Other officers who would emerge in key roles at Tarawa included Brigadier General Leo D. Hermle, Assistant Division Commander; Lieutenant Colonel Presley M. Rixey, commanding 1/10, a pack-howitzer battalion supporting the 2d Marines; Lieutenant Colonel Alexander B. Swenceski, commanding the composite 2d Tank Battalion; Major Henry C. Drewes, commanding 2d Amphibian Tractor Battalion; Major Michael P. Ryan, commanding Company L, 3/2; and First Lieutenant William D. Hawkins, commanding the Scout Sniper Platoon in the 2d Marines. Altogether, 18,088 Marines and sailors of the division participated in the assault on Tarawa Atoll. About 55 percent were combat veterans. Unlike Guadalcanal, the Marines at Tarawa carried modern infantry weapons, including Garand M-1 semi-automatic rifles, Browning automatic rifles, and portable flamethrowers. Assault Marines landed with a combat load consisting of knapsack, poncho, entrenching tool, bayonet, field rations, and gas masks (quickly discarded). Many of those carrying heavy weapons, ammunition, or radios drowned during the hectic debarkation from landing craft under fire at the reef’s edge. [Illustration: _Troops of the 2d Marine Division debark down cargo nets from a troop transport during amphibious training._ Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 63751 ] ] [Sidebar (page 5): Major General Julian C. Smith, USMC [Illustration: Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 70729 _MajGen Julian C. Smith, USMC, right, commanding general, 2d Marine Division, escorts MajGen Holland M. Smith, USMC, commander, V Amphibious Corps, on Betio._] The epic battle of Tarawa was the pinnacle of Julian Smith’s life and career. Smith was 58 and had been a Marine Corps officer for 34 years at the time of Operation Galvanic. He was born in Elkton, Maryland, and graduated from the University of Delaware. Overseas service included expeditionary tours in Panama, Mexico, Haiti, Santo Domingo, Cuba, and Nicaragua. He graduated from the Naval War College in 1917 and, as did many other frustrated Marine officers, spent the duration of World War I in Quantico. As were shipmates Colonel Merritt A. Edson and Major Henry P. Crowe, Smith was a distinguished marksman and former rifle team coach. Command experience in the Fleet Marine Force (FMF) was limited. He commanded the 5th Marines in 1938, and he was commanding officer of the FMF Training School at New River until being ordered to the 2d Marine Division in May 1943. Smith’s contemporaries had a high respect for him. Although unassuming and self-effacing, “there was nothing wrong with his fighting heart.” Lieutenant Colonel Ray Murray, one of his battalion commanders, described him as “a fine old gentleman of high moral fiber; you’d fight for him.” Smith’s troops perceived that their commanding general had a genuine love for them.