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WWII 6th Marine div. WIA Okinawa


ww2marine
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This is a group I've had for a number of years and want to share with my fellow USMC enthusiasts. This group belonged to Claude English from Trenary, MI. A late war Marine, Claude went to boot camp in August 1944, and upon completion, entered engineer school which he went on to finish in late February 1945. Interestingly enough, he wasn't slated to serve with the 6th engineers. Following the carnage at Sugar Loaf, Claude joined "C" Co. 1/22 on May 21st in time to fight through the ruins and rubble of Naha city. Ten days later he was wounded in the fierce fighting for Hill 46 east of Naha, taking shrapnel in his left arm. Upon recovery, he rejoined his unit and fought through the rest of southern Okinawa. He stayed with the 22ND through the rest of the battle and did liberation duty in Tsingtao China after the Japanese surrender.

 

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Probably my favorite part of this group. A journal he kept. He keeps it short and blunt. Some of the entries he probably wrote in hindsight as they are out of chronological order. I'll write the Okinawa entries as they are a bit hard to make out in the photo

 

May 26th - Wrote Eileen one letter

 

May 31st - Hit in arm

 

June (?) - back on front lines

 

June 12th - Killing lots of Japs

 

June 15th Killing them damn Japs day after day. South end of Okinawa is the most rugged, all I can say, its a hell hole on earth.

 

June 21st - They say the fight is all over but still am having a lot of trouble, killing about 10 japs a day, that is 2nd Plt. "C" Co.

 

July (?) Going back a few miles. We have done all the hard fighting so the army is taking over. "That Army" what a joke for a fighting outfit.

 

July 4th - had a day off. had a lot of fun and food, went aboard a ship and ate for hours. sold lots of Japanese gear.

 

 

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Lennart Holmquist

I found this posting regarding Claude English when doing research on my late father Bernard J. Holmquist, also known as 'Bud'. My father knew Claude. They both fought on Okinawa and were in Tsingtao (Qingdao), China together.

 

Interestingly, regarding the 'USMC issues blouse he [Claude] picked up on China duty and had cut down and embroidered.' I have a similar jacket with embroidery which I inherited from my father though the one I have is not in such good shape.

 

For anyone who is interested I have attached what I have written regarding my father's U.S. Marine Corp years (1944-46), which is mostly based on interviews with my father in the 1980s. Please forgive any typos, etc., I see I need to edit the document further. The document was at one time on the web, so most of the links no longer work.

 

Any photos in the document that include my father are part of my personal archives. The other photos I found on the web.

 

Lastly, the emails at the bottom of the page are no longer in use.

 

Feel free to contact me on U.S. Militaria Forum if you have any questions or comments.

 

Kind regards,

 

Lennart

Bernard John Holmquist_ World War II.pdf

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