A Boy in a Man’s War

By Jack Emery

Othel Vernon Emery

March 22, 1925 – October 18, 1989

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High school yearbook photo from 1943, Othel is on the far right.

During World War Two, many young men found themselves going straight from high school to war. These seventeen and eighteen year olds were exposed to some of the war’s most ferocious fighting before they could even legally buy a drink back home in the States. Othel Emery was one of these young American men; after graduating high school he joined the Marine Corps and was sent thousands of miles from home to fight on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Despite the ferocious fighting, Othel survived the war and by all accounts went on to live a successful life afterwards.

Othel Vernon Emery was born on March 22, 1925 in Fort Scott, Kansas to Lafayette and Minnie Emery.[1] Othel was the youngest of three children, with one older sister, Eunice, and one older brother, Lewis.[2] The three children lived with their parents and their grandfather, March Tallmon.[3] His father, Lafayette, was a farmer, while his mother, Minnie, was a homemaker.[4] All three of the Emery children attended school aside from helping out with chores on the farm. Othel attended Fort Scott High School up until 1943.[5]

         Just six months after turning eighteen years old, Othel registered for the draft and entered the U.S. Marine Corps.[6] Othel was sent to Camp Pendleton in San Diego for basic training; during which, he served in the 11th Recruit Battalion.[7] After completing basic training, Othel was selected for field telephone training in January of 1944.[8] Once he completed field telephone training, Othel was again transferred to the Field Signal Battalion stationed at Camp Pendleton.[9] This extensive training would prepare Othel for his final assignment in the 6th Joint Assault Signal Company, or JASCO, which was attached to the newly formed 6th Marine Division in early 1945.[10] The 6th Marine Division was a hodgepodge of former Marine Raider regiments, veterans from earlier battles in the Pacific, and young recruits like Othel.[11] The 6th Marine Division was considered by both the U.S. and their Japanese counterparts to be an elite unit of hand-picked Marines that would be key in the final battles of the Pacific.[12]  Joint assault signal companies were relatively experimental units during the Second World War; their purpose was to direct air support and naval fire onto enemy forces.[13] What set JASCOs apart from traditional air support coordinators was the fact that they were stationed on the front lines with the fighting units.[14] This meant that members of the 6th JASCO, like Othel, were expected to fight alongside their fellow riflemen as well as call in artillery and air support. For the majority of Othel’s training, he was a young adult; it was not until just days before he first saw combat that he would turn twenty years old.

In early 1945, Othel and the rest of the 6th JASCO joined up with the 6th Marine Division in preparation for the invasion of Okinawa, an island just south of the Japanese home islands. Othel and the 6th JASCO landed with the 6th Marine Division on the western shore of Okinawa. After the initial landing, the 6th Marine Division pushed to the north of the island and captured it after facing relatively light resistance.[15] During the fighting on the northern part of the island, Othel was likely assisting with calling in close air support from Navy and Marine planes. Once northern Okinawa was captured, the 6th Marine Division pushed south to support the Army and Marines trying to take a system of fortified hills from staunch Japanese defenders.

The fighting in the south was much more ferocious and the 6th Marine Division was tasked with taking a ridge known as Sugar Loaf Hill.[16] Sugar Loaf Hill saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the whole Okinawa campaign, so Othel and the rest of the 6th Joint Assault Signal Company were likely constantly calling aerial and naval bombardments on Sugar Loaf Hill in order to keep the enemy at bay. A fellow Marine in Othel’s division, Lawrence Busha, described the fighting on Sugar Loaf with a chilling story: “by the end [of the battle] there was no one [in my platoon] that I started with.”[17] Busha also recounted how the battle for Sugar Loaf Hill played out—after airstrikes would soften up the Japanese fortifications, Marines would move in to clear out the remaining hostile soldiers. The Marines would use a combination of flamethrowers and TNT charges to clear out enemy bunkers dug into the hill.[18] After clearing the enemy positions, Marines like the now 20-year-old Othel and Lawrence would hold the line, frequently getting pushed back off the hill by Japanese Banzai attacks at night.[19] These Japanese counteroffensives were just as bloody as the Marine assaults, with fighting often devolving into hand-to-hand combat.

After Sugar Loaf Hill was finally taken, the fighting on Okinawa continued until the second of July.[20] Othel and the rest of the 6th Marine Division were moved to Guam to prepare for the invasion of the Japanese home islands that would never come.[21] When the war ended in August of 1945, Othel and his fellow marines were again transferred, this time to Tsing Toa, China where they remained until January 1946.[22] Upon returning to San Diego in late January of 1946, Othel was transferred to the 2nd Casual Company, guard battalion and was discharged from the Marine Corps, three months before his twenty-first birthday.[23] The average age of a U.S. serviceman in World War Two was twenty-six years old, so Othel was a boy among men.[24] Despite his young age, Othel answered the call and joined the Marines and went on to serve in one of the bloodiest battles in the history of America’s armed forces.

After the war, Othel remained in California, where he met his wife Beth. The couple had two children, one son and one daughter.[25] Othel worked in the printing business, an industry he would remain in for 42 years, after his enlistment was up in the Marine Corps.[26] Othel Emery passed away on October 18, 1989, at the age of 64 years old.[27] Othel was not laid to rest at Fort Logan National Cemetery until 2017 when his widow, Beth Emery, passed.[28]

Footnotes ↓

[1] “1930 United States Federal Census for Othel Emery,” entry for Othel V Emery, database, accessed April 10, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] “Othel V Emery (1925-1989) – Find A Grave,” n.d., accessed April 8, 2021, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/183428218/othel-v-emery.

[6] “U.S., World War II Draft Cards for young men, 1940-1947 for Othel Emery,” database, accessed April 10, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[7] “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958, Oct 1943,” entry for Othel V Emery, database, accessed April 11, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[8] “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958, Jan 1944,” entry for Othel V Emery, database, accessed April 11, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[9] Ibid.

[10] “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958, Jan 1945,” entry for Othel V Emery, database, accessed April 11, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[11] Joe Singleton, “Formation of the Division,” Sixth Marine Division, Sixth Marine Division Association, Inc., accessed April 21, 2021, https://www.sixthmarinedivision.com/16Formation.html.

[12] Ibid.

[13] “Okinawa: Victory in the Pacific – Chapter 11 Campaign Summary,” n.d., accessed April 12, 2021, https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Okinawa/USMC-M-Okinawa-11.html.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Ibid.

[16] Ibid.

[17] CCSU Veterans History Project, “Interview with Lawrence A. “Mike” Busha, WWII Veteran. CCSU Veterans History Project,” Youtube Video, 1:39:03, December 23, 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ETTqT9IUQ.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Okinawa: Victory in the Pacific – Chapter 11 Campaign Summary,” n.d., accessed April 12, 2021, https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Okinawa/USMC-M-Okinawa-11.html.

[21] “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958, Jul 1945,” entry for Othel V Emery, database, accessed April 11, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[22] “U.S., Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1958, Jan 1946,” entry for Othel V Emery, database, accessed April 11, 2021, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.

[23] Ibid.

[24] “Myths and Facts,” US Wings, US Wings Inc., accessed April 22, 2021, https://www.uswings.com/about-us-wings/vietnam-war-facts/.

[25] “Othel Vernon Emery Obituary,” Santa Maria Times, October 20, 1989.

[26] Ibid.

[27] Ibid.

[28] Othel V Emery (1925-1989) – Find A Grave,” n.d., accessed April 8, 2021, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/183428218/othel-v-emery.

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