thedrifter
11-18-07, 06:38 AM
11/14/2007
VETERANS: And he watched it
NIKKI DAVIS , Twiner Managing Editor
The battle began at 0200 Feb. 19, 1945 as guns on battleships signaled it was time to begin. One hundred bombers attacked the island. At 0859 Marines of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Divisions landed on the ashy, hard to travel, beach terrain. By that evening 30,000 Marines landed and about 40,000 more would follow suit.
Jack Ayres was one of the 70,000 who landed on those beaches of Iwo Jima. Ayres was a "replacement," as he referred to himself.
"I was in the 3rd Marine Division and we went up on the left side of the island and the 4th or 5th went up the middle I think it was the 6th went up the right," Ayres said. "And after I got over being scared, I started fighting then."
The Marines, unprepared for ashy terrain, were unable to secure footing or dig foxholes to protect them from enemy fire. It was Japanese Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi who held his soldiers steady until the beach was full of American soldiers and equipment before opening fire.
Despite the set backs, the Marines advanced and surrounded volcano Mount Suribachi, the highest point on the island, by evening.
It was up to Ayres' unit to break up the resistance, a job he took seriously.
"I was on what they call 'mopping up operations' in Guam first. When the Marines are going in to take an island, that's mainly what we did in WWII," Ayres said. 'Mopping up' is when we first go in we break up all organized resistance. I guess 'mopping up' would be breaking up the organized resistance."
And so he did - in Guam and on Iwo Jima. As clean-sounding as "mopping up" sounds to civilians, the truth proves different.
"The 'mopping up' consisted of breaking up all organized resistance like I said," Ayers started. "We (Ayers and his Marine division) killed an average of 20 (Japanese) a day for a year until the island was secure."
The Japanese had a unique defense strategy of extensive underground tunnel systems - approximately 11 miles of them, bunkers and pillboxes. The Americans were not prepared for the nontraditional form of fighting but quickly learned to use flamethrowers and grenades to flush the enemy from out of the underground tunnels.
The rest of the story ...
It was on the fifth day of the 35-day battle the infamous portrait by Joe Rosenthal was captured - "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima." However, the portrait captured was the second flag raised, not the first. Ayres remembers the flag raising day. It was on Feb. 22, 1945.
"I seen it go up," he said. "See, Mount Suribachi was the highest point on the island and you could see everything from there. Well, sometime everyone starting cheering and ships starting blowing their horns. And then it was up. I had just turned 18 around there."
The battle over the island ensued through March 25. On that date the Japanese attempted their last counterattack by Airfield No. 2. The Marines fighting suffered many casualties losing more than 100 soldiers were killed with 200 Americans wounded. But the next day the island was officially declared secure.
And when the war was over, it wasn't joyous or triumphant news - it was just news.
"I was on Guam. Someone said the war was over. That was it. Celebration was limited," Ayres said.
By 19, Ayres was a disabled veteran. He has the Purple Heart for one of his three wounds to prove it. He was grazed by a bullet on his leg, had mortar shell fragments in the back of his neck and his left hand took a shot from a hand grenade. His Purple Heart, with a military photo and Purple Heart certificate, are displayed in the hallway of his home.
"Young as I was it was pretty emotional," he said. "It was a traumatic experience."
His faith, he claims, is what pulled him through.
Now he's worried about the future.
"It is happening again," Ayres said in regards to today's world. "I think people should go out and vote and make sure who they're voting for. I think people should vote."
If they don't, as Ayres has seen first hand, the differences can literally result in life or death.
Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers, 20,703 died. The Allied forces suffered casualties at 27,909 and 6,825 killed in action. Iwo Jima was the only Marine battle where the American casualties exceeded the Japanese.
And he watched it.
Ellie
VETERANS: And he watched it
NIKKI DAVIS , Twiner Managing Editor
The battle began at 0200 Feb. 19, 1945 as guns on battleships signaled it was time to begin. One hundred bombers attacked the island. At 0859 Marines of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Divisions landed on the ashy, hard to travel, beach terrain. By that evening 30,000 Marines landed and about 40,000 more would follow suit.
Jack Ayres was one of the 70,000 who landed on those beaches of Iwo Jima. Ayres was a "replacement," as he referred to himself.
"I was in the 3rd Marine Division and we went up on the left side of the island and the 4th or 5th went up the middle I think it was the 6th went up the right," Ayres said. "And after I got over being scared, I started fighting then."
The Marines, unprepared for ashy terrain, were unable to secure footing or dig foxholes to protect them from enemy fire. It was Japanese Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi who held his soldiers steady until the beach was full of American soldiers and equipment before opening fire.
Despite the set backs, the Marines advanced and surrounded volcano Mount Suribachi, the highest point on the island, by evening.
It was up to Ayres' unit to break up the resistance, a job he took seriously.
"I was on what they call 'mopping up operations' in Guam first. When the Marines are going in to take an island, that's mainly what we did in WWII," Ayres said. 'Mopping up' is when we first go in we break up all organized resistance. I guess 'mopping up' would be breaking up the organized resistance."
And so he did - in Guam and on Iwo Jima. As clean-sounding as "mopping up" sounds to civilians, the truth proves different.
"The 'mopping up' consisted of breaking up all organized resistance like I said," Ayers started. "We (Ayers and his Marine division) killed an average of 20 (Japanese) a day for a year until the island was secure."
The Japanese had a unique defense strategy of extensive underground tunnel systems - approximately 11 miles of them, bunkers and pillboxes. The Americans were not prepared for the nontraditional form of fighting but quickly learned to use flamethrowers and grenades to flush the enemy from out of the underground tunnels.
The rest of the story ...
It was on the fifth day of the 35-day battle the infamous portrait by Joe Rosenthal was captured - "Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima." However, the portrait captured was the second flag raised, not the first. Ayres remembers the flag raising day. It was on Feb. 22, 1945.
"I seen it go up," he said. "See, Mount Suribachi was the highest point on the island and you could see everything from there. Well, sometime everyone starting cheering and ships starting blowing their horns. And then it was up. I had just turned 18 around there."
The battle over the island ensued through March 25. On that date the Japanese attempted their last counterattack by Airfield No. 2. The Marines fighting suffered many casualties losing more than 100 soldiers were killed with 200 Americans wounded. But the next day the island was officially declared secure.
And when the war was over, it wasn't joyous or triumphant news - it was just news.
"I was on Guam. Someone said the war was over. That was it. Celebration was limited," Ayres said.
By 19, Ayres was a disabled veteran. He has the Purple Heart for one of his three wounds to prove it. He was grazed by a bullet on his leg, had mortar shell fragments in the back of his neck and his left hand took a shot from a hand grenade. His Purple Heart, with a military photo and Purple Heart certificate, are displayed in the hallway of his home.
"Young as I was it was pretty emotional," he said. "It was a traumatic experience."
His faith, he claims, is what pulled him through.
Now he's worried about the future.
"It is happening again," Ayres said in regards to today's world. "I think people should go out and vote and make sure who they're voting for. I think people should vote."
If they don't, as Ayres has seen first hand, the differences can literally result in life or death.
Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers, 20,703 died. The Allied forces suffered casualties at 27,909 and 6,825 killed in action. Iwo Jima was the only Marine battle where the American casualties exceeded the Japanese.
And he watched it.
Ellie