Husband of BOP Worker Keeps 'Em Shooting in Pacific(By Sgt. Loedel Coleman, Marine Corps Combat Correspondent) In the Pacific (Delayed), -A twin-20 millimeter gun jammed while firing at a target at Agana Cemetary on Guam on the afternoon of July 25. "Hey Smitty," yelled the gun captain. "Smitty" came on the double and soon the 20 was chattering away at the Japs again. Marine Seargent Ellis U. Smith, ordinance seargent, was assigned to a gun section on Chonito Cliff soon after the assault on Guam, July 21. "It's my job to keep those guns firing," said Sargeant Smith. "Ordinarily the boys can fix their own gun, but sometimes it's something serious, and that's when I can help." The Marine landed on Guam riding a bulldozer. "We were pulling the first 30 millimeter gun to set up on the beach between Aksan and Adelup Points," he said, "We came rumbling accross the reef under a shower of Jap mortar fire, and 20 minutes after we climbed up on the beach we had that gun ready to fire. The gun crewmen in Sgt. Smith's section say that he cares for their guns like a country doctor waiting on his patients. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in January, 1942, and went overseas February, 26, 1943. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Smith, live in Pueblo, Colo.; and wife Mrs Edna Smith of BOP's Load Line 2, lives in Waco. |