Marine trades ear for life of Jap lieutenant
ABOARD A USCG ATTACK TRANSPORT AT OKINAWA (UP) – Coast Guard correspondent John Walker McCain Jr. told today a story of a Marine who traded his left ear for the life of a Jap lieutenant.
The Jap leaped into the Leatherneck’s foxhole one dark night on Okinawa and sank his teeth into the Marine’s ear. The Marine plunged his knife into the intruder’s belly. The Marine won the ensuing death struggle but in his dying throes the Jap tore off his ear.
Aboard a hospital ship, the Marine displayed two souvenirs of his experience, a Jap sword and a silver cigarette case. The latter bore the name and emblem of a British bombardier. The Japanese had probably taken it from a British flier in a previous Pacific engagement.