I spent the night on Iwo in about October '66. Aircraft landing gear hydraulic problems on the DC6 I got there on, en route to Guam from Tachikawa, sent the aircraft back to Japan for maintenance while I stayed the night. Picked up about 4PM the next day.
About four months in Viet Nam by that time, really very aware of fields of fire, cover and concealment, that sort of thing. Iwo was a place and a fight beyond anything. I walked the ground, walked a lot of it, seeing fields of fire, tiny areas of cover, easy to see since I was standing. Swing the eyes over the ground, fields of fire, pick out where the Jap machine gun had to be, went there, and at my feet was a pile of 7.7 empties and rusted Hotchkiss trays almost covered in windblown dirt. Looked at another field of fire, the first one I saw. The Marines had to have been four deep dead right there, I can see the place perfectly in my mind right now. Looked it up later, and I was close enough. The defense was tenacious, determined, and skillful.
This will sound really weird, but really there is no death. God is God of the living, Jesus said. Those men, died so young, live. As I live. That is what I learned there.
So, folks, don't sweat the "death" business, and never scold or belittle anyone who loves you. Especially dogs. Most especially your family.
And that last suggestion I am only passing along. Heard it in the wind on an island once.
