Speaker 1: Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
Speaker 1: this edition is Kenneth Wells. He's a US Marine Corps
Speaker 1: Infantry veteran of World War Two who served in the
Speaker 1: Battle of Okinawa from April to June of nineteen forty
Speaker 1: five and was wounded there. He joins US today to
Speaker 1: share his story of service and describe the conditions on Okinawa,
Speaker 1: the challenges of fighting against the Japanese there, and what
Speaker 1: combat was like for him. Kenneth Wells was born in Ohio,
Speaker 1: just a few years before the start of the Great Depression,
Speaker 1: and looking back now, well says he can see how
Speaker 1: the Depression impacted his family.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I always felt that something was wrong
Speaker 2: in the family. Have that closest and you have that
Speaker 2: feeling that something just out right. It turned out as
Speaker 2: I got older, I realized that the depression had taken
Speaker 2: such a told to the personality of the individuals. You
Speaker 2: know that we were farmers, and the idea of the
Speaker 2: thought was that you might lose the farm. I think
Speaker 2: that was the problem in their minds, and so this
Speaker 2: was always a thought I picked up without realizing it.
Speaker 1: How did you hear the news of the Japanese attack
Speaker 1: on Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 3: I think by radio.
Speaker 1: What was your reaction?
Speaker 3: You know at that time.
Speaker 2: In forty two, I was still in Betoure, kid, you
Speaker 2: might say, and I had heard of Hitler and what
Speaker 2: was going on in Europe, so you had some preparation
Speaker 2: of what it was like, you know, But.
Speaker 3: It really didn't bother me.
Speaker 2: A great deal that, I think, because you have security
Speaker 2: in your own home life, and security that you could
Speaker 2: take care of anything it came along.
Speaker 1: When did you join the Marine Corps?
Speaker 2: Well, this big old sergeant walked in the room and
Speaker 2: he said, my son, I know you were supposed to
Speaker 2: go to the Navy, but you have just volunteered for
Speaker 2: the Marine Corps.
Speaker 1: So you wanted to join the Navy?
Speaker 3: Yes, And so he picked two of us, he said,
Speaker 3: you and you. That's how I got into breads.
Speaker 1: How would you describe basic training at Paris Island?
Speaker 2: Well, I had always been an active kid high school,
Speaker 2: you know, and throughout athletics in shape a farm kid,
Speaker 2: you know. I had all type of muscles from shoveling
Speaker 2: corn and doing farm work. What happened to me had
Speaker 2: boot trade was this normal process of life you know
Speaker 2: I was able to handle it, handle most everything that
Speaker 2: they threw at me. Strangest think there was one thing
Speaker 2: that you ever noticed, a like a ladder and you
Speaker 2: would go from one run to.
Speaker 3: The other climb forward.
Speaker 2: You know, I had never done that in my whole life,
Speaker 2: and I know that the weight of my body pulling
Speaker 2: on my arm. I said, boy, now this is tough.
Speaker 2: And I would say that was part of the toughest
Speaker 2: thing that I had to go through. No, I shammard
Speaker 2: all the boot trady, getting through in mud streams and
Speaker 2: everything else. You know, it was awaken.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: To take this young boy and growing up to a
Speaker 2: man real quick.
Speaker 1: Now you were originally supposed to be part of a
Speaker 1: marine replacement unit that headed to Ewo Jima, but plans
Speaker 1: got changed. You now believe that if you had gone there,
Speaker 1: you probably would have been killed there. Explain what happened
Speaker 1: and explain why you believe that.
Speaker 3: The whole thing started out.
Speaker 2: Carolina at Capel Jude early in that morning when everybody
Speaker 2: was shipping out, why this corporal came along and he said,
Speaker 2: I need you and you and we'll put you in
Speaker 2: as a super nuber. And there were twelve of us,
Speaker 2: and they put us in the pirade ground and sat
Speaker 2: us down by a big tree and said you stay
Speaker 2: there till we call you. And ever really understood exactly
Speaker 2: why this happened, but apparently because of certain outfits that
Speaker 2: might need one else or something, you know, they would
Speaker 2: grab one of us at the time.
