Nisei US Soldier Aided MCAS Ewa Marine B-25’s In Bizarre End Of Pacific War Mission

Nisei US Soldier Aided MCAS Ewa Marine B-25’s In Bizarre End Of Pacific War Mission

Extraordinary 1945 End of Pacific War US Marine Corps

Bomber Mission Classified For Decades

by John Bond, MCAS Ewa historian

A Japanese-American recruited into the US Army from an internment camp, an American born Japanese Imperial Army officer and US Marine Corps MCAS Ewa B-25 Bomber Squadron VMB 611 performed one of the most unusual final Pacific War missions as atomic bombs fell on Japan. 

And as the Pacific war was ending Japanese Imperial Army POWs recruited from Camp Iroquois, Ewa Beach near MCAS Ewa, helped expedite the announcement of the Japanese surrender before more civilians were killed.

In likely one of the strangest military missions of the Pacific War, if not all WW-II, involved a Nisei, Charles Takeo Imai, an internee from Camp Minidoka, a Japanese American Internment camp in Idaho, and Minoru Wada a Kibei, a Japanese born in America and raised in Japan. They and a Marine Corps B-25 bomber squadron trained at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, conducted one of the most unusual war missions ever at the close of WW-II, as atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.

 Camp Minidoka internee Fumi Onodera, points at the names 

of her three brothers on the Honor Roll of 

Japanese-Americans serving in the U. S. Army in 1943.

Charles Takeo Imai's name is seen on left side of the Honor Roll

Charles Imai, a second generation Japanese-American born in Washington State, had been swept up in the February, 1942 post December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by Executive Order 9066, rounding up nearly all people of Japanese ancestry and placed into internment camps. Imai was interned at nearby Camp Minidoka in Idaho where around 9000 Americans of Japanese Ancestry (AJA) families were held.

 The missions of the Army Military Intelligence Service 

were classified for decades

 

By 1943 the US government allowed the creation of Japanese-American military units, among them the famous 100^th Battalion and 442^nd Regimental Combat Team. When the opportunity came Imai volunteered from Camp Minidoka to join the US Army. AJA’s, many of whom did not speak fluent Japanese, were largely forbidden to serve in the Pacific theater of war, however Imai had extremely valuable fluency in Japanese and was assigned to the elite Military Intelligence Service (MIS) as a Technical Sergeant to serve in the Pacific. This work often involved interrogating captured Japanese soldiers and evaluating captured documents for intelligence assessments. In some cases these MIS soldiers helped lead dangerous raids into Japanese held areas.

Meanwhile, Minoru Wada, born and raised in the United States, immigrated back to Japan before the war and went to the University of Tokyo and later the Kyushu Military Academy. Drafted into the Imperial Japanese Army, by 1945 he had become Lieutenant Minoru Wada, and was part of the Japanese 100th Infantry Division on the Philippine island of Mindanao. The war was not going well for the Japanese at that point in 1945. Although some Japanese soldiers were taken prisoner, most fought until they were killed or committed suicide.

US Army MIS translator interrogates a Japanese army general

At Camp Iroquois in Ewa Beach Hawaii, Japanese POW's were given extensive

 privileges, including cigarettes, beer rations and escorted off camp excursions 

if they were accepted into a democracy indoctrination program and 

provided Japanese military psychology information.  

Marine Corps Air Station Ewa becomes host to the new special 

Marine Corps fast attack B-25 medium bombers

 

Designated B-25 J (USAAF) and PBJ-1J by Marine Corps with 

mounted radar in the starboard wingtip at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa 1944

 

Marine Corps Air Station Ewa showing the expanded 1944 ramp for medium 

bombers, patrol bombers and large four engine air transport like 

the Douglas C-54 Skymaster (R5D)

 

Some PBJ-1J series had nose-mounted APS-3 radar, as seen on USS Manila Bay 

en route to Moret Field, Zamboanga, Mindanao, Philippines

US Marine Corps bomber squadron VMB 611 was commissioned on October 1, 1943 at Cherry Point, North Carolina and assigned B-25 model J’s, a fast medium bomber for use in low level attack missions. On August 24, 1944 the B-25-J’s flight echelon sailed to Hawaii onboard the aircraft carrier, USS Manila Bay.  Once there, they were off loaded at NAS Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, and flown over to Marine Air Station Ewa in West Oahu.  After training at MCAS Ewa, VMB 611 was transported to their first forward advanced combat base on the small island of Emirau in the southwest Pacific. In March 1945, the squadron was transferred from MAG (Marine Air Group) 61 to MAG 32, MAGSZAM (Marine Air Groups Zamboanga) and assigned to Moret Field, Zamboanga, Mindanao, Philippine Islands.

