Iwo Jima memories vivid after 60 years

[thedrifter]

Iwo Jima memories vivid after 60 years <br />
February 18,2004 <br />
PAT COLEMAN <br />
FREEDOM ENC <br />
<br />
HAVELOCK -It's been nearly 60 years since Bill Odom and his fellow Marines fought their way across Iwo Jima...

[namgrunt]

Yep, hardest Marine fight I'd read about. The facts I discovered are astonishing. Of the 19,000 plus Marines killed during ALL of WWII, 6,800, or about one in three, were killed on Iwo Jima. That included all battles we fought in, from Guadalcanal, through Tarawa, Peleliu, and Okinawa. Think about living in the midst of that carnage.

Interesting point, the Fifth Marine Division was first bloodied on Iwo Jima. The war ended before it could be refitted and prepared for the Invasion of Japan. It's regiments, the 25th, 26th, 27th, and 28th Marines didn't see battle again until Vietnam. I know, because the 26th Marines were the "owners" of Khe Sahn, and the 27th Marines landed in February 1968 to help counter the Tet Offensive. The 27th Marines was my outfit.

Semper Fi!
namgrunt
Bravo Co., 1st Bn, 27th Marines, attached to 1st MarDiv, FMF-PAC - Vietnam

[Super Dave]

There are about 5 Iwo Jima vets in my Marine Corp league detachment, one of which is a Devil Doc. At my first meeting I was in awe, these are the men I leaned about in boot camp, who helped make the Marine Corp what is is today. Just being around these men make my pride in being a Marine grow.

[thedrifter]

'It was a beautiful sight'
Veteran recalls raising of Old Glory on Iwo Jima

By JESSICA TROBAUGH TEMPLE
Tribune Staff Writer

MISHAWAKA -- During his service with the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II, Pfc. William B. Madden sent secret messages to his sweetheart back home in LaPaz.

"We had a signal," Madden says, recalling his correspondence with girlfriend Phyllis Manges, who today is his wife. "When I asked about her father's new car, she'd know we were going into battle."

Today, he has no time for subtlety.

As a survivor of the bloody and historic battle of Iwo Jima -- launched 59 years ago today, on Feb. 19, 1945 -- the 78-year-old sees himself embarking on a new mission: Ensuring that the conflict isn't forgotten.

While he understands the recent preoccupation with events in Iraq and Afghanistan, he says, "we shouldn't neglect the anniversaries of those who fought in bloody battles in the past to preserve the freedoms we enjoy today."

From the dining room of his Mishawaka home, Madden, a ruddy-skinned man who still works out at the gym three days a week, relays stories of the fighting on that small but strategically significant island.

On Iwo Jima the Japanese operated airfields and an early warning radar system. American B-29 bombers approaching Japan would be picked up on the radar, then intercepted by Japanese fighter planes launched from the island.

As Madden, a member of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Regiment, 5th Marine Division, spilled out of an amphibious vehicle with the first wave of American foot soldiers, 22,000 Japanese waited.

Entrenched in an intricate network of caves, tunnels and pillboxes carved from volcanic rock, the Japanese also occupied the high ground, Mount Suribachi.

Each carrying 100 pounds of gear, Madden says, the troops struggled to reach the shore. The gas masks strapped to their thighs floated, hindering their progress even more, Madden recalls.

Reaching behind him he pulls out the K-Bar, a large knife, he and the other soldiers used to cut away the masks. "It looked like all these ghoulish heads floating out to sea," he says. "I guess (that scene) was telling us what was going to happen."

The Japanese bombarded the beach with mortar shells while heavy rifle, Nambu Pistol and machine gun fire rained down on the American troops. "Twenty-five percent of the first wave and 20 percent of the second wave were killed or wounded in the first two hours of the attack," Madden says.

On land, smoke screens intended to protect U.S. troops threw the soldiers into darkness. In the confusion, many separated from their units.

"Kat-zoon! Kat-zoon!" Explosions from mortar fire blanketed the landing beach. "Zing!" went the sound of flying sand, steel and body parts.