Speaker 3: Well, the whole thing was that when the.
Speaker 2: Trade left, there were three of us still there, and
Speaker 2: so we were then recycled with a new group coming
Speaker 2: in from Paras Island and for retraining. And because of
Speaker 2: that that group that I had trained with had been
Speaker 2: with all this time, they ended up going to Iwa
Speaker 2: Java and Earhart who was a friend another student from
Speaker 2: another school that we used to play basketball together. He
Speaker 2: also was one that was selected to be a marine,
Speaker 2: and as soon as he walked on the island of
Speaker 2: Iba Java, he received a bullet right square in the head,
Speaker 2: they tell me, and he was killed almost immediately.
Speaker 3: And I just know that I.
Speaker 2: Would be that save group and walked those same steps
Speaker 2: that they did. And very few of the platoon that
Speaker 2: I traveled with and traded with on Parish Island never
Speaker 2: never left the island. You know, you know you're witnessing me.
Speaker 2: You today, but I'm sure that I would have not made.
Speaker 3: It, sir.
Speaker 1: Instead of going to Ewo Jima, you were sent to
Speaker 1: Guadalcanal for additional training. What kind of training did you
Speaker 1: do there?
Speaker 2: Just before we went to Guadacanal, we went to another
Speaker 2: little island called the Russell, one of the Russell Islands,
Speaker 2: and we continued the basic trading the same as we
Speaker 2: did somewhat later. Who went to Guadalcanal And that was
Speaker 2: more of shall we say, fighting in the IB and
Speaker 2: rifle and then continuing on with we'll say what we
Speaker 2: thought at that time more like jungle warfare and learning
Speaker 2: different tactics along that line, not knowing that Okonawo was
Speaker 2: going to be more of a flat area and trees,
Speaker 2: but not the dense jungle of course, so it would
Speaker 2: just continue marine tactics and learning more about explosives, flame drawers,
Speaker 2: different weapons, and disfinding you for the inevitable goal that
Speaker 2: you were going to be sent into real soon.
Speaker 1: When did you find out that you would be part
Speaker 1: of the invasion of Okinawa?
Speaker 2: It seemed like you're always the last to be informed.
Speaker 3: It was just.
Speaker 2: A few days before we actually got to Oklawa that
Speaker 2: we were told, and.
Speaker 3: We were.
Speaker 2: In groups, and they informed us Shito that there was
Speaker 2: an island out there that we were going to take
Speaker 2: that was closer to the home land of Japan.
Speaker 3: It'd be a.
Speaker 2: Stepping stone after we secured this island. At that time,
Speaker 2: some of the latest weapons were explained to us also,
Speaker 2: particularly some instruments for night fighting, you know, the infra
Speaker 2: red type of thing. So it was probably only about
Speaker 2: two or three days. And then on that April first
Speaker 2: Easter Sunday, you woke up very early in the morning,
Speaker 2: of course, and it was still dark and called in
Speaker 2: for breakfast, steak and all that stuff, the last big meal,
Speaker 2: you know. And then as the sun comes up, since
Speaker 2: we are b was not in the first invasion, not
Speaker 2: the first one to step off the ship or on
Speaker 2: the island, you know, it was daylight and we look
Speaker 2: out and I never saw so many ships in my
Speaker 2: old life all over the horizon, and you just say,
Speaker 2: you've gotta be kidding, you know. And the next day,
Speaker 2: of course, is wave after wave, and I think about
Speaker 2: two hours later that finally we climbed over the side
Speaker 2: of the ship down the rope ladder, you know, and
Speaker 2: got in the Higgins boat and went ashore.
Speaker 1: That's Kenneth Wells, a US Marine Corps veteran of World
Speaker 1: War Two and a veteran of the Battle for Okinawa.
Speaker 1: Still to come, we'll hear about the surprisingly easy, amphibious
Speaker 1: landing on Okinawa and what the fighting was like there
Speaker 1: once combat began. I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles.
