27 Feb 2023 Garand Picture of the Day

[Mark in Rochester]

Battle of Parry Island
Parry island was smaller than Eniwetok and more heavily defended and was the HQ of 1st Amphibious Brigade commander General Nishida. When the invasion began the Japanese had 1,115 troops and 250 other personnel on Parry, equipped with 36 heavy grenade launchers, 36 light machine guns, six heavy machine guns, ten 81mm mortars, three 20mm automatic guns, two mountain guns, one 20mm cannon and three Type 95 light tanks. The island is tear-drop shaped with the larger end to the north, facing the lagoon. The Japanese defences consisted of a series of eight strong points along the beach, protected by trenches and a network of foxholes.




Private Theodore James Miller; an exhausted US Marine exhibiting the thousand-yard stare after two days of constant fighting on Eniwetok. He was later killed in action, at age 19, on 24 March 1944, at Ebon Atoll. He is buried at the Punchbowl, HI.

Miller himself was killed in action during the invasion of Ebon Atoll a month later. 25 Japanese, including six civilians (two women and two children among them), put up a 20-minute fire-fight that left Miller and another Marine, Cpl John C NELSON dead and eight others wounded.

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