SSGT. Joseph Caminiti
U.S. Marines Corps. - Landing Vehicle Tracked Crew
3rd Marine Division - 3rd Amphibian Tractor Battalion
Guam and Iwo Jima -Korean War
’42-‘45 and ’50-‘51
U.S. Marines Corps. - Landing Vehicle Tracked Crew
3rd Marine Division - 3rd Amphibian Tractor Battalion
Guam and Iwo Jima -Korean War
’42-‘45 and ’50-‘51
Joe Caminiti was born on October 13,1924 in the coal mining town of Jobeth, West Virginia. Joe’s father immigrated to the United States from Italy and fought in World War I. He was later made a U.S. citizen when he was discharged from the military. Joe’s father returned to Italy, reunited with his wife and they both returned to Bristol, CT. After Joe’s oldest brother was born the three Caminiti’s moved to Jobeth, West Virginia where his father worked in the coal mines. Joe, and one brother and one sister were born in Jobeth. In 1930 the country was in the grips of Great Depression and the mines closed. The Caminiti’s moved back to the Italian enclave on Highland Court in Bristol, CT. Joe’s father managed to stay employed during the tough times of the Great Depression. “He worked as a laborer in just about every shop in Bristol”.
Joe remembers the city handing out bags of food and “giving out chits to buy food”. When he turned 17, he worked as a laborer to help the family with money. Joe and his buddies liked to keep busy and were always looking for some excitement. “We used to talk about jumpin’ a freight train and goin’ across the country to just get out and do somethin’”. Joe recalled jumping in a car with friends to head down to New York City to watch the midnight burlesque shows. “They had the Mill Hotel, and we stayed for 50 cents a night. It was nothin’ elaborate. In those days you could get on the subway for five cents”.
Joe was playing cards in his cellar with the kids in the neighborhood on December 7th, 1941when they heard the radio broadcast that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. Joe was attending Bristol High School but left school early to join the Marines. He enlisted so he could decide which branch of the military he would serve with. “I joined in October when I was 17 but they didn’t take me until the following month when I turned 18”.
Joe reported to the Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts for induction and then to Parris Island for 12 weeks of basic training. Joe developed bronchitis during basic and he was held out of training until he recovered. “All you had to do was keep your mouth shut and don’t say nothin’ and you get through it. That’s where you learned discipline”. Joe went to Individual Advanced Training (AIT) at Camp LeJeune. Joe learned to be a Rifleman. Every Marine is a Rifleman first. When infantry training was complete each Marine was given a Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). “I wanted to go to go airplane mechanic school, but they said it was full”. Instead, Joe attended Motor Transport School for three months.
Joe’s buddies were all shipping out overseas, but Joe hadn’t received his orders. Joe was eager to go and he spoke to the Colonel and requested to deploy ASAP. The Colonel arranged for Joe to ship out and in October of ’43 Joe traveled by train to Camp Elliot near San Diego, CA. In December Joe boarded a troop transport and spent the next 16 days on the water headed to New Caledonia, a group of islands in the South Pacific. The ship did not have an escort, and Joe recalled the ship zig zagging to avoid submarines.
Life on the ship was tolerable except the first day when Joe was seasick. “We ate twice a day. We did a little exercise”. Joe recalled going through a typhoon and coming down with bronchitis again. He was sent to the hospital in New Caledonia and was separated from his unit. When he recovered, he boarded the U.S.S. West Point, a converted cruise ship, and headed for Guadalcanal. The U.S. had taken control of Guadalcanal when Joe arrived. There he caught up with his unit and he was assigned to an amphibious tractor battalion. An amphibious tractor, also known as a Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT), was used to transport troops, ammunition or supplies. It was capable of floating which made it ideal for an amphibious assault landing. An LST would transport the amphibious tractors to the site of an assault. When assault was underway the LST would stop near the shore, drop its ramp and the amphibious tractor would drive off and maneuver through the water to the beach. Once on the beach it could then traverse the beach to where it was needed. The troops would disembark, and supplies and ammo would be unloaded. Then the crew would drive the tractor back into the water and maneuver back to the LST to pick up more troops or supplies.
Joe remembered landing on Emerald Island which had no resistance. The next target was Guam. “First, we had to go to the Marshall Islands. There was a staging area”. It was decided that additional bombing was necessary before the Marines could attempt to land on Guam. “We were on an LST for 66 days”. One of the guys in the tractor crew developed appendicitis and was sent to the hospital. When he recovered, he was assigned to a different tractor crew. “We were in the fourth wave (on Guam). I was in back of him. He hits a kettle mine. We couldn’t get him for three days because he was in the water, and we couldn’t get him until things settled down a little bit. That’s fate”.
