Interview of Tom Marangelli
Transcript Number 106

MARCH 18, 2002

Good morning. My name is Paul Zarbock. I'm with the University of North Carolina Wilmington and we're interviewing today on the 18th of March in the year 2002, Tom Marangelli.

INTERVIEWER: Tom, when did you go into the military, why did you go into the military and where did you go into the military?

MARANGELLI: I went into the military specifically in August of 1943 during World War II. I entered the military because I knew there was a need for recruits and I was very anxious to get into the war and do my part.

INTERVIEWER: How old were you?

MARANGELLI: I was 17 years old at the time when I enlisted in the Marine Corps.

INTERVIEWER: Did you have to have parents' permission.

MARANGELLI: I had had my parents' permission and they did indeed give me that permission obviously.

INTERVIEWER: Did you have to convince?

MARANGELLI: No, I didn't. I think they realized pretty most readily that there was really nothing to dissuade me from going in. One way or another I was going to get into the military.

INTERVIEWER: Where did you do your boot camp?

MARANGELLI: I was at boot camp in Parris Island, South Carolina, started August 1943. Subsequent thereto, after completing boot camp, I was pleased to say that I made PFC of all things. I got my first stripe while I was in boot camp and they chose maybe 5% of the individuals to receive that one stripe. So I was most impressed with myself.

Thereafter I was sent to Camp LeJeune, North Carolina for additional combat training. Prior to the combat training however, I was assigned to radio operator school. I completed the course, became low speed radio operator and we had some electronics education while we were there or basic electricity I should say and I'm pleased to say out of 72 men that were in that class that I graduated fourth in the class.

I had cat fever for about a week in between where I had some temperature for a while and that passed readily. Thereafter I was sent to high-speed radio operator school and I qualified as a high-speed radio operator.

INTERVIEWER: Tom, I've heard about cat fever before. What is cat fever?

MARANGELLI: Well cat fever, as I understand it, is something that comes upon you when you least expect it. There is nothing really wrong with you for days before and unbeknownst to us, overnight or during the day you're suddenly hit with a temperature of maybe 100, 101, 102, and you don't know where it comes from.

After completing my high-speed radio operator course, designated as a high speed radio operator, I was called upon to teach code if you will for approximately four or five months at Camp LeJeune. Subsequent thereto, time frame I can't give you specifically, we were asked, those of us who wanted to go overseas and get into a combat division. Obviously all of the Marines wanted to do so and they were in dire need of radio operators and I volunteered to get into the division.

We did some extensive training at Camp LeJeune They kind of toughened us up even more than we thought we could be. Again, I was a young lad at the time. It really didn't bother me too much. If I can go into an incident that occurred that was pretty hilarious was that a good buddy of mine, he and I went through the Marine Corps together all the way through, we were on maneuvers. His name is Will Allison "Pappy" Keyes. We called him Pappy. Not diminutive as I say, but he was shorter than I was and he was strong as a bull.

I recall as we were fording a stream by rope if you will where first the man in front of you had to ford that stream and let that rope go and you had quite a distance to jump to grab it, old Pappy was right in front of me and what he did was grab that little rope at the end and gave a little flicker and meanwhile I was on the run. As I leaped into the air, that little flicker that Pappy gave on the other side just twisted up at that time and there I went into the drink wallowing in water and mud for a period of time and Pappy thought that was very funny and of course I had to agree with him cause there was not much I could do about it.

INTERVIEWER: You were carrying a rifle and a pack?

MARANGELLI: Just a pack at that time. Subsequent thereto, I'm speaking if you're carrying for the 1st provisional Marines brigade, went through our maneuvers and we prepared to go to California to head for overseas. Once we hit California, we boarded a troop ship, APA.

INTERVIEWER: How did you get to California?

MARANGELLI: By train, we took the train from North Carolina, got on a troop train and headed out to California. Once we got there, we were told that we were heading overseas very shortly thereafter and the next thing we know within two or three weeks as I recall, we were given our various gear to take with us and to haul on to the APA's and we boarded the APA to head overseas. We did not go in fleet formation if you will. As I recall, there were two or three APA's carrying some troops headed over the Pacific and when we were about a week out of port, we were told that we were headed for Guadalcanal.

INTERVIEWER: Now what year is this?

MARANGELLI: This is in 1944.

INTERVIEWER: And what was the situation at Guadalcanal when you got there?

MARANGELLI: Well when we got to Guadalcanal, the island had already been secured. Marines and Army personnel that were there had secured the island and again we were there for additional training for combat if you will. We arrived at Guadalcanal and I recall that we had to go down the nets of the APA and into our boats if you will and took us ashore. 

I recall at that time that we ran, we met some Army troops that were leaving as we were coming in and we thanked them for the great job and of course we gave each other the finger once in a while as we went by, you know, you're going and we're coming, but again we were still comrades in arms and we were just training. It was not a combat zone. 

