Hershel “Woody” Williams, Medal of Honor, Iwo Jima
HONOLULU — Seventy-three years ago on the island of Iwo Jima, Hershel “Woody” Williams randomly chose several fellow Marines to give him rifle cover as he made a one-man charge with his flamethrower against a network of Japanese pillboxes.
He spent four hours unleashing flames into the pillboxes that had stymied advance for days, racing back to the Marine Corps lines to refuel the flamethrower, and then running again into battle — all while covered by only four riflemen.
Hershel Williams
Williams was ultimately awarded the Medal of Honor on Feb. 23, 1945, for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty,” as the official citation describes it. He “daringly went forward alone to attempt the reduction of devastating machine-gun fire” coming out of reinforced concrete pillboxes, on which bazooka and mortar rounds had no effect.
At one point, Williams mounted a pillbox, stuck the flamethrower’s nozzle through an air vent and killed the enemy within it. Two of the Marines covering Williams died that day, but he never knew their names, and never knew where their remains rested until just a few months ago.
On Saturday, Williams, with the Medal of Honor hanging around his neck, stood over the Hawaii grave of Charles Fischer, one of those “guardian angels” who helped him survive that day and is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, nicknamed the Punchbowl. He saluted the Marine, who died a private first class that day, and then slowly bent down and placed a purple lei upon his headstone.
Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams, then and now
“I have always said I’m just the caretaker of it,” Williams said later of the Medal of Honor. “It belongs to them. They sacrificed for it. I didn’t.”
Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded to men who fought on Iwo Jima; Williams is the last still alive.
Williams was in Hawaii to dedicate a Gold Star Families Memorial Monument at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe. The monument was initiated by Williams through the organization he founded, the Hershel Woody Williams Medal of Honor Foundation. This is the foundation’s 33rd monument to be dedicated; they recognize the sacrifices made by families who have lost loved ones in the service of their country.
Punchbowl Cemetery, Honolulu, HI
After the Saturday morning dedication, the 94-year-old Williams visited the Punchbowl Cemetery in Honolulu, where the remains of hundreds of servicemembers who died during World War II are interred. Patrick O’Leary, a foundation board member whom Williams has dubbed his “research guru,” sleuthed the identity of Fischer by poring through hundreds of military documents concerning the Iwo Jima campaign waged in February and March 1945.
Using five witness statements that had been given in the course of recommending Williams for the Medal of Honor, O’Leary was able to reliably pinpoint the company the riflemen were in and found that only a corporal and private first class had been killed that day. “It just has to be them,” O’Leary said. “Nothing else fits.”
Hershel Williams
Last fall he tracked down Fischer’s gravesite in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The other Marine is buried in Long Island, N.Y.
Williams also visited for the first time the grave of Vernon Waters, a fellow Marine and close friend who died on Iwo Jima.
They had become very close in the lead up to the Iwo Jima campaign, fostering a feeling of devotion in Williams so strong that he ultimately risked court-martial.
While on the island of Guam, Waters and Williams had made a pact that should either of them be killed, the other would return their rings to family members.
William’s girlfriend had given him a ring with a “wee, tiny, little ruby” in it before he left for the Marine Corps.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Please visit Katrina’s site for honoring our veterans. My father has been honored there and now a dear old friend. Thank you.
Sgt Walter “Wally” Morgan Bryant
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Eark Albert – McAlester, OK; US Army Air Corps, WWII, HQ/457th Arty/11th Airborne Division
Edward Cox – Tampa, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII & Korea
A soldier from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Regiment, the guardians of Arlington National Cemetery, waits amid the gravestones during funeral services for Army Spc. Sean R. Cutsforth, of Radford, Va., a member of the 101st Airborne who was killed in Afghanistan in December, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Frank Fazekas Sr. – Trenton, NJ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Lt., P-47 pilot, KIA
Betty Flowers – Bristol, ENG; British Woman’s Air Force WAAF, WWII
William Morris – Broad Channel, NY; US Navy, WWII, Corpsman
Jack Mullins – Sydney, AUS; RA Air Force, WWII
Stanley Serafin – Surprise, AZ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-29 technician
Jesse Traywick – Ft. Benning, GA; US Army WWII, PTO, Gen. Wainwright’s aide, POW
Donald Wesley Troy – Midland, TX; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO & CBI, P-40 & P-47 pilot / Korea, P-51, Distinguished Flying Cross
John Zucco – Boston, MA; USMC, WWII, PTO, USS Alaska
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William Leahy, USMC
“As it appeared on Locust Valley Leader, March 4, 2015. Patty Brexel of the LV Leader sent this to me,” Rosalinda Morgan, contributor.
