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Chapter 10 Motoyama Village and Beyond A s we pushed northward to capture the island, we came across the village of Motoyama, which contained a sulfur mine. The smoldering smoke eking out of the cracks and creeping along the ground was an eerie sight. The fumes seemed to cling within a few feet of the ground and gave off a pungent, disagreeable odor. It made me feel as if I were in a Hollywood setting for a horror picture, except we also had to contend with real live Japanese soldiers who were shooting real bullets. While going through the village we came across the remains of what may have been a structure used for meetings or instruction, perhaps a classroom for families and children of the construction workers fortifying the island. We found maps, booklets, and leaflets written in Japanese, showing the enemy's success in taking the islands in the Pacific. A map of the United States indicated that they were in control of some of our coastline. It depicted their planes sinking our war ships. There also were illustrations showing children at play or work. 74 HEADING NORTH On another day while on patrol I rested against a ledge about a foot above the ground. I leaned over to pick up a bullet and noticed a slight opening at the bottom of the ledge. Fortunately, it turned out to be a vacated pillbox, so well concealed and camouflaged that I did not recognize it even as I sat on it. One early morning as we were getting ready to move on to the next hill, I saw several Marines a few hundred yards to our left. They were folding their blankets at about the time we were ready to move out. We waved to each other. As we started forward, they began traveling in the same general direction as we did. I assumed they were members of a unit that had come during the night to join us, although I was not aware of any outfit in that location. As we walked on, they came closer and closer to us. When they were about thirty yards away, they opened fire. They were immediately subdued by our platoon, and when we got to them, we saw that they were Japanese dressed in Marine clothing. In an effort to confuse us, the enemy often wore the uniforms of the Marines they had killed. There were many occasions when the Japanese would try to provoke us to disclose our position in the dark by yelling in perfect English, "Corpsman, help me; I'm hit!" Any red-blooded Marine or corpsman would run to the cries of a fellow Marine who was injured. In these instances, however, those who cried for help were the Japanese who waited with cocked rifles for our corpsman to show his face. I also remember hearing them shout derogatory adjectives about Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, or President Roosevelt, demeaning their images. They hoped we would charge out of our positions to protest their insults. ...

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