Saipan- June 15 1944

After Makin I went to the Marianas Islands and specifically to Saipan. The island was shaped strange with a large bay on one side. I landed on the opposite side of the bay and in the first day of fighting alone there were more than 3,500 casualties. For three days the 27th Infantry, my group, fought against stubborn resistance and moved slowly because often the Japanese would retreat and booby trap their outposts. Many Japanese then went and hid in the cave. The 27th was left on Saipan and told to finish the Japanese left off. Between July 9th and October 4th the 27th killed a total of 1972 Japanese hidden in caves.\

picture from http://www.rjgeib.com/heroes/tanimizu/tarawa-marine-invasion.html

An exerpt from James Fahey's "Pacific War Diary 1942-1945"

"May 20, 1944:

The Jap shells sent big sprays of water up into the air just in front of my mount and one of the 20 mm. gun mounts up forward on the bow was knocked out shrapnel, as it sprayed the ship with big chunks of red hot steel. Some of the wounded were carried to the crew's lounge, it is a battle dressing station. One Marine named Darling had a big piece of shrapnel go through his helmet part of his helmet part of his scalp was still in it. One fellow almost went insane with the pain, and he was going to jump over the side. Blood and hair was splattered over the deck. Some had to have transfusions. One of the fellows will not be able to have shrapnel removed until his wound is healed , then he will be operated on. They have to wait until the artery is healed. Another fellow's leg was a mess. Another received a notice today, saying that he would be transferred to the States, and he also got hit."