those guys . So I came home with the thought of entering the Marine Corps at seventeen . My father died when I was nine , so my mother was a widow running our farm , and wouldn ’ t sign my enlistment papers . She didn ’ t know much about war and we didn ’ t have any strong military influence around our community . She needed me on the farm and she was clear about that . I respected her wishes , but as it goes , I went to bed one night and woke up the next day a man , 18 years old , and no longer in need of parental consent . I told her I was going to go into the Marine Corps . She was not happy with that at all , but I was 18 and I wanted to enlist .
After boot camp , the first place we ended up was an island called New Caledonia . It was owned by the French , but served as a replacement center where the Marines came in before being sent out to various divisions . At that time we had a first , second , third , and fourth division . They would send Marines out to fill the vacancies of those who had been wounded or killed . Initially , they sent a group of us from New Caledonia to Guadalcanal . That ’ s where I volunteered to become part of a flamethrower demolition specialist group .
We had never seen a flamethrower before forming this unit . We never trained with them . We never had them at our disposal . We had a manual that told us how to take it apart and how to put it back together , but no proven method for how to use it . We were left asking ourselves , what ’ s the procedure ? How do you strap this 70 pound thing on your back and do something with it ?
We had no one and nothing to tell us so we had to figure it ourselves .
They selected six of us from my company , C Company , and assigned a gunnery sergeant to be our immediate supervisor . It was his job to train us on how to operate the flamethrower .
FACING A DUG-IN ENEMY , MARINES QUICKLY FOUND THE FLAMETHROWER TO BE AN EFFECTIVE WEAPON .
At first we used what we called a phosphorus gel . It was a powder that we mixed with gasoline that turned it into a sticky gel with phosphorus in it so that if the burning phosphorus hit something or someone , and you tried to brush it off , it would spread and become worse . Whatever it hit , it stuck and burned . Unfortunately , we discovered that it was very difficult to get on target because you couldn ’ t aim it . Our gunnery sergeant didn ’ t like the stuff , so he began experimenting with other types of fuel .
We tried kerosene , motor oil , and diesel fuel ; anything to get a mix that would get a little distance with the flame . Our sergeant didn ’ t like the 80-octane gasoline because it didn ’ t burn long enough . One day he came in with a jeep carrying a 55-gallon drum of 13-octane airplane gasoline . None of us knew where he got it , or how he got it , and none of us were eager to ask either . We just kept mixing the various types of fuel to a point that we could fire it from the flame thrower and get a stream that went out about 15 or 20 yards in front of us .
When we were training with the flamethrower , we learned rather quickly that you don ’ t fire into the wind because you would get hit rather than your enemy . We also found out that if you shot at the enemy ’ s body , at shoulder level , wind resistance would limit the effectiveness of the weapon . It would burn out before reaching the target . That ’ s why our gunnery sergeant came up with the idea of firing at the ground and letting the flame roll over the ground because the wind resistance wasn ’ t an issue . I don ’ t know if any of the other outfits learned to use the flamethrower that way , but it proved effective for us .
After we took Guam in July or August , we boarded a ship bound for Iwo Jima . We were a reserve unit for the 4th and 5th Divisions , each comprised of roughly 20,000 soldiers . We were there as a backup in case they needed us and were told that we would probably never get off ship . We had just taken Guam , which was the largest of the Mariana Islands and were
8 AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY