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The Final Combat Mission – 15 August 1945
Captain Jerry Yellin flew the last combat mission of WWII on the morning of August 15, 1945, out of Iwo Jima.
Cruising above the Pacific under the morning sun, the Americans had approached the Japanese coastline without incident. Jerry wondered how many more missions like this he would have to fly. They’d all thought the war was over, but now, here he was again, heading to strike a stubbornly resistant enemy.
But down below, in the nation they were about to attack, a philosophical battle was raging on whether to surrender or fight on. The “Big Six”—the six military officers running Japan—had been split by a vote of 3-3 on when and how to end the war with honor. In general, hard, passionate divisions of opinion existed among the Japanese military: some of the older officers wanted to surrender to prevent the destruction of Japan, while others wanted to fight on to the death and kill as many Americans as possible.
The previous night, while another 300 American B-29s strafed Japan again, a group of rogue Japanese officers had started a coup against Prime Minister Suzuki and Emperor Hirohito. The officers burned the prime minister’s office and surrounded the Imperial Palace, hoping to kidnap the emperor, all in an effort to prevent Japan’s leadership from thinking about surrendering. For these officers, and for so many of the Japanese people, surrender was not an option. There was glory in death, but only shame in surrender; Japan, for its part, had never been invaded or lost a war in its history.
Capt. Jerry Yellin, 78th FG
Fortunately for the rest of the world, the coup did not succeed. A group of senior Japanese officers talked the insurgents off the ledge, convincing them that there was nowhere to go. But while the revolt ended, the war did not, and so, with the shoreline of the enemy territory coming into view and Phil Schlamberg, his dear friend and fellow pilot, on his wing, Jerry knew it was time to go back to work.
On Jerry’s order, all the planes in his squadron dropped their eternal fuel tanks over the ocean, then started familiar aerial trek over the great, snow-capped peak of Mount Fuji. As of yet, there had been no radio signal with the word “UTAH,” signaling the end of the war.
As the Americans approached the Japanese capital, they began to identify targets. Within minutes, they swooped down over airfields and attacked despite heavy ground fire. Tracer bullets flew up from the Japanese guns as the 78th made multiple passes at each target.
After strafing the last airfield, Jerry checked his fuel gauge and saw he was still in good shape. But when one of the pilots radioed that his tank had reached the ninety-gallon mark—the amount a Mustang needed for the return flight—it was time to pull up and begin plotting the course back to Iwo Jima.
78th Fighter Group
Jerry looked over at Phil, who was still on his wing, and give him a thumbs up. Phil looked back and returned the gesture.
With the battle of Tokyo complete, Jerry set his course back out to the ocean and banked to the south. The three other Mustangs in Jerry’s squadron returned with him. A few moments later, as they approached the coast where they would rendezvous with the navigational B-29s, they neared a cloud cover in front of them, often the case when approaching the atmospheric temperature inversions near the coast. With Phil still tight on his wing, Jerry led the four Mustangs into the cloud bank. Flying at an altitude of about 7,000 feet, Jerry focused his eyes on his navigation instruments, as the interior of the white, puffy clouds blocking his view of everything else.
But when the Mustangs emerged on the other side of the clouds, a devastating reality soon surfaced. Phil was gone. Most likely, he had been brought down by antiaircraft bullets fired into the clouds. There was no sign of him.
Jerry was devastated. When he landed at Iwo Jima, meanwhile, he learned something else: the war was over. The emperor had announced Japan’s surrender three hours earlier. The code word UTAH had been broadcast to U.S. aircraft over the country, but the word had not reached the planes of the 78th until they landed.
Capt. Jerry Yellin
It was a surreal feeling as Jerry climbed out of his plane and jumped down to the airfield, standing on a once-bloody Pacific island. Now, suddenly, it was a world at peace. The men of the 78th had a saying, “Alive in ’45.” That had been their goal, and now it was their reality.
As Jerry walked away from his plane, another realization hit him: he had just flown the final combat mission of the war, and Phil was the final combat death of the great war. One day, after Jerry had time to collect his emotions and his thoughts, the great historical significance of the mission he’d just flown would sink in. But for now, one thought consumed his mind.
At last, it was time to go home.
I previously did an article about Captain Yellin when he was still helping to teach us about WWII.
