Word: corale
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...seen everything in the line of Jap military suicides by the time the last charge of the Japs had been beaten off. But we hadn't. Here was something different. During mopping-up operations a detachment of marines on amphibious tractors saw seven Japanese off-shore on a coral reef and drove out to get them. As the amphtracks approached, six of the Japs knelt down on the reef. Then the seventh, apparently an officer, drew a sword and began methodically to hack at the necks of his men. Four heads had rolled into the sea before the marines...
...interned 10,000) were killing themselves. I headed for the northern tip of Saipan, a place called Marpi Point, where there is a long plateau on which the Japs had built a secondary airfield. At the edge of the plateau there is a sheer 200-ft. drop to jagged coral below; then the billowing sea. The morning I crossed the airfield and got to the edge of the cliff nine marines from a burial detail were working with ropes to pick up the bodies of two of our men, killed the previous day. I asked one of them about...
...there were hundreds of Jap civilians-men, women, and children-up here on this cliff. In the most routine way, they would jump off the cliff, or climb down and wade into the sea. I saw a father throw his three children off, and then jump down himself. Those coral pockets down there under the cliff are full of Jap suicides...
...push to Garapan gave Hays & Hepburn special problems. It was so hot that the fluid in their batteries boiled while charging. Their equipment was frequently choked by clouds of coral dust from the roads. But they managed to stay with the foot soldiers, pausing to explain the action, letting the microphone gather the battle noises: wounded groaning, Jap bullets pinging against metal, the sharp splat of mortar shells exploding, the high hum of planes, artillery in the background, and the cries of men giving battle directions...
...there was hard coral rock only six inches under the surface and the bulldozer driver finally gave it up. Then the TNT arrived. The sergeant was pretty mad by this time. He snatched it up savagely and said to the spectators: "A lot of muck is going to fly, so all of you people stand back. There's no telling how many bastards may pour...