"Kat-zoon!" A shell landed on the edge of Madden's foxhole, burying him alive. His friend Al Pagoaga rescued him, but the closeness of the explosion robbed Madden of his hearing for the next 24 hours.

As he and other troops moved off the beach, they met fire from the front and behind. A U.S. naval gunboat, mistaking them for the enemy, launched its own missiles at them from the water.

At night, enemy soldiers crept up on foxholes and tossed in hand grenades. Rattled by the experiences, Madden says, soldiers needed help steadying their shaky hands as they lighted cigarettes.

After surviving days of relentless attacks, U.S. troops raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23. "When it went up there was a huge roar across the island," Madden recalls. "We all looked. It was a beautiful sight."

As American units continued their assault toward the airfields, Madden's brother's unit, the 3rd Marine Division, joined the effort.

One day, through the smoke and haze on the front lines, a familiar face materialized before Madden's eyes. It was his brother, Robert, bringing in food and blankets. Robert promised to return the next day with more supplies.

But Madden's unit suffered severe casualties that night. Madden took in-and-out bullets in his right wrist and arm. The wrist shattered. The bullet that tore through his arm pierced the ulnar nerve.

One officer tried to keep him in battle, "but I couldn't even pull the trigger," Madden says. The injury, which left his arm partially paralyzed, still puckers the smallest finger on his right hand.

His brother made it off the island. But later, while on leave in Italy, Robert died in a motorcycle accident.

On March 6, Madden was shipped out. "I was relieved a little," he admits. "But you also want to stay with your buddies." The day before the conflict started he'd turned 19.

America seized the island on March 26. During the 36-day conflict, more than 6,800 Americans lost their lives and another 20,000 were wounded.

Madden can name several:

James Pohlman, his best friend, killed by mortar shell;

Lester Dyer, death by a bullet between the eyes;

Robert Otton, killed by machine gun fire in the back

Al Pagoaga, lost a leg to mortar;

Clyde Griffith, injured by bullet that entered his helmet, ricocheted into his neck and exited his back.

When he first came back from the war, Madden didn't talk much about his experiences. He shared some with Phyllis and his mom and dad. But eventually, he and Phyllis' children started in with questions. They asked if he killed anyone and Madden always answered, "I hope not," his son Jim Madden says.

As his children grew up, they wanted to know more. And so did his students at the University of Notre Dame, where Madden earned a master's degree in English in 1956 and later received a teaching fellowship.

Madden went on to teach English at Washington, Central and Jackson high schools in South Bend, where curious students requested the occasional history lesson from him and quizzed him on his combat experiences.

The more people asked, the more Madden discovered he wanted to tell.

The fun, nice boy that Phyllis sent off to war, came back more mature, a little edgy, she says.

Walking down an alley one night the couple heard someone shooting at birds, Phyllis recalls. Madden hit the ground.

Another time, while hunting with his dad and grandfather, a gun went off close to Madden's ear. Later that night he couldn't remember the shot, nor that he'd been hunting with his family. "I guess it was shell shock," he says, "a temporary loss of memory."

Then there were the nightmares that plagued Madden. Sometimes, even now, he has one.

"I'll feel his legs kicking," says Phyllis, who demonstrates by cranking her arms.

"In those dreams, I'm always trapped behind enemy lines and about to be killed," Madden says. "But I'm fighting with everything I've got."

Staff writer Jessica Trobaugh Temple:

jtemple@sbtinfo.com

(574) 235-6173

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2004/02/19/cIwo-Flag.jpeg

After days of a relentless onslaught by the Japanese, U.S. troops take Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima.
Photo provided/U.S. MARINE CORPS

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2004/02/19/ciwo-jima.jpeg

William B. Madden, of Mishawaka, displays a statue his children gave him one Father's Day as a tribute to his service in World War II. Madden fought in the battle of Iwo Jima.
Tribune Photo/JIM RIDER

http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2004/02/19/c-billmadden.jpeg

Pfc. William B. Madden at age 17. He turned 19 the day before he and thousands of other U.S. troops stormed the beach on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945.
Photo provided/WILLIAM B. MADDEN


http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2004/02/19/local.20040219-sbt-MARS-A1-_It_was_a_beautiful.sto


Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

Local veteran among those recalling Iwo Jima


02/20/04
Matt Tuck

Once a Marine, always a Marine, Cpl. Alton Cadenhead said as he recalled storming the beaches of Iwo Jima with his fellow Marines on Feb. 19, 1945, at the age of 19.