William Leahy, at 17, enlisted in the U.S.M.C. in December, 1943. At that age, he needed parental permission to join. Eventually his mother relented and signed the form. Less than one year later the young Marine fought in what is considered the bloodiest battle the Corps has engaged in to date. In the following , Leahy vividly recalls some memories of the 36 days he spent on Iwo Jima.
In his words:
There was a war going on and I wanted to fight for our country. After boot camp at Parris Island, S.C. much to my disappointment, I was assigned to guard duty in Maryland. One day I noticed a Fleet Marine Force sign-up sheet on a bulletin board at the camp. I immediately signed my name to it. An old Marine, with previous service, a “retread” were the only Marines available for guard duty except me. He told me, “To forget it, the notice had been there forever, and no one was ever called up.”
I proved that old Marine wrong. After some advanced training at Camp Lejeune, NC, I eventually arrived in Guam in October, 1944. I was assigned to the 3rd Pioneers of the 3rd Marine Division. We shipped out and headed for an eight-square mile volcanic island called Iwo Jima, about 750 miles south of Japan. It was heavily fortified with about 22,000 Japanese soldiers and it was said to be impregnable.
We were there on the first day of the invasion, February 19, 1945. For the first 10 hours everything seemed to be going well. We were still on our transport ship, but we could hear everything that was going on through the P.A. system. Then a Kamikaze raid badly damaged one of the carriers in the fleet and forced us to head out to sea. We were just a sitting duck in the harbor.
The next day, they let down the cargo nets on our ship and down we scramble onto our landing craft. No mean task that was. Three times that day, we climbed up and down the cargo net because the artillery and wreckage made it impossible to make a beach assault.
My company, Fox company, 2nd Battalion, 21st Marines, about 240 men or so, finally hit the beach the next day. There were American bodies everywhere. I don’t think I saw a dead enemy soldier for about a week. They were all underground, dug into caves.
We were getting hit hard. We were taking a pounding. They were giving everything they had. We dug into foxholes as fast as we could. But the holes kept filling in, because the whole island was made up of very fine volcanic ash. Marines were getting hit all around me.
Then we advanced up the island, alternating between forward and reserve units. But even if you were in the reserve you could be assigned to stretcher duty, bringing in the wounded and the dead from the front lines, which in many ways was worse. A buddy of mine, Charles Thomas Lochre, from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, went out on stretcher day and I never saw him again. We lived and fought side-by-side and then he was dead. I saw the flag go up. The famous one on top of Mt. Suribachi. That hill was captured a few days after the invasion. A lot of people think that was at the end of the invasion. But we had many more rough battles ahead of us. Actually, the worst action was in the northern part of the island. That’s where the Japanese headquarters and their General were located.
Sherman tank w/ rocket launcher attachment
There were two things all the ground troops hated, tanks and rocket launchers. And I don’t mean the Japanese tanks and rocket launchers. As soon as our tanks came in or the artillery started deploying the rocket launchers, the Japanese would zero in on us. The guys in the tanks were all zippered in but the guys on the ground really caught it.
I guess they fed us all-right, mostly cold K-rations. Once in a while, they’d manage to bring in big vacuum bottles of hot coffee up to the front if the action calmed down. Most think of the Pacific as hot and balmy. But actually it was pretty chilly, especially when it rained. Once during those 36 days, I actually got to have a hot shower. After about four weeks we were pretty “skuzzy”. Our uniforms were covered with blood from carrying out the dead and wounded. They took my dirty clothes and threw them away and gave me new ones.
Our favorite defense weapon was a bulldozer. We put some metal up around by the operator and he would raise the blade and forge ahead into the enemy lines. The Japs were all underground. They had a very intricate network of tunnels. One day my buddy, Ralphie Lane from Brooklyn, and I were clearing a cave. I don’t know how it happened but that time he went in first. I heard a scream, saw gun flash and I fired at it. I guess I hit the Jap. We pulled my buddy out and blew the cave. There were probably more of them in there. I just don’t know for sure. But Ralphie was dead, shot in the head.