Captain Jerome Yellin – 15 February 1924 – 21 December 2017
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Zach Brown – Chehalis, WA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. C/457th Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Allan Carson – Nelson, NZ; RNZ Air Force # 421317, WWII, pilot
From, Anna, Maiden On The Midway
Robert DeBusschere – Detroit, MI; US Army, WWII, A/B
Marvin ‘Curly’ East – Denver, CO; US Army, WWII, ETO, 110th Antiaircraft Artillery
Joseph Goodman – New Boston, PA; US Navy, WWII, USS Benson
Elizabeth (Meadows) Huey – Homer, LA; US Navy WAVE, WWII
Jesse James – AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Willard Lantz – Mapleton, MN; US Navy, WWII, Seaman 1st Class, USS Elkart
Wayne Pomeroy – Mesa, AZ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-24 tail gunner
Doris Ward – ENG; British Army ATS, WWII, ETO
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Japanese Soldier’s Remembrance of Iwo Jima – conclusion
“Iwo Jima” by: Mark Maritato
Takahashi Toshiharu’s story continues….
I ran towards the sea. The day got brighter. When I jumped down, the enemy shot. I felt as if I burnt a burned hot chopstick in my chest and I could not breathe. There are plenty of US soldiers, but I was alive. Blood flows a lot. Both shirts and pants were stained with blood. I tried to stop blood even a little, but it didn’t work.
The enemy brought a flamethrower to the mouth of the hole. The fire did not reach me. It was where I had been before. The bullet was through, but it hurts because my body swells when I breathe. It is a suffering to die.
I will die soon. There is no doctor or medicine. There is no food or water, death is near. There was nothing I could do. My eyes dazzle, I’m bleeding a lot. My body is cold. I gave up, I knew that it was useless. I visualized Japanese soldiers coming from the back of the cave. I asked for water, but I only got tears of sorrow. I rolled on the ground in pain. The wound has come to suppuration. (infected). The left hand stopped moving.
SE Asia map w/ Iwo Jima highlighted
The US military is blowing up the entrance to the cave. A number of places have also blown up today. It is a strategy to make Japanese soldiers buried in holes. I do not have any food and I can not move to escape, I will die here, but I would rather die outside. Now it is dark and I see a human approach. If he is an enemy, it will lead to death. My hand moved, but there is no gun.
It was a Japanese soldier. I went down to the man. There was a grenade noise. A gunshot also happened. I guess he met his enemy. The area is covered with cannon-fire, but I can’t tell the direction. The cliff which I’m on is as high as 30 meters is hit and shattered. With a slope of about 45 degrees and it becomes rough soil and stone. I am going downhill.
Iwo JIma
I fell to the sandy beach. The wound in my back breaks and the pus flows out. Since no one is here, I can not even be treated. Still I got up and walked down the sandy beach to the water. I want to drink, but it is sea water. Drums were flowing in the vicinity. I thought that it might be the drinking water of the US military, so I tried to hit it with a stone, but it will not open.
I have no guns, only one grenade for suicide but I can not use it. I ran back in my original direction. Footprints remain because they are sand. I follow the enemy footprints. The scratch on the back is broken and it is becoming a null null. The left hand does not move perfectly. I came where I fell before and try to climb the slope. The left hand does not move at all. I lost consciousness on my way.
Japanese POW
I slept in the hole without eating for 4 days. I had been chased by the enemy, but collapsed among other dead Japanese and the enemy could not tell the difference. I will die here today. I think that it is March 18th. My birth is 18th March 18th in Meiji. Today is March 18th in Showa 20. There is no better way than natural suicide, natural death, shooting out of the hole and being shot dead, or committing suicide with a grenade for suicide. It is only clear that there is no life.
A US military airplane flew over me. I want to see my wife, children, mother and brother but I can not even move. I might as well be a soldier who went to the enemy’s camp and died. Let’s do so. All the fellow soldiers are dead.
The US Army soldier swings his head sideways and instructs by hand for me to sit down. The tall, blue-eyed soldier keeps his gun at me. The soldier gave me his water bottle. I drank the water like a drunk. Now I’m ready to be killed, but they tell me to follow them.
1945, wounded Japanese soldier cared for by U.S. Marines.
I arrived at the curtain where the military doctor was. The surgeon told me to eat by motioning with his hands. I understood it. It was boiled soybeans from a can. I ate it all. The military doctor put white medicine on the wound. I wondered if he was killing me, but a jeep came. It had a drawer that they put me on and we left.
