Captain Andrew "Ack Ack" Haldane's Final Moments on Peleliu

K Company settles into new positions on a ridgeline unfamiliar to them. As they occupy high ground code named Hill 140, the survivors of Second Battalion leave them with a strict warning. Do not look over the crest of the ridge. However, Captain Haldane must familiarize himself with the terrain so K Company can in place their machine guns and mortars. Pvt. He volunteers himself to steal a peek over the crest of the ridge. Along with four other men, Haldane creeps up the ridge on his stomach and raises his head just 4 in above the crest to look for a place for the company machine gun sections. He calls out, "We need to get them as close as before a loud smack cuts him off. Cpl. Jim Anderson will later recall, "I was right beside him and I can't even describe the shock of it. The sniper must have had his sights zeroed in on that exact spot. I knew immediately the captain was dead, but I still couldn't make myself believe it." The rest of K Company is devastated by the news. Sledge later writes, "Never in my wildest imagination had I contemplated Captain Haldane's death. We felt forlorn and lost. It was the worst grief I endured during the entire war. The intervening years have not lessened it any."