Ohio War Stories: Share Your Memories

In this video, James Griffith talks about his father, John Kelly Griffith, a marine who served in WWII in the Pacific. John, a terrified soldier who joined the services “to see China,” was baptized by a priest in Saipan, and then had to get confirmation from that priest after the war when he wanted to marry his future wife.

George Peto served in several major campaigns in the Pacific, and has written about them at length. He made special mention of the 81mm mortars, which provided the firepower and moral-shattering boost in several battles. George wrote about receiving a Navy Marine Corp Commendation Medal with Combat V for his efforts in Okinawa, which lasted from late March through June 1945.

He writes:

The 81 mm mortar is the heaviest piece of ordinance available to the Battalion’s Commander. With two guns to each section it takes fifty-eight men to man the guns and carry the ammunition. Once the guns have been zeroed in they can put out some serious firepower. In many a battle they turned a defeat into victory. Not only are they devastating to the enemy but they take the morale down a notch. Keep reading…

Ranking the fiercest battles in WWII is a pointless exercise, the type of thing civilians do just to start arguments in bars. Let’s just say that the Marines assault on Peleliu, a tiny island that held a strategic airstrip, was among the worst. George Peto was on the ‘canal in ‘41, and Okinawa in ‘45 with the 1st Marine Division, and survived five major campaigns. He wrote about Peleliu (an island made famous in the memoirs written by Eugene B. Sledge: “With the Old Breed: At Peleliu And Okinawa”).

2 divisions (1st Marine Division and the 81st Infantry Division), began attacking on September 15, 1944 against 11,000 Japanese. On November 25, 1944, the U.S. casualties equaled 2,336 killed and 8,450 wounded. Japanese causalities: 10,695 killed, 202 captured.

So what was it like? Here is a letter from George Peto on his experience at one of the bloodiest of many blood baths that was the Island campaign.

September 15th was the beginning of the worst days of my life. Nothing before or since has equaled the experience of my visit to Peleliu. We were high spirited, well trained and, in our minds, we were the best troops on the face of the earth. After fifty-three years to reflect on it, I am sure we were the best.
Peleliu was a natural fortress. Nowhere in my 32 months of island hopping through the south west pacific did I see anything that could equal it in natural defenses and by the time the enemy put their extra touches to it, it was a formidable obstacle. To this you add 13,000 well-trained and highly motivated Japanese warriors and all hell breaks loose, as the 9,600 marine riflemen found out… Keep reading…