I landed on Betio with Major Jim Crowe's 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. I was in Weapons 2/8. We landed on Red Beach 3 in the fourth wave. Our boat left us off on the edge of the reef and we pulled a 37mm gun to the beach through 500 yards of water. I and another guy were on the trails and four others were pushing. Guys were getting hit all around us. We dragged the gun up to the beach and none of us were hit as we were a group of six around the gun, pushing and pulling it through the water and coral. It was a miracle as the Jap anti-boat gun was firing at us. The shells were zinging just over our heads and bullets were flying around. We were all very scared. My mouth was dry. We set our gun by Major Crowe's command post. We were there for four days.
Semper fi.