Konkle Remembers Battle Of Peleliu, Taking Angular In WWII
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
The final battles in the Pacific during World War II were fought 60 years ago today in spite of a Japanese-declared cease-fire.
Nine days earlier, on Aug. 6, 1945, the U.S. Air Force dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, followed by a second atomic bombing, of Nagasaki, three days later.
Even though the cease-fire took effect at 0700 hours on Aug. 15, 1945, small skirmishes occurred. Japanese planes attacked six Hellcats over Tokyo's Tokurzuna Airfield and four Navy planes were shot down. In the Philippines the last artillery fire from 105 mm cannons was heard north of Manila, too.
Ralph Konkle of Warsaw entered the U.S. Army Jan. 12, 1943. Assigned to the 81st Infantry Division, 52nd Engineer Combat Battalion, his company traveled with the 1st Marine Division to the West Carolina Islands. The island group is east of the Philippines and north of New Guinea. The U.S. was determined to take a Japanese airfield on Palau.
The Navy pounded that piece of ground with artillery. Then the Marines went into the state of Peleliu on Palau Island.
The 81st served as a reserve force for the Marines. Konkle watched the always faithful Marines leave the relative safety of the Pacific for one of the bloodiest battles since Iwo Jima as they landed on Palau Sept. 15, 1944. The Marines suffered serious casualties during the Battle of Peleliu with 1,336 killed in action and 6,032 wounded.
The 81st Infantry Division and the 52nd went on to the Angaur Island two days later, established a beachhead and began building roads.
Konkle's left palm bares a wide scar from a gash he received on Angaur. The Purple-Heart-recipient had the wound repaired in a field hospital.
When an officer said his next destination was a hospital ship the sergeant didn't want to go because it meant he would be separated from his unit.
His fingers were stiff and curled around his palm. He was hardly combat ready.
After declaring himself to be as tough as they come, the officer had Konkle's hand taped to a shingle and bent his fingers full length. The officer released him back to his unit.
Didn't it hurt?
"Yes, but I didn't make a sound," he said.
Konkle returned home to Warsaw Jan. 12, 1946 - three years, to the day after he entered the Army.
A Warsaw police officer for five years he gave up policing because he wanted regular hours at home with his wife, Donna, and their daughter, Brenda (Snider).
After working for a couple manufacturing companies, he went to work for "good ol', lovely Zimmer," retiring from the company in 1984. And, according to Konkle, life has been wonderful ever since.
Now 84, Konkle attends reunions with former members of the 52nd, most recently in Anderson.
From Dec. 7, 1941, until the end of 1945, 108,656 U.S. military personnel were killed in action in the Pacific during World War II. President Harry S. Truman declared the war officially over Dec. 31, 1946. [[In-content Ad]]
The final battles in the Pacific during World War II were fought 60 years ago today in spite of a Japanese-declared cease-fire.
Nine days earlier, on Aug. 6, 1945, the U.S. Air Force dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, followed by a second atomic bombing, of Nagasaki, three days later.
Even though the cease-fire took effect at 0700 hours on Aug. 15, 1945, small skirmishes occurred. Japanese planes attacked six Hellcats over Tokyo's Tokurzuna Airfield and four Navy planes were shot down. In the Philippines the last artillery fire from 105 mm cannons was heard north of Manila, too.
Ralph Konkle of Warsaw entered the U.S. Army Jan. 12, 1943. Assigned to the 81st Infantry Division, 52nd Engineer Combat Battalion, his company traveled with the 1st Marine Division to the West Carolina Islands. The island group is east of the Philippines and north of New Guinea. The U.S. was determined to take a Japanese airfield on Palau.
The Navy pounded that piece of ground with artillery. Then the Marines went into the state of Peleliu on Palau Island.
The 81st served as a reserve force for the Marines. Konkle watched the always faithful Marines leave the relative safety of the Pacific for one of the bloodiest battles since Iwo Jima as they landed on Palau Sept. 15, 1944. The Marines suffered serious casualties during the Battle of Peleliu with 1,336 killed in action and 6,032 wounded.
The 81st Infantry Division and the 52nd went on to the Angaur Island two days later, established a beachhead and began building roads.
Konkle's left palm bares a wide scar from a gash he received on Angaur. The Purple-Heart-recipient had the wound repaired in a field hospital.
When an officer said his next destination was a hospital ship the sergeant didn't want to go because it meant he would be separated from his unit.
His fingers were stiff and curled around his palm. He was hardly combat ready.
After declaring himself to be as tough as they come, the officer had Konkle's hand taped to a shingle and bent his fingers full length. The officer released him back to his unit.
Didn't it hurt?
"Yes, but I didn't make a sound," he said.
Konkle returned home to Warsaw Jan. 12, 1946 - three years, to the day after he entered the Army.
A Warsaw police officer for five years he gave up policing because he wanted regular hours at home with his wife, Donna, and their daughter, Brenda (Snider).
After working for a couple manufacturing companies, he went to work for "good ol', lovely Zimmer," retiring from the company in 1984. And, according to Konkle, life has been wonderful ever since.
Now 84, Konkle attends reunions with former members of the 52nd, most recently in Anderson.
From Dec. 7, 1941, until the end of 1945, 108,656 U.S. military personnel were killed in action in the Pacific during World War II. President Harry S. Truman declared the war officially over Dec. 31, 1946. [[In-content Ad]]