Peleliu

This is in regard to the Sept. 19 commentary by Del Stelck about the island landing on Peleliu. I was on an LCI (M), a mortar boat, supporting Marines in occupying the island. For two weeks we dropped thousands of rounds of mortars on the island and then without notice, broke off all fighting and went to a rear base to refuel, and resupply our mortars and ammo. After we had made the Leyte landing, Marines were still fighting on Peleliu and most of us knew someone had made a mistake.

Retired Marine Brig. Gen. Gordon Gayle, who received the Navy Cross for leadership and bravery during the assault on Peleliu, one of the bloodiest and most complex and controversial battles fought by Marines during World War II, has died. He was 95. Gayle died April 21 at an assisted-living facility in Farnham, Va., after suffering a stroke, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. As an officer with the 1st Marine Division, Gayle led troops in five key battles in World War II, starting with Guadalcanal in 1942, where Marines, after weeks of fierce jungle fighting, stopped the advance of Japanese troops toward Australia.

It was inevitable after the popular and critical success of their 2001 World War II miniseries "Band of Brothers," which told the story of the drive to conquer Hitler and Mussolini, that executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg would return to finish the job. "The Pacific," which tells the story of the war against Japan, is here -- it begins Sunday on HBO -- and is its forerunner's equal in emotive strength, weird poetry and technical bravura;...

Blake Parker's eyes filled with tears Saturday as he watched his father, Navy munitions specialist Jason Parker, sail away on yet another deployment into the unknown. "Daddy, daddy," the 4-year-old sobbed as his grandmother Jackie Parker, a high school English teacher from Yuma, Ariz., scooped him into her arms. She held the boy and continued to wave an American flag as the amphibious assault ship Peleliu pulled away from the 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego.

Three members of the crew of a Navy helicopter were missing late Sunday after it crashed into the Pacific Ocean while on military exercises, authorities said. Three others were rescued. The accident occurred shortly after 11 a.m. about 18 miles southwest of Camp Pendleton as the UH-1N Huey radioed that it was going down, Marine Capt. Chris Gillette said. The helicopter was en route from San Diego to its home ship, the Long Beach-based amphibious assault ship Peleliu, and was about 3 miles from the ship when it encountered trouble.

Blake Parker's eyes filled with tears Saturday as he watched his father, Navy munitions specialist Jason Parker, sail away on yet another deployment into the unknown. "Daddy, daddy," the 4-year-old sobbed as his grandmother Jackie Parker, a high school English teacher from Yuma, Ariz., scooped him into her arms. She held the boy and continued to wave an American flag as the amphibious assault ship Peleliu pulled away from the 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego.

To prepare for the filming of HBO's epic, $200-million World War II miniseries "The Pacific," screenwriter Bruce C. McKenna accompanied a locations crew to a tiny coral island near Guam known as Peleliu. A ridge there is laced with hundreds of caves -- undisturbed for more than half a century -- where Japanese troops hid out from U.S. Marines during one of the war's deadliest conflicts. "There are still skeletons in the caves, and we saw them," McKenna remembers with amazement. "At the first cave we found, we walked in and there was the rib cage of a dead Japanese soldier.

Retired Marine Brig. Gen. Gordon Gayle, who received the Navy Cross for leadership and bravery during the assault on Peleliu, one of the bloodiest and most complex and controversial battles fought by Marines during World War II, has died. He was 95. Gayle died April 21 at an assisted-living facility in Farnham, Va., after suffering a stroke, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. As an officer with the 1st Marine Division, Gayle led troops in five key battles in World War II, starting with Guadalcanal in 1942, where Marines, after weeks of fierce jungle fighting, stopped the advance of Japanese troops toward Australia.

Fifty years ago this month, the 1st Marine Division assaulted Peleliu, a tiny Pacific island. Marines were supposed to overrun the 2-by-6-mile fortress in four days, mop up in a week. Instead, Japanese troops were still fighting years later. For Col. Lewis (Chesty) Puller's 1st Marines, Peleliu became the costliest battle of the Pacific War: Seven out of 10 were killed or wounded in eight days. Few Americans knew then or have ever heard of Peleliu (pronounced PEH-leh-loo).

