John Henry Newstrom

John Newstrom enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve from Minneapolis, Minnesota in December 1942, and attended boot camp and advanced training in California. In July 1943, he was shipped out for overseas duty with Battery B, First Special Weapons Battalion, part of the First Marine Division. Private Newstrom landed at Cape Gloucester, where his battery was attached to the 5th Marines. At some point in the spring of 1944, he became a permanent member of the regiment, transferring to George Company, Second Battalion, 5th Marines as an automatic rifleman.

The next operation was “Stalemate II” – the invasion of Peleliu. While most veterans remembered New Britain as a comparatively easy campaign, Peleliu was anything but. Lieutenant Ilo Scantina, Newstrom’s platoon leader, recalled the fighting:

We had barely reached the beach and unloaded from the LVT when we received a hit from a mortar round, and five of the men from [3rd Platoon] were killed. Our mission was to move inland and take the airstrip…. It was an eerie feeling moving across the airfield – like being exposed on a tabletop with no protection….

We moved around the northern point of the island and began attacking the other side of the ridge. It was here that one could see the ugly side of war with the area covered with mangled Japanese bodies bloated and rotting covered with flies and maggots.

The worst was yet to come with the scaling of the coral ridge with all of its cracks and crevices concealing the enemy. It was here that one must appreciate the Marines inching their way and drawing fire [with] any exposure. The men moved on and carried out their orders in the face of mortal danger. It took real guts, courage, dedication, patriotism, and selfless sacrifice to obey orders under such conditions.

– Ilo Scatina, Hold Your Head High, Marine: Stories from G/2/5 Marines who fought in the South Pacific Theater in WWII.

In one of these encounters “on the Northwestern tip of the island,” PFC Newstrom was ordered to attack a cave concealing a Japanese sniper. He fell instantly killed with a bullet through his head. “To the best of my knowledge, his body was not recovered,” noted Lieutenant Scatina.

Somehow, my only souvenir of World War II is the roster of my platoon for the Peleliu operation. Of the 42 men who landed, 14 were KIA, 14 were WIA, and 14 of us survived. Of the survivors, 6 were subsequently killed in the Okinawa operation.

– Ilo Scatina