“It was a long time ago, and we were just a bunch of teenagers then,” he said. “Now we’re old men, but we’re still young at heart. They sent a bunch of boys to do men’s work, but we became men very quickly.”

On the 59th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps’ landing on Iwo Jima, Rome-area veterans of the battle held a silent prayer for their fallen brethren Thursday. “The silent prayer is in memory of those left on the island,” said Cadenhead.

Cadenhead was one of 13 area Iwo Jima survivors who gathered at the Western Sizzlin to remember the bloody battle.

Louie Schwartz said Thursday was significant for their yearly gathering, as it was the same day they hit the beach.

“It was on this particular day that we landed,” he said.

Schwartz and Cadenhead were joined by fellow Iwo Jima veterans Ed Smarsh, Winston Kilgo, T.B. Bing, James Braden, Max Gaston, Jack Hoban, William Morgan, Lee Mowry, W.A. Pressley, Gene Gustad and Leonard Sprayberry.

“It’s easy for people to forget the sacrifices,” said Jim Marrs, Western Sizzlin manager and Vietnam veteran. “I for one appreciate the sacrifices you guys (veterans) made.”

The battle for Iwo Jima “was the bloodiest battle in Marine history during WWII,” said Everett Stewart, commandant with Rome’s Jake Puryear Detachment of the Marine Corp League. “These are some of the survivors, (and) we’re here to honor these individuals.”

On Feb. 19, 1945, some 30,000 U.S. Marines descended on the Pacific island to battle the Japanese forces. An estimated 7,000 Marines died taking the island and 20,000 were injured before the battle’s end on March 16.

“It was the most difficult battle we had,” said Cadenhead. “We all left some very dear friends back there.”

Approximately one-third of all Marines killed in WWII were killed on Iwo Jima, according to an Iwo Jima Memorial Web site, www.webtravels.com/iwojima.

Stewart said it’s significant to have such a good turnout of veterans. “We’re losing 1,000 to 1,500 veterans a year. It’s very unique to have so many surviving vets here.”

Every year, the group meets to renew their friendship, Cadenhead said, and celebrate their timeless victory as long as there are survivors. “We don’t know how many more of these we’ll have,” he stated.

http://news.mywebpal.com/news_tool_v2.cfm?pnpID=722&NewsID=528133&CategoryID=3388&show=localnews&om=0


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[thedrifter]

HARLINGEN
Veterans Recall Battle of Iwo Jima

Reported by Kinya Cano

FEBRUARY 21, 2004 - "It's very, very rough from the moment we landed until the day that we left."

Armando Ramirez is talking about Iwo Jima one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history. It's been 59-years since it happened, but those who lived through it cannot forget it and neither can proud Americans.

"This is a parade to honor the Vietnam or in this case the Iwo Jima veterans, it's also an annual affair that goes on at the Marine Military Academy," said Lt. General Jim Conway with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Hundreds gathered at the academy in Harlingen to remember the brave who fought to secure America's freedom.

"It's amazing that some of us came out alive." says Ramirez.

But sadly the 36 day battle claimed at least 6,000 American lives. But in the end U.S. Marines were able to claim victory.

The United States Marine Memorial, commonly known as the "Iwo Jima Memorial" is located in Arlington National Cemetery.

But in 1985 sculptor Felix de Weldon donated the model he used to cast the memorial to the Marine Military Academy in Harlingen.

De Weldon made the sculpture based on a photographer of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima on 23 February 1945.