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Speaker 1: This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
Speaker 1: this edition is Kenneth Wells, a US Marine Corps veteran
Speaker 1: of World War II and the Battle of Okinawa. We
Speaker 1: now pick up his story as the Marines got quite
Speaker 1: a surprise as they landed on Okinawa, and.
Speaker 2: By this time we were formed, you know that there
Speaker 2: was not a vast amount of enemy resistance that time.
Speaker 2: They had already advanced farther than what they planned, you know.
Speaker 3: Even just.
Speaker 2: Different feelings, you know, different awakening that it was different
Speaker 2: than what you had mentally planned. That you expected to
Speaker 2: be pinned down on the beach and it just didn't happen.
Speaker 2: You walked in there like as if a Sunday walk,
Speaker 2: and it was a beautiful day, no doubt about.
Speaker 3: In April first, ninety forty five.
Speaker 1: So were you relieved or did you wonder what they
Speaker 1: really had planned.
Speaker 2: No, we're smart enough to know that the enemy was
Speaker 2: there someplace and it was just a matter of time.
Speaker 2: But as I still resent somehow you just lacked the
Speaker 2: information that you should have gotten, and they never really
Speaker 2: took a hold of you and shook you and said, hey,
Speaker 2: wake up. The fact that these suckers are.
Speaker 3: They're dug in.
Speaker 2: They've got tunnels all over this island and you won't
Speaker 2: see anybody. They had hospitals under the ground. The whole
Speaker 2: army was underground. They could go from one small hill
Speaker 2: to another by tunnels. And this is why you didn't
Speaker 2: see them on Sunday morning when you walk the score.
Speaker 1: How would you describe the terrain?
Speaker 2: It was flat. The hills were not really large. They
Speaker 2: weren't like mountains like in Colorado or some other state.
Speaker 2: They were just a hill of two or three hundred
Speaker 2: feet high. You might say there were trees and there
Speaker 2: were rice panties. That's basically what you saw.
Speaker 1: How long after you landed did the Japanese attack.
Speaker 2: We went in straight through to the airport, turned left
Speaker 2: north and we then secured the northern portion of the
Speaker 2: island and we ran into resistance a certain about you know,
Speaker 2: within a few days and wiped that out and UH
Speaker 2: then continued on to the end of the island in the
Speaker 2: north part, and then UH started back towards the south.
Speaker 2: So we saw very little resistance, but U very we
Speaker 2: didn't see masters of group.
Speaker 3: You didn't see.
Speaker 2: What we felt like we would see a Bondi attack
Speaker 2: or anything like that. But UH there was this light resistance.
Speaker 1: How do you fight an enemy you can't see.
Speaker 2: When you're fired upon, you have some idea where that
Speaker 2: is coming from. You know, the explosions, the larger mourners,
Speaker 2: the UH are artillery somewhat where they're coming from. You know,
Speaker 2: a rifle fire, you know that, or at least if
Speaker 2: you didn't catch on to where it was coming from,
Speaker 2: somebody told you.
Speaker 3: You know, you're.
Speaker 2: Pretty sure, you know, in a general vicinity. This first
Speaker 2: time when we were fired upon, you knew approximately where
Speaker 2: it was coming from. But I remember Tory that eventually
Speaker 2: got killed, buddy. We were firing back into Sugar Loaf Hill,
Speaker 2: you know, and we just sprayed the areas you know
Speaker 2: that we felt possibly might be coming from. You know,
Speaker 2: That's what we did, you know, and the time on
Speaker 2: sugar Loo when we were right up there on top,
Speaker 2: you know, and the next thing you know is their
Speaker 2: lobby grenades back up over the hill there come out
Speaker 2: the side of the hill, and then they would throw
Speaker 2: grenades up over you.
Speaker 3: Still never saw the enemy. All you did was.
Speaker 2: Finally understanding the explosion that happened, or you felt it
Speaker 2: did real close to you. And it was a weak
Speaker 2: feeling to know that come off out fight like a
Speaker 2: man's you, we say, you know. And so you had
Speaker 2: this depressed feeling somewhat that hey, maybe the time will
Speaker 2: come when we'll corner this sucker and then we'll find
Speaker 2: out exactly how how you really are fighting, you know.
