Flag tells one man's story

By Tim Gallagher | Posted: Sunday, September 20, 2009

TICONIC, Iowa -- The man who entered the military without his parents' knowledge, stayed in the Army for an hour and ended up getting shot twice at Iwo Jima was laid to rest on a hillside at tranquil Grant Cemetery late Friday afternoon.

Two U.S. Marines presented the flag for Mel Woodward, 86, to his daughter, Patricia A. Woodward of Lincoln, Neb.

Mel Woodward died Sept. 13 following a battle with cancer.

His greatest battle unfolded in February 1945 when, as a young Marine serving on a machine gun squad, he helped U.S. forces gain control of the strategic island. He landed there Feb. 19, 1945, and was shot twice after 15 days in battle.

An estimated 20,000 Japanese soldiers were killed at Iwo Jima. U.S. casualties came to 7,000.

"I'd never heard of Iwo Jima," Woodward told me a year ago as I interviewed him, the first of 14 World War II veterans profiled for an exhibit at the Betty Strong Encounter Center in Sioux City.

Eight squad leaders before Woodward had been killed or wounded on the island. He became No. 9, the victim of a sniper's shots. His replacement was killed before Woodward left the island.

These were the men who fought and likely saved the world we know today.

That world probably looked as peaceful Friday as it did when young Mel Woodward came home June 28, 1946, and quietly returned to work in the fields of Monona County. He wed, he farmed, he raised a family, pitched baseball for the town team and served on the local school board.

"He signed and presented diplomas to his youngest brother and sister, his three children, one niece and two nephews," his daughter Pam Heinemann said.

While he wasn't perfect, it was evident that service to his country blossomed into service to his community.

That dedication continued late in Woodward's life. Woodward had flown a couple of years ago from Omaha on a service called Honor Flight.

"I don't know if veterans around here know they can take part in the Honor Flight," he said. "We need to make them aware."

He spent the last two years of his life spreading the word about this service to veterans in Monona County.

I later learned he was a man who didn't have to go to war. Seems Woodward, the oldest of eight children, had gotten a deferment from military service as his help was needed in raising crops and livestock to feed the nation. But when his younger brother Everett went to enlist, Mel snuck along.

"I felt as the oldest one, it was something I needed to do," he said.

He was in the Army for an hour before becoming a U.S. Marine. He'd had enough of the cold weather scooping corn. The Marines, he laughed, promised a warmer tour of duty.

From that day forward, Mel Woodward was a Marine. He showed up at a photo shoot for the World War II veterans' exhibit in full dress uniform. When the exhibit opened at the Betty Strong Encounter Center last October, he donned the uniform again and served as a focal point for the day.

James Bradley visited Sioux City on Wednesday to speak at the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce annual dinner. Bradley's best-selling book, "Flags of Our Fathers," covers the events and the lives of the six men who raised the U.S. flag at the summit of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima.

Bradley's message: Ordinary people can and often do make a difference.

Mel Woodward did in his life. He was a difference maker to the people who paid their respects Friday and to many he never met.

Two Marines looking much like he did decades ago presented Mel Woodward's flag to family members Friday at Grant Township Cemetery.

Pam Heinemann spoke about the flag of her father. "We're not sure where it will go," she said. "We do want to fly it somewhere."

May it fly always for a free country. And may it tell one man's story.

Ellie