MHT Blog

Welcome to the MHT Blog Site and our Posts try to not be dusty topics or blah military history but things we find interesting and hope you will too! Below is our MHT Blog Archive for additional topics. We will have more from the sites we visit now that MHT is back on the road. Thanks for checking us out – The Editor

CLICK TO SEE THE 2025 TOURS

SEE the update to the Blog 03/21/2022 - For Want of a Horse, the MiG-29s Were Lost?

GUAM MHT’s Favorite Basecamp

I have loved my visits to Guam from the great people, the crystal-clear water of Tumon Bay, the fun nightlife along Pale San Vitores Road, running on the beach past Japanese defensive fortifications, the great food at Jeff’s Pirates Cove & all the native, Spanish & WWII history. Guam is the perfect locale to fly on our chartered United Airlines 737 to join the Iwo Jima Association of America Veterans & families at the site of the epic WWII battle. The MHT Tour “WWII in the Pacific” tries to follow the great 10 episode “The Pacific” as we visit Guam, Iwo Jima, Taiwan, Saipan, Pearl Harbor, & Peleliu (we go to Guadalcanal but it is too far to the South to incorporate it!)

MHT has been using Guam since 1985 as our base of operations to return the Combat Veterans of Iwo Jima that has become the Iwo Jima Association of America (IJAA.) I was lucky enough to join MHT prior to the 2005 Reunion of Honor for the 60th Commemoration & have been to Guam three times.

I always enjoy the arrival ceremony as the Chamorro people (the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, which includes Guam & the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) are the nicest hosts & love to share their island culture with visitors. They have a special love for the Marines, sailors & soldiers who liberated their island from the Imperial Japanese military.

During MHT’s “WWII in the Pacific” tour we will check in on the island site that is becoming Camp Blaz, the first new Marine Corps installation in 70 years. It is named for the late Brigadier General Vincente Tomás Garrido “Ben” Blaz, USMC who retired from the Marine Corps on 1 July 1980. He was born in the Territory of Guam & was on the island during the three years of Japanese occupation during WWII (1941-44.) In 1947, he was awarded a scholarship to the University of Notre Dame, where, upon graduation he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps.
BGen Blaz served in a variety of command & staff billets throughout the Marine Corps, including service in both the Korean & Vietnam Wars. His career highlight was his assignment in 1972 as Commanding Officer, 9th Marine Regiment, which was one of the major infantry units involved in the liberation of his native Guam during WWII. From September 1972 to August 1975, BGen Blaz served with the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), Washington, D.C. for which he was awarded the Legion of Merit. His other personal decorations include the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V”, the Navy Commendation Medal (twice awarded), & the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. Prior to retiring, he served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Reserve Affairs, Headquarters Marine Corps.

Tumon Bay

In 1984, he challenged 75-year-old Democrat Antonio Won Pat for Guam’s Congressional seat. Won Pat stressed his seniority in Congress but Ben countered by reminding voters that his Republican Party affiliation would be an asset for Guam under the Ronald Reagan administration. Blaz criticized his opponent’s attendance record in Congress & his economic development efforts for Guam during the tightly contested campaign. He also promised to ensure that Guamanians would enjoy the same privileges as U.S. citizens on the mainland. After the ballots were tallied on Election Day, Blaz had a razor-thin lead of about 300 votes, triggering a recount. On November 11, 1984, the Guam Election Commission certified the election, declaring Blaz the winner by 354 votes. “I’m ready,” Blaz remarked. “I’ve been ready for 40 years. I’m on a mission.” As an early election denier Won Pat ultimately contested the election citing “substantial irregularities.” The Democrat asked the House of Representatives to overturn the election results but was denied for insufficient evidence. BGen Blaz served his native Guam for eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives. The General passed on January 8, 2014 at 85 years-old & his final resting place is in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Marine Corps Base (MCB) is being constructed just to the east of Andersen Air Force Base (AFB) (which was originally named North Field) & south of the historic Northwest Field that were both used by the U.S. Army Air Forces in WWII to launch B-29 Superfortresses against the Imperial Japanese mainland from the newly constructed airfields. B-29s from Guam’s North Field 314th Bombardment Wing participated in high-altitude strategic bombing of the Imperial Japanese industrial base & low-level incendiary bombing of urban areas to weaken Japanese war resolve. The 315th Bomb Wing was the last of the five wings to arrive in the Marianas Islands (the 58th & 313th on Tinian & the 73rd on Saipan both sites can be seen as part of MHT’s Post-tour to its WWII in the Pacific Tour) & flew the longer-range & faster B-29B’s against Japanese oil industry targets. On August 14, 1945, 143 B-29 Superfortress aircraft of the 315th Bombardment Wing took off from Guam in what would become the last combat mission of WWII. Twenty minutes after midnight, the bombers from Guam reached their target to disrupt the Japanese production of crude oil from the fields around Akita & effectively delivered their payloads against the refinery complex.

