[Annotator's Note: There is the sound of a lawnmower in the background during this clip.] Harry Bender was born and raised in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois] with an older brother, an older sister, and a younger sister. He attended Catholic school until 6th grade, and then they moved closer to his father's workplace, and he went to public school. His father was a mechanical engineer for International Harvester's McCormick Works in Chicago. Bender did not complete high school because he went into the Marine Corps. His father served in the 6th Regiment [Annotator's Note: 6th Marine Regiment] of the Marine Corps during World War 1 [Annotator's Note: World War 1, global war originating in Europe; 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918], but never talked about his experience. His father went into the National Guard when he returned, until about 1940. He drew a disability pension because he was wounded in Belleau Wood [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Belleau Wood, near the Marne River in France; 1 to 26 June 1918]. Bender's father was born and raised in Pennsylvania, his family was of German descent. Bender went into the Marine Corps on his seventeenth birthday, partly because his father was a Marine. His father was also a chairman of a draft board. Bender mostly hung out with older guys who were all being drafted. Then people started pointing fingers and asking why Bender himself was not being drafted, so he decided to enlist and his parents did not object. When he was 16, he stole a car and wrecked it. The friend he was with was allowed to enlist rather than face punishment, and Bender saw it as a good option for himself. He went through the Battle of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan], and was stationed in Great Lakes before his discharge. He went home for a week, then moved to his dad's home in Pennsylvania in September 1946 to work for C.H. Madlin and Company [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] as a carpet weaver. He later went to work for Letterkenny Ordnance Depot [Annotator's Note: Letterkenny Army Depot in Franklin County, Pennsylvania] until 1951. In July 1951, he went to Okinawa. Bender was married in April 1953 to a Chinese woman, whose family name was Wong. They stayed in Okinawa util 1956, until he was transferred to Taiwan with the Army Corps of Engineers. He was chief of supply there until late 1957, when he accepted a job in Saint Louis, Missouri. His wife did not like Saint Louis, so they moved again in July 1959 to Fort Shafter [Annotator's Note: Fort Shafter, Honolulu, Hawaii] where he ran into a friend from Okinawa named Jim Ballard, who offered him a job for US Army Hawaii, 25th Infantry Division working in the G4 logistics office. He retired as the director of logistics.

Harry Bender enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1944 and went through boot camp, which had him wondering why he decided to join. In K-3-5 (Annotator's Note: 1st Platoon, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division], Bender was the only guy who went through boot camp in San Diego [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in San Diego, California]. Everyone else had gone through Parris Island [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal, South Carolina]. They gave him the nickname "Hollywood" since he went through boot camp in California. His D.I. [Annotator's Note: drill instructor] was named Collins. He was sharp and strict. He drank a lot and was a mean drunk. He went up to Camp Matthews [Annotator's Note: Camp Calvin B. Matthews or Marine Corps Rifle Range Camp Matthews near La Jolla, California] near La Jolla for rifle training. There was a rule in place that a man could not be sent into combat until he was 18. Bender turned 18 in March and went into combat on 1 April [Annotator's Note: at the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan]. Before he turned 18, he was sent to several camps to work KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police] since he could not be shipped overseas yet. He never felt animosity towards the Japanese. He spent much of his life in the Pacific area [Annotator's Note: he worked in Japan and Taiwan after the war]. He was at Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California] until October 1944, when he shipped out to Pavuvu [Annotator's Note: Pavuvu Island, Russell Islands, Solomon Islands]. Bender was an assistant BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle] man. When he arrived on Pavuvu, Marines were returning from combat at Peleliu [Annotator's Note: The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II; 15 September to 27 November 1944; Peleliu, Palau]. They were in bad shape. They had the thousand-yard-stare [Annotator's Note: the blank, unfocused look of combatants who have become emotionally detached from the horrors of war around them]. They seemed very weak. They went swimming or played baseball, there was nothing else to do on Pavuvu. Bender felt accepted immediately even though he was a replacement.

Harry Bender [Annotator's Note: after joining Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division on Pavuvu Island, Russell Island Chain, Solomon Islands in October 1944] did some training while on Pavuvu, and on some other islands in the Russell Islands, and did a practice landing at Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands]. It was so hot that men were passing out left and right. They did not know where they would be going, but they knew they were training to go into combat. Some of the veterans would tell the replacements what to expect from combat. On Pavuvu, they had an outdoor movie theater and got a few USO [Annotator's Note: United Service Organizations, Inc.] shows. They began preparing for their departure for Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] but were not told where they were going until after a week on ship. They were given little books about Okinawa, and warned about poisonous snakes on the island. Bender was as scared of the snakes as he was the Japanese. [Annotator's Note: Bender laughs.] They stopped at Ulithi [Annotator's Note: Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands] and had some time to relax and have a few beers. Bender's squad leader was a man named Honor [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify] from Indiana, who they called "Hook" because he had a kink in his nose. He was the finest NCO [Annotator's Note: non-commissioned officer] Bender ever knew. He was a natural leader. He was killed in an accident on 6 April [Annotator's Note: 6 April 1945]. They had killed a hog and ate it for supper. There was a rumor that the Japanese would make a landing near their encampment that night, so they were prepared. Hook had grenades in his pouch and the pin fell out of one of them. He knew what was happening and ran into a gully and the grenade blew up, wounding five men and killing Hook. Of the 47 men of 1st Platoon that landed on Okinawa, there were only seven that had not been wounded or killed by the end of the campaign.

