The following is the company muster roll and rough breakdown for Able as they landed on Saipan, June 15, 1944. This is the F-series Table of Organization; each rifle platoon consists of three thirteen-man squads (a sergeant leading four fire teams, consisting of a corporal, BAR gunner, gunner's assistant, and rifleman) with a seven man headquarters. The Weapons platoon has been eliminated and the mortars attached to company headquarters. The Machine Gun platoon is composed of the original gunners of the company, and First Platoon of D Company's gunners.
Each rifle platoon had a headquarters section composed of a Lieutenant (commanding), Platoon Sergeant, Platoon Guide (sergeant), Demolitions Corporal, and three Messengers. The muster rolls do not distinguish between platoon assignments, nor do they distinguish the difference between a sergeant rated as a squad leader or the platoon guides.
Note that this is an approximation of the company's roster, based on battalion muster rolls for June and July, 1944.
Landing Strength: 233
Killed: 23
Wounded: 106
Sick (not returned): 7
Missing: 0
Total Casualties: 135
Not Present: 2
Casualty Rate: 58%
COMPANY HQ1
Commander: Captain Irving Schechter
Executive Officer: First Lieutenant Harry D. Reynolds
First Sergeant: Gunnery Sergeant Walter B. Rusell
Company Sergeant: Gunnery Sergeant Thomas E. Drake
Technical Sergeant: Arnold R. Richardson
Mess Sergeant: Staff Sergeant Michael J. Graziadei
Demolitions Sergeant:
Decontamination Sergeant:
Armorer: Corporal Lester C. Kincaid
Carpenter:
Signal: Corporal Edgar W. Collins
Clerk: Corporal William J. Davis; PFC Richard J. Brodnicki
Barber:
Cobbler: PFC Sylvan McKinley
Driver: Corporal Virgil E. Cawood
Messengers (2):
Field Cook: Chief Cook Henry J. Hufnagle
Assistant Cooks (4): John M. Yonkers
Field Musics First Class (2): Harold J. Fritz, Lester S. Spangler
Duty Section (11): Sergeant Peter Markovich; Corporals Joseph H. Leitch, George F. Svoboda; PFCs Roy G. Alford (sk), Joseph Chifos, George L. Hall, Jeff E. Jowers, James E. McAdams, Henry Purdy, Willard Roberts; Private Raymond VanDam
MORTAR SECTION2
Section Commander: First Lieutenant Philip E. Wood Jr
Section Sergeant: Arthur B. Ervin
Squad Leaders (3): Corporals Claude T. Henderson Jr, Wilbur E. Plitt; PFC Howard F. Haff
Gunners / Assistants (6): PFCs John J. Franey, Frank B. Gosiewski, Edward J. Hackett, Leo G. Ksiekievicz, Bartholomew R. J. Wanagaitis
Ammunition Carriers (9): PFCs Ronald P. Bartels, John J. Czepiel, William B. Imm, Tom L. Johnson, Dale L. Owings, Ronald R. Palmer, Donald E. Peters, Joe W. Roff, Kenneth J. Shea
THREE RIFLE PLATOONS3
Platoon Leaders (3): First Lieutenants Joseph Stevens, David E. Smith, Roy I. Wood Jr.
Platoon Sergeants (3): Parker S. McBride, Stephen J. Vinczi Jr
Platoon Guides (3): PFC Alva Perry
Demolition (3): Corporals Thomas F. McCay, Robert L. Williams
Messengers (9): PFCs Jesse G. Acklam, Richard H. Dues, William V. Ellerd, Robert F. Fleischauer, James W. Jackson, William P. Loutzenhiser, Paul R. Scanlon, Robert E. Tierney, Robert N. Wise
Squad Leaders (9): Sergeants Warren J. Buchanan, Dallas M. Colburn, William W. Comer Jr, Michael A. Frihauf, Randall L. Glawe, George M. Lowry, Leo C. Mann, Jack T. Sayers, Carl F. Schott, Maynard S. Worthington
Fire Team Leaders (27): Corporals Lee R. Anderson Jr, James J. Chvatal Jr, Ernest M. Cubero, Henry F. Denson Jr, Albert B. Duryea, Paul T. Geckle, Kenneth R. Gray, Oscar T. Hanson, Edward J. Horan, William P. Linkins, Byron H. Marsh, William J. Quinn, Vernon D. Rigdon, Leon H. Roquet Jr, Howard E. Smith, Edward L. Stewart, Fred E. Thomas, Eugene R. Walsh, Joseph H. Wendte, Carl J. Willenborg; PFCs Harold E. Carter, Fred Davis Jr, James L. DeNicola, Donald R. Hart, Verner A. Lilja, Laurent R. Palardy
Automatic Riflemen (27): PFCs John C. Adelmann, Lionel V. Bolduc, Winston M. Cabe, Robert L. Conway, John M. Corcoran, James E. Davis, DeWitt L. Dietrich, John M. Donnelly, Douglas B. Footit, Leonard J. Forthaus, Sperling G. Garrett, Armand L. Guyot, Robert N. Harris, Cecil F. Hendershot, Frederick C. Iverson, Ernest M. Jeffrey, Lawrence E. Knight, Davis V. Kruse, Robert S. Larson, Andrew Loban, Joe P. Locke, Tommy Lynchard, George C. Marion, John L. Manson, Glen Marshall, Robert W. Mason, Virgil M. McNutt, Gerald D. Miller, Herschell O. Miller, Eugene L. Morris, Vern J. Neeson, William J. Olson, Gustave A. Pappas, Robert D. Price, William J. Rewerts, Blaine Riley, Edward J. Solak, Peteus Staeyert, James A. Stokes, Odis O. Taylor, Roger W. Trimble, Kenneth Whitehurst
