US Marines

Paid the ultimate price...

USMC Photo**

A U.S. Navy hospital corpsman takes down the information of a U.S. Marine of the 1st Marine Division who was killed on the beach of Peleliu during the American landings of the Battle of Peleliu (Operation Stalemate II). Fought from 15 September 1944 until 27 November 1944, the aim of the battle was for U.S. Marines of the 1st Marine Corps and the U.S. Army’s 81st Infantry Division to wrest control of an air strip from the Imperial Japanese Army and seize the small coral atoll. American casualties were high, with some 2,336 killed and 8,450 wounded. However, by the time the Americans had cleared the island of Japanese defenders, some 10,695 Japanese soldiers were dead. Peleliu, Palau Islands,South Pacific Ocean; September 1944.