thedrifter
03-17-04, 10:15 AM
Former enemies remember the dead of Iwo Jima
By Fred Zimmerman, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, March 15, 2004
IWO JIMA, Japan — Men who once stormed the beaches here, and men who occupied machine-gun positions to keep the advancing forces off the island, met in friendship Friday for the 59th commemoration of the Battle of Iwo Jima.
They weren’t in uniform. If they carried anything, it was a cane, not a rifle. They spoke different languages. But they shared a common purpose: to pay tribute to the men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their countries.
The two groups met at the Reunion of Honor Monument on a hill overlooking Yellow Beach, where many U.S. Marines landed on Feb. 19, 1945 — and where many of them died.
The battle raged into March, when the island was declared secure on the 26th. In those few weeks, Marine Corps historical documents show, the United States tallied more than 26,000 casualties, including more than 6,800 dead. Of the more than 20,000 Japanese defenders, just more than 1,000 survived.
Symbolically, the U.S. assault marked the first time in World War II that U.S. ground troops had struck any part of Japanese homeland.
More important, strategically the island would serve as a vital airfield. Fighter planes that escorted bombers on long-range missions would be based there; crippled bombers would be able to limp there for repairs rather than being lost at sea.
“While the island is small in physical size, it is very large in strategic value to both nations,” retired Marine Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston, representing U.S. veterans, said during the ceremony. “It lies less than 700 miles from mainland Japan.”
High-ranking military officials from both the United States and Japan asserted that the battle was a turning point in a conflict that, eventually, forged a tempered-steel alliance between two great powers.
Gen. William Nyland, Marine Corps assistant commandant, honored the valor Iwo Jima represents and expressed hope that “we will never again witness loss on such a scale.”
But he also asserted that the many men who gave their lives on the island believed they did not fight in vain. “I for one believe their hope has been fulfilled,” he said. “Out of the ashes of the Pacific battles has blossomed a lasting relationship between two great nations.”
Kiyoshi Endo, Japanese Iwo Jima Veterans Association chairman, agreed. “Almost 60 years ago, this spot ran red with blood, and screams of agony and death filled the air,” Endo said. “Now, we have tranquility and peace.
“It is hard to imagine today that this small place of rock cost us so many Japanese and American lives,” Endo said. “We owe it to the fallen of Iwo Jima, both Japanese and American, to honor their memories by striving for friendship and understanding. These are the essential ingredients of the true and lasting peace.”
Hailston said: “The most incredible aspect of this day is that we return to this sacred battleground as devoted friends. We come from nations that enjoy the closest and most dedicated relationship. Those who were once enemies, defending different thoughts and goals, are now closely aligned in leading the world toward peace and security.”
After the speeches, the 25 U.S. Iwo Jima veterans present gathered in front of the monument to lay a wreath. Japanese officials then presented two wreaths and poured water over the monument, a symbolic offering to the fallen.
The air cracked with three volleys from seven rifles — being fired this time not in warfare but as a 21-gun salute to fallen comrades. For 30 seconds, as uniformed Marines, Japanese officials and aged soldiers all stood ramrod straight, the only sounds on the former battleground were from the wind and the sea.
Then the somber tones of taps echoed over the island. Once again, the two nations had honored the tens of thousands of their citizens who died on their countries’ behalf, on a piece of rock almost none of them called home.
IWO JIMA, Japan — John Sbordone marveled at Iwo Jima’s tranquility Friday as he stood on a hill overlooking Yellow Beach, a cane in his hand for support.
Fifty-nine years ago he hit this beach with a weapon in his hand, one of the thousands of U.S. Marines trying to take the small but strategic island. He was a young first lieutenant with the 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division.
“We were in reserve, so we felt that we would be safe since the first landing was in the morning,” said Sbordone, who eventually would retire in the Marine Reserve as a lieutenant colonel. His unit didn’t hit the beach until 4:30 p.m., he said — but it ran into more resistance than expected.
“We went halfway inland between the water’s edge and the first airstrip,” said the 84-year-old. While taking cover, he said, his men were being bombarded by enemy shells — including a round the men called a “flying boxcar” because it was so big that when it got between the men and the sun, it created a shadow. And when it exploded, Sbordone said, the blast took off one man’s legs and severely injured several others. He knew he had to get them out of the area.
As they moved forward toward an airstrip, he radioed in their position — and never forgot the response.
“The colonel said, ‘Stay where you are — you’re on the front line,’” Sbordone recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘Where is everyone?’”
The next day, he said, a forward observer came in to help him identify targets and radio them to the ships offshore.
“I remember laying there with my field glasses and when he said ‘fire’ I saw a puff of smoke, but couldn’t hear anything because the ships were so far away,” Sbordone said. But when the projectiles would hit their targets, he said, he could “hear the metal ripping apart.”
After the targets were destroyed, Sbordone said, he and his men just kept going.