Assistant Automatic Riflemen (27):4
Riflemen (27): PFCs James H. Adams, Kenneth L. Boylan, George D. Burch, Bernard C. Elissagaray, Burnett P. Fenger, Charles M. Fischer, James W. Freeman, Frank R. Hester, Wallace M. Holt, Junior E. Jones, Clyde F. Mason Jr, Hubert D. Mauney, Herbert J. Mauritz, Richard C. McGinnis, George W. Pelish, John J. Rayley, John A. Ruiz, Lionel P. Salazar, Robert W. Vail Jr, Philip Valley Jr, Howard S. Voeltz, Robert M. Walter, Kenneth S. Wilson, Robert P. Wynne, Clyde O. Yates, Leonard Yush; Privates Earl R. Crom, James C. Fields, Claude L. Godwin Jr, Wilford M. Goode, Edwin H. Groote, Walker Hamilton, Johnny B. Haynes, Ernest T. Henderson, Lawrence F. Pantlin, Joseph D. Sexson, Robert D. Sivertson, Harold A. Stephens, Cecil R. Tolley
MACHINE GUN PLATOON5
Platoon Commander: First Lieutenant Thomas W. Cox
Section Sergeant: Platoon Sergeant John Yaniga
Ammunition: Corporal Luther H. Diehl
Messengers (2): PFCs William A. Peck, James H. Pritchett, Aldo Passante
Section Leaders (3): Sergeants John W. Donahue Jr, Armond D. Leisure, Frank A. Tucker
Squad Leaders (6): Corporals Thomas M. Hurley, Anthony A. Pramberger, Norman H. Reber, Clifford J. Devoy; PFCs Edward W. DuBeck, Gerald F. Patterson
Gunners / Assistants (12): PFCs David W. Brunjes, Peter Colombo, John A. Cuthbertson, Richard T. Grosch, Joseph M. Peterpaul, Luca A. Durante, Prentis M. Parsons, Peter Pecori, Hamilton T. Pendergast, Dominick Piccolomini, George A. Smith, David W. Spohn
Ammunition Carriers (18): PFCs Jack C. Comer, Glenn E. Doster, Theodore Droszcz, Wallace W. Duncan, Merle L. Geesaman, Amedeo A. Izzo, Lawrence J. Jaster, Raymond J. Jordan, Howard M. Kerr, James A. Lemma, Louis O. Pendleton, William R. Pettyjohn, William F. Savoy, Alan M. Smith, Vernon E. Smith, Charles L. Stafford, Keith W. Thomas, Henry N. Woods
Unknown Assignment
Sergeant Kenneth S. Gann (800)
Sergeant Kermit Shaw (Section Leader)
Corporal John R. Svoboda (Squad Leader)
1Company HQ is close to full strength, except for the lack of designated cooks that seems to have been endemic to 1/24.
2The mortar section is missing one man; they escaped relatively unharmed, with the exception of Lieutenant Wood's patrol on July 5, 1944 which killed Wood and his second in command, Arthur Ervin. Gunny Walter Russell took command but was wounded and evacuated the following day. Command may have passed to Corporal Wilbur Plitt as the senior NCO.
3The rifle platoons are near full strength. The battle of Saipan was hard on officers; of the wounded rifle platoon leaders, only Roy Wood returned to combat.
One of the extra sergeants – probably Leo Mann or Dallas Colburn – may have filled the vacant Platoon Sergeant spot.
4Assistant BAR gunners were armed with rifles but trained equally in the use and maintenance of a BAR; they also often carried extra ammo for the BAR. It is difficult to say who among the riflemen and BAR gunners were acting as assistants, so this classification has been left blank. Nearly one quarter of a platoon's strength (one per four-man fire team) acted as assistant BAR gunners.
5A new addition to the rifle company under the F-series T/O was the machine gun platoon, created by adding one platoon from the disbanded Weapons company to the gunners from the company's weapons platoon. The platoon was composed of three sections, each containing two squads with a leader, gunner, assistant gunner, and three ammunition carriers. By July 1944 the squads were increased to eight men; Able Company is operating here with squads of six. Positions within the squads could be fluid (PFC Stafford was serving as an assistant to PFC George Smith when both were wounded on Saipan), and every man in the squad knew the duties of the other as well as the proper care and maintenance of the gun. Lieutenant Cox is the most likely candidate for leader of the new platoon as he was wounded on the same day as many of the gunners, likely in the same incident. Corporal Pramberger's squad (Durante, Piccolomini, Jaster, Savoy, Alan Smith) were wiped out to a man on June 16, greatly reducing the platoon's effectiveness; the loss of Cox, Yaniga, Reber, Devoy, Jordan, Patterson, Parsons, George Smith, and Stafford on June 22 was the greatest number of casualties the platoon suffered on a single day during the war.