Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Iwo Jima
    Iwo Jima
    Iwo Jima
    Ebook1,294 pages50 hours

    Iwo Jima

    By Turner Publishing and Philip A St John

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In the words of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, "Among the Americans who served in Iwo island, uncommon valor was a common virtue." This 50th Anniversary edition of Iwo Jima tells the story of these men with personal accounts and unbelievable photographs. The never-before-published narrative and maps cover the history of this battle from the sea, the air, and the land.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTurner Publishing Company
    Release dateMay 1, 1995
    ISBN9781618584670
    Iwo Jima

    Read more from Turner Publishing

    Related to Iwo Jima

    Related ebooks

    Wars & Military For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Not Nimitz

      Dec 22, 2020

      Not Nimitz
      2 min read

    • Article

      Carriers at War

      Apr 5, 2022

      Carriers at War
      1 min read

    • Article

      Clash On The Devil’s Bridge

      Jun 18, 2020

      Clash On The Devil’s Bridge
      7 min read

    • Article

      Island Fortress

      May 23, 2023

      Island Fortress
      5 min read

    • Article

      First Raid To Blechhammer

      Feb 18, 2020

      First Raid To Blechhammer
      10 min read

    • Article

      Hard-fought Victory

      May 23, 2023

      Hard-fought Victory
      12 min read

    • Article

      Defending The Fleet

      Oct 21, 2021

      Defending The Fleet
      7 min read

    • Article

      Heart Of A Regiment

      Aug 24, 2021

      This is the story of the 107th Ohio Infantry, just more than a thousand men in an army of just over two million, and mainly composed of ethnic Germans from northeast Ohio. It’s the story of fear, perseverance, and dedication to duty. Brian Jordan cra

      2 min read

    • Article

      Target Acquired

      Aug 4, 2020

      Target Acquired
      3 min read

    • Article

      Beyond The Call Of Duty

      Oct 1, 2019

      Beyond The Call Of Duty
      10 min read

    • Article

      Fast And Furious

      Apr 5, 2022

      Fast And Furious
      13 min read

    • Article

      The Chosin Reservoir Breakout

      Oct 30, 2017

      The Chosin Reservoir Breakout
      2 min read

    • Article

      MiG-17/19 Aces of the Vietnam War

      Oct 1, 2019

      By István Toperczer, Osprey Publishing, 2016 From the time they sent their first contingent to the Soviet Union for training in 1956, the North Vietnamese understood what their newly forming Vietnamese People’s Air Force was likely to face. Their air

      2 min read

    • Article

      America’s “Few”

      Jan 20, 2022

      America’s “Few”
      8 min read

    • Article

      Before Rosie the Riveter…

      Feb 4, 2022

      Before Rosie the Riveter…
      4 min read

    • Article

      Lynched Soldier Remembered

      Oct 26, 2021

      THE BLACK SOLDIERS of the 24th Infantry Regiment trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, and went on to serve at Guadalcanal and Bougainville in the Solomon Islands and the Kerama Islands southwest of Okinawa. Private Felix Hall never made it that far. In

      2 min read

    • Article

      First In

      Jun 4, 2019

      First In
      12 min read

    • Article

      The Battle Of St Vith

      Feb 26, 2020

      The Battle Of St Vith
      6 min read

    • Article

      “Death Didn’t Care If You Were A Butcher’s Boy Or A Public Schoolboy”

      Jun 11, 2020

      Rob Attar: What were the origins of the Lancaster bomber? Why was it needed? John Nichol: At the start of the Second World War, the Royal Air Force’s offensive capability was quite limited. It soon became clear that the RAF needed bigger, better an

      9 min read

    • Article

      Operation Bodenplatte

      Feb 26, 2020

      Operation Bodenplatte
      2 min read

    • Article

      Defender Of The Homeland

      Jun 7, 2022

      Defender Of The Homeland
      2 min read

    • Article

      D-day Tank Operations

      Apr 18, 2019

      Unusual tanks are developed by the British 79th Armoured Division for the planned invasion of Normandy. Based on Churchill or Sherman tanks, these armoured vehicles can – among other things – demolish concrete structures, fill trenches, lay matting a

      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters ‘Oops’ War

      Apr 5, 2022

      Letters ‘Oops’ War
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Best Dive Bomber

      Dec 22, 2020

      The Best Dive Bomber
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Iwo Jima

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Iwo Jima - Turner Publishing

      e9781618584670_cover.jpge9781618584670_i0001.jpge9781618584670_i0002.jpg

      Turner Publishing Company

      Publishers of Military History

      P.O. Box 3101

      Paducah, Kentucky 42002-3101

      Co-published by Turner Publishing Company and Mark A. Thompson, Associate Publisher

      Copyright © 1995 Turner Publishing Company

      This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced without the written consent of Turner Publishing Company.

      The materials were compiled and produced using available information; Turner Publishing Company and Mark A. Thompson regret they cannot assume liability for errors or omissions.

      Veterans of the Battle for Iwo Jima were invited to write and submit biographies for inclusion in this publication. Those found within the veteran chapter are from those who chose to participate. The biographies were printed as received, with only minor editing. The publishers regret they cannot accept responsibility for omissions or inaccuracies in this section. A special note regarding any reference to a Presidential Unit Citation. This citation is awarded to a unit and not specifically to an individual.

      Author: Philip St. John, PhD.

      Graphic Designer: Elizabeth Dennis

      Library of Congress Catalog

      Card No. : 95-60492

      9781618584670

      Printed in the United States of America

      Limited Edition

      Painting featured on cover is by Sgt. Tom Lovell, Leatherneck Magazine 1945.

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Copyright Page

      A TRIBUTE TO THE MEN WHO FOUGHT FOR IWO JIMA

      Acknowledgements

      The Battle for Iwo Jima

      THE NEED

      THE PLAN

      THE OBJECTIVE

      THE DEFENDERS

      THE SOFTENING

      THE BOMBARDMENT

      THE INVASION

      FIFTH MARINE DIVISION ON IWO JIMA

      FOURTH MARINE DIVISION ON IWO JIMA

      THIRD MARINE DIVISION ON IWO JIMA

      THE COST AND REWARD

      Major Marine Units At Iwo Jima

      MEDALS OF HONOR AT IWO JIMA

      Veterans of the Battle for Iwo Jima

      Among the Americans who served on Iwo island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.

      Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

      e9781618584670_i0003.jpg

      A TRIBUTE TO THE MEN WHO FOUGHT FOR IWO JIMA

      Iwo Jima Memorial Sculptor Felix W. De Weldon

      Felix de Weldon, born in Vienna, Austria in 1907, studied at Marchetti College in Vienna, graduating in 1925. Continuing his academic education at the University of Vienna’s Academy of Creative Arts and School of Architecture, he was granted M.A. and M.S. degrees in 1927 and a Ph.D. in 1929. He pursued further studies in Paris, Rome, Florence and Oxford.

