The Pacific

by Hugh Ambrose

  "This incident shows the difference in honor between my country and yours," Shofner replied. He let that assertion sink in for a moment before he told them about Bataan, Bilibid, Cabanatuan, and Davao. The two diplomats became uncomfortable and eventually declared that they had known nothing of these places. When Shifty decided he had enlightened them sufficiently, he said, "Your thanks are not wanted. You are free to go."7

  As strange as protecting Japanese soldiers and civilians seemed, the other mission of the marines surpassed it. The protection they extended over the cities, rails, and ports denied these assets to the Chinese communists. The Chinese nationalist government, which had been at war with the communists for many years, was too weak to garrison these important locations with its own troops. The marines guarded as many key sites as they could. Since there weren't enough marines, though, the nationalists left units of Japanese forces in place. The U.S. stance angered the communists, who threatened war but could only afford to engage in the occasional skirmish. Austin Shofner's 1/1 was not only expected to protect the enemy, but to fight alongside them. The world the 1st Marine Division encountered in China had proven to be far stranger than they ever imagined.

  THE BRICK BUNGALOW WHERE KING'S MORTAR SECTION TOOK UP RESIDENCE HAD hot and cold running water, electric lights, sofas, and two sunporches. It reminded Eugene Sledge of a college campus, although it had served so long as quarters for servicemen it was, he thought, "haunted by the spirit of Rudyard Kipling."8 The warmth of the welcome from the Chinese he described as "a rosy dream and I just can't believe it. Four months ago I was sitting in a foxhole on Okinawa--last night I was sitting in the dining hall of the Wagon Light Hotel eating a five course dinner and listening to Strauss waltzes by a Russian pianist and a violinist. The [dinner] was free and given us by the Chinese government."

  The section of Peiping in which he lived boasted the ancient city's best restaurants and theaters. Every other day, he received liberty from two p.m. to ten p.m. A ride in a rickshaw cost him a nickel, so he set off to visit the Forbidden City, to drink his first glass of milk in nineteen months, and to make the most of this great opportunity to experience an ancient and beautiful culture. A lot of his comrades, in the meantime, "spend their time in one of the three cheap imitations of stateside beer joints and know nothing more of Peiping than I do of London." In the Forbidden City, Gene saw a solid gold statue of Buddha standing five feet tall, every inch of its generous girth covered in precious stones. He quickly learned to love Chinese cuisine, started to eat with chopsticks, and escaped "the mess hall with its dehydrated chow." He befriended the owner of one restaurant who spoke English and enjoyed teaching Gene about his culture and language.

  Some of the officers of the 3/5 attempted to bar enlisted men from a few choice restaurants. Sledge called them "the Semper Fidelis officers (hooray for me & to hell with you)" and was delighted when their effort failed.aq "Of course the days on the lines that we all lived together, ate with the same spoon, and used nicknames are now forgotten by the gentlemen and they are once again bathing in the glory the rifleman made on Peleliu and Okinawa." As he related it to his parents, "the Army may have officers like Ed, who did things themselves which brought decorations, but [in] this outfit--the men did the deeds and the officers got the credit." Gene may have been referring to Lieutenant George Loveday, "Shadow," who received the Bronze Star in late October for his actions on June 1 on Okinawa. 9 Shadow rotated home soon thereafter. In a book about his experiences, E. B. Sledge later recounted a series of problems with the new officers and NCOs who arrived to replace the vets. He resented taking orders from men who had not served in combat.10

  Gene's duties inside the city were light and he never failed to note something of interest, like the locals' attempts to entice marines with signs that read, "Please come upstairs and drink and cakes." He went into the shops, looking for special presents for his family. "As the nips carried most of the real silk articles to Nippon with them finer things are pretty scarce." He also became friends with a Chinese family and spent much of his free time enjoying their company. The Soong family "opened their hearts to me" and their friendship deepened his respect for the Chinese people. Their friendship helped him start to heal the wounds in his heart.11 As winter came on, he found he could distinguish between someone speaking in Chinese and Japanese. The former had a delightful singsong quality, the latter "is snappy & sounds like chattering with the mouth barely open." The Japanese still living in Peiping, however, tried to stay quiet and off the streets. When the former enemy saw Sledge, they saluted him, regardless of their rank. Whenever Sledge saw "a Nip on the streets," he watched "the Chinese point to them and make a motion of throat cutting."

