90 Days Of Hell: A Survivors Story

iReport — Robert R. Bentz is a World War II survivor in what was known as one of the if not the bloodiest battles of the entire campaign. He is also one of the funniest and unbelievably caring men I have ever known. He is my uncle and a true American Hero. This is his story. "I enlisted in the Marine Corps in Chicago in 1944 when I was just 17 and went immediately into boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina. We then were off to the west coast and Camp Pendleton before setting off to sea for advance training in the Pacific Islands. We stopped off at Pearl Harbor to drop off some lucky marines and met up with the famous Carlson Raiders, a highly decorated Marine battalion, who helped us train for four months on Guadalcanal and form what is know as the Sixth Marine division today.""We were off to an undisclosed destination and at sea for three days and then learned we were to land on a small Japanese island known as Okinawa." It was Easter Sunday when my uncle, a young spry boy then, landed with the 6th Marine Division and was told by the experts the island of Okinawa would take approximately 30 days to secure. Ironically it was also April Fools Day and after over 200,000 lives were taken and 90 days of Hell, the island was secured. "It changed my life and taught me to be a man." Growing up my Uncle Bob never talked about the war. It is only recently that he has written down events and shared stories with me and his family. "When I waded onto the beach I was scared and anxious about the next hour of my life. That didn’t change for quite awhile. I ending up losing 30 pounds on a diet of cold rations, cigarettes, chocolate and coffee. Most of the time you wouldn't want to eat with the stench of dead bodies and flies that would land on your food before you could eat it. It rained almost everyday which only added to the quagmire, a stinking compost pile that yielded bodies and parts of bodies that had been buried days or weeks before. We seldom slept for more than ...

Channel: iReport Video Length: 0s Date Found: Sun, May 29 2011 7:44 PM Category: News Date Produced: View Count: 0