      In 1924, at the age of 17, he won his first national sculpture contest in Austria. De Weldon began exhibiting in Vienna and at the Paris Salon while still a student and quickly achieved international success. From 1933 to 1937 he maintained a studio in London. His work then brought him to the United States, and in 1945 he became an American citizen. In 1950 President Truman appointed him Chairman of the United States Fine Arts Commission. He was reappointed in 1955 and again in 1959.

      De Weldon, one of the most distinguished and prolific of contemporary sculptors, has won many prizes and awards. His works in Washington include the United States Marine Corps War Memorial (the Iwo Jima Memorial), the statue of Admiral Richard E. Byrd on the Avenue of Heroes leading to Arlington National Cemetery, the indoor statue of Sam Rayburn at the Rayburn House Office Building, and the equestrian statue of Simon Bolivar near the Pan American Union Building.

      De Weldon has recently completed a twelve-foot-tall, bronze bust of Elvis Presley for permanent display at Graceland, home of the King of rock and roll in Memphis, Tennessee. He is currently working on the monumental Chosin Few Korean War Memorial in California, a large monument to victims of AIDS, and the design for a World Peace Park.

      Acknowledgements

      It is with great pleasure that we introduce this second volume on the Battle for Iwo Jima, in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the battle. Capt. Bonnie Little said, The Marines have a way of making you afraid; not of dying, but of not doing your job. All the servicemen who fought to secure the island of Iwo Jima certainly did their jobs. As In the history of warfare never have men struggled more valiantly, nor more violently, than at Iwo Jima, wrote Thomas Howrigan. To the men of the US Navy, US Marine Corps, US Army, US Merchant Marines, US Coast Guard and the SeaBees, we owe our deepest gratitude for giving of themselves, heart and soul and in many cases their lives, in the courageous battle to overtake the island of Iwo Jima.

      We especially want to thank Jim Westbrook and Iwo Jima Veterans Reunion for sponsoring this project and for seeing this volume II project through to its completion.

      We wish to thank the following organizations for all their help with promoting this publication—3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Division Associations, Iwo Jima Survivors Association of New York, Iwo Jima Memorial Banquet Committee of California, Iwo Jima Survivors Association of Texas, and Iwo Jima Survivors of Connecticut. They were instrumental in seeing that their members had every opportunity to be a part of this special edition.

      A special thanks goes to Dr. Philip A. St. John for compiling information and writing the manuscript. Without his expertise and diligence this project would not have come together as well as it did.

      We are indebted to the many individuals who submitted photographs, biographies and additional historical material from which much information was ascertained.

      Turner Publishing Company leads the way in military association history book publishing, and we hope that all will enjoy our newest title that chronicles the history of a most gallant battle and the intrepid men who fought there.

      Dave Turner, President

      Mark A.Thompson, Associate Publisher

      e9781618584670_i0004.jpg

      The Battle for Iwo Jima

      THE NEED

      ...take an island in the Bonin or Volcano groups...

      On November 24, 1944, B-29s of the 20th Air Force flying from three islands in the Marianas (Tinian, Saipan, and Guam) joined other Superforts from China to strike at Japan. It was nearly a 3000-mile round trip from the Marianas for the big Boeing bombers but that was their forte; the huge, 65-ton, four-engine behemoths were designed to carry a four ton bomb load over long distances (3500 miles) with their eleven-man crews. The B-29s were pressurized and could fly at very high altitudes, well over 33,000 feet. The big bombers had been built specifically for the vast distances in the Pacific; it never saw combat in Europe.

      It was a long, boring flight from the Marianas to Tokyo; the air crews were forced to fly near a desolate volcanic island (or fly a fuel-consuming dogleg course to avoid it) - Iwo Jima - almost exactly half way to their targets, and enemy fighters rose from the island to meet them both going to the target, and on their way back to base. Further, Iwo Jima was a warning outpost to the Japanese homeland, reporting the size of the formations, altitude, and their estimated time of arrival at the Japanese coastline. The home defenses - antiaircraft artillery and fighters - were always lying in wait having had plenty of time to prepare their defense. On the way home the B-29s would again have to fight off the Zeros from Iwo Jima. Many of the big Superfortresses were damaged over their targets and were strung out behind the returning formations - ‘easy meat’ for experienced Japanese fighter pilots.

      To make things worse, the bombings were not yielding the hoped for results; Japanese military production was turning out planes, tanks and munitions almost unabated. So, beginning on 10 March of 1945, the B-29s turned to lower altitude (8,000 feet) night bombing with incendiaries. Eventually, eight hundred-plane formations would destroy the heart of Tokyo, and Yokahama was virtually obliterated by a single raid. In 15,000 sorties against 66 major cities over 100,000 tons of incendiaries set the Empire aflame.

      But before these fire raids, the losses from fighters based in the home islands and on Iwo Jima, were becoming unacceptable. Soon after the fall of the Marianas it was clear that Iwo Jima would be a problem for the Mariana-based B-29s. The Air Force chief, General Hap Arnold, while fighting was still going on in the Marianas, had made it clear that Iwo was a thorn to his B-29s and the thorn had to be removed. He finally prevailed and in October of 1944 the decision was made to neutralize the Japanese forces on the tiny island or take them out of the war completely. With Iwo Jima in Allied hands, it was reasoned, the enemy threat to the B-29 formations would be eliminated, early warning of the raids on Japan would at least be reduced, American fighters could be based on Iwo to provide protection for the B-29s on their way to and from their targets and, of great importance, the island could serve as an emergency haven for crippled Superforts returning from their missions. This last proposed advantage was significant: the air crews of crippled airplanes often had a less than even chance of surviving a crash in the vast expanse of the Pacific. Iwo had to be taken. In the Fall of 1944, after two and one-half bloody years of assaulting one Japanese-held island after another, the wheels were set in motion for the most gigantic and most complex amphibious operation in the history the United States Marine Corps.

      Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander of the famed Fifth Fleet, flew into San Francisco from Pearl Harbor that October and was joined by Admiral Raymond Spruance and Admiral Ernest King, the latter flying in from Washington, D.C. Captain Forrest Sherman, Nimitz’ chief of planning, presented a carefully worked out argument for an Iwo Jima / Okinawa thrust toward the Japanese home islands. King, representing the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, listened through the entire presentation and was not moved: the Joint Chiefs had already made the tentative decision that the way to Japan was through Formosa and China. Nimitz and Sherman marshaled virtually unassailable evidence that Iwo Jima and Okinawa would be the least costly route - in lives and time - to Tokyo. Spruance and King were won over. The Joint Chiefs, with the approval of the Commander in Chief, gave Nimitz the go-ahead. Formosa was not to be targeted for invasion; instead he was to take an island in the Bonin or Volcano groups that would be capable of supporting one or more airfields with runways long enough to accommodate the Air Force’s biggest bombers. In the entire island chain there was only one small speck of rock on which there was enough land to build such an airport: Iwo Jima.

      e9781618584670_i0005.jpg

      Mount Suribachi on the southern tip of the island of Iwo Jima. (US Navy Photo)

      THE PLAN

      ...sweep clean the seas... and land the Marines...

