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thedrifter
03-10-07, 04:41 PM
Marine stretcher bearer tells Iwo Jima tales of life and death
(Last updated: 4:50 PM)

By DON MOORE
Sun Herald
Senior Writer

During most of the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima, Marine Pfc. Silas Jessup was a stretcher bearer. He received a commendation from the commanding general of his division for carrying more than 100 dead and wounded Marines and a handful of Japanese off the most costly battlefield foot-for-foot in the Corps 231-year history.

Jessup arrived on Iwo a couple of days after the American flag went up atop Mount Suribachi, four days into the 36-day battle that began Feb. 19, 1945. There was still a month of the deadliest fighting Marines have ever taken part in to capture the 8-square-mile volcanic island. The 18-year-old stretcher bearer was in the thick of it.

Jessup was a member of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division. The division’s primary objective on Iwo was to capture the air fields in the center of the island.

“Our company was lead by Capt. Louis B. Wilson, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions on Guam. He was commanded by Lt. Col. Robert E. Cushman, who got the Navy Cross on Guam (the second-highest medal for bravery). They both became Marine Corps commandants,” the 81-year-old Burnt Store Meadows resident said.

Jessup and a bunch of fellow Marines were replacement leathernecks during the Guam battle. This battle is where Allied forces stopped the westward advance of the Japanese for the first time in the Second World War after weeks of hard fighting on the 30-mile long island.

Ellie