Fighting on Peleiu with Co. K

Monday, July 22, 2002
Walt Sehnert

Ray Stramel, now of McCook, was a native Kansan and a graduate of Fort Hays State College when he went into the Marines during World War II.

After officer's training at Quantico, Va., he was sent to the South Pacific. More training followed -- for landing assault operations -- at Pavuvu Island, off Guadalcanal. By September 1944, Ray was a Second Lieutenant in charge of a machine gun platoon in K Co., 3rd Batallion, l Regiment of the lst Marine Division, on his way to Peleliu. While Peleliu was not much in the way of valuable real estate, it was in the hands of the Japanese, and it lay in the path of General McArthur's route to the Philippines. The airfield on Peleliu was considered a threat to the entire operation. But that airfield would be extremely valuable if it were in American hands. Therefore, an all-out assault was ordered for the capture of Peleliu.

For three days American battleships and American bombers saturated the island with heavy shells and bombs till it was assumed that Japanese resistance to an invasion would be minimal The military commanders believed that nothing could withstand a pounding like the planes and ships delivered during those 72 hours. They were wrong.

The lst Marine Division, "The Old Breed," veterans of Guadalcanal, under (then) Col. "Chesty" Puller was chosen to make the landing, with K Co. in the lead. Resistance was expected to be light. Instead the Marines were met with extremely heavy fire from Japanese pillboxes from high ground, known as "The Point." These pillboxes were reinforced concrete bunkers, which had been virtually untouched by the bombing and shelling. It was absolutely essential that this high ground be secured, but the Japanese had constructed their defenses well

This was Ray's first fight. His platoon, on the left flank, facing "The Point, proved to be in the key position of the operation. It seemed that everything went wrong for K Co. in the first hours of the assault. Casualties were heavy. There was a shortage of machine guns. The radios were not working, so communication was minimal. Reinforcements of arms and men were unavailable. Gaining a foothold on the island was made more difficult by the fact that it was impossible to dig foxholes in the coral of the beach.

From their protected areas, the Japanese were able to counterattack time and again. The men were exhausted, but fighting on the beach went back and forth, hour after hour. Many men, on both sides died. Though American aircraft arrived from time to time to deliver bombs on the Japanese fortifications, in the end the pillboxes, which rained such murderous fire on the advancing troops, had to be secured, one by one, by riflemen, machine gun fire, flame-throwers, and grenades.

After three days of almost constant fighting reinforcements arrived, and Ray's K Co. was taken to the front line. The company, which had landed with 235 men, had been reduced to only 78. After nine days the survivors in K Co. were taken off the island. But the fighting continued, and Peleliu was not secured for the Americans until January, 1945.

Ray went on to fight again at Okinawa and was part of an occupation force in China at the end of the war. He considers his experience at Peleliu the defining period of his life. Ray says he is extremely lucky. He fought in several battles, and received medals for his service in the South Pacific. He came home to marry, to rear a family. He was a familiar figure at the post office in McCook for many years.

He's been a leader in his church. He's played countless rounds of golf. He's been a stalwart in the American Legion, and has attended numerous Marine reunions at locations across the country. But he remembers the others at Peleliu -- his comrades and Barney Magrath, who never got that chance.

Note: The commanding officer of K Co. was Captain George P. Hunt, who after the war joined the Time/Life Corp., eventually becoming the president of Life Magazine. Mr. Hunt has written a detailed account of the Battle of Pelleliu under the title, "Coral Comes High." Truly an absorbing story.

Thanks also to Col J. H. Alexander, USMC (Ret) for his article, Pelleliu 1944, in Leatherneck Magazine, Nov. 1996.

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