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Mr. Marshall: Mr. Cox: Mr. Marshall: Mr. Cox: Mr. Marshall: Mr. Cox: Mr. Marshall: Mrs. Marshall: Mr. Marshall:
I can't remember the serial number on that. I know my number was 9-9-1-double 0-7. That's not on my rifle though, was it? That was my... Serial number. That was a serial number. the rifle number. Well after you finished your boot camp, then tell me what happened. Went to Camp Pendleton for infantry training... Right. ... and we stayed there for probably... well, I think we left Camp Pendleton about... do you remember, Sammie? Was it October? Or maybe September? We left Camp Pendleton? I don't remember. Must have been October because we got to Guam about... a little after... we spent Thanksgiving on the ship and Christmas on the ship so it must have been late December we got to Guam. I was on a ship called the Rochambeau. Was a converted luxury liner the French had. There were 8,000 of us on that ship. There were two replacement drafts. I was in the 30th, I think. The other was the 24th replacement draft. We all were going to Guam and we got ready to leave and go to Iwo Jima but we didn't know where we were going. They didn't tell us but the plan was for us to go to Okinawa on the
Third Division. Some way they changed the plan. Thank God they did because two divisions couldn't what happened at Iwo Jima by themselves. But we went to Iwo Jima and "Howlin' Mad" Smith was the commander of that Marine Corps detachment. Did you ever read about "Howlin' Mad" Smith? He was tough, tough, tough! We had... there were three regiments. We had the Second, Third and the... one of the regiments was the Third Marines in Third Division. He sent them 7
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Keifer Marshall. Marshall played football at the University of Texas and then joined the Marine Corps in early 1944. He describes his time in boot camp and infantry training. Marshall was sent to Guam as a replacement for the 3rd Marine Division. He describes in detail landing on Iwo Jima and the ensuing battle. Marshall discusses how his unit was trapped in Cushman’s Pocket and was rescued by a tank. He also discusses locating landmines and a network of Japanese defenses. Marshall was sent back to Guam to prepare for the invasion of Japan and returned to the US in time for Christmas of 1945.
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