Off to War in the Pacific
It looked to the Marines standing on the decks of the transports as if the whole Pacific fleet were assembled at Pearl Harbor. Wherever they looked they could see the gray steel of carriers, battleships and cruisers, and strings of destroyers and smaller men-of-war, and watch the constant activity aboard them. Stretching back into the inner reaches of the harbor in groups of three or four were more transports carrying the 4th Marine Division and V Amphibious Corps units which had loaded at Maui. Gigs and landing craft scurried back and forth from ship to ship and between the ships and the fleet landing. Tankers, water tenders and barges loaded with stores were busy bringing ships to full supply.
Impressive as this was, every Marine had only one question: Would there be liberty? As their transports came into the harbor the men had been able to see the sands of Waikiki glistening white in the sun, the pink towers of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and the buildings and houses of Honolulu, and the urge to investigate Honolulu and Oahu was a strong one. They got their answer very soon–shore leave each day for 25% of all troops.
Honolulu was 8 miles from Pearl Harbor and its streets were full of soldiers, sailors and Marines. There were a hundred men to every girl and only a few fast-working Leathernecks were able to make a "conquest" against that kind of competition. Most of them simply joined the thousands of servicemen who wandered along King Street, Beretania, and Bishop and through Honolulu's "Coney Island." In Hotel Street they found tattoo shops, shooting galleries, hamburger stands, poolrooms, and "have-your-picture-taken-with-a-hula-girl" studios. And in curio shops they could buy Hawaiian craftwork, imported jade and other things from the Orient.
At the Army-Navy "Y" and the USO Club, near the Royal Palace grounds, Marines found writing facilities and game rooms, and food and soft drink bars. Famed Waikiki Beach drew many men but the short, narrow, coral-pocked strip hardly lived up to its descriptions in the travel folders. Having gotten as far as the beach, however, most of the men bathed in the surf and, with less success, tried their luck at surf-boarding. Back aboard ship, officers went to conferences, there to work out all the details of coming rehearsals.
On January 21, aboard LSTs, LSMs and three transport divisions, the 5th moved out of Pearl Harbor for a 60 mile run to Maui and Kahoolawe Island. In Maalaea Bay, off Maui, the Division spent the first day at debarkation drills. The next day the landing craft hit the beaches, the landing teams dashed ashore–and immediately re-embarked. All waves landed on the third day, carried out a day and a night maneuver ashore, and re-embarked again.
This practice assault was delivered against an area the same size and shape as Iwo Jima, and the physical conditions, on later comparison, proved to be remarkably similar. The heavy dust of the day matched the deep volcanic ash on Iwo, and as at Iwo, the night turned so cold that the men, unprepared for such a change were miserable. In the last day of the exercise the Division ran through debarkation drills for a simulated landing supported by naval gunfire and air strikes at tiny Kahoolawe Island.
Then the 5th moved back to Oahu for resupply and for a critique on their performance. Again, liberty was granted. This time 25% of the troops had regular liberty ashore each day and another 25% could go ashore in organized liberty parties to playing fields and beaches near Pearl Harbor and at Kaneohe Bay, where free beer and soft drinks and plenty of athletic equipment was available.
D-Day was 23 days away–23 days in which the Division would move 4,000 miles across the Pacific, stop to refuel and stage at Eniwetok and Saipan, and then make the dash into waters held by the Japanese. First to move out, on January 22, were 13 LSTs and 12 LSMs with the 13th Marines, 11th Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 5th Tank Battalion, and 5th Shore Party Regiment aboard, sailing from Kaneohe Bay. Five days later the rest of the 5th Division in Transport Squadron 16 moved into the Pacific from Pearl Harbor.
As the ships left Pearl Harbor, there was still only a handful of Division officers who knew exactly what the target was. During December, however, the Honolulu Advertiser had printed an arial photograph of bombs falling on Iwo Jima, and it had looked very much indeed like "Island X." The intelligence officers of the Division worried deeply when they saw it, but the men had learned the reasons for security and kept their thoughts to themselves. Few, if any, openly discussed the matter.
Impressive as this was, every Marine had only one question: Would there be liberty? As their transports came into the harbor the men had been able to see the sands of Waikiki glistening white in the sun, the pink towers of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and the buildings and houses of Honolulu, and the urge to investigate Honolulu and Oahu was a strong one. They got their answer very soon–shore leave each day for 25% of all troops.
Honolulu was 8 miles from Pearl Harbor and its streets were full of soldiers, sailors and Marines. There were a hundred men to every girl and only a few fast-working Leathernecks were able to make a "conquest" against that kind of competition. Most of them simply joined the thousands of servicemen who wandered along King Street, Beretania, and Bishop and through Honolulu's "Coney Island." In Hotel Street they found tattoo shops, shooting galleries, hamburger stands, poolrooms, and "have-your-picture-taken-with-a-hula-girl" studios. And in curio shops they could buy Hawaiian craftwork, imported jade and other things from the Orient.
At the Army-Navy "Y" and the USO Club, near the Royal Palace grounds, Marines found writing facilities and game rooms, and food and soft drink bars. Famed Waikiki Beach drew many men but the short, narrow, coral-pocked strip hardly lived up to its descriptions in the travel folders. Having gotten as far as the beach, however, most of the men bathed in the surf and, with less success, tried their luck at surf-boarding. Back aboard ship, officers went to conferences, there to work out all the details of coming rehearsals.
On January 21, aboard LSTs, LSMs and three transport divisions, the 5th moved out of Pearl Harbor for a 60 mile run to Maui and Kahoolawe Island. In Maalaea Bay, off Maui, the Division spent the first day at debarkation drills. The next day the landing craft hit the beaches, the landing teams dashed ashore–and immediately re-embarked. All waves landed on the third day, carried out a day and a night maneuver ashore, and re-embarked again.
This practice assault was delivered against an area the same size and shape as Iwo Jima, and the physical conditions, on later comparison, proved to be remarkably similar. The heavy dust of the day matched the deep volcanic ash on Iwo, and as at Iwo, the night turned so cold that the men, unprepared for such a change were miserable. In the last day of the exercise the Division ran through debarkation drills for a simulated landing supported by naval gunfire and air strikes at tiny Kahoolawe Island.
Then the 5th moved back to Oahu for resupply and for a critique on their performance. Again, liberty was granted. This time 25% of the troops had regular liberty ashore each day and another 25% could go ashore in organized liberty parties to playing fields and beaches near Pearl Harbor and at Kaneohe Bay, where free beer and soft drinks and plenty of athletic equipment was available.
D-Day was 23 days away–23 days in which the Division would move 4,000 miles across the Pacific, stop to refuel and stage at Eniwetok and Saipan, and then make the dash into waters held by the Japanese. First to move out, on January 22, were 13 LSTs and 12 LSMs with the 13th Marines, 11th Amphibian Tractor Battalion, 5th Tank Battalion, and 5th Shore Party Regiment aboard, sailing from Kaneohe Bay. Five days later the rest of the 5th Division in Transport Squadron 16 moved into the Pacific from Pearl Harbor.
As the ships left Pearl Harbor, there was still only a handful of Division officers who knew exactly what the target was. During December, however, the Honolulu Advertiser had printed an arial photograph of bombs falling on Iwo Jima, and it had looked very much indeed like "Island X." The intelligence officers of the Division worried deeply when they saw it, but the men had learned the reasons for security and kept their thoughts to themselves. Few, if any, openly discussed the matter.