      The whole plan was deceptively simple on paper. The Navy was to sweep clean the seas between the Marianas and Japan of the enemy Navy and Air Force and then land Marines that would take the island. Having done all this, the Army would then replace the Marines as a garrison force, and the Air Force would fly in to use the airfields that the Navy Seabees would already have constructed. The whole plan was called Operation Detachment but few remember that name. Before the month was out, the Iwo Jima campaign was roughed out and the detailed planning got under way.

      This was to be almost solely a Navy / Marine operation with the Army Air Force and a few Army special units assisting. The assault on Iwo would be by the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions with the 3rd Marine Division offshore as a floating reserve. Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, USN, would be in command of the entire operation, and Vice Admiral Richmond K. Turner, USN, the Joint Expeditionary Force commander. Maj. Gen. Harry Schmidt, USMC, would command the Fifth Amphibious Corps (VAC), the landing force. Lt. Gen. Holland M Howlin’ Mad Smith, USMC, would command the Expeditionary Force on the Island.

      Spruance, 59, a graduate of the Naval Academy Class of 1907, has been called the most effective naval combat commander of World War II. Forces under his command caused greater destruction to the Japanese with fewer losses than any of the other American combat fleet units during the entire War. Spruance commanded a cruiser force at the Battle of Midway in June of 1942, but took over command of the entire fleet when the commander’s flagship, the carrier Yorktown , was hit and put out of action. In the two day battle under Spruance’s leadership, a huge Japanese carrier force, intending to invade Midway Island, was destroyed. After serving as Admiral Nimitz’ Chief of Staff, Spruance returned to sea duty seeing action at Tarawa, and then in the Marshall Islands. Later, in 1944, he achieved a decisive victory over the Japanese Navy and Air Force in the Philippine Sea battle, and directed naval forces in the assaults on Saipan and Guam.

      Richmond Turner, 60, was a graduate of the Naval Academy Class of 1908, and during the War became an expert in the then new field of amphibious operations, the complex technique of getting thousands of men and tons of supplies and equipment from ship to shore quickly, and under fire. He saw action in the Solomon, Gilbert, Marshall, and Mariana Islands, and after Iwo, he would go to Okinawa. He was the man for the Iwo job.

      Holland Smith, the oldest General active in World War II at 68, was a tough Marine and often a law unto himself He was constantly at odds with Spruance and Turner - and sometimes with Nimitz - about what he considered too little naval gunfire support for my Marines before a landing on some forsaken island beach or coral atoll. Smith had seen duty in the Philippines in the early part of the century, and in France in World War 1. He was castigated at home as a General who cared little about how many lives an objective would cost, for he had commanded the Tarawa invasion which took 3,000 Marine casualties in three days. He was earning a reputation as the Patton of the Pacific. Nothing could be further from the truth: when one of his Marines died, a little of Smith died too. If anyone knew how tough Iwo would be, Smith knew and he told everyone that would listen. He had seen these little islands before. But he was sad; somehow he had grown old and this was to be his last campaign.

      Harry Schmidt, 58, had enlisted in 1909 and gradually worked up through the ranks with duty in the Philippines, China, Latin America, and service aboard a battleship in World War I. World War II found him chained to a desk in Washington as the top aide to the Marine Corps Commandant. He hated the job and harangued his superiors constantly for a field command. He got it, and found himself commanding troops on Saipan and Tinian in 1944. In July of ’44, before Iwo Jima was being taken very seriously, he was appointed the Commanding General of the Fifth Amphibious Corps. VAC, as it was called, was to be the largest single body of Marines one man ever commanded in battle in the history of the Corps. Iwo Jima was to be Schmidt’s real test.

      e9781618584670_i0006.jpg

      (l. to r.) Frank Hild (5th Eng. Bn.), Dick Boyer (27th Marines), Joe Marcino (5th Tank Bn.),and Fred Murko (5th Main. Bn.) at Camp Tarawa prior to leaving for Iwo Jima. (Courtesy of Joe Marcino)

      e9781618584670_i0007.jpg

      4th Platoon, Company B, Amphibian Reconnaissance in Saipan, before going to Iwo. (Courtesy of Marshall Yates)

      e9781618584670_i0008.jpg

      I Company, 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines on board ship enroute to Iwo Jima. (Courtesy of Guy B. Stratton)

      In command of the 3rd Marine Division, veterans of action on Bougainville and Guam, at this time still training on Guam, was Major General Graves B. Erskine. At 46, Erskine was the youngest two-star general in the Marines. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army before World War I but was a Marine when he went to France. He had earned almost a dozen decorations at Belleau Wood, Soissons, Chateau-Thiery, and Saint-Mihiel. He had been Smith’s Chief of Staff at Tarawa, Saipan and Tinian, and some of Howlin’ Mad’s bloody reputation had rubbed off on him. Neither deserved the reputation. Erskine had been given command of the 3rd Division in its conquest of Guam in August of 1944, but Iwo was to be a more exacting test. His 3rd Division would initially be some 80 miles offshore on D-Day at Iwo, in reserve; that reserve status would be short-lived.

      In command of the 4th Marine Division, veterans of Roi and Namur Islands on Kwajalein Atoll, and of Saipan and Tinian, was Major General Clifton B. Cates. Cates enlisted in the Marines as a Lieutenant during World War I and fought and was wounded at Aisne Marne and Soissons in France. Stoic about his lot but always seeing the humor in a situation, if any were there, Iwo Jima would be Cates’ fourth campaign in twelve months. Cates’ 4th Division was training for Iwo in the Hawaiian Islands.

      With the 4th in Hawaii was the 5th Marine Division of Major General Keller E. Rockey. This was his first command of World War II and Iwo would be the 5th’s first action as a unit. Rockey had been a Marine in France in 1918, at Chateau-Thiery, and he knew war. Sixty per cent of Rockey’s Division were untested, but the other forty per cent were battle-scarred campaigners that had seen blood on many islands in the Pacific. The 5th’s untested would not be found wanting on Iwo.

      THE OBJECTIVE

      ...a miserable piece of the Japanese homeland...

      Before we look at the men who would land on Iwo, let’s look at the target and its defenders. At no time nor in any place was the old warning: Know thy enemy more critical than at Iwo Jima in February of 1945.

