This is perhaps one of the most tragic photos of World War II that I’ve ever come across. For me, it symbolizes the sacrifices that America’s service members made to achieve victory. Only a handful of fathers and sons served together in the same combat divisions during the war. Countless fathers lost their sons in battle but very few were present for a burial overseas.
The old breed and THE new
Col. Francis I. Fenton was an Old Corps Marine who served with First Marine Division (1st MarDiv) during the campaigns for Peleliu and Okinawa. In the latter operation, he was the divisional engineer. His son Michael shipped into the Corps in April 1944. As a seventeen year old, he needed parental permission to enlist. The San Diego Union later reported the conversation between father and son, which took place after one of Mike’s varsity baseball games in the spring of 1944:
“Dad, I’m seventeen now. There’s a paper I’d like you to sign.”
“I thought you didn’t want to join the [C]orps.”
“Well, I meant as a career. But there’s a war on. When it’s over, we’ll both resign and take in all the big-league games, huh?”
“Sure Mike, if that’s what you want.” (1)
After boot camp in San Diego, Michael received training as a scout-sniper. He shipped out for the Pacific in January 1945 and was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, Fifth Marines.
Okinawa was the 1st MarDiv’s fourth campaign of World War II. As it turned out, this was Michael’s first and only combat operation. On L-Day (April 1st, 1945) Landing Team 1/5 (LT 1/5) hit the beach on Yellow-2, rapidly driving across the island against light resistance.
War correspondent Ernie Pyle landed with the Fifth Marines headquarters on L-Day, and was attached to Able 1/5 on L+1. Company commander Capt. Julian Dusenbury of Claussen, S.C. marked his 24th birthday on L-Day. He told Ernie:
That was the happiest birthday present I ever had … going through Love-Day without a single casualty in the company. (2)
During April 1945, Army units threw themselves against Japanese defenses of the Shuri Line on southern Okinawa. Thousands of Soldiers died or were wounded in the face of fanatical enemy resistance. While not exactly easy, April was very different for the 1st MarDiv. In fifteen days, the division secured its entire zone Of advance in the center of the island. With light casualties, the division moved into bivouac areas and ran constant patrols.
Eugene B. Sledge also served with the Fifth Marines, and later wrote the landmark memoir With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa. Already a combat veteran of Peleliu, Sledge had absolutely no illusions about the reality of war for infantrymen. He devoted a chapter in his book to April 1945, which he aptly titled “Stay of Execution.” (3)
Father and son met briefly on Okinawa that month, about two weeks before Michael’s death. They talked of socks, blankets, ponchos, and letters – important subjects for combat Marines far from home. The colonel said he would send Michael some comfort items the next day, but the young Gyrene urged his dad not to. The other guys might think Michael was pulling strings. This was the last time Col. Fenton saw his son alive. (4)
Steel, concrete, and blood
On May 1st, it was the turn of the Marines to move into the meat grinder on southern Okinawa. The Shuri Line served as the Japanese garrison’s main line of defense. With months to prepare their positions and emplacements, enemy engineers had burrowed deep into the ground, building tough fortifications that could withstand all but the most intensive fires. The 1st MarDiv historian later wrote:
It was a shockingly vicious business from the first moment of the first day (May 1), one that required–after the respite in April–some severe readjustments. (5)
In the first six days of May 1945, the 1st MarDiv suffered 1,400 casualties. (6) The rains had set in, turning the battlefield into a muddy wasteland. On May 7th, LT 1/5 drew the lead assignment to eliminate the Awacha Pocket, a stoutly held Japanese position northeast of Dakeshi.
The attack kicked off at 12 o’clock P. M. after a massive preparatory barrage by artillery, rockets, and aircraft. A reinforced tank company supported the assault. Working together while a cold rain fell, tankers and infantry Marine blasted one enemy position after another. It was a bloody, brutal, procedure called “corkscrew and blowtorch.”
final goodbye from a grieving father
At 5 o’clock P. M., the Marines of LT 1/5 dug in for the night after securing 300-400 yards of the pocket. Casualties were heavy, especially in the rifle platoons. Among the dead was Pfc. Michael J. Fenton, 545106, USMCR. The San Diego Union reported on the next time Col. Fenton saw his son:
The jeep pulled up at the graves registration tent. Men were stretched on the ground. Col. Fenton walked among the bodies, stopped at one.
“This is my son,” he said.
Mike, wrapped in an American flag, was buried in the ground he fought for. The Catholic chaplain intoned the final prayer. Then the colonel bowed in prayer among the other [M]arines awaiting burial.
“The poor souls. They didn’t have their fathers here,” he said. (7)
After Col. Fenton buried his son, he wrote a letter to his wife Mary, telling her of Michael’s death. Mrs. Fenton received the official notification by telegram, and the letter from her husband arrived two days afterward. As Gold Star parents, the Fentons knew the awful reality of losing their son to help achieve victory.
Over 25,000 Marines died in the war, yet the passing decades can never diminish the last full measure of devotion they gave to our country. Each Gold Star family in World War II received a special certificate signed by the president. These words were embossed on that document in testament to a life cut short in freedom’s cause:
He stands in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live, and grow, and increase its blessings. Freedom lives, and through it, he lives – in a way that humbles the undertakings of most men.
Our charge in the 21st century is to remember the reality of Michael’s loss, not the glorified ideal. He was barely coming into manhood when the war took him forever. For me, the greatest tragedy in that young Marine’s death was the lost potential that never came to be.
I believe that men such as Michael Fenton still have something to teach us today. Like the photograph below, their voices echo to us across the generations. It is up to each of us to choose to hear the lessons, or let their voices go unheard in the wind until time and ignorance silence them forever.
Never forget, Mark
Notes:
- Cited conversation is from the article “Jap Bullet Ends Father-Son Team” in the June 17th, 1945 edition of The San Diego Union.
- Ibid.
- Capt. Julian Dusenbury was severely wounded while serving with the 1st MarDiv on Okinawa. He received the Silver Star on Peleliu, and the Navy Cross on Okinawa. The quoted passage is from page 115 of Last Chapter by Ernie Pyle, Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1945.
- With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene B. Sledge, Presidio Press, 1981.
- Cited passage is from page 374 of The Old Breed – A History of the First Marine Division in World War II by George McMillan. Infantry Journal Press, Washington, D. C., 1949.
- Casualty number extracted from page 42 of The Final Campaign: Marines in the Victory on Okinawa by Joseph H. Alexander, Marine Corps Historical Center, Washington, D. C., 1996.
- Op. cit. “Jap Bullet Ends Father-Son Team”