75 YEARS SINCE PELELIU: U.S. Marines in 1st Marine Division assaulted the small Pacific island on September 15, 1944. Senior officers thought the island would be secured within four days. But Japan had fortified the island. In late September the U.S. Army’s 81st Infantry Division landed on Peleliu to reinforce the Marines. The battle ended on November 27 — with almost 2,400 American dead.