HELL ON HILLTOP

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 146, 22 June 1945, Page 8

HELL ON HILLTOP

OKINAWA SURPRISE

HOW A BATTALION VANISHED By GORDON COBBLEDICK OKINAWA. In the pre-dawn darkness the Americans moved forward. It was a surprise assault and no artillery support was given. The men were not even allowed to use their rifles as that would reveal their advance. Their only weapons were bayonets and hand grenades. Their orders: "Take that hill. And hold.it."

That hill was' a rocky elevation m front of Kakazu Ridge, a stronghold from which the Japanese had been lobbing a murderous mortar barrage into Yank positions. Of the entire battalion, only one platoon and part of another reached broke the enemy on Kakazu Ridge began to shell the hilltop. Lieutenant Ford, of Pawhuska, Okla., radioed back to the battalion command post that ne would have to withdraw. Lieutenant Ford and four enlisted men stayed behind as a rearguard while the riddled remnant of the battalion began the painful descent of the hill, helping the walking wounded, leaving the more seriously hU One member of the little rearguard was hit, and Ford deliberately made himself a target to draw fire, away from the wounded man until his comrades could move him to a place ° £ A g t r Tl te a.m af Fo T rd and his men reSrhil^fn^To^shllSr 6 b b a f rocks and in shallow ditches from [he withering fire of artillery, mortar and machine guns.

And 46 Men Tried Again

Then from battalion headquarters came another order: "Collect all available men and take that hm. Noses were counted, the roll was ( . a ii ec i and 46 men out of the normal battalion strength of more than 500 were found. (Not all the others were casualties; many, were pinned down in positions impossible to reach by radio or messengers.) The little group of 46 tried to move forward, but before it had advanced 50 feet seven of its members were wounded. The others improvised litters out of rifles and ponchos and carrying the casualties, found cover in a rocky gulch to-the right. There they were trapped, with the open ground at the far end of the R Slch h covered by enemy fire from Kakazu Ridge. Captain John Van Vulpen and a sergeant crept out and they made their way back to battalion he Th q ere art vln Vulpen called for volunteer litter bearers to go back and try to bring out the wounded Twelve men volunteered, only six shelter of the gulch a sergeant and a private dashed back into the exposed position at the base, of the hill which had been their original objective and retrieved a walkie-talkie'radio which had been abandoned. In radio contact with headquarters once more, Ford called again for smoke to cover a retreat. The battalion responded with a screen of mortar smoke, but the Japs immediately countered with smoke of their own, laying it behind the gulch and obscuring the target so that the Yank mortar men had to cease firing, but leaving Ford and his men exposed to enemy guns if they left the gulch and tried to escape across the open ground.

"God Help You, Leo"

At dusk Ford rounded up the men who were still able to travel and ran the gauntlet of fire back to the battalion command post, leaving three wounded men behind. At the command post Ford, took three volunteers and started back to evacuate the three casualties. Under cover of darkness they reached the gulch and there they lay all night, under intense mortar fire. From headquarters Captain Hugh D. Young was sobbing as he said: God radiold a message to Ford. Captam young was sobbing as he said, uoa help you, Leo." That was the battalion's last contact with Ford and his men Daylight came and they were listed officially as missing in action—the gallant lieutentant, the volunteer rescuers and the three wounded men. They had gone two days without food and with only one canteen of water a man. , . Shortly before noon, seven haggard men were seen picking their way cautiously towards the American lines. Four were half walking, half crawling, carrying and dragging a makeshift litter on which the most seriously wounded survivor lay. Two other wounded men were inching along on their stomachs. At noon they fell wearily into a cave that housed the command post Auckland Star and N.A.N.A.