News
Remembering Bottineau veteran at Makin
Scott Wagar
11/26/2013
November marks the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Makin in the Pacific Theater of World War II where U.S. troops and Naval personnel won an important battle against the Japanese and brought the war in the Pacific closer to an end. For one man from Bottineau, he would play an important role in the battle and earn the Purple Heart for his actions during the battle.
Melfred Jensen was a member of the Twelfth Armored Division and took part in an operation that called for U.S. servicemen to conduct what the military called “island hopping” toward the Japanese’s home island to bring WWII to a close.
The plan called for a joint operation between the U.S. Army and Navy to take one island after the next, set up navel and air bases in groups of islands and then attack and capture the next island. The Gilbert Islands, which included the Makin Atoll, was the first step in this long chain of islands.
Jensen was born on Jan. 26, 1921, in Whitteron Township in the Turtle Mountains on his family’s farm. He attended the one-room Jelleberg School in the Turtle Mountains and entered the Army in November of 1942 at the age of 21.
As a member of the Twelfth Armored Division, Jensen was an assistant driver of a tank and was assigned to the Pacific Theater at Pearl Harbor.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese military began taking islands throughout the Pacific, which include the Gilbert Islands three day after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
When the U.S. decided to take the Makin Atoll, Japan had 400 soldiers on the atoll along with 400 Japanese and Korean laborers.
The Battle of Makin started on Nov. 20, 1943, and lasted four days in favor of the U.S. The battle was intense and saw numerous casualties for the U.S., especially for the Navy and those soldiers who fought the battle from within tanks.
Prior to the battle, the Japanese had prepared the battle ground with machine gun positions, rifle pits and anti-tank guns in concrete pillboxes.
Jensen and the men he would fight with, left Pearle Harbor Nov. 10 and enter the Makin Atoll on Nov. 20 when the first wave of U.S. soldiers went ashore, which included Jensen and the tank division he was part of during the war.
For Jensen, the battle started out well for him, but soon turned bad for the young soldier from North Dakota.
“The Japs were firing machine guns over our heads all the time we were coming in to land. They must have been firing at landing barges behind us. We wiped out one of the machine gun nest after we hit the beach and got two snipers with our machine guns,” said Jensen who was published in numerous daily newspapers after the battle and which was picked up and published by the Bottineau Courant.
“We went about 75 yards into the brush we were stopped by heat caused by someone burning oil drums ahead. Then the Japs got our range. One shell knocked out the tank. Another hit close.
“All I saw was a big flash of fire. I leaped right out of the tank. I felt paralyzed by the concussion, but, I regained my feelings as soon as my feet hit the ground,” Jensen added. “One of our men was blown out of the tank, and was wrapped around a coconut tree. I thought he was killed, but he only got a couple of shrapnel wounds in his feet.”
Wounded, Jensen was hospitalized where his family learned of his outcome through a telegram sent to his parents, Elmer and Minnie Jensen.
“Regret to inform you that your son, Pvt. Melfred E. Jensen, was on the 20th November seriously wounded in action in Makin, Gilbert Islands,” stated the telegram to the Jensens. “Report further states making normal improvements. You will be advised as reports of condition are received.”
Shortly after receiving the telegraph about their son being wounded in battle, another package came to Jensen’s parents from the U.S. military which contained their son’s Purple Heart for being wounded in action.
Jensen would recover from his wounds and return to his division where he served out the war until he was honorably discharged from the service in December of 1945.
Jensen returned to North Dakota and became a farmer and served as a township supervisor for three years. He married Deloras Hahn of Roland Township in the Turtle Mountains in November of 1953 and had one son, Keith.
Jensen passed away in April of 1983.
In the Battle of Makin, 395 Japanese were killed during the battle, while American ground casualties were 66 killed and 152 wounded.
The U.S. Navy saw bigger casualties with 697 deaths, the majority of them coming from the Liscome Bays aircraft bomb stockpile which was taken out by a Japanese submarine and killing 644 U.S. sailors. Total deaths to U.S. troops equaled 763 Americans.
The battle was filled with extreme fighting and heavy casualties which assisted in bringing the war to an end. For Jensen, he spent the remainder of his life carrying the wounds he received in the battle that November day, but did so with the honor of knowing he assisted his country from the tyranny of the Japanese government.