      Iwo Jima - Sulfur Island - lies about 750 miles almost due South of Tokyo near 141 degrees, 20 minutes East Longitude and 24 degrees, 48 minutes North Latitude. It is one of the islands of the Volcano group at the southern extreme of a string of islands collectively called the Nampo Shoto which includes the Bonin Islands about 170 miles northeast of the Volcanoes. Iwo itself is seven and one-half square miles in area- about 4800 acres - shaped like a pear or, as some see it, a pork chop, with its long axis lying in a northeast-southwest direction and the narrow ‘stem’ to the south. The Island is a little over 5 miles long and less than 2.5 miles at its widest point in the north. The extreme southern tip is dominated by 548-foot Mount Suribachi, a dormant volcano. The tiny island is about a quarter mile wide at Suribachi’s base. Extending northeastward on the eastern shore and more northerly on the western shore, from the base of Suribachi, were two long beaches of coarse, dark volcanic sand. The eastern beach sloped steeply in terraces from the sea and was about 3,000 yards long. The beach on the west coast, lighter in color, had a shallower slope but the prevailing winds often heaped up a high surf on this side of Iwo making it difficult to beach a boat there; the western beach was about 3,500 yards long.

      Northeastward from the base of Suribachi the terrain is an uneven plain less than 100 feet above sea level extending about half the length of the island; it then rises to higher levels in a 300-foot high rock-strewn plateau, punctuated by several hills of 360 to 380 feet in height before sloping gently downward finally plunging in steep slopes and 100-foot cliffs to the sea around the northern shores of the island. Much of the southern half is covered with coarse, volcanic ash especially near the beaches on the east and west coasts. The northern half of Iwo however, is a jumble of cuts, ravines, shallow valleys, steep slopes, caves, boulders and jagged rocks—a moonscape.

      To add to the impression that Iwo Jima even in peace time was a piece of hell on Earth, the island smelled of sulfur fumes escaping from the numerous fumeroles and fissures that dotted the island, and in many places the earth was too hot to stand or sit on without protection of some kind. It was a miserable piece of the Japanese homeland that had no reason to be there. But it was there and it was in possession of the enemy and was dangerous.

      There was no naturally-occurring fresh water on Iwo; the Island’s inhabitants were dependent on collecting rain water and on sea borne deliveries, every other month, by tankers. Some water was distilled from the ocean. Iwo had no harbor but boats could be beached from shallow water off the southeast and southwest coasts. There was a sulfur refinery on the island, and the horrid, volcanic ash grudgingly yielded skimpy crops of some vegetables, medicinal herbs, some grains, sugar cane, pineapple, bananas, and papayas. The island supported an inn, a bar, a grade school and a high school. A few tiny villages, the largest Motoyama in the northern plateau, dotted the desolation.

      An airfield in the southern half of Iwo, called Chidori by the Japanese but to be known simply as Airfield No. I by the Americans, was built by the Japanese Army in 1943, shortly followed by a second airfield, Motoyama or Airfield No. 2, nearer the center of the island. The Japanese Navy installed large-bore coastal defense guns and some anti-aircraft weapons in 1941. Through the Spring of 1944 the defenses of the island only gradually increased, but with the fall of the Marianas to the Americans, the Japanese became alarmed at this gigantic world power and their major enemy now less than 1500 miles from their homeland.

      e9781618584670_i0009.jpg

      USS Idaho closes in on Two Jima (US Navy Photo – Courtesy of Kenneth Carmody)

      e9781618584670_i0010.jpg

      Navy guns pound Mount Suribachi. (US Navy Photo – Courtesy of Kenneth Carmody)

      THE DEFENDERS

      ...a master of defensive tactics.

      During the Summer of 1944 the Japanese evacuated 1,000 or so civilians, mostly fishermen, miners, and farmers, back to Japan and began to fortify the island. By the winter of 1944 - 45 there would be about 21,000 Imperial Army and Navy personnel garrisoning this volcanic rock. (American intelligence reports placed the Japanese forces at between 20,000 and 30,000). Allied reconnaissance photos detected a half-dozen coastal defense guns which could hurl 6-inch shells, 240 anti-aircraft weapons, some 40 large blockhouses, over 300 smaller pillboxes, and at least 80 artillery pieces. Added to these were unknown numbers of mortars and rocket launchers, heavy and light machine guns, tanks, and other armed vehicles. And most of the defenders had his own rifle and a supply of hand grenades and adequate stores of ammunition and explosives. And all approaches to key points including the two completed airfields were carefully and expertly protected with land mines.

      Perhaps less appreciated by the American Navy and Marines that were to assault this speck in the Pacific was the layout of the Japanese defenses that photographs could not detect. Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was the overall commanding officer on Iwo and the Imperial High Command could not have chosen a better man for the job. He was a master of defensive tactics.

      Kuribayashi, 53 at this time, was a 30-year career veteran of the Japanese Army. He had served as a Captain in Washington in 1928, as a military attaché, and spent two years traveling the U.S., at one time studying cavalry training. In 1931 he was sent to Canada, again visiting America. To quote Richard Newcomb in his book Iwo Jima (p.8), Kuribayashi ...wrote to [his wife] Yoshii: ....‘The United States is the last country in the world that Japan should fight. Its industrial potentiality is huge and fabulous, and the people are energetic and versatile. One must never underestimate the American fighting ability’.

      Kuribayashi had arrived on Iwo Jima in late June of 1944 from a year in Tokyo, preceded by three years’ field duty in Manchuria and China. He had personally been assigned the defense of Iwo by Premier Tojo. Kuribayashi was under no illusions about his position. He knew he would be attacked by U.S. Marines, knew he would probably be unable to repulse a landing and that the ensuing battle would be a strictly defensive one for him. He would be overrun, but in the process his defenses would take as many Marine lives as possible.

      Kuribayashi would place the bulk of his 109th Division, the 145th Regiment of nearly 3,000 men (Col. Masuo Ikeda commanding), and the 2nd Mixed Brigade some 5,000 men (Maj. Gen. Sadasue Senda commanding), underground. With blockhouses, bunkers and caves interconnected by over 15 miles of shallow and deep tunnels, he would cover as much of his fortress as possible with intersecting machine gun and small arms fire. His troops would use the cover of cave mouths and numerous tunnel openings at the surface to decimate and slow the advance of the invader. His network of tunnels would have hollowed-out rooms for sleeping quarters, for medical aid stations, and for food, water, and ammunition storage. They would be wired for communications and ventilated to the surface.

      Kuribayashi had to accomplish all this in the eight months from his arrival on Iwo to the day of the Marine’s landing. And he did. His final headquarters near the end of the battle was established in a deep cave and tunnel complex west of Kitano Point in the far northwestern end of the island. By February of 1945 Kuribayashi was as ready as he could be.

      O. Sackett wrote from his vantage point on Iwo, the following account by a 21-year old captured Japanese soldier:

      Interrogation of the Japanese youth who was taken into the Jap Army after his family and 1,000 civilians here were evacuated to Japan in mid - 1944, revealed many interesting things. The military arrived in large numbers just before the evacuation.