I arrived at a field hospital and was taken out from the drawer and the military doctor told me, ” I will give something to eat”, I thought this was true. I thought that I came to the world after death. I have heard that there are many US soldiers of Nisei so I asked. Iwo Jima occupied March 17th. They say Japan has lost a useless war. I do not know why I am alive, when I should have been killed by the US military. Being a POW is a painful thing.
This is a condensed version of Imperial Japanese Army Corps of Engineers Corporal, Takahashi Toshiharu’s diary. To view the entire story, the link is at the top of Part One, posted on Monday. The Cpl. was sent to Gum Island for 10 days and boarded a hospital ship to Hawaii. When the war ended, he was returned to Japan.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – Kunihiko Hisa cartoon album “Zero Fighter 1940-1945”
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Farewell Salutes –
Lino Agosti – Anchorage, AK; US Army Air Corps, WWII, HQ/152 Artillery/ 11th Airborne Division
Bob Brown – San Francisco, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, B-26 pilot
Sam Gilman – brn: CAN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Korea & Vietnam, (Ret. 26 y.)
James Henderson – Sydney, AUS; Korean War
Ed Kennedy – Ft. Lauderdale, FL; USMC, Korea, one of the “Chosin Few”
Roy Malmassari – Issaquah, WA; US Army, Korea
John Naples – Falmouth, ME; US Army, WWII
John Otten – Sioux Falls, SD; US Navy, WWII, ETO
Paul Smith – Clanton, AL; USMC, WWII, PTO
George Welsh – North Platte, NE; US Army, WWII, Chaplain
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Japanese Soldier’s Remembrance – Iwo Jima – part two
Mt. Suribachi
As Takahashi Toshiharu watches the US tanks he continues his story:
No matter how long you wait, the tank will not come up to 10 meters. He is afraid of the march of my army. At another 90 meters I’m staring at it. I was telling myself that if I made it as close as 90 meters, I could reach it.
While waiting for another 90 meters to advance, one Japanese soldier crawled and approached the first tank. I approached the tank I decided to attack. The shell flew and the tank blew and began to burn. Sgt. Yatter and I shouted.
M4 Sherman on the edge of Motoyama airfield, Iwo Jima, 2/1945
I had woken the enemy. The enemy was burned out with a flamethrower. The flame is dark with black smoke. I could not see even an inch ahead. Because the first tank was done, the enemy must have been angry. The second tank is headed for us and shoots with a cannon, and dashing with a machine gun, awesome.
There are strange things and miracles in the world. It is a miracle that I am now writing such things at the time like this. It is surprising. The enemy does not advance, it burns near and shoots. Eight of us could not move. If it comes, we will be shot or burned. I can not do anything. There is nothing left to do but wait for tanks to come near. Wait for it.
This time. The earthquake tremor occurred with a large acoustic sound like a collapse of heaven and earth. I can not see even an inch with black smoke. We also tremble as the body jumps. I wonder what happened, I think it is an earthquake or a volcano explosion. Buries alive.
Cpl. Oliver Leone throws smoke grenade into cave on Iwo Jima
I ran away like a typhoon. We can not do it. The Marines who came with the tanks throw grenades in all the entrances and exits of my army positions and crush them. We got buried alive deep under the ground.
Eight people who were supposed to die by charging the tanks were deeply buried under the ground. There is no air, food and water. It becomes a mummy as it is. There is no way to live. I decided to dig the earth with a bayonet while others carry it backwards. We worked desperately in the dark. I do not know how many hours it has passed, but I made a hole about the size of a human head. The air worry ceased.
I did not understand what was going on outside. There is no guarantee of life if we go out. I poked my head out, it was night. Tracer bullets are climbing high, bright and dark. There are a lot of gasoline cans at the exit of the hole. So I decided to extend the hole and exit. Sergeant Yano stated that we failed in a fight. For the time being we will return to the North Border. Report failure and wait for the next command.
While the bullets are climbing, three men crawl going to the coast. It is not found by enemies. When I went 100 meters, I went high. Instantly I heard the sound of a machine gun. It was in an ambush. When looking down in the hole of the shell, Corporal Yoshioka, Senior Iwasaki, First Kimura soldiers killed.
