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thedrifter
05-30-04, 09:43 AM
Coast Guard Linked to Iwo Jima <br />
By PA2 Judy L. Silverstein <br />
U. S. Coast Guard <br />
May 28, 2004 <br />
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BOCA RATON, Fla. -- In the shadow of Mt,. Suribaichi, a young quartermaster patrols the deck of...

thedrifter
05-30-04, 09:43 AM
Four days prior to the flag incident, Resnick sustained a facial wound for what he laughingly calls, "getting shot in the chinstrap". Taking a sounding, he wore his helmet without buckling it. The strap dangled on the left side of his face when he suddenly felt a tremendous sting on the right side of his face. "I never knew what it was," says Resnick. "Maj. Wann, a Marine said, what happened to you? You're bleeding like a pig". Resnick looked down and saw blood all over the life jacket he was ordered to wear while remaining at General Quarters alert.

"I got permission to leave my post and see the Pharmacist's Mate in Sick Bay," says Resnick. "He couldn't staunch the bleeding so he used a styptic pencil and suggested stitches, but initially, I declined." Eventually, he persuaded Resnick that he was a fine seamstress. The scar remains just inside Resnick's sideburn and he pats it reassuringly.

"Maj. Wann said, "You're entitled to a Purple Heart, son. You were shot." But we were fighting a war; I was busy," says Resnick, who never filed the paperwork.

After the war, Resnick went on to manufacture the hair for Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and dresses for the famed Cabbage Patch doll. Gaining unusual perspective, his memories are now framed by his historic feat 60 years ago.

The inspiration that flag gave 70,000 men wasn't apparent to Resnick until he attended a Fifth Marine Convention in West Palm Beach, in Aug., 2001.

"I wanted to see if any of the men I remembered would be there," he says. "War makes for strange bedfellows and we bonded. This is the group that made history," he says. "They were the most famous Marine division and my ship took them in."

"Looking back, I had a front seat to the history of this nation," says Resnick, his voice cracking just a bit. "I am now very proud but I never thought of it that way in those days," says Resnick.

A former Marine from Texas in his late seventies offered to show Resnick around the convention. The two struck up a conversation and Resnick told him about the flag. "You're the guy, he asked? My whole life I've been wondering where that flag came from." Then he called over a group of 35-40 Marines.

Word sped through the place.

A portly Marine bellowed, "Are you so damn dumb that you mean to tell me, that you don't realize that you won that battle single-handedly?"

Resnick laughed. He says he was pleased to feel part of the group, leaving word on the bulletin board that he lived in Boca Raton with his phone number. That night, his phone rang at 11:30 p.m. jarring him awake. A Navy corpsman who had tended the 5th Marine Div during the war, was on the other end.

He told me, "I was off the starboard bow of your ship and saw the Marine come out with a pipe on his shoulder and a flag under his arm and I watched him struggle up the mountain," Resnick says.

For decades, Resnick kept his story quiet, unsure of what to say. A successful businessman for more than sixty years, Resnick has two children and three grandchildren.

"It never occurred to me to seek glory for Bob Resnick," he says. "But the 779 kept receiving credit for supplying the flag and I wanted to set things right."

As television anchors and filmmakers call hoping to capture the Coast Guard connection to Iwo Jima, Resnick says he feels very proud. In 2001, the president of the fifth Marine division made Resnick an honorary member.

"It made me feel wonderful. They made me feel like part of the group. As they honored me, a couple of the guys started crying. I cried right along with them."

Ellie