Charles Womack was born in October 1922 and grew up in McComb, Mississippi. His parents were divorced and his father moved out to the west coast. Womack and his sister lived with their mother and her parents. Womack was a senior in high school when he got a job as a locomotive fireman. All the engines were steam powered. A few months of shoveling coal convinced Womack that the Marine Corps could not be worse. He enlisted in late October or early November 1942. Womack was with his girlfriend when he heard about Pearl Harbor being attacked. He knew where Pearl Harbor was and what its significance was. Womack went through boot camp and was then shipped out to Guadalcanal. He helped to unload the ship that carried him there but had to reload it shortly thereafter. The Marines shipped out to Melbourne, Australia where Womack joined the 1st Marine Division. Womack remembers boot camp being difficult because the drill instructors could find fault with anything. Womack would not go through with it again if he had the choice. During World War 2, the entire platoon would be punished for one Marine's mistake. It helped to unify the platoon in the long run but early on it was difficult. About 45 Marines passed boot camp out of the original 60 in Womack's platoon. Womack joined Company M, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines [Annotator's Note: 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] as a replacement. He was a member of 1st platoon which was the machine gun platoon. He carried machine gun ammunition for the gunner. Womack trained at Camp Balcombe in Australia. About 20 miles from the camp there was an area of land that the Australian government had confiscated for the war effort. The Marines spent several days on maneuvers there. They had to wake up at four in the morning and walk to the area from the camp. After maneuvers they usually had three days of liberty and would go to Melbourne. Service personnel rode free on the trains and street cars. The last stop in Melbourne had a pub across the street. Many of the Marines went to that pub. The pub had a painting of a nude woman with long hair. Womack remembers the Australian people always treated them nice. Many of the Australian troops were either in New Guinea or North Africa.

Charles Womack shipped out from San Diego. He does not remember what he thought about as he left the United States. The ships had working parties to load the ships so the Marines were only responsible for their own gear. After leaving Australia, Womack's unit [Annotator's Note: Company M, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] headed for New Caledonia. After they arrived, they stayed in the harbor. Womack thought that they were going to stay there but he woke up that morning to find the ship sailing. From there they headed to New Zealand but they stayed on the ship there as well. From New Zealand they headed back to Melbourne. The Marines were well fed aboard ship but the bunks were very close together. Womack was moved out of the machine gun platoon after seeing action at Cape Gloucester and Talasea. There was a creek called Suicide Creek at Cape Gloucester and the Marines set up on a ridge above the creek. They broke down the guns to cross the creek and the Japanese attacked them while their guns were in pieces. They eventually got to the ridge and set up the machine guns but the company suffered many casualties during the engagement. The creek was also named Atkins' Creek. Womack lost a good friend in the creek named Adams. Another friend of his was a guy named Anderson. He was wounded during the fighting there too. The Marines could not get to Anderson. That night a Japanese soldier went down in the creek and checked to see if Anderson was dead. Anderson played dead and the Japanese soldier eventually left him alone. The following morning during another engagement Anderson found his way back to his company. Womack remembers that this event badly frayed Anderson's nerves though. He had trouble holding a cup of coffee after this event. Anderson was one of the older men in the company. He was in his late 20s. This was Womack's first interaction with the Japanese. The Marine Corps had schools and used psychologists to lecture the Marines on the tactics and the mindset of a Japanese soldier. Womack thinks that the training was realistic but it did not compare to the real thing. When they set sail no one knew where they were going and Australia was pretty far from the top of the rumor mill.

Charles Womack remembers the terrain on New Guinea being thick jungles with vines growing wildly throughout and near constant rain that made the Marines lives' difficult. When they managed to get out of the jungles they had to deal with the tall kunai grass. The Marines had to go through the grass single file. Womack never saw any wildlife on New Guinea. He saw one boa constrictor. The only natives they saw on New Guinea were working for an Australian officer on the island. They also had native labor on New Britain. The natives would carry rations for the Marines. The terrain and the weather made maneuvers difficult. The rain made smoking almost impossible. The rations came in during the late afternoon. On New Britain, Womack's unit [Annotator's Note: Company M, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] went on a patrol deep inland. They came across a river but the ferry across it had been cut by the Japanese after their last troops had crossed on it. Between New Britain and New Guinea, Womack spent about two or three months in the New Guinea area. When they left New Guinea they went to Pavuvu in the Russell Islands. There was a huge coconut grove on the island. There was nearly three years of rotten coconuts on the islands and the Marines had to clean up the area in order to build their camp. From Pavuvu they went to Peleliu then returned to Pavuvu after the battle was over. They had showers and movies on the island. Pavuvu was the unit's jumping off point for the assault on Peleliu. There was a screen on the ship that showed where each battalion was going to land.