The  North American made Mitchell B25-1J used by 

Pacific war Marine Corps crews

 

VMB 611 used the latest model North American made Mitchell B25-1J, which under Navy-Marine designation was called the PBJ-1J. Early Army B-25’s were remembered and widely associated with the famous Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in April 1942. US Pacific war military commanders had decided that Marine pilots, who were very successful in flying low level combat air support in fighter planes like the F4U Corsair, would be trained in dangerous low level medium bomber air attacks against Japanese shipping and island bases. Their air combat tactics called “heckling missions” were primarily based upon total surprise, strafing and low-level bombing before enemy troops could react.

 

 USAAF B-25 crew and support units. The Marine Corps PBJ-1J version was more heavily armed with additional machine guns, rockets and special night mission radar capabilities.

The North American PBJ-1J medium bomber was powered by two Wright Cyclone engines providing 239 knots (275 mph). Crewed by seven: Pilot, Copilot, Navigator-Bombardier, 2 Radio-Gunners, Mechanic-Turret Gunner, and Armorer-Turret Gunner the B-25-1J was heavily armed, carrying up to thirteen .50 caliber machine guns, as well as bombs, depth charges and 5-inch rockets.

 

Moret Field, Zamboanga, Mindanao, Philippine Islands

From April 1945 until August 1945, VMB 611 alone made over 500 sorties against Japanese shipping and land based targets, mostly in fast, low level attacks. As the Japanese forces were gradually being worn down in Mindanao by August 1945, the squadron was presented with a strange new combat mission.

 

Small numbers of captured Japanese, as most died in suicide attacks or killing themselves

A Japanese army Lieutenant, Minoru Wada, who had been either captured or surrendered, fell into the hands of the US Army Military Intelligence Service where he was interrogated by Tech Sgt Charles Imai. The Japanese military never gave their soldiers any POW (Prisoner of War) training and had not signed the Geneva Conventions outlining treatment of POW’s. Usually Japanese expected to be killed after interrogation. However the US military in the Pacific, because of early successes at places like Camp Iroquois in Ewa Beach near MCAS Ewa, learned that Japanese POW's could be valuable sources of intelligence if treated well.

 Tech Sgt Charles Imai brings Lt. Wada to the attention of area commanders

Tech Sgt. Imai recognized that Lt. Wada knew a lot about the still hidden Japanese Imperial Army groups on Mindanao and even more importantly wanted to help point out exactly where they were. By August 1945 Wada had heard of Japan’s heavy military losses in the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and was frustrated by the war’s continuation, which seemed more pointless and wasteful  with each passing day. The Japanese government under prime minister Hideki Tojo continuously refused any Japanese surrender and vowed to fight on to the death of all soldiers and civilians.

 The VMB-611 mission is plotted out and scheduled for August 9,1945

Tech Sgt. Imai learned that Lt. Wada had served as the transportation officer for the Japanese Imperial Army 100th Infantryman Division under the command of Lieutenant-General Jiro Harada. Charles Imai’s fluency in Japanese convinced him that Wada was a very valuable informant and willing to do anything to stop the war and bring about peace, even if it meant losing his own life. Imai reported this up the chain of command to US Army headquarters and US Army Ground Liaison Officer Major Mortimer Jordan was assigned to work with Imai and Lt. Wada.

Major Jordan contacted the nearby MAGSZAM (Marine Air Groups Zamboanga) and suggested a mission to bomb the 100th Division headquarters in hopes that its destruction would disorganize and demoralize the Japanese into surrendering. As transportation officer, Lt.Wada had an intimate knowledge of the island and of the Japanese ground and air defenses. The Marine Corps VMB 611 B-25 air mission commanders asked US Army Tech Sgt. Imai to convey to Wada that they wanted his help in locating and bombing the Japanese division headquarters. Army Major Jordan and the Marine air group commanders gave Wada time to think over their proposal and the thought of betraying his own countrymen by directing the medium bomber air strike.

 ww2dbase

Minoru Wada concluded that the fighting on Mindanao might end sooner and save hundreds if not thousands of Japanese soldiers and American soldiers lives for the price of taking out the well concealed 100^th Division headquarters under the command of Lt General Jiro Harada. As the Japanese headquarters was located in the dense jungles of Mindanao’s Kibawe-Talomo trail, it became clear that the only way the B-25J Marine bombers could locate the headquarters was to have Wada lead the air strike personally. This required Tech Sgt. Imai to also assist with the pre-flight mission briefing to the VMB-611 Marine pilots at MAGSZAM, Moret Field, Zamboanga on Mindanao.

US Army Tech Sgt. Imai provides translation for 1st Marine Air Wing fighter 

and bomber pilots, Moret Field, Zamboanga. The pilots were likely 

incredulous with the concept of their strike mission being directed by 

a Japanese Imperial Army lieutenant.

 

Meanwhile the USAAF flew the long range 

B-29 missions from Tinian island 

 

 

Long distance B-29 missions over Japan from Tinian island were perilous 

with heavy anti-aircraft fire, mechanical issues and  Japanese planes 

either attacking or trying to ram the bombers in suicide attacks. 

