“Suddenly, out of nowhere, all hell broke loose,” recalled Michelony. “The front bunker opened fire with a machine gun, grenades hailed in from nowhere.” One Marine died instantly; the second escaped, leaving Michelony face down in the sand. In desperation, the first sergeant dove into the nearest bunker, tumbling through a rear entrance to land in what he thought was a pool of water. In the bunker’s dim light, he discovered it was a combination of water, urine, blood, and other material, “some of it from the bodies of the dead Japanese and some from the live ones.” As he spat out the foul liquid from his mouth, Michelony realized there were live Japanese in among the dead, decaying ones. The smell, taste, and fear he experienced inside the bunker were almost overpowering. “Somehow I managed to get out. To this day, I don’t know how. I crawled out of this cesspool dripping wet.” The scorching sun dried his utilities as though they had been heavily starched; they still stank. “For months after, I could taste and smell, as well as visualize, this scene.” Fifty years after the incident, retired Sergeant Major Michelony still has no sense of smell. ] _The Significance of Tarawa_ The costs of the forcible seizure of Tarawa were two-fold: the loss of Marines in the assault itself, followed by the shock and despair of the nation upon hearing the reports of the battle. The gains at first seemed small in return, the “stinking little island” of Betio, 8,000 miles from Tokyo. In time, the practical lessons learned in the complex art of amphibious assault began to outweigh the initial adverse publicity. The final casualty figures for the 2d Marine Division in Operation Galvanic were 997 Marines and 30 sailors (organic medical personnel) dead; 88 Marines missing and presumed dead; and 2,233 Marines and 59 sailors wounded. Total casualties: 3,407. The Guadalcanal campaign had cost a comparable amount of Marine casualties over six months; Tarawa’s losses occurred in a period of 76 hours. Moreover, the ratio of killed to wounded at Tarawa was significantly high, reflecting the savagery of the fighting. The overall proportion of casualties among those Marines engaged in the assault was about 19 percent, a steep but “acceptable” price. But some battalions suffered much higher losses. The 2d Amphibian Tractor Battalion lost over half the command. The battalion also lost all but 35 of the 125 LVT’s employed at Betio.