22 FEB 44
The first launch of the day in support of the Marines landing on PARRY left Princeton’s deck at 0719. Eight Avengers, each carrying 12 100-pound general purpose bombs, rendezvoused overhead the ship and once joined, rolled out on a southerly heading for the 50 mile trip to PARRY. While en route the flight leader made radio contact with the Air Coordinator for holding instructions and targeting assignments. With the sun rising to their left, the bomber crews began to distinguish smoke and dust rising from the raindrop-shaped island, the result of an intense shelling which had commenced at 0700 from the battleships Tennessee and Pennsylvania and the cruisers Louisville, Indianapolis, and destroyer Hailey. Given direction by the Air Coordinator to orbit, the Avenger crews checked and rechecked switch positions and engine instruments. Multitasking in order to maintain position in the flight's formation, their eyes darted from the island to their grid maps and back in order to transform the two dimensional black and white lines on paper into the three dimensional blue, brown and green world they were now inhabiting.
When the surface bombardment was complete the fliers of VT-23 were directed to bomb grids 620, 625, 626, 629, 632, all directly in front of the GREEN beach landing zones. 92 of the 100 pounders hit their assigned targets, 4 having not released due to malfunction.
Once the Avengers had cleared the airspace the surface ship bombardment recommenced, with tragic results. The Naval Heritage and History Command describes the scene:
"D-day for Parry Island on 22 February got off to a bad start with a “friendly fire” incident. At 0805 six LCI gunboats were maneuvering to support the Marine landing, three on the right flank and three on the left flank. At 0845, the destroyer Hailey (DD-556) opened fire on assigned targets near the beaches. At the same time the LCIs on the right flank were preceding the LVT amphtracs when they were obscured by smoke blowing back from the shore bombardment. In the reduced visibility, LCI-442 was hit by a Hailey projectile bursting overhead, killing six and wounding five men. LCI-440 was then hit twice, killing seven men and wounding 39. LCI-365 was also hit before Hailey got the word to cease fire. In the subsequent investigation, Rear Admiral Hill cleared the skipper of Hailey of blame, attributing the incident to the smoke and dust, and praising the gallantry of the LCI crews."
The fog of war.
Princeton's participation in Operation CATCHPOLE was ended after the morning's strike mission. By late afternoon PARRY island had been taken from its Japanese defenders and with it, the capture of the entirety of ENIWETOK atoll was complete.
The fighting was fierce as, in typical fashion, the Japanese had hidden themselves in countless "spider holes," tunnels and reinforced bunkers.
Marine standing inside a Japanese "rathole" after the capture of Parry Island, Eniwetok, February 1944. From the VADM Robert C. Giffen Photo Collection.
105 of the 1,350 Japanese had been taken alive. 73 U.S. Marines had made the ultimate sacrifice, 261 had been wounded.
The fighting at ENIWETOK had been communicated back home largely through photographs which depicted not just the endurance required, but more profoundly the physical and mental exhaustion to which these young Americans were being subjected.
Left, USMC Private First Class Faris "Bob" M. Tuohy, 19 years old, of the 3rd Battalion, independent 22nd Marine Regiment, drinks coffee in the mess aboard USS Arthur Middleton (APA-25) after surviving the two-day fight for Engebi in Eniwetok Atoll.
In 2018 at age 94, PFC Tuohy holds the photo of his 19 year old self.
United States Marine Corps Private Theodore James Miller of Hennepin County, Minnesota assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Marine Independent Regiment returns to Coast Guard-manned attack transport USS Arthur Middleton (APA-25) at 1400 Hours after two days of combat on Engebi.
PFC Miller was killed in action during the invasion of Ebon Atoll a month after this photo was taken.
He was 19.
The Graybook entry for 22 February: "Complete capture of ENIWETOK Atoll was completed at 1930Y 22 February with the fall of PARRY ISLAND. Major General Nishuda and his crack 1st Seaborne Mobile Brigade went to their death. The Japanese troops were strongly entrenched and were well trained; the total number of Japs on the Atoll is estimated in excellent of 3,000."
American forces had now captured Majuro, Kwajalein and Eniwetok atolls and would use them as vital logistics hubs in order to bring about the unconditional surrender of Japan.
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