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In the heady days after the liberation of Paris, hopes for a speedy end to the war against Germany were dashed by Operation Market Garden, a disastrous attempt by the Allies to secure a bridge over the Rhine River between Holland and Germany. Peleliu, a tiny island east of the Philippines and deemed a strategic launching point for retaking the Philippines, was the site in September and October of intense fighting in tropical heat.
The Liberation of the Philippines took another six months.
"All these guys crying for help and dying up there in Aachen and these guys stop and make tea."
"I thought that I was the only GI to land on the coast of Normandy."
And we made the landing on Peleliu, which in my opinion was the most ferocious thing I’ve ever been in."
"But at Peleliu you fought 24 hours a day. I mean, it didn’t let up."
"I felt as if I were finally doing what I should be doing for the war effort."
"Peleliu was a mean, very mean situation."
"It was a very noisy night. The loudest sound was my heart pounding."
"We started eating stray dogs, cats, monkeys, snakes, eels ... eventually we started eating sweet potatoes..."
"We lost more to sickness than Japanese bullets on Leyte."
"This was a very emotional moment for MacArthur and he wanted to let the Filipinos know he had set foot on their land."
