70 years ago today - Jul 21, 1944

U.S. Armed forces begin invasion of Guam. Paul H. Dunn later tells of his experience in the landing: "We jump in the water, the water's chest high. You gotta hold your rifle over your head. If the muzzle drops in the water-that's salt water-it would blow up when you fire. Did you ever try to run in water up to your chest, loaded down? You don't move very fast. And the enemy starts to pick you up. You're pushing with the butt of your rifle the dead bodies and wounded bodies of your friends and associates you've been training with. The coral is so sharp it cuts the boots off your feet and your feet are starting to bleed like mincemeat, and you're trying to get ashore. I was one of the first ashore that morning. And I dug my first foxhole with my fingernails and I crawled in it. And just as I crawled into that mucky hole an ambu gun opens up that shoots about 700 rounds a minute and it went down my right arm and took off my identification bracelet. And I rolled over and started to talk to Heavenly Father. And he answered me. And I have never been the same since." The division history says of the landing, "Fortunately little fire was received, as the enemy was occupied by the Marines now half a mile inland." Two soldiers who were on Dunn's landing craft affirm it was caught on a coral reef during the landing and did not land until the next day. One of them recalls a casualty that happened in connection with the landing: "One died shortly after we landed at Guam. It was an accident. He had laid his gun down on a jeep; it fell off [and discharged]."