The photograph has been called the single most famous photograph ever taken. But for the veterans who attended Saturday's ceremony, they will never need a photographer to remember the day.

"We were unloading amunition when they put the flag up and everybody was hollering," recalls veteran Harland Fosness.

"We were on the ship at Iwo Jima and saw the flag raised and everything about 200 yards from where the real thing took place," remembers veteran Roy Bunch.

The flay was raised by six Marines, including Weslaco native Corporal Harlon Block who died less than a week after raising the flag. He was only 20 years old.

Block's remains are interred at the base of MMA sculpture.

"I still get chills down my spine when I see our flag flying," says veteran Bill Alderman.

For the men who survived the bloody war they say it is an honor to be remembered today and at every anniversary celebration still to come.

"Our next reunion we have if we're still living, our grandchildren are gonna have to wheel us in on wheelchairs," says Alderman.


http://kgbt.static.worldnow.com/images/1658307_BG1.jpg

http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=1658307&nav=0w0vKzUF


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[thedrifter]

Legends: Corps celebrates 60th anniversary of landing at Iwo Jima <br />
Submitted by: MCLB Barstow <br />
Story Identification Number: 200422713814 <br />
Story by Lance Cpl. Andy J. Hurt <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
MARINE CORPS...

[thedrifter]

New York Marines remember epic battle of Iwo Jima
Submitted by: New York Public Affairs
Story Identification Number: 20043115216
Story by Capt. Alison L. Salerno



NEW YORK(March 1, 2004) -- New York Marines remembered and honored living veterans of the epic World War II battle for Iwo Jima at a Feb. 20 luncheon of the Marine Corps League in Rockland County.

The battle for Iwo Jima birthed the immortal image of Marines raising the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi after days of bitter and costly fighting.

The Rockland County Marine Corps League chapter held their annual luncheon to remember this epic battle, and they invited active duty and reserve Marines from Marine Aircraft Group-49 at nearby Stewart Air National Guard Base.

Nine Marine and Navy survivors of Iwo Jima attended and were recognized during the luncheon.

Twenty-seven Marines received the Medal of Honor for actions they took in the battle. The fight for control of the 8-square-mile island spanned over four weeks and the Americans suffered more than 26,000 casualties, including 6,800 deaths.

After the island was secure, it is estimated that more than 2,000 B-29 aircraft were able to make emergency landings on the island during later bombing raids of the Japanese mainland, saving more than 20,000 airmen.

George Rath, the Rockland County Marine Corps League detachment commandant, shared why this event is held every year. "It’s important for us as Marines to remember those who have fought before us, but also to send a message to those who are serving now that they will be remembered, and they have our support."

After the group recognized the valor and heroism of those who fought, Maxim Lee, an Iwo Jima veteran of Lima Co., 3rd Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division, shared words spoken by Roland B. Gittleson, a Jewish chaplain, during the dedication of a battlefield cemetery on Iwo Jima.

"Somewhere in this plot of ground, there may lie a man who could have discovered a cure for cancer. Under one of these Christian crosses, or beneath a Jewish Star of David, there may rest now a man who was destined to be a great prophet. Now they lie here silently in this sacred soil, and we gather to consecrate this earth in their memory.

"Here lie officers and men, black and white, rich and poor… here are Protestants, Catholics and Jews. Here no man prefers another because of his faith, or despises him because of his color. Here there are no quotas of how many from each group are admitted or allowed. Theirs is the highest and purest form of democracy."

A representative of the USS Saratoga Association also gave a brief history of the actions of the Saratoga, CV-3, a converted aircraft carrier carrying Marine aircraft during the battle for Iwo Jima.

Just days before the landing, the carrier was first tasked with supporting diversionary air strikes on the Japanese mainland, dubbed "Task Force 58."

Many of the active duty Marines there made the connection between that and a more recent Task Force 58, named in honor of the WWII mission, the air and ground invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Two days after the Marines began their landing on Iwo Jima, Saratoga was ordered with three destroyers to join the amphibious forces and carry out night patrols over Iwo Jima and night heckler missions over nearby Chi-chi Jima.