  In late October, Eugene pulled duty in an area between Peiping and Tientsin where the communists were active. Not only was the duty cold and uncomfortable, it was dangerous. On at least one occasion, shots were fired. Although he did not write home about the incident, his letters changed dramatically. The fond wishes of a quick return to Mobile so he could go hunting with his father and horseback riding and so forth gave way to a pointed criticism of U.S. foreign policy.

  "In my opinion, the statement that we are staying here till all Japanese have returned home is a farce. As long as we remain here the Communists are afraid to enter Peiping & as the National government is too weak to stop them we are here. There is no reason in the world for us being involved in a Chinese civil war, and every U.S. Marine in this area resents being here and having their lives in danger." The marines had also noticed that the average Chinese civilian found the communist government more appealing than the nationalist.12 U.S. military officers had explained that a lack of shipping had slowed the process of rotating men stateside. Gene had no patience for such rhetoric. "About 10 days ago 21 American transports took about 20,000 japs home." These shipments had been going on for months. The navy had also aided the nationalist government by ferrying their forces from one area to another. When he missed his brother Edward's wedding, Eugene's patience at this "outrage" ran out. In letter after letter, he began to press his mother to join with other "Marine Mothers" and "put up a squawk to get us point men home." Eugene now had more points toward rotation than anyone in King Company. "If anyone asks you why I'm still in China," he advised his parents, "say I'm looking out for the future of American big business in China."

  IN LATE 1945 AUSTIN SHOFNER RECEIVED A LETTER FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. IT had been sent to all Americans who were repatriated prisoners of war.ar The president of the United States wanted "to welcome you back to your native shores and to express, on behalf of the people of the United States, the joy we feel at your deliverance from the hands of the enemy. It is a source of profound satisfaction that our efforts to accomplish your return have been successful." This letter reached Shofner not at home in Shelbyville, Tennessee, but in Tientsin, China. It indicated that someone other than Lieutenant Colonel Shofner had liberated him. The person credited in the U.S. media for liberating the POWs was General Douglas MacArthur.

  Austin Shofner may have wondered when MacArthur was going to put Emperor Hirohito, Japan's absolute ruler, on trial. Shifty "longed to see the Emperor of Japan hang for the atrocities he allowed his troops to visit on their POWs and their occupied nations." Many Americans felt as he did. The first trials of war criminals, begun in December in Tokyo, had not included Hirohito. General MacArthur had decided the emperor was "a complete Charlie McCarthy."+ MacArthur quietly began to convince Washington that Hirohito should not stand trial for war crimes. He also remade Japan.13

  "From the moment of my appointment as supreme commander," General Douglas MacArthur later wrote, "I had formulated the policies I intended to follow, implementing them through the Emperor and the machinery of the Imperial Government . . . the reforms I contemplated were those which would bring Japan abreast of modern progressive thought and action. First destroy the military power. Punish war criminals. Build the structure of representative government. Modernize the consti
tution. Hold free elections. Enfranchise the women. Release the political prisoners. Liberate the farmers. Establish a free labor movement. Encourage a free economy. Abolish police oppression. Develop a free and responsible press. Liberalize +Charlie McCarthy was a wooden puppet. The ventriloquist who operated him had a world-famous comedy routine at this time. education. Decentralize political power. Separate church from state."14 The unprecedented changes MacArthur wrought went beyond what he had been authorized to do. At its core, though, his program represented the will of his people: revenge cost more than humanity could pay.

  SIDNEY PHILLIPS'S SEMESTER ENDED IN LATE DECEMBER 1945. THE V-12PROGRAM had been canceled. He returned to Mobile with two years of college credits and the opportunity to finish his degree because passage of the GI Bill meant that Uncle Sam would pick up the tab. Feeling a little flush, he "spent every penny I had to buy Mary a watch, and she pouted, and said she wanted a ring." After Christmas, he took a quick trip back to North Carolina for December 31, when his enlistment expired. Sid Phillips received an Honorable Discharge from the United States Marine Corps for four years of faithful service.

