thedrifter
10-18-06, 07:38 AM
0/17/2006
Connection to Iwo Jima
By: Jerry Schanke
A special screening of a new World War II film, the recent death of a famous photographer and his iconic image from a Pacific island battle and the memories of two McLean-area Marine Corps combat veterans converged the evening of Oct. 17 at the Mazza Gallerie in Washington, D.C.
The film, "Flags of Our Fathers," the story of the five Marines and the Navy corpsman who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi in February 1945, will open in local theaters Friday, Oct. 20. The Clint Eastwood film is based on the book of the same name co-authored by the son of that Navy corpsman, James Bradley.
Joe Rosenthal, the Associated Press photographer who captured the moment the flag was raised on that blood-soaked volcanic mountain-an image that inspired the nation as the war dragged on for another six months-was not there. He died Aug. 20 in California at 94.
A number of veterans of the battle for Iwo Jima were invited to the premiere as special guests. Two of those veterans are Tom Cox of McLean and Jim Wheeler of Falls Church. They were both 19-year-old Marines fighting on Mount Suribachi when the now-famous flag raising drew cheers from thousands of Marines as Navy boat whistles sounded offshore.
Some Marines thought the raising of the flag signaled the end of the battle. They were wrong. The battle raged on for 32 more days, When it was over, more than 20,000 Americans were killed or wounded. Some 5,900 of the 6,800 Americans killed in action were Marines, many of them teenagers. More than 20,000 Japanese troops of the island's estimated 22,000-man garrison died in the fighting.
A kidney-shaped volcanic island about the size of Dulles Airport, Iwo Jima, which in Japanese means "sulfur island," was important strategically as an emergency airfield for damaged B-29s returning from long-range bombing missions. Estimates are that thousands of air crewmen were saved because the island was captured.
In view of the number of casualties during the battle, however, some military historians are still debating whether the price was too high. Historians agree there were some serious miscalculations before the battle: The number of Japanese troops was greatly underestimated, and the effects of weeks of around-the-clock bombings before the island was assaulted were much overestimated.
The Japanese had constructed an intricate tunnel system on the island that protected their troops and set up fields of fire on nearly every square inch of the eight-square-mile island. And the Japanese soldiers defending Iwo Jima were not only prepared to die but were expected to die.
Cox and Wheeler remember vividly the flag raising on the fourth day of the battle. They also remember, equally vividly, the savage fighting that raged on for another 32 days after Suribachi was taken.
In many ways, the battle was the defining experience of their lives. But, for many years, they say, they would not-and indeed could not-talk about that experience.
"Twenty-five years after Iwo Jima I still couldn't talk about it-not even to my wife-without shaking," Cox recalled. "It was so horrible. There was a lot of psychic trauma."
Two of his Marine Corps buddies on Iwo Jima committed suicide after the war, Cox said. He believes both suicides were rooted in the men's experiences on Iwo Jima.
Wheeler has similar feelings. "After the war, we tried to get on with our lives," he said. "We (combat veterans) would walk away when someone told war stories. I don't think my daughter even knew I was in the Marine Corps," he said, perhaps somewhat facetiously but tellingly.
Wheeler, who has an extensive library of publications about the battle, said he recently bought a new book that features photos he had not seen published before. "There was a picture of rows of body bags lined up on the beach," he said. "It was just the way I remembered it." The memories rushed in.
The two young Marines did not meet on Iwo Jima. They were in different units. Cox was with the Fifth Marine Division, 28th Regiment. Wheeler was an artillery observer assigned to the Fifth Amphibious Corps, C Battery, 2nd 155th Howitzer Battalion.
When Cox and Wheeler eventually met, becoming fast friends, it was a half-century later when both were involved in preparations for the 50th anniversary of the battle. It was then they discovered the almost eerie parallels in their lives.
The two combat veterans talked to The Times about their parallel lives in 2001.
Cox, who grew up in Washington, was 18 when he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Wheeler, also 18, enlisted on the West Coast. After the war, both men attended college on the GI Bill: Cox at the University of Maryland; Wheeler at Loyola University in Los Angeles.
