Word: islanded
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Ship life was dull. The men of the and Marine Division fairly wilted in their crowded, hot quarters. They spent an hour each day cleaning rifles, sharpening bayonets, then another hour studying aerial photographs and contour maps of Betio, the little bird-shaped island that was the main fortification of Tarawa atoll. There was nothing else to do except see movies, read dog-eared magazines, play cards and sleep, which Marines can do at any time in any position on almost any given surface...
...mile ahead something was happening. The early waves were not hitting the beach as they should. A control boat sped up and its officer shouted : "You'll have to go in right away as soon as I can get a boat for you. The shell around the island is too shallow to take the Higgins boats." The news was chilling. It meant something dimly foreseen but hardly expected: the shallow coral reef around Betio would bar landing save by special small, steel-plated boats, of which there were all too few, or by wading...
...first night passed perilously. The Marines held three beachheads, the longest less than 100 yards from end to end, the deepest 70 yards inland. The Japs commanded the rest of the island. For every Marine who slept in a foxhole, two kept watch through the darkness...
...turning point came about 1 p.m. on the second day. Millions of bullets, hundreds of tons of explosive poured into the stubborn Japs. Strafing planes and dive-bombers raked the island. Light and medium tanks got ashore, rolled up to fire high explosive charges point-blank into the snipers' slots of enemy forts. Artillery got ashore, laid down a pattern over every yard of the Jap positions. Ceaseless naval gunfire became more accurate...
...bastards have got a lot of bullets left. I think we'll clean up tomorrow." The Colonel was right. On the third day the Japs began to fall apart. The Marines advanced inland at a mounting pace, overran Betio's valuable airfield, bottled the Japs in the island's tail...