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The Heroes Of Iwo Jima

Three days after that (the flag raising), the war was over for Easy Company.

Easy's original total force on Iwo Jima was 310 young men, including replacements. On March 26, Captain Severance led his 50 survivors on a tour of the newly dedicated 5th Division cemetery. And then they traveled by a small boat to the transport, the Winged Arrow, for the trip back home. They had to climb a cargo net to get aboard. Many were so weak that they had to be pulled over the rail by sailors.

When I asked Severance, many years later, exactly how it finally ended, he thought for a moment and then replied: "We had all the real estate."

Severance was the only one of six Easy Company ofhcers to walk off the island. Of his 3rd Platoon, the one that first scaled Suribachi, only Harold Keller, Jim Michaels, Phil Ward, and Grady Dyce came through the battle untouched. Easy Company had suffered eighty-four percent casualties.

Of the eighteen triumphant boys in Joe Rosenthal's "gung-ho" (1st) flag raising photograph, fourteen were casualties.

The hard statistics show the sacrifice made by Colonel Johnson's 2nd Battalion: 1,400 boys landed on D-Day; 288 replacements were provided as the battle went on, a total of 1,688. Of these, 1,511 had been killed or wounded. Only 177 walked off the island. And of the final 177, 91 had been wounded at least once and returned to battle.

It had taken twenty-two crowded transports to bring the 5th Division to the island. The survivors fit comfortably onto eight departing ships. The American boys had killed about 21,000 Japanese, but suffered more than 26,000 casualties doing so. This would be the only battle in the Pacific where the invaders suffered higher casualties than the defenders. The Marines fought in World War II for forty-three months. Yet in one month on Iwo ]ima, one third of their total deaths occurred. They left behind the Pacific's largest cemeteries: nearly 6,800 graves in all; mounds with their crosses and stars. Thousands of families would not have the solace of a body to bid farewell: just the abstract information that the Marine had "died in the performance of his duty" and was buried in a plot, aligned in a row with numbers on his grave. Mike lay in Plot 3, Row 5, Grave 694; Harlon in Plot 4, Row 6, Grave 912; Franklin in Plot 8, Row 7, Grave 2189.

When I think of Mike, Harlon, and Franklin there, I think of the message someone had chiseled outside the cemetery:

When you go home
Tell them for us and say
For your tomorrow
We gave our today

Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Iwo Jima - Feb. 19th, 2003

............

Final Analysis of the Battle

The Naval bombardment of only 3 days leading up to the invasion was far short than what was required. The Marines had requested 13 days of prelanding bombardment but were denied this request because of commitments to MaCarthur's campaign in Luzon.

The U.S. had underestimated the Japanese strenght on the island by as much as 70 percent.

The change in Japanese tactics was not ever contemplated because of earlier invasions on Saipan, Tarawa and Peleliu. These all had early Banzai attacks that were easily defeated and turned the tide of each invasion. This would not be the case with Iwo Jima. The nature and the difficulty of the soil on the island was never examined before the invasion.

The estimates made on the U.S. casualties was underestimated by 80 percent. 23,000 Casualties out of 70,000 Marines. Over third of the total Marines who participated in the invasion were either Killed, Wounded or suffered from Battle Fatigue.

This would be a strong warning of what was to come with the invasion of Okinawa.

Total Losses

U.S. personnel 6,821 Killed 19,217 Wounded 2,648 Combat Fatigue Total 28,686
Marine Casualties 23,573

Japanese Troops 1,083 POW and 20,000 est. Killed

Q: I have a relative who served on Iwo Jima. How can I learn about his past?"

A:
1. Get his service record from:

Military Records Facility 9700 Page Avenue St. Louis, Missouri 63132-5100 NAVY and MARINE CORPS (314) 538-4141 NARA Facilities

2. From that record you can determine his unit. Just as your identity goes from general to specific--ie, Country, State, City, Street--your Marine or Corpsman was identified by his Division, Regiment, Battalion, Company and then Platoon designation.

3. Send that information to one of the following Divisions, asking for people who knew your relative:

Third Marine Division Association PO Box 297 Dumfries, VA 22026

Fourth Marine Division Association PO Box 595 Laurel, Fl. 34272

Fifth Marine Division Association Dean F. Keeley PO Box 44250 Lafayette, LA 70504-4250

Q: I am looking for a list of those KIA on Iwo Jima?

