Charan Kanoa Saipan Archives

18 July 1944

Dear folks:

Time out for another communiqué from Saipan and what I did and saw this morning should give me enough material for a good one but I don’t know how much you like to know about this stuff – I mean maybe you would rather not hear all the worse aspects. Dick came around this morning about ten in a jeep and asked me if I wanted to see some of the island and I said sure so we took off up through Charan Kanoa and on through Garapan to the north where the Japs held out the longest. Dick had been around there before and knew where to go. He wanted to find a Jap pistol and at the same time show me some dead Japs, and as we got near the area I didn’t know whether I was going to feel right or not. Finally we pulled across a young cane field and came to stop about fifty yards from the beach. I noticed the stench was terrific and the flies could be counted by the hundreds, and I felt a little hesitant at having to look around. After putting a shell in the chamber I got out and Dick and I walked into the underbrush and trees. We didn’t go far before we could see plenty of dead Japs. Many of them had committed suicide by putting a grenade on their stomach and some had taken off one shoe, putting the end of the barrel in their stomach and fired their rifle with their big toe. I saw several of these. They have odd and many ways of killing themselves and one group looked as though they had lined up laying down and let the man in back of him blow his brains out. We must have walked three or four hundred yards down the beach and the dead were scattered all through the area. Some civilians had refused to give up and stayed with the soldiers and there was many of them all ages, some in family groups. A number of the soldiers had bottles of sake and more of them had nothing but a stick with a spike on the end for a weapon. Some had attempted to crawl over the rocks on the edge of the water and swim away and in one place in an opening in the rocks there must have been a dozen. Dick found a very good looking officer’s sword in good condition. They are about the most prize souvenir to get and we felt darn lucky. Well about eleven thirty we started back down the wreckage littered road. I thought a lot of things about what the war all means and how come all these people and soldiers are dead, and will they do the same thing fifty or a hundred years from now, but that’s all of no avail. Garapan is a little smaller than Scottsbluff and the town was leveled. If you can imagine the Stockfleth Chevrolet Garage when it burned and then apply it to every building in town you can see what a mess it must be. It must have been a neat little town sitting below Mt. Tapochata but it is wreckage and debris from one end of the town to the other.

I still ate a pretty good dinner when I got back, and now it’s about time to take a good shower and get the smell off me. Also this morning I found a pack of Jap money – there must have been about seven or eight thousand yen in it. The exchange rate is twenty yen to a dollar. How can I sleep with so much money? Ol’ Dick’s quite a soldier and hale as ever. He doesn’t write much I guess but he’s okeh and wanting to get home as much as I do. Guess this is enough for this time – will give another communiqué on my experiences in a day or two.

Love,

18 July 1944

[Harold types]

Dear Folks:

Dick came down to see me today and I thought while we were laying around we just as well write you a letter – or try to. Right after we had dinner we walked along the beach road from Charan Kanoa to the end of the island looking for an army cemetery but couldn’t find it. While we were looking for the place, Dick showed me the places where his outfit landed and even where he dug his first foxhole. And we found a lot of Jap caves that were well concealed and topped over with a lot of dirt and leaves. They dig in like [illegible] caves are transforming the face of the [illegible] saw several thick walled concrete [illegible] from the point we had a good view of Tinian [illegible] over there must be thinking – if they can see what is going on [illegible] there is (a) sugar factory that stands out on the landscape. It took quite a beating from navy shells and girders and machinery are flung everywhere. From the factory runs a number of narrow gauge railroad lines. The army captured a few locomotives and now you can hear their high pitched whistle as the guys chug along using the cars to haul supplies, etc. The trains are small and look more like oversized toys. We haven’t had a look at Carapan yet and I have been itching to get up there and see what goes. The town is about ten thousand so there must be quite a lot to see. I haven’t seen a newspaper or magazine since I left Oahu and today Dick walked in with a Time magazine. I’m anxious to review it from cover to cover. I was asking Dick what I should write about and he said to mention that we will be sending home some souvenirs soon when the situation permits. I told you about the bayonet and the flag. In addition to those Dick got a wallet with quite a sum of Jap money in it, and many pictures of the officer’s family and what must be his wife. Also he got his insignia of a 2^nd lieutenant. He’ll probably have some more before it is all over. The weather here is about the same as on Oahu but right now is the season when the monsoons begin and the past few nights there have been heavy rainstorms. They say hurricanes strike near the island about once every two years and I hope this isn’t one of them. Today is pretty hot and sultry and the sand all around is hard on the eyes.