      It was disclosed that he attended Taisho higher elementary school here, near Motoyama hamlet, the most important of five villages. He didn’t go to church regularly, but he did attend New Year’s services at the Buddhist temple near where the present CASU area 52 is now located on the northern end of the island.

      Five hundred persons worked in the sulfur mills while the others worked in twelve small sugarmills on the island, until July, 1944, when work was discontinued.

      Turnips, carrots, burdocks, tomatoes, white cabbages, pumpkins, squash and string beans were some of the vegetables grown here along with bechiba, a plant from which perfume is made. Bananas, mangos, coconuts, papaya, watermelons, tangerines, lemons and peaches were some the fruits. There were three goats and a few cows, chickens and pigs on the island.

      Civilians lived in small simple houses made of wooden frames covered with paper or woven leaves. Roofs were made of tin and galvanized iron.. There was a fairly adequate supply of water, dependent on rain. Large trees flourished here until they were nearly all destroyed by naval gunfire.

      The Jap stated that July and August were the hottest months, January and February the coldest with the heaviest rainfall in April, May and June. The most severe wind storms, according to the P.O. W. came around the first of September, blowing from North to South. Many earthquakes occurred several years ago. He disclosed that he had never seen or heard of Suribachi’s erupting. This conflicted with many other reports received.

      The first airfield. took almost the entire year of 1943 to build, and the first plane arrived that same year. The second field was built in two months when the military arrived in 1944.

      The system of caves was started in July of 1944, when air raids became frequent; each respective unit built its own system. The largest cave was the army group headquarters (General Kuribayashi’s) and brigade headquarters, the second largest, was located near Motoyama, approximately in the center of the island.

      The island was under direct jurisdiction of Tokyo. There was a police station and a post office. The Jap garrison had motion pictures quite frequently, Japanese wrestling, and stage shows which came once a year and performed for about three days.

      The youth made known that there were mosquitoes, fleas and flies on the island during the rainy season, and especially when the soldiers began to arrive.

      At the time of the interrogation the war wasn’t over. He was asked for his opinion on the outcome of the war. After a brief meditation, the.Jap replied: "The United States will win because of its material strength and superior weapons. "

      THE SOFTENING

      ...a near-impregnable fortress.

      While the island’s ground defenses were being prepared, the Japanese Air Force was being strengthened on Iwo. There probably were over 200 planes of various types on Iwo by June of 1944, and their numbers were rapidly being augmented from the Bonin Islands to the north. To cover the invasion of Saipan on June 15, Admiral Joseph Jocko Clark brought a seven-carrier force to Iwo and to Chichi Jima, the latter in the Bonins; 21 enemy seaplanes were destroyed at Chichi, and 17 Japanese Zekes (Zeros) at Iwo, 10 of them in an aerial dogfight with Navy Hellcats. The next day two was hit again and the Navy carrier fighters destroyed at least 60 planes on their hardstands. No enemy took off to contest the raiders this time. Admiral Clark sensed a total wipe-out of the Japanese Air Force on Iwo Jima and on June 24, a few days after Kuribayashi took command of the island, Clark’s Hellcats pounced on a flight of enemy fighters that rose to meet them and blasted 29 Japanese fighters from the air. Then in a flurry of desperation, the enemy sent 20 torpedo planes against the carrier fleet. None got through and none returned to base; 40 more planes were sent out to attack the carrier fleet and 16 were shot down. The destruction of the Japanese air force continued into July: 20 of 40 Zeros were shot down on the 3rd; the next day 1 1 more were destroyed. On July 5, 17 enemy planes left Iwo on a suicide mission to ram the carriers; four Zeros and one Jill survived the fight and none penetrated the formation. On July 6, the Navy shelled the airfield and destroyed four more planes on the ground. The Iwo air arm had been decimated and most of the planes that remained were ordered back to Japan.

      The Summer of 1944 saw an influx of over 7,000 Imperial Army personnel and 2,000 Navy men to Iwo, the latter force under the command of Rear Admiral Toshinosuke Ichimaru. And the tools of war began to mount up on Iwo Jima during the summer: eight-inch and sixteen-inch rocket launchers—neither very accurate, but deadly. 75mm and 47mm cannons and anti-tank guns arrived in July and August with their gunners but it was now difficult to get supplies and men through to the island; American surface ships, airplanes, and submarines controlled the air and waters between Japan and Iwo. Some of Kuribayashi’s 26th Tank Regiment arrived that Summer (much of its equipment, including a ship with 28 of the regiment’s 41 tanks, was sunk en route). The 26th was commanded by Lt. Col. (Baron) Takeichi Nishi then 43 years old, a dashing horseman who had won gold medals in Europe and America for his equestrian feats. By December, Kuribayashi had found it necessary to replace some of his older officers and during the Winter of 1945 Iwo Jima began to assume the features of a near-impregnable fortress.

      By August of 1944 the U.S. Army Air Force’s 7th Air Force was on Saipan and began their regular bomb runs to Iwo Jima. Through October and November the 7th pounded Iwo and Chichi Jima (170 miles North of Iwo), and in December the attacks were stepped up: 80 and 90 plane formations of B-24 Liberators of the 7th with Navy PB4Ys, B-29s of the 20th Air Force and Marine piloted B-25 Mitchells, escorted by P-38s rained hundreds of tons of high explosives on the volcanic humps. From early in December 1944 to D-Day on Iwo Jima, Army Air Force and Marine Corps-flown bombers rained destruction on the island every day - 74 consecutive days of bombing. Enemy fighters that had survived the earlier carrier attacks and the island’s anti-aircraft defenses took a small toll on these raids but most of the attackers got through and returned. But the Japanese Air Force was not out of it yet. They were able to augment their few planes on Iwo through the Fall of 1944 and attempted to strike back at the Mariana bases. Early in November nine bombers were sent the 650 miles south to Saipan; they did not get through to the island and lost three of them. On November 7, ten bombers were sent down and three more were shot down. Then, on November 27, two separate raids by enemy attack bombers got through the defenses and destroyed four of the big Superforts on the ground and damaged eleven. Flushed with success, the Japanese sent a flight south on December 7 and destroyed three more B-29s and damaged 23. The Air Force then decided it had put up with Iwo Jima long enough .

      Nearly around the clock strikes, night and day, were made through January, 1945 on Iwo Jima by aircraft and surface vessels and in February everything with wings that could reach the island from anywhere was called in to rain destruction on the speck of volcanic rock. When it was over, there was no enemy Air Force on Iwo.

      THE BOMBARDMENT

      ...Commence transfer of ammunition to IWO JIMA.

