Peleliu

    The diving around this island was fantastic, but the tour of the WWII battlefields was the most memorable experience.  I walked along the beaches where the 1st Marine Division made their amphibious landing.  (The second dive that day was along the same shore, and I saw rusting amphibious vehicles, a .50 cal machine gun, and various other artifacts encrusted with coral.)  I strolled along the overgrown airfield, part of which is still in use today.  I saw Pope Hill, where Capt Pope earned the Medal of Honor when he and a handful of Marines defended this strategic hill against overwhelming Japanese forces.  This was particularly moving because I got to read the Medal of Honor citation to the tour group while standing at the base of the hill.  In the background a rainbow arched across the sky, as if in honor of the memory.  I got choked up as I read the citation and looked around me, imagining the scene as it was then.

     I walked up the hill to the ridgeline where many Marines died in their assault on the Japanese fortificatons.  I went into one of the Japanese caves where their bones were scattered about among the remains of cooking utensils, canteens, boots, and other items.  In an alcove next to the tunnel mouth was the rusting remains of their machine gun, still in position aiming down the hill.  In other areas around the island we came across destroyed American tracked vehicles, a small Japanese tank, and a downed Japanese fighter plane.

     Did you know that over 200 caves were bull-dozed closed by the Army when they came in to relieve the Marines?  Most of them are still covered, and nobody knows what is inside.  Perhaps, as on Guam, Japanese soldiers continued to live, thinking the war was still raging outside.  Even now, they might be eking out a miserable existence in some hidden recess of the bowels of Peleliu.

     Once I get my pictures scanned, I'll be able to share images of my experience with you.


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