Harry Bender [Annotator's Note: an assistant BAR man, or Browning Automatic Rifleman, with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] landed on Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan] with the third wave, expecting heavy resistance. People were jumpy the first night on the island. The next morning when they started moving out, he saw his first casualties, two young Okinawan girls around 11 years old who were wounded. It was hard for him, he felt bad. All hell broke loose on 1 May when they started moving up, it began heavily raining. The resupply trucks could barely get up to where they were. An amtrack [Annotator's Note: Landing Vehicle, Tracked or LVT; also referred to as amtrack or alligator] nearly made it up once, but hit a landmine. They had to carry up their own supplies. It got pretty cold as well. Officers did not put their ranks on their helmets. They did not want the enemy to know who they were. In May, they relieved the 27th [Annotator's Note: 27th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division] which was in bad shape. They did not like when the tanks came up because they made a lot of noise and drew artillery fire. [Annotator's Note: There is a break in the interview to change tapes.]

Harry Bender [Annotator's Note: an assistant BAR man, or Browning Automatic Rifleman, with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] was enlisted rather than drafted. His friend, Bill Laden [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Private First Class William "Bill" Laden; a rifleman in Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division], was hit around 15 April [Annotator's Note: 15 April 1945]. It had been raining a lot and all the paths were muddy. The Japanese had buried hand grenades which would go off if stepped on. Vemeer and Bowman [Annotator’s Note: phonetic spelling, no given names provided; unable to identify] were making coffee which must have attracted artillery fire. Laden was sitting on the sit of a hole that Vemeer and Bowman were inside of. Vemeer and Bowman were killed, along with two other men. Laden was wounded. They started getting replacement troops in May [Annotator's Note: May 1945]. The nights were scary. They would dig their foxholes, and by three o'clock in the morning it was full of six inches of water. It was very cold and there was nowhere to go, and on top of it you knew there were people out there who wanted to kill you. Despite all of that, it was hard to stay awake. The artillery fire never stopped. Bender was hit with artillery shrapnel, he suspects it was friendly fire. They lost many men to combat fatigue. They were awake all the time under constant stress. Bender contracted dysentery and was taken off the line for three or four days. Another day, they had a break to be re-outfitted and received three hot meals. It was heaven. It made them feel like someone cared that they were out there. Bender's unit had one of the highest numbers of casualties, which affected his platoon leader, Bucky Pearson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify]. He was taken off the lines to take a break.

Harry Bender [Annotator's Note: an assistant BAR man, or Browning Automatic Rifleman, with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division who landed at Okinawa, Japan on 1 April 1945 for the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan] was pinned down on top of a little knoll, and his friend, Bill Laden [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Private First Class William "Bill" Laden; a rifleman in Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division], a veteran of Peleliu [Annotator's Note: The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II; 15 September to 27 November 1944; Peleliu, Palau], got them out of there. In late May, eight men including Bender went on a patrol to see if there were Japanese out there. They passed a small hill and did not see anything, so they continued and all of a sudden they started taking fire from that hill. They began throwing smoke grenades for cover to get out of there. They were fortunate that of the eight men, only one was wounded. Bender was later wounded on Kunishi Ridge the same night that General Bucker [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.; Buckner was killed on 18 June 1945 on Okinawa] got hit. They were moving at night and were told to dig in. A shell came in that night and Bender took shrapnel all over his body. A fellow Marine, William Tyler, was hit in the head and was not moving so Bender went running for the corpsman [Annotator's Note: enlisted medical specialist in the US Navy who may also serve in the US Marine Corps]. Bender and Tyler were taken on stretchers back to CP [Annotator's Note: command post]. The Japanese often attacked stretcher bearers. Bender tried to find Tyler after the war and sent several letters, but never found him. He has attended several 1st Marine Division reunions. He was eventually reunited with Bucky Pearson [Annotator's Note: one of his squad leaders on Okinawa; phonetic spelling; unable to identify] and Laden.

Harry Bender [Annotator's Note: an assistant BARman, or Browning Automatic Rifleman, with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division; wounded by shrapnel during the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg; 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan] was evacuated to Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] to recuperate, then transferred to Oak Knoll Naval Hospital [Annotator's Note: in Oakland, California] and then to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California]. He then spent five months in Great Lakes [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Great Lakes in Lake County, Illinois] and was discharged in June [Annotator's Note: June 1946] as he had enough points [Annotator's Note: a point system was devised based on a number of factors that determined when American servicemen serving overseas could return home]. The Marines on Okinawa did not like tank duty because they were exposed, and the tanks drew a lot of artillery fire. The first thing that comes to mind when he remembers Okinawa is seeing two young, wounded Okinawan girls. He nearly threw up when he saw them. You cannot get closer to another person than someone you lived in a foxhole and went through combat with. Laden [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Private First Class William "Bill" Laden; a rifleman in Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division] was close with Sledge [Annotator’s Note: US Marine Corps Corporal Eugene Bondurant “E.B.” or "Sledgehammer" Sledge; author of With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa]. On Pavuvu [Annotator's Note: Pavuvu Island, Russell Islands, Solomon Islands], there was a Marine who cracked up and began stabbing men at night. He was known as the "Ghoul" and was caught.

Harry Bender was discharged from the Marine Corps in June 1946. His friend, William "Bill" Laden [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Private First Class William "Bill" Laden; a rifleman in Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division], does not attend reunions, but Bender does. Bender still remembers the smell of death on Okinawa. He has never discussed Okinawa with his wife or daughter. Once on Okinawa he sat down on something lumpy, and when he stood up to see what he was sitting on, it was a dead Japanese soldier full of maggots.