Will always be very proud of those boys.
My dad wasn’t involved in the Iwo Jima campaign.
However, he was a 17-year old PFC lugging a BAR in Uncle Sam’s Marine Corps. He was in the very first wave of Marines to hit the beaches of Okinawa.
He passed 2 years ago...with full military honors.
FWIW, take a good look around at 17 year-olds today, and most of em couldn’t even pick up a BAR, let alone carry or use one. Have doubts? Skip the ads at the beginning of this and check out what it’s like firing one: https://youtu.be/g2jRwp19csA
Yeah. I’m damn PROUD of those boys. God bless em and their families. Semper Fi.
More lives lost at Okinawa, than at Iwo Jima.
My father enlisted in the Marines at age 17, and was discharged after two years including Okinawa, before he turned 20 yrs. of age.
Purple heart war wounds.
When young men like me, their sons, went through basic at the peak of Vietnam, just a few cried.
Today I sincerely believe most young males, would break down crying in basic. (Army basic, not AIT infantry. )
A True American Hero, one of hundreds of thousands
Today’s youth ought to have to watch documentaries and film clips over and over, as I have done, to appreciate heroism beyond description
And alot of “adults” should have to also. Let’s start with Pelosi and the Obamas