Speaker 1: That's Kenneth Wells, a US Marine Corps veteran of World
Speaker 1: War Two and the Battle of Okinawa. In a Moment,
Speaker 1: Wells described some of the most intense combat on Okinawa.
Speaker 1: I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. This is
Speaker 1: Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this edition
Speaker 1: is Kenneth Wells, a US Marine Corps veteran of World
Speaker 1: War Two and the Battle of Okinawa. In a moment,
Speaker 1: you'll hear all about the intense fight for sugar Loaf
Speaker 1: Hill on Okinawa and other major challenges our marines were
Speaker 1: facing there. But first, mister Wells continues his description of
Speaker 1: fighting an enemy he couldn't see, and it turns out
Speaker 1: that growing up on the farm was good practice for
Speaker 1: dealing with this Japanese tactic.
Speaker 3: I guess the best way to explain it that it's
Speaker 3: just unknown.
Speaker 2: It's like years before that, I used to go pheasant
Speaker 2: hunting back on the farm, and you didn't see any pheasants,
Speaker 2: and you just kept advancing until the pheasant would go up.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: That's about what happened, is that you advanced so much
Speaker 2: on this island and you courted them more and more
Speaker 2: that they had to somewhat come out.
Speaker 3: But the actual man, the band, you got very little.
Speaker 2: Of that except on certain amount of Okolama with the hills,
Speaker 2: and I'm starting here for a second.
Speaker 3: You know, sugar Loaf.
Speaker 2: Was the predominant one that mostly had to hand and uh.
Speaker 2: And it was light certain about that, because they would
Speaker 2: come out of the hole and go back in, you know,
Speaker 2: and you'd say they came out someplace, you know, But
Speaker 2: all you did was just got the effect of the
Speaker 2: explosion of grenades or mortar being fired, you know, explosions
Speaker 2: of that.
Speaker 1: Did you chase them into the caves?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: Basically when carrying a flamethrower, you know, you had to
Speaker 2: seal up the caves and.
Speaker 3: You would see a certain entrance you.
Speaker 2: Know, to it, and so you'd lay down the rifle
Speaker 2: fire to it, and then you advanced with your flamethrower
Speaker 2: and you shoot the flame in that respect. Then devilisha
Speaker 2: packs would come in and you'd seal the cave up
Speaker 2: so that, uh, there was no more coming out of
Speaker 2: that cave. And let's they dug them out, dug themselves
Speaker 2: out if they'd survived, you know, of the penetration. But
Speaker 2: up to this time, you know, you you have ships
Speaker 2: out there firing, and you have your own artillery, and.
Speaker 3: There was.
Speaker 2: A mass destruction of human beings from that, you know,
Speaker 2: so that some of this unseed enemy was killed from
Speaker 2: the ships and cannons from your tanks, you know. And
Speaker 2: they also carried flamethrowers too, and helped out with sealing
Speaker 2: up the caves and cause him to go back in.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: Now, the Japanese were not the only thing in those caves.
Speaker 1: You guys had to deal with fleas. How annoying was that.
Speaker 2: Oh you'll never forget fleas, never forget, you know, and
Speaker 2: you would get so many fleas that it actually it
Speaker 2: was almost comical that.
Speaker 3: You see a guy.
Speaker 2: There striped naked and either shaking his clothes out or
Speaker 2: picking the fleas up, you know, like that, you know,
Speaker 2: and you say, oh my god, oh I just have
Speaker 2: a picture of that.
Speaker 3: You know, they wouldn't believe it.
Speaker 2: No, but unless you live in a certain countries, part
Speaker 2: of the country where you're affected by insects, you know,
Speaker 2: you wouldn't have any standing of how miserable it is
Speaker 2: to be attacked by these fleas. They just you know,
Speaker 2: there's thousands of them.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you about a couple of other issues
Speaker 1: you had to deal with. One over two and a
Speaker 1: half months was a lot of rain. How did you
Speaker 1: survive the rain and what impact did it have on you?