They also had something called a spider trap. The enemy would buy steel, like our 55-gallon drums, in the ground, get inside, and camouflage the top, wait for a patrol to pass by and then pop out and shoot us. Well the bulldozer worked out real fine in those situations. On one sweep we captured a Japanese soldier who was in a spider trap. His legs were sticking up out of the ground. When we pulled him out he indicated that his leg was injured and he couldn’t walk, so we put him in a shelter shelf and took him back to the CP. On the way to the rear, numerous Marines wanted to shoot and kill the injured Japanese soldier. I had to fend them off on several occasions. Saving him proved worthwhile, because it turned out that the next day they gave him a radio and sent him behind the Japanese lines in an effort to get the Japanese General to surrender.
That’s about the only time you’d capture a Jap. They never gave up. I admired them. They were tenacious fighter. I didn’t hate them. They were the other team and they lost. And they lost big. Out of the estimated 22,000 Japanese soldiers on the island, we only captured 216. Some 3000 Japanese soldiers were hiding in the caves, and eventually surrendered or committed suicide. The ones that surrendered were surprised by the American’s kindness in offering cigarettes, and water. We took a very heavy hit. Of the 60,000 Marines who took part in the invasion, 6,831 were killed and 19,000 were wounded. I was one of the rarities of that battle. I was never wounded.
When the island was pretty secure, we turned it over to the Army on April 1st.
We went back to Guam to train for a planned November 1st invasion of Japan. If the Japanese fought so hard for a tiny island like Iwo Jima, what would they fight like for their own homeland? I had decided at that point that I would never make it home. Then the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan finally surrendered, on September 2, 1945. The dropping of the atomic bomb proved to be a good decision as it saved hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides.
I came home on my 20th birthday, April 22, 1946. Being in the Marine Corps was the defining point of my life. But, looking back now, it seems like a vignette from a distant past. Sort of like when I read about the Civil Was as a child and imagined what it would be like to fight in a war. I sometimes wonder if I was really there.
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Anthony Acevedo – San Bernadino, CA; US Army, WWII, ETO, Medic, POW
Jack Barnes – Tampa, FL; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Charles Crump – Emmett, ID; US Army, WWII, POW camp guard
William Derrenberger – Loudonville, OH; US Coast Guard, WWII, PTO
John Harvey – Barnum, WV; US Navy, WWII & Korea, (Ret. 20 y.)
Herbert Leake – Seattle, WA; US Army, WWII, PTO
Warwick Mentiplay – Malvern, AUS; RA Navy, WWII, HMAS Quiberon
Frederick Stokes – Rock City, CAN; WWII, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion
Millie Dunn Veasey – Raleigh, NC; US Army WAC, WWII, 6888 Central Postal Battalion
William Wheat – Montross, VA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, HQ Co./187th/11th Airborne Division
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Mar 24
This gallery contains 15 photos.
Originally posted on USS Hornet (CV-12)-A Father's Untold War Story:
John T. Ryan US Navy The world is still at war and my father, Seaman First Class, John Thomas Ryan is still serving on the USS Hornet (CV-12). I recently accessed a war diary on the website Fold3. This war diary provides a…
Many have seen a picture or the monument that depicts the raising of the flag on Mt. Suribachi, but not many have heard what happened after that first, non-staged flag was raised amid Japanese territory.
Lt.Col. Chaney Johnson and Capt. Dave Severance gave the small flag to 1stLt. Harold Schrier and ordered him to take a 40-man assault patrol to the summit, secure the crater and raise the flag, as an earlier patrol had reached the summit without being fired upon.
Iwo Jima wounded w/ corpsmen
Schrier’s patrol included a radioman, 2 teams of stretcher-bearers and SSgt. Lou Lowery of Leatherneck Magazine bringing up the rear, photographing every step of the way. Marines below watched as the patrol moved forward in a difficult climb, slowly moving up the side of the mountain, sometimes crawling on hands and knees. Upon reaching the rim, they crawled over the edge, one man at a time.
Fanning out in the rim with minor enemy activity in the cave openings, a long piece of pipe was soon found and taken taken to a spot chosen by Lt. Shrier. The flag was attached to the pole and Lowery snapped the picture of the first flag raising at 10:10 A.M. on 23 February 1945.
Original flag picture signed by SSgt. Lou Lowery, Leatherneck Mag.
