War Diaries (May 5) (nonfiction)
Diaries
Duane Nelson: April 1, 1944
Well things really started happening about 0400 this morning and we are near the sea. ... The Nips made a landing about 2,000 yards from our position and all hell broke loose with machine guns, the destroyer and amphibians. We got our gear ready again and pulled out at about 4:30 to a place about 1,000 yards from the beach. We are still having heavy fire and it was rugged going. Getting close up you could see the tracers going every which way. At approximately 0600 we got shelled by Jap artillery. So many of their shells were duds and boy our fellows were sure thankful of that.
Duane "Swede" Nelson served in the Marines from 1943 to February 1946, and he participated in some of the biggest and bloodiest battles of the Pacific theater. He kept three small diaries documenting his experiences.
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External links
- Excerpts from [Duane Nelson’s WWII diaries] @ spokesman.com