Word: tarawa
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Neither Madrid nor Stalingrad nor Cassino had the elements of this fantastic fight for Intramuros . . ." And still another comes from Bob Sherrod, veteran of New Guinea and Attu, of Tarawa and Saipan, who landed with the Marines on Iwo Jima : "Shortly before we hit the beach three mortar shells dropped in the water beyond us, but the Higgins boat crunched on the shore and without even getting our feet wet we ran up the steep beach and started digging in. ... That first night can only be described as a nightmare in hell. The Japs rained heavy mortars and rockets...
...This target, like Tarawa, leaves very little except to take it by force of arms, character and courage...
...Corregidor, the renewed air blows at Tokyo, and the battering push toward the plain of Cologne (see WORLD BATTLEFRONTS). But Iwo held top place in the minds and hearts of Americans. Henceforth, Iwo would be a place name in U.S. history to rank with Valley Forge, Gettysburg and Tarawa. Few in this generation would ever forget Iwo's shifting black sands, or the mind's images of charging marines, or the sculptured picture of Old Glory rising atop Mount Suribachi...
Said Secretary Forrestal: "My feeling is best expressed in the words of Major General Julian Smith, who wrote to his wife after Tarawa, 'I can never again see a United States marine without experiencing a feeling of reverence...
...typical Jap blockhouse below Suribachi was more cunningly contrived than anything on Tarawa. Its outer walls were of reinforced concrete, 40 inches thick. The vent did not open toward the sea, but slantwise toward the upper beaches: the 120-mm. gun inside could fire on the beaches and some of our ships, but could not be hit except from a particular angle. There was no sign that it had been touched by anything but a flamethrower. Beside it lay the bodies of eight marines-the apparent cost of taking what was only one of several hundreds similar positions, nearly...