The 6 men present as the flag pole was planted were: Sgt. ‘Boots’ Thomas; Sgt. Henry Hansen; Cpl. Charles Lindberg (Raider); Lt. Harold Shrier (Raider), Pfc James Michaels and Pvt. Louis Charlo. As it came into view, the tired and dirt Marines below cheered loudly and a chorus of bells, whistles and foghorns emanated from the ships in the harbor.
At the same time, all hell broke loose in the crater as the Japanese saw the flag flying. Enraged by the sight of the flag, grenades came flying and shots rang out from the caves with one shot just missing Lowery, who tumbled almost 50 feet down the side of the mountain before grabbing a bush to save himself and his camera.
A Japanese officer, carrying a sword then charged the group. The other members of the patrol quickly killed him and charged the caves firing machine guns and flames throwers while tossing demolition charges to seal them off. When the area was secured, the platoon started back down the mountain only to meet another group coming up.
Mt. Surabichi climb
Col. Johnson had the thought that someone would want the flag as a souvenir and ordered a larger flag to be found. It was retrieved from LST-779 and given to 2nd battalion Runner Pfc Rene Gagnon to take to the top. And so – the more famous picture was taken by Photographer Joseph Rosenthal of the Associated Press.
Story is from “REAL BLOOD! REAL GUTS!: U.S. Marine Raiders and their CORPSMEN in World War II” by James Gleason.
Click on images to enlarge.
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As many of you have certainly heard already, the wreck of the USS Juneau has recently been located. I’m sure the name must sound very familiar to you – the ship that carried down the five Sullivan brothers.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/article/explorers-discover-the-wreck-of-the-uss-juneau/ar-BBKwToF
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Chesty XIV meets Chesty XV at Barracks Washington
Chesty XV, USMC mascot
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Jean Bowen – Ottawa, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII
Irene Cason – Mosinee, WI; US Navy WAVE, WWII
Bill Dingwall – Woodstock, GA; US Army, WWII
Alan Falk – New Bedford, MA; US Army, Captain
Lewis Gilbert – London, ENG; RAF, WWII, Air Force film crew
Clifford Hunt – Anchorage, AK; US Army, Korea, Medical Corps, Psychologist
Charles Jackson – Parrish, FL; 187th RCT, Vietnam, Sgt. Major, Bronze Star
Florence ‘Shutsy’ Reynolds – Connellsville, PA; US Army Air Corps WASP, WWII, pilot
James Studebaker – Lucerne, MO; US Army, WWII & Korea
Phillip Wendell – Sioux City, IA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, PT boats
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The 31st Naval Construction Battalion on Iwo Jima
This account was submitted by: John Ratomski
A Seabee on Iwo Jima: They Also Served Who Drove Cranes and Cats -62nd SeaBee Battalion
BY: JACK CORNWELL
ON D+2 WE WERE JUST OFF THE SOUTH END OF THE ISLAND, in a Landing Ship, Tank. At about 5 p.m. we were told to report to our equipment. We started our engines, the LST opened its bow doors, and the ramp dropped. We were at Red Beach. A Caterpillar bulldozer went first, to build a dirt ramp. Once that was ready we moved out—trucks, more Cats, and my Northwest 25 crane. The noise was continuous. Wreckage was everywhere. It was getting dark when I got to shore, close to Mount Suribachi. There was a 30-degree slope up from the beach; I barely made it to the top of that volcanic sand.
My partner Red and I were to share a foxhole. Trying to move that sand was like digging flour. I took the first watch and let Red sleep. When it was his turn, he woke me up every time he heard land crabs. Finally I gave him my bolo knife and told him that only after he had shot the carbine and stuck the enemy with the bolo could he wake me.
Seabees unloading cargo on Iwo Jima’s Red Beach
We were issued D rations, bars about two-and-a-half by five-and-a-half inches that looked like chocolate but were grainy, not sweet. Three bars was one day’s supply. Navy guys on the ship had gotten into the canned goods we had stowed on the crane, but they hadn’t fooled with the five-gallon can of water we had hidden in the boom. We were thankful to have that, since we were allowed only two canteens of water a day.
On D+3 we woke at dawn but couldn’t leave our foxholes until we had clearance from security. Finally we got up, relieved ourselves—no toilet—and saw men from our battalion. Cats went to clear the beaches. Dump trucks were hauling supplies. After we hung the crane with a clam bucket—the Marines needed a water point dug across the island for distributing fresh and desalinated water—Red and I split up.
