67 years ago today
It was 67 years ago today that the iconic photo was forever etched into our collective cultural mind and came to represent everything we accomplished in the Second World War, and our struggle to free the world from militaristic dictatorships. It was on Iwo Jima, on February 23, 1945, four days after the battle for the small island began and more than month before the battle would end. US forces suffered more than 26,000 casualties, more than 6,000 killed, while Japanese defenders lost over 20,000 killed and only a thousand were captured alive. Two last Japanese soldiers surrendered after hiding out on the island in January 1951.
Joe Rosenthal photographed six Marines: Ira Hayes, Mike Strank, Rene Gagnon, Harlon Block, Franklin Sousley, and U.S. Navy corpsman John Bradley raising the U.S. flag. Within days, three of the Marines raising the flag were killed: Strank, Block and Sousley.
Thanks to Sparky for reminding us.
Category: Historical, Marine Corps
Probably unnecessary on this forum, but here goes anyway: the son of the Navy Corpsman here, named James Bradley, wrote a book entitled “Flags of Our Fathers” about the Iwo Jima flag raisers. If you haven’t read it, it’s absolutely worth the time and money. Great book.
Haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t comment on how accurately the movie follows the book. But since Clint Eastwood directed it, my guess is it’s both good and fairly faithful to the book.
Almost forgot: thank you, brothers in arms from before my time. Rest in peace.
I for one bust a lot of Jarhead balls at the VFW and at my Masonic Lodge, but, there is no one better to watch your back than a Marine. God bless the Mens Department of the Department of the Navy. May they be around for 500 more years just like the quote from that day!
My Dad was at Iwo, as a Motor Machinist 2nd Class onboard an LCI(L), but his ship arrived well after this picture was taken. He didn’t talk about it much, but I’ve found out from one of his old shipmates that they did more than just sit around wasting time there. I asked him once if he’d ever like to go back and see it again… and he said “Shit Raymond, I didn’t want to go there the FIRST time.” LOL
Miss ya Dad.
Over 100K men on 7 1/2 square miles. As a disclaimer, I only remembered it because someone mentioned Rene Gagnon, who, while he survived the battle, ended up much like Ira Hayes–drunk, unable to hold a job, bitter, and died way too early.
And anyone who thinks we shouldn’t have dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, look to the devestation of Iwo. This was just a warmup to what would likely have happened had the invasion of the Japanese home islands taken place, on a much larger scale.
ETA–and Rene Gagnon was from Manchester, which is what got me started.
Random thoughts….
Just read a book about Marine armor and the role it played on Iwo. No one had it easy there. Literally dozens of Marine tanks were damaged or destroyed by Japanese mines and explosive devices ranging in size from 6 lbs all the way up to modified torpedos. Most of the damaged tanks were put back in service right there on the island by Marine mechanics working under constant fire from Japanese direct and indirect fire weapons.
@5 Sparky: right on target. My dad joined the Navy when he was 17. He turned 18 as a crewman on a landing craft. He was slated to participate in Operation Downfall (the seizure and occupation of Japan). He recently told me that they were pretty open about the likelihood of heavy casualties, and that he was aware that landing craft crewmen had relatively short life expectancies. He said that the atomic bombs saved his life (and, of course, likely saved mine). He once met Paul Tibbets at a book-signing event. He told Tibbets that he had saved his (my dad’s) life, to which Tibbets smiled and said, “I hear that a lot.”
While at an IRS office last year, I encountered an elderly man wearing some Marine gear. He said he was an Iwo vet. I expressed my admiration for him and what he did. He just shook his head and talked about his friends he served with and lost on the island. At one point his wife chimed in and said, “He won’t tell ME a damn thing about what he did, either!” I got a chuckle out of that. Typical.
Bless ’em all, including the ones who never came back.
Semper Fi
I have a jar of sand from Iwo on my book case. It regularly reminds me of the sacrifice of those brave men.