We had some very difficult training in Guadalcanal. We climbed hills, not mountains. I was a radioman carrying an SCR-300 on my back and that weighed about 38 pounds and in addition to the rifle that I had. Oh let me correct that. We radiomen did not carry rifles at that time. We had side arms or 45's and my lieutenant had a propensity for double timing even with our radio sets on whereas the riflemen didn't do that. We doubled time past them and our lieutenant got to look at his opposing lieutenant and said, "Look what my men are doing".

We weren't that happy with it, but we proceeded in any event. But that leads me up to something. One particular day, my lieutenant's name by the way was a Lieutenant Crawford. We went into the hills double timing and then slowed down for a bit trying to keep ourselves as alert as possible for our return, not to pass out, you know, make sure that we finished.

So lo and behold on the way back, our lieutenant decided to lead us down a particular hill and we passed the word with our platoon, well we're going to give it to Crawford this time. There was a sharp drop immediately adjacent to the hill we were walking down and we just kind of hollered "gung ho, let's go" and we said "here we come, Crawford" as I mentioned was our lieutenant and we ran as fast as we can and had he not kept up with us, he would have fallen over the cliff if you will and perhaps become somewhat injured, but he made it. We knew that he would and he kind of gave us a grin you know, when it was all over. I think he was proud in effect that we had done so.

INTERVIEWER: Tom, let me interrupt. People are going to be seeing this video tape some years from now and few, if any, have ever been on Guadalcanal and none have probably been in that combat activity. What was day by day living? Where did you sleep, how were you fed? Was it warm meals? 

MARANGELLI: We slept in tents. There were five or six of us in one tent at the time. Got up our usual hour at 6:00 in the morning, thereabouts 5:30, and we went to the mess hall and we were not permitted to drink any milk while we were in the Pacific so we had what we called battery acid which was grape juice, grapefruit juice if you will and milk wasn't there, but doggone it, we had the dehydrated powder milk if need be. For obvious reasons not drinking milk in the heat of the day. I suspect that it was probably 100 degrees plus most of the time while we were there.

Again we were carrying 38 pounds of radio set, thank God I was as young as I was. But the island was festooned with palms if you will. There were coconuts up in the palm trees and many of the time, we would slice you up there, get up to the tree, slice up some coconuts and throw them down there because if we couldn't eat our K-rations, we found some way to eat something else and drink the milk of the coconut. So we might not have gotten milk, but we got coconut milk. So improvisation by the military or improvisation by the Marines if you will. When you're young and sturdy, you think of something to do. 

While we were in Guadalcanal, I remember a particular incident. The tent immediately adjacent to my tent, there was some peculiarity going on with one of the Marines and we noticed that when we came up for formation in the morning, that he would show up completely nude. I mean he'd walk into formation, what's going on with him. His name I remember, his name was Pillman, and we couldn't figure what was wrong with him. We found out later that what he had done, he went a little Asiatic as we called it. 

We found him one day with his mess gear in his tent trying to place a skeleton of a head that he found on Guadalcanal into his mess gear. Now mess gear is flat and he had opened that mess gear and was trying to close it. Needless to say, we called the corpsman and he was taken away. What happened to him after that, I suspect he was cured whatever, but the term Asiatic sometime would be likened to probably what had happened to him.

Another thing that was of interest and funny incident that occurred if you will, a good buddy of mine, George Elmo, never would go to the head. He wouldn't go to the bathroom if there were any Marines there with him. You know, I said, "What are you queer, George or what's wrong with you?" He said, "No, I kind of like to be alone". I said, "Okay, if that's the way you are". I mean George was a good Marine, nothing wrong with him.

And I recall with John Nawbach and myself, another buddy of mine in the tent and Pappy Keyes was there, Pappy didn't come along. We said, "George", he'd like to get up about 1:00 in the morning and take off on his own to get to the head. So we said this time we're going to follow him, you know, and as George did arise the following morning headed for the head, John and myself followed him and we waited there because we waited until he sat on the throne and we walked in and said, "Hi George, how are you doing?" Would you believe that he got up from that throne and walked away and just went right back to the tent. So there was something not right with him at the time. But those are the little incidents that you remember.

INTERVIEWER: What about malaria?

MARANGELLI: We took 
our Atabrine pills at the time and I heard of very little malaria affecting any of the Marines that were there.

INTERVIEWER: Did it turn you a little yellow?

MARANGELLI: Well I was just going to say that, it sure did. As a matter of fact, I think when I came home, I still had a yellow complexion even though I had been to China, it had nothing to do with it. But yeah, you were kind of sallow complexion, but there were reasons for that obviously.

Well from Guadalcanal, we had heard that the landing on Iwo Jima had taken place. We were prepared in reserve. We knew that the Marines were kind of taking a beating there for a while and as a matter of fact, we were placed in reserve to leave Guadalcanal to go to Iwo Jima. Again prior thereto, the island of Iwo Jima was secured and there was no need for us to go.