A: I know of no complete listing. The most complete I'm aware of is at: http://www.geocities.com/mbackstr2000/dead/dead.htm

Hey Snippy! I met a guy who claimed he was at Iwo and that he also marched in Bataan (or that he was POW there) He was a quite feisty man and with a short stature. He hated the Japs still with a passion. He was a Marine "Raider" and talked of exploits of demolition with dynamite and they also had used flame throwers. He said NO ONE wanted to use one, very dangerous. I was standing in awe of him. It was several years ago and I was 28 or so. I shook his hand and he crushed mine!

Off hand I forgot his unit. Could he of been in both Iwo and Bataan?

I went to Iwo Jima for the 50th anniversary of the battle, in March 1995. It was my second visit to the island. It's a spooky place.

I'm going back next month for the 60th anniversary.

Every Devil Dog knows their heritage is attributed to these heroes.

On this Day In history

Birthdates which occurred on February 18:
1404 Leon B Alberti Italian humanist/architect (Della Pittura)
1516 Mary I Tudor [Bloody Mary] Greenwich, (1553-58), 1st reigning queen of Great Britain
1677 Jacques Cassini French astronomer (rings of Saturn)
physicist/inventor (battery)
1751 Karl Haack composer
1781 Henry Martyn Truro, missionary
1817 Lewis Addison Armistead Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1863
1817 Walter Page Lane Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1892
1829 Jean Jacques Alfred Mouton Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1864
1833 James Deshler Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1863
1836 Swami Ramakrishna [Gadadhar Chatterji] Indian mystic/Hindu leader
1853 August Belmont Jr breeder (Man 'O War)/founder (New York Jockey Club)
1857 Max Klinger German graphic artist/painter/sculptor
1859 Sholem Aleichem [Solomon Rabinowitz], author (Fiddler on the Roof)
1890 Adolphe Menjou Pittsburgh PA, actor (Front Page, Star is Born)
1890 Boris L Pasternak Russian poet/writer (Dr Zhivago)
1892 Wendell Wilkie Presidential candidate (R-1940)/author (One World)
1895 George "The Gipper" Gipp Notre Dame football star
1903 Nikolaj V Podgorny President of USSR (1965-77)
1913 Artur Axmann Nazi youth leader
1920 Bill Cullen Pittsburgh PA, TV game show host (over 20 different games)
1920 Jack Palance [Walter Palanuik], Lattimer PA, actor (City Slickers)
1921 Barbara Hale actress (Della Street-Perry Mason)
1922 Helen Gurley Brown Portland ME, author/publisher (Cosmopolitan)
1924 Günter Haese German sculptor/graphic artist (Guggenheim prize 1967)
1925 George Kennedy New York NY, actor (Cool Hand Luke, Airport, Blue Knight)
1927 John W Warner (Senator-R-VA, 1979- ), married Liz Taylor
1931 Toni Morrison Ohio, novelist (Tar Baby, Beloved, Song of Solomon)
1932 Milos Forman Cáslav Czechoslovakia, director (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, Ragtime)
1933 Yoko Ono Lennon [Mrs John Lennon], Tokyo Japan, singer(?)/artist(?)
1938 Manny Mota baseball outfielder (Los Angeles Dodgers)
1941 Herb Santiago vocalist (Frankie Lymon & Teenagers-Why Do Fools Fall)
1949 Cybill Shepherd Memphis TN, actress (Moonlighting, Last Picture Show)
1953 Robin Bachman Winnipeg, guitarist (Bachman Turner Overdrive-You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet)
1954 John Travolta Englewood NJ, actor (Welcome Back Kotter, Grease, Pulp Fiction)
1957 Vanna White [Rosich], North Myrtle Beach SC, TV game show hostess (Wheel of Fortune)
1964 Matt Dillon New Rochelle NY, actor (Flamingo Kid, Tex, Little Darlings, Kansas)

Deaths which occurred on February 18:
0999 Gregory V [Bruno] 1st German Pope, dies
1455 Fra Angelico (b.1387, aka Giovanni da Fiesole), Italian monk, Renaissance painter, died
1478 Duke of Clarence forced drowning in a wine barrel

1546 Martin Luther biblical scholar/religious reformer, dies at 62

1564 Michelangelo Buonarroti Italian sculptor/painter/architect/poet (David), dies at 88
1587 Mary Stuart Queen of Scots (1560-87), beheaded at 44
1878 John Tunstall rancher murdered.
1898 Frances Willard founder (Woman's Christian Temperance), dies at 58
1917 Charles E Barber US chief engraver (1879-1917), dies
1933 James Corbett (Gentleman Jim), heavyweight box champion (1892-97), dies
1963 Monte Blue silent film actor (Apache), dies of heart attack at 73
1967 Robert J Oppenheimer creator of atomic bomb, dies at 62
1973 Frank Costello US gangster, dies at 82
1977 Andy Devine [Jeremiah Schwartz], actor (Andy's Gang), dies at 71
1995 John Rhea "Yank" Lawson US jazz trumpeteer (Stormy weather), dies at 83
1998 Harry Caray sportscaster (Chicago Cubs), dies at 77
2001 Dale Earnhardt NASCAR driver/"The Intimidator", dies in crash during Daytona 500 at 49
2003 Johnny Paycheck (64), American country singer, died in Nashville, Tenn.

