… with the Corps: The Memoirs of an Old Breed Marine.
"The following extract is taken from Twenty-two on Peleliu by George Peto with Peter Margaritis, about George's experiences as an Old Breed Marine on four Pacific campaigns in World War II. Here, he describes what it was like to approach the beach at Peleliu in which more than 2,000 American soldiers would give their lives to secure.
AdvertisementOur amtrac slowly moved into position with the others, to make their three-mile run to the beach. With our amtrac bobbing up and down on the waves, some of us began to get unsteady from that rocking and rolling. Between moving around in the water and just plain being nervous, a few of the guys got really ill and ended up chucking that beautiful navy breakfast.
It was now around 7:45 a.m. Our amtrac joined others as we puttered around in a circle, with more coming over to join us. Then someone gave the signal, and we formed up in a line and began to move towards the island. As we headed toward the beaches, I could see a lot of smoke rising. The warships had been pounding the Jap positions for the last few hours. I liked seeing those battleships firing, like the USS Iowa, with her 16-inch shells whooshing overhead.9 Supposedly, the navy had hit them pretty hard over the last few days, but I knew better. This was not going to be a cakewalk…."
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Armand
bases up the start of his 1:72 scale WWII Russians.