The parallels continued. In 1951, both men began careers in the CIA. They still had not met. Both men married, had children and pursued successful careers in the Agency, serving at times in the same directorate and maintaining memberships at the same country club.
Cox and Wheeler say they may have seen each other from time to time in the course of their long CIA careers, but any social contact was perfunctory. It was joint service on the committee planning the battle's anniversary observance that revealed not only their parallel professional lives, but the shared experience on that volcanic killing ground more than a half-century ago.
Today, while the two Marines have passed their 80th birthdays and are part of a generation of World War II veterans that are dying at a rate of more than 1,000 a day, Cox and Wheeler's experiences on Iwo Jima continue to play an important role in their daily lives.
The two veterans, who for years could not talk about their experiences on Iwo Jima, during the past five years have done precisely that, speaking to numerous civic clubs and at local schools.
Asked why the change of heart, neither man offers a single, or simple, explanation.
"Maybe it was Brokaw's book (newsman Tom Brokaw's book 'The Greatest Generation')," Wheeler offered. Cox, who also collects books about the battle and is writing his own book, said his ability to talk about his combat experiences has changed with the passage of time.
What is their message to audiences, particularly students who have virtually no knowledge of World War II, let alone the battle for Iwo Jima?
Wheeler said his message is that his generation was "called on to fight for the future, and they may be as well." Cox is perhaps more succinct. "My bottom line," he said, "is that war sucks. Every sixth-grader understands that."
Cox said he is particularly put off by movies and video games that "make war look like fun. It's not," he said.
Both men say they will continue to talk about Iwo Jima as long as they are able. Both also say they are looking forward to attending the opening of the U.S. Marine Corps Museum in Quantico next month.
Exhibits at the new museum will join the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial (much better known as the "Iwo Jima Memorial") in Arlington in keeping the memory of the battle for Iwo Jima alive, long after the men who fought the battle are gone.
And even many years into the future, when moving, epic moments in the nation's history are discussed, what seems certain to survive in the nation's consciousness is that moment captured on film by Joe Rosenthal as the American flag was raised on Mount Suribachi during the battle for Iwo Jima in 1945.
Ellie
Connection to Iwo Jima
By: Jerry Schanke
A special screening of a new World War II film, the recent death of a famous photographer and his iconic image from a Pacific island battle and the memories of two McLean-area Marine Corps combat veterans converged the evening of Oct. 17 at the Mazza Gallerie in Washington, D.C.
The film, "Flags of Our Fathers," the story of the five Marines and the Navy corpsman who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi in February 1945, will open in local theaters Friday, Oct. 20. The Clint Eastwood film is based on the book of the same name co-authored by the son of that Navy corpsman, James Bradley.
Joe Rosenthal, the Associated Press photographer who captured the moment the flag was raised on that blood-soaked volcanic mountain-an image that inspired the nation as the war dragged on for another six months-was not there. He died Aug. 20 in California at 94.
A number of veterans of the battle for Iwo Jima were invited to the premiere as special guests. Two of those veterans are Tom Cox of McLean and Jim Wheeler of Falls Church. They were both 19-year-old Marines fighting on Mount Suribachi when the now-famous flag raising drew cheers from thousands of Marines as Navy boat whistles sounded offshore.
Some Marines thought the raising of the flag signaled the end of the battle. They were wrong. The battle raged on for 32 more days, When it was over, more than 20,000 Americans were killed or wounded. Some 5,900 of the 6,800 Americans killed in action were Marines, many of them teenagers. More than 20,000 Japanese troops of the island's estimated 22,000-man garrison died in the fighting.
A kidney-shaped volcanic island about the size of Dulles Airport, Iwo Jima, which in Japanese means "sulfur island," was important strategically as an emergency airfield for damaged B-29s returning from long-range bombing missions. Estimates are that thousands of air crewmen were saved because the island was captured.
In view of the number of casualties during the battle, however, some military historians are still debating whether the price was too high. Historians agree there were some serious miscalculations before the battle: The number of Japanese troops was greatly underestimated, and the effects of weeks of around-the-clock bombings before the island was assaulted were much overestimated.
