Peleliu 15Sept1944

Today is the sixtieth anniversary of the invasion of Peleliu by the First Marine Division.

Peleliu is an island in the Palau group of the Caroline Islands, 500 miles east of Mindanao in the Phillipines. It had the largest Japanese bomber strip in the western Pacific and its capture was considered essential to the upcoming invasion of the Phillipines.

Intelligence reports just prior to the scheduled invasion showed that Jap air power in the Phillipines had nearly ceased to exist and that the invasion of Peleliu may not have been necessary. Admiral Halsey wanted to call it off and bypass the island, but his superior, Admiral Nimitz wanted it to proceed, so it did.

General Rupertus, Commanding General of the First Marine Division, told the troops it would be all over in a matter of days. It took ten weeks. Ironically, it was called "Operation Stalemate."

The Japs operated out of over 500 caves, left over from mining operations and improved. They had artillery, mortars, and machine guns pre-registered and zeroed in on every inch of the island from commanding heights on the Umurbrogol, which came to be called Bloody Nose Ridge. They had tanks. They were dug in and waiting for the Marines.

The fighting raged cave-by-cave for five weeks. On 20 October the Marines had taken so many casualties that they were relieved by the 81st Infantry Division of the U.S.Army. The island was declared secure on 27 November.

There were 1,252 Marines and 277 soldiers killed. Another 5,274 Marines and 1,008 soldiers were wounded. Over ten thousand Jap soldiers were killed.

Over thirteen thousand men died in an operation that possibly didn't have to happen. It barely made the papers due to the news of the invasion of the Phillipines in October. Historians are still arguing about it and survivors are still bitter about it.

I wanted to write this as it may not make the papers now either.

I wonder if, in 60 years, we'll still be wondering if Bush's war in Iraq had to happen, and if the casualties there were worth it. I think we will have long ago decided they were not.