Not all the U.S. troops/servicemen on Iwo were Marines. My father-in-law, Jim Lucore, Jr., was a member of the 75th JASCO (Joint Assault Signal Company), Signal Corps, third wave. His company took up to 75% casualties. He never talks about it, even at 90. However, he holds no animus against the Japanese soldiers. It was war.
There was also a Seabee company that was accidentally sent in (the request was for one engineer to operate a piece of equipment). They were lightly armed and decimated. Don’t know the unit identification.
A couple weeks ago, we lost Major Gen. Bruce Jacobs, a cardiac rehab friend of mine. He was in charge of an Army Transport ship taking the Marines in.
Radio Show hosts Mark Levin (his grandfather) and John Bachelor (father) had relatives in the Marines on Iwo.
Also, Swift Boat veteran John O’Neill’s father was flying skycap for the Marines on Iwo.
All were brave - the best America had. A salute to them and their families
MadMax, Vietnam journalist, son of
Morris Friedman, Chemical Warfare Service, 4.2 CM
and father of
Josh Friedman, 299th Army Engineers MRB, “First Forward”, OPF, 3/20/03
wow...now that is one piece of history I would love to learn more about.