US Marines Battle of Tarawa

[TheRebelIion]

William Bordelon was my great uncle and he earned the medal of honor hes my hero RIP

[biwlyb]

Please read Robert Sherrod.s book TARAWA A Story Of A Battle very hard to find but your library will search other library's in the US I am in AZ and they had it sent in from Texas

[dyad2r1]

My late uncle served with the 2nd Marines, was blinded at the Battle of Tarawa, came home, met my maternal aunt and they raised six children. I attended their wedding as a child and was astonished to see him with a seeing eye dog - in church! He was a proud man and very self-sufficient. The dog was the only thing he accepted from the US government. This wonderful man taught me how to fish and ride a horse. I miss him dearly.

[TheRapper10000]

Red beach on this battle really lives up to it's name.

[Toddinfantry]

@TheRapper10000 Yes it does. Odd how the color chosen for the landing beaches was red, while green and black weren't used as assault beaches.

[Sn1perManSS14]

ive just read the book One Square Mile of Hell.i can not imagine what those marines went through but they r true heroes!!!is this the footage filmed by Norman T Hatch??

[eastonsteve]

My Dad was on the initial invasion of Tarawa also known as the island of Betio. You can watch him talk about it on You Tube: James Waterworth Remembers WWII...Part one and part two. You'll never think about war the same after listening to him talk about it. No glory..all blood, guts and luck... lot's of luck. After Saipan there were only two of the original Marines left walking out of Dad's company of 180 men.

[fobgurly]

I have The Battle of Tarawa as a history project. Anyone know some good online sources, besides Wikipedia?

[22kmward]

=~+~=HI! okay so im in NJROTC at my high school. and my commander gave the NS3's(3rd year of naval science)a project to do a huge research paper on anything military (i.e. battels, wars, important people, commisoned ships, etc) and i decided to to the Battle of Tarawa since my grandpa served in it as a Marine. what i want to do with my project is to interview someone who served in it. but he passed 9 yrs ago. so if you know any one who has served in it email me at

kmward22@gmail.com THANK YOU!!!

[christof139]

After the battle the Marines raised both the USA & British flags, since the Gilbert Islands were a British colony at the start of the war. Just some info. for the Brits that are always deriding the USA.

Casualties: USMC & Navy = ~3,356+, 1,056+ KIA, DofW, & MIA, over 2,300+ WIA; Jap. = ~4,836 to 4,849, ~4,690 - 4,713 KIA & 146 POW (17 Jap., 129 Korean). Total: 8,195+ on ~1sq. mile of island & coral reef in ~76 hours.

[LITEBRITE65]

@christof139 correction only 2 Japanese officers and 15 Korean workers survived this battle

[christof139]

@LITEBRITE65, No, the Japanese & Korean POWs are listed as 17 Japanese & 129 Korean construction troops, or 146 total.

[LITEBRITE65]

@christof139 The marines sustained nearly 3,000 casualties. The cost was much higher for the Japanese: Of the 4,700 defenders, only 17 survived. Their willingness to fight to the last man augured the nature of other battles to come.

[christof139]

@LITEBRITE65, You are just repeating what I & others here have already stated. ~3,296 USMC casualties, plus a large number of US Navy personnel killed, wounded & missing in the fighting at & near Tarawa. In 2009 ~139 USMC graves were discovered & I guess are now listed as KIA, & there were 541 MIA at the time of discovery of these graves. ~2,217 of the total of ~5,000 Jap. troops were construction troops, of which ~1,200 were Korean troops, not Korean civilians. So, 146 enemy POWs.

[oxyman10]

My Aunt's neighbor was at Tarawa, it took him over 30 years to open up, moreover he views death, war and destruction with an un-caring attitude. I can understand why, 76 hours of hell can do that to anyone.

[eylisian]

I believe Okinawa was the bloodiest battle, but Tarawa wasn't any kind of cake walk. What a waste of life on both sides.

[SaitoYoshida]

My grandfather was a Japanese soldier on Tarawa and I think of him and what it was like there. This shows how he probably die there. War is brutal for all people.

[ItNice26]

The bloodiest battle of WW11.

[simondevries2]

I don't agree.

Wasn't D-Day the bloodiest battle.

[ItNice26]

NO. If you compare the size of the invasion force to the casualties, the death toll was much steeper.

[ThePicklepirate]

@ItNice26 Bloodiest battle of WW2

Beyond a doubt it was the Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942 - February 1943). The Axis suffered about 740,000 dead and wounded and a further 110,000 men taken prisoner. The Soviet Union suffered about 750,000 soldiers killed plus about 40,000 civilian dead. It is widely believed that it was the bloodiest battle ever.

