A BIT OF HISTORY….
Semper Fi
Makin Island
A true story about 19 marines killed on an island defending against the Japanese. They had to retreat, so the survivors asked the islanders to please bury them for us. Years later, they checked and found a man who had been a teenager then and remembered where the marines had been buried. They sent a C130 and an honor guard over there and found all 19 had been buried with their helmets on, their rifles in their hands, in perfect condition. The islanders had really done a wonderful job.
As they were loading the bodies, a voice from out of nowhere started singing The Marine Hymn”……….gave everyone goosebumps. Turns out, the voice was from a man who spoke no English but remembered a song the Marines taught him when they landed. Very touching. They got all 19 and their photos are at the end. This of course was WW2!
Tales of an Asia Sailor 
Rest in peace fellow veterans.
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I have two photos. (digital images) of USS Duluth and USS Newport News at operation Song Thanh 6/72. I was aboard USS Anchorage, LSD-36 in the same operation, we were not far from the Duluth, In the first photo you can see one of the rounds fired from ashore at Duluth. The enemy put one round beyond the Duluth and one short. The next one would have been right on. Visible in the photo is a lot of black smoke form her stacks as they got away from the third round which would likely have landed on them.
The second photo is USS Newport News. Unfortunately I did not get a photo of the 8″ battery firing. I do not know the name of the destroyer in the distance.
You had a related posting a couple of weeks ago, I’d like to add them to the same posting if possible. See attached photos. Feel free to crop as necessary.
It was quite a spectacle!
Paul Robitaille FTG-2 (back then. I made first class about a year or so later).
On Sat, Jan 11, 2020 at 10:07 AM Tales of an Asia Sailor wrote:
> davisg022 posted: “A BIT OF HISTORY…. Semper Fi Makin Island A true > story about 19 marines killed on an island defending against the Japanese. > They had to retreat, so the survivors asked the islanders to please bury > them for us. Years later, they checked and found a ma” >
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Paul, forward the photos to davisg022@hotmail and I will add them to the article.
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A very moving piece of history I did not know. RIP my brothers.
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My next door neighbor became the first CO of the USS MAKIN ISLAND LHA 8 in San Diego, Ca. Capt R G KOPAS, USN
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Apologies. She’s LHD 8
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