(L to R) SgtMaj Daniel A. Soto, Sergeant Major for MCB Camp Blaz, Mr. Rob Leonard & Dr. Abigail Grace, professional staffers from the Senate Appropriations Committee- Defense, Col. Christopher L. Bopp, CO MCB Camp Blaz, &MajGen Stephen E. Liszewski, Commanding General (CG) for Marine Corps Installations Pacific, pose for a photo following briefings on future operations at MCB Camp Blaz, 27 Feb 2023.

In a very interesting historic coincidence, during their approach Japanese radars picked up the 315th’s B-29s as they neared Tokyo & the city went into a blackout. Many elements of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) refused to accept that Emperor Hirohito was resolved to end the war due to the loss of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. They wanted to fight to the death with the entire population put to the sword believing surrender was dishonorable to their suicidal bushido code. As many as 1,000 IJA officers & soldiers raided the Imperial Palace grounds on the evening of August 14, 1945 to destroy the phonograph records of Hirohito announcing Japan's unconditional surrender speech. The coup participants were confused by the palace’s large layout & were unable to find the two hidden recordings, which were smuggled out of the Imperial Palace in a lacquer box & a lunch bag.

In “The Last Mission: The Secret History of World War II’s Final Battle” Jim Smith, a crew member of the B-29 named “Boomerang” & history writer Malcolm McConnell proposed a narrative that the coup was foiled by the air raid enforced blackout & utter darkness caused by the 315th Bomber Wing’s approach. The Last Mission’s theory that the mission induced blackout happened precisely at the moment when the militarists bent on keeping the war going planned to thwart the release of Emperor Hirohito’s recordings. Smith said, "With flashlights & candles, soldiers searched all night for the recordings, but were unsuccessful, & the speech aired on August 15, 1945 as planned." All NHK stations announced that Emperor Hirohito would address the nation at noon. Many people wore formal clothes for the occasion. At precisely noon that day, an NHK announcer instructed the nation to stand for an announcement "of the highest importance." Following the national anthem, Kimigayo, the Emperor's speech was played. Reportedly, this was the first time that most Japanese civilians had heard the voice of any Emperor.

Andersen AFB played a huge part in the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1973 flying massive Arc Light missions using the B-52 Stratofortresses. MHT’s Vietnam Returns see some of the bombing results plus while in Hanoi we see some B-52 wreckage.

An Arc Light pattern of bomb craters in South Vietnam. Huu Tiep Lake, nicknamed, “B-52 Lake” in Hanoi.

U.S. Marines with Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Blaz move pieces of carpet for disposal during clean up & recovery efforts at MCB Camp Blaz following Typhoon Mawar, 15 June 2023.

