amtrac: Tracked amphibious vehicle used to transport the first waves of the invasion on Iwo Jima. Called an LVT for “landing vehicle, tracked,” it was eight feet wide, nine feet tall, and twenty-seven feet long.
banzai: Usually suicidal infantry assault, which the commander of the Japanese forces refused to employ on Iwo Jima. Ironically, had Kuribayashi ordered a banzai attack on the first night of the invasion, it may very well have succeeded, because the landing forces were so disorganized.
BAR: Browning automatic rifle. This was the principal rapid-fire weapon for a regular infantry squad. It was a gas-operated .30-06 caliber and could be fired via tripod or standing up. Basically a “walking machine gun,” its twenty-round magazine could be emptied in three seconds. Each BAR man had an assistant who carried ammunition for it. The .30-caliber round was interchangeable for the M1 rifle, the BAR, and the light and heavy machine guns, according to Mike Mervosh, who was on Iwo Jima for the entire campaign.
bazooka: Common name for the tubular 2.36 rocket launcher, fired over the shoulder, used against tanks or fortified positions. The 2.36 refers to the diameter of the shell. Each platoon had at least two. The assistant inserted the shell from the back, then tapped the gunner on the shoulder. Effective range was about one hundred meters.
Betty: Principal heavy bomber of the Japanese Navy, the G4M was referred to as the Betty by the Allies. It was remarkable for its long range, achieved by depriving it of armor and equipping it with huge fuel tanks in the wings. Because it tended to catch fire readily when hit, it acquired the nicknames One-Shot Lighter and the Flying Cigar.
boondockers: Marine field shoes, usually worn with canvas leggings.
boot: Marine recruit.
bulkhead: A wall.
C2: A puttylike plastic explosive that could be molded by hand; favored for use in satchel charges. A fuse set off a blasting cap that caused the C2 to explode.
cannon: A large, heavy piece of artillery of four basic calibers: the .57 millimeter, which could be dragged up to the line of combat by hand; the .75-millimeter pack howitzer, which could be broken down and carried by several marines; the 105; and the 155. The .57 millimeter could fire ten rounds a minute; it employed mostly canister, small bullets in one shell that spread out like shotgun pellets but with much more lethal effect.
carbine: This was a .30 caliber rifle with a fifteen-round clip. It lacked the stopping power of the M1.
Cincpac: The sort of acronym loved by the military, this one stood for Commander in Chief, Pacific Command.
Corsair: Single-engine Marine fighter plane.
D-day: Debarkation (invasion) day.
deck: The ground or the floor.
dog face or doggie: Soldier in the U.S. Army. Negative term used by marines to label Army counterparts.
DUKW: Manned by black soldiers and also white marines in separate DUKW companies—this amphibious vehicle, pronounced duck, was fifteen by eighteen feet, with four-wheel drive, rubber tires, and a propeller that drove it through the water. One company of Army DUKWs was assigned to each Marine division on Iwo.
ear-banger: Someone who seeks to curry favor with a superior.
flamethrower: A portable weapon carried by hand or fired from a (Zippo) tank, projecting an incendiary fuel such as jellied gasoline or a mixture of high-octane gas and diesel fuel. The hand-carried version weighed seventy-two pounds. It held five gallons of fuel, which burned up in about seven seconds.
gung ho: Based on a Chinese phrase that means “to work together,” this phrase was adopted by the Marines to describe an overly zealous member of the Corps.
hand grenades: There were three types: fragmentation, incendiary, and smoke. After you pulled the pin—by hand and never with your teeth—and released the lever, you had three to five seconds prior to explosion. It was customary to let two seconds go by before throwing the device, so it could not be flung back by the enemy. Mike Mervosh said he threw more grenades than he fired bullets. The effective radius was about ten yards. The Japanese version was activated by rapping it on one’s helmet or another hard object.
hatch: A doorway.
H hour: The hour at which an operation begins.
Higgins boat: The flat-bottomed landing craft devised by Andrew Higgins of New Orleans. Various types included the LCI (landing craft, infantry), LCT (landing craft, tank), the LCVP (landing craft, vehicles, personnel), and the LCM (landing craft, medium). The LVT was the amphibious tracked ship-to-shore vehicle known as the amtrac.
house apes: Children.
Ka-Bar: a solid, six-inch fixed blade knife carried by virtually every marine, primarily for combat but also useful for opening K rations.
