Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Iwo Jima - 65 years ago today

A reverent "Thank You", to all WWII Veterans who were in Iwo Jima. Past and Present.
-------------------------------------------------------------

I once knew a young Vet who was there ... I was just a little small-town kid, but by chance, I happened to hear (overhear) him talk to some 'grown-ups" about his experiences there, in a very emotional way. (Maybe, he was just getting it off his chest.)

It was a monalog and no one else made a comment or even asked a question. He talked about the fighting, and the dying - being scared and hoping somehow to survive. Graphic and horrific stuff ... sad and true.

That was the first time I ever heard the words, "Iwo Jima" and also "Jungle of Stone", but I remembered them ... I just looked up the context of the 'latter' tonight.

My Dad was offshore watching the epic air and sea battle that took such a huge toll of American and Allied lives, in the Army reserves that were not used at Okinawa. He was assigned to a flame throwing tank.

He assisted the Marines when his tank was assigned to detached duty with the Marines starting on Easter Sunday 1945 at a place called Okinawa in the Ryukus Islands Campaign.

You see the tanks working with the Marines in those History Channel Documentaries - he said they used the flame to eat up the oxygen in the Japanese bunkers and cave systems. Often being credited with thousands of kills from a single assault.

The Marines returned the favor when they graciously assigned him an honor guard at his funeral in October of 2004. He would have been 85 years old on February 25th.

He agreed with the sentiment that he wouldn't have missed it for a million bucks, nor would he do it again for a million either.

He never talked about Okinawa until he was in his middle 70's, until then he just said he served in Hawaii.

Just before he died he said if he had known how America was going to destroy individual liberty he would have joined the "Japs".

worth remembering, thank you for this post



and a thank you to all the brave folks that made doing so possible.

Absolutley. To The Top.

I had an uncle that was on both Iwo and Saipan..

he was 19 years old..after the war he drank a lot for a long time trying to forget..

my wife also had an uncle there who was 20 at the time..

he also didn't make it off of Iwo..

as mentioned by another forum member here..
the book "Fly Boys" is a riveting read...
came out the same time as the money with the same name, but they are nothing alike..

My mom's cousin Dean was a Marine in the S. Pacific and saw a lot of combat.... he never did anything but hate anything from Japan or had to do with Japan..to the day he died at 72.

I have a friend who attends our church, he is also a member of the same VFW post I am in; Oscar was a Marine at Iwo Jima and at Chosin Reservoir - talk about hell on earth at two extremes. He is the friendliest gentleman I know - still has shrapnel that rises up and moves about causing him trouble from time to time. I will be sure to thank him once more come this Sunday morning. Oscar has spent his life, both professionally and as a volunteer working on behalf of Veterans - he was the Pitt County VSO for the NC DEPT of Veterans Affairs for many years, and serves on several volunteer boards that advocate for Vets even now. I used to shoot with him when I was a young man - he was the best shot with a 1911 of anyone in our club in those days. Great man, great citizen, truly the embodiment of the "greatest generation".

My uncle passed away a year ago. He left for the Pacific April of 42, he never talk much about it but we do know he was on the 5th wave at Iwo. Just before his death I got to talk with him and he did open up a little. He wasn't sure but he believed he had been awarded 2 Silver and 5 brozne star.

About all he would ever say before that was that he was on a long vacation.

Odessa speaks of the Greatest Generation and rightfully so..

This was not about a Marine at Iwo, it was a story I learned speaking with an old man at a tire shop in town while we were waiting for our vehicles to have new tires mounted on them..

he told me about spending the evening on the lawn at the County Court House in Dallas, Polk County Oregon, on the evening of December 7th 1941..along with a little over 200 other guys...

they all lined up to join the military as the doors opened at 8 am on DEC 8, 1941...200 guys from a community of about 2,000 in those days...

180 of those guys were put into the Army and a Tank Company was formed.. they did basic and AIT for tank school right south of there near Corvallis OR at some thrown up Army base..