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 MURRAY JOSEPH VAUGHN---CHILLICOTHE MO.
1966 RUFFIN JAMES T.---DEATSVILLE AL
[REMAINS RETURNED 06/03/83]
1966 SPENCER LARRY H.---EARLHAM IA.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1966 SCHROEFFEL THOMAS ANTHONY---PITTSBURGH PA.
1967 DUART DAVID H.---CANTON PA.
[03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1967 JENSEN JAY R.---SANDY UT.
[02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV, DECEASED MAY 29, 1998]
1969 BRUCHER JOHN M.---CLATSKANIE OR.
[VOICE CONTACT, INJURED IN TREE]
1969 CHAPMAN RODNEY M.---ALPENA MI.
1969 JEROME STANLEY M.---DETROIT MI.
1969 SCHIMMELS EDDIE R.---LOS ANGELES CA.
1970 DAFFRON THOMAS C.---PINCKNEYVILLE IL.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 08/05/99]
1970 GILLEN THOMAS E.---KINGMAN KS.
1970 MORLEY CHARLES F.---WARRENSBURG MO.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 08/05/99]
1971 BERG GEORGE P.---BELFORD NJ.
1971 CRANDALL GREGORY S.---TACOMA WA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 1991 ID'D 06/18/93]
1971 DEMSEY WALTER E. JR.---GLENDORA NJ.
1971 ENGEN ROBERT J.---STOCKTON CA.
[REMAINS ID 30 OCT 91]
1971 JOHNSON GARY L.---MALIBU CA.
1971 LEWELLEN WALTER E.---NEW ALBANY IN.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 30 OCT 91]
1971 LLOYD ALLEN R.---ST CHARLES MN.
1971 WATSON RONALD L.---EL PASO TX.
1971 WOODS GERALD E.---SALEM OR.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied
by the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
3102 BC Origin of Kali Era (India)
1129 Jerusalem taken by Emperor Frederik II
1536 France & Turkey sign military/trade agreement against King Karel
1563 Huguenot Jean Poltrot de Méré shoots General François De Guise
1634 Ferdinand II orders commander Albrecht von Wallenstein, execution
1678 John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress" is published
1688 Quakers conduct 1st formal protest of slavery in Germantown PA
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's troops occupy Inverness Scotland
1787 Austrian emperor Jozef II bans children under 8 from labor
1804 1st US land-grant college, Ohio University, Athens OH, chartered
1815 Treaty of peace with Great Britain proclaimed
1841 1st continuous filibuster in US Senate began, lasting until March 11
1849 1st regular steamboat service to San Francisco CA starts: gold rush prospectors from east coast
1856 American (Know-Nothing) Party abolishes secrecy
1861 Confederate President Jefferson Davis inaugurated at Montgomery AL
1861 King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia becomes 1st king of Italy
1865 Evacuation of Charleston SC; Sherman's troops burn the city
1865 Union troops force Confederates to abandon Fort Anderson NC
1865 Battle of Ft Moultrie SC occupied by Federals
1878 Lincoln County War began with the murder of Billy the Kid's mentor, Englishman rancher John Tunstall.
1884 Police seize all copies of Tolstoy's "What I Believe In"
1884 General Charles Gordon arrives in Khartoum
1885 Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" published
1896 Cave of Winds at Niagara Falls goes almost dry for 1st time in 50 years
1899 80º F, San Francisco CA
1899 San Francisco named as a port of dispatch for Army transports
1899 Stanley Cup Montréal Shamrocks sweep Queens University (Kingston Ontario) in 2 games
1900 Battle at Paardeberg, 1,270 British killed/injured
1900 British troops occupy Monte Christo Natal
1901 H Cecil Booth patented a dust removing suction cleaner
1913 French painting "Nude Descending a Staircase" by Marcel DuChamp displayed at Armory Show in New York NY
1915 Germany begins a blockade of England
1922 Kenesaw Mountain Landis resigns his judgeship to work for baseball
1922 WOC-AM in Davenport IA begins radio transmissions
1924 US Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby ends term due to Teapot Dome-scandal
1927 US & Canada begin diplomatic relations
1930 Cow flown & milked, milk sealed in paper containers & parachuted
1930 US astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto
1943 Munich resistance group "White Rose" captured by Nazis
1944 The Army, Navy and Marines invaded Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific
1945 U.S. Marines invade Iwo Jima. About 60,000 US marines went ashore at Iwo Jima, an 8-sq. mile island of rock, volcanic ash and black sand. The 36-day battle took the lives of 7,000 Americans and about 20,000 of 22,000 Japanese defenders.
1951 3 City College of New York basketball players admit to accepting bribes
1951 Nepál becomes a constitutional monarchy
1952 4th Emmy Awards Red Skelton, Sid Caesar & Imogene Coca win
1960 Walter O'Malley, Los Angeles Dodger owner, purchases Chavez Ravine for $494,000
1962 France & Algerian Moslems negotiate truce to end 7 year war
1964 Papandreou government takes power in Greece
1965 Frank Gifford announces his retirement from football for broadcasting
1965 Gambia gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1967 Softball pitcher Eddie Feigner strikes out 6 straight major leaguers
1968 10,000 demonstrators against US in Vietnam War in West-Berlin
1969 PLO-attack El-Al plane in Zurich Switzerland
1970 Chicago 7 defendants found innocent of inciting to riot
1972 California Supreme Court abolishes death penalty
1972 Giulio Andreotti sworn in as premier of Italy
1973 54-kg octopus measuring 7 meter across captured in Hood Canal, Washington
1977 The space shuttle Enterprise, sitting atop a Boeing 747, went on its maiden "flight" above the Mojave Desert.
1978 1st Iron Man Triathlon (swim, bike ride, marathon) held, Kona HI
1979 -52º F, Old Forge NY (state record)
1979 Snow falls in the Sahara Desert
1980 Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Liberal Party wins Canada's elections
1988 Anthony M Kennedy, sworn in as Supreme Court Justice
1995 Pamela Anderson (Baywatch) & Tommy Lee (Motley Crüe) wed
1997 In Algeria Islamic militants shot, hacked or burned to death 33 people in Blida, south of Algiers.
1998 President Clinton's foreign policy team encountered jeers during a town meeting at Ohio State University while trying to defend the administration's threat to bomb Iraq into compliance with UN weapons edicts
2000 Iranians voted in an election that gave reformers a majority in the parliament, long a bastion of hard-liners.
2001 Robert Philip Hanssen (56), senior FBI agent, was arrested for spying.
2001 The Iraqi press referred to Pres. Bush as "son of the snake" and "the new dwarf" following the Feb. 16 bombing attacks.
2004 Scientists reported that X-rays form galaxy RX J1242-11 indicated a black hole tearing apart a star and gobbling up a share of its gaseous mass