  THE END OF 1945 FOUND MIKE MICHEEL SERVING AT NAS MIAMI. THE NAVY, like all of the service branches, had begun to scale back its manpower dramatically to fit a postwar world. It knew the ones to keep, though, and had promoted Micheel to lieutenant commander. He settled into a routine as the head of the ground school. His CO described him as "aggressive in a friendly fashion that encourages friendship with his associates and facilitates working with others." Early in 1946 he got a phone call from his girlfriend, Jean Miller. She had been in a car accident. With plenty of rest, she would make a full recovery. Her doctor had suggested she escape the icy winter in Philadelphia and go someplace warm to recuperate. She thought Miami would be just the place and asked him if he thought that was a good idea. "Oh, sure," he said. Jean came down to Miami and stayed at a hotel on the beach.

  THE 5TH MARINE DIVISION RETURNED TO CAMP PENDLETON IN DECEMBER 1945 and was disbanded. Lena Basilone was still stationed there, so she would have heard from the marines of her late husband's unit that the navy had known prior to the invasion of Iwo Jima that the seventy-two days of bombing by the B-24s had produced "negligible results" and that the number of hardened enemy positions had continued to increase in the months leading up to D-day.15 The navy had still cut the length of the preinvasion bombardment. There were angry men in the 5th Division. Of the fifty-seven men in her late husband's machine-gun section, twenty- nine had been wounded and thirteen had been killed. The fate of the five smiling men in her wedding party could hardly have been worse. Johnny had been buried near his friends Edward Johnston and Jack Wheeler. Rinaldo Martini and Clinton Watters had both been seriously wounded. Clinton's leg healed fine. Rinaldo lost an arm on Iwo Jima.

  The duty her Johnny had once fled now fell to her. At the invitation of the secretary of the navy, she traveled to Beaumont, Texas, on December 21. She christened a new destroyer, USS Basilone, and gave an interview on the radio.16

  THE FLOOD OF REPLACEMENT MARINES ARRIVING IN CHINA REACHED ELEVEN thousand by mid-January 1946, enabling the remaining "60 point men," like Eugene Sledge, to ship out at the same time as the "50 point men." It took three weeks to cross the Pacific. His discharge at Camp Lejeune in mid-February caught him in the midst of an automatic promotion to corporal. He did not care. The USMC checked his belongings to ensure he had the clothing and uniforms to which he was entitled, but nothing more. He had to turn in his cartridge belt, canteen, haversack, fork, knife, spoon, knapsack, and "1 can meat with cover." Gene had served for one year, eleven months, and three days. The corps paid him the amount remaining in his account, added an extra $100 for mustering out, and handed him an Honorable Service Lapel Button. Asked for his future plans, Eugene said he planned to go to college, but remained undecided as to job preference. The course of study that most interested him was history.

  ON FEBRUARY 5, 1946, LIEUTENANT COLONEL AUSTIN SHOFNER FLEW HOME FROM China by way of India. As a senior officer, he was allowed to bring home one hundred pounds of baggage free of charge. The baggage allowance and the earlier reimbursement for his personal items had not settled the score, according to Shifty, however, and one of his first orders of business was to submit another claim for the items he had had to abandon on the dock on Olongapo in December 1941. He figured the USMC owed him another $600. The corps reviewed the paperwork, disallowed the ivory statues of Chinese women, and eventually paid Shifty another $410.

  Home on leave before departing for his next duty station, Shifty went to Chattanooga to visit his alma mater, the University of Tennessee.17 He had to go see his old football coach, Bob Neyland. Neyland had returned to coach the Volunteers after serving as a brigadier general in the army during the war. Shofner had been a starter on the team in 1936 and 1937, during some disappointing seasons.18 They sat together in the coach's office with some of the current players and Shofner told him about his long war. Any expressions of disgust at MacArthur would not have found a receptive ear with the coach, who had served under MacArthur years earlier as an assistant football coach at West Point. General MacArthur, though, did not define the story of Shifty Shofner, who had gone from one end of the war to the other. Neyland wondered how he had survived all of it. "General," Shifty said, "I just did like you said we should do." Neyland looked astonished at this. Shifty continued. "You always told us to make our breaks on the field and when we forced a break, to score . . . your words kept me alive."

