Big Blue Ablaze

Book excerpt: In June 1944 Raymond Stolpe boarded a ship in San Diego headed for the Mariana Islands (Saipan and Tinian) where, he experienced his first combat – a midnight Banzai charge by the enemy- a frantic all-out, all night charge by the enemy. In the morning, Stolpe saw over 1,000 dead enemy soldiers. Later in the Tinian campaign, Lt. Shearer ordered Stolpe and his buddy Charles Leslie to set out booby traps in front of their position. Then at night, when they began lighting up the area in front of Stolpe’s position, they exposed the attacking enemy. Stolpe jumped to his feet and threw a grenade on target and silenced the enemy’s machine gun. Stolpe was one of the very first Americans to land in Nagasaki after the bomb had wiped out the city. His job then became one of peacemaker to the Japanese people. It was a great challenge, but one he was happy to accept.