 August 6, 1945

Meanwhile the top secret atomic bombing missions assigned to a select few B-29 Superfortress crews based on Tinian island 1500 miles from Japan were preparing to make their first A-bomb air drop. The final selected target was Hiroshima on Japan’s Honshu Island and on August 6 the first atomic bomb in history was dropped, creating a huge mushroom cloud.

Japanese officials dispatched scientists and military personnel to Hiroshima to assess damages from the atomic bomb, but they remained paralyzed by disagreement over whether to surrender unconditionally as required by Allied forces as stated in the Potsdam agreement or continue to fight on against ever increasing odds and now the introduction of a new American super bomb. With no response from the Japanese government President Truman ordered the continuation of Allied bombing runs over Japanese military installations.

 

US President Harry Truman at his work desk during WW-II

August 9, 1945 

 August 9, 1945 a B-29 drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan

US Marine Corps 2ndLt Gordon Growden, a combat correspondent interviews Japanese Minoru Wada prior to the bombing mission on the prisoner’s former headquarters, at Moret Field, Zamboanga, Mindanao, Aug 9, 1945

 

 USMC PBJ pilot Major Sidney Groff, right, adds the name of Japanese POW Lt. Minoru Wada to the flight manifest  for transfer to Moret Field, Zamboanga, Philippines

Army Ground Liaison Officer and Strike Coordinator Major Mortimer Jordan, interpreter Tech Sergeant Charles Imai, and Imperial Japanese Army Second Lieutenant Minoru Wada were flown to Moret Field in Zamboanga, Mindanao. On August 9 a second atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki by a USAAF B-29 from Tinian island. There still wasn’t any official reaction from the Japanese government to the Hiroshima devastation. Often also forgotten is that the atomic bomb was preceded by a massively destructive B-29 Superfortress firebombing campaign that devastated 67 Japanese cities and yet Japan had still refused to surrender.

 

Above, in a likely imposition of two photos, 

Wada watches as the group nears the target area

On August 9, US Marine PBJ-1D’s of Marine Bombing Squadron 611 took off and were escorted by F4U Corsairs fighters of Marine Fighting Squadron 115, leaving from Moret Field in Zamboanga, Mindanao and headed for Harada’s 100th Division headquarters. Wada communicated with Tech Sgt. Imai who then in turn explained directions to Army Ground Liaison Officer Major Jordan who communicated directly with the VMB 611 mission strike leader as they flew to the target area in the dense jungles of Mindanao.

Still dressed in his Japanese Army uniform, Wada sat in the radio-gunner's position of the lead B25-1J and looked for familiar landmarks. Speaking through Tech Sergeant Imai, Wada was able to direct the bombers right to his own 100^th division headquarters complex. The strike group dropped 22,000 pounds of bombs on the headquarters area and fired additional "Tiny Tim" 5-inch rockets.

Lt. Minoru Wada watches, likely with mixed feelings, as the air strike 

devastates the 100th Division headquarters

The attack was extremely successful and the headquarters was thoroughly demolished. Army Major Jordan later told debriefing officers, "the Japanese officer put us zero on the target and we did the rest – maybe overdid it." The loss of the 100th Division's command and control establishment virtually ended the Imperial Japanese Army resistance on Mindanao overnight.

Meanwhile, Japan had yet to respond to the two atomic bombs dropped on Japanese cities 

 

Radio Tokyo exhorted all Japanese to prepare defenses against an enemy 

invasion, which included arming civilians with sharpened bamboo spears. 

Allied invasion plans were underway for the largest operation of the Pacific War, Operation Downfall, the Allied invasion of Japan. Set to begin in October 1945, Olympic involved a series of landings intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island, Kyushu. Operation Olympic was to be followed in March 1946 by Operation Coronet, the capture of the main Japanese island of Honshu. The target date was chosen to allow for Olympic to complete its objectives, for troops to be redeployed from Europe, and the Japanese winter to pass. The invasion of Japan would cause the slaughter of huge numbers of civilians and soldiers.

A fanatical Japanese military faction under Hideki Tojo controlled the Japanese government. The only higher authority in Japan was the Showa deity emperor Hirohito.

 

Hirohito in Navy uniform and Hideki Tojo in Army uniform

 

It took the unprecedented action by the Emperor of Japan to finally break a Japanese military-civilian political deadlock and accept the unconditional surrender terms of the Potsdam Declaration. Hirohito secretly recorded a radio announcement that Japan had accepted the unconditional surrender of Japanese military forces. However, fanatical Japanese army units also maneuvered to try and capture the emperor and prevent his pre-recorded announcement from being broadcast over the radio to the Japanese public. However, this coup attempt failed and the Emperor's recording was broadcast.

