Tarawa Talk

From a 1991 Follow Me publication 2ndMarDiv Association. I found another copy. Every one I've ever come across has info, pictures, first-hand stories. I understand that before it folded, that archives were kept but unknown who has them. Sure wish whoever has them could scan them. They are an invaluable piece of history that might fill in a lot of lost info on the battle of Tarawa...  Guadalcanal, Saipan and Tinian too....

Wow!  I would be very interested to see the photos and especially the Japanese map.  The author of the book mentioned may be on the forum.  I will try to follow up and find his contact info.

Jon

Hi! Thanks for your help. I did manage to print October's muster rolls for the first battalion but I'm still trying to figure out how to read the 'footnotes'. I suspect this may be a time-consuming endeavor. If anyone can come up with a name for the book you mentioned, I'd love to read it. I thought I had read everything about the battle, but don't recall a book about the 18th Marines (maybe Bordelon or Bonnyman?). By the way, I also have a super Tarawa group to a gent from the 2nd tractor battalion (Co. B) named Bryant. There's a photo album with some unpublished pics of Tarawa in it as well as a couple of Japanese flags, bayonet, etc. Also have a captured hand-drawn Japanese map of Betio. Alrighty, well, thanks again. I'll post updates, if anyone is interested.

Hi! Thanks for your help. I did manage to print October's muster rolls for the first battalion but I'm still trying to figure out how to read the 'footnotes'. I suspect this may be a time-consuming endeavor. If anyone can come up with a name for the book you mentioned, I'd love to read it. I thought I had read everything about the battle, but don't recall a book about the 18th Marines (maybe Bordelon or Bonnyman?). By the way, I also have a super Tarawa group to a gent from the 2nd tractor battalion (Co. B) named Bryant. There's a photo album with some unpublished pics of Tarawa in it as well as a couple of Japanese flags, bayonet, etc. Also have a captured hand-drawn Japanese map of Betio. Alrighty, well, thanks again. I'll post updates, if anyone is interested. 

Hello All - I recently acquired a fantastic Tarawa prayer flag taken by the 1st Bn, 18th Marines, on 11/22. I can hardly find any information regarding them - there is no unit history and they are only mentioned episodically in other publications. Can anyone tell me how I can find which of the assault units (2nd & 8th Marines) the engineers were parceled-out to? Does anyone know of an 'unofficial' unit history? Obviously, the big event on the 22nd was Bonnyman's bunker, but I'm sure the flamethrower/demolition teams were all over the place. I'm still hopeful of getting a marine name, but that's not certain. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I also have quite a few high-end Tarawa relics in my collection and would be greatly interested in trading for (or buying) an 18th Marines uniform (Blues, Alphas or frogskins) if anyone knows of one. Thank you very much for helping. Regards - Chris.

Hi Gunny, yes totally agree its Red 1. Another photo maybe by same person in same area, has always made me wonder, " what the heck "
I know some Maries were told the landing would be a  cake walk, so who thought a game of tennis would be grand.