This Date in SDNG History April 16, 1945 – Huron Guardsman killed in action at Ie Shima Staff Sgt. Robert Devers was activated in 1941 with Company C, 109th Engineer Regiment, Huron, S.D. When the 109th Regiment reorganized into the 109th Engineer Battalion the unit became over-strength by 150 personnel overnight. The excess personnel, mostly South Dakota National Guard Soldiers, were transferred to a newly formed unit, the 132nd Engineer Regiment. This unit fought in the Pacific, first at Guam, then to Leyte in the Philippines, on to the Ryukus Islands, then on to Ie Shima. Ie Shima was a small, 10 square mile island located three miles from Okinawa. This was the place that the famous war correspondent and author, Ernie Pyle was shot and killed by a sniper on April 18, 1945. It was not any friendlier to a South Dakota Guardsman, Staff Sgt. Robert Devers from Huron. Devers was the only South Dakota Guardsman killed on Ie Shima. The story of his death as told by a comrade indicates the hazards of war and the direful results of failures to observe standing orders. The story below is taken directly from the book “SOUTH DAKOTA IN WORLD WAR II”. “Sergeant Perrault had gone out on a single handed souvenir raid and got into a cave where a Japanese soldier knifed him. Devers had seen this happen from a distance and he and another man from Company B went out to get Perrault’s body and were prepared to take care of any knife wielding Japanese -but this fellow had a light machine gun as well as a knife and as they approached he fired on them killing Devers instantly and wounding the other man. Corporal Harrison, Company Clerk of Company B, had been by this cave half a dozen times during the day unarmed and unharmed, but Perrault was bent on getting a souvenir and this brought about two unnecessary deaths. The enemy took advantage of this souvenir seeking complex and literally thousands of U.S. Soldiers were killed by booby traps, snipers and hideout in cases similar to this tragic one involving a South Dakotan.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 13:50:06 +0000
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