Eighty years ago was a momentous time in world history. 1943 saw titanic struggles on three continents. Great armies, navies and air forces battled to define mankind’s future. Two years earlier, In January 1941, the war in Europe had already raged for over a year. In his January 6th State of the Union speech, President Franklin Roosevelt articulated the “Four Freedoms”: freedom of speech and of religion, and freedom from want and fear. Would 1943 see continued pressure against the Axis forces that wanted to destroy these freedoms and create worldwide servitude?
This Memorial Day we can do no less than gratefully remember those who fought and those who made the ultimate sacrifice in protecting these freedoms. In World War II, 1943 was indeed a pivotal year. Armies of the United States, Great Britain and free French forces fought across North Africa, battling German and Italian troops in an attempt to take control of the Mediterranean basin. From the east, the British 8th Army pushed Erwin Rommel and the German Afrika Korps out of Egypt and across Libya and Tunisia while the American 1st and 2nd Armor divisions attacked German and Italian forces from Algeria and the west. In six months of fighting, the Allies had over 250,000 casualties, including dead, wounded and missing. In some instances the dead had to be left where they had fallen because of the rough terrain, severe weather and enemy fire.
In commenting on the resilience of his troops under very trying circumstances, General Dwight Eisenhower said, “I have observed very frequently that it is not the man who is so brilliant who delivers in time of stress and strain, but rather the man who can keep on going indefinitely, doing a good straightforward job.” This straightforward job resulted in the Allies pushing the Germans and Italians out of Africa by May, 1943. The resilience of the American soldier in this major campaign was founded on an inherent belief in the American character and the need to stand strong with ones comrades.
The Allied campaign in Italy itself began with the invasion of Sicily in July of 1943 followed by entering the mainland at Salerno and Taranto in early September. The brutal Italian campaign lasted until the end of the war in May 1945 and resulted in 330,000 Allied casualties. During the campaign, fighting against entrenched Germans in freezing winter weather, an American lieutenant sent a dispatch to headquarters. “We have passed the crest of 907. We are receiving much machine gun and mortar fire from several directions…. Men are getting in bad shape…. I have stopped burying the dead…. German snipers are giving us hell and it is extremely difficult to catch them.” Such was the cost of preserving our freedoms.
Across the world, in the Pacific, the army, navy and marines had begun island hopping in the war against Japan. Marine and army units had finally prevailed in the Battle of Guadalcanal by February 1943 after six months of fighting. The next major target in November of 1943 was the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. The small coral island of Betio was defended by 4,600 Japanese troops, deeply dug in after a year of strong defensive preparations. On November 20, an amphibious landing was made primarily by the 2nd Marine division with support from the army’s 27th Infantry division. In four days of very hard fighting, American forces lost over 1000 killed and 2000 wounded while the Japanese force was wiped out. This battle showed how difficult future actions would be on such islands as Saipan, Guam, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Freedom exacts a heavy price, but the alternative is forever unacceptable.
In closing his speech of January 6, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt intoned, “This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.”