Monday, March 8, 2010

Day 17 of the battle for Iwo Jima

The US Marines landed the black sandy shores of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. Four days later, they raised the flag on Mt Suribachi but the fighting continued until March 26th before the island was declared secured.

If I counted correctly, today would be Day 17.

Dodging gunfire, helping wounded comrades, sleeping here and there in a fox hole. Always on the alert for the enemy.

Jerry landed on the 19th. By this time, he had been in combat for 17 days. When would it end? No one knew then that it would go for another 18 days. He did not leave the island until March 27th.

Thank the veterans of Iwo Jima for their service!
Thank all veterans for the comforts we have and enjoy!

3 comments:

Frank said...

Just finished watching the first segment of PACIFIC with Jerry.
This segment ended with the Marines on Guadalcanal.

He recalled watching Guadalcanal Diary before he went into the Marine Corps. He cranked off the stars pretty quick, William Bendix, Lloyd Nolan, Anthony Quinn. Pretty insightful evening.

Jerry also noticed the Marines were carrying Springfield "03 Rifles. The Garand and the Carbine wouldn't emerge until later on in the War.
Looking forward to next week.

Semper Fi to all the Marines Past and Present.

Steve Sherlock said...

Thanks for the update, Frank! It sounds like it was a good evening.

Picking up on the detail about this rifle is cool for two reasons, one the attention to detail by the film makers, two the awareness of Jerry. He hasn't lost anything there!

Frank said...

Steve,
Jerry was in rare form! He gave a running commentary during the show. I paid more attention to him then the show.

He said the toughest time was trying to stay alert at night.

He also said the medics were all over the place doing a tremendous job.

We spoke about his photo on the beach at Iwo. He gave that nonchalant shrug of the shoulders and said I was tired. I wanted to see what the big (deleted, as this is G Rated) deal was before I left. I hiked up there, looked around and said " Ok lets head back. No big deal."
Then he give that grin and laughed.