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