thedrifter
03-14-08, 05:51 AM
World War II veteran remembers battles on Iwo Jima, Guam
By KATIE EVANS, DAILY SUN
THE VILLAGES — When Harold Lesser and the other Marines in his division arrived in New Zealand for a stopover during World War II, they thought they were safe.
“The colonel says to us, ‘You’re just as safe here as if you were in San Diego,’” Lesser remembered.
He was wrong.
“A big plane dropped bombs (on our camp),” Lesser said. “I don’t know how he knew where we were, but nobody got hit, nobody got hurt at all.”
Before the soldiers had left San Diego, they had all been given a Bible by a local organization, though none of the soldiers took them too seriously, said Lesser, who lives part-time in the Village of Virginia Trace.
“(But) when we were first bombed, I didn’t see anyone who didn’t have that book in their hands,”
he said with a laugh.
Delayed landing
Perhaps one of the most terrifying experiences Lesser had was when the 21st Division landed on Iwo Jima.
“Iwo was terrible,” he said. “I don’t think any of us had any idea what it was going to be like.”
Lesser and his comrades floated in the waters off the Iwo Jima shore for 14 hours, waiting for a chance to set foot on the island.
“We couldn’t land on the island the first day,” he said. “There were so many bodies and small boats, you couldn’t get on shore.”
When his division was finally able to land, Lesser said men didn’t last long, such as replacements he was teamed up with.
“They were gone in 10 minutes,” he said.
The soldiers had to keep their heads down, Lesser said, remembering that the Japanese had “every inch of the island.”
“We used to dump gasoline, throw a grenade down,” he said. “You still couldn’t get them all.”
Those 17 days on Iwo Jima were impossible to describe, Lesser said.
“It was hell on Earth,” he said. “Everywhere you looked there was a dead body.
“When you go to bed at night and you wake up in the mornings, and you see dead bodies — it’s war, it goes all night long.”
Injured on Guam
Lesser spent only two weeks on Guam, but that was enough.
The night his division landed, they discovered holes that had been dug into the flat terrain by a previous group, and decided to use them to get some sleep.
“When we woke up, one guy had been blown up,” Lesser said. “Things went bad.”
Lesser’s time in Guam was cut short, though, when he sustained a concussion.
“All I can remember was a shell went off very close to me,” he said; then, he remembers his friend saying he was going to take him to the healing station.
“I said ‘I’m fine,’” Lesser recalled. “He said, ‘You’re bleeding.’”
The next morning, Lesser said it felt like someone was pounding on his head with a sledgehammer.
Lesser never received a Purple Heart Medal for the concussion. He was told it was because it was not an open wound.
But Lesser said it was never about getting a medal.
What the concussion did get him, was reunited with his wife and, by that time, his baby. He said it was a relief to be back at home with his family.
“You thought about it a lot,” Lesser said. “The worst was you couldn’t write anything, the spying was terrible in them days.”
A history lesson
Though Lesser has only in recent years opened up about his time spent at war, his daughter, Carene Krepinevich, said the time he served always impacted the family.
“Every Memorial Day, we always did something,” she said. “You were proud to be an American, and there wasn’t a day you weren’t proud of your father.”
Krepinevich said she believes it is important for her father to share his story, as it is for every other veteran.
“I think about it, and I really want everybody to know,” she said. “I think it’s important that we don’t lose this history.
“I think it’s important to know what people did for us, for our freedom.”
Katie Evans is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9067, or katie.evans@thevillagesmedia.com.
Ellie
By KATIE EVANS, DAILY SUN
THE VILLAGES — When Harold Lesser and the other Marines in his division arrived in New Zealand for a stopover during World War II, they thought they were safe.
“The colonel says to us, ‘You’re just as safe here as if you were in San Diego,’” Lesser remembered.
He was wrong.
“A big plane dropped bombs (on our camp),” Lesser said. “I don’t know how he knew where we were, but nobody got hit, nobody got hurt at all.”
Before the soldiers had left San Diego, they had all been given a Bible by a local organization, though none of the soldiers took them too seriously, said Lesser, who lives part-time in the Village of Virginia Trace.
“(But) when we were first bombed, I didn’t see anyone who didn’t have that book in their hands,”
he said with a laugh.
Delayed landing
Perhaps one of the most terrifying experiences Lesser had was when the 21st Division landed on Iwo Jima.
“Iwo was terrible,” he said. “I don’t think any of us had any idea what it was going to be like.”
Lesser and his comrades floated in the waters off the Iwo Jima shore for 14 hours, waiting for a chance to set foot on the island.
“We couldn’t land on the island the first day,” he said. “There were so many bodies and small boats, you couldn’t get on shore.”
When his division was finally able to land, Lesser said men didn’t last long, such as replacements he was teamed up with.
“They were gone in 10 minutes,” he said.
The soldiers had to keep their heads down, Lesser said, remembering that the Japanese had “every inch of the island.”
“We used to dump gasoline, throw a grenade down,” he said. “You still couldn’t get them all.”
Those 17 days on Iwo Jima were impossible to describe, Lesser said.
“It was hell on Earth,” he said. “Everywhere you looked there was a dead body.
“When you go to bed at night and you wake up in the mornings, and you see dead bodies — it’s war, it goes all night long.”
Injured on Guam
Lesser spent only two weeks on Guam, but that was enough.
The night his division landed, they discovered holes that had been dug into the flat terrain by a previous group, and decided to use them to get some sleep.
“When we woke up, one guy had been blown up,” Lesser said. “Things went bad.”
Lesser’s time in Guam was cut short, though, when he sustained a concussion.
“All I can remember was a shell went off very close to me,” he said; then, he remembers his friend saying he was going to take him to the healing station.
“I said ‘I’m fine,’” Lesser recalled. “He said, ‘You’re bleeding.’”
The next morning, Lesser said it felt like someone was pounding on his head with a sledgehammer.
Lesser never received a Purple Heart Medal for the concussion. He was told it was because it was not an open wound.
But Lesser said it was never about getting a medal.
What the concussion did get him, was reunited with his wife and, by that time, his baby. He said it was a relief to be back at home with his family.
“You thought about it a lot,” Lesser said. “The worst was you couldn’t write anything, the spying was terrible in them days.”
A history lesson
Though Lesser has only in recent years opened up about his time spent at war, his daughter, Carene Krepinevich, said the time he served always impacted the family.
“Every Memorial Day, we always did something,” she said. “You were proud to be an American, and there wasn’t a day you weren’t proud of your father.”
Krepinevich said she believes it is important for her father to share his story, as it is for every other veteran.
“I think about it, and I really want everybody to know,” she said. “I think it’s important that we don’t lose this history.
“I think it’s important to know what people did for us, for our freedom.”
Katie Evans is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9067, or katie.evans@thevillagesmedia.com.
Ellie