How I learned about GI Joe

E-mail ^ | December 1, 2005 | Unknown

[DJ Taylor]

How many able-bodied U.S. Marines does it take to hold a hill against 2,000 desperate and motivated attackers?

On Nov. 15, 2003, an 85-year-old retired Marine Corps colonel died of congestive heart failure at his home in La Quinta, Calif., southeast of Palm Springs. He was a combat veteran of World War II. Reason enough to honor him. However, this Marine was a little different. This Marine was Mitchell Paige.

It's hard today to envision -- or, for the dwindling few, to remember --what the world looked like on Oct. 26, 1942. The U.S. Navy was not the most powerful fighting force in the Pacific. Not by a long shot. So the Navy basically dumped a few thousand lonely American Marines on the beach on Guadalcanal and high-tailed it out of there.

You Navy guys can hold those letters. Of course Nimitz, Fletcher and Halsey had to ration what few ships they had. Much has been written separately about the way Bull Halsey rolled the dice on the night of Nov. 13, 1942, violating the stern War College edict against committing capital ships in restricted waters and instead dispatching into the Slot, his last two remaining fast battleships, the South Dakota and the Washington, escorted by the only four destroyers with enough fuel in their bunkers to get them there and back.

Those American destroyer captains need not have worried about carrying enough fuel to get home. By 11 p.m., outnumbered better than three-to-one by a massive Japanese task force driving down from the northwest, every one of those four American destroyers had been shot up, sunk, or set aflame. And while the South Dakota -- known throughout the fleet as a jinx ship -- had damaged some lesser Japanese vessels, she continued to be plagued with electrical and fire control problems.

"Washington was now the only intact ship left in the force," writes Naval historian David Lippman. "In fact, at that moment Washington was the entire U.S. Pacific Fleet. She was the only barrier between (Admiral) Kondo's ships and Guadalcanal. If this one ship did not stop 14 Japanese ships right then and there, America might lose the war. ..."

On Washington's bridge, Lieutenant Ray Hunter had the conn. He had just seen the destroyers Walke and Preston "blown sky high." Dead ahead lay their burning wreckage. Hundreds of men were swimming in the water and the Japanese ships racing in.

"Hunter had to do something. The course he took now could decide the war," Lippman writes. "'Come left,' he said. ... Washington's rudder change but the burning destroyers between her and the enemy, preventing her from being silhouetted by their fires." The move made the Japanese momentarily cease fire. Lacking radar, they could not spot Washington behind the fires.

" Washington raced through burning seas. Dozens of destroyer men were in the water clinging to floating wreckage. "Get after them, Washington!" one shouted. Sacrificing their ships by maneuvering into the path of torpedoes intended for the Washington, the captains of the American destroyers had given China Lee one final chance.

Blinded by the smoke and flames, the Japanese battleship Kirishima turned on her searchlights, illuminating the helpless South Dakota, and opened fire. Finally, as her own muzzle blasts illuminated her in the darkness, Admiral Lee and Captain Glenn Davis could positively identify an enemy target. The Washington's main batteries opened fire at 12 midnight precisely. The radar fire control system functioned perfectly. During the first seven minutes of Nov. 14, 1942, the "last ship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet" fired 75 of her 16-inch shells at the battleship Kirishima. Aboard Kirishima, it rained steel. At 3:25 a.m., her burning hulk officially became the first enemy sunk by an American battleship since the Spanish-American War.

Stunned, the Japanese withdrew. Within days, Japanese commander Isoroku Yamamoto recommended the unthinkable to the emperor -- withdrawal from Guadalcanal.

But that was still weeks in the future. We were still with Mitchell Paige back on the god-forsaken malarial jungle island of Guadalcanal, placed like a speed bump at the end of the long blue-water slot between New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago ... the very route the Japanese Navy would have to take to reach Australia.

On Guadalcanal the Marines struggled to complete an airfield. Yamamoto knew what that meant. No effort would be spared to dislodge these upstart Yanks from a position that could endanger his ships. Before long, relentless Japanese counterattacks had driven supporting U.S. Navy from inshore waters. The Marines were on their own.

As Platoon Sgt. Mitchell Paige and his 33 riflemen set about carefully emplacing their four water-cooled .30-caliber Brownings, manning their section of the thin khaki line which was expected to defend Henderson Field against the assault of the night of Oct. 25, 1942, it's unlikely anyone thought they were about to provide the definitive answer to that most desperate of questions: How many able-bodied U.S. Marines does it take to hold a hill against 2,000 desperate and motivated attackers?

Nor did the commanders of the mighty Japanese Army, who had swept all before them for decades, expect their advance to be halted on some God-forsaken jungle ridge manned by one thin line of Yanks in khaki in October of 1942.

But by the time the night was over, "The 29th (Japanese) Infantry Regiment has lost 553 killed or missing and 479 wounded among its 2,554 men," historian Lippman reports. "The 16th (Japanese) Regiment's losses are uncounted, but the 164th's burial parties handled 975 Japanese bodies. The American estimate of 2,200 Japanese dead is probably too low."

