Local Marines remember Battle of Iwo Jima [Archive] - Marine Corps

thedrifter

02-20-06, 08:22 AM

IWO JIMA MEMORIES ENDURE
Local veterans mark anniversary
By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL

The 61-year-old memories of the smell of sulfur and sight of blood on the black sands of Iwo Jima were still fresh Sunday for a few of the Marines who survived the historic battle of World War II and gathered in Las Vegas to commemorate its anniversary.

For Marine veteran Chet Foulke, a demolition expert with Company C of the 5th Engineer Battalion, the greatest memory comes from the historic flag-raisings on Mount Suribachi, five days into the fighting, which marked a turning point in the battle but not the end.

"I stood down on the bottom of the mountain, and the tears ran down from my eyes," said Foulke, 83, of Las Vegas, who endured 36 days on Iwo Jima and "was shot at plenty."

Foulke and other local Iwo Jima Marines went on to live long lives, but their ranks have thinned in recent years with the deaths of Joe "Shotgun" Shields this year and Frank Damewood in May 2004.

"There's not too many of us left," said Larry Odell, another of the Iwo Jima veterans living in the Las Vegas Valley.

Six decades ago, death came not by old age but by machine-gun fire crisscrossing the island and artillery rounds and mortars. One in three was killed or wounded, while the Japanese stayed out of sight, protected by tunnels and bunkers.

Odell has vivid memories of the smell emanating from the island's sulfur pits mixed with the stench of rotting bodies left on the hard, cinder ash surface.

What struck Al C. Eutsey were the contrasting emotions of the wounded who, despite their injuries, which included lost limbs, were glad to know they would be leaving the island alive.

"I can remember a lot of buddies getting killed. I saw a lot of heroes over there," said Eutsey, 81, who traveled to the Las Vegas Leatherneck Club from Golden Valley, Ariz., to join Foulke and two others who survived what has been dubbed one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history.

About 27,000 people were killed during the battle from Feb. 19 to March 26, 1945.

More than 20,000 of the deaths were Japanese soldiers, most of whom had been entrenched in tunnels and burrowed in pillboxes throughout the eight square miles of the porkchop-shaped island. Of the approximately 7,000 U.S. servicemen killed in the battle, about 5,500 were Marines, according to the Naval Historical Center. More than 19,000 U.S. military personnel were wounded.

"The thing I remember most was we saw so many guys get wounded. If they could open their eyes, they were happy," said Eutsey, a sergeant who directed machine-gun fire and who was wounded 11 days into the fighting on Hill 362-A.

He said he still thinks about Iwo Jima often.

"When you wake up at night, you're still fighting that fight 60 years later. When you wake up, it comes to your mind," he said Sunday.

Like Eutsey, Parke Potter, who packed a Browning Automatic Rifle, BAR, was in the first wave of Marines to land at Green Beach. They were in two different battalions of the 5th Division's 28th Marines, which was the regiment that raised first a small, then a large flag on Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945.

"The life of a BAR man in combat was about 10 minutes, and I lasted 30 days," said Potter, an 80-year-old Henderson resident whose decorations include a Purple Heart medal.

"On the beach the bullets were about like the mosquitoes in Minnesota," he said. He recalled how he and about five other Marines found a convenient hole to take cover in on Green Beach, but soon after they jumped in it, they realized that it had been used by the Japanese for a latrine.

Despite the odor and the putrid conditions, none of them wanted to seek another place of refuge.

Potter, originally from Petersburg, Mich., said the sound of bullets whizzing through the air was nonstop.

"If you could hear a 'pop,' that was a close one," he said.

He remembers the flag-raisings and how he "helped dig up some of the scrap pipe for the first flagpole."

Odell arrived a couple of days into the fighting as a member of an artillery unit known as "the Forgotten Battalion."

"I had quite a scare there. They shot a mortar over my head, and it threw coral in my eyes. I thought I was blind," he said. "It was weeks before I could see good. It finally worked itself out."

