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My dad was a US Marine. Sixty years ago he was fighting for his life on the island of Saipan. The battle lasted 25 days. Dad never liked to talk about the war. The memories were too much. Late in life, his health failing, he finally started to talk about the horror of his war.
After the battles had ended there were still many Japanese soldiers hiding on the island in caves. My dad was an officer. He gave his men some time off. Two of his men used their time off to go hunting. They went hunting for Japanese. Armed with carbines, they called them "peashooters", these fellows spent their time off flushing the enemy out of their hiding places. They sound like noble men, don't they? They weren't. They had an insidious purpose in mind. Marines loved souvenirs and these guys were creating their own. The Japanese would run away. The Marines would shoot them in the legs to slow them down. Armed with pliers, these two Marines proceeded to extract the gold teeth from their terrified victims. Souvenirs yanked out, the Japanese were then released to return to the caves where they could inform the others what kind of treatment to expect if they were captured. Is it any wonder that on Saipan the majority of Japanese chose suicide over capture?
These brave Marines strung the gold teeth on necklaces and sent them home to their sweethearts. My father was appalled. As the WWII generation fades in to honored memory we need to remember; war is hell, it always is. My dad would have been 81 years old September 16, 2004.
Somewhere in America, necklaces, made of gold teeth, are hidden in the closets and drawers of some American heroes.
Posted by Vick Mickunas on 6/21/04; 12:54:27 PM
from the dept.
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