My father, and the father of a good friend of mine were both at Iwo. Thankfully they’ve both grown into old curmudgeons, but there aren’t too many of those real old timers left.
His name was Vincent Buongiovanni. His father was a revolutionary with Garibaldi, and the poet laureate of Italy. When Garibaldi went to the Italian community in Brooklyn he stayed at the Buongiovanni household
Vinnie told me about what he had seen, what he had done, how it'd burned into his mind and focused his life.
I am not sure he told his own family of those events. He passed a decade ago and has but a single reference on the internet.
The old timers are passing fast ~ wish I had had the inexpensive video equipment I have today and I'd filmed Vinnie telling about what war in the Pacific was really like, and what he did after he returned and built a life.