INTERVIEWER: And this is 1944?

MARANGELLI: 1944.

INTERVIEWER: What month, do you remember?

MARANGELLI: I don't recall. I hope I'm getting my years straight here. It's almost 60 years ago. Then we prepared. We knew that we were headed out for combat. We didn't know specifically where we were going. We prepared to go and we got our usual shots if you will, two in one arm, two in the other. We boarded ship and we headed out. But the good part of it was, we stopped at a little island on the way to Okinawa that was called Ulithi where we had a great big eating party.

We had a beer party, stuff that you wanted to eat, you know, because within a week, week and a half, we were told that we were going to hit the beach so let's have a good time and see without trying to get too drunk.

INTERVIEWER: So all the personnel got off the ship and got onto the atoll. 

MARANGELLI: Yeah, well they did it in shifts. We waited there, yeah they got onto the atoll.

INTERVIEWER: Officers and men?

MARANGELLI: Officers and men together. We had a great time really. And we boarded again and got aboard the APA and I had not seen any ships for a while. I said, "Are we the only ones that are going to go here". As we continued on toward Okinawa, we knew that was our destination ultimately.

Suddenly I saw ships appear and to me as a young lad, rather than a fleet, it looked almost like an armada. There were dozens of ships and of course the war ships were there. You had your destroyers, you had your carriers that were coming in. Battleships were there. I said, okay, we got some pretty good protection behind us so here we go.

We got to our landing destination. When we arrived at the landing destination, we were told that the 6th Marine Division would be in reserve. Our regiment particularly was going to be in reserve, that we were not going to hit the beach initially. We waited and we heard some good news. This was Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945. I said Easter Sunday we're going to make a landing. I said that might be an omen of good luck I would hope.

In any event, the Marines hit the beach and we heard there was nothing. There was no return fire. The fire was sporadic and they had no problems landing. And they moved forward and we were told okay 29th regiment, now its our turn to go up and we too faced no opposition whatsoever. And we said, boy this is going to be a snap, isn't it. We learned later that it was not to be so. 

We had some indication that we knew that the Japanese would be waiting for us, but where, we don't know. We learned later that they there were numerous caves on Okinawa from whence we should be very careful of what's passing by. We started our route up to Motobu Peninsula, but just prior thereto there was an evening, I didn't see it specifically, but we heard that a Japanese plane had landed on Yonton airfield and not realizing that the Marines had established a beach head and he steps out of his plane and as you can well understand, he no sooner set foot on ground that he was shot and he was killed. As we always said, there's always that 5% that never gets the word.

But we continued on toward Motobu Peninsula and we noticed as we headed up there, we knew we were going to run into our opposition, but there were big trenches dug in the middle of pathways that we had to skirt and these trenches, we said, what are they here for, walking about. We learned later that they were wide enough so probably forego any tanks we might send up there. So the trenches were wide and the tanks, it might take them some time to get over this roadway.

But we continued in any event and went up there. Once we got to Motobu Peninsula, there were several firefights that went on, Marines against Japanese. I was a communicator and assigned to a rifle company or some platoon. I'm trying to think of some specific evidence of heroism and I think only what they call Green's Ridge, Lieutenant Green, who led the Marines of this particular platoon and/or company, I don't remember the strength at this time, and he kept moving forward and forward and urging his men to do so and he would load a pail or something he had with him I'm told with grenades.

"Let's go, let's get these fellas". Go up on a hill and he'd start heaving these grenades at them and blasting as many as he could. Men followed him, several were hit and Green was seriously wounded. I learned later that he died, Lieutenant Green. While we were on Motobu Peninsula, Mother Wiggins who was a good friend of mine. We trained throughout boot camp. He was also a radio communicator.

INTERVIEWER: What was his first name?

MARANGELLI: Well we called him "Mother" and to this day, I don't remember what his first name is. We never called him anything but Mother.

INTERVIEWER: How did he pick up the nickname?

MARANGELLI: Well that's what we never understood. Apparently he had it from home or whatever, and he told us to call him mother. We wanted to call him mother and something else, but we never did. I recall one day, if I can digress, with Mother Wiggins and myself, he was about my size, perhaps 20 or 30 pounds heavier and I was in pretty good shape as a young lad. He challenged me on Guadalcanal to a wrestling match. So he said, "Marangelli, I'd like to take your ass today". I said okay come on.

So we grappled for five or six or seven minutes, but he got me. He got me down there so I couldn't move. I said, "Mother, I can't move so get your butt off me, would ya". He took me that time. So when I heard that "Mother" was in a bit of trouble up there and perhaps needed some help, so I volunteered to go as a radioman to see what I could do to help the platoon and get him back there.