However, as the ship approached her operating area in early evening on Feb. 21, an air attack ensued and six Japanese planes scored five hits on the carrier in three minutes. After the attack, Saratoga was heavily damaged and 123 crewmen were dead or missing, many Marines among them.

A photo of the WWII-era Saratoga and a Marine crewmen’s hat were given to Rath as a gift to the league.

During the meeting, Rath also announced the recipient of the Elmer Jewel Award, given each year to a member of the league chapter who exemplifies service – first to their country and now to their community.

The Elmer Jewel award was named after a Marine who was killed at Iwo Jima, and whose dog tags were kept by a Marine in the chapter.

The award was given to Jim Hyman, a Navy Chief Petty Officer with 20 years on active duty and 10 years in the reserves, and an active member of the Rockland County Marine Corps League chapter. He spent many of his years serving with the Marine Corps as a "beachmaster," including time as a signalman attached to the 5th Marine Division.

Fellow league member and last year’s recipient of the Elmer Jewel award, Bernard Kelly, said Hyman was a natural choice for the award. "Jim’s always available, and shows up for every event or volunteer effort. He’s a major reason we collect the amount of toys we do every Christmas for the Toys for Tots program."

"Even though he’s a sailor, he’s really a Marine at heart."


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20043115224/$file/saratoga06_low.jpg

"Fighting fire against terrific heat and wind, Feb. 21, 1945" (Photo CV3 3608), USS Saratoga (CV-3)
Photo by: courtesy the Harold C. Cassar Photo Collection


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/20043115657/$file/iwovets_low.jpg

Marine and Navy survivors of the battle of Iwo Jima are recognized at the Marine Corps League Iwo Jima luncheon Feb. 20, while Maxim Lee reads words from the dedication of a battlefield cemetary on Iwo Jima. Photo by: courtesy George Rath

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/C60714D9F546E2EA85256E4A006E1260?opendocument


Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[thedrifter]

Veterans expected for Iwo Jima trek

By Steve Limtiaco, slimtiaco@guampdn.com
Pacific Daily News

More than 100 veterans are scheduled to arrive on Guam this week to participate in what has become an annual trek to the Japanese island of Iwo Jima -- site of one of the most memorable battles in U.S. military history.

It was atop Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, that photographer Joe Rosenthal took the Pulitzer-prize-winning photo of U.S. Marines and a Navy Corpsman raising a large U.S. flag. That was on the third day after U.S. Marines invaded the island, in a battle that lasted more than a month and which cost 28,000 lives on both sides.

The United States wanted to capture Iwo Jima -- which is halfway between Guam and the main islands of Japan -- to prevent the Japanese from using the island as a base to launch fighter planes against U.S. bombers. The U.S. military wanted to use the island as a base for its own fighter planes, in order to provide uninterrupted escort to and from Japan.

Military Historical Tours, which arranges historic tours of battle sites around the world, organized this year's visit, with the assistance of the U.S. Marine Corps, which will help shuttle visitors during their day on Iwo Jima.

About 30 veterans were scheduled to arrive on Saipan last night, to tour Saipan and Tinian for a couple of days. About 80 other veterans will arrive on Guam today, and the entire group is scheduled to fly to Iwo Jima Friday morning on a chartered Continental Airlines flight.

This year is the 59th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima.

ABOUT IWO JIMA

Iwo Jima's strategic location is the reason more than 70,000 U.S. Marines fought to take the island from 22,000 Japanese defenders in February and March of 1945. The Japanese fought the battle from hundreds of underground bunkers

connected by miles of tunnels.


The United States wanted the island and its airstrips to provide fighter support for bombing runs against the Japanese mainland and to provide a landing site for crippled planes.

