Ira Gilliand recalls his night on the ridge.
It's tough to talk about this stuff. It's been fifty-eight years. It gives me the chills thinking about it.The Japanese were trying to outflank us and looked like they were going to overrun our position. I remember their screams. They screamed a lot, especially when they were charging. It made you alert in a hurry even after being up for two days and you're ready to fall asleep.Its hard for me to imagine being there and hearing the screams with absolutely no sleep and having to be so alert just to stay alive. -amber brown 3/2/10 8:54 AM When I am tired, there is no "alerting" me with anything. I just can not stay up if I am exhausted. However, I understand having to be alert at a critical time like this soldier was in. It is his duty to fight. -Brittany Gurr 3/2/10 8:59 AM
They kept charging, but that's where the grenades came in. We threw grenades all night long. I remember rolling the grenades down. We were up on the hill and they were below us. They kept feeding us boxes of grenades.I feel that in this situation I would feel bad for killing all those men but you would have to do it to save your own life and I would be scared to death with all that going on around me. -amber brown 3/2/10 8:59 AM I would also have a hard time killing the Japanese, but I guess we have to remember that these men were probably trained to not feel a sense of sadness for killing them. I mean, I am sure that the men had a hard time dealing with the stress that came from shooting the Japanese, however, it was there job, again. -Brittany Gurr 3/2/10 9:05 AM I remember the sound of Plante's BAR. He kept it going all night long. A lot of guys spent a terrible night out there.
The 1st Parachute Battalion was with us. I remember one of the paratroopers got shot. The corpsman came over because of his cry for help, and he [the corpsman] got shot right through the heart. His name was Smith, so when I saw Smith go down, I grabbed him and carried him down the hill. I didn't think he was going to die. When I got him down to the first aid station, I saw one of our doctors cry. [chokes up] Old Smitty was my friend, a real nice guy, and I broke down also.This would be the hardest thing for me to deal with watching someone who was my friend get shot and then die right in front of me. And to be in the first aid station and even seeing the doctors cry, it would be very difficult for me. -amber brown 3/2/10 9:05 AM It would also be very difficult to me. I mean, Amber, can you imagine seeing me in the hospital dying? I know that I couldn't imagine seeing you in that state. -Brittany Gurr 3/2/10 9:09 AM
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