“Vern” Willliam Vernon Gordon

United States Army

37th Infantry Division, 148th

Infantry Regiment

“Vern” Willliam Vernon Gordon Birth: 10 Jul 1912 Lincoln, Bingham, Idaho

Married: Rayola Smith, 3 May 1933 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

Death: 23 Feb 1944, WWII Bougainville, North Solomons, Papua New Guinea

Burial Service: 12 Mar 1944, Draper City Cemetery Draper, Salt Lake County, Utah

Plot: C-1-4

November 9, 1943

148th

Infantry Regiment, 37th

Division

Land on Bougainville

The 148th Infantry landed first on Bougainville 8 Nov 43 and was followed by the 129th

Infantry on 13 Nov 43 and the 145th Infantry which landed 19 Nov 43. Relieving the Marines

there, the division took over the area perimeter defense, constructed roads and bridges,

conducted patrols, and repulsed eight Japanese divisional attacks during March 1944. These

included the 8 Mar 44 counterattack on Hill 700 which drove a salient in the lines of the 145th

Infantry which wasn't reduced until 13 Mar 44 after heavy combat; the main counterattack of 11

Mar 44 toward Piva Airfield which hit the 129th Infantry; and the 23 Mar 44 general

counterattack which penetrated the lines of 129th Infantry before it was defeated. The latter

marked the last Japanese offensive activity in the Solomons and the division cleared the Laruma

Valley during April 1944. The division remained on Bougainville until 14 Dec 44,

conducting construction and combat activity up to 11 Oct 44 when it began training for

operations in the Philippine Islands.

The island of Bougainville itself was primitive, remote, and rugged - an easy place for the

Japanese to hide. It featured dense jungle, as well as a number of soaring volcanoes.

Earthquakes were a frequent occurrence, as were torrential downpours. The jungle was

thick, overgrown, and as one soldier recalled, "spooky."

Christmas Day on Bougainville (Author unknown)

The booming artillery is deafening-so is the roar of the planes.

Men are dying a thousand deaths-men are going insane.

The blood runs freely as the trickling of a brook.

The war goes on triumphantly and without a backward look.

To Kill; To Kill-the urge within one is strong.

"Peace on earth-Good will toward men"-where did I hear that song?

Oh! of course-how stupid-today is Christmas Day.

A day of hearty cheer-the world is deaf-it does not hear-it cannot hear

Bougainville Landing at Empress Augusta Bay on Bougainville

Why Bougainville? Most Japanese air attacks

were launched from Rabaul, Bougainville and

Buka, just north of Bougainville. Possession of

these islands would give our air force advanced

bases for their operations further north.

Bougainville is approximately 125 miles long

and 48 miles across at it's widest point.

Approximately 60,000 Japanese occupied the

island, mostly around Baku with it's airport and

along the east shore with it's low-lying

cultivated plantations and which would be the

most logical point to attack. General MacArther

chose the most illogical point of entry. Empress Augusta Bay was on the west side of the island and was

separated from the east side by swamps, a network of rivers, and dense impenetrable mountainous jungle.

Besides the immediate advantages to be gained by the capture of the beachhead area, there was an important

strategic advantage. The Japanese, isolated from any support or reinforcement by the U. S. fleet and Air Force,

would eventually have to come out of their retreat and, for the first time in the South Pacific, fight an offensive

war. With defensive positions firmly established and a strong perimeter bristling with gun emplacements and

fields of fire, the theory was, the Yanks could sit back and cut the Japs down like clay pigeons. The theory

worked, but the Japs were not exactly clay pigeons.

The 148th landed on Bougainville with the 37th Division on Nov. 9, 1943. The American

position at that time was nothing but green jungle and mud. First mission was to establish

a defense perimeter for the beachhead.

Bougainville Invasion Dec. 1943 to March 1944

http://blog.usni.org/2009/11/27/the-bougainville-invasion-part-3-december-1943-

%E2%80%93-march-1944 Empress Augusta Bay

The 37th Division was assigned the western sector of the

beachhead, formerly occupied by the 3d Marine Division, the

37th extended its right flank and took over some 2,000

additional yards of perimeter.

On Nov.10th the push inland began with the right flank of the 148th moving 1,000 yard north.