We lost four people and went north further 100 meters under command of Sergeant Yano. There is a convenient place to get to the sea. It is about 2 meters high here and you have to jump down. Sergeant Yano went and was hit by machine gun fire. The enemy was everywhere. It is not easy to go through the enemy. Two officers were crushed. I have to take the command this time. There are three people, I, Yokoyama upperman and forest soldiers left. It is good that Sgt. Yano died. Tears fall down, war must stop.
Gen. Kubayashi and his staff on Iwo Jima
Yokoyama upper rank soldier and is much younger than me. The remaining three will go again . Go down and walk down, crawling and crawling. After a while there was a convenient place to jump off. Be careful. Yokoyama stood up. He was hit and said that it hurts. It was done. He was shot from the chest to his back. It is disappointing.
Eight people escaped have now become one person alone. There is no hope of living. Everyone died. I decided to prepare for the death. The sky in the east became bright. It is useless if the dawn breaks, I am in the middle of the enemy and I am also shot.
to be continued…
Click on images to enlarge.
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Japanese Military Humor – from the Kunihiko Hisa cartoon album “Zero Fighter 1940 – 1945”
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Farewell Salutes –
Stanley Brauser – OK; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Weather Dept., Major
Robert ‘Jack’ Darnielle – Sokane, WA; US Army, Korea, Tank Co./15/3rd Division
Jonathan Dunbar – Austin, TX; US Army, Syria, MSgt., Special Operations, KIA
Elmer ‘Garvis’ Garrett – Kilmichael, MS; US Army, Korea & Vietnam (Ret. 25 y.)
Robert Johnson – Porcupine, SD; US Navy, WWII, pilot
Danny Kraemer – Fort Smith, AR; US Army, WWII, PTO, Amphibian Division
Frederick Mayo – Portland, ME; US Army Air Corps, WWII, 380 Air Service Group
Matt Tonroe – Manchester, UK; British Parachute Reg./3rd. Battalion, Syria, Sgt., KIA
Ervin Vosta – Licoln, NE; US Army, WWII & Korea, TSgt.
Walter Walden – Springfield, OR; USMC, Cpl.
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Iwo Jima Remembered…
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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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
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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A Corpsman’s story on Iwo Jima
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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Current News – 
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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Human Interest Story –
Chesty XIV meets Chesty XV at Barracks Washington
Chesty XV, USMC mascot
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
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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First Hand Account – Iwo Jima
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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Military Humor – SeaBee Style – 
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Farewell Salutes –
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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The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier – Iwo Jima 15-19 February
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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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
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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Iwo Jima
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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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
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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February 1945 (1) – Manila
Nichols Field bombing, 6 Feb. 1945
The 6th and 8th Armies on Luzon were repeatedly in close and brutal combat with the Japanese. By dawn on 4 February the paratroopers ran into increasingly heavy and harassing fire from Japanese riflemen and machine gunners. At the Paranaque River, just south of the Manila city limits, the battalion halted at a badly damaged bridge only to be battered by Japanese artillery fire from Nichols Field. The 11th Airborne Division had reached the main Japanese defenses south of the capital and could go no further.
US Army on Luzon, February 1945
Regarding Manila as indefensible, General Yamashita had originally ordered the commander of Shimbu Group, General Yokoyama Shizuo, to destroy all bridges and other vital installations and evacuate the city as soon as strong American forces made their appearance. However, Rear Adm. Iwabachi Sanji, the naval commander for the Manila area, vowed to resist the Americans and countermanded the order. Determined to support the admiral as best he could, Yokoyama contributed three Army battalions to Iwabachi’s 16,000-man Manila Naval Defense Force and prepared for battle. The sailors knew little about infantry tactics or street fighting, but they were well armed and entrenched throughout the capital. Iwabachi resolved to fight to the last man.
11th Airborne Div. path into Luzon
On 4 February 1945, General MacArthur announced the imminent recapture of the capital while his staff planned a victory parade. But the battle for Manila had barely begun. Almost at once the 1st Cavalry Division in the north and the 11th Airborne Division in the south reported stiffening Japanese resistance to further advances into the city. As one airborne company commander remarked in mock seriousness, “Tell Halsey to stop looking for the Jap Fleet; it’s dying on Nichols Field.” All thoughts of a parade had to be put aside.
