Fifty years have past. Memories have dimmed. An old Seabee who was there vividly recalls some details of a great battle, fought on the island of Saipan.
It began in the early hours of June 15th when the US Fifth Fleet under Admiral Spruance converged on the island during the night. He was a smart no-nonsense officer, an admiral's admiral with only one straight-back visitor's chair in his office and a great dislike for publicity. He held a personal vengeance against Admiral Nagumo, Commander of the Japanese Central Pacific Fleet stationed at Saipan. It was Nagumo who personally directed the air raids on the US Navy ships at Pearl Harbor and Midway. On the day following the raid on Pearl Harbor, Spruance steamed into the harbor only to find the entire Pacific battleship group wiped out and his friends on these ships dead. It was said he shed some tears in telling his wife of the event, and in this battle of Saipan, he damn-well intended to get even.
About four o'clock in the morning the speakers in the crowded quarters below decks of each LST (Landing Ship Tank) in the invasion fleet called for muster. It was the alarm for the approaching battle; no one had slept. Both the Marines and Seabees aboard had been looking for this long day.
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