You've already figured out where the Japanese focused their attack, haven't you? Among the 90 American dead and seriously wounded that night were all the men in Mitchell Paige's platoon. Every one. As the night of endless attacks wore on, Paige moved up and down his line, pulling his dead and wounded comrades back into their foxholes and firing a few bursts from each of the four Brownings in turn, convincing the Japanese forces down the hill that the positions were still manned.

The citation for Paige's Congressional Medal of Honor picks up the tale: "When the enemy broke through the line directly in front of his position, P/Sgt. Paige, commanding a machinegun section with fearless determination, continued to direct the fire of his gunners until all his men were either killed or wounded. Alone, against the deadly hail of Japanese shells, he fought with his gun and when it was destroyed, took over another, moving from gun to gun, never ceasing his withering fire."

In the end, Sgt. Paige picked up the last of the 40-pound, belt-fed Brownings -- the same design which John Moses Browning famously fired for a continuous 25 minutes until it ran out of ammunition, glowing cherry red, at its first U.S. Army trial -- and did something for which the weapon was never designed. Sgt. Paige walked down the hill toward the place where he could hear the last Japanese survivors rallying to move around his flank, the belt-fed gun cradled under his arm, firing as he went. And the weapon did not fail.

Coming up at dawn, battalion executive officer Major Odell M. Conoley was first to discover the answer to our question: How many able-bodied Marines does it take to hold a hill against two regiments of motivated, combat-hardened infantrymen who have never known defeat?

On a hill where the bodies were piled like cordwood, Mitchell Paige alone sat upright behind his 30-caliber Browning, waiting to see what the dawn would bring. One hill: one Marine.

But "In the early morning light, the enemy could be seen a few yards off, and vapor from the barrels of their machine guns was clearly visible," reports historian Lippman. "It was decided to try to rush the position."

For the task, Major Conoley gathered together "three enlisted communication personnel, several riflemen, a few company runners who were at the point, together with a cook and a few messmen who had brought food to the position the evening before."

Joined by Paige, this ad hoc force of 17 Marines counterattacked at 5:40 a.m., discovering that "the extremely short range allowed the optimum use of grenades." They cleared the ridge.

And that's where the unstoppable wave of Japanese conquest finally crested, broke, and began to recede. On an unnamed jungle ridge on an insignificant island no one had ever heard of, called Guadalcanal. But who remembers, today, how close-run a thing it was -- the ridge held by a single Marine, in the autumn of 1942?

When the Hasbro Toy Co. called some years back, asking permission to put the retired colonel's face on some kid's doll, Mitchell Paige thought they must be joking. But they weren't. That's his mug, on the little Marine they call "G.I. Joe."

And now you know

[unionblue83]

This story was semi-told on the History Channel on one of their "Medal of Honor" series. Still a great story and needs to be remembered. Thanks for posting this.

[geezerwheezer]

Every child in America should be told this story, and what it meant to the future of our country. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[BJClinton]

Thank you so much for that story. Almost makes me want get out my old GI Joe stuff when I get home and play with them.

[04-Bravo]

I am awed by the bravery of our fighting men during the 1942 battles of Guadalcanal and Midway.

[wallcrawlr]

wow...I never knew this.

I've read/own GI Joe stuff as a kid.

Thanks for posting.

My Grandpa was at Guadalcanal and thankfully (to me...becuase I think he wishes he were there to help) got sick and had to sit out Tarawa. So many of his buddies died at Tarawa.

[Clemenza]

And now you know

1. And knowing is half the battle

or

2. The REST of the Story!

[sasportas]

Incredible story. Not only of the Marines holding Guadalcanal, but the Navy, also outnumbered and outgunned going against the IJN.

Hey, going against the IJN back then was no small thing. They were the best Navy in the world - probably more powerful than even the Royal Navy of Britain. Up until Midway, the IJN had not lost a Naval battle in centuries.

Those were desparate times indeed. Thanks to the Marines at Guadalcanal and the Navy at Midway, we turned the tide. All the men how fought in those desparate times were some of our nations greatest heroes. They deserve more recognition than they have gotten, in my opinion.

[Professional Engineer]

ping

[Darksheare]

Never bet against one angry Marine with a couple machineguns and a bunch of ammo.
*chuckle*

[Iris7]

I am an amateur student of 1942. This article is not understatement.

Victory and defeat rested on our people of 1942. Australia would have been lost without the willing sacrifice made by the men of all of our armed services that year and the Japanese would have met Rommel in Iraq.

Iraq is strategic ground. Always has been. Now it is the axle that the world turns around. I do not exaggerate.

[Iris7]

I said that "This article is not understatement." I am embarrassed. My editing left in "not". The sentence should be "This article is understatement."

The US Army and National Guard were also critical in 1942 fighting in New Guinea. Neither Guadalcanal nor New Guinea were enough by themselves. Loss in either of those campaigns would have been fatal.