Speaker 2: You dig a foxhole so deep little and that sucker
Speaker 2: would not fill up, but you would have at least
Speaker 2: five sixes of water it would accumulate that way. And
Speaker 2: of course the trucks it takes they just mogged down,
Speaker 2: you know, because of this terrade that got so soft
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: The mire right here.
Speaker 2: Though it slowed our advances up a great deal, but
Speaker 2: you just took a stride, you know, you kept going,
Speaker 2: and I know particularly you caught on real quick with
Speaker 2: the raid that well, we came ashore. We had little
Speaker 2: ligoands that we fastened around our trousers here, and we
Speaker 2: realized that if you got wet, all this water had
Speaker 2: because of gravity, had to go down and filled up
Speaker 2: your shoes. So that was the first thing you threw away,
Speaker 2: was little legags, you know, because then your trousers would
Speaker 2: be on the outside somewhat and you wouldn't get so wet,
Speaker 2: you know, your feet, you know. But it was miserable
Speaker 2: for a whole month their raids, you know, and it
Speaker 2: slowed our advances down, of course, but we were still
Speaker 2: made our advances, and the CBS came in and cut
Speaker 2: outside of hills, made roads new roads.
Speaker 3: It was just shell was there a muddy mess.
Speaker 1: In May of nineteen forty five, you were part of
Speaker 1: the fight for Sugar Loaf Hill, like you mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: What was the objective and how would you describe that fighting?
Speaker 2: Ibjective was to take the hill.
Speaker 3: What the fighting was like was.
Speaker 2: You went up this hill, little trails, you went up
Speaker 2: to the top of it dug in, and then the
Speaker 2: whole hill would break loose, you know.
Speaker 3: They come out their caves and like I said, they.
Speaker 2: Would reach out and lob a grenade back up over
Speaker 2: the hill, you know. And at first you want to
Speaker 2: what the world is happening? Where's this coming from? You know,
Speaker 2: because you'll be here and to be here and make
Speaker 2: it make a big different. But I remember that the
Speaker 2: first day and the first group that came back off
Speaker 2: of at that we interviewed because we knew we were
Speaker 2: going to be next.
Speaker 3: Soll uh.
Speaker 2: This one body that I had worked with before, and
Speaker 2: I said to him, I said, what is it like?
Speaker 2: And he said, carry all the grenades you could carry.
Speaker 2: That's the weapon of choice. Saw off shotgun would be
Speaker 2: the best thing, you know, for as close as you
Speaker 2: did get to the enemy or shooting into a hole,
Speaker 2: you know. So after that you carried as many good
Speaker 2: ages you could carry. The destruction of a bad kind
Speaker 2: on sugar Loaf was unheard of by this time. It's
Speaker 2: just amazing the number of men killed. Someone would be
Speaker 2: replaced in the morning and by nightfall you'd settled out
Speaker 2: a little bit then and say, hey, remember those two
Speaker 2: guys that came in this morning? Were they Now what happened?
Speaker 2: And someone would say a couple words to you in
Speaker 2: foul language and say, well they got killed, and talking
Speaker 2: about that.
Speaker 3: I remember later on, after got out of.
Speaker 2: The service and we have a reunion, I talked to
Speaker 2: one of the master sergeants and he said, you know,
Speaker 2: we went into that island with two hundred and fifty men,
Speaker 2: and before we were complete of that island we registered
Speaker 2: six hundred and fifty men.
Speaker 3: I think twenty nine of us came off of it.
Speaker 2: So that was the mass killing, shall we say? That
Speaker 2: took place? And not only on Turlop, but all the
Speaker 2: other little hills and areas you know that were set
Speaker 2: up for destruction.
Speaker 1: Tell me about your friend, Daniel Tory.
