In an ironic travesty, the Sherrod story and the interservice tiff as a whole obscured the frontline reality that Marine and Army combat troops on Saipan had largely fought well together and had developed a deep mutual respect. “We have no fight with the United States Marines,” Captain Love wrote a couple of months after the battle. “They are Americans like ourselves and we admire and respect them as men.” The Marine Corps official historian later summarized, with sage insight, “Marines and soldiers fought a hard campaign side by side. On the battlefield itself, there was neither place nor
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