We were both wondering about Phil and whether he has come into the army yet. Every once in a while you see a crude handwritten sign over a foxhole saying Frisco 7752 miles, Tokyo 1521, and then we realize just how far away we are. Guam lies about 103 miles to the south and just to the north are the Bonims(?). It’s going to be a long boat ride home someday but we’re ready to accept it any time. And remind us never to take another ocean voyage when we get home. The food was pretty good on the boats but the chow lines are hard to buck, and the accommodations are hardly first class. Well I’m going to turn this over to Dick and let him add a few lines.

[Dick handwrites]

Today being Sunday I went to communion and then to see Harold. We’re taking it easy now after a little uneasiness. I’ll write some time later.

Love,

Dick

17 July 1944

Dear Folks:

I’m a long way from home but today seemed like old home week. We were taking a few minutes off with a pinochle game when somebody came striding in and said ‘Is there anyone from Nebraska in here?’ I was about ready to say your damn right when I recognized Jack Conklin. Ol’ big burly hairy-chested Jack stripped to the waist with a helmet and dark glasses on – I had to look close. He has been looking practically all over the island for me and when he did it was time for him to leave. We pumped each other’s arm for a minute then got the low down on each other. He couldn’t stay very long but we’ll be seeing each other again before long. Dick, myself, and Jack aren’t too far away from one another and probably in the next day or two we’ll celebrate by eating a can of Japanese crabmeat. It certainly is a treat to see someone like that. Jack looked good as hell and of course everyone over here is brown as a dirty penny. He said he hadn’t sent the pictures – hadn’t been able to develop them yet.

Tonight is a special night as it goes over here – its movie night – an old picture that I have seen before but I can always sit through it again. The mosquitoes will beat out those of Minatare any old day, but the GI lotion keeps them off pretty good. But then I suppose it will rain. Along with the nighttime pests is the land crab. Some of them are 7 or 8 inches across and when they get on the tin that we line our foxholes with or around boxes they scratch like hell and sometimes scare the wits out of you. They’re mean looking things. Little red ants run around too that leave a nasty sting that doesn’t go away right away. A few snipers are still afloat and only a night or two ago, a couple were killed around Charan Kanoa, and sometimes in the night you get to seeing things.

When Dick and I were out yesterday we noticed a bunch of Jap workers and thought how far behind the times they were. They don’t seem to have much labor-saving equipment and do about everything by hand. We saw a dozen of them pulling a tree stump when four of them could have picked it up and carried it off in a few minutes. On Maui the sugar cane production used a lot of cranes etc. but over here I guess it’s all by hand. They say that most of the working class are Japanese of the lower classes brought in from Southern Japan. Many of the Imperial Marines taken on the island were said to be pretty good sized but all I’ve seen are little short runts, bow-legged, and squint eyed. Several loads of Jap civilians go by every morning where they are put to work handling supplies or just cleaning up.

You should have a pretty good idea of the place from all I have written you – it has all been interesting and new to me and I thought perhaps you would be as interested as I was. I guess I better line up for chow – suppers are usually pretty good, but my appetite still could stand improvement. It is easy to get diarrhea or dysentery here and with so many flies you must be pretty careful. Well I’ll wind up for this time and hope I get some mail from you tomorrow.

Love,