Fourth Marine Division, Tinian, Saipan, Iwo Jima & West Loch of Pearl Harbor

A good friend of my wife works at a local hospital in the x-ray department and talked with a veteran today. She told him about me and he asked for her to give me his number. She did and I called him this evening.

He was a Marine, initially with HQ/2/25/4th Marine Div. He made landings at Saipan, Tinian, and lastly Iwo Jima, where he as a 81mm mortar crewman. He was on one of the LSTs tied up next to LST-353, which exploded during the course of unloading ammunition in the West Loch of Pearl Harbor on 21 May 1944.

We're going to make arrangements for me to visit him in his home; he says he has a lot of things to show me. He is in the hospital and thinks he may go home tomorrow.

He was one of six siblings in the war. All made it home.

 

Sounds exciting, Jeff. Keep us informed about what you discover about him and his memories. Pictures would be good, if he allows you to take them.

 

He was getting his haircut on the deck when the first explosions occurred. The barber was one of the men from his battalion and paused at first. Mr. Carroll asked him to finish the job. He said no and started moving toward the railing. With the second explosion , Mr. Carroll took off, too, jumped the railing and swam to shore.

 

I forgot to followup on this.

I went to visit this gentleman in his home in September. He was in rather poor health at the time. A friend of mine went with me and it turned out that the Marine had been a college professor and had taught my friend years ago.

He showed some mementos that he had, but it was mostly written works from long after the war had ended. We talked about his experience during the war and hinted several times that he wanted me to write a book about it. To be honest with you, I was concerned about his memory as he could not recall names of friends, squad leaders, company commanders, and the like. I was also concerned about his health. We stayed about an hour and the visit exhausted him.

I read his obituary about two weeks later.

Rest gently my friend.