I started for the beach in the crane. A Northwest 25 was a big, slow thing on treads with a rotating cab and long boom; even with its big diesel engine it only did about two miles an hour. It was going to be a while before I could dig that water point. All around me were Marines trying to get somewhere. Right in the middle of the road some of them had dug a hole and were setting up a 105mm howitzer that they pointed at Japs a hundred yards away on some rocks. After they shot five rounds that killed everyone on the rocks they moved the gun and I filled in the hole and went down to the beach. Far enough up from the sea to avoid the tides, I dug five holes, each 20 feet in diameter, down to the water table. Other Seabees and Marines set up evaporators, pumps, and storage tanks for the water point.
SeaBees constructing the Iwo Jima command post.
I was told to go to the battalion’s new bivouac, below the old Japanese airfield nearest Suribachi. I left my machine there at the strip. At the bivouac two guys from my company and I remodeled a shell crater for our quarters. I stole a tarp to cover it. For sanitary facilities we had slit trenches we squatted over.
Around D+5, my company commander, Lieutenant Pond—I don’t think I ever knew his first name; we generally called him “Mister Pond”—told me my mother had died. There was no way he would be able to get me home to bury her. We couldn’t even move wounded men off the island. I wanted to send money for the funeral, but the paymaster was out on the ship. Lieutenant Pond loaned me $100 and took care of sending it home. He was an outstanding officer. I didn’t mind calling him “Mister.”
This piece of art was created by the Navy Seabee Waldon T. Rich, a few days after the Battle of Iwo Jima to pay tribute to the flag raising on top of Mt Suribachi.
I needed to work on the airfield, so the mechanics changed my rig over from a bucket to a shovel. I put in 9 or 10 hours a day extending the original airstrip to make it big enough to accommodate B-29s. Marines were fighting for the very piece of ground where we were trying to enlarge the strip. We had to watch out for sniper fire and mortar fire and live ammunition and mines. One evening after I finished my shift the first B-29 landed.
ON D+6 THE MAIN BODY OF THE 62ND CAME ASHORE. By D+7 the cooks and bakers had the cook tent erected and we got our first hot meal with baked bread. Marines didn’t have chow lines, just K rations, so whenever they had a chance they got into the Seabee chow line. We got water for showers from underground. It smelled like rotten eggs but it was hot enough. We made the pipes out of shell casings. The showers were out in the open with no covering. Slit trenches got upgraded to four- and six-holers.
Finding Japanese booby traps
After working about 10 days I was sent to Airfield 2, half a mile north, to help extend that strip. I had to walk the crane with the shovel on it uphill past a B-29 in a gully with other abandoned equipment. I noticed a bottle of sake and had gotten down to fetch it when a passing Marine said, “I wouldn’t handle that if I were you.” His face was bloody from hundreds of tiny holes made by a grenade. He explained that it was a booby trap and showed me the wires inside the bottle. I gently put the bottle down. He was waiting to be treated nearby at an evacuation center that was also identifying the dead. They had men going through pockets and checking dog tags and clothing and then stacking the bodies four or five high at an old Japanese revetment. It was awful gruesome.
There was a 105mm howitzer behind our bivouac. The Japanese tried to knock it out with eight-inch guns. The first shell hit about 20 feet from me and killed two of my buddies. The Japs were also using giant mortar shells that tumbled end over end in the air, making a frightening screaming noise. But they usually landed in the water. We figured they were launched from a trough, like Fourth of July skyrockets.
One day a Marine crawled up into my crane’s cab. He pointed to three guys about 100 yards away and said one was a lieutenant colonel who wanted to talk to me. I hurried over. The colonel asked how far down I could dig. Twenty-six feet, I told him.
“That ought to do it,” he said. “Can you move the rig?”
When I said yes the colonel told me I was temporarily relieved of my duties. His sergeant drove me about three-quarters of a mile to a rise called Hill 382. At the foot of the hill he showed me a flat area covered with dead Japs, big mines, and shell casings, then he drove me back to my machine. It took an hour to fuel the crane and return to the work site.
Marine flamethrower on Iwo Jima
The sergeant was waiting there with 40 Marines who spread out on either side of me. The sergeant had me move the crane forward to a cave, which the colonel told me to dig out. I dug all day. We found supplies and living quarters, but no people. That evening the Marines dug foxholes; they were on the fighting line. One drove me to my bivouac. The next morning, when we realized we wouldn’t find anything more, the Marines burned out the cave with flamethrowers. Then they sealed it. I found out later we had been looking for the Japanese commander of the island. Hill 382 became known as Meat Grinder Hill.