Snipers kept them on edge and there were 5 Jap plane attacks during the day. They advanced

another 2,000 yards on Nov 15th. On Nov 21 they advanced another 1,000 yards; then the next

few days were spent moving forward to the final defense line. Here on Nov 25th began the long

arduous task of completing perimeter defenses, digging in guns, stretching barbed wire, and

laying communications. Edward dug in his 37 MM antitank gun on the extreme left flank, next

to and overlooking Empress Augusta Bay. That foxhole was his home for the next 8

months. While the infantry made it's way in stages to the final defense line, work in the rear was

progressing rapidly on the installations for which the beachhead had been secured. A fighter

strip had been built and they were clearing

ground for a huge new bomber field.

Thanksgiving passed. Days went by

without any major excitement except the

air raids.

By this time the situation of the

Japanese had become precarious. They had

the protection of the mountains but their

supply lines were cut, food diminishing,

bombed daily, they were faced with the

unhappy alternative of remaining in hiding

and starving, or launching a full scale

attack to wipe out the American forces on

the island. They chose the latter.

The stage was set, and the curtain about to rise on some of the bloodiest, most fanatical

Banzai attacks made by the Japanese in the South Pacific War. The players were the boastful

warriors of the Japanese 17th Army, the cream of the Jap Militarists, pitted against a civilian

army of battling clerks, farmers, mechanics, carpenters, schoolboys, and business men, molded

into an efficient, blood-thirsty army by the blood-letting on New Georgia. The American

beachhead was on a coastal plain about two miles deep, lying at the foot of the towering Crown

Prince range of volcanic mountains. Patrols discovered that the Japs were assembling for a

major attack on Hill 700 which overlooked the airfield

William Vernon Gordon died February 23, 1944 on Bougainville

The first artillery shell from the attacking Japanese landed at 6:27 on Mar 8, 1944. For the next

three days the enemy pounded our lines, then on Mar 11th they launched an assault at dawn.

They came in waves, a whole battalion attacking on a platoon front. Brandishing their prized

sabers, screeching "Chusuto!" (Dam them), the Jap officers climbed up the slope and rushed

forward in an admirable display of blind courage. The men screamed in reply "Yaruzo!" (Lets

do it!) and then "Yarimosu!" (We will do it!). As they closed with the American doughboys, the

leaders cried "San Nen Kire!" or "Cut a thousand men!" These battle cries were answered by the

G. I.'s "Kill the bastards". Mowed down by the heavy fire from the dug in infantry, the Japs kept

tumbling over the bodies of their comrades unwaveringly advancing toward the spitting guns.

The attack was bloodily stopped by 8:00 and the dazed remnants of the enemy battalion had

withdrawn, leaving fifteen hundred of their dead comrades stacked up in front of our lines.

But the battle was not over. A different kind of battle developed. Twenty thousand Japs

swerved to the right and dared to meet us in open battle, in flat land, hoping their valor, strength

and courage would take the heart out of our troops. They underestimated the number and

fighting quality of the American soldier. Early on Mar 15th another Banzai attack occurred. The

leading platoons of shrieking orientals were hacked to pieces, but the rear units kept charging

over the bodies of the dead. The Japs who attacked the 37th Division were not only fanatical,

but desperate and indifferent to death. The tactics of the Japanese officers will always be a

mystery. Time after time they attacked over the same ground, literally stepping over the bodies

of their dead who had been cut to pieces, while the rear of their long columns were blasted from

the earth by the thousands of rounds of American artillery. The nauseating task of burying those

thousands of dead Japanese fell to the rear echelons of the division. Protected by infantry

squads they completed one of the most odious tasks of the war. Bulldozers buried them in their

foxholes and scraped out pits and scraped the reeking, mutilated remains in and covered the

mass graves over again. The stench was overwhelming and the decaying human flesh turned the

stomach. On Mar 27 1944 the shell-happy remainder of the Imperial Japanese Army staggered

back across the mountains. They were killed or captured in the following months.

Observers of most of the fighting in the Solomons were unanimous in their judgment that never

before had such frightful and bloody fighting taken place between the Japanese and the

Americans. The 37th Division alone killed 7,655 Japs and took 44 prisoners.

The 37th lost 185 killed, 1,388 wounded (57 of those later died), and 4 were missing in action.

Bougainville- 37th Infantry Division Patrol

WILLIAM VERNON GORDON

Service History

1942, Dec 19 - Inducted and sworn into the Army.

1942, Dec 26 - Leave Salt Lake city for Camp Roberts, California

1943, Jan 2 - Arrive at Camp Roberts, California for 13 weeks training.