      Kuribayashi went underground when these raids started, and it is a tribute to his military genius that nearly six months of pounding from the air and the sea hardly made a dent in his defenses, other than driving off his air arm. By the beginning of February, 1945, he knew his days on Iwo were numbered. The increased intensity of the air raids signaled that an invasion was imminent.

      As dawn brightened the eastern horizon off Iwo on February 16, 1945 the island’s defenders looked out to sea and were aghast at the sight. A pre-invasion bombardment armada stood twelve thousand yards off Iwo: battleships, heavy and light cruisers, destroyers, and escort carriers—the major fire power of Rear Admiral William H.P. Blandy’s Amphibious Support Force, Task Force 52 that included mine sweepers, LCI gunboats, and the Underwater Demolition Teams. Blandy had sailed from Saipan on February 13 and now he was on station. At 0800 hours every weapon that could reach the island commenced firing.

      Commander H. A. Yeager, Executive Officer on the U.S.S. Nevada, issued the following brief ORDERS OF THE DAY on 16 February:

      0345 Reveille.

      0400 Breakfast.

      0600 General quarters.

      0700 (about) Commence transfer of ammunition to IWO JIMA.

      GOOD LUCK!

      0709 SUNRISE.

      1830 SUNSET.

      But it was not to be, this day. After less than fifteen minutes of shelling the weather closed in and visibility was so poor that the bombardment was stopped. For the rest of the day only occasional salvos were possible as the cloud deck lifted and then settled again. B-24s from the Marianas flew in but could not see their targets and were forced to turn back with full bomb bays. At day’s end the Task Force backed off to sea some 30 miles. They had accomplished virtually nothing.

      February 17, D-Day minus two (D-2), dawned bright and clear. Blandy’s ships moved in to four thousand yards out and began firing just after 0830 hours. The eastern landing beach erupted in clouds of smoke, dust, and debris. The big shells then were lobbed inland to the island’s Airfield No. I, closest to the base of Suribachi. One cruiser, the Pensicola, steamed to 750 yards off shore and with its rifles nearly level blasted gun emplacements on the Mount at virtually point-blank range.

      e9781618584670_i0011.jpg

      A group of F6Fs, Sortie York 288-6 from the USS Yorktown CV-10, attacking in support of ground forces on Iwo. (US Navy Photo)

      The following excerpts are taken from an article by John P. Marquand, published in Harper’s Magazine , titled Iwo Jima before H-Hour:

      It was different the next morning - D-day minus two. When we returned to the dull work the island was waiting with the dawn. Today the sky was clearer and the sea was smoother, and the ships closed more confidently with the shore. The schedule showed that there was to be a diversion toward the middle of the morning, and the force was obviously moving into position.

      We’re going to reconnoiter the beach with small craft, an officer explained. And the LCIs will strafe the terraces with rockets.

      It was hard to guess where the LCIs had come from, for they had not been with us yesterday - but there they were just behind us, on time and on order, like everything else in amphibious war. The sun had broken through the cloud ceiling and for once the sea was almost blue. The heavy ships had formed a line, firing methodically. Two destroyers edged their way past us and took positions nearer shore.

      Here come the LCIs, Someone said. You can see the small craft with them, and he gave the initials by which the small boats were identified. They were small open launches, manned by crews with kapok life jackets. They were twisting and turning nervously as they came to join the LCIs. [Note: these small boats were carrying the Underwater Demolition Teams - the frogmen].

      Where are they going in those things? I asked.

      They are going to see what there is along the beach, my friend answered. Someone has to see. He spoke reprovingly, as though I should have known the routine that had been followed again and again in the Pacific.

      Eight or ten LCIs - it was difficult to count them - were passing among the battleships, with their crews at their battle stations. They were small vessels that had never been designed for heavy combat. They had been built only to carry infantry ashore, but in the Pacific they were being put to all sorts of other uses - as messenger ships to do odd jobs for the fleet, as gunboats, and as rocket ships. Each had a round tower amidships where the commanding officers stood. Each had open platforms with light automatic guns, and now they were also fitted with brackets for rockets . They were high and narrow, about a hundred feet overall, dabbed with orange and green paint in jungle camouflage. They were a long way from jungle shores, however, as they moved toward the beach of Iwo Jima.

      Suddenly the scene took concrete shape. They would approach within a quarter of a mile of shore under the cover of our guns. Without any further protection their crews stood motionless at their stations.

      Afterward a gunner from one of the LCIs spoke about it.

      If we looked so still, he said, "it was because we were scared to death. But then everyone had told us there was nothing to be scared of. They told us the Japs never bothered to fire at LCIs. "

      They were wrong this time, probably because the small craft that followed gave the maneuver the appearance of a landing. For minutes the LCIs moved in and nothing happened. They had turned broadside to the beach, with small boats circling around them like water beetles before the enemy tipped his hand and opened up his batteries. Then it became clear that nothing we had done so far had contributed materially to softening Iwo Jima. The LCIs were surrounded with spurts of water, and spray and smoke. They twisted and backed to avoid the fire, but they could not get away. It all seemed only a few yards off, directly beneath our guns. Then splashes appeared off our own bows. The big ships themselves were under fire.

      The so-and-so has taken a hit, someone said. There are casualties on the such and such. He was referring to the big ships, but at the moment it did not seem important. All you thought of were the LCIs just off the beach. We were inching into line with the destroyers.

      ......It was the first mistake the enemy had made, if it was a mistake - revealing those batteries, for the next day was mainly occupied in knocking them out. The LCIs were limping back. One of them [LCI 474] was listing and small boats were taking off her crew. Another was asking permission to come along side. When she reached us the sun was beating on the shambles of her decks. There was blood on the main deck making widening pools as she rolled on the sluggish sea. A dead man on a gun platform was covered by a blanket. The decks were littered with wounded.

      That evening the Japanese reported that they had beaten off two landings on Iwo Jima and that they had sunk numerous craft, including a battleship and a destroyer. There was a certain basis of fact in this since what had happened must have looked like a landing. One LCI was sinking, waiting for a demolition charge, as disregarded as a floating can.

      A dozen small rocket-firing boats dashed in toward shore, almost to the surf, looking for reefs or other sunken obstructions that might hamper the landing force. Then three destroyers and twelve gunboats raced for shore erupting shells and rockets at suspected enemy gun emplacements. The gunboats were bringing in about 100 frogmen, UDT (Underwater Demolition Team) men, who would scan the waters and bottom near the beaches and clear them of obstacles.

      The following experiences are those of Arthur Stack, MOMM 1/c:

      I was part of the Navy - a swimmer in Under Water Demolition Team 14 aboard the USS Bull, APD 78, and took part in the pre-bombardment on February 16, 17, and 18 on the eastern beaches (Green, Red, Yellow, and Blue), and the western beaches (Brown, Purple, and White).

