thedrifter
02-22-07, 01:55 PM
Donald Thomas Walz
By Ed Mahon, CORRESPONDENT
Donald Thomas Walz has scrapbooks full of pictures, Jarhead magazines and newspaper articles from his time as a U.S. Navy corpsman during WWII.
The Drexel Hill resident also has plenty of Japanese keepsakes: a knife that a Japanese medic gave him, foreign coins and cigarette packages blown out of an Iwo Jima cave, and even a piece of an enemy plane. "I was a pack rat," Walz said during an interview a few weeks before the 62nd anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima.
But his prized possession is black gravel from that strategic military island, just 650 miles away from Tokyo. Walz picked the sand on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945 during a church service for those who died in the battle. Walz keeps the volcanic ash in a glass jar.
"When I croak, I'm gonna have them throw that sand on me," Walz said.
His wife, Peg, thinks Walz and anyone else from that more than month-long battle were lucky not be buried in that sand 62 years ago. Published reports say that around 7,000 Americans and 21,000 Japanese, out of 22,000, were killed in the battle.
Walz had been waiting for action ever since he enlisted on March 10, 1943. He first tried to join the Marine Corps, but was told they were full. Since the Marine Corps is part of the Navy, Walz signed up with the next best thing, hoping to be transferred. But he was disappointed when after training in Newport, R.I., he was sent to work as corpsman, or medic, at the now closed Philadelphia Naval Hospital.
He did ambulance work and took care of patients, but didn't like working with the nurses and doing "scut work."
"I tried to get into the landing in Europe," Walz said, "but they wouldn't let me go."
Eventually he was transferred, and in November 1944, he sailed out of California with the Marine's 3rd Division.
Walz saw some gunfire in Guam, but he describes the battle of Iwo Jima as "torturous" and "havoc."
The battle began on Feb. 19, 1945, and Walz landed on the island a few days later.
"It was the most desolate place, I'd say, you could ever land. There were no trees," Walz said of the sulfurous island.
As the Marines and Navy corpsmen made their way onto the land, Walz, at 5 feet 4 inches tall, started sinking into the sand. Two Marines helped carry him. During the battle, he suffered two injuries: a trip flare temporarily blinded him and a friendly fire explosion knocked him into a foxhole.
During the first week, Marines and a Navy corpsman raised a flag on Mount Suribachi, in the now famous photo. "But after they put the flag up, all hell broke loose," Walz said. The battle continued for over a month, before the U.S. prevailed.
Walz stayed on the island until early April, so he could bury the dead. But the events of Iwo Jima haunted him long afterward. "It was just horrible. Burning flesh is a terrible thing," Walz said. "For years, I couldn't stand my mother roasting the pinfeathers off the chicken, because it brought back memories."
The war ended a few months later, as Walz was preparing for an invasion of Japan. Before being discharged, Walz traveled to different islands and provided medical treatment to Japanese people and island natives. On the island of Truk, he worked with a Japanese medic, who was nicknamed San Antone, after a popular song at the time. San Antone gave Walz a Tanto knife inscribed with "Merry Christmas, Don" in Japanese.
Walz, now 82, came back to the states, studied chemistry and received a doctorate in pharmacology from Georgetown University, and met his wife Peg in Washington D.C. They have three children, Donald (married to Kay Etheridge), Thomas (married to Melissa) and Gretchen (married to Jeff Gross) and four grandchildren, Tyler, Kayla, Steven, Shaelynn.
Work brought Walz back to the Pacific - he visited Japan over 80 times, even meeting the nation's prince and princess. "They treated me real well," Walz said of his country's former enemy
Ellie
By Ed Mahon, CORRESPONDENT
Donald Thomas Walz has scrapbooks full of pictures, Jarhead magazines and newspaper articles from his time as a U.S. Navy corpsman during WWII.
The Drexel Hill resident also has plenty of Japanese keepsakes: a knife that a Japanese medic gave him, foreign coins and cigarette packages blown out of an Iwo Jima cave, and even a piece of an enemy plane. "I was a pack rat," Walz said during an interview a few weeks before the 62nd anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima.
But his prized possession is black gravel from that strategic military island, just 650 miles away from Tokyo. Walz picked the sand on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945 during a church service for those who died in the battle. Walz keeps the volcanic ash in a glass jar.
"When I croak, I'm gonna have them throw that sand on me," Walz said.
His wife, Peg, thinks Walz and anyone else from that more than month-long battle were lucky not be buried in that sand 62 years ago. Published reports say that around 7,000 Americans and 21,000 Japanese, out of 22,000, were killed in the battle.
Walz had been waiting for action ever since he enlisted on March 10, 1943. He first tried to join the Marine Corps, but was told they were full. Since the Marine Corps is part of the Navy, Walz signed up with the next best thing, hoping to be transferred. But he was disappointed when after training in Newport, R.I., he was sent to work as corpsman, or medic, at the now closed Philadelphia Naval Hospital.
He did ambulance work and took care of patients, but didn't like working with the nurses and doing "scut work."
"I tried to get into the landing in Europe," Walz said, "but they wouldn't let me go."
Eventually he was transferred, and in November 1944, he sailed out of California with the Marine's 3rd Division.
Walz saw some gunfire in Guam, but he describes the battle of Iwo Jima as "torturous" and "havoc."
The battle began on Feb. 19, 1945, and Walz landed on the island a few days later.
"It was the most desolate place, I'd say, you could ever land. There were no trees," Walz said of the sulfurous island.
As the Marines and Navy corpsmen made their way onto the land, Walz, at 5 feet 4 inches tall, started sinking into the sand. Two Marines helped carry him. During the battle, he suffered two injuries: a trip flare temporarily blinded him and a friendly fire explosion knocked him into a foxhole.
During the first week, Marines and a Navy corpsman raised a flag on Mount Suribachi, in the now famous photo. "But after they put the flag up, all hell broke loose," Walz said. The battle continued for over a month, before the U.S. prevailed.
Walz stayed on the island until early April, so he could bury the dead. But the events of Iwo Jima haunted him long afterward. "It was just horrible. Burning flesh is a terrible thing," Walz said. "For years, I couldn't stand my mother roasting the pinfeathers off the chicken, because it brought back memories."
The war ended a few months later, as Walz was preparing for an invasion of Japan. Before being discharged, Walz traveled to different islands and provided medical treatment to Japanese people and island natives. On the island of Truk, he worked with a Japanese medic, who was nicknamed San Antone, after a popular song at the time. San Antone gave Walz a Tanto knife inscribed with "Merry Christmas, Don" in Japanese.
Walz, now 82, came back to the states, studied chemistry and received a doctorate in pharmacology from Georgetown University, and met his wife Peg in Washington D.C. They have three children, Donald (married to Kay Etheridge), Thomas (married to Melissa) and Gretchen (married to Jeff Gross) and four grandchildren, Tyler, Kayla, Steven, Shaelynn.
Work brought Walz back to the Pacific - he visited Japan over 80 times, even meeting the nation's prince and princess. "They treated me real well," Walz said of his country's former enemy
Ellie