"See that red car out there?"
Warren pointed out the window, to a vehicle parked along the street. From where he sat, the car was no more than 30 feet away.
"I was that far away from it."
He was referencing a framed photograph hanging on his wall. If what my friend was telling me was true, he stood but a stone's throw away from one of the most famous events in modern history. I took in the subtle details of the renowned photograph. Clustered together are six men, planting a long pole into the ground. The earth is obscured by heaps of skeletal rubble, and only upon closer inspection can one see that the figures are indeed standing atop a mountain - the horizon, hazy and indistinct, stretches far below their feet. At the top of the pole is the American flag, barely unfurled as it catches the breeze.
The Iwo Jima flag raising photograph is unmistakable and instantly recognizable. It is one of the most reproduced images in history.
By 1944, the tide in the Pacific had turned favorably for the United States. As the war was brought closer to mainland Japan, the tiny Pacific island of Iwo Jima fell into America's interest. The island was home to two strategic airfields, which, if controlled by the Japanese, would be used to launch fighter planes against the heavy American bombers that were destroying Japan's industrial capabilities. However, if the airfields were captured by the Americans, they could be used to launch escort fighters, and as emergency landing strips for damaged bombers returning from missions over Japan. Clearly, the island had to be taken. After two months of bombing raids and three consecutive days of continuous assault by six American battleships, the job of capturing Iwo Jima fell to the U.S. Marines.
I turned away from the famous photo and sat down in a chair, opposite Warren. I asked my friend, "Would you mind telling me about Iwo Jima?"
Warren closed his eyes as he spoke:
"I wasn't the first one in - I went in later on in the day. First there was a lot of offshore shooting. My God, we sat offshore and shot those big damn battleship guns, and you could hear the shells - 'Whoop, Whoooom, Boooom!' They were so big everything would shake. The Japs were smart, you know - they wouldn't return fire. The Marines kept getting closer and closer, to within range. We went ashore on those landing craft, where the front would drop down and you could drive a tank or truck out. There was no firing whatsoever. None. We thought boy, this was going to be a damn easy shot this time. There were a few shots here, a few shots there, boy we had it made.
"Well, the Japs didn't decide at the last couple minutes that they were gong to have a big rabbit shoot - forget about that, anyone tell you that they're lying to you. Mt. Suribachi looked like a block of Swiss cheese. That mountain had holes and caves, some of them as big as 20 feet across. None of the Japs would shoot out of these caves, until our guys got ashore, until there was nowhere to retreat.
"Only then did they open up on us. I mean, all of a sudden, all damn hell broke loose. Airplanes were coming down and the ground would flare up. It got to where you couldn't keep watching - I'll never forget about that. They came out of that damn mountain like a bunch of hornets coming out of a tree. God, all around, there was nothing but dead men lying there. Guys lying there, half blown apart, some of them without legs; the Japs just slaughtered 'em. I think about that - it's about enough to make your guts rattle.
"Well, once we saw we weren't going to tear out the Japs, something had to be done. We knew the Japs were in these caves and sure weren't going to surrender. Well, I was elected to carry a flamethrower - we found that it was the only way to get the Japs out of their caves. I'd run up to an opening, or someplace where the guys didn't want to venture, stick that nozzle in, and pull the trigger. You would hear those poor god-dang guys screaming bloody murder. They'd come out of that hole all on fire, just screaming. They'd come out and it would be a big duck shoot. There would be maybe two, three, four, five, 10 Japs come out of those caves. I saw some guys come out just burning like a torch. Of course, you always had that fear that some other son-of-a- [gun] was trying to pick you off. Boy, oh boy.
"We climbed up Mt. Suribachi, and could see the cannons and guns in the caves, how the Japs would shoot down on us. You saw that photo over there; well there were six guys who put that flag up. I saw them take the smaller [flag] down and put the bigger one up. See that red car out there? I was that far away from it.
- Dan Wegmueller is a columnist for The Monroe Times. He can be reached at dwegs@tds.net.