Iwo Jima is now a Japanese military base that also is used by the U.S. military.

http://www.guampdn.com/news/stories/20040308/localnews/33738.html

Sempers,

Roger
:marine:

[thedrifter]

IWO Jima remembered after 59 years

Submitted by: MCB Camp Butler
Story Identification Number: 2004329174425
Story by Lance Cpl. Thomas A. Sloan



IWO JIMA, Japan (March 12, 2004) -- Almost six decades ago, U.S. forces arrived off the coast here and stormed the black sands of Invasion Beach while dodging heavy machine-gun fire from Japanese soldiers.

Now, 59-years later, those who were once foes met as friends Mar. 12, for the 59th Commemoration of the Battle of Iwo Jima. The special event brought together U.S. and Japanese veterans of World War II as well as a host of Marines and Sailors, and dignitaries and leaders from both nations. On hand were 25 survivors from the U.S. and Japan.

The ceremony marked the anniversary of one of the bloodiest battles the Marines were ever involved in. It took 36-days to break though heavily fortified defense positions and bring the island under American control. When the fighting finally ended Mar. 16, 1945, more than 6,000 Marines and 20,000 Japanese soldiers were dead. The U.S. suffered a total of 23,573 casualties and only 1,000 Japanese survived.

For some of the veterans, coming back and visiting stirred up old memories of what role they played in the offensive.

“I was a rifleman in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, we were the first wave to storm the beach,” said Gordon F. Ward, a corporal during the battle. “I was apprehensive and nervous before getting here, but I knew it was something I had to do. A Marine’s obligation is to fight whenever he is required to without questioning why.”

The 80-year-old Kensington, Md., native was wounded by a mortar-shell Feb. 20, the day of the invasion.

“I was about half way up the beach when a mortar exploded close by and hit me,” Ward said as he pulled up his right pants leg to expose the scars. “A lot of fragmentations went into my leg. The pain was horrendous but, I didn’t pass out. I was able to drag myself down to the beach where the rest of the wounded were being treated. Just as a corpsman tied a tourniquet on my leg, a shell of some kind exploded by us and killed him. Because he was bent over me, he saved my life.”

Ward said he was proud to fight in the Battle of Iwo Jima and do his part in protecting America’s freedom.

The ceremony included recognizing the troops who fought and honoring those who died. Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, General William Nyland, reflected upon the special friendship the U.S. and Japan share and the importance of those continuing ties. The event ended with a 21-gun salute to fallen comrades. The 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force Band then played Taps.

After many of the veterans had finished exchanging war stories, they started their ascent to the top of Mt. Suribachi. This time it wouldn’t be on foot, but in a hummvee instead.

Visiting Iwo Jima gave some of the younger Marines a glimpse of what the old Corps endured.

“I can’t imagine what it must have been like hitting the beach and then having to climb the steep mountain under heavy fire,” said Sgt. Christopher L. Maxwell, administration clerk for the Commanding General’s office, Marine Corps Base, Camp Foster. “My grandpa fought and was wounded here.”

Maxwell’s grandfather, Charles Hancock, has never been back to the island since then.

“I wanted to come and get an idea of what he experienced,” the Dallas, Texas native said. “I’m going to take some sand back to Tennessee to give to him.”

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/Lookup/2004329174649/$file/Release0136-2004-01low.jpg

IWO JIMA, Japan - World War II veteran, Ernest Kubosa from Missouri City, Texas, is helped up a hill on the island of Iwo Jima by Cpl. Timothy Harrison (left) and Cpl. Sean Jenkins (right) both with 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, March 12. Marines, Sailors, and veterans gather on the island for the 59th Commememoration of the battle of Iwo Jima. Photo by: Cpl. Daniel Yarnall

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/2ACBA46455BD180385256E66007CEAC9?opendocument


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Submitted by: MCAS Miramar
Story Identification Number: 200441161633
Story by Cpl. T.D. Smith



MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif.(April 1, 2004) -- Most Marines in the Corps today wearing the rank of private first class hadn't yet been born on March 3, 1945, but a stitch of freedom had been woven into every Marine's baby blanket by an orphan who died on that day and would have been forgotten, if not for the efforts of his Marine Corps family.

