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thedrifter
02-20-07, 05:39 AM
Vets remember the real Iwo Jima

BY BILL BLEYER
bill.bleyer@newsday.com

February 19, 2007, 8:46 PM EST

Sixty-two years ago Monday, Angelo Ciotta of East Meadow stormed ashore on the black volcanic sands of the island of Iwo Jima with 70,000 other Marines to begin a 36-day struggle to capture one of the most strategic sites in World War II.

It was a bloody battleground that captivated Americans but was increasingly unknown to subsequent generations, said Ciotta, 81, president of the Iwo Jima Survivors Association of New York. At least it was until publication of the book "Flags of Our Fathers" and the release of Clint Eastwood's movie based on it last year and its companion piece, "Letters From Iwo Jima," which is an Academy Award contender on Sunday.

Ciotta and two other Iwo Jima veterans recounted their experiences Monday at the American Airpower Museum at Republic Airport in East Farmingdale.

Ciotta doesn't care whether the "Letters" wins any Oscars. He couldn't finish the "Flags" book and has no desire to see the movies because the memories are still too fresh and painful.

As a private first-class and demolition specialist, Ciotta said, "My job was if the troops ran into a pillbox or cave opening I was to go up there and seal it or knock it out. It was my baptism of fire. I was scared out of my mind, not knowing what the future would bring. You saw people dying all around you."

Ciotta had to run with a satchel of explosives and detonate it in the opening of a cave or pillbox. "The adrenaline was up. We had done it a lot in training and it was a game then, but when I did my first one [on Iwo Jima] I don't know whether I wet my pants or what, but I was really scared. After the second one, it got to be okay."

Ciotta considers himself lucky to be alive, considering the staggering casualty rate. "We had a squad of 13 and every one of them got wounded or killed."

As for Ciotta, "I lasted 21 days." Shot in the leg, he was treated at a hospital in Guam and then sent home where he became a contractor.

Walt Oelerich, 80, of Farmingdale, was a rifleman assigned to the east side of the island, an area that was nicknamed "the meat grinder." Oelerich said "it was my first and only combat, thank God."

Landing on the first afternoon, "I wasn't scared," he said. "I was 18 and sort of dense. I was just so focused on following the corporal ... that I didn't have time to be scared."

He said, "I was on the island for the entire operation and I only saw about 10 Japanese alive out in the open. They never came out of the caves. You never saw them but you kept losing friends. I never got wounded. I was lucky." The other dozen men in his squad were killed or wounded.

Oelerich, who after the war worked for the New York City transit police and retired as a lieutenant after 31 years, said his closest encounter with the Japanese was when three soldiers "jumped in a hole about 10 feet in front of me and I tossed a grenade in there."

Ciotta, Oelerich and Lawrence Pinto, 80, of North Merrick, who directed air support for the ground troops after landing on the second day, said the book and two movies have done a good job of informing the public, especially young people unfamiliar with the battle, of the sacrifices made there.

But Ciotta said the films could never capture what the Marines experienced. "It's Hollywood," he said.

Ellie