Two things for today. (Stepping back to share the post from Feb 19, 2013)
One: 68 years ago, the Marines landed on Iwo Jima. Among them Jerry charged ashore as part of the 1st Joint Assault Signal Company in the 4th Division. He was lucky to walk off the island when it was all over. When asked about his time there, most of the time he said: "the real heroes did not come home."
Two: 67 years after he had landed and was lucky to walk off the island, Jerry took his last walk from us. I still think there was something about that connection.
Deep in the archives, there are recordings of Jerry talking of his life. I was fortunate to capture from his earliest memory up to the beginning of the 1950's. Unfortunately, I did not get more than that. His health problems started intervening. A couple of times when we did sit to record turned out to be TIA incidents where we rushed off to the hospital. I got a little gun shy after those incidents.
What we have we can listen to again and again. And treasure for the guidance and example he did set!
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This is a brief recording where Jerry recalls his earliest memory and how there were two "Henry's".
Time: 4 minutes, 8 seconds