Pfc. Ilario Garcia was born in Ramona, Calif., Jan. 14, 1926. While he was an orphan, he did secure some ties with high school buddies and tutors from his hometown, and some residents from Ramona still remember him

Johnny Dobson, a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3783, based in Ramona, spearheaded a search for the remains of Garcia. Garcia was killed on Iwo Jima while fighting with the 5th Marine Division on March 3, 1945, just shortly after his 19th birthday.

At that time, Garcia's body was laid to rest in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima. However, years after the end of World War II, the troops buried abroad were disinterred, and the final resting places of most of the troops was decided by family members. This is where Dobson comes in to the picture.

The men and women of VFW Post 3783, especially Dobson, have dedicated much time and effort into locating the remains of fallen war heroes hailing from Ramona. Dobson had exhausted almost all his resources, when he decided to call Chuck Little, deputy director, Marine Corps Forces Pacific Public Affairs. Little in turn called the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and spoke with Aaron Lehl, a historian at JPAC. Lehl explained that JPAC doesn't usually become involved with closed cases.

However, Little said, "Lehl, being a former Marine, felt strongly about helping this VFW Post, so he did a quick search of JPAC's database."

The JPAC records indicated the remains were transported to California, but no specific location was indicated. Lehl then requested Garcia's Individual Deceased Personnel File.

Little contacted Dobson to inform him it might take a month to locate the records concerning the specific whereabouts of Garcia's remains. Dobson said to Little, "Chuck, we've been trying to find Garcia for years - a few more weeks is nothing to us."

Their efforts were rewarded with a confirmation from Lehl that Garcia had been disinterred in 1949 and reburied in the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in San Diego. With the anniversary of the death of Garcia nearing, some members planned to pay respects to their fallen comrade from Ramona.

Retired Col. Matthew Blackledge, former commanding officer of Marine Wing Support Group 37 and representative of VFW 3783 in attendance at the grave of Garcia March 3, explained the reason why it is so important to bring fallen heroes home and why they were their there to pay their respects.

Blackledge said it is important "Whether that warrior was a Marine, soldier, Sailor or airman. The response is very simple but important. Those of us who survive combat have a moral obligation to our friends and fellow warriors that made the ultimate sacrifice to make sure they are never forgotten. This is our payment of the debt we owe them for preserving the freedom of this nation and the world.

"By doing this, we demonstrate to those that now wear the uniform of the military services of our great country that their sacrifices will be remembered," he added. "They need to believe and understand this in order to make the tough split-second choices on the battlefield to ensure victory. We must pass this spirit of patriotism from generation to generation.

"This understanding is crucial to ensuring that the United States of America, this fledging bastion of just over 225 years of freedom on the world stage 10,000 years of recorded history, survives. Without the United States of America, freedom as we know it now, will crumble," he said.

A gravesite isn't the only token left behind to serve as a reminder of Garcia's sacrifice. A letter reached the Gallagher family, a family that took Garcia in before he left to fight the war as a Marine, shortly after they had been notified of his death.

The letter reads, "Dear Mrs. Gallagher: We just got back from the front lines on the invaded island of Iwo Jima which we invaded along with the 3rd and 4th Marine Div. on Feb. 19. I was never so scared as I was on the front lines seeing all my buddies get shot. The Japs aren't so dumb in their military tactics. The Marine Corps is only 750 mi. away from Tokyo.

"The Japs are giving us hell and we're giving it right back at them. There's still a tough hill to climb so I'd better get some rest while I can so until I see you and Ed again, so long for the present. Gratefully yours. (Ilario.)"

Remembering and paying respect to those who have sacrificed for the freedoms we almost enjoy, to most, is a small task. Some read a history book or rent a documentary. However, others undertake this sometimes daunting mission with an enthusiasm and tenacity venerable of the most proven war heroes. It is their work that keeps the legacy of an orphan alive and the importance of history in the hearts of the youth.

For more information on America's traditions, freedoms and history, contact VFV Post 3783 at (760) 789-7888 or 0831.


http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/2471435A91751E2685256E690074DF65?opendocument


Ellie