1943, March 8 – Furlough Vern’s mother passes away,

1943, March 19 - 7 Day furlough attend wife’s, father’s funeral

1943, March 26 - Returned to Camp Roberts, Calif

1943, July 20 - Arrived at Fort Lewis, Washington for

Advanced Training.

Assigned to: 37th

Infantry Division, 148th

Infantry Regiment

1943, Aug 19 - Moved to Pittsbury Depot, Calif. Near San Francisco

1943, Oct 1 - Letter from Vern in Southwestern Pacific,

with 37th

on Guadalcanal

1943, Nov. 9 - 37th

Landed on Bougainville

1944, Feb. 23 - Vern killed on Bougainville Island

1944, March 12 – Memorial Service at Draper, Utah

Operation Cherryblossom - the invasion of Bougainville (November 1943-March 1944)

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/operation_cherryblossom_bougainville.html

HEAD QUARTERS 148TH

INFANTRY

APO 37

Office of the Chaplain

April 18, 1944

Harriet M. Gordon

Box 75

Draper, Utah

My Dear Friend:

I wish to express my sympathy at the death of your loved one. He gave his life

courageously and in honor for his country and we all trust that his sacrifice shall not be

in vain but that the peace for which he was fighting shall come to pass.

It is my prayer that your confidence in God and His care for the souls of our dead

will be a comfort to you. We will live in the hope of immortality so we can see our loved

ones again. "Those whom we have loved long since and lost awhile."

I regret to state that the body of your loved one has not and probably will not be

recovered. He was killed in action in enemy territory. His unit had other casualties in

attempting to recover the dead. At a later date a patrol was sent into this territory but was

unable to locate and trace any of the bodies either buried or unburied. This makes an

added burden to your sorrow, but let me assure you that everything was done that could

be done to secure the bodies for proper burial. However a Memorial Service was held in

his units and proper respect was paid to the sacrifice he made.

William was a man who was well liked by the men of his unit and he will be

missed greatly out here. We trust that we may have added courage to carry on for

him.

Any request or question that you may have concerning the personal effects of

William may be directed to the Quarter Master General, Washington 25 D. C.

Sincerely yours,

Joel M. Wareing

Chaplain (Major)

148 Infantry

Your tombstone stands neglected and alone.

The name and date are chiseled out on polished, marbled stone.

It reaches out to all who care. It is too late to mourn.

You did not know that I exist. You died and I was born.

Yet each of us are cells of you in flesh, in blood, in bone.

Our heart contracts and beats a pulse entirely not our own.

Dear Ancestor, the place you filled so long ago

Spreads out among the ones you left who would have loved you so.

I wonder as you lived and loved, I wonder if you knew

That someday I would find this spot and come to visit you.

Author Unknown

Find A Grave http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10473948

Willliam Vernon Gordon Birth: 10 Jul 1912 Lincoln, Bingham, Idaho

Death: 23 Feb 1944, WWII Bougainville, North

Solomons, Papua New Guinea

Burial Service: 12 Mar 1944, Draper City

Cemetery Draper, Salt Lake County, Utah

Plot: C-1-4

YOU TUBE VIDEOS CONCERNING BOUGAINSVILLE WWII

Operation Cherry Blossom - The Bougainville Campaign - WWII Pacific http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lZTV9Q72aQ

Semper Fi: Marines In WWII, Ep.2 – Bougainville http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lFsZhtwh9Q

NBC Radio Broadcast -- Battle of Bougainville, World War II, with pictures http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4T7t6cyey8

WW2: Crusade in the Pacific -10/24- Up the Solomon's Ladder: Bougainville http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcd1YDxvUI8

Bougainville 1943-1945 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q7AzGEukVU

Bougainville 1944 to 1945 – Australians http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta8Cp6BM9CM

Battle History of the USMC - Pacific Ep 4: Bougainville http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-GlOzkau_k

American Infantry Troops, Bougainville Island, SW Pacific Ocean, Solomon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tGwxspA3yk

HFYUILL-Bougainville 1944 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr6bgH4GWxM

Reconnaissance Mission - Bougainville (1944) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydGFR005IQw

WW II - Crusade in the Pacific [Part 10/24] - Up The Solomons Ladder http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejysc49MLfg

The Battle For Hill 700 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsErxlhriPM

WWII vet talks about Bouganville campaign http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4vh3NwyT7E

You Tube video – Aircraft over Bougainville

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Im086TCu3I

Bougainville Tactical Reenactment - 2010 (Photo Montage) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyMYlghya_E