[ItNice26]

@ThePicklepirate Well it depends what you mean by " bloodiest battle." If your are talking about total participants and total dead then yes Stalingrad wins by a mile.

But if you are talking about death rates and percentages than Tarawa is bloodier.

All but 146 of the the 5000 Japanese defenders were killed. Or any other Pacific island campaign where the Japs fought to the last man.

[TheGeneralHimself92]

Was William D. Hawkins the man that led a squad of 5 Marines that killed well over 200 Japs before he was killed? My recruiter was telling me a story about a Marine during WW2 who did that and earned the Medal of Honor, I forgot his name, so I was just wondering if it was William D. Hawkins.

[CurlyTopsRicoa]

die you loser japs!

[TheAlabamafan22]

My dad was Maurice's father-in-law. R.I.P Maurice

[ozna12]

Neverthless, north - african front is almost nothing if we compare it with Pacific and combats between Japs and marines. Don't hold it against me, but I trully admire both sides, Japanese and Americans.

[ozna12]

I know it has nothing to do with Pacific front, but neverthless: my grandfather fought in WW II to. He was forcibly mobilized by the Germans (he was baker, they just came into bakery and took him with them) and later he fought under Rommel's command in North Africa. When the Germans retrated from Africa, all non - german soldier from his unit were leaved on one small island. There they had almost starved to death but were rescued by British.

[TellTheMarines]

Very interesting, never read this in any of the history books.

Do you happen to know the name of the island?

[ozna12]

He never mentioned the name (maybe even he didn't know?), he said only that it was small and rocky and that he and his fellows were lucky to be discovered by British ship. I was only 9 - 10 years old when he was talking that but still clearly remember his fear 'not to be eaten by worms' - some of them died on that island and they couldn't burry the bodies beacuse there were only rocks, no ground. The corpses were then decomposited and this shocked him.

[ozna12]

So when he died his body was cremated 'cause he wanted so.

Well, the British took my grandfather to Egypt in one prisoner camp and later to Bari (southern Italy), where was base of yugoslav partisans. When the war was over, he returned back home, but had troubles with communist authorities as former german soldier, so he with his wife emigrated to Germany.

[callieandkelsie]

my grandad was the cheif petty officer on the uss maryland at the time.. never met him

[TellTheMarines]

Semper Fi to your Grandfather and to the Crew of USS Maryland.

We really needed her guns in this battle.

Your grandfather and all her crew saved a lot of Marines on Tarawa.

Keep Attacking!!

Semper Fi!

[christof139]

Betio/Tarawa was only 1-2miles square counting parts of the reef, 1/3 to 1/2 the size of Central Park in NYC. USA 81st Inf. Div. was at Anguar & also Peleliu & lost a large number of casualties. USA 32nd Inf. Div., the Red Arrow Div. from Michigan & Wisconsin, launched the 1st USA offnesive op. in the Pacific on New Guinea with the Aussies at Buna. 1 Regt. of the 32nd crossed the Owen Stanley Mtns. on the Kokoda Trail with the Australian 6th Inf. Div. etc. 7th ID was also all over the Pacific.

[lucasscott3]

I just love this type of American movies from the WW2. I also loved how they copied it in Starship Troopers

[alanccoop]

I have posted photos taken in (1973) of Kiribati, Tuvalu, Fiji and Nauru. You can access them by googling "coopec100"

[guyfromarizona]

You all with brave family members that fought here might be interested in the documentary Return to Tarawa. I haven't finished watching but I watched the director and Leon Cooper who led men into battle here in an interview by PJTV . com about their documentary.

I am in the middle of watching the documentary at hulu . com. Just search for tarawa at hulu

Extra spaces in website names above so hopefully youtube won't reject it (again).

[marinefighter00]

my grandfather was a sniper in this mission

[bowlinballs405]

My grandfather was in this battle.

[TellTheMarines]

You probably all ready know this, but your Grandfather has huge balls!! Don't screw with that old Marine, he'll kick your ass...

Keep Attacking!!!

Semper Fi

[bowlinballs405]

Yeah, it's too bad I didn't get to hear it from him, he died of a heart attack years before I was born.

[FlattusMaximusD]

mine was also there..he is passed now but..he had written everything that he saw an had to do in a journal we didnt know about untile after his death..some of the shit in their is like reading a fictional story..i mean..he put every little detail in that journal..one thing that stuck in my mind was.their were so many dead all around,maggots had gotten into them all..an he said arty would hit an blow peices of the bodies all around being covered in it.how the fuck do you keep your head together?

