I met Dennis in 2002, at “We Write,” a writing group in Grass Valley, California. He was willing to share with me the journals of his experiences as a combat Marine, and agreed also to be interviewed on tape. With this background material I was able to re-create his life in the Marine Corps from boot camp through the battle for Okinawa, also know as “The Last Battle.” Our joint collaboration became a project lasting over four years. In the beginning he said, “I’ll supply the facts, you write the story.” He was never critical of my account, and as the ‘color man’ in this endeavor I created the dialogue.
My initial problem was choosing the proper venue. I started the story as a narrative but soon discovered that to be unwieldy and restrictive. I was advised early on to ‘Be Dennis’ and write the story that way, which gave me the freedom I needed. The fact that he was willing to share his war experiences was indeed unique. Several of my pre-war buddies had served as combatants in the Marines or in the Army Infantry. None would ever talk of their combat on a personal level. The common retort was, “It’s too painful to talk about,” or variations thereof. With Dennis it was different. He was willing to share his personal involvement and wanted the absolute horror of it known. He often described his place in the war as being within a ten-foot circle. Nothing beyond that circle involved him but everything within it did. What did he mean by that? I’m not exactly sure, but he talked of it several times. When pressed to describe his feelings during battle, he said, “There aren’t enough words to adequately explain the fear and terror I felt.” Most of the time spent in the war zone, however, was between battles, which had its own brand of misery: Indescribable weather, terrible food, lack of most amenities, and none of the pleasures of life. He was particularly resentful of the treatment the enlisted ranks endured from some of their leaders.
I served during the “big war” in the Navy, spending two years in the South Pacific and in the Philippines, attached to a Carrier Aircraft Service Unit. I lived in the jungle with the mosquitoes, snakes, scorpions, and all the other creatures that creep and crawl, as well as experiencing the weather, which was horrendous. However, the war was won by the combatants in the Marines and the Army, who suffered, fought, and died heroically, wresting that otherwise worthless real estate from the Japanese.
I speak from experience when describing the substandard conditions on the rusty old freighters converted to carry troops. I traveled from Guadalcanal to Cebu, The Philippines, on one such vessel, along with the aircraft repair unit I was attached to.
I would apologize for the salty language in this story, but if I did I would also have to apologize for the Marines and the way they were. If anything I underplayed that aspect of their lives as it was reflective of their reality.
As you will see, Dennis experienced the absolute worst that any war has to offer, and yet miraculously survived.
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Karl,
What a wonderful blog. I appreciate all your hard work on this.
Brady