75th Anniversary

Feb 17, 2006
5,274
Lancer 27PS MCB Camp Pendleton KF6BL
75 years ago today, the Marines and Corpmen of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions stormed the beaches of Iwo Jima. These were 16, 17, 18 year olds who did not have the body armor we have today. It took a lot of guts to storm those beaches thinking that the Naval Gun Fire destroyed the Japanese occupants. In actuality, the bombardment did nothing.

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Aug 28, 2006
564
Bavaria 35E seattle
John Rich passed away only a few years ago in his nineties. He was a famed journalist and reporter for NBC news in his professional life. I knew him through his sons who are best friends of mine. When war broke out he was in college. He asked a professor what is the best thing I can do for the war effort. The professor said, "learn the enemy's language." John joined up and was sent to military language school. He fought many battles on the front line including Iwo Jima. He interviewed many captured soldiers for intel. He remained life long friends with a captive from the battle when the soldier asked that John kindly report his status to his family when and if John was to reach Tokyo. He did so and he never lost touch. Both families met up on the island for the 70th anniversary of the battle and the story was covered by the press. Compelling stuff.
 
Feb 14, 2014
7,399
Hunter 430 Waveland, MS
BTW I just saw video of a Iwo Jima veteran being carried by 2 gentleman and being cheered by the crowd chanting USA USA USA.
Jim...

PS: I was the crowd entry to some political rally being held tonight.:cool:
 
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Oct 22, 2014
20,992
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Front Page of the WSJ today shows two veterans and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the National WWII Memorial in DC, honoring the troops. Ira Rigger a 95 year old Navy Veteran of Iwo Jima battle is pictured.

Go Marines... Go Navy.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
actuality, the bombardment did nothing.
I'm sure it did something. I read a very interesting account of Corregidor Island. The Japanese bombarded that island mercilessly. The bunkers held, but those inside were brutalized morally. MacArthur came back, but it was a devastating, if expensive, tactic.

I'm sorry I lost track of them, but I had some old news reels, given to my step-grandfather, of the Marines taking some South Pacific Islands using the amphibious vehicle he'd designed. The battleships bombarded the island, driving all the enemy soldiers into bunkers. The Marines landed and went from bunker to bunker. It was amazingly efficient and deadly for the entrenched Japanese.

I took them to school to watch, when I was in high school, and, I suspect, I left them there.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Jul 7, 2004
8,402
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
Flamethrowers were used to suck the oxygen out of tunnels and bunkers suffocating those inside.
 
Jun 7, 2004
350
Oday 28 East Tawas
Imagine being those men. Most were 18 or slightly older prepared to give their lives for people they didn't know but cared for them as Americans. Such courage is incomprehensible. My war was Viet Nam but I am in awe of those Marines who fought in WWII.
 
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Feb 14, 2014
7,399
Hunter 430 Waveland, MS
Today the USS Hershel "Woody" Williams had the time honored tradition...
"Man our ship and bring her to life!"

I watched it live as all of the Sailors and Marines ran in their dress uniforms. Each used his left hand to keep their medals from "dancing" on their left chest.

I read this detailed story today about ....
Hershel W. Williams - Wikipedia
Still living today.
Here is what he had to say...

A special Iwo Jima hero....
Jim...

PS: USNS Hershel "Woody" Williams (T-ESB-4) - Wikipedia a SEALS attack ship.
 
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Feb 14, 2014
7,399
Hunter 430 Waveland, MS
I saw this picture today posted by a US Marine who chronicles various stories of Marines in battle.
This one had the caption

A JAPANESE FRIEND!
This photo, taken in March 1945 on Iwo Jima, Japan, shows U.S. Marine Corporal Edward W. Burckhardt (5th Marine Division) with a little kitten that he found at the base of Mount Suribachi.
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The chronicle followed up with this...

"Edward, who came from Yonkers, New York, always said that it was the kitten that captured him. This American hero survived the war and passed away on August 8,1998. Edward Burckhardt was 75 years-old"

Jim...
 
Dec 25, 2000
5,702
Hunter Passage 42 Shelter Bay, WA
Vietnam Naval vet here. Saw military action from the deck of the Kitty Hawk 26 miles off the coast of Vietnam. Difficult to imagine the horror of hand-to-hand combat storming the beaches of Iwo Jima and other hot spots back then. Entrenched warfare a terrible thing. So proud of those who served before.