The base will be ready for the 5,000 Marines & is expected to be stood up by the mid-2020s, but many of its core structures are still works in progress. The previous commander, Col. Christopher Bopp, USMC who has been charged with the approximately 4,000-acre camp’s creation noted, “Camp Blaz, right now, is really a construction site when you look at it,” he told Stars & Stripes during a media conference in early 2023. “We’re making solid progress, but Camp Blaz is not open as a functional base or functional camp yet,” said Bopp.

Above (Top:) SgtMaj Daniel Soto, USMC senior enlisted leader, MCB Camp Blaz, addresses the Marines & Sailors after a 249-mile run to celebrate the Marine Corps’ 249th Birthday. The run was during a 24-hour period, symbolizing the commitment to excellence, endurance, & the unbreakable bond that unites the Marines & concluded on 7 November with a Birthday Cake Cutting Ceremony. (Below:) Col. Christopher L. Bopp, USMC outgoing Commanding Officer (CO) of MCB Camp Blaz, left passes the unit colors to Col Ernest Govea, USMC incoming CO for MCB Camp Blaz, center, during a change of command ceremony at Andersen AFB, Guam, 10 July 2023. Bopp relinquished command of Camp Blaz to Govea after serving as the CO since May, 2021.

Blaz, officially activated in 2020, is the first new Marine base since the establishment of Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany, Ga., opened in 1952. Approximately 1,300 members of the III Marine Expeditionary Force, mostly from Okinawa, are scheduled to relocate to Blaz. Another 3,700 will be stationed on the island as a rotational “transplacement” force. [Transplacement was the USMC unit rotation of battalions during the 1960’s to Okinawa for 13-month deployments. My father was CO of 1st Battalion (Bn), 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division in Camp Pendleton, CA & took his command aboard the USS General William “Billy” Mitchell (AP-114 – above) sailing on a WWII era troop ship from San Diego to Okinawa. Upon arrival 1st Bn/1st Mar as a transplacement battalion had a flag transfer presentation in Naha & became 2nd Bn/9 Mar for the duration of their deployment on Okinawa as part of 3rd Marine Division on 20 May 1963.]*
*- A CHRONOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, 1947-1964 VOLUME III By Ralph W. Donnelly, Gabrielle N. Neufeld, & Carolyn A. Tyson

A tolerent Carabao above the village of Umatac where the first known contact between Chamoros & Europeans occurred with the arrival of a Spanish three-ship expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan on 6 March 1521.

Congressmen Blaz was the driving force in the Defense Policy Review Initiative, an agreement by the U.S. & Japan to relocate some Marine assets from Okinawa, with the primary purpose of closing MCAS Futenma that commands a huge area of valuable central Okinawa real estate, to Guam. Japan is paying $3 billion of the estimated $8.6 billion cost to build the new base & surrounding infrastructure. Relocating the Okinawa Marines, a slow-and-steady build-up rather than an immediate transfer, is expected to begin sometime in the next few years, Col Bopp said. “What I can say here, at this level, is that the agreement was for the mid-2020s,” he said. “There are a lot of estimates and people guessing as to when, but to be able to nail down the specific month, I don’t have that answer.” Bopp’s replacement Col Ernest Govea who assumed command in July 2023 plans to usher in the first detachment from Okinawa in late 2024.

(Clockwise from Top Right) MajGen David W. Maxwell, CG of Marine Corps Installations Command, on stage at Dusit Thani Guam Resort at the Banquet Jan. 26, 2023. Vince Blaz, grandson of BrigGen Blas speaks at the MCB Camp Blaz Reactivation & Naming Ceremony at Asan Beach. The USMC gift for Vince and Josh Blaz. MajGen Maxwell on stage at Reactivation & Naming Banquet unveils the BrigGen Blas gift to his grandsons.

In late 2022 construction workers made progress on completion of the at Camp Blaz fire station. In 2023, Brian Christner, the camp’s public works officer reported manning levels of 39 Marines & approximately 110 civilians with some projects complete, including some road, water & electrical infrastructure plus the finish of four of five live-fire ranges. The base construction has also completed projects supporting Marine Corps Aviation at Andersen AFB , including an aviation maintenance hangar.

