The question of whether the Peleliu operation was necessary remains moot, even today, some 52 years after the 1 September 1944 landing. The heroism and exemplary conduct of the 1st Marine Division, its Marines and Navy corpsmen, and the soldiers of the 81st Infantry Division on that miserable island is written in the record. But there is an enduring question of whether the capture of Peleliu was essential, especially in view of Admiral William F. Halsey’s recommendation through Admiral Nimitz to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 13 September 1944, two days before D-Day, that the landing be cancelled. By that time, it was too late. And Peleliu was added to the long list of battles in which Marines fought and suffered, and prevailed.
[Sidebar ([page 46]):]
Tom Lea’s Paintings
Life Magazine artist Tom Lea accompanied Marines on Peleliu.
Tom Lea, the artist of the paintings which illustrate this pamphlet, wrote of his experiences on Peleliu in Battle Stations, published in 1988 by Still Point Press in Dallas. Some of the sketches from this book were reproduced with commentary in Volume 14, Number 2 of Discovery, a journal published by the University of Texas at Austin. In this issue, James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity, wrote: “Lea was one of the artists put in the field by Life.... Various of his works appeared in the magazine, and up until the time he went into Peleliu, most of them could be pretty well classified as excellently done but high-grade propaganda. There was very little American blood, very little tension, very little horror. Mostly, it was what could be called the Bravo America! and This is Your Boy type of war art. His almost photographic style easily lent itself to that type of work....
“But something apparently happened to Lea after going into Peleliu. The pictures painted out of his Peleliu experience show a new approach. There is the tension of terror in the bodies here, the distorted facial expressions of the men under fire show it, too....
“One of the most famous, of course, is the Two-Thousand-Yard Stare portrait of a young marine who has had all, or more than, he can take. The staring eyes, the slack lips, the sleepwalker’s stance. I’ve seen men with that look on their faces. I’ve had it on my own face. It feels stiff, and the muscles don’t want to work right when you try to smile, or show expression, or talk. Mercifully, you’re out of it for a while; unmercifully, down in the center of that numbness, though, you know you will have to come back eventually.”
Reprinted by permission of Discovery, the University of Texas at Austin. Tom Lea’s artwork in this pamphlet is reproduced with the permission of the artist. The captions under each of the Lea paintings are the artist’s own words.
Benis M. Frank
