Battle of Peleliu Remembered
Anniversary: a Moment of Healing
Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathanael T. Miller, Naval Media Support Center, U.S. Naval Forces
Marianas, Guam
PELELIU ISLAND – 15 Sept 2004 – Sixty years ago, this lush, green, humid island was stripped of its
jungle growth and filled with the booming of artillery barrages and the sharp retort of gunfire. The
inhabitants of the Palau Islands were caught between the forces of two warring titans, the United States
and the Japanese Empire.
Sixty years later, a new generation of U.S. Navy officers and Sailors from the guided missile cruiser
USS Lake Erie (CG 70), gathered with a handful of surviving veterans of both the Japanese Army and
the U.S. Marine Corps to remember the blood and sacrifice of the Battle of Peleliu, and to dedicate a
new museum to a peaceful future.
Chief Petty Officer J. A. Cassista said “meeting these veterans puts things in perspective. It’s hard to
understand what they went through and that kind of dedication.” Seaman Recruit Ricardo Miranda
added that the experience “heightens a sense of heritage as an American.”
The Palauan people had shared a decades-long history with the Japanese when U.S. war planners
targeted their islands for invasion in 1944. The Japanese airfields on Peleliu and the nearby island of
Angaur were considered a threat to U.S. General Douglas MacArthur’s campaign to liberate the
Philippine Islands.
After three days of intensive aerial and sea bombardment, the Marines hit the beaches on Peleliu’s
western shore on September 15, 1944. Marine Corps Major General William Rupertus predicted that
Operation STALEMATE II would be over after a few days.
This prediction was wildly incorrect. By 1944 the Japanese Army had significantly altered their tactics
for defending against amphibious invasions. Unlike previous battles, the Japanese did not engage in
uncoordinated “Banzai” charges. Instead, they remained hidden in defensive caves and bunkers, forcing
the U.S. fighting men to spread out and expose themselves to hostile fire as they attempted to seal up
fortifications one-by-one.
The new Japanese tactics were successful, and American forces would not secure the island until
October of 1944. The Japanese lost over 11,000 men, and the U.S. Marine Corps and Army suffered
1,500 men killed and over 6,700 wounded or missing.
Reflecting on this turbulent history, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Van Horn said, “This gives me
more respect for the time I’m in.” Van Horn, a Lake Erie Sailor who volunteered to be part of the joint
Palauan-U.S. Navy Color Guard, said he did not mind standing and carrying the U.S. flag in tropical
heat during morning ceremonies. “It’s a great honor to be here, to see these guys who’ve done a lot
we've never done.”
Comments from Palauan and U.S. Navy officials focused on the theme of healing. Peleliu State
Governor Jackson R. Ngiraingas characterized the Palauan experience as a people caught between two
great “quarrelling brothers.” The governor said that in the years since the war these two brothers have
become “strong allies” and both have helped the Palauan people to achieve independence. He said
another example of healing was the presence of several Japanese veterans sitting side-by-side with U.S.
veterans.
A World War II museum, built inside a bombed-out Japanese communications post on Peleliu, was
dedicated the evening of Sept. 15 as a statement of past conflict having grown into present friendship.
This theme was underscored by Rear Admiral Arthur J. Johnson, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces
Marianas. Representing the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Johnson spoke of the Japanese people’s
rise as an economic power in the latter half of the 20th Century, and the solid cooperation between their
government and the United States in fighting the Global War on Terror.
“It has more to do with Japan and where they are today, and not so much where they were 60 years
ago,” Admiral Johnson said, following the ceremony. “Japan is the foremost regional ally of the United
States and a premier world economic power. In a situation such as this, it’s more important to focus on
where we are today and where we are going in the future than to focus too much on the issues that
divided us 60 years ago.”
“We’re commemorating a war, yes,” Admiral Johnson concluded. “But we’re also celebrating the
new peace that resulted from that.”
For more information, contact the Naval Forces Marianas
Public Affairs Office at (671) 339-5207.
