My Uncle Jim in WWII.

[SRiverrat11]

I grew up in awe of my Uncle Jim. He had been a Marine, and been wounded on Okinawa, at the Battle of Sugar Loaf Hill. He would not talk about it, other than that he had met Ernie Pyle on his way to Okinawa. He did say he was in the 22nd Marines. Recently, I requested his records from the Natl Archives. Enough time had passed that they were available to the general public. After getting them, I was able to compare his records to actual records of the Battle. He was in George Co. 22nd Marines. It fell to them to be the first to make a direct assault on the 50ft high hill to the regiments front. They stepped off on May 12th 1945. With five Sherman tanks in support they advanced under increasingly heavy fire. 4 of the 5 tanks were knocked out before the assault ended and the survivors helped the wounded back to the rear. My Uncle was one of the wounded. A single gunshot wound to the right leg. A trip to the rear for initial medical attention. Then an amtrac ride to the 6th Medical Battalion. His leg was amputated on Saipan(thats what he said) records indicate Guam, and then he was transferred to the States. He passed in 2005. His sons, and I were always in awe of him. He was one of the reasons I joined the Marine Corps. I have kept his last name hidden. I wanted to share this because not many get to see these kinds of records. Oh! 4 of the 5 on the casaulty list have wounds of the lower extremities........grazing fire from machine guns? Also, the Lt. who is below my Uncles name was given the Silver Star(posthumously) he is in the book I have read on Sugar Loaf. I believe he was my Uncles platoon cmdr, but thats really a guess.

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