August 10, 1945

On 10 August Japan’s Emperor Hirohito by radio broadcast called upon the power of his moral and spiritual leadership as a Japanese deity and directed that Japan should accept the terms of the Potsdam agreement calling for unconditional surrender. For the first time the Japanese people became aware that their government was trying to surrender as a stunned population listened to Emperor Hirohito’s high, shaking, unfamiliar voice announcing the final surrender of the Japanese nation.

 

However, this was not the end of the war and military fanatics 

could continue fighting to the death of themselves and many civilians

Due to the still remaining intense disagreements among the Imperial Japanese military and the desire by some fanatical factions to fight to the death of everyone in Japan, the US Office of War Information based in Honolulu, with a forward operation established on the Pacific island of Saipan, realized that unless the acceptance of the surrender was not very quickly and widely disseminated, fanatical Japanese military units might undertake a complete Japanese government takeover or go off on their own suicidal directions attacking each other and fighting to the death.

Fortunately by 1945 the US had highly developed Japanese American Army MIS 

and Japanese Prisoner of War groups available as a major resource. A massive 

psychological information campaign was immediately launched with Japanese 
POW's from Camp Iroquois, Ewa Beach by MCAS Ewa, providing extremely valuable translation insights in how to effectively influence the Japanese civilian population. 

 

Huge amounts of PsyWar leaflets and news about the Showa emperor of Japan 

accepting the surrender were dropped from B-29 bombers all over Japan islands.

The US War Department sent an urgent dispatch ordering OWI (Office of War Information) to inform the Japanese people directly, by leaflet and radio, that their government under the power of the emperor had accepted the offered surrender terms and that the Allies had also accepted. Japanese military POW’s that had been recruited into the special experimental democracy indoctrination project at Camp Iroquois, Ewa Beach were immediately brought into effective utilization with their lifetime knowledge of Japanese cultural society and government institutions.

These prisoners, many Japanese Imperial Army officers, had undergone significant passive indoctrination into democratic principals of government and had been conceived of being be a future spearhead group for a Japanese democratic government that would be established after the war ended.

 

Some of the Office of War Information (OWI) leaflets dropped on Japan used 

graphic cartoon depictions that were easily understood by the civilian population.

While Japanese American MIS could be used for interrogation and document analysis, the actual psychology of the average Japanese in Japan, knowledge of unique cultural language phrases and deep civilian reverence for the Showa emperor required an extremely well thought out campaign appeal. The campaign had to be developed and launched almost overnight as there was very little time before hot headed Japanese military fanatics could launch into suicidal infighting, self-destruction and excommunicate the Japanese public from Emperor Hirohito’s decision.

The OWI Saipan operation had to print and load massive amounts of 

Japanese language newspapers and leaflets in a very short amount of time 

to get the word out about the Showa emperor accepting the 

unconditional surrender of Japan to Allied forces.

The Camp Iroquois POW group helped write overnight the OWI psychological appeals for leaflets, newspapers and radio broadcasts from OWI's forward facility on Saipan, close to the Japanese main islands. The text and graphics from Camp Irquois were immediately transmitted to OWI Saipan where high speed offset presses, some run by Japanese POW's, turning out high volumes of printed leaflets and newspapers. By August 1945 Saipan OWI had four US Navy press operators and 30 Japanese POW's also running presses, sorting, stacking and loading containers to be dropped over Japan by B-29's.

August 11, 1945

The 17 members of the OWI staff on Saipan were challenged to a previously unmatched degree and by mid-night on 11 August, less than 48 hours after Japan’s surrender acceptance message was received in Washington, three-quarters of a million leaflets giving notification of the surrender had been printed. The fast moving effort included Japanese military POW’s running presses and helping to load the leaflets onto trucks for the Army Air Force to drop from B-29s over Japan.

 August 12, 1945

On 12 August, B-29 aircraft runs departed Saipan at 1:30, 4:30, 7:30 and 11:30 p.m., delivering to the people of Japan the news of their government’s surrender acceptance by their deity Emperor. The 4” x 5” leaflets rained down by the millions, telling the Japanese people that the Japanese Emperor and government had accepted a full unconditional surrender and that all fighting should cease immediately.

August 15, 1945

The significance of this information barrage cannot be overstated. At noon on 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki and the Soviet Union's declaration of war on Japan—Japan officially announced its acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration defining terms for Japanese surrender to the Allies.

August 19, 1945

Japanese officials left for Manila, Philippines on August 19 to meet General Douglas MacArthur and be briefed on his plans for the occupation. On August 28, 150 US personnel flew to Atsugi airfield, 30 miles from Tokyo, Japan. They were followed by the battleship USS Missouri, whose accompanying ships landed the 4th Marine Regiment on the southern coast of Japan. The Army 11th Airborne Division was airlifted from Okinawa to Atsugi airfield as other Allied personnel followed. The Japanese military and civilian authorities cooperated completely with all US occupation directives.