[trryangallagher]

My grandfather was also, he was a rifleman. I've always wanted to ask him about it, but I don't think he would want to talk about it. My dad said that he talked about it once. He said he was supposed to land on red beach 2, but they couldn't get in so they crashed into the pier. He spent the whole night on that pier under enemy fire and finally got onto red beach 3. That's all I've heard from him experience, hopefully someday I can hear it all and record it, before he passes on.

[TellTheMarines]

It is extremely important to get his story on video or tape.

History is His Story, These old salts are Hero's of every Marine. They gave us the legacy we must uphold and improve on. No need to tell you those are huge boots to fill.

Keep Attacking!!

Semper Fi

[Eye4Lites]

Absolutely right, get anything from these old heros on tape. I missed two chances when I was younger and talked to a former Panzergrenadier about his war and I worked with an Iwo vet. he talked to me one day when he was drunk (which seemed like always) and told me about Iwo. Knowing I am former Marine he pretty much laid it all out...now I know why he was drunk all the time. Wish I had been smart enough to record both men. Both are gone now as are the stories. Semper Fi !

[MpowerdAPE]

this is my favorite WW2 battle to read about. pwm02176 is right, 1 1/2 miles long, 600 yards wide, 5000 japanese SNLF, over 5000 marines landed = close range riot and knife fight. INTENSITY is think is the word that best fits. add to that the unfamiliarity of both sides to each others tactics. all and all a very close run for the marines who landed, at one point they werent sure they could win it with what they had ashore.

[tessler6868]

o yeah. am i a male or female boot, now? hard to keep up with your fantasies.

[tessler6868]

lol. you're the one who INcorrectly corrected video. this is short NEWSREEL played before MOVIES most americans went to weekly during ww2, their only way to see 'action' of war (no tv then, did you know?). tarawa was NOVEMBER 1943 and WAS bloodiest in pacific until peleliu in SEPT-NOV 1944 - a year later! this newsreel was made & played WAY before that, and was accurate at the time.

if you still don't get it, read again r-e-a-l s-l-o-w. if that doesn't work, you're cut off, big boy ;)

[usmc7242]

There is an error right away in the headline, Tarawa was NOT the bloodiest. In 31 days, we lost 1000 Marines; yet in the first 3 days of Peleliu, we lost over 1000 Marines, and Peleliu was going quite strong on day 3

[tessler6868]

this is newsreel of the day, einstein. pelielu was after (1944).

[usmc7242]

This would have also been made about the time of Peleliu, one of the most underrated battles of the Pacific, but I wouldn't expect a little girl to know that.

[tessler6868]

how they hell would YOU know when this NEWS reel was made? peleilu & tarawa didn't even occur in same year! and peleilu was STRATEGIC blunder (because it was unnecessary), but CASUALTY rate was all too real. lol, you're a piece of work. btw, does the 'little girl' thing ever work with anybody ... honey (smooch)? hear you 1-hitch wonder marines like it any way you can get it ;)

[usmc7242]

makes you feel good to brag on the internet, eh boot? Besides, I saw these before you was born, boot, I got a much better idea how old they are than you, devil dog.

[Eye4Lites]

Your posts are correct concerning the newsreel of the day. This one was released in Jan 1944 and showed everyone on the home front what the war was really like. Still debatable whether Pelelui was unnecessary...but alot of good Marines died there nonetheless. The newsreel is correct that Betio (Tarawa) was the bloodiest fight (so far) in the pacific.

Also, ease up on the one hitch wonder Marine thing. It doesn't matter how long but that they served.

Semper Fi !

[pwm02176]

Tarawa was essentially a 72 hour knife fight in a telephone booth, Nov 1943 1000 Marine KIA..approx 650 Navy 5000 Japanese.  Pelielu was 1944 also very very bloody...

[Asankwa]

My granpa was one of the 16 Jap soldiers who survived.He was shell shocked at the time of his capture by US marines

[ubloom3]

hoenstly i dont know what to say to that seeing that i concider some of the things the japanese did to woman from china,korea,phillapines etc... but you should be proud of your granpa though cuz he had some big fucking balls to go war.

[Asankwa]

It was tough for them and they had no choice but obey & fight in the name of the Emperor.Jap soldiers were not allowed to surrender

[usmc7242]

It is time to forgive. I hope your grandfather is able to hear that. His government was evil, he was just a soldier in it, and one that was rightly feared. He deserves respect for that.

[nardcore7805]

OORAH MARINE CORPS!

[boatstaylor]

Semper Fi !

[MavericKLongRange]

76 hours? That's the Marines, all right. Great video.

[blanton69]

My Father was one of the first on this bloody rock.

My father is my hero.

[wbthatch]

@blanton69  my father was also there and wounded in action