Don was told to get some new grenades.-He found a hole at the airfield. It was full of Marine bodies having grenades at theit belts.-Don put some of the grenades in a bag.-He headed for the beach to get more.-He found a Thompson sub-machine gun at the side of a dead Navy man.-Starting over a terrace, he found a work party (about 30 men).-"A shell screamed in, they disappeared in a massive explosion, I flew up and backwards some twenty feet."-Someone pulled him to his feet.-"I stared at what was left of the work party, a mass of jellied arms, legs and torsos, not a whole body left in the entire group."-Someone guided him towards an LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel aka Higgins boat).-He was pushed aboard.-Some wounded came on.-Shells bracketing the boat.-Two close hits.-The LCVP heading out to sea (the rudder was jamming).-They had nothing to repair it.-Their only hope: "attracting someone's attention".-Heading northward; it was getting dark.-He estimated they would make landfall at Tachiiwa Point (Japanese stronghold).-"The sky clouded over, enveloping us in complete darkness. The weather turned icy cold."-Battle waggons pumping shells into the island ("shells arching over our heads")-"burst of a parachute flare" (Japanese)-They were dangerously near the rocky shore at Tachiiwa Point.-"Japanese patrol hurrying aound and over those rocks toward a small beach where we were drifting"-"we considered our options which, at best, seemed very bleak."-The coxswain and his buddy diving for the engine.-"The rest of us...hoping against hope that the cursing and pounding men below succeeded..."-One blinking out SOS with a flashlight (nearly exhausted).-"Another enemy flare burst about five minutes later..."-"Japanese patrol ready and waiting for our inevitable delivery into their hands"-Don clenching his Thompson "determined to go down kicking and scratching, taking as many as I could."-Don knew their exact position ( 1, 5 miles from Blue Beach 2).-"we bobbed slowly shoreward in total darkness while island-ripping salvos screamed overhead"-"thrumming of a nearby engine. Friend or foe?"-Don thought it was the Japs.-"Out of the gloom a voice called out, 'Hey, you guys, where the hell are you?"-Don thought it was a trick.-"each of us determined to go down fighting"-Again the voice: "Well, fuck' em. If they don't want to get picked up, let's get the hell out of here.!"-It was the "unmistakable jargon of an American seaman"-"The LCM (Landing Craft Mechanized, twice the size of our Higgins boat) raced in..."---
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