Entering Manila
The final attack on the outer Japanese defenses came from the 11th Airborne Division, under the XIV Corps control since 10 February. The division had been halted at Nichols Field on the fourth and since then had been battling firmly entrenched Japanese naval troops, backed up by heavy fire from concealed artillery. Only on 11 February did the airfield finally fall to the paratroopers, but the acquisition allowed the 11th Airborne Division to complete the American encirclement of Manila on the night of the twelfth.
Corregidor, aerial view
As February opened, the 7th Allied Air Force continually bombed Iwo Jima, Marcus Island and Corregidor, while the 5th Allied Air Force not only targeted Corregidor as well, but Cavite, Cebu City, enemy positions on Mindanao and Borneo.
[Actually, since 15 June 1944, the US Navy and Army Air Forces together began naval bombardments and air raids against Iwo Jima, which would become the longest and most intense in the Pacific theater. These would contain a combination of naval artillery shellings and aerial bombings that went on for nine months. On 17 June, the, USS Blessman sent Underwater demolition Team 15 (UDT-15) toward Blue Beach for reconnaissance. The Japanese infantry fired on them, killing one American diver. On the evening of 18 June, the Blessman was hit by a bomb from a Japanese warplane, killing 40 sailors, including 15 members of her UDT.]
Unaware of Kuribayashi’s tunnel defense system on Iwo Jima, many of the Americans assumed the majority of the Japanese garrison were killed by the constant bombing raids. “Well, this will be easy. The Japanese will surrender Iwo Jima without a fight.” – Chester W. Nimitz
References: “Angels: The History of the 11th Airborne Division by Gen. EM Flanagan Jr.; US Army History: Luzon; Pacific Wrecks & US Navy records; “Our Jungle Road To Tokyo” by Gen. Robert Eichelberger.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Horace Ashenfelter – Phoenixville, PA; US Air Force, pilot / Olympic Gold medal / FBI
Dominick Bove – Wilmington, DE; USMC, WWII, PTO, 3rd Division, Bronze Star
Marshall Clark – Frewsburg, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, pilot
Donald Dammert – Cincinnatti, OH; US Navy, WWII
James Holton – Alma, GA; US Army, Vietnam
Ray Jones – Greenwood, WV; US Army, WWII
John Peter Jr. – Belleville, IL; US Army, 11th Airborne Division, medic
Donald Solin – W.AUS; RA Air Force, WWII, ETO, pilot
James Speed – Christchurch, NZ; RNZ Air Force # 74023
Bruce ‘Bear’ Whitehouse – Bloomfield, NJ; US Army, Korea, 73rd Tank Battalion
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Other Pacific events
Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima and landing craft
As the 11th Airborne Division worked its way to Mount Macolod, other events were transpiring around the Pacific. As stated in the Los Banos post, 23 February 1945 was also the date on which Ole’ Glory was raised on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima. This event was portrayed in the newspapers as the day the Americans won the island, but the Marines would actually face another month of fighting.
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Tokyo received heavy bombing from the aircraft carriers on the 25th and later that night, 172 Boeing B-29 bombers dropped 500 tons of incendiary bombs on the city. (You will find that this action is constantly repeated.)
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The Army’s 41st Division landed on Palawan Island, P.I. to secure the excellent port facilities for the Navy on 28 February. All through the month of March, U.S. forces invaded the numerous islands of the southern Philippines to ensure the safety of the entire country.
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On 3 March, Manila was considered to be in American hands. Japanese resistance within the city limits appeared to be eradicated.
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B-29 in flight
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The USS Randolph aircraft carrier was badly damaged by the suicide aircraft in the Caroline Islands on 11 March. I mention this because the practice of kamikaze warfare will emerge more and more after this attack. I will be having a separate post to discuss this subject further.
USS Randolph getting repairs on forward deck
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Other weapons were being developed by the Japanese as the last year of the war unfolded such as the “Cherry Blossom,” the Ohka rocket-powered bomb with a 2,646 pound warhead. To be certain the pilot delivered his package to the target, he was sealed into his cockpit for a one-way journey. Clearly this was an act of desperation – not one of strategy.
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Current news – The U.S. Submarine Veteran’s Pelican Harbor base wants to hear from the men that served aboard a submarine – irregardless of which era: ussvi.org/base/PelicanHarbor.asp. During the war in the Pacific, submarines were responsible for sinking 55% of the enemy ships lost. (or 1,314). Out of the 16,000 submariners in WWII, 3,500 died on the 52 U.S. subs destroyed.
Pacific Paratrooper 