90 Day Wonder

Katie Couric to interview Leon Cooper on Labor Day

Seventy years ago thousands of Americans were killed or wounded during the battle of "Bloody Tarawa" in November, 1943. Finally, the remains of the dead will be found, identify and returned home. My film.  "Return to Tarawa -the Leon Cooper Story" was seen by Congress,resulting in direction to the Defense Department to  send a team to Tarawa--now at work.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER--Right?

Thousands of WWII MIAs

Congressman Lipinski of Illinois has sent a letter to each of his colleagues in the House of Representatives urging them to support his request of the Department of Defense to greatly increase the recovery of the remains of WWII MIAs, tens of thousands of whom still lie where they fell, in unmarked graves, --in Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Okinawa, the Palaus, the Marianas--during the Pacific  War. Please write or phone your Congressman, telling him/her to support Lipinski. Time is of the essence.  The relatives of these dead, eg., the wives, brothers, sisters, nephews et al, will themselves be dead before long. Who will then claim the remains of these honored dead?
NB The Department of Defense recovers about 100 MIAs per year from all US wars, Korea, Vietnam and WWII, although WWII is more than 90%  of the total number of MIAs (90,000)  Doesn't that make you angry? Don't you want to do something about this disgrace?

A summing up & a new direction

I feel pretty good, but am far from feeling smug about it...My efforts and those of others helping me have finally resulted in Congress getting off its ass in directing the Pentagon to repatriate the remains of the hundreds of guys who still lie in Tarawa sixty-six years later, after the battle of "Bloody Tarawa," during November, 1943. (That doesn't mean, of course, that the military will actually do it.).

I'm in the process of setting up a non-profit corporation that will receive charitable contributions--for tax credit--to finance my filmed visit to a number of Pacific War battlefields, e,g., Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Okinawa, Palau and other sites. The purpose: to show compelling evidence that the remains of the fallen are still there, e.g., the tail assembly of the downed plane, the dogtags or other evidence of the remains of the MIA, what natives in the area concerned can tell us about the dead American, etc. Five films in all will be produced at a cost of 1 million, a significant part of which to defray the cost of private jet flights to many of the battle sites, sites that simply can't be reached by comercial flights.

Readers of my blogs will recall that almost 80,000 WWII MIAs from WWII are still "there," where they fell in battles in Europe and in the Pacific. The Pentagon admits that upwards of 35,000 are "recoverable." That doesn't mean that the Military will make an effort to recover these guys. In fact,  I've just learned that 3,000 WWII MIAs have been recently identified, including the exact location of their remains, along with other information that will permit their speedy repatriation, but this will not be done because there ain't any money to pay for the effort.,

What the hell...Nearly all of the Viet Nam MIAs have been recovered and repatriated--thanks to the nation-wide campaign during the 70's to recover them--"You Are Not Forgotten"--Remember?

Unlike Viet Nam and Iraq, too, for that matter--and similarly unpopular and unnecessary wars, it''s generally ackmnowledged that WWII was a "necessary" and even a "popular" in the sense that virtually the entire nation was involved. The anomaly remains: in dumb wars, we recover the dead. In good wars--the hell with the "Greatest Generation."

Persistence

"Great works are performed not by strength but by persistence," is a statement by Samuel Johnson that has guided me in my efforts to return home the dead of WWII, thousands of whom still lie where they fell.

For example...

Some members of Congress recently viewed my documentary, "Return to Tarawa-the Leon Cooper Story," As a result, this past month the House of Representatives passed a Resolution declaring it to be the "Sense of Congress" that the Department of Defense should send a team of investigators to Tarawa to search for the remains of those who still lie there and then begin their repatriation. The Resolution was sent to the President and to officials of his Administration.

This past month the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors sent a Resolution to the President urging similar action, incidentally, honoring me for my military service and also for my activities since then.

Currently pending before a House of Representatives appropriations committee is language awaiting a $ amount-- to be filled in later--calling for the investigation, discovery and repatriation of WWII MIAs.

The garbage on Red Beach in Tarawa may be cleaned up later this year as plans are underway to install the "state-of-the-art" incinerator I had recommended in my "Action Program for Tarawa." When installed, this incinerator system it would prevent garbage on the beaches and elsewhere from being swept out to sea, destroying marine life. Ironically, the incinerator program and other action I had recommended is being funded by New Zealand, not by our country.

