thedrifter
05-28-09, 06:51 AM
Vet was at Iwo Jima flag raising
By Tammy Compton
Wayne Independent
Wed May 27, 2009, 05:35 PM EDT
Lakeville -
He was there the day they raised the flag on Iwo Jima.
In the 5th Division, 28th Marines, H & S (Headquarters and Service) Company, WWII veteran Jim McNulty was in radio communications, “ a pole climber.” He served from 1943 to 1946.
“It just so happened that I hit the beeches on D-Day, February 19, 1945. And we raised the flag on February 23. And I was up there, at the top of the mountain. I shook Joe Rosenthal’s hand there,” McNulty says.
Rosenthal would later win a Pulitzer Prize for the iconic victory photo. Embedded with the US Marine Corps, Rosenthal had been an Associated Press photographer.
“We were fighting our way up the mountain, to get to the top— Mount Suribachi,” McNulty said. Three regiments of Marines were plowing up the mountain alongside him. “We got such a beating. We took such a loss. Many lives were lost. A couple of my buddies died right in front of me. Right in the same (fox) hole,” he says. He thinks about them, when he starts talking about Iwo Jima. “I was one of the lucky ones, that’s all. I mean, a man is in the hole, sitting in the hole there. And he gets up out of hole, and he’s just standing there, and he gets shot and killed. And you’re right next to him.”
He’ll never forget that day. “It so happened that I was at the top of the mountain when the flag went up and the ships in the harbor, all the American ships, were honking. You’d think it was the Fourth of July when that flag went up. They were honking like crazy. You’d think it was New Year’s Day. It was awesome. And I was just a kid,” he says. He was 19 at the time.
“Three of flag raisers died on Iwo, that I know,” he says.
Played pro baseball
At 83, McNulty considers himself “blessed” to have lived the life he has. To have seen with his owns eyes, the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima; to have played professional baseball with the Dodgers in 1946; to have been player/ manager of Town Ball in Minnesota; and best of all — to have married the woman of his dreams, the late Mildred Veronica (Fallon) McNulty.
He also played soccer with the Brooklyn Hungarians at age 16, when all the other players were adults. “I scored more goals than anybody in the history of the Grover Cleveland High School (in Queens),” he says. He was paid $10 a game, “good money,” he says, for back then.
But baseball was his first love. He played second baseman in the Dodger Chain. “And I had a rifle for an arm. I still do. I still can throw, but I was a terrible hitter. Terrible. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was such a fancy gloveman ...”
There was no money in professional ball back then. “There was no money in baseball in our day. There are no millionaires,” he says. “The Dodgers gave me $1,800 for signing,” he says. And $125 a month to play in Georgia. “It was terrible, not like it was today,” he says.
“The most beautiful person”
“I met my wife in Brooklyn at a soccer party,” he says. He was 21. “She was the most beautiful person. Oh, was she good,” he says. She worked hard as a nurse and midwife, he says, delivering children at St. Mary’s Hospital.
They were married 60 years. He cries as he speaks of his beautiful Mildred, who died a little over a year ago. “It’s awful without her. I can’t believe she’s gone,” he says.
Special doesn’t begin to cover who Mildred was. If he had describe what made him fall in love with her? “She put up with me, that was enough right there. She had to put up with me and my nonsense. And she did,” he said.
What did she think about this great ball player she’d married? “She was not a baseball fan,” he says.
“She was a miracle, that’s how good she was,” he says.
Jim and Mildred had three children: James, Dennis and Pamela; eight grandchildren; and three great grandchildren. He and his wife moved to Lakeville in 1989.
McNulty agrees his life has been very interesting. “It was fantastic. If everybody had a life like I had, they should be very happy. I’ve had a wonderful life and family. And the people I met were all good to me. I don’t think I met any bad people in my whole life — my whole life,” he said.
Ellie
By Tammy Compton
Wayne Independent
Wed May 27, 2009, 05:35 PM EDT
Lakeville -
He was there the day they raised the flag on Iwo Jima.
In the 5th Division, 28th Marines, H & S (Headquarters and Service) Company, WWII veteran Jim McNulty was in radio communications, “ a pole climber.” He served from 1943 to 1946.
“It just so happened that I hit the beeches on D-Day, February 19, 1945. And we raised the flag on February 23. And I was up there, at the top of the mountain. I shook Joe Rosenthal’s hand there,” McNulty says.
Rosenthal would later win a Pulitzer Prize for the iconic victory photo. Embedded with the US Marine Corps, Rosenthal had been an Associated Press photographer.
“We were fighting our way up the mountain, to get to the top— Mount Suribachi,” McNulty said. Three regiments of Marines were plowing up the mountain alongside him. “We got such a beating. We took such a loss. Many lives were lost. A couple of my buddies died right in front of me. Right in the same (fox) hole,” he says. He thinks about them, when he starts talking about Iwo Jima. “I was one of the lucky ones, that’s all. I mean, a man is in the hole, sitting in the hole there. And he gets up out of hole, and he’s just standing there, and he gets shot and killed. And you’re right next to him.”
He’ll never forget that day. “It so happened that I was at the top of the mountain when the flag went up and the ships in the harbor, all the American ships, were honking. You’d think it was the Fourth of July when that flag went up. They were honking like crazy. You’d think it was New Year’s Day. It was awesome. And I was just a kid,” he says. He was 19 at the time.
“Three of flag raisers died on Iwo, that I know,” he says.
Played pro baseball
At 83, McNulty considers himself “blessed” to have lived the life he has. To have seen with his owns eyes, the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima; to have played professional baseball with the Dodgers in 1946; to have been player/ manager of Town Ball in Minnesota; and best of all — to have married the woman of his dreams, the late Mildred Veronica (Fallon) McNulty.
He also played soccer with the Brooklyn Hungarians at age 16, when all the other players were adults. “I scored more goals than anybody in the history of the Grover Cleveland High School (in Queens),” he says. He was paid $10 a game, “good money,” he says, for back then.
But baseball was his first love. He played second baseman in the Dodger Chain. “And I had a rifle for an arm. I still do. I still can throw, but I was a terrible hitter. Terrible. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was such a fancy gloveman ...”
There was no money in professional ball back then. “There was no money in baseball in our day. There are no millionaires,” he says. “The Dodgers gave me $1,800 for signing,” he says. And $125 a month to play in Georgia. “It was terrible, not like it was today,” he says.
“The most beautiful person”
“I met my wife in Brooklyn at a soccer party,” he says. He was 21. “She was the most beautiful person. Oh, was she good,” he says. She worked hard as a nurse and midwife, he says, delivering children at St. Mary’s Hospital.
They were married 60 years. He cries as he speaks of his beautiful Mildred, who died a little over a year ago. “It’s awful without her. I can’t believe she’s gone,” he says.
Special doesn’t begin to cover who Mildred was. If he had describe what made him fall in love with her? “She put up with me, that was enough right there. She had to put up with me and my nonsense. And she did,” he said.
What did she think about this great ball player she’d married? “She was not a baseball fan,” he says.
“She was a miracle, that’s how good she was,” he says.
Jim and Mildred had three children: James, Dennis and Pamela; eight grandchildren; and three great grandchildren. He and his wife moved to Lakeville in 1989.
McNulty agrees his life has been very interesting. “It was fantastic. If everybody had a life like I had, they should be very happy. I’ve had a wonderful life and family. And the people I met were all good to me. I don’t think I met any bad people in my whole life — my whole life,” he said.
Ellie