But as we got halfway to the location, as I was walking along with my SCR-300, it was a radio set that you carried on your back, suddenly there was a burst of Nambu machine gun in front of me and another burst right behind me. Needless to say, I didn't wait for a third burst. I just jumped from an embankment into mud up to my knees and the lieutenant moved out, they got down there. All our men were squelched down and finally the firing ceased.

So I got up with my radio set and the lieutenant, I think it was Lieutenant Mahoney, Lieutenant Mahoney, please don't hold me to it, but he said "You stay here Marangelli, we'll go up and see what goes on up there". I said, "But Lieutenant, I can run as fast with this radio set as you can". He said, "Just wait for us". I said, "Okay".

So I was down there and they all took off and dusk came upon us and I was all alone in that particular location knowing full well that there was enemy up there in the woods and I know at one point in time, I stuck my head up foolishly and the machine gun was right over my head and landed - I was okay.

I can't say petrified, I guess when you're in combat, you're trying to think of what you can do next and I wasn't afraid, yet I was afraid. I think some people can understand that, particularly those veterans who have been in combat. Next thing _____ were coming in. They were trying to get me because they knew I was a radioman, but the mortars because I was in the mud, just sank into the mud and there was no shrapnel that could hit me. 

So it was where in the hell is everybody. Next thing I hear, "Marangelli". It was Sergeant White, a friend of mine. He came back and I said, "Where is everybody?" He said "They went back, they headed back to the CP, but I was told to come and get you and say come on, it's time to go back." I said, "How's Mother Wiggins" and I heard machine gun got Mother and Mother was killed. He was killed, a good friend of mine.

So I said, "We got to get out of here". So he asked if I was game on doing something. He said, "Let's get right up on this ridge just above the mud holes if you will and let's get maybe 15-20 feet apart and just walk through here. We can't stay down here all night. You know, there's just two of us". I said, "What are you kidding me. They just fired a machine gun at me and dropping mortars". He said we had to do something so we'd see what happened.

Would you believe to this day I can't figure it out. He walked right past the location that was firing upon me and not one shot was fired. So we got back to the CP safely and needless to say, that's an experience you don't ever forget. We got back to the CP and then I know that we were getting some respite. We were not too far distant to the ocean and they pulled part of the company and we dug fox holes, and waited to see what would happen next. 

The next thing I know some Japanese 37 mm artillery must have spotted us in our holes and were firing upon us. I was in the hole and I remember George Elmo was next to me and a particular incident occurred that struck me. There was a Tom Hardy, also a communicator in our platoon, who was instead of in the fox hole, he was laying against a small ridge where there were some groves of trees and he was reading either a prayer book or a part of the bible and I kept hearing, "That was close, that was close". 

I said, "Tom, get your ass in the fox hole here". And he didn't respond. I can say now he wasn't very...I looked up at one point and I saw the artillery shells getting closer. They were zeroing in on where our location was and I told George, I hollered "Hey fellas, let's get out of here". So maybe he listened to me. I was a corporal at the time, isn't that great. I said, "We got to get out of here or we're going to get splattered". So we did. We went to the same location that Hardy was at because it was up on kind of a rise. 

The barrage was over. It was not too long. I don't remember the time frame again. It escapes me, but we went back to our foxholes after that and found that there were pieces of shrapnel throughout the holes that we had just left and had we stayed there, maybe not have been killed, but certainly we would have been dead and that's another area that strikes me of not ever having to forget.

When that was over, excuse me for thinking, I'm not sure of the actual events of 50-60 years ago, we were headed for southern Okinawa. We had secured northern Okinawa and please Army men, don't be angry at me, but prior to our leaving Motobu Peninsula, we were headed toward the southern end of Okinawa and there was an Army company, a platoon, we had just secured the area and they were arms ready, with their rifles ready. As we passed them, we said, "Hey fellas, we secured this place, I mean relax, take it easy, you don't have to go through there". Obviously they were searching for snipers or something. But when it comes to Army and Marine Corps or Marine Corps and Navy, you got a jab them once in a while, don't you? So we do so ad infinitum.

Well we did head down to the southern end of Okinawa. I really don't know where to start at this point in time. That was really, as far as I was concerned, almost a holocaust. When we got to the area where we were to be stationed, it is called Sugarloaf Hill. It's well-known in the annals of Marine Corps history. As I passed a certain area, there were mounds of dead Marines lined up say from here perhaps 10 feet tall and we were going where they just had come from.

Of course we didn't say anything. Can you imagine the stillness as we went by knowing full well that we're going where they just came from. Was there some apprehension? I daresay there was, lots of it. We got to our specific location and really there were fire fights I was involved in as a radioman and nothing of such serious consequence. I was with the platoon leader and we were in some areas sometimes where there were not that many Japanese. So many Japanese were killed. I had my 45 and I daresay I probably fired it four or five times.

