Oral History Interview with Burnes R. "B. R." Whitehead, July 26, 2011 Page: 4

Transcript of an oral interview with Burnes R. Whitehead. Mr Whitehead went into the Marine Corps on 10 Jul 1941 and went to boot camp in San Diego. Joined the 2nd Marine Division when it formed up at Camp Elliot and shipped out for Guadalcanal on the USS Alhena (Merchant Marine ship). His battle station for the Guadalcanal invasion was on top of a stack of the USS Alhena with twin Lewis guns. His outfit (2nd Regiment, 2nd Headquarters) went ashore at Tulagi Island but he didn't go ashore. His Headquarters company ended up in Espirtu Santo (New Hebrides) where he got malaria. He was a driver. From there they went by ship to Wellington, New Zealand, started unloading the ship and then got trucked to Paekakariki. They formed the 2nd Raider Battalion there but Whitehead was not part of that unit. He went to Tarawa from there with the 2nd Marine Division and was there for three nights and four days. He was the only survivor out of a Higgins boat. The boat got hung up on a reef and they got hit by a mortar (he received shrapnel in his arm); he was in water up to his neck when he went over the side. After Tarawa, they went to the Big Island of Hawaii, lived up on Parker Ranch and got replacements. After about six months on the Big Island, they landed on Saipan. Whitehead shot a Japanese soldier who shot him in the right shoulder and shattered his right arm. He was put on a plane and taken to Hawaii. From there he went by ship to San Francisco. From San Francisco, he took a train to Seattle and stayed about a month and then went to Quantico, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Tennessee and was discharged at Quantico. Whitehead watched the banzai attack on Saipan (Garapan's flat) and witnessed the civilians committing suicide by jumping off the cliffs as well. He was in Washington , D.C. for Roosevelt's funeral; doing guard duty. Several additional papers in folder.