thedrifter
07-05-09, 12:23 PM
Flag is World War II vet's battlefield souvenir
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July 5, 2009
By CHARITY BONNER cbonner@scn1.com
ELGIN -- It may not have been the "date which will live in infamy," but it was one that Gordon Schnulle will never forget.
The 84-year-old Elgin resident does not need the flag he took from a fallen Japanese soldier to remember the fateful day of Feb. 23, 1945 -- a day immortalized in the Marine Corps War Memorial of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima.
The memory is 64 years old, but still vivid. Schnulle was just 19 at the time.
He was serving as a machine gunner in H Company, 3rd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division during World War II. The battle began on Feb. 19 and continued until March 16, when the Marines finally left the island.
Schnulle was there for the entire battle, recalling that it took 21 days to advance 4½ miles. The fighting was so fierce that Schnulle's company of about 266 Marines dwindled to only 39 by the end of the battle.
"It was one of the scariest moments of my life when the Japanese came crawling up around our foxhole," he recalls about the day he shot and killed an enemy soldier and took the flag from him.
Schnulle later had the 39 men sign the flag with their names and hometowns.
He returned home with the flag and kept it in a clothes drawer until five years ago, when Schnulle's granddaughter told him he should frame it.
Last January, Schnulle donated the cotton flag, measuring about 40 inches by 27 inches, to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Va.
"The flag was quite a keepsake for me. It meant a whole lot to me to have the signatures of the men I served with and I thought, well, when I pass away, I don't want it thrown in the garbage," Schnulle said.
He decided that the museum would be the best option for future safekeeping. He will meet with curators and share his story when he visits the museum July 10-12.
"I knew that flag would mean something to the museum," he said. "Since it was taken during the height of battle on Iwo Jima, it would mean something to the Marine Corps. That is why it is being displayed and preserved."
Owen Conner, curator of the uniforms and heraldry section of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, highlighted the research potential of the flag because all 39 survivors signed it. Conner said the museum receives an average of 30 donation offers per week, but that this one is unique because it is an official government flag of Japan, signified by an official issue label affixed in one of the corners.
"Iwo Jima is one of the pivotal battles of WWII. It is the Gettysburg of the Marine Corps and it is why we have the Marine Corps today," Conner said.
Conner said that the flag will be displayed in the uniforms and heraldry collection of the museum.
"While there are dozens of Japanese personal flags in the collection, there are relatively few that are signed by an entire unit like this," he said. "Each flag has a unique history and it is a one-of-a- kind flag because of its story ... His souvenir is now a research piece for future generations to know."
Ellie
Comments
July 5, 2009
By CHARITY BONNER cbonner@scn1.com
ELGIN -- It may not have been the "date which will live in infamy," but it was one that Gordon Schnulle will never forget.
The 84-year-old Elgin resident does not need the flag he took from a fallen Japanese soldier to remember the fateful day of Feb. 23, 1945 -- a day immortalized in the Marine Corps War Memorial of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima.
The memory is 64 years old, but still vivid. Schnulle was just 19 at the time.
He was serving as a machine gunner in H Company, 3rd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division during World War II. The battle began on Feb. 19 and continued until March 16, when the Marines finally left the island.
Schnulle was there for the entire battle, recalling that it took 21 days to advance 4½ miles. The fighting was so fierce that Schnulle's company of about 266 Marines dwindled to only 39 by the end of the battle.
"It was one of the scariest moments of my life when the Japanese came crawling up around our foxhole," he recalls about the day he shot and killed an enemy soldier and took the flag from him.
Schnulle later had the 39 men sign the flag with their names and hometowns.
He returned home with the flag and kept it in a clothes drawer until five years ago, when Schnulle's granddaughter told him he should frame it.
Last January, Schnulle donated the cotton flag, measuring about 40 inches by 27 inches, to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Va.
"The flag was quite a keepsake for me. It meant a whole lot to me to have the signatures of the men I served with and I thought, well, when I pass away, I don't want it thrown in the garbage," Schnulle said.
He decided that the museum would be the best option for future safekeeping. He will meet with curators and share his story when he visits the museum July 10-12.
"I knew that flag would mean something to the museum," he said. "Since it was taken during the height of battle on Iwo Jima, it would mean something to the Marine Corps. That is why it is being displayed and preserved."
Owen Conner, curator of the uniforms and heraldry section of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, highlighted the research potential of the flag because all 39 survivors signed it. Conner said the museum receives an average of 30 donation offers per week, but that this one is unique because it is an official government flag of Japan, signified by an official issue label affixed in one of the corners.
"Iwo Jima is one of the pivotal battles of WWII. It is the Gettysburg of the Marine Corps and it is why we have the Marine Corps today," Conner said.
Conner said that the flag will be displayed in the uniforms and heraldry collection of the museum.
"While there are dozens of Japanese personal flags in the collection, there are relatively few that are signed by an entire unit like this," he said. "Each flag has a unique history and it is a one-of-a- kind flag because of its story ... His souvenir is now a research piece for future generations to know."
Ellie