Any Marines in the Washington DC area

[dougstratton]

Please read my other thread. Thanks.

http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=33816

[GySgtRet]

The town in Maryland that is mentioned is a suburb of D.C. I checked other sources and he doesn't exsist. Although sometimes records are not always kept up. I wish I had more data on this Marine because the opening of the Marine Corps Heritage Musem will be opening on November 10 of this year. The 231 birthday of our Corps.

"I was a rifleman in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 25th Marines, we were the first wave to storm the beach," said Gordon F. Ward, a corporal during the battle. "I was apprehensive and nervous before getting here, but I knew it was something I had to do. A Marine's obligation is to fight whenever he is required to without questioning why.

The 80-year-old Kensington, Md., native was wounded by a mortar-shell Feb. 20, the day of the invasion.

[dougstratton]

Gunny, thanks for your reply.

I also have not been able to find any official record of Gordon Ward, but I assure you he exists! If you are able to visit the Iwo Jima Memorial statue on a Saturday, he should be there. He told me he goes there every Saturday. When I met him he had a book of photographs of himself and his buddies from 1945, and he was wearing a USMC Iwo Jima Survivor cap with a mini Purple Heart.

I have a photograph, which I will try to get scanned so I can post it on this site.

[GySgtRet]

You are welcome. I have no doubt that he does exsist what I saw confirms what you are saying. I wish I could meet him on Saturday but I will be at NNMC Bethesda visiting the wounded. This is a monthly, if not bi-monthly visit for me just to say thank you.

[dougstratton]

I understand completely. We all have reasons to thank so many people, which is why I wanted to contact Gordon. He told me so much about his experiences on Iwo. Whilst taking photographs of the memorial my girlfriend sat down next to Gordon and he spoke to her at length about his experiences and how he nearly lost his right leg - he showed us the deep scars and told her that, when he was being attended by a corpsman on the beach, a shell exploded close-by and killed the corpsman who was "working" on him, thus saving Gordon's life. He lay under the corpsman almost undetected until a colleague saw him moving underneath. He was then dragged on to a rescue vessel that was also hit shortly after and his return journey consisted of his head being held up out of the water by another colleague. After healing, Gordon was sent back to Iwo to retrieve dead bodies of comrades and, indeed, enemies, mentioning those dreaded tunnels. He told my girlfriend that this experience, amongst others had made him not want to be buried but cremated, pointing to Arlington Nat Cemetery. Unfortunately/fortunately other visitors arrived at the memorial and knowing that Gordon gives his free time every Saturday (in the summer months for obvious reasons) we felt that we should move on so that he could share his experiences with the youngsters that had gathered. There was another gentleman at the memorial at the same time who knew Gordon well but was also selling a book he had self-published - we did not get his name but he does appear in a photo we have. We would very much like to contact Gordon again to assure him that his voluntary work is very important and much appreciated, even by us from England. We have been searching for Gordon (F) Ward on google and any other avenues and have found that he was interviewed by CNN at the Iwo reunion in 2004. We only know that he lives in Kensington. We have also found an excellent website, www.veteranshistory.org where Larry Cappetto has made very important and moving documentaries regarding Omaha beach and was searching for IWO veterans to record their stories. We would very much like to contact Larry and advise that we know of at least two veterans and their whereabouts on a Saturday but worry that this may intrude on Gordon's privacy, although at the same time we feel that he would be happy and honoured to be interviewed, and have his experiences recorded for posterity.

Please let me know if you (or anyone you know) ever have the time to visit the USMC Memorial, and could maybe take a message from us to Gordon. You would have our lasting gratitude and we also think he could make an invaluable contribution to the Museum that you mention - he is 82 though so time is not on our side.

With thanks for your correspondence so far. Doug and Nikki.

[GySgtRet]

I appreciate you and Nikki have interest in the subject matter that you have told us about. I wish you well in your search.

[Phantom Winger]

Gunny,

I checked whitepages.com and he turns up there with an address and phone number in Kensington...

http://www.whitepages.com/9900/searc...on&state_id=MD

[GySgtRet]

Thanks for having my 6. I passed the information onto the folks in the UK and they are in the process of contacting him. It only took me about 5 seconds maybe to find him. That is pretty dang scarey when you think about it to find stuff on the internet that easily.

[dougstratton]

Thank you both - we'll be writing to Gordon soon. It's good to know we have people like you watching our backs.

This is the best, and at the same time the scariest, side of the internet. For me, what's worse, is the amount of information out there about me that I don't even know is held, or by whom. Every bank transaction, public transport journey, email, phone call and even what TV stations I watch can be (and often is) easily traced and recorded. The new electronic passports can be scanned without your knowledge from as much as 20 yards away, and can be cloned so fast someone could have your passport duplicated while you're still in the departure lounge. It's well known that the terrorist "community" uses the internet by taking advantage of the same freedoms we value. Don't get me started on that one...

[dougstratton]

I can't send this on private messages, but I can at least show everyone the face of Gordon F Ward. If you're ever visiting the 'Iwo Jima' Memorial in DC on Saturdays, be sure to look him out.