[Illustration: _Marines under fire along Red Beach Three near the Burns-Philp pier hug the ground as Navy planes continually pound the enemy strongpoints in front of them._ LtGen Julian C. Smith Collection ] Crowe and Ruud benefitted from intensive air support and naval gunfire along their left flank. Crowe was unimpressed with the accuracy and effectiveness of the aviators (“our aircraft never did us much good”), but he was enthusiastic about the naval guns. “I had the _Ringgold_, the _Dashiell_, and the _Anderson_ in support of me.... Anything I asked for I got from them. They were great!” On one occasion on D+1, Crowe authorized direct fire from a destroyer in the lagoon at a large command bunker only 50 yards ahead of the Marines. “They slammed them in there and you could see arms and legs and everything just go up like that!” [Illustration: Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 12448 _1stLt William Deane Hawkins, USMC, was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for sustained bravery throughout the first 24 hours ashore at Betio. Hawkins commanded the 2d Marines’ Scout-Sniper Platoon, which seized the long pier to begin the assault._] Inland from Red Beach Two, Kyle and Jordan managed to get some of their troops across the fire-swept airstrip and all the way to the south coast, a significant penetration. The toehold was precarious, however, and the Marines sustained heavy casualties. “You could not see the Japanese,” recalled Lieutenant Lillibridge, “but fire seemed to come from every direction.” When Jordan lost contact with his lead elements, Shoup ordered him across the island to reestablish command. Jordan did so at great hazard. By the time Kyle arrived, Jordan realized his own presence was superfluous. Only 50 men could be accounted for of LT 2/2’s rifle companies. Jordan organized and supplied these survivors to the best of his abilities, then--at Shoup’s direction--merged them with Kyle’s force and stepped back into his original role as an observer.