 August 30, 1945

 

General MacArthur arrived in Tokyo on August 30 and immediately decreed several laws, including no Allied personnel were to assault Japanese people, no Allied personnel were to eat the scarce Japanese food and flying the Hinomaru or "Rising Sun" flag was initially severely restricted. The Japanese people largely accepted MacArthur as their new "emperor" while MacArthur retained Hirohito as a figurehead deity that the Japanese still revered. This is very likely why the Japanese military, once full surrender was accepted, were extremely dutiful in following all orders and directives from the new US military occupation authorities.This also allowed many more Americans in uniform assigned to occupation duties to be processed out more quickly and back to civilian life in the United States.

September 2, 1945

  This date is known as Victory over Japan, or VJ Day, and marked the end of World War II

The Japanese unconditional surrender is mostly remembered by the formal September 2^nd document signing in Tokyo Bay, on board the USS Missouri which officially ended World War II. The signing ceremony aboard the USS Missouri was a compromise between Army General Douglas MacArthur and Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz, with President Harry Truman having his home state battleship Missouri being the actual place of the historic signing. Today the USS Missouri can be seen at Pearl Harbor, moored near the sunken USS Arizona, bombed on December 7, 1941.

 

By 1947 a new Japanese government constitution was approved and contained many elements, largely directed by MacArthur, for a democratic form of government with many citizen rights including the right of women to vote in elections.

 And they all just "faded away"

The Pacific war ended less than a week after the VMB 611 air strike on the 100th Division headquarters. It is not known where Minoru Wada went after the war or what became of him.Wada was given a new identity and was never heard of again. This very unusual air strike mission led by an Imperial Japanese Army officer remained classified for decades and has still only been partially declassified. As of this writing, it is unknown if the important role of US Army MIS Tech Sergeant Charles Imai played was ever recognized- or if he just also faded off into history and his retirement.

  

The PBJ-1J's trained at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa

After the war virtually all of the Marine Corp PBJ-1J and other models were scrapped. Only one restored flying condition PBJ-1J is known to exist at the Southern California Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, in Camarillo, CA.

 

MCAS Ewa remains virtually intact from it's historic 1941 to 1945 wartime service, including runways, taxiways and parking ramps. This includes a 1944 hangar and Quonset huts that serviced the PBJ-1J medium bombers and larger transports that flew to all of the Pacific war battlefields and brought back critically wounded Marines. The entire MCAS Ewa is a National Register eligible site.

Nisei Military Intelligence Service And The Pacific OWI - JICPOA 

Psychological Warfare Campaign

 http://ewabattlefield.blogspot.com/2016/02/nisei-military-intelligence-service.html

Hawaii’s Top Secret Japanese Prisoner of War Camp – 

Camp Iroquois, Ewa Beach

 http://ewabattlefield.blogspot.com/2016/02/hawaiis-top-secret-japanese-prisoner-camp.html

FREE A MARINE TO FIGHT: MCAS Ewa Women Marines in World War II

FREE A MARINE TO FIGHT: 

MCAS Ewa Women Marines in World War II

By MCAS Ewa historian John Bond

World War II changed for all time the notion of proper women's work. In the US Armed Forces as in civilian life, necessity caused the rules to be rewritten and while an effort was made to fit the women into jobs related to their former occupations, there was, by wartime necessity, openness to new ideas. -Colonel Mary V Stremlow, USMCR (Ret)

This particular MCAS Ewa history chapter like so much of MCAS Ewa history, is largely unknown, especially in Hawaii. This is an important part of the WW-II story in the Pacific that should be remembered. This was the advancement of women into the Marine Corps and the first military women trained into combat arms, serving on the forward Pacific War airbase of MCAS Ewa. 

MCAS Ewa Front Gate 1945 and Geiger Road Today As Part Of HCDA Kalaeloa

 

US Marine Corps B-25J Training At MCAS Ewa 1944

National Register site 1944 MCAS Ewa Ramp Added For Larger Aircraft

The Ewa Marine women had their own base compound by the main front gate on Geiger Road. This location area today is the east side of HCDA Kalaeloa where the roadway also turns into the Navy Barbers Point Golf Course. Unfortunately the Women Marine compound was entirely dismantled and the area cleared by the late 1960's so that there are only the WW-II photos that remain.

 Aviation Women's Reserve Squadron 12, Compound, 

Marine Corps Air Station Ewa

During WW-II this northeast corner of MCAS Ewa was also the threshold of the main runway where fighter planes, bombers and transports took off or landed, depending on the wind direction. Most of the time the trade winds would mean that planes were at full throttle for takeoffs passing directly over the women Marine compound, day and night. 

Creation of the Marine Corps Women Reserve (MCWR)

It was a long battle to get women into the Marine Corps. The other military branches had already brought women into the military, especially the nurse corps, and in fact Army women nurses were captured and held as POW by the Japanese after the invasion of the Philippines in early 1942. Marine aviation units trained at MCAS Ewa provided the air support for the daring 1945 end of war Philippine POW camp liberations by Army special forces. (This is the subject of another MCAS Ewa blog post.)

