“Bundschu Ridge was one of those inherently worthless pieces of land which were emotionally remembered by the men who fought there in World War II . . . It was so situated that even a handful of well-hidden men, using mortars and machine guns, could repel a much larger force moving up from below. Captain [Geary R.] Bundschu’s company [Company A, 3rd Marines] had already suffered from enemy fire while on the water and on the beach. Now, with but a few minutes for reorganization, he started the attack, moving across the rice paddies toward the ridge, with two platoons in assault and one in support. By 0920 [on 21 July 1944] the lead platoons were pinned down in a gully to the west of the ridge by Japanese mortar and machine gun fire . . . About 1400 he asked Major Aplington [CO, 1/3 Marines] for permission to disengage, a request which had to be denied because the company was so involved. Captain Bundschu reorganized what was left of Company A and prepared to undertake again the last 100 yards of the ridge. At nearly the end of a day oppressive with tropical heat, the Marines tried again, knowing the odds. They once more encountered the machine gun fire that had stopped the initial assault; now, however, . . . ‘a thin line of Company A men reached the crest.’ Other Marines, shot en route up the steep slope, fell backwards to the ground far below. At the top of the ridge, enemy fire of savage intensity prevented a reorganization for defense of the ground gained; the foothold became untenable. The second attack on the ridge had cost the life of Captain Bundschu and further depleted Company A. At nightfall, the enemy still held Bundschu Ridge, and the Marines were reminded of this fact by the Japanese fire which kept up through the unhappy night.” – Henry I. Shaw, Jr., Bernard C. Nalty, and Edwin T. Turnbladh, Central Pacific Drive, History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II, Vol. III, “The Return to Guam”