      On the morning of February 18, D minus one, we swam into yellow beach covered by a naval barrage. We found no manmade obstacles or mines, recorded depths of water from the beach and made up lists of craft that could be utilized in the landings. The same afternoon we reconnoitered the western beaches White one and two and found it OK for all landing craft including LSTs because of the slow, even slope of the sea floor up to the beach edge with no surf or obstacles or mines.

      As the gunboats powered toward the island, General Kuribayashi made a decision. He thought this was the invasion—that the gunboats were loaded with the first wave of Marines. He ordered his shore batteries to open fire. At 250 yards off shore the gunboats were enveloped by a rain of steel and explosives from enemy coastal guns, artillery, mortars, rockets, even small arms fire. The furious barrage continued for ninety minutes and every gunboat was hit numerous times. Forty-three crewmen were killed and over 150 wounded before the little boats could get away under cover of a smoke screen. Some had their engines knocked out and were dead in the water; others had their 40- and 20 mm guns torn from their mounts; others were taking on water through direct hits on their hulls and were sinking. One of the boats, commanded by Lt. (j.g.) R.H. Herring, his first command, had its 40 mm gun blown into the water, and its conning tower demolished, killing twelve men. Herring was slashed with hot shrapnel and bleeding profusely but stayed at the wheel and steered his stricken craft toward a destroyer. Barely conscious, he refused help until all his wounded men were taken off. Herring would receive the first of 27 Congressional Medals of Honor to be awarded in the Iwo campaign (five of them to Navy men) for his heroism in saving the lives of twenty wounded crewmen and saving his boat.

      The UDTs, underwater most of the time and generally unaware of the magnitude of the carnage going on just off shore, went about their business of examining the bottom and collecting soil samples of the beach. One of them came ashore under machine gun and mortar fire and firmly planted a Welcome to Iwo Jima sign in the black sands. At a predetermined time the gunboats made another dash to the beach to pick up their frogmen. Ensign F.J. Jirkla lost both legs when the boat taking him away from the beach was hit by an artillery shell; one man was cut on the sharp Fatatsu Rock, just offshore from Suribachi; Carpenter’s Mate I c, E.M. Anderson was missing, last seen boxed in by a mortar barrage.

      During the time the gunboats were getting mauled, the Pensacola took six heavy artillery rounds from Suribachi which killed 17 and wounded 127 of her crew. With a fire raging, she limped out of range of the devastating shore batteries. The battleship Tennessee took a minor hit, wounding six of her crew. The destroyer Leutz then steamed in toward shore to pick up survivors of the gunboat massacre and took one artillery shell which killed seven and wounded thirty-three including her skipper, Cmdr. B.A. Robbins.

      With the inshore waters clear of boats the big battleships and cruisers offshore resumed their pounding of the beaches and enemy gun emplacements which had revealed their positions in the wild exchange close to shore. The carriers Bismark Sea, Wake Island, and Lunga Point , among others, launched their planes which pounded the island’s airfields with bombs and napalm and 62 B-24s arrived on schedule from Saipan and unloaded over 100 tons of ‘frag’ bombs on Airfield Number Two in the center of the island.

      e9781618584670_i0012.jpg

      R.E. Anderson was aboard the escort carrier Petrof Bay (CVE-80) and remembers the bombardment on Iwo. (The Petrof Bay participated in five major campaigns in the Pacific and received a Presidential Unit Citation ...for extraordinary heroism in action....).

      One thing I remember about Iwo is that the six CVEs in our task force dropped about 70 tons of bombs on the island. All you could see from about 12 miles away were a couple of trees standing.

      I was part of the ordnance crew that fused and set all the bombs and torpedoes that left the ship.

      As the American fleet withdrew from the island at day’s end, Kuribayashi radioed Tokyo that he had repelled an invasion attempt. Praise and encouragement was beamed back from his superiors in Japan. In all, the praise was due, not for repelling an invasion that wasn’t, but for the devastation he wrought. Eleven thousand rounds had been fired at Iwo, landing 3,000 tons of high explosive on the island, in addition to the air strikes, but almost nothing had changed. A few blockhouses and some pill boxes near the beach had been knocked out; the heavy artillery and big coastal guns on Suribachi were hardly bruised; the cliffs fronting the quarry on the far northern end of the eastern landing beach were still bristling with anti-tank guns and large bore rifles. Kuribayashi on the other hand could claim, and rightly so, that he had mauled some important units of the attacking U.S. Navy and had taken many lives. Kuribayashi had won the first round.

      Admiral Blandy examined the reconnaissance photos of his day’s work and was disappointed. A few blockhouses and a few pillboxes had been knocked out but otherwise the island’s defenses were pretty much intact. Tomorrow, February 18, D-1, was to be the last full day of bombardment before the landing on the 19th. Blandy had the option of putting off the landing one more day for an extra day’s bombardment. He elected to go with the original schedule. Lt. Gen. Holland M. Howlin’ Mad Smith, commander of the Expeditionary Troops (my Marines) that would hit the beach, was furious. He wanted one more day of ‘softening’ to give his Marines every chance of survival on the beach, but he was refused. But Blandy decided to throw away the book: instead of surgically blasting away at each known target on the last day remaining, he would move his ships in close and blanket Suribachi, the beach, and the quarry on the North end with everything he could fire.

      Following are some comments by W.A. Zinzow, on board the USS Henry A. Wiley, DM-29, a 2200-ton destroyer mine layer:

      .....After further training, she left Saipan and escorted the dignified old lady, the USS New York, rendezvous was made with the Gunfire and Covering Force at Iwo Jima on D-Day minus 3, 16 Feb. 1945, as a member of the antisubmarine screen during the preliminary bombardment. It was not until D-Day 19 Feb., that she made her debut against the enemy, firing eight hundred rounds from her main battery of six 5-inch guns at prearranged targets. This was lifted at How Hour for the first Marine assault units to land. Closing to 400 yards she covered the left flank of Red Beach with all batteries and exhausted her ammunition. She retired for replenishment and was back on station by the following night giving illumination to the Marines ashore.

      For three weeks the pace was steady, pumping fire into caves, pillboxes, and enemy troop concentrations in support of our Marines as they inched their way forward. One night she closed the beach at twenty knots until within the familiar range of four hundred yards, and poured full broadsides from all batteries into the foot of famed Mount Suribachi, and illuminating with her search lights where a strong concentration of Japs were gathering for a Banzai charge. Finally by 12 March the Wiley had left over 3600 rounds of her main battery in pockmarked Iwo Jima, with nine pillboxes confirmed destroyed and a crew who could put out hot steel.

      From the time she was commissioned until the conclusion of the Iwo Jima campaign the USS Henry A. Wiley, DM-29, was under the able command of Commander Robert E. Gadrow, USN.

