulting in the death of the commander and most of his staff. His loss complicated Japanese command issues.

Marines leaving shelter for attack inland

As night fell on the first day the Japanese defenders kept up a sporadic harassing fire, but did not launch an attack on the Marines clinging to their beachhead. With Rear Admiral Shibasaki killed and their communication lines torn up, each unit was essentially acting in isolation, and had been since the naval bombardment had commenced. The Marines brought a battery of 75 mm Pack Howitzers ashore, unpacked them and set them up for action for the next days fight, but the bulk of the second wave was unable to land. They spent the night floating out in the lagoon without food or water, trying to sleep in their Higgins' boats. A number of Japanese marines slipped away in the night, swimming out to the Niminoa, a wrecked steamship lying west of the main pier, and to a number of the wrecked LVTs in the lagoon. There they laid in wait for dawn when they would fire upon the US forces from behind. The long night dragged on, but without direction the Japanese were unable to coordinated for a counterattack against the toe hold the Marines held on the island. The feared counterattack never came. At the end of the day, of the 5,000 Marines put ashore, 1,500 were dead or wounded.

November 21

With the Marines holding a line on the island, the focus of the second day turned to dividing the Japanese forces in two, by expanding the bulge near the airfield until it reached the southern shore. Meanwhile the forces on Red 1 were instructed to secure Green beach, the entire western end of the island.  In the end, taking Green proved somewhat easier than expected. With heavy resistance all through the area, the commander decided to avoid direct combat and instead called in naval fire from offshore. Inching their way forward during the day, the artillery spotters were able to take out machine gun posts and remaining defenses. After the fire stopped, the troops were able to take the positions in about an hour with few losses.

Japanese firing on Marines from pillbox
Reinforced by Cocoanut logs, cement and sand 

Over 500 well fortified bunkers and pillboxes were well
camoflauged and heavily armed by the Japanese

Operations along Red 2 and Red 3 were considerably more difficult. During the night the defenders had set up several new machine gun posts between the closest approach of the forces from the two beaches, and fire from those machine gun nests cut off the American forces from each other for some time. By noon the U.S. forces had brought up their own heavy machine guns, and the Japanese posts were put out of action. By the early afternoon they had crossed the airstrip and had occupied abandoned defensive works on the south side. 

Around 12:30 a message arrived that some of the defenders were making their way across the sandbars from the extreme eastern end of the islet to Bairiki, the next islet over. Portions of the 6th Marine Regiment were then ordered to land on Bairiki to seal off the retreat path. They formed up, including tanks and pack artillery, and were able to start their landings at 16:55. They received machine gun fire, so aircraft were sent in to try to locate the guns and suppress them. The force landed with no further fire, and it was later found that only a single pillbox with 12 machine guns had been set up by the forces that had been assumed to be escaping. 

They had a small tank of gasoline in their pillbox, and when it was hit with fire from the aircraft the entire force was burned. Later, other units of the 6th were landed unopposed on Green Beach, north (near Red Beach 1).By the end of the day, the entire western end of the island was in U.S. control, as well as a fairly continuous line between Red 2 and Red 3 around the airfield aprons. A separate group had moved across the airfield and set up a perimeter on the southern side, up against Black 2. The groups were not in contact with each other, with a gap of over 500 yards (460 m) between the forces at Red 1/Green and Red 2, and the lines on the northern side inland from Red 2/Red 3 were not continuous. Nevertheless, it is at this point that the U.S. began to gain the advantage.

November 22

The third day of the battle consisted primarily of the consolidation of existing lines and the moving onshore of additional heavy equipment and tanks. During the morning the forces originally landed on Red 1 made some progress towards Red 2 but at some cost. Meanwhile the units of the 6th Marines landed on Green to the south of Red 1 formed up while the remaining battalion of the 6th landed.

The Battle occurred where the map is shaped like a Canary (bottom left) Several islands or atolls are joined together by causeways to form a J shaped curve approximately 30 miles long.  The battle took place in the bottom left of the J shape where the red and yellow arrows point.  The lighter blue is the bay next to Tarawara

By the afternoon the 1st Battalion 6th Marines was sufficiently organized and equipped to take the offensive. At 12:30 they started and were soon pursuing the Japanese forces across the southern coast of the island. By the late afternoon they had reached the eastern end of the airfield and formed a continuous line with the forces that had landed on Red 3 two days earlier. 

By the evening, U.S. forces clearly had the upper hand. The remaining Japanese forces were either pushed back into the tiny amount of land to the east of the airstrip, or operating in several isolated pockets near Red 1/Red 2 and near the eastern edge of the airstrip. 

