“Killer” M4A2 on Roi-Namur - the famous photo in 1/35

nimrod484 · July 24, 2025, 11:05am

Hi all,
Like many, I’ve always found this photo of Killer and crew with Type 94 tankette on the back to be really interesting.

I’m aware of several previous related builds, including this excellent one of the related Type 94 tankette by Mike Garcia in 1/16 scale:

Blockquote

Anyway, in researching this scene over a fair few hours, there appears to be some amount of error in comments about the action on Roi-Namur, e.g., on Reddit, related to this photo, and also there is not much easily accessible background information of any depth on the 4th Tank.Battalion Shermans that were involved.
So, prior to doing a diorama based on this photo, I thought it would be good to put together and share what I think is a really interesting bit of history from the Pacific campaign that relates to and informs the photo scene of Killer and its crew.

Several great references covering the event from a broad view about the operational aspects:

https://www.marines.mil/portals/1/Publications/Breaking%20the%20Outer%20Ring-Marine%20Landing%20in%20the%20Marshall%20Islands%20PCN%2019000312400_1.pdf

https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/TheMarshallsIncreasingTheTempo.pdf

https://www.marines.mil/portals/1/publications/the%204th%20marine%20division%20in%20world%20war%20ii%20%20pcn%2019000412800.pdf

Next, focusing on the 4th Tank Battalion, I found this period document in the National Archive after some heavy sleuthing - MARINES 4th DIV - 4th Tank Bn Rep of Marshall Islands Ops.
This document is amazing and covers the Company C Shermans of which Killer was a member. The relevant pages are below with the link for further details and reading about the Stuarts in A and B Companies.
Short background

Company C

The Conclusions and Recommendations which follow the above includes fascinating info about Deep Wading Equipment and the wooden planks attached to the Sherman hulls.

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/78410090

For me, that document is an amazing action report…

More to follow. As for the diorama, I’ve just started on the figures…

TanksForTheMemory · July 24, 2025, 2:53pm

That’s a great idea for a diorama and thanks for the background info.

I guess the obvious question that springs to mind is how on earth they managed to get the tankette onto the rear of the Sherman!

nimrod484 · July 24, 2025, 6:44pm

Thanks.
Company C had an M32B2 Tank Retreiver with them and it put it on the back of Killer. The source I found for this information is the Company C commander’s book Tanks on the Beaches aka this extract-

It may have been the M32B2 Lulubelle that was later in Saipan that did it.

Actually, I’ve been again visiting your excellent diorama The Road to Singapore for inspiration re how you did the interior for the Japanese tank as the Fine Molds Type 94 is just a shell. I’ll get round to that build and the other tanks in the coming months/years…

Tank_1812 · July 24, 2025, 9:43pm

I will have to check that out more.

GySgt McCard was awarded the Medal of Honor for his action as M5A1 crew man.

Look forward to seeing how your project progress.

nimrod484 · July 25, 2025, 3:17am

Yes, thanks for posting. He was in A Company. Seems comparatively few tankers won the Medal of Honour in WW2. This is my first Sherman tank build so please feel free to pass on any advice re M4A2s.

nimrod484 · July 25, 2025, 3:42am

The book Tanks on the Beaches co-written by. C Company CO Robert Neiman that I quoted above has some very relevant pictures, 1 of which I had never seen before.

The best thing, though, is that all of the Killer crew are identified. Here they are:

Killer and crew, 3rd Platoon, Company C, 4th Tank Battalion.

If anybody has any information on any of these men or access to their service records in the US, it would be great to learn more about them.

And here are the two Japanese tanks - a Type 94 TK and Type 97 Te Ke - prior to the Type 94 being loaded onto Killer’s rear hull.

Another well-known view.

Neiman refers to the locations Roi and Namur islands in referring to the event so it is not clear exactly where it occurred. I’ll stick with Roi-Namur….

And lastly, the tankette on Maui.

Tank_1812 · July 25, 2025, 9:57am

Yes, A Co, my old unit. The only other Marine tanker to be award the Medal of Honor was Sgt Timmerman. 2nd Tank Battalion.
https://www.usmcu.edu/Research/Marine-Corps-History-Division/People/Medal-of-Honor-Recipients-By-Unit/Sgt-Grant-Frederick-Timmerman/

By and large from HQ (Army and Marines) perspective a tank crewman is not an individual but part of a crew and the MOH is an individual award so not many have been awarded to tankers.

Tank_1812 · July 25, 2025, 10:15am

Besides Tank on Beaches, Marine Tank Battles In The Pacific by Oscar (Ed) Gilbert is another great book on Marine tankers.

Seems it was also the first time the grunt phone was used.
https://www.usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marine-Corps-University-Press/MCH/Marine-Corps-History-Summer-2023/The-4th-Tank-Battalion-in-the-Pacific/

Another possible resource.

As you know more you can use this to search the names but view it is paid site. There is a free trial period so I would wait til you have more.

I will see what else I might be able to find. Another possible resource Marine Corps Tanker Association https://www.usmctankers.org/

nimrod484 · July 25, 2025, 10:23pm

Thanks very much for all that info. Oh, you were in 4th Tank Battalion? When?
If you check out the Recommendation and Conclusions part of Neiman’s Action Report, the original source for the Ingenuity article, there is related info. I plan to get the book you mentioned. Looks good.
I had read the case study, which was where I found the Neiman source. Have you read the Tanks in Hell book?

I’ll see if I can have some success with any of the links to getting service records for the crew.

Jeremy

Tank_1812 · July 26, 2025, 2:40am

It was the late 90’s.

I have read Tank in Hell and should still have it somewhere in the stash but that was like a decade ago when I did.