A total of 222 troops in Sbordone’s unit landed that day. After 26 days of fighting, he said, the unit left the island with just 71 men.
Sbordone said he turned 25 eight days before the landing and most of his men were 18 to 19. One Marine in the unit actually turned out to be a 14-year-old boy who’d managed to slip through the cracks, he said, adding they quickly sent the kid home.
Also sticking in Sbordone’s memory was a 35-year-old father of five. Sbordone said he asked the Marine what he was doing; the man said he was simply serving his country. Sbordone told the man outright that he was giving him the least-dangerous job: runner.
One day while making a run to the rear, the man was hit by a mortar and killed.
“You just never know,” Sbordone said.
Another former Marine who attended Friday’s 59th commemoration of the battle said he didn’t land on the first day. Then-Sgt. Cyril O’Brien, a combat correspondent with the 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, joined his unit late and wondered if there still was any action.
“Then I heard machine guns and artillery,” O’Brien said. “Then I saw the giant tanks spit out long streams of fire — as long as a football field — and that’s when I realized how bad war was.”
O’Brien said he carried only a pistol but wasn’t too concerned about defending himself.
“Hell, I had around me professional Marines who were veterans of three campaigns,” he said. “What did I need a pea-shooter for?”
Active-duty Marines who attended Friday’s ceremony said seeing such hallowed Marine Corps ground firsthand was riveting.
“It’s incredible,” said Lance Cpl. Nathanael Cline, who traveled from Okinawa. “I think this will be one of the defining moments of my Marine Corps career.”
Cline said he hadn’t had a chance to talk to any of the veterans in the morning but he couldn’t wait to hear their stories. He said that while he had seen photographs of the Battle of Iwo Jima, envisioning what the veterans went through was difficult.
Standing on the quiet hill overlooking Yellow Beach, Sbordone said looks may have changed, but deep inside, he’ll never forget what took place here.
“It’s hard to look out and see what I saw that day, but the feeling is always there.”
— Fred Zimmerman
http://www.estripes.com/photos/21014_31414389b.jpg
Fred Zimmerman / S&S
Retired Marine Lt. Col. John Sbordone stands on an Iwo Jima hill overlooking the beach where he landed 59 years ago during the battle for the island. Behind him to the right is a pillbox where machine guns stood ready to cut down the advancing Americans. Sbordone was with the 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division. His unit landed with 222 troops — and left the island with 71.
Marines young and old moved by legacy of battle
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=20261&archive=true
Ellie
By Fred Zimmerman, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, March 15, 2004
IWO JIMA, Japan — Men who once stormed the beaches here, and men who occupied machine-gun positions to keep the advancing forces off the island, met in friendship Friday for the 59th commemoration of the Battle of Iwo Jima.
They weren’t in uniform. If they carried anything, it was a cane, not a rifle. They spoke different languages. But they shared a common purpose: to pay tribute to the men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their countries.
The two groups met at the Reunion of Honor Monument on a hill overlooking Yellow Beach, where many U.S. Marines landed on Feb. 19, 1945 — and where many of them died.
The battle raged into March, when the island was declared secure on the 26th. In those few weeks, Marine Corps historical documents show, the United States tallied more than 26,000 casualties, including more than 6,800 dead. Of the more than 20,000 Japanese defenders, just more than 1,000 survived.
Symbolically, the U.S. assault marked the first time in World War II that U.S. ground troops had struck any part of Japanese homeland.
More important, strategically the island would serve as a vital airfield. Fighter planes that escorted bombers on long-range missions would be based there; crippled bombers would be able to limp there for repairs rather than being lost at sea.
“While the island is small in physical size, it is very large in strategic value to both nations,” retired Marine Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston, representing U.S. veterans, said during the ceremony. “It lies less than 700 miles from mainland Japan.”
High-ranking military officials from both the United States and Japan asserted that the battle was a turning point in a conflict that, eventually, forged a tempered-steel alliance between two great powers.
Gen. William Nyland, Marine Corps assistant commandant, honored the valor Iwo Jima represents and expressed hope that “we will never again witness loss on such a scale.”
But he also asserted that the many men who gave their lives on the island believed they did not fight in vain. “I for one believe their hope has been fulfilled,” he said. “Out of the ashes of the Pacific battles has blossomed a lasting relationship between two great nations.”
Kiyoshi Endo, Japanese Iwo Jima Veterans Association chairman, agreed. “Almost 60 years ago, this spot ran red with blood, and screams of agony and death filled the air,” Endo said. “Now, we have tranquility and peace.
“It is hard to imagine today that this small place of rock cost us so many Japanese and American lives,” Endo said. “We owe it to the fallen of Iwo Jima, both Japanese and American, to honor their memories by striving for friendship and understanding. These are the essential ingredients of the true and lasting peace.”