For the invasion of Peleliu, Charles Womack and the other Marines transferred off the ship into amtracs [Annotator's Note: amtrac and alligator are common nicknames for the Landing Vehicle, Tracked or LVT]. From the amtrac Womack could see the pre-invasion bombardment. Someone from the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) threw the men a case of cold Milky Way candy bars. Womack remembers expecting heavy resistance on the beach. He had learned the lessons of Tarawa. All of the amtracs circled at first and then they got lined up and headed inland. The beach is the worst place to be so they had to race inland quickly. Their amtrac was hit by a mortar just after they bailed out of it. There was an airstrip nearby and they headed for it. They arrived at the airstrip and dug in. The Japanese launched a banzai attack that afternoon with a few light tanks. Womack thought it was simply suicide. The rest of the battle was spent clearing caves. On Pavuvu, Womack was equipped with a flamethrower and trained with it. It was better to flank targets with a flamethrower than to approach head on. Womack was impressed with the lethality of the flamethrower. He used it at Peleliu and on Ngesebus. Womack used it more on Ngesebus. Peleliu had many natural caves with sheer walls that the Japanese fired down on the men from. Ngesebus was flat and Womack cleared many emplacements there. They used white phosphorous smoke grenades to provide cover when attacking a cave. One day on Ngesebus, he was following a rifle squad and a Japanese Nambu light machine gun opened fire on them. Two or three of the Marines were hit. Everyone hit the deck and while on the ground Womack saw a line of bullets hitting the sand getting closer to him. Womack thought he was doomed with the tank on his back but the fire ceased before it reached him. Womack believes that the Japanese soldier was on the move and that was why he was spared. Womack thinks it was Company K [Annotator's Note: Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] that he was with.

Charles Womack remembers that the bunkers and emplacements were often different from one to the next. He came across one bomb shelter on Ngesebus that was half underground. A mortar man set off a mortar just outside the bunker. A call came up for a flamethrower and Womack responded. A tank knocked out a wall of the bunker and Womack went in behind it. The bunker was over 50 feet long. The Japanese were packed into the bunker and they knocked over Marines on their way out of the door to escape the flames. Marines shot the few who got out of the bunker. The mixture in the tank affected the range of the flamethrower. A heavy diesel fuel mix produced short rolling fires. A heavy napalm mix would shoot a rope of fire a long distance. Womack's flamethrower was based on the World War 1 models. The flamethrower had two valves, one to control the pressure in the tank and the other to ignite the fuel. Womack had to brace himself before firing. Firing it would burn up all the air in a small radius. They spent about a month on Peleliu. Peleliu had no vegetation. There were hills throughout and some were too steep to climb. The Marines would spend days extracting Japanese soldiers from the hills. It frustrated Womack that they had to give up gained territory each day as they were pulled back to the lines. They occasionally used shell holes in the ground as makeshift foxholes. The Japanese frequently tried to infiltrate their lines at night. One night they spotted a Japanese soldier just outside their position. They exchanged grenades until one wounded the Japanese soldier. The man groaned all night and repeated grenades tossed to finish the job did not accomplish anything. Someone put the wounded Japanese soldier out of his misery the next morning. No one moved at night. In Womack's squad a machine gun team was killed by friendly fire. The team leader wanted to move his gun and passed the word down the line. Someone was not alerted and when the three men crossed his line of sight he opened fire and killed all three. The man who did this was traumatized by what had happened and was shipped out to a hospital. The men rarely got any sleep while on the island because even while they were in their foxholes at night they were on alert in case of Japanese attack. The supply situation was quite good on Peleliu. They received more supplies every afternoon or night. They received K rations and C rations. Womack liked the C rations a lot more than the K rations. From Peleliu they returned to Pavuvu. Womack's unit [Annotator's Note: Company M, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] lost a lot of men on the island.