For 20 days I dug out caves. At some we pulled out dead Japs and rifles, pistols, and ammunition. I sold souvenirs, mostly to air force fighter personnel. One day I found a bail of tube socks. From then on I never washed socks. Every morning I would put on a new pair. I took a gun rack off a wrecked jeep and mounted it on the nose of the crane cab, which seemed a better place to keep my gun than the floor of the rig. The front windows of the cab were hinged so I could get hold of my weapon in a hurry.
For the continuation of this story and other first hand accounts about the SeaBees contributed by John Ratomski, they appear in the comments at this post – Click Here!
Click on images to enlarge.
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This week the U.S. Air Force lost 10 Great Men
Andrew Becker – Novi, MI; US Air Force, 318th Special Operations Squadron, Captain, pilot, KIA
Dashan J. Biggs – Port Jefferson Station, NY; US Air Force, Iraq, SSgt., KIA
Missing Man formation
Kenneth Dalga – Union, KY; US Air Force, 318th Special Operations Squadron Combat Systems, Captain, KIA
Frederick Dellecker – Ormond Beach, FL; US Air Force, 318th Special Operations Squadron, 1stLt., pilot, KIA
Carl P. Enis – Tallahassee, FL; US Air Force, Iraq, SSgt., KIA
Andreas B. O’Keefe – Center Moriches, NY; US Air Force, Iraq, Captain, KIA
William R. Posch – Indiatlantic, FL; US Air Force, Iraq, MSgt., KIA
Christopher J. Ruguso – Commack, NY; US Air Force, Iraq, MSgt., KIA
Mark K. Weber – Colorado Springs, CO; US Air Force, Iraq, Captain, KIA
Christopher T. Zanetis – Long Island City, NY; Iraq, Captain, KIA
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This is some of what our airmen were up against in the Pacific.
One of the better fighter designs operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War Two but not built in enough numbers, was the Mitsubishi J2M Raiden (“Thunderbolt” – Allied Code Name: Jack) land based interceptor used to attack Allied bombers such as the USAAF Boeing B-29 Superfortress. It was designed to be fast with a top speed 596km/h (370 mph – examples captured and tested by the United States using 92 octane fuel plus methanol, flew at speeds between 655km/h and 671km/h!), with an excellent rate of climb, to quickly reach the enemy bombers at altitude and later variants packed a punch with 4 x 20mm Type 99 wing mounted cannons to bring them down. It was armoured but maneuverability was sacrificed for speed and this pilot protection. Unfortunately performance at high altitude was hampered by the lack of an engine turbocharger on the main production Raiden aircraft.
Mitsubishi…
View original post 1,071 more words
Bombs from US Army 7th Air Force drop on Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima was more than just another strategic island fight in the US military’s struggle with Imperial Japan during WWII. It was a key stepping stone for the planned invasion of Japan. It was a battle with heavy losses, great heroism, and eventual controversy.
By the start of 1945, the American military were planning an invasion of Japan, intended to take that country out of the war. In preparation, they began bombing campaigns against the Japanese mainland, softening it up ready for the attack. Everyone knew that it would be a brutal struggle – the Japanese were fighting tenaciously for every inch of ground, and would be even more determined in defending their homeland. But with the Manhattan Project still a closely guarded secret, to most people it looked like the only way to win the war.
Taking off from the Mariana Islands, B-29 Superfortresses took 3000 mile round trips to bomb Japan. It was a long journey, tough on the pilots, planes and fuel supplies. Flying so far from base, the Superfortresses lacked fighter protection, making them vulnerable to Japanese defenders.
Iwo Jima, regarded by the Japanese as an unsinkable aircraft carrier, lay only 760 miles from Japan. The Japanese were using its fighter base and radar to take out the American bombers. Capturing it would be a double victory for the Americans – taking out those defenses, and putting their own fighters close enough to support US bombers on raids over Japan.
USS New York firing 356mm guns on Iwo Jima, 16 Feb. 1945
Five miles long and two-and-a-half miles wide at its broadest, Iwo Jima was the best-defended spot in Japan’s Pacific empire. Its tough defenses were manned by 21,000 soldiers led by Lt.General Kuribayashi Tadamichi. Delays in launching the invasion gave General Kuribayashi time to reinforce the defenses, despite bomber attacks.