My job as a communicator is to be with the officer in command and I'm not there for fighting. I can fight, but we're there to communicate. A specific incident whether it was Motobu northern end or southern end of Okinawa strikes me at this time as a communicator. We needed another company to get to where we were quickly and I know there was Dana Morris. I remember Dana from West Virginia, was with a company in another part of the island, maybe by distance I'd say 20-25 minutes. 

The officer in charge, I don't recall his name at this time, said, "Marangelli, can you get Morris on the 300 and have him get over here, get a hold of the C.O. and maybe talk to him." Couldn't get him on there. Couldn't get him on the phone. So finally I remember we were taught something in radio school. I said maybe he can hear me, but I can't hear him. If he was behind a hill or we had obstructions, right. So I gave a message that we needed him in a hurry, get your company back here quickly. Tell that to your officer.

We used to say, "Dana, if you hear me, click your button so I can hear the clicker". So when I spoke, hallelujah, I heard "click-click, click-click". So he got my message even though I couldn't hear him and within 10-15 minutes, there they come, coming around. So we had our support that was with us at the time. So you see communicators, there's a reason for us to be there. 

I'd like to digress at this point if I may. I must impress upon anyone and everyone that the bravest military people I saw on Okinawa were the corpsmen, the Navy corpsmen. People too often don't realize because they're non-combative if you will, what these men do. I saw time and time again when these corpsmen unarmed raced to Marines to help them, those Marines that were wounded and got back to where they had to go. Pulled these Marines out of the way and went back again to treat other Marines. So to me, when I see corpsmen and you ask any Marine about these Navy corpsmen, I'm sure they'll tell you the same thing. Thank God for the corpsmen.

Subsequent what occurred then?

INTERVIEWER: Wasn't there a big typhoon?

MARANGELLI: I'm getting to that. When we were on Sugarloaf Hill, oh no, I was assigned at one point in time, something pretty scary, to go with a rocket launching vehicle as a communicator. Why it strikes me at this point I don't know, but I remember now. "Marangelli, do you want to go", "Okay I'll go", not thinking what I might be involved in. Unbeknownst to me, is that once they fire their rockets, they take off immediately and whoever is with them stays where they are. We get there. The rockets were fired from the launcher and they pull away and I'm thinking where are they going, you know, and I found a hole pretty quickly because the Japanese knew where this firing was coming from so obviously they laid some mortar down upon us. Us, I think I was the only one there.

I came out okay. Another funny incident I must tell you. Several officers were in the cave and it was kind of respite area. Other fellows were taking over the combat area situations. I was in a foxhole and I was tired. I was laying down there and the next thing, it started to rain and I look up. It wasn't raining. It was the captain who was peeing on me. I said, "Sir, you're pissing on me". He said, "Oh Marangelli, I didn't know you were there". I said, "Don't worry about it. I'm glad I had my poncho on". And he takes off and we were all laughing hysterically.

Another incident combat wise, an evening almost the entire communication unit was in the cave. We put two of our Marines of the communication platoon who happened to be twin brothers. I think subsequent thereto they did not assign twins or brothers that were in the same unit, but these two fellows were. For whatever reason, they must have gotten permission. All of a sudden, we heard a big hullabaloo going on out there and they were hollering.

They were shouting, "Japanese, Japanese" and what they had done, a couple, two or three Japanese were approaching the cave. They threw grenades, Marines, bad, bad, bad, and they were in such a hurry to throw the grenades, they pulled the pin, but they didn't take the tape off the grenade itself so when they threw the grenade, it didn't do anything.

So a couple of us, I didn't go, a couple of fellows got to the foot of the cave, saw them coming in and shot them. There was no problem there. Needless to say, these two brothers never lived that down even to the end of the campaign. They were cursed, you could have gotten us killed, an incident okay.

What happened after that? Oh yes, we were on another ridge, General Buckner was not too far away. He was the Army commander and various officers were there. I was a radioman. Tom Crosby, I mention his name, from San Diego, California, communicator, a friend of mine, he was a tough cookie, but again I use the term diminutive. We always gave him the jeep, communication jeep, because we didn't think he was as strong as we were. So rather than carry the set, you drive the jeep Tom, we'll take over the other stuff. 

Well at one point in time, we had to stop for lunch. So I went between two huge boulders in case there was any fire that came upon us. I put my radio set outside the two boulders, I was just there and I ate whatever I had to eat at the time, whatever K-ration or C-ration there was. Then Tom Crosby came over from his jeep and I said, "Tom, I was told to relieve you". I said, "Sure, come on in". Perhaps it wasn't five minutes later, I was not yet in the jeep. I had to find a foxhole. Again 37 mm artillery, they had a propensity for using 37 mm artillery, the Japanese. Some mortar came in.

Ten minutes later, one of my brother Marines came over to me, "Did you hear what happened". I said, "No, what happened". Tom Crosby was just killed. I had just left the location 10 minutes prior thereto where Tom took over and a shell landed right on top of him. I mean he couldn't have been wounded and survived at all so at least God willing, he died quickly and there again, myself as an individual, here's another incident area where I was spared you know. Sometimes you ask the Lord, "Why me, Lord?" 