I'm continuing to publicize my efforts: The Army Times and all other Service newspapers are carrying a feature story about my efforts. In other words, more 500,000 newspapers in 100 countries are featuring the story.

The Tokyo Journal has an article about me..."World War II combat veteran is fighting a different battle."

America's Shame

Mr Cooper Goes to Washington...

Everywhere on the hallowed ground of a WWII battle site there's garbage, dead Americans, live ammunition...

I'm REALLY going to Washington to arrive on December 7, 2008 (Pearl Harbor Day) at Reagan National Airport because  I'm tired of sending letters, emails and faxes (more than a hundred) to the "usual suspects," these past three years about the desecration that has taken place in Tarawa, a WWII battle site that came to be known as "Bloody Tarawa." My many letters, emails, etc.have been met with callous indifference; nearly all of my emails were simply ignored. I'm going to Washington because I'm now convinced that only face-to-face meetings with high government officials will result in the prompt action  needed to honor the memory of  those Americans who gave their lives in defense of our country in our first major amphibious assault  againt a Japanese stronghold in the Central Pacific.

My job, as a Navy landing craft officer,  was to bring Marines of the 2nd Division on to Red Beach, in Tarawa starting on the first day of the battle on November 20, 1943. I made a number of landings on  that day and later, each time watching scores of my countrymen being cut down by Japanese gun fire.

Aferwards, it was my sad duty to transport the wounded back to my ship for medical treatment. Unlike later invasions, there was no Navy hospital ship standing by to render expert medical care. Garbage, including soiled baby diapers lie all over ed Beach, the same beach where more than 1,000
arines were killed.

More more than 6,000--Americans and Japanese died--during those three days of savagery.

Far more disturbing than the garbage: hundreds of Americans still lie where they fell in that faraway place sixty-five years ago--forgotten and dishonored. One is a Congressional Honor winner, Lt Sandy Bonnyman. Backed by veterans groups, History Flight (Marathon, FL) and WFI Research Group (Fall River, MA) have just completed an exhaustive survey of the basttle sites on Tarawa, using sophisticated scientific devices, and have located the remains of 139 Marines. More are yet to be found.

The last organized effort by our Government to identify and repatriate the remains of American dead in Tarawa was a six months investigation of various sites on the island starting in January, 1946, ending in May, 1946.A report by the Army Quartermaster Section, Memorial Branch, dated July 3, 1946 states that "About fifty percent of the bodies previously reported buried on Tarawa were found, and of that number, only 58% were identified." There has been no effort by the government to follow up on the 1946 investigation.

Live ammunition, mainly ours, lies everywhere on this tiny, densely  populated island. Australia has sent a bomb demotion group, now at work removing these dangerous devices. America is not participating.

It is a sad commentary about our nation that private organizations have assumed the responsbility of locating the remains of American dead in Tarawa.They're  doing this because our nation  has failed to do so. These private organizations believe that those who died in defense of our country deserve to be repatriated and to be remembered with dignity and respect. Their relatives are entitled to closure. It is our nation's shame that we have allowed these honored dead to lie in  un marked graves in that fasr off land all these years.

According to the  Department of Defense, 72,766 America Armed Forces personnel of WWII are still listed as MIA. At least fifty percent lie in various Pacific islands, including Tarawa.

Gladstone, the 19th century English PM said, "One can judge the heart and soul of a nation by the care and reverence it demonsrates toward the remains of those who died in its defense."

I made a trip to Tarawa this past February, returning with still painful memories of my battle experience, taking a camera crew with me to film the garbage on Red Beach and to find out more about our American dead there. The record of that visit has been captured on film in a documentary "Return to Tarawa-The Leon Cooper Story. Narration is by movie great, Ed Harris. Major TV channels have expressed interest. A major national magazine wants to review the film.

Remembering Private Somes

"On the beach at 'Bloody Tarawa,' where US Marines died by the hundreds, the broken bottles,  crushed boxes, soiled baby diapers and plastic bags are now piling up by the millions," so reads an Associated Press dispatch I chanced upon while doing research for my book, "The War in the Pacific-A Retrospective." The AP reporter was describing the garbage on Red Beach, in Tarawa, a beach I knew very well. It was the same beach where I had landed Marines of the 2nd Division during the first major amphibious assault, in November, 1943, upon a Japanese island stronghold. I was a Navy landing craft officer, bringing Marines into the beach with my "wave groups" of Higgins Boats.

