Posted on 11/06/2013 2:07:24 PM PST by Bodleian_Girl
GARDENDALE, Alabama – I could tell you that as I sat across from Harold Jarvis, his 68-year-old memories of Iwo Jima came flooding back to him.
But I don't think that's true. I believe those memories never left him. Listening to Jarvis recount his memories of one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of World War II was one of the most moving moments of my reporting life.
I have read good books about the Battle for Iwo Jima as well as press accounts of it including from the great war correspondent Ernie Pyle. But it turned out I really knew nothing about Iwo until I listened to Mr. Jarvis or rather medical corpsman Harold Jarvis, United States Marine Corps.
"It was Feb. 19, 1945. It was a Monday," said the 89-year-old Jarvis in a recent interview at his house. "I don't think I knew what day it was again after that for weeks. What day it was didn't matter. All you knew was you were still alive or dead."
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.al.com ...
My uncle was in the battle for Okinawa. To this day he has never spoken of it that I know of. And he despises the Japanese.
The Iwo medic I used to know (he passed a few years ago) was US Navy, but assigned to the Marines.
My nephew said Iwo was surreal. He said that no one chatted. Everyone remained quiet and toured the beaches, Surabachi, and a few other areas. The only thing heard was the howling of the wind, which caused strange sounds as it whistled in an out of the volcanic rock. No seabirds were seen or heard. He said it was a little spooky. To this very day there are areas deemed unsafe because of unexploded ordinance. As my nephew took in the silence he couldn’t help but think of how loud the place was in Feb/Mar of 1945.
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