Honor Flight DFW profiles and interviews

Canara joined the Marines on September 3, 1943 at the age of 18. His uncle at this point in the war was already a prisoner of war of the Japanese. Canara felt like that in joining the U.S.M.C. he was honoring his uncle who had been suffering at the hands of the Empire of Japan for years.

Canara was a tank commander in the Pacific. In the Marines, the tankers were considered an elite bunch, since there were relatively few Marine tank battalions. He was assigned to the 2nd Armored Amphibious Battalion.

While on Saipan, the 2^nd Armored Amphibious Battalion was attached to the 2^nd Marine division. The armored amphibious units were responsible for taking the Marines directly onto the beaches. They used many vehicles, one of which was an armored tracked vehicle. When in the water approaching a Japanese fortified beach, the vehicle would “swim” using the tracks to propel it forward. Once on the beach, the tracks would be used to propel the tank on solid ground.

Later, in other campaigns, Canara would subsequently be attached to the 4^th Marine Division during the invasion of Tinian. Tinian is famous for being the forward Pacific island that the bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, the “Enola Gay,” was based, and flew from on that pivotal mission that eventually ended the war in the Pacific. 

He would also be involved in the invasion of the island of Iwo Jima, this time the 2^nd Armored would be attached to the 5^th Marine Division. Canara would be in the initial assault wave taking the Marines on shore during the heroic battle that would go down in the annals of Marine Corps history.