Edward L. Rowny
General Marshall peered out over his spectacles and said, "Young man, I wasn't
born yesterday. It's obvious that the plan was written by Colonel Goodpaster. But
anyone who can get Goodpaster to do his work for him is good enough to occupy
that seat. It's yours?
Meanwhile the plan to invade Kyushu fell by the wayside. More and more
Japanese units showed up on Kyushu as we got closer to the final invasion date.
General MacArthur recommended that the War Department scrap the plan to invade
Kyushu and that our troops strike directly at Tokyo. It was in keeping with his
island-hopping strategy. He believed in going right to the heart of the objective
and simply bypassing other islands. The Japanese had figured out that we would
attack Kyushu and had moved a large number of troops to the island. By bypassing
Kyushu and going directly into Tokyo, we could hit the Japanese where they were
weaker. But as MacArthur wanted, we would go directly to the capitol of the
nation. The timetable to attack Tokyo Bay was moved up.
My part of the plan for the final invasion of Japan was to develop an artificial
harbor nicknamed "Mulberry.
For the invasion of Normandy we had sunk a
number of ships around the harbor to make a breakwater,turning it into a protected
harbor. Our plans for the final invasion of Japan, having been moved up, placed
the invasion right in the middle of the typhoon season. As a safeguard against the
typhoon we needed a sheltered harbor.
One day, while developing my plan for the Mulberry, I received a message which
read: "The steel for your artificial harbor at Sagami-Wan [Tokyo Bay] is
disapproved. Signed Manhattan District Engineer." I became quite upset and took
the message to the office of my boss, Abe Lincoln, the Army planner. Lincoln
wasn't in and I took the plan to his deputy, Bob Porter. "This is terrible," I said.
"We can't let some engineer in New York interfere with our fighting a war."
Porter said, "You're right. Take this right up to the front office." I went to
General Marshall's office with the telegram, feeling indignant and self-righteous.
General Marshall was not in, but General Thomas Handy, the vice chief of staff,
received me.
Handy took a look at the message and said, "Sit down, young man." He then
pushed down all the buttons on his intercom and said: "Attention all officers.
Anyone having a message from the Manhattan District Engineer will bring it
directly to me. Furthermore," he added, "If anyone gets any requests from the
Manhattan District Engineer, be advised that he enjoys a higher priority than you
and his request is automatically approved? I asked General Handy if he could
give me any further explanation. "No," he said, "just carry out my orders.
17
Previous Page