During those three days of savagery more than 6000 men died. 1,113 were US Marines. An additional 2500 were wounded. Only 117 Japanese soldiers survived.

I sent many letters and emails to Washington, urging officials to take action, to remove this insult to the memory of all who fought and died for our country in the battle of "Bloody Tarawa."

Lacking any response, I finally decided to go there myself to get something done. I brought a camera crew with me to film a documentary, "Return to Tarawa." It's being edited by Emmy-award winner Jay Miracle, Narration will be done by movie great, Ed Harris. The documentary is scheduled for release this summer of 2008.

Upon my arrival, I found the garbage piles much worse than I had anticipated. Also, live ammunition lies everywhere among the relics of that long ago battle. But worst of all, there are remains of American dead on that tiny island, still there after all these years. 66 years after the battle. I have one report claiming evidence of the skeletal remains of more than 200.

Our government has done nothing about any of these shameful failings--all the while garbage continues to pile up on Red Beach, as citizens persist in treating this hallowed ground as a dump. And, as citizens continue to use the lagoon as a toilet, the same lagoon where American corpses floated during the battle.

Following meetings with officials of the Tarawa government, I prepared an "Action Program for Tarawa"" to be funded by our government which, among other things, will make Red Beach pristine once again, a permanent memorial.

During my week in Tarawa I had many meetings. One stands out: my meeting with "Big Louis," the "biggest man in Tarawa," I was told, a 6 foot seven inch Australian doing business in Tarawa. While at lunch with Louis, he told me that he had acquired the skeletal remains of a US Marine named Somes. Louis showed me a photograph of the plastic liner of Somes' helmet. On it was stencilled clearly his name and rank, "Somes, pfc."

Louis had kept the Marine's remains in his office for some time, while awaiting replies from his many  letters to Washington authorities, asking where Somes' remains should be sent. Louis was always told that it couldn't be Somes that Louis was asking about, as "Somes long ago had been returned to his home cemetery."

Louis finally decided to bury Somes in a beautiful memorial to the "Coastwatchers," near Red Beach.The memorial was located on the spot where the Japanese had beheaded 12 Australian, New Zealanders and Englishmen--who had been reporting Japanese ship movements to their Australian headquarters

Louis marked an "x" on a dinner napkin, showing me where he had buried Somes. I visited the Memorial the next day, marking several feet from the Memorial's center, where I guessed Somes was lying, as the "x" on the napkin indicated. I stood for a time over the unmarked grave, feeling my throat tighten as I said a silent prayer to Somes.

Every year, on "Anzac Day," Louis told me, on each April 25, Australians and New Zealanders "Remember Private Somes." Australians and New Zealanders understandably "remember" Somes. Somes and his fellow Americans helped prevent the Japanese from taking over Australian and New Zealand.

Do we in the United States have any less reason to remember Somes and his comrades-in-arms who gave their lives in defense of our country?

New Video Added

New Video Added-
I was interviewed by a Fiji TV reporter during my recent trip to Tarawa.
Click Here.

Garbage Tarawa-finally

Today, March 16, 2007, the LA Times published a lengthy article based on my interview with a Times reporter. Go to LA Times, California section, March 16, 2007. Terrific piece of writing by a truly professional writer, demonstrating genuine interest in the subject. The reporter forwarded on to me a bunch of emails from those who had read his article. Maybe this will have the effect of shaming our big dumb govt into finally doing something.

Click Here to read the L.A.Times article.

Garbage Tarawa redux

Maybe, just maybe, the long quest--to remove the garbage from Red Beach in  Tarawa--may be coming to fruition. Through some contacts I've made recently a feature writer with a  major newspaper has said he may want to run a story about Garbage Tarawa, pointing up the gross indifference among the big shots in Washington about Tarawa. As you vets out there know well, it's always the same story, hailing "our heroes" during the war--"Support our Troops" is the anthem now. Then, afterwards, it's total neglect. Right now it's the shameful treatment of the guys who have been mangled by wounds received in Iraq being forced to live, during their "recuperation," in rodent- and bug-infested apartments -- simply because, incredibly, nobody anticipated there would be that many wounded!

Garbage Tarawa

Bad news, or more of the same...no further developments about Garbage Tarawa, where the garbage keeps piling up on Red Beach. I continue on what I sometimes feel to be a fool's errand, but it comes down to this, very simply --if I don't keep trying, who will?

Maybe there are some readers of this blog who will lend a hand