Air strikes, rockets, napalm and the shells of naval guns pounded the defensive positions. Some bunkers and caves were destroyed, but the Japanese remained well dug in and determined. They had been preparing for this moment for nearly a year. They would not be easily broken.
On the night of 18 February 1945, Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, overall commander of the invasion, arrived at Iwo Jima along with Task Force 58, a vast carrier fleet.
As 19 February began, landing craft headed toward the beaches under a clear, bright sky. There would be no helpful gloom or fog to help the marines and soldiers hide from enemy guns.
The first troops, mostly marines hit land at one minute to nine, welcomed by desultory fire from rifles and mortars, as you saw in the video. Crossing the beaches, they hit fifteen-foot slopes of ash that had been spewed out by the island’s volcanic mountains. This soft black mass was tough to cross, forcing men to abandon equipment to continue their advance. It was impossible to dig foxholes in ash, the upside being that it absorbed some enemy shrapnel.
1st Battalion/23rd Marines burrow in on Yellow Beach
The slow rate of fire from the enemy made the Americans think they would face little opposition from a broken Japanese force, but Kuribayashi had held back his men’s fire for an hour while the beaches became rammed full of troops and equipment – Then he unleashed the full fury of guns, mortars and artillery.
Under intense fire, the Americans pushed hard to get off the beaches and reach their objectives. Transport vehicles became bogged down in the ash, forcing men to slog through it on foot.
Japanese bunker on Iwo Jima
The Japanese held out in bunkers connected by a tunnel network. The Americans would clear out a bunker with grenades and flamethrowers then move on, only for the Japanese to reoccupy the bunker by underground routes and fire on them from behind.
By the end of 19 February, the 28th Marine Regiment had crossed the island at its narrowest point, where it was only half a mile across, cutting off the Japanese at Mount Suribachi. One of the two airfields had also been taken.
References: Hyperwar; WW2today; War Histor online
Click on images to enlarge.
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Clyde Barth – McAlisterville, PA; US Army, WWII / USMC, Korea
Linda Campbell – Portland, OR; US Air Force (Ret.), Lt.Colonel
Michael Ferriolo – Corona, NY; US Army, Medical Corps
William Hartley – Macon, GA; US Army, Medical Corps, Captain
George Lagasse – Manchester, NH; US Navy, WWII, USS Essex
Basil Nickerson – Ketchikan, AK; US Navy, WWII, USS Broome
Ono ‘Peggy’ Olson – Ferryville, WI; US Navy WAVES, WWII, 12th Regiment
Billy Sheppard – Alamogordo, NM; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Hudson
Johnny Weidkamp – Bellingham, WA; US Merchant Marine, WWII
John Zucco – Boston, MA; USMC, WWII, USS Alaska
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From: “Japanese Destroyer Captain” by IJN Capt. Tameichi Hara____
After heavy preliminary bombardment, the Americans began the invasion of Iwo Jima… Not a single Japanese warship was sent to oppose this enemy landing, only 700 miles from the homeland. Meanwhile the bombing of Japanese cities by B-29 Superforts from Marianas bases continued with increasing intensity.
Nothing I write could possibly give you the feeling of this operation – so please watch this documentary that gives both American and Japanese thoughts on this 19 February 1945!
I realize this is rather long, so if you have limited time, I suggest watching the first few minutes – still – it is very impressive!
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Murray Barton – NYC, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO
Rayner Broadbent – Waikato, NZ; RNZ Navy # 8573, WWII, submarine service
Ralph Casale – Chelmsford, NH; USMC, WWII, frogman
Donald Gilbert – Greenville, OH; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
John Herberg – Eau Claire, WI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI, pilot (Ret. 30 y.)
Ernell Hermanson – Albuquerque, NM; US Army, WWII
John McShane – Boston, MA; US Army, 187th RCT, infantryman
William Shank – US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, 8th Air Force
Kenneth Taylor – Montreal, CAN; RC Navy, WWII, Signalman, HMCS Inch Arran
Ralph Wasserman – St. Paul, MN, US Navy, WWII, PTO, radioman
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Angel Flight
Angel Flights are the U.S. Air Force planes (C-130’s) used to fly home our Fallen Soldiers. Angel Flight is also their call sign. Angel Flights have top priority in the U.S. airspace – Towers will be heard to say, “Number One for landing/take off.”