Warren pointed out the window, to a vehicle parked along the street. From where he sat, the car was no more than 30 feet away.
"I was that far away from it."
He was referencing a framed photograph hanging on his wall. If what my friend was telling me was true, he stood but a stone's throw away from one of the most famous events in modern history. I took in the subtle details of the renowned photograph. Clustered together are six men, planting a long pole into the ground. The earth is obscured by heaps of skeletal rubble, and only upon closer inspection can one see that the figures are indeed standing atop a mountain - the horizon, hazy and indistinct, stretches far below their feet. At the top of the pole is the American flag, barely unfurled as it catches the breeze.
The Iwo Jima flag raising photograph is unmistakable and instantly recognizable. It is one of the most reproduced images in history.
By 1944, the tide in the Pacific had turned favorably for the United States. As the war was brought closer to mainland Japan, the tiny Pacific island of Iwo Jima fell into America's interest. The island was home to two strategic airfields, which, if controlled by the Japanese, would be used to launch fighter planes against the heavy American bombers that were destroying Japan's industrial capabilities. However, if the airfields were captured by the Americans, they could be used to launch escort fighters, and as emergency landing strips for damaged bombers returning from missions over Japan. Clearly, the island had to be taken. After two months of bombing raids and three consecutive days of continuous assault by six American battleships, the job of capturing Iwo Jima fell to the U.S. Marines.
I turned away from the famous photo and sat down in a chair, opposite Warren. I asked my friend, "Would you mind telling me about Iwo Jima?"
Warren closed his eyes as he spoke:
"I wasn't the first one in - I went in later on in the day. First there was a lot of offshore shooting. My God, we sat offshore and shot those big damn battleship guns, and you could hear the shells - 'Whoop, Whoooom, Boooom!' They were so big everything would shake. The Japs were smart, you know - they wouldn't return fire. The Marines kept getting closer and closer, to within range. We went ashore on those landing craft, where the front would drop down and you could drive a tank or truck out. There was no firing whatsoever. None. We thought boy, this was going to be a damn easy shot this time. There were a few shots here, a few shots there, boy we had it made.
"Well, the Japs didn't decide at the last couple minutes that they were gong to have a big rabbit shoot - forget about that, anyone tell you that they're lying to you. Mt. Suribachi looked like a block of Swiss cheese. That mountain had holes and caves, some of them as big as 20 feet across. None of the Japs would shoot out of these caves, until our guys got ashore, until there was nowhere to retreat.
"Only then did they open up on us. I mean, all of a sudden, all damn hell broke loose. Airplanes were coming down and the ground would flare up. It got to where you couldn't keep watching - I'll never forget about that. They came out of that damn mountain like a bunch of hornets coming out of a tree. God, all around, there was nothing but dead men lying there. Guys lying there, half blown apart, some of them without legs; the Japs just slaughtered 'em. I think about that - it's about enough to make your guts rattle.
"Well, once we saw we weren't going to tear out the Japs, something had to be done. We knew the Japs were in these caves and sure weren't going to surrender. Well, I was elected to carry a flamethrower - we found that it was the only way to get the Japs out of their caves. I'd run up to an opening, or someplace where the guys didn't want to venture, stick that nozzle in, and pull the trigger. You would hear those poor god-dang guys screaming bloody murder. They'd come out of that hole all on fire, just screaming. They'd come out and it would be a big duck shoot. There would be maybe two, three, four, five, 10 Japs come out of those caves. I saw some guys come out just burning like a torch. Of course, you always had that fear that some other son-of-a- [gun] was trying to pick you off. Boy, oh boy.
"We climbed up Mt. Suribachi, and could see the cannons and guns in the caves, how the Japs would shoot down on us. You saw that photo over there; well there were six guys who put that flag up. I saw them take the smaller [flag] down and put the bigger one up. See that red car out there? I was that far away from it.
- Dan Wegmueller is a columnist for The Monroe Times. He can be reached at dwegs@tds.net.