Artists Concepts Clockwise from Top Left: 1) Overall Camp 2) Barracks 3) Recreation Center 4) Medical Center 5) HQ Bldg & 6) Admin Center

“There are other projects that have been completed, mainly up at Andersen for the Marine Corps to use, that are fully occupied,” Christner told reporters. So far, the Defense Department has awarded $3.7 billion in building contracts at Blaz, just under half of the allotted $8.6 billion, with funding shared by Japan & the U.S., according to CAPT Robert Stiles, USN, officer in charge of construction for Marine Corps Marianas. Around $600 million worth of projects have already been completed, he said. The next projects due for completion include three Bachelor Enlisted Quarters buildings for enlisted Marines, the camp’s dining facility while additional projects, such as the athletic center, base headquarters & administration center are slated for a 2024 completion Stiles said.

One glitch on the movement of Marines from Okinawa was raised by Congressmen Hank Johnson (D-GA) about the U.S. territory of Guam during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. During a discussion regarding the planned military buildup on the Pacific Island, Johnson expressed some concerns about the plans to ADM Robert Willard (USN), head of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Johnson stated "My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize," Admiral Willard paused & replied, "We don't anticipate that."
Pundits wasted no time lampooning the Democrat Congressman for his remarks. "Presumably, when you're the head guy of a major fleet for a big-time Navy, you've got plenty of other ways of filling your time other than reassuring congressmen on whether miscellaneous land masses are likely to tip over and sink," Mark Steyn wrote at the National Review Online. "But it's business as usual in Congress." The blog Left Coast Rebel wrote, "Call it a new low, a new 'tipping point' - even in the halls of Congress, if you will."

A Johnson staffer responded to spin the incident by saying the congressman is concerned the influx of military personnel will overwhelm the island's infrastructure and ecosystem. Johnson in damage control released a statement saying he was joking, according to CNN. "The subtle humor of this obviously metaphorical reference to a ship capsizing illustrated my concern about the impact of the planned military buildup on this small tropical island," the statement said. The Congressmen’s sense of humor wasn’t just subtle it was buried, almost subterranean or in this case below the seabed. I totally missed his submerged humor, listen for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cesSRfXqS1Q

One of my favorite visits was when R. Lee Ermey “The Gunny” (Author, TV & Movie Actor, Patriot, Philanthropist & Great American) accompanied MHT & the IJAA brought his hit TV Show “Mail Call” to Guam to film a special episode on the Battle for Iwo Jima in March 2005. Lee had just published his “Mail Call” Paperback from The History Channel on 12 January 2005. So, we had 250 copies sent to the then Outrigger Resort in Guam with the intent of inviting the active-duty sailors & airmen from Big Navy (the WWII nickname of Naval Base Guam that still services submarines & warships of the Pacific Fleet & Andersen AFB (that always has had bombers since WWII & was huge during the Vietnam War when hundreds of B-52 flew from Guam for Arc-Lights & bombing campaigns like Linebacker II. “Mail Call” was the most popular program on the History Channel and the only show in America where the host had a bazooka and knew how to use it! The tie-in book that we brought to Guam, Lee in his singular, in-your-face style provided entertaining & little-known facts about the vast arsenal of deadly hardware used by the armed forces. Mail Call is filled with historical anecdotes, interesting factoids, quotes from top military experts, & much more.