 

 Lt. Gen. Holland Smith and Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal

While some members of Congress, uncomfortable with American women so close to combat, argued for restrictions, there were military men like Marine Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith who insisted that women Marines could be used at MCAS Ewa and Pearl Harbor to release men for combat. His view was shared by Navy Secretary James V. Forrestal, who told Congress that an estimated 5,000 naval and Marine servicewomen were needed in Hawaii. 

The outcome was new legislation, Public Law 441, 78th Congress, signed on 27 September 1944, which amended Section 504, Public Law 689, 77th Congress, 30 July 1942 by providing that:

Members of the Women's Reserve shall not be assigned to duty on board vessels of the Navy or in aircraft while such aircraft are engaged in combat missions, and shall not be assigned to duty outside the American Area and the Territories of Hawaii and Alaska, and may be assigned to duty outside the continental United States only upon their prior request.

Women Marines unlike other women military branches provided 

combat arms training during boot camp

The official announcement finally came on Saturday, 13 February 1943, and women enthusiastically answered the call to "Be a Marine . . . Free a Man to Fight!" 

 

Recruiting for the Marine Corps Women Reserve (MCWR) was almost too successful and one procurement officer, cautioning that the number of applicants so far exceeded the quotas that he feared a backlash of ill will, suggested that publicity be curtailed. 

Within one month of MCWR existence, while Marine forces regrouped after the campaign for Guadalcanal where MCAS Ewa planes and pilots established Henderson Field, it was reported: "The women of the country have responded in just the manner we expected . . . . Thousands of women have volunteered to serve in the Women's Reserve and from them we have already selected more than 1,000 for the enlisted ranks and over 100 as officers."

How soon are they going to learn how to shoot?

The MCWR met its goal on schedule and reached strength of 18,000 by 1 June 1944. Then, all recruiting stopped for nearly four months and when it was resumed on 20 September 1944, it was on a very limited basis with MCWR basic training consolidated at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Up until the establishment of the MCWR, other military branches had not been training their Army WACS and Navy WAVES in military combat arms. It may have been the president’s wife, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt asking on her first visit to early MCWR training, “how soon are they going to learn how to shoot?”

Not too much later, WRs (who were not given a cute name like WAVES, WACS and SPARS) attended half-day sessions observing demonstrations in hand-to-hand combat, use of mortars, bazookas, flame-throwers, guns of all sorts, amtrac tanks and landing craft. Then this evolved into full training involving hand to hand combat and standard issue weapons like the 45 cal. Colt M1911 pistol and the 30 cal. M-1 carbine. 

Officers were paid a uniform allowance and gratuity of $250 and enlisted women received $200. With this the women bought two winter uniforms, hats, shoes, summer outfits, a purse, wool-lined raincoat, specified accessories, and undergarments. 

The MCWR uniform mirrored what was worn by all Marines in color and style, but was cut from a lighter-weight cloth. Generally, officers and enlisted women wore identically styled uniforms of the same fabric: this was not true of male Marines. 

 

 

Women officers wore green, detachable epaulets on the shoulder straps of summer uniforms and had additional dress uniforms. For dress, they wore the Marine officers' traditional gilt and silver emblems and the enlisted women wore the gilt emblems of enlisted Marines. Both wore the bronze eagle, globe, and anchor on their service uniforms, but positioned it differently. Enlisted women wore the same large chevrons as the men.

 

 

 

 

Women Marines attended some 30 specialist schools and the variety is a testament to the dramatic shift in thinking in what women could do: first sergeant, paymaster, signal, parachute rigger, aerographer, clerical, control tower operator, aerial gunnery instructor, celestial navigation, motion picture operator/technician, aircraft instruments technician, radio operator, radio material teletypewriter, post exchange, uniform shop, automotive mechanic, carburetor and ignition, aviation supply, and photography.

Women Marines To Be Sent to Hawaii

The Marine Corps laid out the criteria for selecting volunteers for duty in Hawaii: satisfactory record for a period of six months military service subsequent to completion of recruit or specialist training; motivation, the desire to do a good job, rather than excitement or hope of being near someone they cared about; good health; stable personality; sufficient skill to fill one of the billets for which Women Reservists had been requested; and age. Not having been a significant factor for success in the WACs, age was not specified, but since the minimum tour was to be two years with little hope for leave, the health and status of dependents and close family members was considered.

In June 1944, a test of vocational and job interests was added, and finally in December 1944, when the decision was made to send selected women Marine volunteers to Hawaii, personality and adjustment tests were added.

This settled, in October 1944, woman Marine commanders Colonel Streeter and Major Dryden flew to MCAS Ewa to prepare for the arrival of the women and most of all to inspect the proposed living arrangements. Major Dryden, the senior woman officer serving in aviation, accompanied the director because half the women were to be stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa.