Speaker 2: Daniel was, shall I see, a sweet guy. He was
Speaker 2: a Hispanic from Chicago. When he first showed me that
Speaker 2: he got a hold of me, we had sort of
Speaker 2: known each other from a distance, but he said, hey,
Speaker 2: stick with me. And next thing I know is he's
Speaker 2: got a camera, a little small camera. I said, how
Speaker 2: did you ever get that? You're not supposed to have
Speaker 2: something like that. We're not supposed to have any type
Speaker 2: of budgy identification. You know. We aren't supposed to have
Speaker 2: a picture of our girlfriend or our mother and father,
Speaker 2: you know, or we aren't supposed to have a letter
Speaker 2: on us, you know, within an address that the enemy
Speaker 2: would do about. Oh but y'all don't worry about it,
Speaker 2: you know, Dad, Don and I were finally in front
Speaker 2: of sugar Loaf and we had later in the afternoon,
Speaker 2: by the whole company had come around sugar Loaf and
Speaker 2: dug into this position kind of like a ravine, it's
Speaker 2: more like a ditch, you know, And that's where we
Speaker 2: began to get fired upon from sugar Loaf. They had
Speaker 2: gone back into sugar Loaf and assume their old position
Speaker 2: from another part the other hill, and start firing at us,
Speaker 2: you know. And there again, you you didn't know exactly
Speaker 2: where it was coming from, but then the vicinity of
Speaker 2: that area in front. So we started firing back, and
Speaker 2: we did a lot of a lot of shooting, I remember,
Speaker 2: and as a result of that, we got a lot
Speaker 2: of response. Because of that, they knew where it was
Speaker 2: coming from, and so it was very much longer than
Speaker 2: the next thing I know is Tory says, hey, I'm
Speaker 2: hit and he's hit right here, and so okay, so
Speaker 2: well we'll let be shirt and everything and get this
Speaker 2: band aid out to put on that, you know, and
Speaker 2: give him a shot of morphed the little ample and
Speaker 2: the next.
Speaker 3: Thing I know is he just passes out.
Speaker 2: And not knowing medically anything at that time speak of,
Speaker 2: I thought he was dead, you know, but actually he
Speaker 2: just he went into shock and because of lack of
Speaker 2: medical facility right there or something, he passed out there.
Speaker 3: He died, you know.
Speaker 2: After that, we just sort of push him aside and
Speaker 2: would continue to fire back at the unseen and be
Speaker 2: in front. That happens so fast and you couldn't do
Speaker 2: anything else about it except do what you could that time.
Speaker 2: It's not like somewhat heavy the explosion where a piece
Speaker 2: of place was taken out and you could put a
Speaker 2: tourniquet on or some bandage. Apparently, so the arteries in
Speaker 2: the chest there, coming off the heart were dammies and uh,
Speaker 2: he just internally blended death. You didn't have enough medical
Speaker 2: knowledge to save and by that time all of our
Speaker 2: corna were killed anyway, So it didn't do a good
Speaker 2: yel for Corbet because he wouldn't come anyway, but the
Speaker 2: enemy kept firing back into our area. And I still,
Speaker 2: you know, I have buddies that were in the marine
Speaker 2: and in the automak weapon part, and I'd say, where.
Speaker 3: Were you guys, you know, to help us out?
Speaker 2: You know, I thought, if we get sporadic fire back
Speaker 2: towards the enemy, you can subdue them, you know, take
Speaker 2: care of it that way. And I said where were
Speaker 2: you and he said, well, we were there, you know.
Speaker 2: And I said, well.
Speaker 3: You didn't help help us out.
Speaker 2: And you know, but before we knew it, this corporal
Speaker 2: comes along and he now tried to tell us where
Speaker 2: the enemy is firing from, and because we already knew
Speaker 2: exactly approximately where, and next thing, you know, he gets
Speaker 2: shot in the leg, you know, and he went down,
Speaker 2: you know, the the bolt went through there and fractured
Speaker 2: the fever and he was bleeding, and so I cutting
Speaker 2: off his pants to put a turning aloud, and.
Speaker 3: He passes out.