“We had another kid…he jumped off the back of the tractor (on the beach) and he hit a 300-pound bomb converted to an aerial mine. The Japs didn’t have any more planes, so they took the bombs for the planes, and they dug them into the beach”.
The next island the U.S. needed to take was Iwo Jima. It is a 4+ mile by 2+ mile island in the South Pacific 750 miles from the coast of Japan. The Japanese had constructed two airfields and were working on a third. Their planes used these airfields to attack Saipan and harass American bombers returning from missions to bomb Japan. The Americans need the island as a staging area for fighter jets to escort American bombers on their missions to mainland Japan.
The Japanese military were well entrenched in blockhouses, pillboxes and other gun emplacements hidden in the mountain side along with a network of underground tunnels that enabled them to take cover from American bombardment. Despite heavy aerial and naval bombardment, the U.S. was able to take control of the island only after the Marines cleared the vast tunnel network and the numerous caves one by one. The fighting was up close and fierce with heavy casualties on both sides. At the end of the fourth day of fighting the U.S. Marines captured Mount Suribachi, and raised the American flag, which was forever immortalized by Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press photographer.
Joe recalls the landing at Iwo Jima. “We were in the 10th wave with the 5th Marine Division. They had 482 tractors that made the landing”. The tractors had to leave the troops at the water line because the beach was very congested. Joe’s tractor took on water and was very difficult to steer. They headed back from the beach toward the LST’s and with little maneuverability they ended up on the wrong LST. They were ordered to return to Iwo immediately and transport 75mm mortars to the men on the beach. “We were the only ones who went back a second time”. Their tractor stalled on the beach, but Joe removed the carburetor, put it back on and it started. Just as they arrived back at the LST they ran out of gas on its ramp. The ramp operators tilted the ramp up and Joe’s tractor rolled in. Joe and his tractor shuttled men and supplies to the island for three days but didn’t stay on the island until the third night. The island was made of volcanic ash. “Nothin’ would move on it… until they put steel mesh down” to build the roads. Joe recalled the Navy battleships offshore constantly shelling Japanese positions dug deep into the mountain. “Anybody tells you that they don’t get scared is full of bologna. The Japs had a big mortar…and it would sound like a freight train”.
On the island the men were assigned to various duty details such as picking up the dead, delivering ammunition or unloading the incoming tractors. “I’m pretty sure it was the third day, and we were on the air strip, and we saw the flag go up (on Mt. Sirabachi). We never thought it was going to be a historical thing. The first time you couldn’t really see it. They called for a bigger flag. I saw the bigger flag go up. We had a clear look at it”.
Joe recalled spending 30 days on Iwo Jima, from February 19th through March 25th. There was fighting for the entire time he was on the island. Then orders were received to leave all of the equipment on the island and return to Maui, Hawaii. Joe remained in Hawaii for three months. There they received all new equipment for the planned invasion of Japan. However, before they could deploy, the Japanese surrendered, and the war was finally over. Joe returned to the states on a battleship and made port in San Diego. He took a train to Maryland and then another train to Hartford. Joe was discharged with the rank of Sergeant.
When Joe arrived home, he was able to land a job right away at a local shoe store for $45 per week. His luck kept on improving and he was introduced to his sister’s friend, Germain La Fleur. Germain worked with Joe’s sister at Hayden’s, a small factory in Forestville, CT. as a foot press operator. Germain recalled, “I knew she had a brother that was in the Marines, and I said I’d like to meet him”. Joe’s sister said she could meet him that night. Germain recalled, “From that day one, we went out for eight months and we got married”. They were married at St. Ann’s Church and had their reception at Bagdolia Hall, a local Italian hall in Bristol. “The band cost $25 and the hall didn’t cost us much. It was simple but everyone had a good time. We did what we did, and it worked out good. I never dreamed that he would reach to be 100 years old. I’m 98”.
Joe left the shoe store to join another local company, New Departure, owned by General Motors. They made specialty ball bearings for the aircraft industry. Joe worked the second shift and held a variety of positions. “The best thing I ever did in my life. I did 23 years there”.
The couple bought a house on Willoughby Street in Bristol where they lived for 62 years and raised three children.