Odell, 82, credits flamethrowers on foot and in small tanks for defeating the entrenched Japanese. "They were so underground, the only reason we were able to take it was because of the flamethrowers," he said.

The Iwo Jima survivors said they admire what today's armed forces personnel are doing in the nation's war on terrorism.

The lessons of Iwo Jima should never be forgotten, retired Marine Lt. Gen. E.R. "Buck" Bedard told those at the Leatherneck Club.

"It's all about what we pass on to our young Marines, sailors, soldiers, airmen and Coast Guardsmen," Bedard said.

By KEITH ROGERS

REVIEW-JOURNAL

The 61-year-old memories of the smell of sulfur and sight of blood on the black sands of Iwo Jima were still fresh Sunday for a few of the Marines who survived the historic battle of World War II and gathered in Las Vegas to commemorate its anniversary.

For Marine veteran Chet Foulke, a demolition expert with Company C of the 5th Engineer Battalion, his fondest memory came five days into the battle during the historic flag-raisings on Mount Suribachi that marked a turning point in the battle but not the end.

"I stood down on the bottom of the mountain and the tears ran down from my eyes," said Foulke, 83, of Las Vegas, who endured 36 days on Iwo Jima and "was shot at plenty."

While Foulke and other local Iwo Jima Marines went on to live long lives, their ranks have thinned in recent years with the death of Joe "Shotgun" Shields this year and Frank Damewood in May 2004.

"There's not too many of us left," said Larry Odell, another of the Iwo Jima veterans living in the Las Vegas Valley.

Six decades ago, though, death came not be old age but by machine gun fire crisscrossing the island and artillery round and mortars. One in three were killed or wounded while the Japanese for the most part stayed out of sight protected by tunnels and bunkers.

Odell has vivid memories of the smell emanating from the island's sulfur pits mixed with the stench of rotting bodies left on the hard, cinder ash surface.

What struck Al C. Eutsey were the contrasting emotions of the wounded who, despite their injuries that included lost limbs, were glad to know they'd be leaving that island alive.

"I can remember a lot of buddies getting killed. I saw a lot of heroes over there," said Eutsey, 81, who traveled to the Las Vegas Leatherneck Club from Golden Valley, Ariz., to join Foulke and two others who survived what has been dubbed one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history.

About 27,000 people were killed during the battle from Feb. 19 to March 26, 1945. More than 20,000 of the deaths were Japanese troops, most of whom had been entrenched in tunnels and burrowed in pillboxes throughout the eight square miles of the porkchop-shaped island. Of the approximately 7,000 U.S. servicemen killed in the battle, about 5,000 were Marines, according to the Naval Historical Center. More than 19,000 U.S. military personnel were wounded.

"The thing I remember most was we saw so many guys get wounded. If they could open their eyes, they were happy," said Eutsey, a sergeant who directed machine-gun fire and who was wounded himself 11 days into the fighting on Hill 362-A.

He said he still thinks about Iwo Jima all the time.

"When you wake up at night you're still fighting that fight 60 years later. When you wake up, it comes to your mind," he said Sunday.

Like Eutsey, Parke Potter, who packed a Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR, was in the first wave of Marines to land at Green Beach. They were in two different battalions of 5th Division's 28th Marines, the regiment that raised first a small then a large flag on Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945.

"The life of a BAR man in combat was about 10 minutes and I lasted 30 days," said Potter, an 80-year-old Henderson resident whose decorations include a Purple Heart medal.

"On the beach the bullets were about like the mosquitoes in Minnesota," said Potter. He recalled how he and about five other Marines found a convenient hole to take cover in on Green Beach but soon after they jumped in it they realized that it had been used the Japanese for a latrine.

Despite the odor and the putrid conditions none of them wanted to seek another place of refuge at the time.

Potter, originally from Petersburg, Mich., said the sound of bullets whizzing through the air was nonstop.

"If you could hear a 'pop' that was a close one," he said.

He, too, remembers the flag-raisings and how he "helped dig up some of the scrap pipe for the first flagpole."

Eighty-two-year-old Odell arrived a couple of days into the fighting, as a member of a Howitzer artillery unit known as "the Forgotten Battalion."

