The Pacific /Iwo Jima Ross book

[imarangemaster]

I know there was a thread awhile back, but it dealt with the weapons in the mini series. It so happened that I was able to watch episodes 1-8 on vacation at my son's house, before it dropped of on-demand HBO. It so happens that I am also reading the book "Iwo Jima - Legacy of Valor" by by Bill D Ross, who was a Marine Sgt. combat correspondent that landed on Iwo on D-Day. It took him 40 years to write, as it is not a memoir, but rather a historical journal covering all of the conflict. Most Marine units suffered 60% casualties, and sometimes more (especially around hill 382 and "The meat grinder" where progress was measured in feat per day!) What these heroes endured is beyond any belief.

Recently I have been researching my father's service in in the Army during WW2, mostly on Iwo Jima. I uncovered more of his papers and personal effects from Iwo packing for my pending move to Mississippi. Through my research I confirmed he landed on D-Day plus 7 with the advance party of Army Major General James Chaney and HQ and HQ Co, US ARMY Garrison force, toting his Inland M1 Carbine, as Singals NCO for Chaney.

The Ross book also confirms many things my father told me about: him watching the first flag raised through a rifle scope from an LST (I have an original print of that flag taken by USMC correspondent Sgt. Louis Lowery that he later developed in my dad's makeshift dark room from the original negative), seeing the 1st B29 emergency land in the heat of the battle, the night the main ammo dump blew up several days after he arrived and a shell fragment destroyed his cot while he was taking cover during the shelling in the slit trench, and much more.

My dad loved to "spin a yarn" or tell a good story. Strangely. however, I am finding he understated what it was like for him on Iwo. Nightly shelling (they slept in the slit trenches for several weeks), snipers shooting all the time, his tent and the signals tent being shot up occasionally, and even the night a sapper crept out of a cave down the ravine and tossed a Type 97 grenade into the tent with them. Thank God it was a dud. (I have that grenade that had his name on it. He had an EOD guy disarm it and empty it, and my dad brought it home).

To close, what those men (especially the Marines) endured boggles the mind. The vicious and brutal hand to hand fighting on Iwo went for 35 (some say 45) days without stopping or a break in action. More Service men earned the Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima than in any other battle in US History. Most were Marines, though some where Navy Corpsman and SeeBees. Almost 26,000 Americans were killed or wounded in on a patch of rock that was about 8 square miles in area. While casualties were mostly Marines, the Navy and SeeBees lost men, as did the Army.

Pardon my rambling, but I am in awe and overwhelmed with respect and admiration.

PS As the fighting was close up, lots of M1 carbines and Thompsons were used. After all, there was no such thing as rear areas on Iwo.

Information

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[Tired Retired]

RM,

You are not rambling, so don't apologize. You are in awe of your father and his entire generation. My father also was a WWII vet, US Coast Guard, with sharpel wounds that he would never explain... So I understand where you are coming from. They sacrificed more that any of us will ever comprehend so that our generations (and those behind us) can live in freedom. Its a sad thing that our current generation has SO much freedom that they can not fathom what freedom (or lack of freedom) is.

Your story is just a reflection of what we all are and why we have this particular hobby. Whether it is American, Canadian or Austrailian on this board, all of our fathers (and some mothers) gave us a gift that we will never fully understand... Let's don't forget it or give it away...

[imarangemaster]

If you think about it, over 7,000 were killed in 45 days in 8 sqr miles (That includes Navy killed during the pre-invasion softening up). That is almost as many as we have lost in Iraq in 7 years! What would today's Americans think of casualty numbers like that now?

[fn111557]

RM, GREAT story, I also have found myself in awe of “The Great Generation”. Below are a couple links to some information I recently found out about my uncle, I was named after. This is one of the reasons I have decided to add an M1 carbine to my small collection of guns. My son is very interested in this piece of history as well and will appreciate this rifle after I am gone, and so life moves on!
Thanks again
Fred


Info link - "NEAR the BOTTOM"
http://texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.yuku.com/topic/1351

Story link - "Close Call with Incoming Mortars"
http://texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.yuku.com/topic/1402

[imarangemaster]

In doing a little more digging, I found that my dad's unit HQ and HQ Co. of 147th AGF Infantry (as I already stated) landed on February 26, 1945 - D-Day plus seven. Between then, and less than one month later when the main force landed, they suffered 9 killed and 28 wounded just in their company due to shelling and small arms fire.

The Army began to assume the "mop up" of the Island and landed the main force of the 147th on or about March 20th to relieve the Marines. The 147th responded and broke up the midnight 300 man Japanese attack on Motoyama airstrip on march 25/26th, killing all but 18 (who were captured). Most of the remaining Marines on the island had already turned in their ammo as they were to board ships the next day, so they fought with knives and pistols, or captured enemy weapons.

Between February 20th and the end of May, the Army's 147th Infantry battled the remaining Japanese on Iwo, and killed 1,600 more Japanese troops and captured another 867.

I have no US casualty figures for the post February 20th Army part of the campaign, though that midnight attack on Feb 25/26 killed 44 Army airmen and wounded another 88 of the unarmed Aircrews while asleep in their tents.