and withdrew with them to Yap. As Larry Tighe, American Broadcasting Company correspondent on Guam reported recently: "The Japs were convinced that none of the islands could support an airfield…in fact, they were sold on the idea that Ulithi was worthless…so we moved in without a struggle. This was the secret Pacific base you occasionally heard discussed."
On September 20 and 21, 1944, units of the 81st "Wildcat" division went ashore on Ulithi. The landing was unopposed; the Japs had fled.
Days later, small contingents of the amphibious fleet were dispatched east to the island of Fais, where the Japanese had maintained phosphate mines, and south by southwest to Ngulu, where a handful of Japs operated a radio station beside a relatively untouched primitive society. Ulithi, Fais, and Ngulu were the only islands in the Carolines captured by allied forces; all others, including mighty Truk, were by-passed.
Ulithi became known unofficially throughout the Pacific as Admiral Nimitz' "secret weapon." As Larry Tighe said, "The Seabees built an airfield right where the Japs said it was impossible…even if it does have a dog-leg at one end, and gives one the fidgets every time he takes off or lands on it…In the months of preparation for the Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations, Ulithi became the hub of almost all naval operations in the Pacific…"
The chagrined Japs realized their mistake, too late, and sent out nuisance bombers from Yap…two Kamikazi raiders damaged the aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Randolph; another mistook an island for a ship and found it unsinkable. Once a suicide sub broke through the submarine net and sank one tanker. After that, Ulithi was left to carry on its part in providing a mighty atoll where the fleet could replenish
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