World War II - Saipan
While General MacArthur's army was recapturing New Guinea and the Philippines, Admiral Nimitz's navy and the Marines were retaking the islands in the Pacific from the Japanese, one by one. The battle for the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands was fought from June 15 to July 9, 1944. Above is a short video showing pilots who had been shot down at Saipan being rescued by boat. (Sorry about the watermark on the video.) The rescued pilots are naked. The pilots may have abandoned their clothes when their planes were downed so they wouldn't have to swim in their heavy boots and flight gear, or their rescuers may have stripped them to get them out of whatever soggy wet clothes they were swimming in.
Over 29,000 Japanese troops died in the battle for Saipan – virtually the entire Japanese force on the island. Those who were not killed in battle committed suicide rather than surrender. 3,000 Americans were killed and 10,000 wounded, including future Hollywood actor Lee Marvin. Above, after the invasion, an American soldier dries off after a shower on Saipan.
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This photo by LIFE war photographer Peter Stackpole of American troops on Saipan has become a classic.
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But that photo was only one of a series from Stackpole that are now in the LIFE photo archive. Here's another photo of troops bathing and washing their clothes on Saipan ...
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And another ...
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And another.
Saipan became an important American air base. Japan was now within range of Boeing B-29 bombers. Many planes had nose art featuring pinup girls, but this crew went for a more masculine theme.
Update: Jerry from Vintage Muscle Man says that "Boeing's Boner" was actually commentary on the mechanical unreliability of the B-29.
One of the airmen on Saipan, Sergeant Lisle George Neher, who was a gunner on a B-29 called Hell's Belle, took this photo in 1945. At the bottom is another airman, presumably one of his buddies. It's a little hard to see him.
But we can fix that.
The loss of Saipan prompted Japanese prime minister Tojo to resign. One Japanese admiral said, "Our war was lost with the loss of Saipan."
6 comments:
Thank you for your work.
The Photographer's Mate upper left on "then, Another," was my Navy Job.
See the uniform and gear? In that heat/ humidity?
No wonder the guys were romping nekkid!
"Boeing's Boner" actually referred to the B-29's tendency to be mechanically unreliable, particularly when it came to engine fires with early models. If you look closely, you'll see that two of the engines are sort of crossed out in the photo above, indicating they weren't working correctly. More B-29s were lost to mechanical failures than to enemy fire.
Thanks, Jerry. I didn't know that.
"How dare they laugh at my boner!" -The Joker (the Clown)
Leading to a bunch of boner (mistake) themed crimes.
Die amerikanischen Soldaten reinigen ihre Kleidung in Saipan mit Sand, so wie es deutsche Soldaten in Nordafrika taten.
(vvs)
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