Posted on 07/25/2003 9:27:44 AM PDT by gunnyg
I want to respond to some of the things written in your recent exchange of correspondence with Gunny Gaines and Colonel Ford.
The Lou Lowery letter.(attached)When it was first presented in the booklet prepared by Ray Fornof it was suggested to him that it was either a phony or a forgery.Now Colonel Ford writes that it was a standard letter sent to anyone who asked for a copy of his photo and claimed to have been on the patrol.
When I wrote to Lou Lowery it was not to ask for pictures but rather to ask him for an explanation of the second flag raising picture because it didn't look like what I saw when the first flag was raised.He explained the official secrecy surrounding the first flag raising and of his own volition sent me copies of some of the pictures he had shot of us on Suribachi.I would like to see proof that his letter to me is simply a form letter.
On Colonel Severance's comment about each company having only one radio and one radio operator.That's true but what he may have forgotten was that by the previous day,Feb.22nd,all the line companies were hard wired in with phone lines running to a battalion switchboard.There was little or no enemy activity in our immediate front and our experience indicated that our ability to receive and transmit radio signals in the broken terrain on Iwo was at best chancy.So at the first opportunity phone lines were strung to ensure reliable communications.
My radio and I presume that of the other companies had been shut down since the previous day.In fact I received my instructions to accompany Lt.Schrier's patrol from the battalion Comm.Sergeant by telephone via our company phone.I was told that a patrol from E Company would be passing through our lines.I was told to get my radio,check in with battalion,report to Lt Schrier and accompany him and his patrol up Suribachi.The SCR 300 was great on relatively level terrain and on a hillside or from the top of a hill but for most of the campaign it was not that reliable.
Colonel Severance is only surmising when he says that "in his mind" Schrier's radio operator was assigned from Hdq 2/28 by the 2/28 Comm Officer.His theory has nothing to back it up but his story allows him to cast doubt on me.It didn't happen,bad guess.
One other thing about the markings on my radio.The radios were not company equipment and were not carried on the company inventory.We drew our radios from the battalion Comm.Sergeant whenever we went into the field and they were returned to battalion at the conclusion of field exercises.We company radiomen operated them but we did not care,service or maintain them.I drew my radio for the final time when we boarded ship for Iwo.
Two other items.The newspaper clippings (attached),among items referred to in Lou Lowery's letter,were published in Los Angeles newspapers on Feb.24th,the day after the first flag raising.I have several others from the same time frame.The Colonels refuse to acknowledge the very specific language in the stories which place me with Lt.Schrier's patrol at the first flag raising.
Finally,The Colonels point at the canteen cover picture but have yet to acknowledge what their eyes see in the comparison picture (attached) sent to them which clearly show my profile in a dress blues cover and that of my profile taken from a Lowery picture shot during the first flag raising.
A couple of other matters.The Pacific War Memorial commission said they talked directly to someone at the Marine Historical Division about whether or not to include my name on the granite reproduction of the first flag raising.The commission chairperson said she was told that it would be correct to include my name as the radioman.
Charles Lindberg may have initially had some doubts about me but when I was invited to the dedication of the Long Prairie War Memorial Park it was because Lindberg urged them to do so.As you remember,my name was included on the memorial and my daughter was invited to unveil my statue at the top of the monument.
I am not angry about the attitudes of Colonels Severance and Ford but rather saddened..I offer pictures,letters and newspaper stories...they counter with conjecture and snide remarks about.."if everyone who claimed to have been atop Suribachi for the first flag raising had been there,the Marines would have carried the victory much sooner".Very nice Colonel Ford.
We do know,however,that neither Colonel Severance and Colonel Ford were with us in Lt.Schrier's patrol or on top of Suribachi at the first flag raising but I was and all of their guessing and speculation to the contrary cannot disprove it.
Bottom line??I think they have taken a position against me for so long and are now in too deep to admit they may be wrong.Recently I offered to take a polygraph examination.Noi response.
Semper Fi,Ray
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