The Japanese had constructed an intricate tunnel system on the island that protected their troops and set up fields of fire on nearly every square inch of the eight-square-mile island. And the Japanese soldiers defending Iwo Jima were not only prepared to die but were expected to die.
Cox and Wheeler remember vividly the flag raising on the fourth day of the battle. They also remember, equally vividly, the savage fighting that raged on for another 32 days after Suribachi was taken.
In many ways, the battle was the defining experience of their lives. But, for many years, they say, they would not-and indeed could not-talk about that experience.
"Twenty-five years after Iwo Jima I still couldn't talk about it-not even to my wife-without shaking," Cox recalled. "It was so horrible. There was a lot of psychic trauma."
Two of his Marine Corps buddies on Iwo Jima committed suicide after the war, Cox said. He believes both suicides were rooted in the men's experiences on Iwo Jima.
Wheeler has similar feelings. "After the war, we tried to get on with our lives," he said. "We (combat veterans) would walk away when someone told war stories. I don't think my daughter even knew I was in the Marine Corps," he said, perhaps somewhat facetiously but tellingly.
Wheeler, who has an extensive library of publications about the battle, said he recently bought a new book that features photos he had not seen published before. "There was a picture of rows of body bags lined up on the beach," he said. "It was just the way I remembered it." The memories rushed in.
The two young Marines did not meet on Iwo Jima. They were in different units. Cox was with the Fifth Marine Division, 28th Regiment. Wheeler was an artillery observer assigned to the Fifth Amphibious Corps, C Battery, 2nd 155th Howitzer Battalion.
When Cox and Wheeler eventually met, becoming fast friends, it was a half-century later when both were involved in preparations for the 50th anniversary of the battle. It was then they discovered the almost eerie parallels in their lives.
The two combat veterans talked to The Times about their parallel lives in 2001.
Cox, who grew up in Washington, was 18 when he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Wheeler, also 18, enlisted on the West Coast. After the war, both men attended college on the GI Bill: Cox at the University of Maryland; Wheeler at Loyola University in Los Angeles.
The parallels continued. In 1951, both men began careers in the CIA. They still had not met. Both men married, had children and pursued successful careers in the Agency, serving at times in the same directorate and maintaining memberships at the same country club.
Cox and Wheeler say they may have seen each other from time to time in the course of their long CIA careers, but any social contact was perfunctory. It was joint service on the committee planning the battle's anniversary observance that revealed not only their parallel professional lives, but the shared experience on that volcanic killing ground more than a half-century ago.
Today, while the two Marines have passed their 80th birthdays and are part of a generation of World War II veterans that are dying at a rate of more than 1,000 a day, Cox and Wheeler's experiences on Iwo Jima continue to play an important role in their daily lives.
The two veterans, who for years could not talk about their experiences on Iwo Jima, during the past five years have done precisely that, speaking to numerous civic clubs and at local schools.
Asked why the change of heart, neither man offers a single, or simple, explanation.
"Maybe it was Brokaw's book (newsman Tom Brokaw's book 'The Greatest Generation')," Wheeler offered. Cox, who also collects books about the battle and is writing his own book, said his ability to talk about his combat experiences has changed with the passage of time.
What is their message to audiences, particularly students who have virtually no knowledge of World War II, let alone the battle for Iwo Jima?
Wheeler said his message is that his generation was "called on to fight for the future, and they may be as well." Cox is perhaps more succinct. "My bottom line," he said, "is that war sucks. Every sixth-grader understands that."
Cox said he is particularly put off by movies and video games that "make war look like fun. It's not," he said.
Both men say they will continue to talk about Iwo Jima as long as they are able. Both also say they are looking forward to attending the opening of the U.S. Marine Corps Museum in Quantico next month.
Exhibits at the new museum will join the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial (much better known as the "Iwo Jima Memorial") in Arlington in keeping the memory of the battle for Iwo Jima alive, long after the men who fought the battle are gone.
And even many years into the future, when moving, epic moments in the nation's history are discussed, what seems certain to survive in the nation's consciousness is that moment captured on film by Joe Rosenthal as the American flag was raised on Mount Suribachi during the battle for Iwo Jima in 1945.
Ellie