I helped set up the table in the lobby of the Outrigger Resort & there was already a line forming up to buy the book & get “The Gunny” to sign a copy. After two hours, we were out of books with Lee having personalized each for a bunch of Marines, sailors & airmen with plenty of picture requests taken too. However, the line still went down the escalator to the street in front of the hotel. I was about to close down the line but the Gunny said he had some headshots & some 8” x 10”’s of Gunny Hartman. When those ran out he signed people’s hats, their copies of “Full Metal Jacket”, “The Boys in Company C (his first appearance as a Drill Instructor), “The Siege of Firebase Gloria”, “Toy Story 1 & 2” plus some lesser known ones like “Prefontaine”, “Saving Silverman” & even “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” After another two hours Lee had taken every picture, signed everyone’s Videos, DVDs or Blue Ray Disc making 500+ U.S. servicemen & their dependents feel very special in a tour de force appearance over 6,000 miles from Hollywood & MHT didn’t have to pay this patriotic star a million dollars!!!
Here is The Gunny’s Iwo Jima Special:
https://tv.apple.com/us/episode/iwo-jima-special/umc.cmc.hj4dlj8bpyocfggodrygm20f?showId=umc.cmc.1njfpza7fdyyx0ynspqqcnkz8

or https://www.amazon.com/Mail-Call-Season-6/dp/B089NVFN72

The other great event was the rededication of James Trimble III Field in 2005 that had been a long-time project of the American Veterans Center (AVC) & dream of their Executive Chairman James C. Roberts. On 9 March, the newly refurbished Trimble Field was dedicated in Yona, Guam. The field was named in honor of U.S. Marine Private James Trimble for whom the AVC’s youth scholarship is also named. He grew up in Chevy Chase, MD & was an outstanding baseball pitcher at the prestigious St. Albans Prep School in Washington, DC & had a future with the Duke University team & potentially the Washington Senators after college. Trimble enrolled at Duke in September 1943 & with WWII raging, had hoped to enter officer training but was rejected due to an eyesight issue. So, he enlisted in the Marines on 13 January 1944, & went to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island, SC, where he pitched for the base team after graduation. After Combat Intelligence School at Camp Lejeune, NC, he was assigned to Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Marine Division (3rd MarDiv) on Guam.

3^rd MarDiv All-Stars Trimble Front Row 2^nd from right

Trimble was one of seven Headquarters Battalion players selected for the 3rd MarDiv All-Star team that played the 2nd MarDiv team early in 1945. In February 1945, the 3rd MarDiv left Guam bound for Iwo Jima. "Yes, Mom, I am going into combat, but don't let that worry you," he wrote his mother in a letter dated February 18, 1945. On 19 February, the first wave of Marines landed on the “Black Sands” of Iwo Jima against little opposition & moved inland from crater to crater through foul-smelling wisps of sulfur with everything soon covered with volcanic ash. When the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) & Imperial Japanese Navy units finally opened fire with machine guns, mortars & artillery from cleverly concealed reinforced concrete bunkers linked together by underground tunnels, the Marines caught in the moonscape caused by the massive air raid bombings & naval bombardments.

Trimble's 4th platoon, composed of Combat Intelligence Marines that had been taught some Japanese language, rubber boat reconnaissance, map reading, demolition usage, & radio operations, had been told that the 3rd MarDiv probably would not go ashore as the 4th & 5th MarDivs would secure the island in three days. However, with the bitter fighting & painfully slow progress it was soon realized that every Marine was needed ashore so the 3rd MarDiv joined the bloody fray. As Don Mates a member of the platoon said on landing on D+2, "I had never seen anything like it, and never expect to see anything like it again. There were bodies all over. There were pieces of bodies. There were bodies without heads, without arms. There were bodies that were completely eviscerated. They hadn't started to bury the dead, and it was just one holy mess."

Mates & Trimble were part of an eight-man squad that guarded the command post of Major General Graves Erskine, Commanding General of the 3rd MarDiv. For the next three days Trimble’s squad was posted to guard the divisional command post. Meanwhile, the division was suffering heavy casualties from the concealed IJA’s massive M98 spigot mortar shells that weighed 600 lbs. & were 320mm (13”) in diameter. General Erskine wanted these morale sapping mortars silenced & sent the eight-man reconnaissance team out to find their location. They moved up to the front line near the boundary between the 3rd & 5th MarDivs reaching one of the spines running off from the infamous Hill 362A as darkness began to fall. The patrol dug in for the night in four two-man foxholes in an eerie quietness to the whole place that resembled the moon’s surface.