Of course selfishly saying, there's not one Marine or anyone in combat that wouldn't say, well thank God it wasn't me. I'm sure we think that, but we may not say it to be heroic if you will. So I was pretty devastated when I heard that. I mention as an aside when we returned to the States, so many of us had the same intention and idea. We didn't tell one another, but about 15 of us showed up at the home of Tom and visited with his parents and told him what we thought of Tom and how sorry we were. 

I know it upset them, but at least we had to express our condolences and he did a great job and that we considered him a hero. We said, "God willing, as the years go by, you'll know that your son did an admirable job". We didn't use that terminology at the time, but they knew why we were there. Tom's father I believe was a postmaster of San Diego at the time.

INTERVIEWER: Tell me about the storm.

MARANGELLI: Okay, we left Okinawa. The Okinawa campaign was secure. Ready to head home. I shouldn't say that. We headed, unbeknownst to us, we headed for China. From Okinawa we went to China.

INTERVIEWER: The war is over now?

MARANGELLI: Well what I had to say from there, was it Guam? The atomic bomb I think was dropped while we were in Guam after the Okinawa campaign was over. We were stationed there. So we said, we're going home, you know, it's over and we were headed out again. We thought that Japan was the destination, but since the atom bomb had been dropped, we learned again that it's over. We are not headed for Japan. We figured we were going to make a landing on Japan. I said no way am I going to make it this time, we're thinking that.

I think you can understand that. How can you go through all of this and not get seriously wounded or killed. So okay, we headed from Guam and we went to Singtao, China, the Riviera of the east and it was the greatest time I had when I was in the Marine Corps. We had dancing girls at 10 cents a dance. I remember I was one of the first personnel off the ship as a communicator to try to set up communications if you will. The first thing I saw were rickshaws. Let me try this.

The radio set was left there. Someone took over and I got on a rickshaw and kind of cavorted around town for a while and saw what it looked like. We had script, I forget what it cost.

INTERVIEWER: I know what you meant, but on the video, you said you had script. Would you tell us what that means?

MARANGELLI: Yes, script, when you were using American money or coins or dollar bills if you will, we were issued script that would be accepted by the Chinese. We can use that as a means of exchange.

Once we got to China, I was transferred from the regiment division to division headquarters. I was a qualified high speed radio operator and again if you don't mind, I'll digress. While on Okinawa, I was in communication with my good friend George Elmo on Sugarloaf Hill. And I heard a burst of something and I didn't hear from George anymore. He and I started from boot camp all the way through, good buddy of mine. I learned subsequent thereto is that a machine gun hit him in the leg. He was wounded and was aboard a hospital ship headed back towards the States.

Okay, now I'm in China. I'm transferred, I hated to leave my buddies from the regiment to division and they put me in charge of a communications outfit in China. So we went aboard and on mid-watch one day, I had the bug. I could use a bug as a radio. They call it a bug, as against using a key, a bug would be a rapid transmission machine if you will that you would send as a communicator.

I didn't do that well on it, but I was pretty good with the bug and I was a good code man. I'm in communication from Singtao to Tinsin and I heard, when you're a radioman, you know each other's fist. A fist is something you might send to me and it's run-on sentences. Boy, that guy better learn to send some code. When I'm in communication with Tinsin, I hear this run-on stuff and I said, "Gee, George Elmo used to send like that". You know he would never stop. Pardon the expression, you'd send WSA and it would mean "Wipe the shit off your antenna".

You know, slow down a bit. So I stopped my key, I interrupted him. I said "INTU". In code, it was "Who are you" and it comes back, "ELMO". It was George Elmo. I was in Singtau, he was in Tinsin, they had sent him back close to Hawaii. From Hawaii, he came back to China and George and I went home on the same APA. 

I got not in too much trouble, but we had a mid-watch one day, a little bit of humor if I can inject it at this point in time, is that after being at mid-watch from 12 to 8 in the morning, we get back to our barracks and again I was the NCO in charge there. The fellow said they heard there was going to be a colonel's inspection. I said we just had a mid-watch. What should we do.

I said get into your rooms, we had separate rooms, maybe three or four to a room, and lock your doors. So after we had slept for a while, there was a pounding on the door four or five hours later and I hear, "Marangelli, the colonel wants to see you". "Yes sir". He said, "Marangelli, did you tell these fellows that they could sack in". I said, "Yes sir". He said, "Well did you know there was going to be a colonel's inspection". I said, "No sir, I didn't". Of course I did. I told him I had no idea there was going to be an inspection, but our men were on mid-watch and they were tired.

He said, "Well next time you hear of anything, you make sure that you remain aboard and you don't lock any doors". "Yes sir" Okay, "Shove off", he said. Another unusual incident, we're at a bar one evening. We're drinking some vodkas I guess it was and several of us Marines were at one end of the bar. The next thing I heard somebody is shouting "Fire, fire". 

