Iwo Jima Day

[noharleyyet]

 

[brymoore]

Basilone is in one of the landing crafts.

 

[pabearhunter]

What them boys went through when they hit the beaches. IS UNTHINKABLE unless YOU seen it in COLOR !!!

 

[noharleyyet]

Basilone is in one of the landing crafts.

Good mention..

John Basilone

 

[brymoore]

Gunny Sergeant Harris Moore pushing his men towards the airstrip. Harris would have known Basilone. Both were in the 27th Marines. He was killed on February 28th. He’s my grandfather’s cousin level relative.

 

[appaloosa]

My grandpa lost his arm on Iwo. They buried it on the island somewhere. He wouldn't even speak of what happened there!

 

[406dn]

My mother's brother was a Marine in the south Pacific. I think it was Guadalcanal, that he and one other man out of fifty marines survived during an initial beach landing.

He was a good man, took me hunting many times. He had some difficulty understanding why he was spared.

 

[Ben Lamb]

"By their victory, the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions and other units of the Fifth Amphibious Corps have made an accounting to their country which only history will be able to value fully. Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue."

Chester W. Nimitz

 

[noharleyyet]

My Uncle Paul was, according to my brutally honest granny, "the best and sweetest of the bunch"...my dad concurred. He returned from the Pacific campaign and was killed in an auto accident a couple of weeks later.

 

[Steiny77]

My buddy's dad was a marine in Tarawa and Saipan.
Had a purple heart. Took a Jap bullet to the chest and had his pocket bible in shirt pocket. The bible slowed the trajectory enough it didn't get into his lungs.

Attended his funeral and the bible with bullet hole and his medals were there on display.

He was a pretty serious church going man and I can understand why.

 

[Pagosa]

Amazing sacrifice! God bless the Marines. My great uncle was on Iwo Jima and survived. They called him Chip and the Tulsa World newspaper wrote an article about him in the mid 1990s. The Marine from Supula Oklahoma, Stanley Cupps. I remember reading it was like a hornet nest of bullets and artillery fire and to survive three days was a miracle as a Marine. My other great uncle was in the Army Air Corp as was Iwo post battle and Siapan (active battle) and I spent a ton of time with him as a kid and they went over in a open top troop carrier that was built out of concrete to reach Siapan and then Iwo. They had every intention of doing a land invasion on the mainland of Japan. They were a different of tough with no quitting sense.

 

[LopeHunter]

My grandpa lost his arm on Iwo. They buried it on the island somewhere. He wouldn't even speak of what happened there!

My childhood’s friend was a USMC machine gunner at Iwo. He would reenact with his hands in front while in his belly. He would have us run at him doing bonsai charges then we would fall down around him! “Chili Dog” was proud to have carried out his assigned duties during combat.

My high school golf coach had been a fighter pilot in the USN in the Pacific. He did not speak of anything re WW2 beyond pilot training. Very gentle soul. Felt blessed he survived so wanted to teach.

My Scout Master landed at Leyte driving a half track for the Army. His first day in combat. He was gung-ho and got ahead of the line of advancement when the enemy lit him up with a heavy machine gun. He spun a 180 and backtracked. His gunner stopped shooting. The half track gave up the ghost as approached the landing beach. His gunner was deceased as were the other 11 soldiers in the back. He got patched up in time to see Mac wade ashore. He carried guilt from that first day and would briefly get very angry for no obvious reason the rest of his life.

 

[JV842]

What them boys went through when they hit the beaches. IS UNTHINKABLE unless YOU seen it in COLOR !!!

See, feel, smell, taste….truly amazing

 

[WildWill]

Here the local newspapers article on when my grandpa came home.

 

[Tradewind]

Had a relative wounded in Iwo

 

[EKYHunter]

Greatest generation indeed.

 

[Nick87]

Here the local newspapers article on when my grandpa came home.View attachment 402111

Pretty cool.

 

[kansasdad]

Famous landing photo at Iwo Jima




Dental school classmate’s father in the corpsman helmet

 

[Brad]

My FIL was a Marine (forward gunnery observer), 3 landings, second wave (the worst was the 2nd, as the Japs would let the first wave pile up on the beach, then unleash all hell on the second wave). He fought at Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, and Okinawa, and saw a hellacious amount of brutal combat. He was wounded on the 3rd day of fighting on Okinawa. He never told my wife or her siblings about any of it. However, he and I bonded, and I think he sensed how much I respected what he'd done, so he slowly started opening up to me about his war - often with tears, including the tale of his best friend dying in his arms on the beach at Peleliu (for those that may not know, Peleliu is the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history).

I don't buy the "greatest generation" title (that was designed to flatter and sell books). If any generation has a claim to that title I think it belongs to the Union North from 1860-1865. But, my FIL's generation absolutely did secure a peace and prosperity that has lasted for over 70 years, and which we seem intent on dismantling...

 

[hank4elk]

My dad skppered a Victory ship bringing supplies to SE asia ,after the Atlantic runs & D Day. Often ammo.