This Marine’s furious fight on Tarawa helped to seal the battle’s fate

After the U.S. Marine raid on Makin Island on Aug. 17-18, 1942, Japanese garrisons in the Gilbert and Marshall islands got to serious work reinforcing their commands.

These took different natures, with differing effectiveness. In the case of Tarawa Atoll in the Gilberts, the defenses focused on some 500 positions, combining solid concrete, resilient coconut logs and the sand that made up the island. Central to the defenses was a mammoth bunker capable of accommodating 150 troops and an airfield in the middle of Betio, the largest island in the Tarawa group.

When he arrived on July 20, 1943, to take command of some 5,000 men of the Special Naval Landing Force, Rear Adm. Keiji Shibazaki had boasted that it would take a million men and 100 years to take the island. The Marines took it in thre