Hero of Hen Hill

For ten days on Okinawa the 96th Division had stood stymied before Hen Hill, a knobby 450-ft. crag just northeast of Shuri. Crouching in foxholes, trenches and caves, the Japanese could rake the flanks of any unit attempting to move around the hill. Two battalions had taken turns charging up; both had failed--with heavy casualties.

Then one of the battalions, its ranks refilled with battle-green replacements, tried again. Once again a hail of Jap fire pinned the troops to the ground. But this time one soldier just kept walking and throwing hand grenades at every Jap he saw. He was Pfc. Clarence B. Craft, a sandy-haired 23-year-old from Santa Ana, Calif., eight months in the Army and brand-new to combat.

Magnificent, but Not War: Veterans who watched said it was unbelievable, the sort of thing that could happen only once in a war. Craft reached the top and stood against the sky line directing the grenade-throwing of the troops below. Two other replacements crawled up to give him covering fire. Others formed a chain to pass him hand grenades.

Craft went along the crest, hurling grenades into foxholes and trenches. Japs popped up to fire at him; Craft pitched a hand grenade first. Japs tried to charge him with bayonets and spears. Craft shot them with his M-t rifle. He hurled a satchel charge into a cave. lt had a defective fuse and failed to explode. Craft walked up, retrieved the charge, fixed the fuse and hurled it in again. That time it sealed the cave.

The whole thing took about 15 minutes. In that time Craft fired four clips from his Mi, hurled 48 grenades and the satchel charge. He paused only once--to pick up a Japanese officer's sword because he knew "those guys of the 96th would have had the field stripped clear of souvenirs by the time I got back."

Final Score. When the rest of the unit reached the hilltop, they counted 58 dead Japs, three enemy knee mortars, two heavy and one light machine guns, 80 rifles, hundreds of grenades. All in all, it was the kind of performance that causes talk. Some it caused:

P:I Clarence Craft's lieutenant: "I could think of only one thing--that damn fool is determined to get out of the Army either via the Medal of Honor or death." P:J Clarence Craft's mother: "He's the most accurate thrower I ever saw. Why, I've seen that boy kill fish in a stream throwing rocks at them, home in Missouri." P:I The New York Times: "Great must be the rejoicing among all the Clarences of this world. . . ."

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