      February 18 dawned with low clouds and rain squalls over the island but there was now no time left to wait for clear weather; Blandy moved his task force in to four thousand yards off the beach and at 0745 his gunners opened with a withering blast of steel and TNT on the shrouded island. For the next ten hours his battleships, cruisers, destroyers and rocket-launching gunboats attempted to obliterate the southern half of Iwo lima. At day’s end reconnaissance planes, flying under the low cloud cover, photographed the day’s work. And again it was disappointing: A few more blockhouses and some coastal defense guns had been silenced but again the majority of the island’s defenses remained intact. The die had been cast; the Marines would land in the morning. That night the mighty armada backed off beyond the horizon and to the astonishment of Iwo’s defenders not a ship was to be seen.

      THE INVASION

      ...68 Amtraks jumped off from the line of departure...

      The assault on Iwo Jima was assigned to the 4th Marine Division (23rd, 24th, and 25th Regiments) and 5th Marine Division (26th, 27th and 28th Regiments), with the three regiments of the 3rd Division (3rd, 9th, and 21st) in floating reserve off shore. In preparation for the Iwo campaign, the 4th was training at camp Maui on the island of the same name in the Hawaiian Islands, and the 5th was training at Camp Tarawa on the Big Island of Hawaii. The 4th, activated as a unit in August of 1943, was a veteran Division, having seen action at Roi-Namur on Kwajalein Atoll, and

      A LOOK AT THE BATTLE FOR IWO JIMA THROUGH NAVY EYES

      The roll that my ship the USS Saratoga CV-3 played at Iwo Jima and a few days prior to the invasion of that island can best be described this way.

      Perhaps the largest carrier task force ever assembled in the world gathered off the coast of Japan. It was Task Force #58 under command of Admiral Mitcher, made up of 15 large fast carriers with accompanying destroyers, cruisers and battleships. We made aerial strikes on Tokyo, Japan on the 17th, 18th & 19th of February 1945 bombing the Japanese home islands around the clock. Twelve of the carriers were equipped with planes and pilots to make daylight strikes while the Saratoga and three other carriers being equipped with radar for night flying made daring night strikes against Tokyo harassing the Japanese night and day. Seventy-two continuous hours around the clock bombardment kept the Japanese forces from giving any assistance to their Army which was dug in at Iwo Jima.

      At this point in time the Saratoga and three accompanying destroyers were given orders to detach from the task force and proceed south to Iwo Jima. Our job now was to go to the aid of the air-support forces under Admiral K. Turner to support the Marines going ashore at Iwo Jima.

      Arriving on station on February 21st we met our replenishment ships and took on fuel in sight of the island. In the plan of the day we were to launch airborne Marine observers from the Saratoga to direct surface shelling of the beaches.

      Steaming between task forces, escorted by three destroyers, the Saratoga was forced to fight for her life. At 1700 hours we had commenced launching planes when our ships radar picked up some planes approaching about 45 miles away. Under cover of a dark cloudy gray sky we were unable to detect if the planes were friendly or foe as other jeep carriers were in the area also. Our overhead air patrol shot down several of the approaching enemy aircraft.

      Around 25 or 30, perhaps more Japanese planes attacked the Old Lady, as she was often called, but more affectionately Sara by her crew. It was the most concentrated assault of the war against a warship. For 3 hours and 17 minutes Sara fought for her life, as the attacks continued against her by the Japanese suicide pilots of the Kamikaze Corps.

      Although the ships gunners fought heroically and sent six Japanese planes flaming into the sea, many hits were scored. Five kamikaze pilots crashed into Sara with violent explosions. Seven bombs found their mark with two near misses that blew large holes in our starboard side. The first hits that we took were up on the flight deck forward as our planes were being launched from catapults. Another hit was taken on our starboard side amidships where a twin engine bomber hit between #7 & #9 fire room air intakes above the water line and penetrating through 5 bulkheads and continuing on to the hanger deck setting out planes on fire. The Saratoga quivered from stem to stem as the flight deck and hull absorbed the beating, but she never hesitated, in fact she gained speed as she frantically fought off and fled her attackers.

      Simultaneous attacks were carried out on the other fleet units in the near vicinity and the black night was filled with bursting anti-aircraft ack-ack fire, explosions of planes hit in the air and long tongues of flame reaching skyward from ships damaged and on fire. The USS Bismark Sea, an escort carrier, was hit and seen to blow up and sink off Sara’s port beam at the height of the raid. Peter Moretti, a crew member and survivor of the sinking USS Bismark Sea told me that many of his shipmates escaped their sinking ship unharmed only to be killed in the water by machine gun fire from straffing Japanese airplanes. To starboard gleamed the lights of Mt. Suribachi, captured that day, as well as the flashes of artillery being exchanged in the death struggle for Iwo Jima.

      While all this was taking place, my duty as a 1st Class Petty Officer was to man a fire fighting and damage control party station in the ship fitter shop which was located 2 decks below the flight deck, in the aftermost part of the ship. Upon arriving at my General Quarters station in the shipfitters shop, I proceeded to put on my helmet and smear my face with protective flash proof ointment. One of my shipmates and close friend Carl Francom remarked, Why are you putting on your helmet Erick? This is just a practice G.Q. At that moment we could hear our anti-aircraft guns firing at the Japanese planes as they dropped out of the gray cloudy sky, which up to this time had obscured their identity.

      The expression on our faces suddenly changed as we realized we were under attack and the seriousness and reality of war once again hit home.

      Seven times the Japanese reported the Saratoga sunk by her forces. On two occasions earlier in the war the Saratoga was torpedoed by Japanese submarines and lost only 6 men from those torpedo hits. The Saratoga was built to take a beating and still survive, and she proved to be able to do just that.

      Most of the hits we took that night were from amid ship forward. In the midst of this devastation a confused escort carrier pilot managed to land his plane on the Saratoga and remarked: I’m glad I’m not on that old Sara. All hells broken out there! Replied one of his welcomers: Take a good look around brother — This is Hell.

      Damage control called me on the ship fitter shop phone to inspect some damage from a near miss that occurred on our starboard side aft at the waterline. Carl Francom and myself put on our R.B.A.s (Rescue Breathers Apparatus) and proceeded to the torpedo mezzanine deck. Because of the fires on the hangar deck fueled by the burning aircraft, the heat and smoke from the fires were intense. The overhead automatic sprinklers were putting out so much water that the ship soon developed a 12 degree list. From off the hanger deck were ladder wells where suction pumps located below decks were designed to take a suction from these ladder well areas and pump the excess water overboard. Tin foil which was used to jam Japanese radars while bombing Tokyo defense positions soon found their way into the ladder wells as also dead bodies covered the suction intakes causing the pumps to loose suction and be ineffective. Divers had to remove the debris so that the ship could once again be stabilized and put on an even keel.

      Continuing on down to the damaged area we entered a large compartment where the spare airplane motors were stored in large wooden crates.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1