There was no shortage of volunteers to go to Hawaii and on 2 December 1944 an advance party of four officers — Major Marion Wing, commanding officer; First Lieutenant Dorothy C. McGinnis adjutant; First Lieutenant Ruby V. Bishop, battalion quartermaster; and Second Lieutenant Pearl M. Martin, recreation officer — flew to Hawaii to make preliminary living arrangements at Camp Catlin, Pearl Harbor. 

Not long after, they were followed by the advance party for MCAS Ewa, Captain Helen N. Crean, commanding officer; First Lieutenant Caroline J. Ransom, post exchange officer; Second Lieutenant Bertha K. Ballard, mess officer, along with Second Lieutenant Constance M. Berkolz, mess officer.

Meanwhile, a staging area was established at Marine Corps Base, San Diego, where the women underwent a short but intense physical conditioning course that included strapping on a 10-pound pack to practice ascending and descending cargo nets and jumping into the water from shipboard. In the classroom, they learned about the people of Hawaii, how to recognize Allied insignia, shipboard procedures, and the importance of safeguarding military information.

 

On 25 January 1945, with Captain Marna V. Brady, officer-in-charge, the first contingent of five WR officers and 160 enlisted women, with blanket rolls on their backs, marched up the gangplank of the S.S. Matsonia to sail from San Francisco to Hawaii. Their shipmates were a mixed lot of male Marines, sailors, WAVES, military wives, and ex-POWs, and because of the lopsided ratio of men to women, the WRs were restricted to a few crowded spaces on board ship.

Women Marines Troop Off SS Matsonia To "March of the Women Marines"

Two days out to sea, they changed to summer service uniform, and on 28 January, they disembarked in Honolulu as the Pearl Harbor Marine Barracks Band played "The Marine's Hymn," the "March of the Women Marines," and "Aloha Oe." 

"March of the Women Marines," written especially for them by Musician First Class Louis Saverino of the Marine Band.  U.S. Marine Band plays "March of the Women Marines."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VUNYr9KxUI

The WAVES went ashore first — dressed in their best uniform. Then came the WRs — astonished that their no-nonsense appearance in dungarees, boondockers, and overseas caps seemed to please the crowd of curious Marines who had gathered to look them over and welcome them to Hawaii.

Major Wing, the commanding officer, knew how to get their MCAS Ewa Quonset huts up quickly after the arrival. The WR were temporarily housed in former SeaBee barracks at Moanalua Ridge Area adjacent to the Marine Corps Sixth Base Depot and Camp Catlin.

    No Seabee could pay for a coke. As many cokes a day as he wanted and he couldn't pay for them. We got more work out of those Seabees than you could ever imagine.

The Aviation Trained Women Marines Immediately Went To Work At MCAS Ewa

More than a third of the women at MCAS Ewa came from the Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, a major Marine Corps aviation training base, and once quartered at Ewa, lost no time before picking up their tools and working on the planes. By this period in the Pacific War MCAS Ewa was a major training and logistics hub for fighters, dive bombers, B-25J bombers, C-47s and large C-54 transports.

 

 

The WRs ran the motor transport section for Pearl Harbor and MCAS Ewa, serving nearly 16,000 persons a month. Scheduled around the clock and with a perfect safety record, they maneuvered the mountainous roads of Hawaii in liberty buses, jeeps, and all types of trucks carrying mail, people, ammunition, and garbage. Marines easily became accustomed to the sight of women drivers, but never quite got used to grease-covered female mechanics working on radial aircraft engines or under the hood of two-and-a-half-ton trucks.

At MCAS Ewa the seersucker fabric summer service uniform nicknamed the "peanut suit," was selected for comfort for indoor jobs, and for outdoor work on vehicles and aircraft the uniform was dungarees and snap brim hat. Lipstick and nail polish could be worn, and in fact were encouraged, but the color absolutely had to harmonize with the red cap cord of the winter cap, regardless of the season. The favorite color was Montezuma Red, designed in their honor.

Women Marines Fit Well Into The Marine Corps Aviation Culture

The most open-minded military units throughout the war to the concept of a more female workforce in technical and ground support roles were the aviation components of all the services. Presumably because they were relative pioneers themselves, aviation leaders were less tradition-bound, and they enthusiastically asked for large numbers of women and were willing to assign them to technical fields. 

The Marine Corp aviation units were no exception and right away asked for 9,100. Eventually, nearly one-third of Women Reservists served in aviation at Marine Corps Aviation Depot (MCAD) in Miramar, Marine Corps Air Stations (MCAS) Cherry Point, Edenton, Santa Barbara, El Toro, Parris Island, Mojave, El Centro, Quantico and at MCAS Ewa.

Aviation Women's Reserve Squadron 12, MCAS Ewa

MCAS Ewa was the only “overseas” Marine Corps air station, the most forward in the Pacific war and a vital central hub for all manner of aviation training, including fighter squadrons, medium bomber squadrons and air transport squadrons.  Most of the women Marines were trained in aviation specialties at MCAS Cherry Point, NC after basic training. Women Marines were the only military women to receive combat training during basic boot camp.