Realizing this, the Japanese forces formed up for a counterattack, which started at about 19:30. Small units were sent in to infiltrate the U.S. lines in preparation for a full-scale assault but were beaten off by concentrated artillery fire, and the assault never took place. Another attempt was made at 23:00 and made some progress.

November 23

At 0400 the Japanese attacked Major Jones' 1st Battalion 6th Marines in force. Roughly 300 Japanese troops launched a banzai charge into the lines of A and B Companies. Receiving support from 1/10's 75mm pack howitzers and the destroyers USS Schroeder and USS Sigsbee, the Marines were able to beat back the attack but only after calling artillery to within 75 meters of their lines.  When the assault ended about an hour later there were 200 dead Japanese soldiers in the Marine front lines and another 125 beyond their lines. At 0700 navy fighters and dive-bombers started softening up the Japanese positions on the eastern tip of the island. After 30 minutes of air attack the pack howitzers of 1/10 opened up on the Japanese positions. Fifteen minutes later the navy kicked off the last part of the bombardment with a further 15 minutes of shelling. At 0800 3/6 under the command of Lt. Col. McLeod attacked, Jones' 1/6 having been pulled off the line after suffering 45 killed and 128 wounded in the previous night's fighting. Due to the narrowing nature of the island, I and L Companies of 3/6 formed the entire Marine front with K Company in reserve. The Marines advanced quickly against the few Japanese left alive on the eastern tip of Betio. They had two Sherman tanks (the Colorado and the China Gal), 5 light tanks in support and engineers in direct support. 

Aerial Photo of Tarawa Atoll

L COMPANIES and I advanced 350 yards before experiencing any serious resistance in the form of a number of connected bunkers on I Company's front. Lt. Col. McLeod ordered L Company to continue their advance, thereby bypassing the Japanese position. At this point L Company made up the entire front across the now 200 yard wide island, while I Company reduced the Japanese strong point with the support of the tank "Colorado" and attached demolition/flame thrower teams provided by the engineers. As the I Company Marines closed in the Japanese broke from cover and attempted to retreat down a narrow defile. Alerted to the attempted retreat, the commander of the Colorado fired in enfilade at the line of fleeing soldiers. The near total destruction of the Japanese soldiers' bodies made it impossible to know how many men were killed by this single shot but it was estimated that 50 to 75 men perished. While 3/6's L Company advanced down the eastern end of the island, Major Schoettel's 3/2 and Major Hay's 1/8 were cleaning out the Japanese pocket that still existed between beaches Red 1 and Red 2. This pocket had been resisting the advance of the Marines landing on Red 1 and Red 2 since D-day and they had not as of yet been able to move against it’ 1/8 advanced on the pocket from the east (Red 2) while 3/2 advanced from the west (Red 1). 

Major Hewitt Adams led an infantry platoon supported by two pack howitzers from the lagoon into the Japanese positions to complete the encirclement. By noon the pocket had been reduced. On the eastern end of the island 3/6's L Company continued to advance, bypassing pockets of resistance and leaving them to be cleared out by tanks, engineers and air support. By 1300 they had reached the eastern tip of Betio. 3/6 killed roughly 475 Japanese soldiers on the morning of D+3 while only losing 9 killed and 25 wounded. Back at the Red 1/Red 2 pockets there was no accurate count of Japanese dead. There were an estimated 1,000 Japanese alive and fighting on the night of D+2, 500 on the morning of D+3 and only 50-100 left when the island was declared secure at 1330

Aftermath

For the next several days the 2nd Battalion 6th Marines landed on Bairiki, moved up the remaining islands in the atoll to clean up, completing this on November 28. Portions of the 2nd Marine Division started leaving soon after and were completely withdrawn by early 1944.  

Tanks and Higgins boats moving inland

Of the 3,636 Japanese that made up the garrison, only one officer and sixteen enlisted men were willing to surrender. And of the 1,200 Korean laborers that had been brought to Tarawa to construct the defenses, only 129 survived. All told, 4,690 of the island's defenders were killed. 

The 2nd Marine Division suffered 894 killed in action, 48 officers and 846 enlisted men, with another 84 of the survivors later succumbing to their wounds, of whom 8 were officers and 76 were enlisted men. A further 2,188 (102 officers and 2,086 men) men were wounded in the battle. Of the roughly 12,000 2nd Marine Division marines on Tarawa, 3,166 officers and men became casualties.  Nearly all of these casualties were suffered in the 76 hours between H-hour+10 Minutes, 0910 20 November, and the island of Betio being declared secure at 1330 23 November.[16] 