When the Korea War broke out Joe was married with one child. The Marines called Joe back into the service in 1950. He spent 13 months at Camp LeJeune in a training capacity and was discharged as a Staff Sergeant.
Joe retired from New Departure at 62 years of age. He and Germaine have two grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Joe recalled the sights and sounds of war. “You can’t really describe it unless you’re really there to see it…”.
Joe, thank you for taking Iwo Jima and all of the sacrifices you made to help save the world from true evil.
“We got through it. Everybody had a job to do. You pay attention and do your job, and you win the war”.
Joe remembers the city handing out bags of food and “giving out chits to buy food”. When he turned 17, he worked as a laborer to help the family with money. Joe and his buddies liked to keep busy and were always looking for some excitement. “We used to talk about jumpin’ a freight train and goin’ across the country to just get out and do somethin’”. Joe recalled jumping in a car with friends to head down to New York City to watch the midnight burlesque shows. “They had the Mill Hotel, and we stayed for 50 cents a night. It was nothin’ elaborate. In those days you could get on the subway for five cents”.
Joe was playing cards in his cellar with the kids in the neighborhood on December 7th, 1941when they heard the radio broadcast that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. Joe was attending Bristol High School but left school early to join the Marines. He enlisted so he could decide which branch of the military he would serve with. “I joined in October when I was 17 but they didn’t take me until the following month when I turned 18”.
Joe reported to the Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts for induction and then to Parris Island for 12 weeks of basic training. Joe developed bronchitis during basic and he was held out of training until he recovered. “All you had to do was keep your mouth shut and don’t say nothin’ and you get through it. That’s where you learned discipline”. Joe went to Individual Advanced Training (AIT) at Camp LeJeune. Joe learned to be a Rifleman. Every Marine is a Rifleman first. When infantry training was complete each Marine was given a Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). “I wanted to go to go airplane mechanic school, but they said it was full”. Instead, Joe attended Motor Transport School for three months.
Joe’s buddies were all shipping out overseas, but Joe hadn’t received his orders. Joe was eager to go and he spoke to the Colonel and requested to deploy ASAP. The Colonel arranged for Joe to ship out and in October of ’43 Joe traveled by train to Camp Elliot near San Diego, CA. In December Joe boarded a troop transport and spent the next 16 days on the water headed to New Caledonia, a group of islands in the South Pacific. The ship did not have an escort, and Joe recalled the ship zig zagging to avoid submarines.
Life on the ship was tolerable except the first day when Joe was seasick. “We ate twice a day. We did a little exercise”. Joe recalled going through a typhoon and coming down with bronchitis again. He was sent to the hospital in New Caledonia and was separated from his unit. When he recovered, he boarded the U.S.S. West Point, a converted cruise ship, and headed for Guadalcanal. The U.S. had taken control of Guadalcanal when Joe arrived. There he caught up with his unit and he was assigned to an amphibious tractor battalion. An amphibious tractor, also known as a Landing Vehicle Tracked (LVT), was used to transport troops, ammunition or supplies. It was capable of floating which made it ideal for an amphibious assault landing. An LST would transport the amphibious tractors to the site of an assault. When assault was underway the LST would stop near the shore, drop its ramp and the amphibious tractor would drive off and maneuver through the water to the beach. Once on the beach it could then traverse the beach to where it was needed. The troops would disembark, and supplies and ammo would be unloaded. Then the crew would drive the tractor back into the water and maneuver back to the LST to pick up more troops or supplies.
Joe remembered landing on Emerald Island which had no resistance. The next target was Guam. “First, we had to go to the Marshall Islands. There was a staging area”. It was decided that additional bombing was necessary before the Marines could attempt to land on Guam. “We were on an LST for 66 days”. One of the guys in the tractor crew developed appendicitis and was sent to the hospital. When he recovered, he was assigned to a different tractor crew. “We were in the fourth wave (on Guam). I was in back of him. He hits a kettle mine. We couldn’t get him for three days because he was in the water, and we couldn’t get him until things settled down a little bit. That’s fate”.
“We had another kid…he jumped off the back of the tractor (on the beach) and he hit a 300-pound bomb converted to an aerial mine. The Japs didn’t have any more planes, so they took the bombs for the planes, and they dug them into the beach”.
