17-017 Garand Picture of the Day - Makin

[Mark in Rochester]

Litter bearing Jeep carries wounded from combat area on Makin


The Battle of Makin was an engagement of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought from 20 to 23 November 1943, on Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands.

The complete occupation of Makin took four days and cost considerably more in naval casualties than in ground forces. Despite possessing great superiority in men and weapons, the 27th Division had difficulty subduing the island's small defense force. One Japanese Ha-Go tank was destroyed in combat, and two tanks placed in revetments were abandoned without being used in combat.

Against an estimated 395 Japanese killed in action during the operation, American ground casualties numbered 66 killed and 152 wounded. U.S. Navy loses were significantly higher: 644 deaths on the Liscome Bay, 43 killed in a turret fire on the battleship U.S.Mississippi, and 10 killed in action with naval shore parties or as aviators, for a total of 697 naval deaths. The overall total of 763 American dead almost equaled the number of men in the entire Japanese garrison.

On 23 November, the Japanese submarine I-175 arrived off Makin. A temporary task group, built around Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix three escort carriers - Liscome Bay, Coral Sea and Corregidor - was steaming 20 miles southwest of Butaritari Island at 15 knots. At 04:30 on 24 November, reveille was sounded in Liscome Bay. The crew went to routine general quarters at 05:05, when flight crews prepared their planes for dawn launchings.

At about 05:10, a lookout shouted, "Here comes a torpedo!" The torpedo struck abaft the after engine room and detonated the aircraft bomb stockpile, causing a major explosion which engulfed the ship and sent shrapnel flying as far as 5,000 yards. "It didn't look like a ship at all", wrote Lieutenant John C. W. Dix, communications officer on Hoel, "We thought it was an ammunition dump... She just went whoom — an orange ball of flame.

At 05:33, Liscome Bay listed to starboard and then sank, carrying 53 officers and 591 enlisted men – including Admiral Mullinix, Captain Wiltsie, and famous Pearl Harbor hero Ship's Cook Third Class Doris Miller - down with her. Of the 916 crewmen, only 272 were rescued by Morris, Hughes and Hull. The survivors had reached the deck soon after the initial torpedo impact. The bombs in storage exploded minutes later, possibly due to a second torpedo.

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