 This week Leatherneck set to Rawa get all your tanks to shore captain Langer Yes, Major cannonball China girl Colorado Charlie and Condor all of C squadron got a short good Go in and blast anything and everything in your way. We've got a clear the beats for the men Yes, me captain well the lieutenant says the cannonballs radio was knocked out the hell with the radio Tell the squadron to get underway. We're going here. Yes Good luck Langer. Thank you Corporal yes, have you established radio contact with the blood ship? Yes Then inform the general that the first wave has landed on to Rawa and is advancing inland as per plan Resistance has been heavy and casualty severe This is Richard W. Johnston of the United Press speaking I was with that first wave of marine veterans to make a landing on to Rawa how any of us got a shore alive I'll never know Many of our landing boats were blown out of the water by the murderous fire of the Japanese land batteries Still firmly entrenched despite the most concentrated bombardment by our sea and air forces ever seen in this area The bay was filled with shattered men and machines But all along the shore I could see the battle-heartened Leathernecks many of them veterans of Guadalcanal Another Solomon sorties inching along on their bellies Blivious to the hot lead raining all about them many lay sprawled face down on the sands Never to rise again Enemy dead were everywhere. It was apparent from the start that it was going to be a battle of extermination. I Crawled inland a hundred yards or so to where major crow had set up temporary command headquarters Well Johnson, I hope you've brought a couple of empty typewriter schools with you to throw at the nips This place is a lousy with snipers. So that's why you're lugging that shotgun around I thought you might have fleshed a cover your quail back here They're back where I don't see anything Keep your eye on Daniel Boone See what I mean for you got him major. Look at that Jeff dangling from his harness and that coconut palm sure look around And you'll see a couple of more of them You're right one man army. Oh, this is push late stuff compared to what that tank squadron is doing farther inland You heard from Captain Langer and the rest. Yes, our radio picks them up on battle frequency But those big guns tell me all I want to know so that's what that is a tank cannon I noticed the sounds getting farther and farther away all the time. Yes sea squadron still advancing Well, let's go inside and see if we can tune in on them Corporal yes, sir you still get their signal. Yes, sir The China girl is trying to raise Captain Langer now sir. He can't the cannonballs radio has been knocked out But Captain Langer isn't in the cannonball anymore, sir While you were outside I heard him tell Lieutenant Bowser the cannonball took a shell and was knocked into a bomb crater He's transferred to the Colorado. Hmm. Well, turn that up a little and let's hear what they're saying Blue leader in China girl. I heard you talking to Colorado. What's the map reference? We'll take care of them you and China girl proceed according to plan am I understood good hunting to you all good luck Over and off. Oh, the boys are having a time of it Yes, Langer reported earlier that some of those Jap pillboxes have concrete walls 25 feet thick On top of that an equal thickness of coconut logs and coral No wonder our naval gun scenario bombs didn't blast them out. Nothing less than a direct hit would do that Well, what's the answer major? There's only one way to win and get them You mean Russia gun emplacement with fixed bayonets hardly hand grenades down the entrance would do it though But they'd never get near enough Langer's tanks good flame throwers good And that's the way it was done that plus some accurate bombing by our Navy and Air Force Which they were able to do with pinpoint precision Only because our men on the ground paid with their lives to hunt out the strong points and relay the information back I Made my way back to the beach where a temporary field hospital had been set up behind a sand barricade The only natural shelter on the whole Baron at all The place was swarming with our wounded and the medical men worked feverishly over them I set up my typewriter on an empty ammunition case and began typing out my notes Could I grab a buck for me buddy? Oh sure Mac here Where'd they get you I don't know exactly Feels like I'm sorting to better not try to talk doc will be along in a minute and fix you up Inside my tunic take it easy Mac letter Okay, okay. Hey doctor. Give me a hand here. Yes. Yes. What is it this man? He's He's dead Well, there's lots of others around here. I know Well, could you just set this on put a splint on it or something? I've got to get back I'm afraid of one armed officer wouldn't be much good out there lieutenant, but I've got to get back Let me care for the severely wounded first. Oh sure sure. I'm sorry doc Which outfit lieutenant? We're over on the left flank Trying to knock out that jab battery need up here. It's murder to let the second wave come in against that crossfire It'll be murder for us if they don't get here. Yeah, I guess you're right Sorry, I think the major has some plans for those babies. Oh, you've seen crow Did you ever see anything more terrific standing around getting orders and blasting jabs with a shotgun between Looks like your own men are pretty terrific lieutenant. Huh, the jab batteries quit You're right. The boys got them. They got them with those be our hell cats coming in for another pass. That's it Blowing close to the shore To join me in the slip-trench lieutenant was pleasant. Let me give you a hand I You know where I'd rather be this afternoon watching the Army Navy game now Donate Louise Louise Louis runs a little tavern in my neighborhood on the outskirts of Chicago. I did what you mean Wonder if the beer tastes as good as I remember I didn't know that Jap beer they captured back in the Solomon Oh, don't mention. I hope they're bruised better here to Rara where they're closer to home the beating This place is getting I don't think they'll be even a beer bottle that's old when it's over. Oh damn. They got me again In the chest something hit me in the chest. Could this be it? I'll be 50 caliber shell kicked out by one of our own planes Well, I hope it's bullets and a better mark and so it went for the next three days and nights Our casualties streamed in at an alarming rate at that beachhead hospital The Higgins landing boats continued to pour men ashore But it seemed to me they took back a larger number of wounded than the reinforcements they brought Yet one by one the enemy pillboxes were silenced and inch by inch those gallant weary Marines made their way across the t-shaped at all Mopping up on the morning of the fourth day. I happened by major crows command Hello Johnson. Oh still in one piece. I see yes, but from what I've seen these last few days I'd say you and I are the only ones of the original wave that are oh you're wrong there Remember our friends Langer and Bowser the Colorado and China girl. Are those tankers still at it and now Since you were here last they've knocked out the superstructure on the war killed a hundred or so Japs who came boiling out of it Blown up. I don't know how many enemy pillboxes and ammunition dumps to just generally roamed around raising the devil Oh, what do you know corporal? Yes, see if you can't get those tiny signals a little bit Boys seem to be in pretty good spirits after 72 hours straight that's incredible listen. They're talking again Looks like you're in the best position Quartz I've received Johnson. I'd say you're sitting in on that dragon's last stand on to Rava I hope so except burying the dead The Marines had captured to Rava, but they had paid the highest price in dead and wounded in the history of the Corps Of the three thousand odd who made the original assault all but about two hundred of them stained that Baron at all with their blood For about half that number their graves will be the shifting sands of that lonely pinpoint in the Pacific It was a terrible price to pay But it was their job and those Marines performed it bravely and unfinchingly To Rava was a little battle as battles go in these days of global war But as the symbol of the unquenchable spirit of free men everywhere It will live as long as man cherishes the right to walk with dignity unafraid Like Richard W. Johnston United Press war correspondents are on every battle front to bring you fast accurate and colorful Eyewitness stories of history in the making Armed only with their typewriters these veteran observers live with the troops and go into action with them That is why their dispatches reflect so faithfully the sound and fury of battle the actual conditions are fighting men face It is in tribute to our armed forces that we present these dramatized versions of on-the-scene stories by United Press correspondents We will bring you another thrilling story of these soldiers of the press soon Be sure to listen and listen for United Press news on the air Look for United Press dispatches in your favorite newspaper They are your guaranteed of the world's best coverage of the world's biggest news