Valor Friday

Yesterday, 23 February was the 78th Anniversary of the historic flag raising on Mount Suribachi over Iwo Jima. Since I’ve been out with a bad case of food poisoning this week (as miserable as it is, it’s better than being on Iwo Jima), I didn’t have time to properly focus on a fresh article. Instead, I’ll give you two prior published tales of the battle from that day.

First, Herschel “Woody” Williams (who at the time of his death last year was the final surviving Medal of Honor recipient from the conflict) earned his Medal of Honor on 23 February 1945.

While Woody was torching Japanese pillboxes, above him the Marines under the command of then-Captain Dave Severance. Click the link for a detailed look at the fighting up Suribachi, the raising of the flag, and the reason the most famous photo (shown above) is actually of the second flag raising.

Of the roughly 110,000 men who fought on, around, and over Iwo Jima, the Medal of Honor was awarded to only 27 men. Of those, 22 medals were presented to Marines (12 posthumously) and 5 were presented to sailors, 4 of whom were hospital corpsmen (2 posthumously) attached to Marine infantry units. This accounts for a full 28% of the 82 Medals of Honor awarded to Marines in World War II.

Among the other honorees of the Battle of Iwo Jima that I’ve previously written of are;

• Jack Lucas
• Frank Pierce
• Tony Stein (KIA)
• James LaBelle (KIA)

Category: Historical, Marines, Valor, We Remember