Trimble and Private Don Mates were in the third foxhole along the ridge & Mates slept while Trimble took the first four-hour watch. Just after midnight on March 1st, a flare unexpectedly lit up the area. They were being overrun by IJA soldiers stubbornly determined to hold Hill 362A & Mates awoke to see enemy soldiers out of their caves in the open. After over two hours of waves of yelling, screaming & the chaos of hand-to-hand fighting they got close enough that Trimble took a bayonet in the right shoulder. Mates continued hurling grenades down the slope while Trimble despite his wounds fired his rifle at anything that moved dropping many IJA soldiers. Then about 0230 (2:30AM) two grenades were tossed into the foxhole, one exploding between Mates' legs breaking both & ripping the flesh from his thighs. The second exploded next to Trimble as the blasts wounding him critically on his back, upper arms & the back of his head. Mates pulled himself out of the hole & as he turned to help Trimble up a Japanese suicide sapper, with a mine strapped to his chest, jumped in the fighting position. He grabbed the severely wounded Marine, detonating the mine killing them both.

Mates bleeding profusely, was pulled into the next foxhole where one of those Marines applied a tourniquet saving him from bleeding out until a corpsman reached him (but for the next 30 years he would undergo repeated operations for shrapnel removal.) Of the eight-man patrol, another was wounded & two others besides Trimble were KIA & PFC Joseph McCloskey was missing (McCloskey’s body was found in a cave a week later, where he had been brutally tortured & killed by the Japanese. Having met “Big Don” he still became emotional when talking about the loss of Trimble & his brotherhood with those Marines. The ferocity of the campaign is substantiated by 27 Medals of Honor awarded at Iwo Jima, thirteen were posthumous. Unbelievably, there were over 200 Navy Cross medals awarded, a decoration second only to the Medal of Honor, & reading many of the Navy Cross citations should have warranted a Medal of Honor.

Woody Williams RIP was the last living Medal of Honor recipient. Here is Woody on Iwo Jima retruning with MHT & IJAA.

Two months after Trimble's death, Baza Garden Baseball Field, the 3rd MarDiv's home ground on Guam, was renamed Trimble Field. "Private Trimble was an outstanding member of the 3rd Marine Division All-Star Baseball Team," announced MajGen Erskine, "His name will not be forgotten and his brave spirit will continue to inspire us in the tough battles that lie ahead." Trimble's body was returned to the states after the war & rests at Rock Creek Cemetery near Fort Totten in northwest DC.

Fittingly, the new Trimble Field is located less than a mile from the original. The AVC led the fund raising of approximately $70,000 to enlarged the playing field & add new fences, bleachers & scoreboard as well as a memorial featuring a life-size bust of Trimble. Presiding over the ceremony was Yona Mayor Jose Terlaje. Also in attendance were numerous members of the Guam legislature, the Deputy Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Marianas & several hundred as part of the MHT 60th Anniversary tour. During the ceremony, letters were read by Congressman Darrel Issa, a huge contributor, & by President George W. Bush with his ties to baseball. Following the dedication ceremony, a group of high-school students from the Young Marines played a softball game against a local team from Yona. The day’s events culminated with a lavish fiesta featuring native foods & a demonstration of local dances.
In a happy coincidence, we now know a regiment of the 3rd MarDiv will be relocated from Okinawa to Guam in the next few years, so Trimble Field will be an important resource for the dependent families as well as the people of Guam.
MHT is proud to work with the Iwo Jima Association of America to use Guam again as our base camp for our “WWII in the Pacific” in March. Click on the photo of our good friend Fox New’s Marth MacCallum with Mt. Suribachi in the background to see the tour brochure.