Speaker 2: He goes into shock, and there again, you know, no knowledge,
Speaker 2: you know, so you just throw him aside and go
Speaker 2: on because you've got other things that take care of.
Speaker 3: You've got your.
Speaker 2: Own life to protect, you know, Until you continue to
Speaker 2: go back to firing it. They entered enemy again. Quite
Speaker 2: a day, remember, after all these year eighty years later
Speaker 2: or so, remember, just like yesterday.
Speaker 1: That's Kenneth Wells, a US Marine Corps veteran of World
Speaker 1: War Two and the Battle of Okinawa. In a moment,
Speaker 1: we'll hear how Wells was wounded and his war came
Speaker 1: to an end. I'm Greg Corumbus, and this is Veterans Chronicles.
Speaker 1: This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
Speaker 1: this edition is Kenneth Wells, a US Marine Corps veteran
Speaker 1: of World War Two and the Battle of Okinawa. Up next,
Speaker 1: mister Wells takes us to June nineteen forty five, when
Speaker 1: he was wounded and his war came to an end.
Speaker 2: We were advancing towards another hill, which we did know
Speaker 2: the name of it or too much geographical, except another hill,
Speaker 2: and we just keep going ill. All I know is
Speaker 2: that an explosion took place and I was strewn in
Speaker 2: the air.
Speaker 3: And eventually.
Speaker 2: Came out of it after I was knocked out, and
Speaker 2: then came back to life, shall we say. And by
Speaker 2: this time everybody else had left. The whole company had
Speaker 2: continued on for their objective, you know, and left me there.
Speaker 3: And to this day I.
Speaker 2: Say to some of the guys that have survived, I said,
Speaker 2: you know you somemcu is you you left me, You
Speaker 2: didn't stop, and I wonder what happened. Well, and you're
Speaker 2: knocked out, laid there. You're dead far as it goes.
Speaker 2: And they they got their war to fight, so they
Speaker 2: continue on. So eventually I wake up to a portion
Speaker 2: that I shake off the problem that I have. You know,
Speaker 2: you have the shrapnel all over you, and you're bleedy.
Speaker 2: Uh not not that you have to put turbeted tourniquets
Speaker 2: out of them, but there's a place take it out,
Speaker 2: you know. So you go back to the people down here.
Speaker 2: You see somebody doing something, you know, and so you
Speaker 2: you you go go those people. And those people what
Speaker 2: they were. They were a medical outfit and they had
Speaker 2: set up a first aid type of thing, you know.
Speaker 2: And I went back to them and I said, hey,
Speaker 2: could you take care of some of my problems? And
Speaker 2: they said, buddy, forget it. We got other problems a
Speaker 2: lot worse than yours. So they just pushed me aside.
Speaker 2: You know, there is this scenario continues, This sergeant comes along.
Speaker 2: Somehow I had seen him before, and he always carried
Speaker 2: this automatic weapon, this forty five automatic.
Speaker 3: You wondered what did he ever do? You know? But
Speaker 3: somehow he.
Speaker 2: Appeared in this picture and the next thing I know
Speaker 2: is he gets shot. And this cave has a large opening,
Speaker 2: and he gets shot. And I immediately say, what is
Speaker 2: a medical tr group doing setting up a porrible thing?
Speaker 2: You're right from a big cave when you know that
Speaker 2: the japsyld come out all that, And I don't, you know,
Speaker 2: I should think this machine gun and I should go
Speaker 2: back into that cave myself. But I h my day
Speaker 2: is slowly coming to it end. I don't want anything
Speaker 2: to do with anything else. It's almost like a prize
Speaker 2: fighter being knocked out. After he gets knocked out, you know,
Speaker 2: he's he's ready to stop fighting.
Speaker 3: His day is over with, you know.
Speaker 2: And that's because of this traumatic situation that happens in
Speaker 2: your braid. Your braid gets rattled so bad, and there's
Speaker 2: a a medical term for it. What I should know,
Speaker 2: that's that's what happens when you do get knocked out
Speaker 2: from explosion or from a concussion, like a boxer does.
Speaker 1: How long did it take to recover?