"I had quite a scare there. They shot a mortar over my head and it threw coral in my eyes. I thought I was blind," he said. "It was weeks before I could see good. It finally worked itself out."

Odell credits flamethrowers on foot and in small tanks for eventually defeating the entrenched Japanese. "They were so underground, the only reason we were able to take it was because of the flamethrowers," he said.

The Iwo Jima survivors said they admire what today's armed forces personnel are doing in the nation's war on terror. None said they would trade places with Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan who are engaged in a much different type of warfare.

But the lessons of Iwo Jima should never be forgotten, retired Marine Lt. Gen. E.R. "Buck" Bedard told those gathered at the Leatherneck Club.

"It's all about what we pass on to our young Marines, sailors, soldiers, airmen and Coast Guardsmen," Bedard said.

Ellie

thedrifter

02-20-06, 10:27 AM

Marines honor Iwo Jima heroes
Raising of U.S. flag in Cape symbol of American patriotism
By Ralph N. Paulk
rpaulk@news-press.com
Originally posted on February 20, 2006

A few battle-tested Marines sat in the shadows of a Marine Corps War Memorial replica in Cape Coral on Sunday to remember the valiant men who hoisted the American flag on the mountainous island of Iwo Jima.

Capt. Clancy Rich delivered a passionate speech, remembering and saluting the thousands of American servicemen whose lives were lost before the United States gained control of Iwo Jima from Japan on Feb. 19, 1945.

The 32-year Navy veteran's words triggered a wave of mixed emotions.

Robert Humphrey, 86, choked back a tear. He paused for a moment to reflect on the 18 months he spent as a prisoner of war.

"We watched the fire raids out the windows of our prison compound." Humphrey recalled. "We were only a half-mile away, and we knew a landing party was coming."

Louis E. Riva, an 81-year-old New Yorker, spun his Marine Corps ring around his finger, then softly caressed the hands of his wife, Ann. He remembered a war he fought desperately to forget.

"I didn't talk about the war until 10 years ago," said Riva, who last year returned to Iwo Jima with his son, 60 years after the flag-raising on the island. "I was just a young kid who couldn't believe how fierce the battles were."

In an effort to ensure that Iwo Jima remains an unforgettable moment in American history, the Pfc. Paul E. Ison Detachment of the Marine Corps League hosted the 10th annual ceremony to mark the landing and flag-raising on Iwo Jima.

Humphrey and Riva were among 27 World War II and Iwo Jima survivors to attend the ceremony.

They gathered at the monument to celebrate one of the greatest victories in the storied history of the Marine Corps.

Two Marine Corps divisions secured Mount Suribachi on Feb. 19, paving the way for the Feb. 23, 1945, flag-raising. The U.S. flag was hoisted by five Marines and a Navy corpsman: Sgt. Michael Strank, Cpl. Harlon H. Block, Pfc. Franklin R. Sousley, Pfc. Rene A. Gagnon, Pfc. Ira Hayes and Corpsman John H. Bradley.

The World War II veterans also gathered to exchange war stories. They recalled, too, how freedom was won — and the price for both victory and freedom.

The Marines fashioned their reputation from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli.

At Iwo Jima, the Marines carved a place in the nation's conscious by raising Old Glory, igniting the flames of patriotism.

It's a place and time that remains vividly etched in the minds of men who engaged in the fierce, bloody battle that ensued on an island shredded by new-age bombs. It was an unforgettable moment in which five Marines and one sailor signaled the inevitable end to World War II.

Rich, 82, wanted this ceremony to be more than about the flag-raising. He hoped it would educate and inspire a rebirth of a perceived loss of patriotism.

"My address was really tailored for the people who weren't there (at Iwo Jima)," said Rich, who lectures on military history at Lee County high schools. "I've discovered that history books sometimes don't give enough information on World War II, Korea or Vietnam.

"I detect a little apathy about the military," he said. "When you think about all the wars we've fought and the battles we've won, it should never be this way."

Ellie