The barracks Charles Womack and the other Marines stayed in when they were on Pavuvu the first time were still there and Womack was able to reclaim his bunk. There were a lot of replacements there. Womack did not really care that the replacements were replacements. Pavuvu was a welcome change. The men had not had a shower in well over a month. Occasionally the men would get cooked eggs and other food on the island. The cooks often served as stretcher bearers in combat. Womack served as a stretcher bearer several times on Cape Gloucester. He had to carry wounded through waist deep water on occasion. There was a lieutenant in Womack's unit [Annotator's Note: Company M, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] who played professional football for Philadelphia and he weighed about 250 pounds. It was a struggle for four men to carry this wounded lieutenant back to the aid station. After a time on Pavuvu, Womack's unit shipped out to Okinawa. They went through a lot of training to prepare for the invasion of Okinawa. They did amphibious landing training on Guadalcanal. All the landings they practiced were in amtracks [Annotator's Note: amtracks or alligators were common nicknames for the Landing Vehicle, Tracked or LVT]. Womack was lucky. He never got into one that had the front ramp. The Japanese were firing on the beach when they landed on Peleliu. Several amtracks were knocked out before they landed. The guy right in front of Womack was severely wounded when a shell exploded nearby and perforated his eardrums. This Marine was later evacuated. A couple of years prior [Annotator's Note: prior to this interview which was recorded on 11 March 2009], Womack took part in an interview about the war. He told a woman about the Marine who was injured. A few months later that Marine called Womack after seeing the show. Womack thought that he had lost his hearing but doctors were able to save the Marine's hearing and he made a career in the Marine Corps. Womack traded his M1 rifle for a .45 caliber pistol when he started using the flamethrower. Womack admits that he was a terrible shot with his .45.

When Charles Womack and the other Marines in his outfit [Annotator's Note: Company M, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] shipped out of Pavuvu they thought that they were headed to Formosa. They were told a few days before arriving at Okinawa where they were actually headed. They survived a couple of typhoons on the way. A couple destroyers were capsized during the typhoons. They were limited to Spam and bread because they could not cook during the storms. One time, after finishing his meal and scraping his tray into the garbage can, a massive wave hit and collapsed all the tables in the mess hall. Food frequently sloshed out of the trash can during these storms. They did not have any problems with Japanese airplanes on the way to Okinawa. They saw a Japanese submarine being depth charged as they passed New Britain and New Guinea. At Okinawa, the Japanese launched large scale kamikaze attacks against the ships, but Womack was already ashore by the time these started. After going ashore, they went across the entire island on the first day. The only action they saw was near dark as they set up their positions on a ridge. The battalion commander, McIlhenny [Annotator's Note: then Major Walter Stauffer McIlhenny], led some men down the ridge and a Japanese soldier threw a grenade and severely wounded McIlhenny. Womack's unit walked across the island and then had to clear some smaller islands nearby. On one island they only found one Japanese soldier. Womack never saw any civilians on Peleliu while he was there but saw a thriving population when he returned years later. Womack heard that one woman owned the entirety of Ngesebus. The relics of the war were still on the ground on Peleliu. There are monuments to the both the Marine Corps and the Japanese on Peleliu.

