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SSgt Levi Deniston
to remember
Marine PFC David Roads.
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Contact Info
Last Address Hong Kong, China
Date of Passing May 22, 2008
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Upon his discharge on 1 May 1946 at Marine Corps Base, San Diego, CA, David Roads returned to Denver, CO where he attended the University of Denver, graduating with a BA in Journalism. He was a Foreign Correspondent for the New York Herald Tribune and Far East editor of Encyclopedia Britannica. He was a member of the Sixth Marine Division Association, Veteran of Foreign Wars, and Past President and Founder of the Foreign Correspondent?s Club of Hong Kong, as well as editor and publisher of the first American business magazine in Hong Kong, Modern Asia, moderator of the television show, Meet the Press and CBS television news commentator. His stories and television reports have appeared on TV, magazine and newspapers worldwide. He had resided in Hong Kong for over 50 years and is survived by his wife, the former Philippine Beauty Queen and actress Pacita Francisco, whom he shared a life in marriage for over 46 years.
Other Comments:
I met Mr. Roads while stationed at the US Embassy in Hong Kong, China. He was an inspiring individual whose Espirit De Corps affected us all for the better. He was the true definition of a US Marine.
Western Pacific Campaign (1944-45)/Ulithi Atoll
From Month/Year
September / 1944
To Month/Year
September / 1944
Description Ulithi Atoll, also known as the Mackenzie Islands, is a coral atoll in the Yap Islands, the western part of the Carolines. There are some 40 islets with a total land area of 1.75 square miles (4.5 square km). It is located about 190 km east of Yap. The atoll’s inhabitants are probably of mixed Polynesian and Micronesian origins and speak Ulithian, an Austronesian language. It is one of the greatest natural harbors in the world. Ulithi appears to have been first sighted by Portuguese navigators (1526). No other record exists until Spanish Jesuit missionaries led by Juan Antonio Cantova landed (1731). Along with rest of the Carolines, the Germans purchased it from the Spanish and Japan seized it during World War I.
After the War, the League of Nations awarded a mandate to the Japanese. The Japanese made little use of Ulithi, but did site a seaplane base there. They had a radio and weather station on Ulithi and the Imperial Navy had occasionally used the lagoon as an anchorage. The United States used it very differently. The Pacific Fleet at first avoided landinfs in The Carolines. What they wanted was the Marianas to the north wherevair bases could be used to bomb the Japanese Home Islands. Japanese garrisons in the Carlines, luke Truk, were neutralized rather than invaded, avoiding costly landings. As the Americans moved west toward the Philippines, it became obvious that a forward supply base was needed. Naval planners bgan assessing Ulithi. The Japanese who has established garison all over the Central Pacific, somehow failed to perceive the vast strategic importance of Ulithi. The atoll with its magnificent harbor was precisely what the pacific Fleet needed for its operations in the Western Pacific. The decisive Japanese defeat in the Battle of the Philippines Sea meant that the Pacific Fleet faced no naval opposition (June 1944).
The Japanese withdrew to bases west of the Philippines and the Home Islands and began to plan a naval battle to resist the anticipated American invasion of the Philippines. More surprising, the Japanese did not garrison Ulithi Atoll. A regiment of the US Army's 81st Division landed unopposed (September 23, 1944). A regiment of the US Army's 81st Division landed unopposed (September 23, 1944). They simply walked ashore and took possession of the Atoll. It was a gift of unimaginable value, a strategic prize that would play an important role in the final phase of the Pacific War. Tragically, the Americans and Japanese in the same month would fight an extended pitched battle for Pelilu in the Palaus, another chain in the Carolines of virtually no value. A battalion of Seabees followed. While a magificent natural harbor, it was totally undeveloped. The survey ship USS Sumner) assessed the lagoon and concluded it was capable of accomodating an stonishing 700 vessels. This was more than Pearl Harbor and then Majuro after the seizure of the Marshalls could handle.
The Pacific Fleet rapidly turned it into the major supply base for major operations in the last year of the War (the Philippines and Okinawa). This was done with little publicity, but the Japanese eventually found out what they had conceded to the Americans without a fight. Japanese midget submarines attacked in the harbor, but despite their success had no real impact on the supply operations there. After the War, Ulithi was used as a military radio outpost.