And I was indeed involved in a Chinese fire drill. You've heard Chinese fire drills, everyone running amuck if you will as to the goings on. Not so much the Marines, but I heard later when we looked out that Chinese firemen went all over the place and trying to join some Marines putting out the fire in the barracks that was taking place. Stone buildings, but the barracks apparently had caught on fire. 

For what reason, I don't know. But I laugh because a couple of buddies and myself were not yet finished with our drink and the fire was approaching in our direction. So the guys were saying that we better get out of there and I said, "Let's wait at least until we finish our drink, don't go now". So we did, we finished our drinks.

INTERVIEWER: Tom, how old were you at that time?

MARANGELLI: When I was discharged, I was 20-1/2, so I probably was 19 years old at the time.

INTERVIEWER: And you arrived in China probably the autumn of 1945?

MARANGELLI: Autumn of 1945. Yeah, cause I was discharged April of '46 the following year so I was in China at that time.

INTERVIEWER: Where were you barracked in China?

MARANGELLI: The town was Singtau, the Riviera of the east. It was indeed the Riviera. It was an international settlement of Frenchmen, Italians, Russians, particularly that you would hear about is I heard of a Villa Luchia which was an estate of an Italian gentleman who was seeking American money. For a dollar, you could have a meal from soup to nuts that he would serve you. He would have perhaps four Marines, four sailors, whoever decided they would like to get there. We decided to go one day and it was indeed the truth. 

We went up there. To me, it likened to an estate. You know, as a young lad, a magnificent brick home, ushered into his dining room. Everything was tastefully decorated. Sat at a table and started out with your antipasto if you will. And your soup, and he had the pasta served and a little piece of cake after that as I recall and it cost us as I recall, American money, we gave him maybe a dollar or a dollar fifty which I'm sure helped him out considerably.

INTERVIEWER: Where was your bunk? Was it in an old military barracks or a civilian hotel?

MARANGELLI: I wouldn't say it was a hotel, but I know they had individual rooms, whether it was barracks or not. The rooms would house perhaps two or three of us at a time so I really don't know what it was.

INTERVIEWER: What happened on an average day? What would you do?

MARANGELLI: I was a communicator. All we did really was go our watch, get back to our barracks and thereafter go out for the evening and when I did, I met a very interesting Chinese girl at the time for ten cents a dance. They would have dances at the USO Club I guess they would call it at the time. I saw this little gal, she was cute, seemed kind of perky, sitting on the side. I asked her if she danced and it was ten cents a dance. We would give them a ten cent ticket that they could recoup the cash after that for themselves.

She was the cutest little thing as I recall. I mentioned that to my wife on several occasions. We danced and after that, we danced again and somebody came over and asked her to dance with him and she said, "no, no, he, he", she pointed to me. She wanted to dance with me, okay. Then she said something after this dance was over, "You come tomorrow, you come my house, you come me". I said "Yeah, I'll meet you here". 

So the following evening, I forget what time, I wanted to give them something, but what could I give them. I knew that food was scarce. I found some K-rations that had some cheese and some cans of stuff that I could bring along with me and I said well maybe this will help them. So I met her there and we'd go to her house and it was not a hobble. What I'm saying is their quarters left a lot to be desired. They didn't have too much themselves. 

So we walked in there. She introduced me to mama san, papa, I gave them the cans of food, they said "Thank you so much, thank you so much" and some K-rations and there was some candy in there that I had given them. They accepted that. Prior to my leaving, I gave them like three or four single dollar bills that I had. To them that was a fortune practically at that point in time and I felt great and I'm sure they appreciated it. 

I have another incident that would involve a house of ill repute, but should I discuss that at all? It had nothing to do other than the fact it was a Sunday morning whoever's listening, and you know, I was getting antsy. I wanted to go somewhere. These other fellows were going to church and I'd always gone to church so I walked into a place not realizing what it was. Somebody said, "I think that's a cat house". 

So I walked in there, I walked out of there so fast because I saw several Marines or sailors and there was a Chinese girl kind of sitting on a pot and I just couldn't imagine having any relations with a Chinese girl like that with so many others involved so I just walked out of that place. I can see now where I was, where I had been.

Headed homeward. Time came aboard. You're headed back to the States. Get aboard ship and we're headed back to the States. I don't know, perhaps it was seven days out, five, six, seven days out and we ran into a typhoon. I didn't know what was going on. I was in the bowel of the ship, in the rack if you will and suddenly there was terrible turbulence. My head was back almost at a 45 degree angle, coming back up again.

And we rocked and we rolled and I said we're headed home, what's happening here. Then we were told that we were in the midst of a typhoon and we learned later and I'm sure this is correct, that the captain had said something to the effect another 5, 7, 8 degrees and we could have toppled over. That's how bad it was. Of course we all say after all this combat and training, we're headed home and lo and behold we're going to drown. But that too passed, thank God.

