H I S T O R Y
BEFORE WWII	DURING WWII	1944 BILL ILES	1944 CURTIS PARTCH	1947 ED SPILMAN	1950 - 1951 GENE WOOLIEVER	1951 - 1969	1970 - 1989	1990 - 1994	HISTORY COMES ALIVE

Curtis J. Partch #19093252 1944

I slept all night on the deck of the troop ship because I knew I wanted to see something I would never see again, the Navy shelling, the bombing and this invasion of Kwajalein Island. I was one of 35 Army Air Corpsmen with about 500 of the division infantrymen. They put 35 Air Corpsmen on each troop ship so if one went down, there would still be enough of us left to do the job to support the aircraft that were to come in after the Island was secured and a runway completed. They had maps of Kwajalein made from Japanese papier-mâché, exact in every degree, every pillbox, every bunker. The infantrymen went over those map boards everyday, all day, to know in every detail what they were to do when they landed. They told us every move they were going to make; time, place, shelling aircraft, bombing, landing, where and when. I could not believe the fleet of ships that made the two-week trip from Pearl Harbor. Troop ships, battleships, carriers, destroyers and many other as far as you could see. Just before daylight, the ship slowed down and stopped. When there was enough light, I could not believe how close we were to an island with a radio tower on it. This island was just south east of Kwajalein and it looked like a person could walk from one island to the other at low tide. THEN THE SHELLING STARTED! The battleships would come in a line firing those big guns one ship at a time going around and around taking their turn. When they would stop for a while, the dive-bomber would come in. This went on all day. We were so close that it was like watching a movie. It was hard to believe that anyone or anything could be alive on that Island, with beautiful trees that were being turned into stumps and dust. In the mean time, they had unloaded the landing craft from the deck into the water. Then the order came over the loud speaker for the infantrymen to load themselves and all their equipment over the side into to those boats, which were bobbing up and down along the side of the ship. It was amazing that they got all those men and equipment into those small boats without losing some people. They joined up with other landing craft from the other troop ships to make up the first wave to land on the ocean side off the southeastern corner of Kwajalein. We watched the battle go on the rest of the day, when we took some fire from the little island near us, then a landing craft full of GI’s went over there and we never took any more fire. Right after that our ship moved inside the lagoon and anchored. Then some ships (destroyers) (destroyer escorted) came along side and we would load ammo on to them while the gun crews would sleep right there at their guns (a tried bunch of sailors). Later that day the word came to us that we should get all of our equipment together and make up our backpacks, ammo, rifles, food, blankets, things that none of thought we would ever have to use. I think we all thought we were going to just sit there on that ship until the island was secure, then we would walk ashore like going on a picnic (boy were we fooled). The lieutenant that was in charge of us said that he was going to move over to another ship because this one had to leave and go to Panama. Now if you wanted to see a sight - a group of Air Force people with full packs, riffles and ammo going over the side of the ship down that rope net into that landing craft (which none of us had ever been trained for). You could have made a comedy movie of it. But we finally got loaded and started for the lagoon side of the island of Kwajalein. By this time it was getting dark. I could see we were going to land on the southeastern end of the island (right where a year later they built some small two story barracks we lived in for short length of time), just across the island from where the first wave went in. When I felt the boat hit the sand and that front door dropped down I ran across the short beach to the sand wall and just sat there and watched what was going on. They were unloading trucks, guns, jeeps, and all kinds of other equipment. It looked like organized confusion. Flares were going off in the air. It would be real bright then dark then another would be sent up, over and over again. I don’t know who said it but some one said lets get off this beach before we get hurt. So our little group of 35 air corps troops walked across the island to where the first wave landed. This is where we started seeing dead people and with the hot weather they were in horrible condition. I don’t think any of us were prepared for this if that is even possible. We found a place near the beach among the logs and shell holes so we could wait for daylight. What a night! The fighting was going on down the island. Flare after flare would go up letting us to see everything for a short length of time. This was the most eerie sight, people running around, lots of noise, tracers from small cannon fire (about 6 ft. high) would ricochet off tree as the Japs were shooting at our troops. I could not tell if these shells were doing any damage. This went on all night (a very long night). When it became light enough for us to see, we found ourselves very close to the beach where the first wave of troops came in. We could see some of our Army friends still floating around in the surf. We went out and brought them on to dry land. What a way to start a day. We did not know it then but there would be many more days like it. Not knowing where to go, we started down the island on a dirt road when we met a group of people that were from our outfit. They had just come ashore from their troop ship, 35 of them. So our group of about 70 went on down the island near the west end of the old Jap landing strip and found a spot of broken-down coconut trees and shell holes and said this is our home. A little later, the First Sgt arrived with his group, with tents, boxes, tables, etc, to set up the headquarters of the 100th Depot Supply Sqd. We finally had someone in charge. We paired off and pitched our pup tents among all that mess of trees and holes. In the mean time we were running out of water and food. For food we had three little boxes of K-rations and one canteen of water per day. That sure wasn’t much water in that heat. Some of the guys got to drinking the water out of the shell holes until the First Sgt told us he would court marshal anyone he found doing it again. Then the blowflies started, thousands of them. If you opened any food, you had to get under a mosquito net to eat it or you would be covered with flies. It’s a wonder that we all didn’t get sick. That day, the First Sgt said he had found some dump trucks and that we were to start picking up the hundreds and hundreds of dead (at that time not knowing there were a lot more than that). He put 10 men to a truck, 2 men up on the truck, 2 men each on four stretchers. We would roll the dead over on the stretcher then hand it up to the men on the truck. This would go on until we would get a full load of 50 or so. The truck driver would go dump them in a big hole down the island then come back for another load. You cannot believe how bad this was and how calloused you get. This would go on all day, day after day, until we got them all buried. Curtis Partch

H I S T O R Y
BEFORE WWII	DURING WWII	1944 BILL ILES	1944 CURTIS PARTCH	1947 ED SPILMAN	1950 - 1951 GENE WOOLIEVER	1951 - 1969	1970 - 1989	1990 - 1994	HISTORY COMES ALIVE