Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:30 | After an extended stay on Saipan and Tinian, Harry McMahon was now waiting on a troop ship in the giant flotilla off Okinawa. His Marine unit was being held in reserve but that calm was shattered when the kamikaze attacks began.
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He was too skinny to be a Marine. Harry McMahon tried to enlist but he failed the physical. He was lucky to get a little inside help when someone at his office revealed that her son-in-law was an examining doctor for the Marines. This got him in but he had to pass another physical when he got to Parris Island.
After basic training, new Marine Harry McMahon was sent to an artillery outfit where he was assigned to the commissary. Then, a lot of Marines were poached to help stock the new 2nd Marine Division and he wound up as a part of the "permanent personnel" at Camp Elliot. He was determined to be a combat Marine, though, and a chance meeting with the future Commandant of the Corps made that possible.
The fighting on Saipan had already raged for a couple of weeks when Harry McMahon arrived. Soon as they took a look at his records, they put him in charge of the commissary. Again. He wanted to fight and he listened intently to the stories of what had just transpired, including the tale of the Army unit that did not distinguish itself during a banzai attack.
The fighting on Saipan was not quite finished when Harry McMahon was sent to assault Tinian with the rest of his Marine battalion. As he neared the beach, there was an overwhelming stench. What is that, he asked?
On watch in the middle of the night, Harry McMahon was sure he heard a noise in the sugarcane. He yelled for a password but there was no reply. More noise, another yell and still no reply. Shoot him said the lieutenant and he did. In the morning, he went to collect any Japanese souvenirs but he was to be disappointed.
The Japanese were at the top of a cliff with machine guns and mortars and a group of Marines were trapped directly below them in the sugarcane. If they moved, heavy fire would rain down. The decision was made to send a jeep with water and ammunition through the gauntlet. Harry McMahon's friend was chosen to drive and he volunteered to ride shotgun. It was a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the mortar rounds.
After ten days of chasing stragglers on Saipan, the Marines were told there's no trucks, we're walking back. Harry McMahon recalls that they were marched through the grounds of a new Army hospital and some soldiers gathered and wondered who they were.
Their sister battalions had just made the assault on Okinawa so it was their turn. And the only landing left would be Japan. Harry McMahon and his buddies never had to make that landing but they did have occupation duty in Nagasaki.
It was the best thing ever. Harry McMahon was in the 2nd Marine Division but some of the men returning on the ship were from the 5th Division, the heroes of Iwo Jima. That meant the press reports in San Diego were that the Iwo Marines were returning home. That meant that every female in southern California was waiting to meet him.
After facing them in battle, Harry McMahon did not feel like he was even killing other humans. They seemed completely different from what he was used to. But when he was told to execute a Japanese prisoner his unit was holding, he had to stop and think about it. (Caution: strong language)
If it was artificial, the Marines were probably eating it. Harry McMahon was in charge of the commissary and he remembers the dreary chow they had in the Pacific. But, sometimes, you could schmooze sailors and get loaded down with treats from the hold, like ice cream. (Caution: strong language)
It was eerie when Tokyo Rose told you where you were and what unit you were in. Harry McMahon says he and his fellow Marines grew to hate her. After the war, when he was on occupation duty, he toured the A-Bomb site in Nagasaki. It's safe, he was told.