The Air Force Angel Wing flare pattern is amazing to watch as the flares come out in the shape of an angel wing. A fitting tribute to bring home our fallen with the respect they have earned.
Please watch and listen to Radney Foster sing the powerful message of “Angel Flight”
During January 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), accounted for the following U.S. service members:
Willard H. Aldridge, Seaman 1st Class, USS Oklahoma
Warren H. Crim, Fireman 3rd Class, USS Oklahoma
Eugene P. Ford, 1st Lt., 765th Bombardment Squadron/461st Bombardment Group/15th Air Force
Leonard R. Geller, Fireman 1st Class, USS Oklahoma
Donald G. Keller, Seaman 1st Class, USS Oklahoma
Jack H. Krieger, Pfc, USS Oklahoma
Chester E. Seaton, Fireman 1st Class, USS Oklahoma
Lowell E. Valley, Fireman 2nd Class, USS Oklahoma
William C. McDowell, Cpl., Co. D/1st Battalion/32nd Infantry Regiment/7th Infantry Div.
Lamar E. Newman, Pfc, Co. B/1st Battalion/9th Infantry Regiment/ 2nd Infantry Division
Pete W. Simon, Sgt. 1st Class, Co. G/8th Cavalry Regiment
A Navy diver guides a salvage basket during an underwater recovery operation searching for World War II remains off the coast of Koror, Palau, Jan. 30, 2018.
TYLER THOMPSON/U.S. NAVY PHOTO
A joint underwater recovery team of soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians recently completed an intense two-month excavation of sunken World War II airplanes in Palau, retrieving remains that could belong to long-lost American air crews, the Navy said.
Headed by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the team worked from aboard the USNS Salvor near Ngerekebesang Island, completing work on Feb. 25.
Above information from: “Stars and Stripes” magazine.
Angel Flight information from: 11th Airborne Division Assoc. newspaper, “The Voice of the Angels”
Identifying our missing information from: DPAA/ American Battle Monuments Commission; the DPAA identified 183 service members during the fiscal year of 2017.
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Henry Muller
This article is derived from “The Voice of the Angels”, the 11th Airborne Division Association newspaper.
It’s not every day that a US Army veteran gets to celebrate surviving an entire century while also being informed of an induction into the exclusive hall of fame for his combat achievements. That is the case with US Army brig. General Henry J. Muller will belong to the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.
On his 100th birthday, about 40 gathered for the occasion. They sat under the oaks n the front yard and thumbed through a photo album featuring pictures from past celebrations. The celebration included a birthday cake bordered with 100 American flags.
Henry Muller with author, Bruce Henderson
“There’s nothing that could warn the heart of an old soldier more than on his 100th birthday than to be surrounded with family, friends and good neighbors… I feel especially blessed.”
Among those there that day was US Army Capt. Antoinette Deleon, to interview him for his induction into the Hall of Fame at Fort Huacheua, Arizona. “It’s an honor for me to come here…”
Gen. Muller w/ the Capt. from Military Intelligence
Bruce Henderson, author of the best seller, “Rescue at Los Baños: The Most Daring Prison Camp Raid of World War II”, said, “Just think about it, I mean even today if there was a raid like that saving that many lives, it would be big news. He (Muller) went beyond his duties as an intelligence officer – it was the real human being in him.”
Brigadier General Henry J. Muller was inducted on 22-23 June 2017 for his service as a Lt. Colonel, G-2 of the 11th Airborne Division during WWII.
Los Banos commemoration stamp
Click on images to enlarge.
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Robert Boas – brn: FRA; US Army, WWII, ETO, interpreter
Robert Cassidy Sr. – New Haven, CT; US Navy, WWII, ETO, LCVP Commander
Don Frazier – NV; US Army, WWII, gunnery instructor
Richard ‘Corky’ Holden – New Port Richie, FL; USMC, WWII, ETO, 2nd Division
Leroy Jones – Miami, AZ; US Navy, WWII, Seaman 1st Class
Judson Landers – Baton Rouge, LA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, corpsman
Richard Logan – Harrodsburg, KY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Sheldon Silverman – Chicago, IL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Pvt.
Joseph Talbot – AUS; RA Air Force # 122912, WWII
Orville Thomas – Eldon, IA; US Army (Ret. 23 y.)
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Smitty - artwork by Priorhouse.wordpress.com/
Our Silent Observer
Jeep crossing
Pacific Paratrooper 