The next island the U.S. needed to take was Iwo Jima. It is a 4+ mile by 2+ mile island in the South Pacific 750 miles from the coast of Japan. The Japanese had constructed two airfields and were working on a third. Their planes used these airfields to attack Saipan and harass American bombers returning from missions to bomb Japan. The Americans need the island as a staging area for fighter jets to escort American bombers on their missions to mainland Japan.
The Japanese military were well entrenched in blockhouses, pillboxes and other gun emplacements hidden in the mountain side along with a network of underground tunnels that enabled them to take cover from American bombardment. Despite heavy aerial and naval bombardment, the U.S. was able to take control of the island only after the Marines cleared the vast tunnel network and the numerous caves one by one. The fighting was up close and fierce with heavy casualties on both sides. At the end of the fourth day of fighting the U.S. Marines captured Mount Suribachi, and raised the American flag, which was forever immortalized by Joe Rosenthal, an Associated Press photographer.
Joe recalls the landing at Iwo Jima. “We were in the 10th wave with the 5th Marine Division. They had 482 tractors that made the landing”. The tractors had to leave the troops at the water line because the beach was very congested. Joe’s tractor took on water and was very difficult to steer. They headed back from the beach toward the LST’s and with little maneuverability they ended up on the wrong LST. They were ordered to return to Iwo immediately and transport 75mm mortars to the men on the beach. “We were the only ones who went back a second time”. Their tractor stalled on the beach, but Joe removed the carburetor, put it back on and it started. Just as they arrived back at the LST they ran out of gas on its ramp. The ramp operators tilted the ramp up and Joe’s tractor rolled in. Joe and his tractor shuttled men and supplies to the island for three days but didn’t stay on the island until the third night. The island was made of volcanic ash. “Nothin’ would move on it… until they put steel mesh down” to build the roads. Joe recalled the Navy battleships offshore constantly shelling Japanese positions dug deep into the mountain. “Anybody tells you that they don’t get scared is full of bologna. The Japs had a big mortar…and it would sound like a freight train”.
On the island the men were assigned to various duty details such as picking up the dead, delivering ammunition or unloading the incoming tractors. “I’m pretty sure it was the third day, and we were on the air strip, and we saw the flag go up (on Mt. Sirabachi). We never thought it was going to be a historical thing. The first time you couldn’t really see it. They called for a bigger flag. I saw the bigger flag go up. We had a clear look at it”.
Joe recalled spending 30 days on Iwo Jima, from February 19th through March 25th. There was fighting for the entire time he was on the island. Then orders were received to leave all of the equipment on the island and return to Maui, Hawaii. Joe remained in Hawaii for three months. There they received all new equipment for the planned invasion of Japan. However, before they could deploy, the Japanese surrendered, and the war was finally over. Joe returned to the states on a battleship and made port in San Diego. He took a train to Maryland and then another train to Hartford. Joe was discharged with the rank of Sergeant.
When Joe arrived home, he was able to land a job right away at a local shoe store for $45 per week. His luck kept on improving and he was introduced to his sister’s friend, Germain La Fleur. Germain worked with Joe’s sister at Hayden’s, a small factory in Forestville, CT. as a foot press operator. Germain recalled, “I knew she had a brother that was in the Marines, and I said I’d like to meet him”. Joe’s sister said she could meet him that night. Germain recalled, “From that day one, we went out for eight months and we got married”. They were married at St. Ann’s Church and had their reception at Bagdolia Hall, a local Italian hall in Bristol. “The band cost $25 and the hall didn’t cost us much. It was simple but everyone had a good time. We did what we did, and it worked out good. I never dreamed that he would reach to be 100 years old. I’m 98”.
Joe left the shoe store to join another local company, New Departure, owned by General Motors. They made specialty ball bearings for the aircraft industry. Joe worked the second shift and held a variety of positions. “The best thing I ever did in my life. I did 23 years there”.
The couple bought a house on Willoughby Street in Bristol where they lived for 62 years and raised three children.
When the Korea War broke out Joe was married with one child. The Marines called Joe back into the service in 1950. He spent 13 months at Camp LeJeune in a training capacity and was discharged as a Staff Sergeant.
Joe retired from New Departure at 62 years of age. He and Germaine have two grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Joe recalled the sights and sounds of war. “You can’t really describe it unless you’re really there to see it…”.
Joe, thank you for taking Iwo Jima and all of the sacrifices you made to help save the world from true evil.
“We got through it. Everybody had a job to do. You pay attention and do your job, and you win the war”.