66 Years Ago Today - Iwo Jima

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doc540

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May God bless and keep them all.

My neighbor hit the beach in the second wave to land, fought the entire campaign and went hand to hand at night in the last battle on Kitano Point.

The last of the Japs snuck out of their holes and slaughtered many P-51 pilots, cutting their throats as they slept.

Ray said no prisoners were taken.

I make sure I contact him on this day every year and thank him for his service and sacrifice.

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The Don said:
Seeing as this is a gun forum does anyone Know that main weapon used in the assault on Iwo? Was it the M1 Gerand or the M1A Carbine?
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My Dad was a Radioman in the 4th Division. He did forward spotting on Iwo for the ship artillery. Because of the 90 pound radio he carried on his back, he was issued a M1 carbine. On Iwo, as on Saipan and Tinian, he dropped the carbine at the first sight of a fellow marine who no longer needed his Garrand.
 
My Dad fought on Iwo Jima and ran into 2 of my uncles, his brothers-in-law. One uncle operated a flame thrower, and one was a radio man.
 
We lost a huge number of good men there. I'm thankful for the A Bomb because invading the main islands would've made Iwo look like a picnic.
 
Buck Snort said:
We lost a huge number of good men there. I'm thankful for the A Bomb because invading the main islands would've made Iwo look like a picnic.
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Sad part was, it was those same men that survived Iwo, and other bloody battles in the Pacific, that were on the ships waiting to lead the invasion on the big island of Japan. Thank God they never had to hit that beach. Odds are, I wouldn't be here if they had.
 
Here's more of the story as told to me by my neighbor, Pfc Ray Hudson.

The Island was declared secure around March 16th, but on the 26th the last battle was fought.

When an officer came around and told them to turn in their ammo and the battle was over, one of the hardened survivors challenged him by saying, "Who says this battle is over?".

The officer pointed to a ship anchored offshore and replied, "Your commanding officer says it's over, and when I come around tomorrow if you don't turn in your ammo as ordered, you'll get (and I forgot what the specific threat was, but it was akin to "the brig")."

Ray said one of his buddies replied, "Well, you tell him to come sleep with us tonight".

Around 3am, the last of the Japanese soldiers on Iwo, (some say General Kuribayashi was among them, but it's never been proven) crawled out of their holes and silently (not a screaming Banzai charge) swept into the tents housing the very valuable P-51 pilots and began bayoneting them as they slept. It was a bloodbath as many pilots were killed.

Ray and his fellow Pioneer Marines and a few others fought them hand to hand until they'd killed every last one of the remaining Japanese soldiers.
 
My dad was a B-29 navigator who flew missions over Japan up until the Japanese capitulated. My thanks to the men who took Iwo Jima, for their sacrifice probably allowed my dad to live and later help produce me.
 
Thank you & God bless...

all of The Greatest Generation. I don't think we who are "in charge" today, any of us, can comprehend the sacrifices they went through to save the world for us.

My Dad was in public health--he wasn't military. How many of our guys he saved from getting syphilis, on liberty from training camps, so they could go over and fight, would be impossible to calculate. No GI bill nor anything like, for him.

My Grandfather worked for the Gummint during WW I, having to do with food rationing so's the soldiers could be fed. For his service, someone tried to poison him--almost succeeded.

Everybody did what had to be done. The soldiers and the sailors and the Marines and the welders and the carpenters and Rosie the Riveter. And by God, they got it done!

Thanks again, Dad. Thanks again, Grandpop. And all. Amen.
 
I hear ya.

My dad flew B-17's and had his orders for B-29 school in his hand when the war ended!

He's still a tough old bird barking orders. :D
 
Buck460xvr - Right you are! I had a few Great Uncles and 1 Grandpa in the Pacific. One Great Uncle, had made 7 landings (some in the same campaign) and had the invasion papers for the Main Land. While not at Iwo Jima, he had seen enough. He told me one time that he and the few survivors from the "Original" unit were convinced that they would not survive an assault on the main land. They figured unless you were lucky enough to be D-Day + 5 you didnt have much of a chance. When news broke of the Bombs, he said it felt like a "Death Sentence was Lifted". I know 2 of the battles were Tarowa & Okinowa. He mentioned those....I have guessed at the others by the unit movements but they combined and split some units due to losses. His was at least 2 times, oddly enough between marine units and army units also. He was a marine, but sometimes they were assigned to an army goup.
 
IWO

I went there in 1988/89, STA PLT, BLT 2/9 we were the first ones to land amtracs on the Island since the battle. The Commanding Officer was LTCOL CLARK. We got to climb all over the island and MAN! the feeling you get walking that island and seeing the bunkers the japs made out of Zero's covered in concrete, and then to climb Mt Suribachi and also go into the tunnels.
I managed to get a dozen blood draw tubes from our Corpmen, before going ashore, and took my E-tool and filled them up with sand from what was allegedly the mortar position that Sgt Basilone was fatally wounded. My goal was to hand one of the sand tubes to every IWO vet I met. It took awhile but I sent the last one to SGT WHITEHEAD USMC, who was on the first wave. MY mission was completed. He sent me a very nice letter on IWO JIMA stationary, which I have framed and hung on the wall of our gun shop.
Later on, during the Vietnam war, he nephew was one of the survivors of BLT 1/9...the walking dead. A great man and a great family.

Semper Fi brothers & sisters.

GySgt J. Rossi (RET)
BLT 2/6, 2/9 and 2/4
 
Impossible to ask such things of men, and they did it anyway.

R.I.P. & Thank You, Iwo Jima (and all) Veterans
 
doc -

Thanks for starting this commemorative thread. The heroes of Iwo Jima deserve our unending gratitude.
 
As an Army S/Sgt. in the late 60s; i worked with several WWII Marines. A M/GySgt had fought at Guadalcanal, a W-4 had his 16th birthday the second day of Tarawa and a W-2 was in the fight for Iwo. i learned a lot from those Marines. Now they are all gone. They were the greatest generation.
 
Wife's father was there. He was always proud to have lasted 5 days there, and would always keep reading books about that battle. His company got to run across the runway and attack 'the citadel'. (company L) The Japanese kept killing all the ammo carriers and they had to run back across. Japanese machine guns and snipers everywhere. Told me also a little about Pelilu, but said Iwo was 'hard'. I guess if you consider Pelilu 'normal' 20% KIA and 60% WIA, 'hard' is straight suicide.
 
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