They were sent to Texas, picked up their tanks as a unit as their first duty station..after a brief familiarization, they were packed up with their equipment and sent to be part of the invasion of North Africa..

in there first 90 days in action 172 of those boys from Dallas Oregon, were killed in combat!!!!Five more would later die in combat in Italy at various times or places...

3 survived the war..

when I asked him about his scariest time in the war... he said, that was easy...in Italy in 1943, his Sherman was parked right next a barn for cover.. He was the tank's driver..

two Panzers were coming up the road which ran in front of the barn... one on the road and one maybe 50 yds to the left of the road..

as the Panzer passed the barn, the driver of he Panzer was the first to see them, he yelled, and slammed on the brakes..

The Panzer was turning its turrent to blast them at close range ( like 20 yds).. he said he jammed his tank into gear and rammed the Panzer, so that it could not turn its gun around as it jammed against the Sherman's barrel...he pulled his 45 and shot the German driver, as his tank C/O jumped from his turret, jerked open the hatch on the Panzer, emptied his 45 down the hatch, and then dropped a grenade down the hatch...

the other Panzer commander opened up on them from his machine gun, but the American C/O ducked just in time..as the other Panzer was trying to get their gun to bear, the Sherman's crew had enough movement to get their gun on the PANZER first..

He said the distance was in rock throwing range..they hit the Panzer with their first shot and then followed up with a second one to make sure..

he was 19 at the time.. had almost 2 years of combat under his belt.. as they got out of the Sherman, each was shaking and trying to light a cigarette to calm down...

someone started to laugh and then they all started laughing...

when I asked him why they started laughing as he didn't fill in that part.... he looks around to see if there were any women within earshot... and then responded...we all looked down and realized each one of us had pissed our pants...

What those young boys did in that war was unbelievable!

but can you imagine a town of 2000 losing 177 out of 180 boys, who signed up the day after Pearl Harbor? and 172 of those, within the first 90 days in combat?

The American Public at home made herculean sacrifices also!

The final tally may very slightly, depending on the source and if you are counting just Marines or including Navy or all Allied forces. Iwo Jima is about 8 square miles and about 5 mile in length give or take a few feet or sq. yards.

But a long time ago, the United States Marine Core did the math.

The price of Iwo Jima real estate in early spring 1945 was about 1000 Marines per mile.

Keep an eye out for the new mini-series on HBO called "The Pacific". I'm pretty sure it's a Band of Brothers type mini series on the pacific front.

I've seen the trailer and I know I'll be watching. March 14th I think.

Definately the greatest generation. My Grandpa also lied about his age to join the Army. He said he turned 17 while "crossing the pond".
He went to Europe while his [only] brother went to the pacific.

I don't know alot of detail about my great uncle in the pacific. But I probably know more than anyone else in the family about my Grandpa's time in Europe.
Some of his experiences included, liberating Munich, liberating Nuremberg, and liberating Dochau prison.
There's a TON of history in that old man, and I try to pass it on to my kids every chance I get.

One of his coolest stories was his ride home. They eventually made it back to England and were waiting for a boat to take them back to the states. They waited for weeks, and he'd already traded off all his "spoils" [Lugers and such] for smokes and stuff. They ended up coming home on a captured German luxury liner.
Pretty impressive ship to an old hillbilly kid who'd never even had running water.

Through the years, he's pretty much given me all his Army stuff, except his dog tags, which he wants to be buried in, and his "silver ware" which he still uses.

All my life, I was promised a rifle he picked up over there and shipped home...but it's disappeared. I think another family member took it, but I haven't pressed the issue...yet.

I do have his Eisenhower jacket and it'll stay in the family forever as far as I'm concerned.

There is the main reason I will never drive a JAPANESE OR GERMAN CAR. When you drive your Mitsubishi Montero to work, just remember that that's the same name affiliated with the most successful Japanese fighter plane of the war, the Mitsubishi Zero, responsible for the deaths of many brave American servicemen.