thedrifter
06-26-07, 04:34 AM
Tom Hennessy: War images lead to tribute
Article Launched:06/25/2007 10:01:59 PM PDT
It was a time when loyalty was a commodity so revered that future generations would be hard pressed to understand it. It was 1945.
On a Pacific island, only 4 1/2 miles long, two photographers followed half a dozen Marines up a dormant volcano called Mount Suribachi. There the photographers opened their shutters and recorded one of the iconic images of World War II.
The raising of the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima.
For Joe Rosenthal, a still photographer with the Associated Press, the result would be a stunning photo, later transformed into landmark sculptures in New York City and Washington, D.C.
For Sgt. Bill Genaust, it would be a motion-picture version of the flag-raising event, one of his last efforts as a Marine camera man.
Nine days later, Genaust entered one of the island's many caves. One version holds that he was using the light of his camera to help fellow Marines. Another is that he was shot while functioning as a rifleman.
Whatever the case, the cave later collapsed or was sealed. Genaust, 38, was never seen again.
Ice cream off Iwo
Tedd Thomey, a Long Beach friend and former P-T writer, was on Iwo Jima with Rosenthal, who died last year, and with Genaust. Shot in the foot at the start of the battle, Tedd, then 24, once told me of having ice cream on a hospital ship while his comrades were trying to establish a foothold on the beach. "It makes me cry to think of it," he said.
Years after the 1945 battle, some self-declared "experts" doubted the authenticity of the Rosenthal and Genaust photos. Tedd was enraged. He fought back with a carefully-researched book called "Immortal Images." It left no doubt that the photos were authentic.
Noting that Genaust was part-Marine, part-cameraman, Tedd wrote, "What (his films) did not show were the times Genaust stowed his camera in his large canvas rucksack and became a rifleman, replacing dead or wounded Marines ...
"When the men made brief, sporadic advances, Genaust was with them, firing his carbine, dodging from rock to rock, dropping prone and rising again."
Searching for Bill
Two years ago, Bob Bolus, a Scranton, Pa., business man, read a story about Genaust. Intrigued, he spent thousands of dollars putting together a team of experts who pinpointed an area in which the camera man's remains were apt to be found.
Bolus, who has visited Iwo Jima himself, persuaded the government to send a search team to the island. As a civilian, Bolus was not permitted to be part of the team, which arrived on the island June 17.
Lt. Col. Mark Brown, based in Hawaii, has been receiving periodic reports on how the search team is faring. Finding Genaust is not the team's only objective. Brown says the men are looking for "as many other American servicemen as they can find."
Saying the military was optimistic about the team succeeding, Brown adds, "We are looking at several caves. We have maps dating back to World War II and even GPS locations. So far, everything seems to be where it should be."
The search, however, is not the only effort on behalf of Bill Genaust. Anyone who now visits Iwo Jima, which the Japanese have renamed Iwo To, and climbs Mount Suribachi, will find a plaque honoring Genaust. Made of bronze at a foundry in Whittier, it was placed there in 1994 by a great Marine.
His name is Tedd Thomey.
Tom Hennessy's viewpoint appears Sunday, Tuesday,
Thursday and Friday. He can be reached at (562) 499-1270 or by e-mail at Scribe17@aol.com
Ellie
Article Launched:06/25/2007 10:01:59 PM PDT
It was a time when loyalty was a commodity so revered that future generations would be hard pressed to understand it. It was 1945.
On a Pacific island, only 4 1/2 miles long, two photographers followed half a dozen Marines up a dormant volcano called Mount Suribachi. There the photographers opened their shutters and recorded one of the iconic images of World War II.
The raising of the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima.
For Joe Rosenthal, a still photographer with the Associated Press, the result would be a stunning photo, later transformed into landmark sculptures in New York City and Washington, D.C.
For Sgt. Bill Genaust, it would be a motion-picture version of the flag-raising event, one of his last efforts as a Marine camera man.
Nine days later, Genaust entered one of the island's many caves. One version holds that he was using the light of his camera to help fellow Marines. Another is that he was shot while functioning as a rifleman.
Whatever the case, the cave later collapsed or was sealed. Genaust, 38, was never seen again.
Ice cream off Iwo
Tedd Thomey, a Long Beach friend and former P-T writer, was on Iwo Jima with Rosenthal, who died last year, and with Genaust. Shot in the foot at the start of the battle, Tedd, then 24, once told me of having ice cream on a hospital ship while his comrades were trying to establish a foothold on the beach. "It makes me cry to think of it," he said.
Years after the 1945 battle, some self-declared "experts" doubted the authenticity of the Rosenthal and Genaust photos. Tedd was enraged. He fought back with a carefully-researched book called "Immortal Images." It left no doubt that the photos were authentic.
Noting that Genaust was part-Marine, part-cameraman, Tedd wrote, "What (his films) did not show were the times Genaust stowed his camera in his large canvas rucksack and became a rifleman, replacing dead or wounded Marines ...
"When the men made brief, sporadic advances, Genaust was with them, firing his carbine, dodging from rock to rock, dropping prone and rising again."
Searching for Bill
Two years ago, Bob Bolus, a Scranton, Pa., business man, read a story about Genaust. Intrigued, he spent thousands of dollars putting together a team of experts who pinpointed an area in which the camera man's remains were apt to be found.
Bolus, who has visited Iwo Jima himself, persuaded the government to send a search team to the island. As a civilian, Bolus was not permitted to be part of the team, which arrived on the island June 17.
Lt. Col. Mark Brown, based in Hawaii, has been receiving periodic reports on how the search team is faring. Finding Genaust is not the team's only objective. Brown says the men are looking for "as many other American servicemen as they can find."
Saying the military was optimistic about the team succeeding, Brown adds, "We are looking at several caves. We have maps dating back to World War II and even GPS locations. So far, everything seems to be where it should be."
The search, however, is not the only effort on behalf of Bill Genaust. Anyone who now visits Iwo Jima, which the Japanese have renamed Iwo To, and climbs Mount Suribachi, will find a plaque honoring Genaust. Made of bronze at a foundry in Whittier, it was placed there in 1994 by a great Marine.
His name is Tedd Thomey.
Tom Hennessy's viewpoint appears Sunday, Tuesday,
Thursday and Friday. He can be reached at (562) 499-1270 or by e-mail at Scribe17@aol.com
Ellie