Another interesting thing that the fellows kind of ragged me about is that when I was aboard this APA headed homeward, I said, there's a radio shack on this ship and I think if a couple of us went up there and we tell the sailors we'll spell you so you can take time out and we can get out from the bow from down below and instead of staying topside and getting all boiled with the sun, we'll go to the radio shack. We did that and we said we're a couple of Marines, we're communicators, if we take code, can you use some help? If we spell, you fellows can do what you want to do.

So then the chief petty officer came up. You fellows take code? Unbeknownst to him that the two of us were high speed radio operators. So he said he was going to have to test us to see how well we could take code. By all means chief, do so knowing full well that he's going to be taken aback. So when he sent through what they call some sentences that were coming through, he said, "Okay let's see what you can do on the mill", it's a typewriter, they called it a mill.

So we sat down there and the code was coming through and then some sentences were coming through and I'm sitting down there with one finger, boop, boop, boop, and then when sentences came through, I'd wait about three or four words and I'd type them right off the bat. He said, "Okay, okay, I get the message". That helped us. It was a boon because the fellows down below, they would bring us sandwiches, fresh milk for spelling and we were very happy to do so. 

Another important thing, I was able to send communication, a message to my parents that I was on the way home, we'd be in California on such and such a day. Things were fine, everything was okay. We did indeed get back to California. The first thing I saw was Red Cross with milk, quarts of American milk if you will, and donuts. So we stepped off there, grabbed a nice half quart of milk, gulped that down, get a couple of donuts ready to go. Discharge came through and instead of trying to save a few dollars, I was anxious to get home, I took a train back.

From California, I took a train, I figured I wanted to see part of the country. I had been traveling and I could see what various states looked like and kind of an educational thing for me perhaps. I was glad I did that. When I finally did arrive home, got my discharge papers, there were other intervening events in my tour with the Marine Corps, but it's negligible at this point. I remember getting out of the subway, likened to Times Square and I said, "Oh my God, I never thought I'd get back here".

A couple of buddies of mine, we wanted to have a beer at one of the bars with somewhat bravado because we had our ribbons on with our various stars having seen combat. What struck me again is I had gotten onto the subway, bid farewell to my buddies, headed homeward. I hadn't been home in how many years and I had a cane with me that I bought in China. It had all kinds of Chinese hieroglyphics on it and I was strutting away with this cane with my ribbons showing.

When I got into the seat with my sea bag, I had written down like Guadalcanal, Okinawa, Ulithi, China, I made sure it faced in the direction so people could see. I was, I guess, trying to make an impression. When I think about it now, here as a Marine back home and here is where I was. I wasn't trying to be boastful, but I guess I wanted people to know where I'd been.

I got out of the subway and I remember we lived on Kingsmith Road, come up to where over here was Pope Park. As a teenager, we had hoards of fellows and girls that used to mill about together and shoot the breeze and have a good time. I looked over there, there's no one there yet and I walked back down 194th Street in the Bronx, Kingsmith Road, stopped into a candy store that I knew very well as a teenager. Rudy is his name, he turned around and looked at me, "Tommy, you're home" and I came back and said, "Hi Rudy, how's everything?".

Went to the department and I had told my mother, don't have any relatives there when I get home, just you and my sister because I won't be in a mood to have here comes the conquering hero, just you. So I walked in there and of course my mother opened the door, didn't know specifically when I'd be there and Tom Marangelli was home and upon his arrival, his mother handed him a beautiful apple pie as well as a chocolate cream pie and I ate that chocolate cream pie down to the platter itself and the war was over for Tom Marangelli. That's it.

INTERVIEWER: Tom, what did you learn from all of your wartime experiences?

MARANGELLI: I learned that there's nothing that you can do individually. What I'm saying if there's a need somewhere where something has to be done that's really worth anything, you have to have someone with you to back you up. I liken it to combat obviously. You can't conquer a hill by yourself. I also learned, I think most important to me was you have to have an education. There must be an education as you proceed in life, rather to get home and say I was in the military, everything will be fine thereafter.

You're not going to get anywhere unless you get an education. I tried to tell those of us that might see these goings on here, the tape, that's foremost I think in any generation, make sure you know where you're headed, make some plans and once you have made those plans, attack accordingly. Don't go flimflamming about and figure everything will come and that's there's nothing to worry about because there are indeed things to worry about. There are indeed problem areas that must be solved. Everything is not going to be rosy. I have plenty of downs. You don't attain something because it's there for you. You've got to know how to accept what's given to you and once you can accept that, I mean if you accept the fact that you're not going to be perfect and everything in life is not going to be perfect, I think then you've got it licked because you can continue onward and you will not have a problem. Do the best with what you have.

INTERVIEWER: Thank you Tom, it's a privilege to know you.