Charles Womack saw many civilians on Okinawa. The civilians would bow as the Marines passed by them. Womack's unit [Annotator's Note: Company M, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] relieved the 27th Division [Annotator's Note: the US Army's 27th Infantry Division]. Womack's division was supposed to sweep all the way across the island and the 6th [Annotator's Note: 6th Marine Division] was supposed to sweep the northern end of the island. Peleliu was extremely hot and barren. Okinawa is largely farmland. There were signs of life on New Britain and New Guinea but the populations usually took their belongings and went into hiding until the invaders left. Okinawa was the first time the Marines encountered city populations. The Japanese frequently hid in cave complexes alongside Okinawan civilians. Womack had to occasionally clear out tombs. The native citizens would often hide their valuables in their family tomb. By the time the Battle of Okinawa was being fought it was clear that the Japanese were going to lose the war. Still, Womack saw no difference in the ferocity of their fighting in the early days of Okinawa. Later on in the battle they started surrendering in large numbers. The regiment [Annotator's Note: 5th Marine Regiment] had two battalions on the line and one in reserve and one day as Womack's battalion [Annotator's Note: 3rd Battalion] was going to relieve one of the other ones they saw a lot of prisoners marching down the road. This was the first time that Womack had seen a large number of Japanese prisoners. Womack remembers the men scavenging for chickens and eggs in the nearby villages. Womack used his mess kit and a little bit of composition C to heat the eggs. Womack was a squad leader on Okinawa so he rarely had to use the flamethrower. He had three flamethrower operators under his command. Womack remembers one instance when a flamethrower was ordered to clear out an emplacement and Womack manned the weapon himself. On Okinawa, Womack carried a Thompson submachine gun but he does not recall ever firing it. The flamethrower operators always approached emplacements from the flanks and would toss smoke or white phosphorous grenades to obscure the enemy gunner's sight. They would launch a quick burst of fire into the opening and then follow it up with a sustained spray of fire. Womack had to clear many bunkers out. Doing so was a bigger issue on Peleliu than it was on Okinawa. Womack landed on Okinawa on 1 April 1945. It was Easter Sunday. After the war, Womack and the 1st Division had a camp on the Motobu Peninsula on the northern end of Okinawa. They ended the war there training for the planned invasion of Japan.

Charles Womack and every other Marine on the island were fully aware that they were headed for Japan after the fighting on Okinawa ended but he did not dwell on it. Womack was on a working party when the news of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima came to the camp. There was a food dump in the camp and Womack's squad was sent to help unload a couple food trucks. They did not find out about it until after the trucks were unloaded. Womack remembers one guy who was prone to exaggerate things and he was the first to tell the guys what had happened while extolling the virtues of atomic energy. After the war ended most of the 1st Division [Annotator's Note: 1st Marine Division] left Okinawa and went to Peip'ing, China [Annotator's Note: Peip'ing or Beiping is a former name of Beijing]. Womack and a few others were left behind on Okinawa to wait for the next ship. Womack and about 30 others were put into an antiaircraft unit. They stayed with that unit until one day when they were told to get their gear and get on a truck to be taken to the docks. Womack can only remember the names of two of the ships that he traveled on. The USS Mount Vernon (APA-22) carried him overseas and the USS McCracken (APA-198) took him off of Okinawa. He does not remember how many days the voyage from Okinawa to San Diego took but he arrived in San Diego Harbor just before sunset and thought it was the prettiest sight he had ever seen. Womack threw his sea bags onto the dock and got on a truck. A Salvation Army truck was there serving food and coffee. The Red Cross charged soldiers for the food and drink that they offered and the Salvation Army would pay the soldier's bill to the Red Cross. Womack did not see any Coca Cola plants in the Pacific. From the docks, the Marines were sent to Camp Pendleton. Around Thanksgiving the men were sent by train to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The trip took four days. They had to make a bunch of stops on the way. When they arrived in St. Louis, they stopped in a freight yard across from the Falstaff Brewery. A forklift driver from the brewery brought a pallet of beer over for the Marines to drink and after they finished the first pallet the driver brought over another. Once they arrived back at Camp Lejeune they were not given any assignments. They just slept, ate and enjoyed their leisure time for about three weeks until their records arrived from Camp Pendleton. Womack was discharged as a corporal. After being discharged, Womack got a job with the city [Annotator's Note: the city of McComb, Mississippi] reading water meters for about six months until the railroad business picked back up and he went back to working on the railroad. Womack got married and built his house with a GI loan in 1947. The Veterans' Commission guaranteed 40 percent of his loan and he paid his house off in 20 years. Womack's time in the service did not change him at all. He does not think the United States had a choice of getting involved in the war after Pearl Harbor was attacked. Womack donated a display to the National World War II Museum and he believes that it is important that such a place exists and believes that schoolchildren should be brought there and let them see what happened. Womack has a brick bearing his name on Magazine Street that his grandson bought for him. He was never wounded in the service.