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Gambia : Independence Day (1965)
Iceland : National Bun Day
Iran : Mohammed's Death
Israel : Mother's Day
Nepál : Constitutional Day (1951)
US : Pay Your Bills Week (Day 5)
US : Pancake Week (Day 5)
Wild Bird Feeding Month

Religious Observances
Christian : Commemoration of St Bernadette
Christian : Feast of St Angilbert
Christian : Feast of St Constantia (St Constance)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, martyr
Orthodox : Feast of St Leo I, the Great
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of Bl Fra Angelico, Florentine painter
Lutheran : Commemoration of Martin Luther, renewer of the Church

Religious History
1571 A group of Spanish Jesuits in the Chesapeake Bay area, led by Fray Batista Segura, were murdered by the Indians they had come six months earlier to convert. The massacre led ultimately to the withdrawal of all Jesuits living in Florida as well.
1678 John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" was first published, in England. Bunyan was frequently imprisoned for preaching without a license. During these sequestered times, between 1660-72, Bunyan collected the ideas enabling him to pen this masterpiece of Christian literature.
1688 At a monthly meeting in Germantown, PA, a group of Quakers and Mennonites became the first white body in English America to register a formal protest against slavery. The historic "Germantown Protest" denounced both slavery and the slave trade.
1781 Birth of Henry Martyn, Anglican missionary to Persia. Martyn first sailed for the East in 1805. His great linguistic gifts led him to translate the New Testament both into Hindustani and Arabic, before his premature death at 31.
1867 The Augusta Institute was founded in Georgia. Established as an institution of higher learning for black students, it moved to Atlanta in 1879, and in 1913 changed its name to Morehouse College.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"Many a family tree needs trimming."

Shameless Plug
Happy Birthday-Lewis Addison Armistead (Brig. General C.S.A.)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1346019/posts
/Shameless Plug

Thanks for the ping, SAI.

Frannie, theres a resource link at the bottom you might be interested in.