Bill Geary, 88, a cattle rancher from Montana, paused Saturday to look at pictures and maps detailing the carnage of the World War II battle on the island of Peleliu. Geary, who fought there as a Marine, was succinct in his assessment. "It was a nasty place," he said as he walked a passageway dubbed the Hall of Heroes aboard the amphibious assault ship named for the battle. What was nasty about it? Geary was asked. "Everything," he said, "absolutely everything." It was a morning of remembrances for Geary and 10 other Marine veterans honored in San Diego as members of the 12th Defense Battalion, a unit of the 1st Marine Division, the division that led the U.S. assault on the Japanese garrison.

It was inevitable after the popular and critical success of their 2001 World War II miniseries "Band of Brothers," which told the story of the drive to conquer Hitler and Mussolini, that executive producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg would return to finish the job. "The Pacific," which tells the story of the war against Japan, is here -- it begins Sunday on HBO -- and is its forerunner's equal in emotive strength, weird poetry and technical bravura;...

To prepare for the filming of HBO's epic, $200-million World War II miniseries "The Pacific," screenwriter Bruce C. McKenna accompanied a locations crew to a tiny coral island near Guam known as Peleliu. A ridge there is laced with hundreds of caves -- undisturbed for more than half a century -- where Japanese troops hid out from U.S. Marines during one of the war's deadliest conflicts. "There are still skeletons in the caves, and we saw them," McKenna remembers with amazement. "At the first cave we found, we walked in and there was the rib cage of a dead Japanese soldier.

Bill Geary, 88, a cattle rancher from Montana, paused Saturday to look at pictures and maps detailing the carnage of the World War II battle on the island of Peleliu. Geary, who fought there as a Marine, was succinct in his assessment. "It was a nasty place," he said as he walked a passageway dubbed the Hall of Heroes aboard the amphibious assault ship named for the battle. What was nasty about it? Geary was asked. "Everything," he said, "absolutely everything." It was a morning of remembrances for Geary and 10 other Marine veterans honored in San Diego as members of the 12th Defense Battalion, a unit of the 1st Marine Division, the division that led the U.S. assault on the Japanese garrison.

This is in regard to the Sept. 19 commentary by Del Stelck about the island landing on Peleliu. I was on an LCI (M), a mortar boat, supporting Marines in occupying the island. For two weeks we dropped thousands of rounds of mortars on the island and then without notice, broke off all fighting and went to a rear base to refuel, and resupply our mortars and ammo. After we had made the Leyte landing, Marines were still fighting on Peleliu and most of us knew someone had made a mistake.

Fifty years ago this month, the 1st Marine Division assaulted Peleliu, a tiny Pacific island. Marines were supposed to overrun the 2-by-6-mile fortress in four days, mop up in a week. Instead, Japanese troops were still fighting years later. For Col. Lewis (Chesty) Puller's 1st Marines, Peleliu became the costliest battle of the Pacific War: Seven out of 10 were killed or wounded in eight days. Few Americans knew then or have ever heard of Peleliu (pronounced PEH-leh-loo).

Three members of the crew of a Navy helicopter were missing late Sunday after it crashed into the Pacific Ocean while on military exercises, authorities said. Three others were rescued. The accident occurred shortly after 11 a.m. about 18 miles southwest of Camp Pendleton as the UH-1N Huey radioed that it was going down, Marine Capt. Chris Gillette said. The helicopter was en route from San Diego to its home ship, the Long Beach-based amphibious assault ship Peleliu, and was about 3 miles from the ship when it encountered trouble.

Fourteen sailors suffered smoke inhalation when a Navy helicopter carrier caught fire at the Long Beach Naval Station, but there was no serious damage to the ship. The fire Friday night aboard the Peleliu, an amphibious assault ship used as a helicopter carrier, apparently broke out in a circuit-breaker room, where a cable from shore delivers power to the ship while it is in port. The cause of the fire was not known, but an investigation was under way, Lt. Cmdr. Steve Chesser said.