Without Navy victory, without Marine Corps victory, without US Army and National Guard victory in 1942 the Third Reich would likely still exist. Perhaps America might not.

[ErnBatavia]

La Quinta bump.

I don't know how I missed this thread (see the bottom of my homepage)

Safely tucked away in my library are Mitch's personally autographed book, GI Joe, and some photos we took at his home.

[BJClinton]

Mitch's personally autographed book, GI Joe

Wow. That should be in a museum.

[sam I am]

I don't know where to post this but please pray for Chad. I got this in my e-mail just now and wanted to share it with FR, thanks, samIam
>Urgent Request
>From: Vicky Field
>Subject: My son has been shot in Falujah..
>
>I wanted to get everyone to pray for my son Chad. Today, Sunday, I
>got a
>call from the Army that my son had been shot in the head. I am
>asking for all
>your prayers.
>
>He was in a Humvee going through Falujah fighting and a gang of
>militia
>fighters fired on the Humvee and hit Chad in the head. The driver
>got him out of
>the city and took him to Baghdad. He was in fatal condition, but
>now has been
>upgraded to stable critical. His dad and I are on standby to fly to
>Washington then on to Germany as soon the military calls us to go.
>The Army is
>trying to stabilize him enough to fly to Germany and at that time
>we will leave..
>
>Please pray that my son will not have brain damage and that he will
>be
>restored and healed by the blood of Jesus, and the grace of God.
>
>I ask for you to pass this prayer request on so there will be many
>prayer
>warriors praying for him.
>
>Thank you so much and I will try to keep you updated on his
>condition. God
>Bless
>
>Vicky Field
>Granbury, Texas
>
>Please pray for this young soldier and please pass this request
>along to
>those who will pray for him.
>
>
>

[DJ Taylor]

sam I am,

I thought you might want this follow up on Jeremy Chad Snowden. Chad needed our prayers a year ago and still does.

A 27 December 2004 article posted on the iraqwarnews.net web site detailed the efforts of Soldiers' Angels, an Internet-based volunteer group, to assist Vicky Fields in tracking down her son, Jeremy Chad Snowden, after he was shot in the head while serving in Iraq at the end of 2004:
[Vicky] Field's son Jeremy Chad Snowden is recovering from traumatic brain injury after he was shot in the forehead at Ramadi in October. In a written account, Field, a single parent from Granbury, Texas, told how her son's Army friends and Soldiers' Angels volunteers helped her find and stay with him at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Field told how she first heard her son was wounded, when she checked voicemails on her cell phone at church.

"I ran into the church to get help. Some of the elders called the Army back. . . . He had been updated to critically injured but stable at the time. All we heard was that Chad was in a Humvee and was shot in the head and the bullet went straight through the other side, and they had taken him to Baghdad for a five-hour brain surgery."

Two days later, Chad's 17-year-old sister got a telephone call from one of his friends in Iraq, Field wrote. "He promised my daughter and told her to tell me that he and his brother LeRon would go find Chad in the hospital in Baghdad and report back to us."

The pair tracked Chad down. "He whispered to Chad and said: 'Chad it's LeRon, Lonnie's brother from boot camp, do you remember?' and Chad did a thumbs-up.

"He then said, 'Chad, I want you to know we love you, bud, and your mom and sisters love you and they're coming to get you, do you hear me?' and Chad raised his hand up in the air and waved it back and forth."

Soldiers' Angels volunteers helped the family track Chad's progress during a stopover at the Landstuhl Army medical center in Germany, until his parents could meet him at Walter Reed.
In May 2005, the Hood County News reported that Chad's injury was fortunately less severe than initially thought, and that he was making a rapid recovey:
Six months after Army Specialist Chad Snowden received a near fatal head wound fighting in Fallujah, Iraq, he is making plans to enter the University of Texas in Austin. Six months ago, Nov. 13, 2004, a sniper's bullet hit Snowden just above and behind the left eyebrow. It exited the right side.

Because only a small part of the brain was damaged or destroyed, Snowden did not lose his mobility, nor senses, only some of his mental capabilities.

Recovery continued to be rapid. In weeks he was ready to be transferred to a military rehabilitation trauma brain injury hospital. His transfer from Walter Reed Hospital to the needed rehabilitation center was being delayed, possibly for months, by the overload of paperwork required for transfers. Snowden’s mother, Vicki Field, was in Washington with her son. The prospect on his needed treatment being delayed ignited her into action.

Because of Field’s driving concern for her son, she has been employed by the Department of Defense in a new operation to see that no severely wounded and disabled veterans or survivors are not [sic] lost in the paper shuffle. She is the Texas Advocate for Support of Severely Injured Military Residing in Texas. What she does is seek out wounded and injured veterans and families needing available assistance from government agencies and communities.

Undoubtedly Ms. Field would appreciate continued prayers on her son's behalf as his recovery progresses.