Oklahoma City man had a front seat to WWII in the Pacific
BY DAVID ZIZZO
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Published: November 11, 2009
The rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air. Cameron Funk would never forget those nights.
Cameron Funk holds his Bronze Star and other citations he received in World War II. PHOTO BY JOHN CLANTON, THE OKLAHOMAN
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Veterans Day
Fighting in World War I, known at the time as "The Great War,” ceased on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. That same month, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 "Armistice Day,” a date to commemorate service in that war and calling for peace. It would later become a legal holiday. In 1954, the name was changed to Veterans Day to honor service in all wars.
Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
ONLINE
For details of naval battles in the Pacific in World War II, go to www.combinedfleet.com/battles/.
Today
→10 a.m.: annual Veterans Day ceremony at the 45th Infantry Division Museum, 2145 NE 36.
→10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: free admission for all veterans to The Oklahoma History Center, 2401 N Laird Ave.
→10:30 a.m.: Veterans memorial dedication, Highway 64 and Casey’s Trail in Morrison.
→12:30 to 2 p.m.: Greg Slavonic, a retired Navy rear admiral,will speak during a luncheon in the Rose State College Student Center Dining Room, 6420 SE 15. Admission is free.
→11 a.m.: Pendleton Woods, a former World War II prisoner of war will be honored during a service at Oklahoma Christian University’s chapel, 2501 E Memorial Road.
→9 a.m. to 5 p.m.: The Oklahoma City Zoo, 2101 NE 50, is offering free admission to veterans. Military identification is required.
Saturday
→10:30 a.m.: A proclamation honoring Korean Conflict veterans and a dedication ceremony for all veterans at the Purcell Veterans Memorial at Third and Main streets.
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It was the summer of 1942 and Funk was hunkered down on a tiny island in the Pacific. Across the bay lay
Guadalcanal, one of many islands in the area that would become pivotal as the fate of the Western world was being decided. Just offshore in all directions, Allied and Imperial Japanese forces clashed. And the young Marine from
Kansas witnessed it all alongside his buddies.
"That’s where all those major sea battles happened,” recalled Funk, 87, now a retired oil company owner who lives in
Oklahoma City with his wife of 60 years, Arlee. "We saw all of those. They were quite a sight. A ship would blow up, and it would light up the whole area.”
By day, Funk would serve as a forward observer, directing fire from his unit’s artillery. From his position on shore, he could see shells from the battling ships arc across the sky. "You could see them floating through the air. It looks fairly slow.”
In one nighttime battle, Japanese ships managed to get into the middle of the Allied fleet before switching on searchlights and engaging, he said. "They were shooting point blank.”
Three weeks after the Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor, Funk, 18, the only son of a farm couple in the tiny town of Spivey, Kan., enlisted in the
Marines. "I really didn’t know what they did,” he said.
After training in
Kansas City and
San Diego, Funk was on his way to war in the Pacific. He had heard exaggerated tales that "the Japs could move around at night without making a sound,” he said. "You didn’t really know what to expect.”
Before his tour ended Dec. 31, 1945, Funk and his "Forgotten Battalion,” as they came to call themselves, would make an Allied record six ship-to-shore landings on islands held or coveted by the enemy, including bloody invasions on
Saipan and
Iwo Jima. Units were supposed to be rotated home after five landings, he said, but commanders had inadvertently kept Funk’s 3rd Battalion in the fray, later consolidating them with the 2nd 155 Howitzer Battalion.
Artillery units like Funk’s would move in a half day after the first landing parties, setting up mobile "75 pack howitzers” or, later, heavier 155 howitzers. As an observer, Funk had a front seat on the mayhem and carnage that was the war in the Pacific. On Iwo Jima, he had a clear view of much of the island, including the historic hoisting of the American flag on top of
Mount Suribachi. Unaware that the famous raising actually took place twice, Funk remembers "you could just see a flag up there.”
Troops didn’t cheer at the sight, he said, "but it’s a real boost to your morale to have something up there. It looked like there was no way anybody could get up there.”
Once on the island of Tulagi, two heavy cruisers limped into port, their bows below the waterline because of damage from torpedo strikes. Funk boarded one of the ships. "It was just like going to a morgue.”
Another bitter fight raged on Saipan, where cornered Japanese troops would rush, generals included, toward Allied positions in desperation, trying to overwhelm them. "Everyone would just march right into the fire, and you’d just kind of down them as fast as you could go. They just kept coming and coming and coming. You just had to kill them all.”
In one notorious incident on Guadalcanal, Japanese troops north of Funk’s position sent word they wanted to surrender. A party of Allied soldiers, including medical staff, went to pick them up, but were ambushed when they got there, he said. "Only one got out alive,” he said. From that point, no Japanese prisoners were taken. "You just didn’t trust them.”
For his duty, Funk received a Bronze Star. Funk said his Marine experience stuck with him and prepared him well for civilian life. He’s just glad he was among those who survived to enjoy one.
"I’m no hero,” he said.
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