Description
Never seen anything quite like this before, a real time capsule…
This time capsule is in cased in a Japanese Aircraft Ammunition box, no doubt the items were lifted from the following three places he seen combat:
Metzger was with M company, 3rd battalion, 3rd Marines for Bougainville and Guam, The Agana Race Riot in Guam and then he was transferred to the 21st Marines in 1945 for Iwo Jima.
All events are well recorded and can be seen on the selection of video material taken from YouTube.
Some of the items were taken from: Yokosuka Naval Aviation unit
The then Private First Class Paul B Metzger sends his parents a Japanese Ammo Box, inside his throphies from his time in the following USMC units according to our research:
Name Paul B Metzger
Rank Private
Enlistment Date 17 Mar 1943
Muster Date Apr 1943
Station Fourth Recrupt Battalion Recruit Depot, Marine Barracks, Parris Island, S CName Paul B Metzger
Rank Private First Class
Muster Date Apr 1943
Station H and S Co, 23Rd Marines (Reinf) Fmf, Camp Lejeune, New River, N C
Paul B Metzger
Rank Private First Class
Muster Date Jul 1943
Station Headquarters and Service Co,23Rd Mar(Reinf),Fmf, Camp Pendleton,Oceanside,Calif
Name Paul B Metzger
Rank Private
Muster Date Oct 1943
Station Twenty First Replacement Battalion, Fmf, C/O Fleet P O San Francisco, Cali
fName Paul B Metzger
Rank Private First Class
Muster Date Jan 1944
Station Company “M”, Third Battalion, Third Marines, Third Marine Division
The 3rd Marine Division was officially activated on September 16, 1942 at Camp Elliott, San Diego, California.[2] Most of the original members of the division were drawn from the cadre staff of the 2nd Marine Division.[3] The division was initially built around the 9th Marine Regiment, commanded by Colonel Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr. who later became the 20th Commandant of the Marine Corps. Major General Charles D. Barrett was the first commanding general of the division.
The division deployed into Auckland, New Zealand, between January and March 1943. In June of that year, it moved onto Guadalcanal for additional training, stopping first at Efate, New Hebrides for rehearsals (16-20 October 1943) and Santo, New Hebrides (21-29 October 1943) for shipboard-staging. 1 November 1943 saw the division land as part of the Battle of Bougainville and fight on the island until their last unit to arrive, the 21st Marine Regiment, embarked on 9 January 1944. During the course of the battle the division had about 400 Marines killed.[4]
The division returned to Guadalcanal in January 1944 to rest, refit, and retrain. The next operation in which the division took part was the Battle of Guam. From 21 July 1944 until the last day of organized fighting on 10 August, the division fought through the jungles on the island of Guam. During these 21 days of fighting, the division captured over 60 square miles (160 km2) of territory and killed over 5,000 enemy soldiers.[5] The next two months saw continuous mopping up operations in which the Marines continued to engage leftover Japanese forces. At the end of the battle the division had sustained 677 Marines killed, 3,626 wounded, and nine missing.[6]
The division remained on the island of Guam for training, until it embarked as part of the landing force for the Battle of Iwo Jima. The 3rd Marine Division was initially in reserve for the battle.[7] However, the division was committed one regiment at a time when the initial regiments that landed there needed to be relieved.
The 21st Marines came ashore on 21 February[7] followed by the 9th Marines, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Tank Battalion, on 24 February.[8] The Marines of these two infantry regiments, supported by the artillery of the 12th Marine Regiment and tanks of the 3rd Tank Battalion, fought on Iwo Jima until the end of organized resistance on 16 March and the subsequent mopping up operations for the next month. All elements of the division were back on Guam by 17 April 1945.[9] The fighting on Iwo Jima cost the 3rd Marine Division 1,131 killed in action and another 4,438 wounded.[10]
After the return to Guam, the division began preparing for the invasion of Japan. This invasion never took place since Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945. The 3rd Marine Division was decommissioned on December 28, 1945 at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, CA
Name Paul B Metzger
Rank Private First Class
Muster Date Jul 1944
Station 3D Battalion, 3D Marines, 3D Marine Division, Fmf, In The Field
Name Paul B Metzger
Rank Private First Class
Muster Date Oct 1944
Station 3D Battalion, 3D Marines, 3D Marine Division, Fmf, In The Field
Name Paul B Metzger
Rank Private First Class
Muster Date Oct 1944
Station Headquarters and Service Co., 23Rd Marines,. Fourth Marine Division, Fmf, C/O Fleet Post Office, San Francisco, California.
Name Paul B Metzger
Rank Private First Class
Muster Date Jan 1945
Station Headquarters and Service Co, 23Rd Marines, Fourth Marine Division, Fmf
Name Paul B Metzger
Rank Private First Class
Muster Date Apr 1945
Station Headquarters and Service Co., 23D Marines, Fourth Marine Division, Fmf.
Name Paul B Metzger
Rank Private First Class
Muster Date Oct 1945
Station Headquarters and Service Co., 23D Marines, Fourth Marine Division, Fmf
Name Paul B Metzger
Rank Corporal
Muster Date Oct 1945
Station Headquarters, 2Dbn, 21St Marines, 3D Mardiv, Fmf, In The Field.
See here for unit History:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Marine_Regiment_(United_States)
A free 40 Page publication on the attack at Iwo Jima