KIA: Killed in action.
line of departure: A suitably marked offshore line intended to coordinate landing craft so they could land on designated beaches according to predetermined schedules.
LP: Listening post.
M1 Garand: The infantryman’s favorite weapon, it was a gas-operated .30-06 caliber with an eight-shot clip. Called by General George Patton “the greatest battle implement ever devised,” it could be fired repeatedly by just pulling the trigger. With its sixteen-inch bayonet attached, the rifle weighed almost ten pounds. “You snapped the bayonet on the end of the muzzle when you hit the beach, and you put it on when you were snooping around caves,” Mike Mervosh said.
machine gun: There were two basic types: a .30 caliber, air-cooled version that could be fired standing up or on a ten-pound tripod (each gunner had an assistant to help carry the gun and the webbed canvas belt that held 250 rounds) and the .30 heavy version, which was water-cooled and rested on a fifty-one-pound tripod. It was brought up at night for perimeter defense. Each gun was manned by seven marines, including four ammo humpers. Two machine guns were assigned to each platoon. The water-cooled gun weighed ninety-one pounds.
Maggie’s drawers: Red flag or disk raised at a firing range to indicate the shooter has completely missed the target. It was said to come from a 1940s song entitled “Those Old Red Flannel Drawers That Maggie Wore.”
Marine units: A division included 20,000 men, consisting of four regiments, engineer, pioneer, tank, service, motor transport medical, amphibian tractor battalions, signal and laundry company, a war dog platoon, an observation squadron, and two replacement battalions. A regiment consisted of 3,300 men, broken into three battalions. A battalion numbered 1,100, consisting of three assault companies of about 250 each, plus a headquarters company and various support units. A rifle platoon held 45 men, 43 marines and 2 Navy corpsmen. Mortar platoons were smaller, 18 to 20, and machine-gun platoons held up to 56 men.
mortar: a short smooth-bore gun for firing shells at high angles. The sixty-millimeter mortar was manned by six: the gunner, his assistant, and four carriers. It was muzzle-loaded and could be elevated to forty-five degrees. It was very accurate from three hundred to seven hundred yards, and it would reach as far as eighteen hundred. There was also the eighty-one-millimeter mortar.
mustang: Enlisted man who leaves those ranks to become an officer.
Nambu: Japanese light machine gun.
noncom: Noncommissioned officers are the enlisted men, especially gunnery sergeants and the like, who really enable the Marine Corps to function.
Quonset hut: Building made of corrugated metal with semicircular cross section, first manufactured at Quonset Point, Rhode Island.
rifle grenade: An adapter on a rifle muzzle could launch this grenade up to 150 yards, whereas 30 yards was about maximum for one thrown by hand.
salt: A marine who has been in the Corps a long time; an old hand.
satchel charge: A hand-carried charge of dynamite or C2 or C4 plastic explosive that could be thrown once a flamethrower had been used to blast the occupants in a cave into retreat.
scuttlebutt: Drinking fountain gossip or rumor.
slop chute: Enlisted men’s bar.
Springfield ’03: The principal combat rifle used before the M1 Garand. It was a .30-caliber bolt action, which meant each shell had to be ejected manually. The M1 was semiautomatic, meaning it could be fired repeatedly by simply pulling the trigger. The Springfield held a five-round clip.
squadron: Consisted of two or more groupings of aircraft or divisions of ships.
swab jockey: Any sailor, also referred to as a swabby, squid, or anchor clanker. The term was not complimentary.
Thompson submachine gun: This was a hand-held .45-caliber submachine gun equipped with a stick magazine that held twenty rounds. It was useful in close combat at point-blank range; otherwise it was not much good. It was favored by tankers and artillery men.
Tojo: Single-seat, single engine aircraft used to intercept B-29 bombers. With its poor visibility on the ground, weak armament, and high landing speed, it was generally disliked by its pilots. This was the kind of plane shot down by Lieutenant Robert Merklein. Tojo was also the name of Japan’s wartime prime minister.
tracer: Bullet with a phosphorous coating, designed to burn in flight to provide visual indication of trajectory.
weapons carrier: A one-ton vehicle, manufactured by Dodge, that looked like an oversized pickup truck. It was designed to carry its crew and mortars or machine guns.
Weasel: Small tracked vehicle used for towing .57-millimeter cannon and hauling supplies to advanced areas, among other things.
WIA: Wounded in action.
WW: Walking wounded.