rom: "Benjamin F. Carson" <res025uc@gte.net> | This is Spam | Add to Address Book
To: "Richard Gaines" <gunnyg@hotmail.com>, gyg1345@yahoo.com
Subject: MYSTERIES OF THE DEAD--EXECUTION ISLANDRe: Marine Requests Eulogy For Marine GySgt
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:29:07 -0800


-GUNNY; ONE YEAR AGO NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HAULED
LOU ZAMPERINI AND ME TO
KWAJALEIN ISLAND IN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC TO SHOOT
A DOCUMENTARY COVERING THE
STORY OF THE MARINE RAIDERS CAPTURED BY THE
RETURNING JAP TROOPS TO MAKIN
ISLAND. THESE 9 RAIDERS WERE SUBSEQUENTLY
BEHEADED AND BURIED
ON KWAJALEIN. I WAS PRESENT BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN
RAISING HELL FOR 40 YEARS
TO RECOVER THESE REMAINS
AND LOU ZAMPERINI WAS THERE BECAUSE HE HAD SPENT
TIME IN THE SAME PRISON CELL THOSE RAIDERS HAD
OCCUPIED PRIOR TO THEIR
EXECUTION. THE DOCUMENTARY IS PART OF A 6 PART
SERIES THAT INCLUDES SOME
PRESENTLY PROVACTIVE RELIGIOUS
EVENTS. THE SERIES HAS BEEN SHOWN IN EUROPE AND
CANADA AMONG OTHER NATIONS. I HAVE A COPY AND
FIND THE SUBJECT TREATED AS GENTLY AS SHOCK
PRODUCERS OF DOCUMENTARIES
COULD. i THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW SINCE MARINE
CORPS HISTORY IS INVOLVED.
INCIDENTALLY, I HAVE A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL "NAVY
NEWS" STORY OF ADMIRAL
ABE'S CONVICTION AND EXECUTION ON GUAM FOR
ORDERING THIS ROTTEN CRIME. BEN
CARSON 2ND MARINE RAIDER---- Original Message
-----
From: Richard Gaines <gunnyg@hotmail.com>
To: <gyg1345@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 12:14 PM
Subject: Marine Requests Eulogy For Marine GySgt


>
http://www.network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=135069&messageid=1043639650
>
> Semper Fidelis
> R.W. "Dick" Gaines
> GySgt USMC (Ret.)
> (1952-1972)
> ***************

Ref truewarstories.com
by Dick G (Login Dick Gaines)
Forum Owner

It was no secret in 1949 that nine 2nd Marine Raiders were "left behind" on Makin Island and executed by the Japanese.



"Makin Raid" 16-18 August 1942 by the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion "Carlson's Raiders" and later executed by Japanese Vice Admiral Koso Abe, commanding Marshall Island bases?



"The story of nine missing Marines provides a sad sequel. Left behind in the rush, they were captured a few days later and shipped to Kwajalein for transportation to Tokyo. At Kwajalein the prisoners received good care at the hands of curious Japanese, who frequently gave them candy and cigarettes and joshed with them about the sights they would see in Tokyo. For six weeks the raiders lived there in barracks, never doubting the good faith of their captors. But early in October Vice Admiral Koso Abe, commanding Marshall Island bases, became impatient over the delay in moving them out, and after a brief conference with an officer from Truk headquarters summarily ordered the men executed. The onerous task fell on the shoulders of Captain Yoshio Obara, Kwajalein [page 241] garrison commander. Obara, who had two brothers in America and nephews in the United States Army, protested vehemently against the inhuman and illegal order, but Abe remained adamant. The Captain was unable to find a single volunteer executioner and at last detailed four officers, who reluctantly obeyed. Dubious homage was accorded the doomed men when Captain Obara selected a date for the execution which coincided with Japan's annual memorial to departed heroes, the Yasukuni Shrine festival. On x6 October the nine Marines were led to a large grave and ceremoniously beheaded in the presence of the sadistic Abe. After the burial, Obara's men placed flowers on the grave and considered the incident closed. But a Marshallese native had witnessed the execution from a hiding place in the bushes and, after the war, testified against the principals. Admiral Abe was tried for atrocity and hanged at Guam; Captain Obara received a ten-year prison sentence. (4)

"(4) Commander Marianas "Records of Proceedings of a Military Commission," 1946. "(B)



(B) History of United States Operations in World War II, Volume IV, Coral Sea, Midway And Submarine Actions May 1942 - August 1942 by Samuel Eliot Morison. Published by Atlantic Little, Brown 1949. Pages 240-41

Posted on Jan 28, 2003, 11:58 AM
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