  MARY HOUSTON WANTED TO GET MARRIED ON HER TWENTY- FIRST BIRTHDAY, April 15, 1946. Sidney Phillips said, "Yes, dear." On the appointed day the Trinity Episcopal Chapel in Mobile was bedecked with Easter lilies. Mary wore "a bolero suit of periwinkle blue."19 Sid asked Eugene Sledge to be his best man. The ceremony began at five p.m."Thank goodness the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor," Sidney thought. "It kept the boys away from Mary until I could grow up." Sid went on to medical school and became an MD in 1952. As a general practitioner, he spent a career serving a small community outside the city of Mobile until he retired in 1991. Mary and he had three children. He lost Mary in 2000, four days before their fifty-fourth wedding anniversary. "I will be OK and get over her death in about 25 more years." These days he works outside, tending his property. On Fridays he meets with the "lunch bunch," all of them veterans, "and we tell lies." Listening to him recount his tales, one could easily assume that his service in the war was a lark. He has always believed "the Marine Corps had been really good to me."

  IN THE SPRING OF 1946, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER VERNON MICHEEL TRAVELED home to Iowa. He went to see his uncle, who ran the family's dairy operation, and asked, "What happens if I come back? Can I implement some of my ideas?"

  "Not unless you got more money in it than me," said his uncle. That was not encouraging. Mike had also sounded out Jean about returning to Iowa. She had "decided Mike and I would be pen pals if he moved there." Mike returned to Miami and eventually applied for a transfer out of the naval reserves and into the regular navy, which was approved. Vernon Micheel and Jean Miller married in August 1946 in her hometown, Philadelphia. He served his country for another thirty-one years, rising to the rank of captain and in a variety of capacities, including as the commander of air wings of jet fighters. Over the years, he received more medals for his service in World War II, including four Air Medals, a Distinguished Flying Cross for his leadership in the attack on Manila Bay, and a Gold Star in lieu of a second DFC for landing his SB2C aboard Hornet with a big hole in her wing from an AA gunner on Peleliu. All of the men with whom he served aboard USS Enterprise and USS Hornet--black shoe and brown shoe--received the Presidential Unit Citations. Unknown to Mike, his old skipper, Ray Davis, had recommended him for a second Navy Cross for his service on Guadalcanal. "With utter disregard for his own safety," Ray wrote, "he carried out all assigned missions unflinchingly." The dairyman from Iowa has had a distinguished career in the United States Navy.

  For more than sixty years,
Jean Miller has watched her husband get quiet whenever the talk came to the war. "He could not say 'I did this,' or 'we did that.' He would just sit and listen to others." Still, his job has required him to put on his dress uniform on certain occasions and it comes with a lot of ribbons. Captain Micheel's ribbons tend to elicit questions from men who knew their significance. Whenever navy pilots hear a little of his background, they have to ask, You flew at Midway? Yes, he replies. Follow-up questions, Jean knows, "get a yes or no." Avid students of the Battle of Midway press further, knowing that several bomb hits from Scouting Six's first sortie on June 4 remain unattributed. His friend Hal Buell calls Mike's refusal to say that his bomb hit the Japanese carrier Kaga modesty. Mike calls it fair.

  AUSTIN SHOFNER FOUND HIS FUTURE SOMEWHAT IN DOUBT IN THE IMMEDIATE postwar years because of the uncertainty over the future of his beloved Marine Corps. While he served at the marine base in Quantico, Virginia, the United States Congress debated the idea of the "unification" of the armed services. In general, the army supported the idea of creating a single Defense Department, while the navy opposed it. General Archer Vandegrift, the commandant, believed the bill would result in the marines' "subjugation to the status of uselessness and servility." The great hero of the Battle of Guadalcanal told Congress, " The bended knee is not a tradition of our Corps."20 He preferred to have it disbanded than to see it subsumed.

  Vandegrift won his key point in July 1947, when President Truman signed the National Security Act, which established the Marine Corps' special amphibious function. Only two divisions of the six that fought the war survived. The 1st Marine Division, the last marine division to return from overseas duty, returned in 1947 and made its home at Camp Pendleton.