IWO JIMA HERO HURLS GRENADES AT SHAMEFUL POLS

NY Post ^ | 2/20/7 | Steve Dunleavy

[SmithL]

IF GUTS were traded on Wall Street, these guys would be richer than Donald Trump.

Angelo Ciotta, 81, of East Meadow, L.I., who joined the Marines when he was 17, tells you just how close he got to the enemy 62 years ago on Iwo Jima.

"I mean, sometimes you could touch with your fingers the pillboxes where the Japanese were holed up inside," he was saying.

Angelo, head of Iwo Jima Survivors of New York, spoke to me yesterday at the American Air Power Museum at Republic Airport, where veterans, their wives and kids observed Presidents Day.

To say Angelo had a terrifying job on Iwo Jima is like dismissing Babe Ruth as just another guy who played baseball.

. . . Angelo knows all about loyalty to comrades.

So what would he do to politicians he believes are trying to fracture our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan?

"I would round up those politicians, put them in a camp in Alaska, and - with lots of rules - tell our guys, 'Do what you have to do to clean them up.' "

[Bigg Red]

I love it. I wish we could put this guy in charge of the jerks.

[Constitution Day]

BUMP!

[David Isaac]

If only Angelo could have his way. Back in a time when heroes did heroic things. Ahh me.

[Edgerunner]

I was kinda hopin' he had done it for real...

[trimom]

When men were men and honor meant something. Wait! It still does! But not if your name is Murtha.

[SmithL]

From the Marine Corp League site:

Iwo Jima Veteran Receives 1st MCD Distinguished Service Award

Photo: Sgt Jared Hansen

Colonel Warren J. Foersch, Commanding Officer, 1st Marine Corps District, presented Angelo Ciotta with 1st MCD's Distinguished Service Award, Dec. 1, 2004, for his continued support of the Marine Corps. The award is presented to veterans who give time and energy to the community and to the Marine Corps. Ciotta served in the Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946. He was a demolitions specialist who fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima and was awarded the Purple Heart. He also was an active participant in creating a veterans' memorial located in Eisenhower Park, Garden City, N.Y.

 
(Posted: 9 February 2005)

http://www.mclwestchester.org/news/viewdetails.asp?id=85

[lesko]

'Heroes' now play in the NBA or protest outside the President's residence...ugh.

[JeeperFreeper]

Iraq would be less of a mess if the rules were set by the grunts doing the work and every person over the rank of major and every State Dept employee was sent home to do something constructive for the country, like mowing the grass, or put in a flak jacket and made to actually patrol the streets of Ramadi.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Uncommon valor was a common virtue.

[stm]

How about open cages in Alaska? Give them a GI blanket to keep warm and a bowl of oatmeal a day.

[David Isaac]

I remember the movie Klute very well and you are soooo right.

[Friend_from_the_Frozen_North]

Ping for later. This deserves more time that I can give to it right now...

[keats5]

Could someone with experience in this area explain what a "pillbox" is? Is it something like a trench?

[Ukiapah Heep]

It's hard to believe that in the 1950's and 60's guys like this were to be found everywhere. They were your next door neighbor, the pharmacist, the guy at the gas station, the mailman, your teachers and your dad and uncles. Man, have times changes.

[rbookward]

From the dictionary:

 pillbox
       n 1: a small round woman's hat [syn: toque, turban]
       2: a small case for holding pills
       3: a small enclosed gun emplacement (usually of fortified concrete)

[stumpy]

Pill box is a generic term for a bunker. Germans and Japanese troops often built them of concrete of great thickness to resist the effects of artillery or naval gunfire. They are what the germans defended the beaches of Normandy from. In the Pacific, they were constructed of coconut logs, buried under coral sand. Some would require a direct hit from the Navy's 16" guns to take out. (those shells create a swimming pool where they land.).

[Kolb]

http://www.pillbox-study-group.org.uk/

What a great man and Marine. Angelo Ciotta, my hat is off to you.

[keats5]

Thanks!

[TYVets]

"I would round up those politicians, put them in a camp in Alaska, and - with lots of rules - tell our guys, 'Do what you have to do to clean them up.' "

My dad always said: Keep It Simple Stupid

Works for me.