thedrifter
01-01-07, 08:20 AM
Remembering Iwo Jima
By Tracy Thornton of The Montana Standard - 11/13/2006
As long as Americans cherish the memory of those who served at Iwo Jima, and grasp the crucial lesson they offer all free societies, the
totalitarians will never win.
— Arthur Herman,
American author/historian
A 61-year-old battle is back in the limelight, thanks in part to the best-selling James Bradley book, “Flags of Our Fathers,” and the Clint Eastwood movie bearing the same name, which was released in theaters last month.
The scene of the 1945 battle was a tiny island in the Pacific called Iwo Jima, which Americans wanted for several reasons. “The capture of
Iwo Jima would provide an emergency landing strip for crippled B-29s returning from bombing runs.The seizure of Iwo Jima would allow for sea and air blockades, the ability
to conduct intensive air bombardment and to destroy the enemy’s air and naval capabilities,” according to the commander of the Pacific fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz.
The Japanese, led by Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, vowed to fight to the death to keep control of the garrison. They kept their word. The Battle of Iwo Jima would become one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, annihilating nearly all the Japanese soldiers on the island and killing the largest number of Marines ever in a single battle.
Three Navy veterans of the Iwo Jima battle, Fred Hossfeld, 80, and Steve Sorich, 83, both of Butte, and Burton Whiting, 80, of Twin Bridges, recently sat down to talk about their
memories of the battle. “Join the Navy, see the world!” was the motto, and these three men certainly did.
Hossfeld, a 19-year-old Butte sailor, was serving aboard the USS Healy when the destroyer was ordered to join hundreds of other U.S. ships at Iwo Jima.
The USS Healy arrived three days before the fighting ensued. But to Hossfeld’s surprise, the island appeared to be nearly empty.
“It looked like they (the Japanese) were abandoning the islands,” he remembered.
The sailors aboard the Healy were asked to pummel the island, from a distance, with bombs and artillery. That was also Steve Sorich’s job, a supervising seaman from Butte, who was serving aboard a gunboat, LCI-742. From 50 yards inland, the 742, along with 15 other ships, shot rounds of ammo while circling the “desolate” island.
Whiting, who was on the USS Whitley, arrived just one day before the invasion, and was also surprised at how empty the island appeared to be.
The island may have appeared empty, but looks were deceiving. A nearly deserted island was just what the Japanese wanted the Americans to think. In reality, the Japanese had built an elaborate maze of hidden bunkers and tunnels. Added to that were dozens of caves and the Japanese,
22,000 strong, were firmly entrenched and lying in wait.
The wait was over on
Feb. 19, as thousands of Marines converged on the island. Hossfeld recalled that the Japanese waited until the Marines reached the beach and then they opened fire. “They really mowed them (the Marines) down,” he said.
Unbeknownst to Hossfeld, his brother, Robert, a Marine, was on the ground at Iwo Jima. A couple of months later, the young sailor heard from him.
“I didn’t know until I received a letter while he was on rehab leave,” he said.
Whiting, who said he “remembered more than he would like to remember,” was a deckhand on a landing craft that transported tanks, artillery and Marines to the beaches. He explained that the landing craft boats came in on waves. He and his mates came in on the second wave.
“Hundreds of Marines had already been shot,” recalled Whiting. “The beach was
covered with the dead and wounded.”
Hossfeld noted that the island’s volcanic sand was
detrimental to the Marines,
too, as they found it hard to maneuver up the beach with their heavy packs.
The Navy’s job was to filter out the hidden enemy. With mortar guns, Sorich and his
fellow crewmen, would launch their shells at places where they knew the Japanese were hiding. “They (the Japanese) would come out fighting, regroup and go back in,” explained Sorich.
Just a few days into the
battle, American troops were able to place a flag atop Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi. Both Sorich and Whiting watched it unfold from their landing crafts. Hossfeld heard the news over the air waves. For these three sailors, it was just a moment in time because there was more work to be done. With only 35 men on his landing craft, Sorich was kept busy.
“We were on duty a good part of the day,” he said. But Whiting confessed, “I just wanted to get the hell out of there.”
With the help of the Navy, the airfields were soon captured, but the fight for the tiny island would continue for days and days. Little by little, Marines gained ground. By battle’s end, the Americans secured the island, and were one step closer to winning the war in the Pacific.
