Guadalcanal Marine

21. Pavuvu

[21] Pavuvu The ist Marine Division departed Cape Gloucester in two echelons on April 6 and May 4,1944. My unit, the i/th Marines, sailed in the second echelon. Left behind was the 12th Defense Battalion,which continued to provide anti-aircraftdefense for the Cape Gloucester airfield until relieved by an Army unit in lateMay. If nightmares are a special kind of dream, then Pavuvu wasa dream. When we entered Macquitti Bay we never imagined that we would stage on the largest of the Russell Islands, ten miles wide and 1500 feet at it's highest point,located sixtymiles from Guadalcanal.The coconut trees swayed in the breeze.It wasn't Melbourne,but it wasbeautiful. That is until night set in and the rats took over and the land crabs assaulted far beyond the beaches. There were so many hordes of rats that flame throwers were used to kill them. Twice as many would return the next night. If you didn't shake out your boondockers in the morning, you might just stick your foot into two or three land crabs. On Pavuvu we were expected to prepare for the next battle in an atmosphere of undernourishment, malaria, jungle rot, dysentery, and almost unbearable boredom. The ground was like Cape Gloucester, ankle deep in mud. Coral, brought in helmet load by helmet load, had to serve as tent decks. For some time there were no electric lights, no mess hall, no slopchutes. God always seemed to provide water for afternoon showers, but you had to gauge your lathering as best as you could. Someof the men suffered severeconcussions from beingbeaned [328] Pavuvu [329 ] by coconuts, but I doubt any Marine was ever awarded the Purple Heart for being hit on the head by a falling coconut unless he had evidence to convince the awarding authority that the enemy did it while that Marine wasengaged in mortal combat. I recall hearing the following story while attending one of the "Old Breed" Marine Reunions: One Sunday night on Pavuvu, our chaplain told us during one of the fewtimes wewere able to have service that we were going to have a collection. He told us about the missionaries who had saved our downed fliers and seamen; they had taught the natives that we were there to help them regain their freedom. He gave a very short sermon in which he said, "Now look here! Youhave money in your pockets and you can't do anything with it except gamble. So I want you to help these people get started again.Allright now,we'll pass the hat!" Incredibly,he collected over $20,000. To this day, aging survivors of the old breed continue to seek an answer to a decades-old nagging question: "Why the hell did we end up in Pavuvu?"Enlisted men who volunteered only for wartime duty and career officers, now retired, still harbor deep feelings of bitterness and resentment about the time they spent there. Several explanations have surfaced through the years of why Pavuvu was selected as the ist Marine Division's base camp to prepare for the invasion of Peleliu. Some are from little-known official documents. Others reflect the personal instincts and wisdom of salty career Marines, from sergeants to generals. Regardless of the reasons, Pavuvuwas nothing short of unmitigated agony and privation during most of the four months the division was there. It was a terrible place, and it would remain a nightmarish memory for many years to follow. In Melbourne there were enough good things to go around, and around they went. At Pavuva nothing was good, and everyone shared the bad. Things were looking up by the end of July. First and foremostwas the arrival of 4860 replacements. This meant that slightly more than [ 330 ] Cape Gloucester half of the division's veterans, with two or more years of overseas combat duty, might be going home. This was cheering news to those actually returning to the States, but it did little to raise the spirits of those left behind. Despite myrequest to remain with myunit for the upcoming Peleliu campaign, I was ordered home for extensivetreatment at the chronic malaria treatment center being established at Klamath Falls, Oregon. While this treatment was helpful at the time, I never lost my malaria. It will most likely revisit me the rest of my life and send me again and again into a...