-- USN --
Anniversary: a Moment of Healing
Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Nathanael T. Miller, Naval Media Support Center, U.S. Naval Forces
Marianas, Guam
PELELIU ISLAND – 15 Sept 2004 – Sixty years ago, this lush, green, humid island was stripped of its
jungle growth and filled with the booming of artillery barrages and the sharp retort of gunfire. The
inhabitants of the Palau Islands were caught between the forces of two warring titans, the United States
and the Japanese Empire.
Sixty years later, a new generation of U.S. Navy officers and Sailors from the guided missile cruiser
USS Lake Erie (CG 70), gathered with a handful of surviving veterans of both the Japanese Army and
the U.S. Marine Corps to remember the blood and sacrifice of the Battle of Peleliu, and to dedicate a
new museum to a peaceful future.
Chief Petty Officer J. A. Cassista said “meeting these veterans puts things in perspective. It’s hard to
understand what they went through and that kind of dedication.” Seaman Recruit Ricardo Miranda
added that the experience “heightens a sense of heritage as an American.”
The Palauan people had shared a decades-long history with the Japanese when U.S. war planners
targeted their islands for invasion in 1944. The Japanese airfields on Peleliu and the nearby island of
Angaur were considered a threat to U.S. General Douglas MacArthur’s campaign to liberate the
Philippine Islands.
After three days of intensive aerial and sea bombardment, the Marines hit the beaches on Peleliu’s
western shore on September 15, 1944. Marine Corps Major General William Rupertus predicted that
Operation STALEMATE II would be over after a few days.
This prediction was wildly incorrect. By 1944 the Japanese Army had significantly altered their tactics
for defending against amphibious invasions. Unlike previous battles, the Japanese did not engage in
uncoordinated “Banzai” charges. Instead, they remained hidden in defensive caves and bunkers, forcing
the U.S. fighting men to spread out and expose themselves to hostile fire as they attempted to seal up
fortifications one-by-one.
The new Japanese tactics were successful, and American forces would not secure the island until
October of 1944. The Japanese lost over 11,000 men, and the U.S. Marine Corps and Army suffered
1,500 men killed and over 6,700 wounded or missing.
Reflecting on this turbulent history, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Van Horn said, “This gives me
more respect for the time I’m in.” Van Horn, a Lake Erie Sailor who volunteered to be part of the joint
Palauan-U.S. Navy Color Guard, said he did not mind standing and carrying the U.S. flag in tropical
heat during morning ceremonies. “It’s a great honor to be here, to see these guys who’ve done a lot
we've never done.”
Comments from Palauan and U.S. Navy officials focused on the theme of healing. Peleliu State
Governor Jackson R. Ngiraingas characterized the Palauan experience as a people caught between two
great “quarrelling brothers.” The governor said that in the years since the war these two brothers have
become “strong allies” and both have helped the Palauan people to achieve independence. He said
another example of healing was the presence of several Japanese veterans sitting side-by-side with U.S.
veterans.
A World War II museum, built inside a bombed-out Japanese communications post on Peleliu, was
dedicated the evening of Sept. 15 as a statement of past conflict having grown into present friendship.
This theme was underscored by Rear Admiral Arthur J. Johnson, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces
Marianas. Representing the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Johnson spoke of the Japanese people’s
rise as an economic power in the latter half of the 20th Century, and the solid cooperation between their
government and the United States in fighting the Global War on Terror.
“It has more to do with Japan and where they are today, and not so much where they were 60 years
ago,” Admiral Johnson said, following the ceremony. “Japan is the foremost regional ally of the United
States and a premier world economic power. In a situation such as this, it’s more important to focus on
where we are today and where we are going in the future than to focus too much on the issues that
divided us 60 years ago.”
“We’re commemorating a war, yes,” Admiral Johnson concluded. “But we’re also celebrating the
new peace that resulted from that.”
For more information, contact the Naval Forces Marianas
Public Affairs Office at (671) 339-5207.
-- USN --