Yeah, my dad was there too, on the heavy cruiser USS Boston bombarding the island for days while dodging Japanese aircraft. He didn’t talk about it at all, didn’t know much until we happed to be watching the History channel a couple of years before he died. He nonchalantly said, “We were at Tarawa”. As the program progressed, he said, “Oh yeah, we were at Leyte”, or, “We were at Iwo Jima”. Never wanted medals or adulation, just took pride in a job well done, and got back to normal life. He was like a lot of the guys back then.
Joe: The major part of the Battle of Tarawa was 20-23 November 1943, with hostilities completed by 28 November. The USS Boston didn’t even arrive in the Pacific Fleet until it arrived at Pearl until 6 December 1943 from . So I very seriously doubt that the USS Boston shelled Tarawa during the Battle of Tarawa.
The USS Boston doesn’t seem to have been at Iwo during the fighting there, either. The Battle of Iwo Jima took place from 19 February–26 March 1945). The USS Boston was a part of TF-38 from 10 October 1944 through 1 March 1945, conducting operations vic the Philippines and Taiwan during that time. She then returned to Long Beach, CA, for overhaul, arriving on 26 March 1945.
The USS Boston did participate in Leyte Gulf. At least that much of your story here is true. Looks like the rest of it isn’t, though.
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b8/boston-vi.htm
Looks like your late father was making claims that aren’t exactly supported by the facts. Perhaps that explains your propensity to MSU (translation: Make Shit Up).
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/b8/boston-vi.htm
Semper Fi, Devil-Dogs!
I may have the timeline a little confused. 1942-43 he was first on a cruiser near Italy (can’t remember the name), then was transferred to the Pacific, and finally to the USS Boston when it was battle ready. So which ship(s) he was on at which times in 1943, not sure. But he wasn’t the sort of guy to make this s**t up. In fact, if I am not mistaken, from the time he was sent to the Pacific in 1943 until 1946 he did not touch US soil. He took part in destroying Japanese mini-subs and other coastal emplacements after Aug. 1945. The Boston drydocked in Brisbane during the war if I remember, but didn’t get back to the US until well after the war.
Semper Fi to all Marines out there, especially the Pacific War Marines. 11 Marines and 1 Corpsman participated in the two flag raisings, only 2 Marines and that Corpsman got off the island alive. Rugged duty.
My Heroes as a child. My Uncle served with the 1st Marine Raiders during the early part of the war and was then reassigned over to I believe 4th or 5th Marines for the rest of the war. I watched him try to throw some mouthy Japanese guy through the window in the grandstands at Atlantic City Race Course for insulting my mother. It took my father and 3 other horse trainers to bring my uncle down. He gave me a Japanese 6.5 type 38 with the mum still on the breech. He was part of the reasons why I joined the Corps. He unfortunately drank himself to death. Semper Fidelis.
Joe: still ain’t buying all of your revised version, fella. But I have to say that may be possible your dad was telling the truth about Tarawa. How likely, I don’t have time to research.
Except for Tarawa, all the actions you reference above occurred in 1944, not 1943. If your dad was at Tarawa and transferred to the Boston before she shipped out from Pearl in Jan 1944, that means he’d have to have been at Tarawa, then been on a ship that went from Tarawa back to Pearl, transferred to the USS Boston at Pearl, and then arrived at the Marshall Islands by the end of January. That means he had to have been on ships that sailed 4200+ knots, straight-line distance, in about maximum of two months. Yes, that’s possible – but I don’t know just how common that was during late 1943, or whether any ship went from Tarawa back to Pearl during that period. And I don’t presently have the time to attempt to research that.
However, if your dad was on the USS Boston during 1944 and 1945, according to the Navy he wasn’t at Iwo. Per the Navy’s history of the ship, the USS Boston simply wasn’t at Iwo during the fighting there.
Some very sobering footage here (in color, no less):