Bodies of dead and wounded soldiers line the beach

The heavy casualties suffered at Tarawa sparked off public protest in the United States, where headline reports of the high losses could not be understood for such a small and seemingly unimportant island.  The public reaction was aggravated by the unguardedly frank comments of some of the Marine Corps command. General Holland M. Smith, commander of the V Amphibious Corps who had toured the beaches after the battle, likened the losses to Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg.Back in Washington newly appointed Marine Corps Commandant General Alexander Vandegrift, the widely respected and highly decorated veteran of Guadalcanal, reassured Congress, pointing out that "Tarawa was an assault from beginning to end." The New York Times ran an editorial in the 27 December 1943 issue praising the Marines for overcoming Tarawa's rugged defenses and fanatical garrison, and warned that future assaults in the Marshalls might well result in heavier losses. "We must steel ourselves now to pay that price."[4]

Japanese 'Zero' Plane hit by US air attack 

Writing after the war, General Holland Smith, who was highly critical of the Navy in his biography, commented: "Was Tarawa worth it? My answer is unqualified: No. From the very beginning the decision of the Joint Chiefs to seize Tarawa was a mistake and from their initial mistake grew the terrible drama of errors, errors of omission rather than commission, resulting in these needless casualties. 

Troops after the battle waiting to be evacuated - Photo also shows the devastation to the island

A number of commanders involved, including Admiral Chester Nimitz, Admiral Raymond Spruance, Lt General Julian Smith and Lt Colonel David Shoup disagreed with that assessment.  Said Nimitz:"The capture of Tarawa knocked down the front door to the Japanese defenses in the Central Pacific."Nimitz launched the Marshalls campaign only 10 weeks after the seizure of Tarawa. Aircraft flown from airfields at Betio and Apamama proved invaluable. Of greater significance to success in the Marshalls were the lessons learned from the battle itself.The losses at Tarawa resulted from a number of contributing factors, among which were the inability of a brief naval bombardment to weaken the defenses of a well entrenched enemy, the miscalculation of the low tide and the height of the obstructing coral reefs, the operational short comings of the landing craft available, and the difficulties of coordinating and communicating between the different forces involved.

Marine Helmets and Shell Casing mark the Grave sites of the Fallen Heros

It was the first time in the war that a United States - amphibious landing was opposed by well-entrenched, determined defenders. Previous landings, such as the landing at Guadalcanal, had been unexpected and met with little or no initial resistance. The 4,500 Japanese on Tarawa were well supplied and well prepared. They fought almost to the last man, exacting a heavy toll on the Marines who took the island. The US had suffered similar casualties in other campaigns, notably Guadalcanal over five months of fighting, but never such numbers in such a short period of time. At the time, Tarawa was the most heavily defended atoll invaded by Allied forces in the Pacific.

All told nearly 6,000 Japanese and Americans died on the tiny island in 76 hours of fighting.   

In the aftermath of the battle, American casualties lined the beach and floated in the surf. Over a hundred were never repatriated. Staff Sgt Norman T. Hatch and other Marine cameramen were present obtaining footage that would later be used in a documentary.[21] "With the Marines at Tarawa" contained scenes of American dead so disturbing that the decision of whether or not to release it to the public was deferred to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.The lessons learned at Tarawa would be applied to all subsequent amphibious assaults as the United States worked its way across the Central Pacific. Following the battle the 2nd Marine Division was shipped to Hawaii, leaving the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment behind to clear the battlefield of ordinance, provide security for the Seabees rebuilding the airstrip and aide in the burial detail. The 2nd Marine Division would remain in Hawaii for six months, refitting and training, until called upon for its next major amphibious landing, the Battle of Saipan in the Marianas in June of 1944.

Last week some 2,000 or 3,000 United States Marines, most of them now dead or wounded, gave the nation a name to stand beside those of Concord Bridge, the Bon Homme Richard, the Alamo, Little Big Horn, and Belleau Wood. The name was Tarawa.—Robert Sherrod, Time Magazine War Correspondent, 6 December 1943  

Memorial in Betio honoring those who died in the Battle of Taraw

The following is a three part video showing actual footage of the Battle of Tarawa

Part 1 Battle of Tarawa

Part II - Battle of Tarawa

Part III - Battle of Tarawa


Battle relics are still strewn along the 
beaches and harbors of Betio and surrounding areas

Submerged tank

Japanese cement bunker

Japanese Gun in Park honoring those who fought
in the Battle of Tarawa

Another Japanese gun rusting near the ocean shore line

Steel bunkers were reinforced with sand between walls and piled up all around

Abandoned (LVT) "alligators" landing craft 

)

Japanese shore gun lying on the shore at
Takoronga Point in Betio

Gun Barrow rusting on the shoreline

Former Marine standing by submerged tank at low tide

Twin barrows of Japanese Shore Battery

Quonset Huts built by American troops still in use 

Quonset hut rusting away