Russell W. Zinn, Yeoman
“Dad” Zinn, my father-in-law, served as a Yeoman, 2nd class, in the Navy from March 2, 1944, until his discharge February 25, 1946. His draft occurred late in the war. Already 28 years old, married, and with two children, his late draft illustrates the point of critical urgency the war had reached.
Stationed in Guam, he served on two vessels and the US Fleet Hospital #103, and was an island commander. Having been employed at Wheeler-Kelly-Hagny in Wichita prior to his enlistment, he had office skills that were used in his service. His deployment as a naval hospital administrator was in large part due to his excellent typing ability. This more “comfortable” position kept him from having to serve on the front lines. He was awarded the Victory Medal, the American Defense Service Medal and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal.
Barracks on Guam
Willis Zinn, Russell’s Brother
His brother Willis (left), a corporal in the Marines, experienced a dramatic event that could have proven fatal. He was wounded in the first minutes of the battle of Tarawa, as he went ashore with the first wave of Marines to hit Tarawa beaches.
The landing boat in which he was riding went up on the beach, straddling a Japanese soldier in an emplacement. As the the Marines got out of the boat, the Japanese fired, killing one of them, then the Japanese soldier was killed. Machine gun and rifle fire surrounded them. Seeing an automatic rifleman drop his weapon, Willis grabbed it. Just then a .25-caliber slug tore through his neck. The bullet entered in front of his left ear and went through his head to lodge behind his right ear. He fell to the ground and started digging in, first retrieving his rifle.
He and the other Marines spent the night on the beach. Fire kept up all night from both sides. No one slept. Late the next day, Willis and the other walking wounded reached a first-aid station where wounds were attended. The next day, all were brought aboard a hospital ship. A few weeks after the bullet was extracted, he returned to duty.
The following is a brief description of this battle from Wikipedia.
“The Battle of Tarawa was fought on 20–23 November 1943 between the United States and Japan at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. Nearly 6,400 Americans, Japanese, and Koreans died in the fighting, mostly on and around the small island of Betio, in the extreme southwest of Tarawa Atoll.
“The Battle of Tarawa was the first American offensive in the critical central Pacific region. It was also the first time in the Pacific War that the United States had faced serious Japanese opposition to an amphibious landing. Previous landings met little or no initial resistance, but on Tarawa the 4,500 Japanese defenders were well-supplied and well-prepared, and they fought almost to the last man, exacting a heavy toll on the United States Marine Corps. The losses on Tarawa were incurred within 76 hours.”