Ellie
By Tracy Thornton of The Montana Standard - 11/13/2006
As long as Americans cherish the memory of those who served at Iwo Jima, and grasp the crucial lesson they offer all free societies, the
totalitarians will never win.
— Arthur Herman,
American author/historian
A 61-year-old battle is back in the limelight, thanks in part to the best-selling James Bradley book, “Flags of Our Fathers,” and the Clint Eastwood movie bearing the same name, which was released in theaters last month.
The scene of the 1945 battle was a tiny island in the Pacific called Iwo Jima, which Americans wanted for several reasons. “The capture of
Iwo Jima would provide an emergency landing strip for crippled B-29s returning from bombing runs.The seizure of Iwo Jima would allow for sea and air blockades, the ability
to conduct intensive air bombardment and to destroy the enemy’s air and naval capabilities,” according to the commander of the Pacific fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz.
The Japanese, led by Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, vowed to fight to the death to keep control of the garrison. They kept their word. The Battle of Iwo Jima would become one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, annihilating nearly all the Japanese soldiers on the island and killing the largest number of Marines ever in a single battle.
Three Navy veterans of the Iwo Jima battle, Fred Hossfeld, 80, and Steve Sorich, 83, both of Butte, and Burton Whiting, 80, of Twin Bridges, recently sat down to talk about their
memories of the battle. “Join the Navy, see the world!” was the motto, and these three men certainly did.
Hossfeld, a 19-year-old Butte sailor, was serving aboard the USS Healy when the destroyer was ordered to join hundreds of other U.S. ships at Iwo Jima.
The USS Healy arrived three days before the fighting ensued. But to Hossfeld’s surprise, the island appeared to be nearly empty.
“It looked like they (the Japanese) were abandoning the islands,” he remembered.
The sailors aboard the Healy were asked to pummel the island, from a distance, with bombs and artillery. That was also Steve Sorich’s job, a supervising seaman from Butte, who was serving aboard a gunboat, LCI-742. From 50 yards inland, the 742, along with 15 other ships, shot rounds of ammo while circling the “desolate” island.
Whiting, who was on the USS Whitley, arrived just one day before the invasion, and was also surprised at how empty the island appeared to be.
The island may have appeared empty, but looks were deceiving. A nearly deserted island was just what the Japanese wanted the Americans to think. In reality, the Japanese had built an elaborate maze of hidden bunkers and tunnels. Added to that were dozens of caves and the Japanese,
22,000 strong, were firmly entrenched and lying in wait.
The wait was over on
Feb. 19, as thousands of Marines converged on the island. Hossfeld recalled that the Japanese waited until the Marines reached the beach and then they opened fire. “They really mowed them (the Marines) down,” he said.
Unbeknownst to Hossfeld, his brother, Robert, a Marine, was on the ground at Iwo Jima. A couple of months later, the young sailor heard from him.
“I didn’t know until I received a letter while he was on rehab leave,” he said.
Whiting, who said he “remembered more than he would like to remember,” was a deckhand on a landing craft that transported tanks, artillery and Marines to the beaches. He explained that the landing craft boats came in on waves. He and his mates came in on the second wave.
“Hundreds of Marines had already been shot,” recalled Whiting. “The beach was
covered with the dead and wounded.”
Hossfeld noted that the island’s volcanic sand was
detrimental to the Marines,
too, as they found it hard to maneuver up the beach with their heavy packs.
The Navy’s job was to filter out the hidden enemy. With mortar guns, Sorich and his
fellow crewmen, would launch their shells at places where they knew the Japanese were hiding. “They (the Japanese) would come out fighting, regroup and go back in,” explained Sorich.
Just a few days into the
battle, American troops were able to place a flag atop Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi. Both Sorich and Whiting watched it unfold from their landing crafts. Hossfeld heard the news over the air waves. For these three sailors, it was just a moment in time because there was more work to be done. With only 35 men on his landing craft, Sorich was kept busy.
“We were on duty a good part of the day,” he said. But Whiting confessed, “I just wanted to get the hell out of there.”
With the help of the Navy, the airfields were soon captured, but the fight for the tiny island would continue for days and days. Little by little, Marines gained ground. By battle’s end, the Americans secured the island, and were one step closer to winning the war in the Pacific.
Ellie