Hailston said: “The most incredible aspect of this day is that we return to this sacred battleground as devoted friends. We come from nations that enjoy the closest and most dedicated relationship. Those who were once enemies, defending different thoughts and goals, are now closely aligned in leading the world toward peace and security.”
After the speeches, the 25 U.S. Iwo Jima veterans present gathered in front of the monument to lay a wreath. Japanese officials then presented two wreaths and poured water over the monument, a symbolic offering to the fallen.
The air cracked with three volleys from seven rifles — being fired this time not in warfare but as a 21-gun salute to fallen comrades. For 30 seconds, as uniformed Marines, Japanese officials and aged soldiers all stood ramrod straight, the only sounds on the former battleground were from the wind and the sea.
Then the somber tones of taps echoed over the island. Once again, the two nations had honored the tens of thousands of their citizens who died on their countries’ behalf, on a piece of rock almost none of them called home.
IWO JIMA, Japan — John Sbordone marveled at Iwo Jima’s tranquility Friday as he stood on a hill overlooking Yellow Beach, a cane in his hand for support.
Fifty-nine years ago he hit this beach with a weapon in his hand, one of the thousands of U.S. Marines trying to take the small but strategic island. He was a young first lieutenant with the 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division.
“We were in reserve, so we felt that we would be safe since the first landing was in the morning,” said Sbordone, who eventually would retire in the Marine Reserve as a lieutenant colonel. His unit didn’t hit the beach until 4:30 p.m., he said — but it ran into more resistance than expected.
“We went halfway inland between the water’s edge and the first airstrip,” said the 84-year-old. While taking cover, he said, his men were being bombarded by enemy shells — including a round the men called a “flying boxcar” because it was so big that when it got between the men and the sun, it created a shadow. And when it exploded, Sbordone said, the blast took off one man’s legs and severely injured several others. He knew he had to get them out of the area.
As they moved forward toward an airstrip, he radioed in their position — and never forgot the response.
“The colonel said, ‘Stay where you are — you’re on the front line,’” Sbordone recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘Where is everyone?’”
The next day, he said, a forward observer came in to help him identify targets and radio them to the ships offshore.
“I remember laying there with my field glasses and when he said ‘fire’ I saw a puff of smoke, but couldn’t hear anything because the ships were so far away,” Sbordone said. But when the projectiles would hit their targets, he said, he could “hear the metal ripping apart.”
After the targets were destroyed, Sbordone said, he and his men just kept going.
A total of 222 troops in Sbordone’s unit landed that day. After 26 days of fighting, he said, the unit left the island with just 71 men.
Sbordone said he turned 25 eight days before the landing and most of his men were 18 to 19. One Marine in the unit actually turned out to be a 14-year-old boy who’d managed to slip through the cracks, he said, adding they quickly sent the kid home.
Also sticking in Sbordone’s memory was a 35-year-old father of five. Sbordone said he asked the Marine what he was doing; the man said he was simply serving his country. Sbordone told the man outright that he was giving him the least-dangerous job: runner.
One day while making a run to the rear, the man was hit by a mortar and killed.
“You just never know,” Sbordone said.
Another former Marine who attended Friday’s 59th commemoration of the battle said he didn’t land on the first day. Then-Sgt. Cyril O’Brien, a combat correspondent with the 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, joined his unit late and wondered if there still was any action.
“Then I heard machine guns and artillery,” O’Brien said. “Then I saw the giant tanks spit out long streams of fire — as long as a football field — and that’s when I realized how bad war was.”
O’Brien said he carried only a pistol but wasn’t too concerned about defending himself.
“Hell, I had around me professional Marines who were veterans of three campaigns,” he said. “What did I need a pea-shooter for?”
Active-duty Marines who attended Friday’s ceremony said seeing such hallowed Marine Corps ground firsthand was riveting.
“It’s incredible,” said Lance Cpl. Nathanael Cline, who traveled from Okinawa. “I think this will be one of the defining moments of my Marine Corps career.”
Cline said he hadn’t had a chance to talk to any of the veterans in the morning but he couldn’t wait to hear their stories. He said that while he had seen photographs of the Battle of Iwo Jima, envisioning what the veterans went through was difficult.
Standing on the quiet hill overlooking Yellow Beach, Sbordone said looks may have changed, but deep inside, he’ll never forget what took place here.
“It’s hard to look out and see what I saw that day, but the feeling is always there.”
— Fred Zimmerman
http://www.estripes.com/photos/21014_31414389b.jpg
Fred Zimmerman / S&S
Retired Marine Lt. Col. John Sbordone stands on an Iwo Jima hill overlooking the beach where he landed 59 years ago during the battle for the island. Behind him to the right is a pillbox where machine guns stood ready to cut down the advancing Americans. Sbordone was with the 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division. His unit landed with 222 troops — and left the island with 71.
Marines young and old moved by legacy of battle
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=20261&archive=true
Ellie