Because of the large number of women posted to air commands, Aviation Women's Reserve Squadrons were formed: Number 1 at Mojave; Number 2 at Santa Barbara; Number 3 at El Centro; Numbers 4 and 5 at Miramar; Numbers 6-10 at El Toro; Number 11 at Parris Island; Number 12 at Ewa; Numbers 15-20 at Cherry Point; and Number 21 at Quantico.

 

By the summer of 1945, there were 21 officers and 366 enlisted Women Reservists at MCAS Ewa, and 34 officers and 580 enlisted women in the Women's Reserve Battalion, Marine Garrison Forces, 14th Naval District.

Woman Marine Rules And Regulations At The MCAS Ewa Compound

Women Marines were organized into squadrons with women line officers in command. If a WR did not perform her work satisfactorily, or arrived late, her male work supervisor did not discipline her but reported the problem to her commanding officer for action. 

 

On the other hand, if a WR requested leave, her commanding officer did not grant it without first clearing it with the work supervisor. It often happened that unit obligations in the barracks area, such as mess duty, training, parades, "field days," and inspections conflicted with work schedules, and this created some animosity between female commanders and male work supervisors.

At MCAS Ewa women Marines had a commanding officer who reported to the post commander. However, there was a new wrinkle in that the women were an autonomous entity — proud to run their own outfit, handling general administration, barracks area maintenance, and mess halls.

 

When women joined the Marine Corps they elevated the quality of barracks living up a notch or two. Stark squad bays were sometimes softened with pastel paint and stuffed animals could be found resting on tightly made bunks. Dressers were lined up to provide a little privacy, shower curtains were hung, and doors closed off toilet stalls. Day rooms set aside to entertain dates and were furnished with board games, pianos, record players and space was found for cooking appliances, hair dryers, and sewing machines in lounges reserved for women only.

Little time was wasted on female offenders, and fortunately, there were relatively few problems. Because of their communal, intense desire to be accepted by Marines and approved by the general public, women Marines were their own severest critics and peer pressure to walk a tight line proved very effective. Unlike earlier policies governing female military nurses, marriage was a cause for neither discharge nor punishment, and pregnancy was considered a medical rather than disciplinary case.

A galling but unchallenged rule was that women on board a base, unlike men of equal rank, could not have an automobile. It added to the allure of assignment to the motor pool that the drivers of trucks, jeeps, and buses were more mobile than their sisters.

At Wars End, 40 percent of the women Marines held jobs in aviation

The end of WW-II in the Pacific came fairly suddenly. Expecting a two year overseas deployment in Hawaii with the widely assumed invasion of Japan in 1946 (because the Manhattan A Bomb project was top secret,) the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused the Japanese government to quickly surrender unconditionally in September 1945.

 The war was suddenly over and everyone wanted to go home. Women Marines were immediately eligible to return home, as most service members at the time wanted to do.

However, they did find the time to be in the large Victory over Japan (VJ Day) parade held in downtown Honolulu, marching with Navy WAVES and Army WACS. 

Although nearly everyone expected the women Marines to return home quickly, they were needed more, not less. Policies regarding the discharge of women — not only from the Marine Corps, but also from the other services — changed daily. Even while acknowledging their own opposition to women in uniform, a lot of men were anxious to keep female clerks on the job to process separation orders, cut paychecks, distribute medals and decorations, arrange transportation, assist surviving dependents, and otherwise settle the accounts of thousands of Marines.

Because women serving overseas accumulated credits for discharge at the rate of two per month, compared to one per month for those in the United States, most were eligible for discharge soon after V-J Day. However Some WR’s  stayed to process the men being shipped through Hawaii on their way home for demobilization, however they were all back in the States by January 1946. 

In the spring of 1946 there was a steady stream of correspondence among the Services exploring various proposals to give women permanent status in the military. The Commandant of the Marine Corps endorsed a plan for a small women's reserve to be led in peacetime by a director with three officers at Marine Headquarters in Washington, DC and six in recruiting.

In the midst of a determined drive to demobilize the Women's Reserve, 300 women were asked to stay, and even as the last of the WR barracks was being closed, a new unit, Company E, 1st Headquarters Battalion, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, commanded by First Lieutenant Regina M. Durant, was activated on 19 August 1946 with 12 officers and 286 enlisted women. Women Marines existed for nearly 30 years until the all-female units were finally disbanded in the mid-1970s.

FREE A MARINE TO FIGHT: Women Marines in World War II

by Colonel Mary V Stremlow, USMCR (Ret)

https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npswapa/extContent/usmc/pcn-190-003129-00/sec1.htm

 

Women Marines and Navy WAVES in WW-II

Women Marine Reenactor Kaila Wang at MCAS Ewa Field Commemoration