Speaker 2: Not really having any idea except I would say that
Speaker 2: from a time but I actually received this more to
Speaker 2: barade and KB in it was at least an hour
Speaker 2: and a half all this scenario took place alone. I
Speaker 2: would say probably an hour and a half, you know,
Speaker 2: because by the time it was all finished and I
Speaker 2: finally got enough breeze together to know that I should
Speaker 2: get back with my outfit, why it would begin to
Speaker 2: get dark.
Speaker 3: All so, I know.
Speaker 2: All this happened after three o'clock in the afternoone and.
Speaker 1: That was that was the end of your battle.
Speaker 2: I was the end of my battle. Basically, I'm done.
Speaker 2: I'm saying my war is over, you know, and hit
Speaker 2: like a boxer, layl on the matt there.
Speaker 3: He said, I don't wall box no more, you know
Speaker 3: it just.
Speaker 2: I mean, but I go back and check in with
Speaker 2: the captain immediately he seized the condition and he send
Speaker 2: me back to the first aid part of the medical
Speaker 2: group and get out of the jeep and go back to
Speaker 2: the headquarter or to the field hospital.
Speaker 3: Law.
Speaker 2: Even at that time, I'm thinking, why did you leave me?
Speaker 3: I just know that I was probably.
Speaker 2: Wouldn't respond to somebody who'd be knocked out or that condition,
Speaker 2: and realized that they couldn't have done anything anyway, probably,
Speaker 2: you know, but you can at least check a pulse.
Speaker 2: You could do something about nature, see if everything's still alive.
Speaker 2: So that bothered me for a long time. You know
Speaker 2: that marines never leave a land, but they do. It
Speaker 2: does happen. And because you have knowledge enough to know
Speaker 2: that they've got things to do. They haven't got time
Speaker 2: for a disabled individual. They got more important things to do.
Speaker 2: And like Whitaker said to me, he said, well, we
Speaker 2: didn't like you anyway.
Speaker 1: What are you most proud of from your service?
Speaker 2: I survived and what I'm really more proud of the
Speaker 2: fact that here they.
Speaker 3: Take a kid. Yeah, they put him in the Marines.
Speaker 2: They transport him to an area and they trade you.
Speaker 2: They give you weapons, they give you clothes, they feed
Speaker 2: you three meals a day, and then they ship you
Speaker 2: across the country.
Speaker 3: My trade.
Speaker 2: Then they ship you by a boat to an island
Speaker 2: and they prepare you for that battle.
Speaker 3: And you handle it.
Speaker 2: And you come out of it, go back to a
Speaker 2: hospital shade, you know, back to the States and to
Speaker 2: a hot closest to where you were inducted, take care
Speaker 2: of you that hospital and then medically discharge you, give
Speaker 2: you a few dollars to go home, and then pay
Speaker 2: you fifty dollars a month for so many months. Then,
Speaker 2: because being Purple Heart recipient, being you fall under a
Speaker 2: different law, Public Law sixteen that sends you to college unlimited.
Speaker 2: You could have gone to any number of years if
Speaker 2: that was your goal.
Speaker 3: They send me to college.
Speaker 2: I became a chiropractic position. Now the government did all that.
Speaker 2: I could have never paid the back all that they've done.
Speaker 2: There was a lot of good.
Speaker 3: Times, a lot of bad times, and a.
Speaker 2: Lot of things you carry to your grave, you know,
Speaker 2: but you have to say that it was a good life.
Speaker 3: Now that I'm sitting.
Speaker 2: Here and you're interviewing me and we're talking one to one,
Speaker 2: it's been a good life.
Speaker 1: Kenneth Wells is a US Marine Corps veteran of World
Speaker 1: War Two and the Battle of Okinawa. He's also a
Speaker 1: recipient of the Purple Heart. I'm Greg Corumbus and this
Speaker 1: is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, this is Greg Corumbus, and thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to Veterans Chronicles, a presentation of the American
Speaker 1: Veterans Center. For more information, please visit American Veteranscenter dot org.
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