Survivors of the Battle of Iwo Jima pose for a photo following a wreath laying Feb. 21 at the Marine Corps War Memorial to mark the 80th anniversary of the battle.
They are part of the Greatest Generation and survivors of one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history. As their numbers diminish with each passing year, eight veterans of the Battle of Iwo Jima gathered in Arlington to remember the 80th anniversary of the landmark battle of World War II.
“I fought like hell,” said retired Marine Raider Frank Wright when asked what he did during the Battle of Iwo Jima, which became a major turning point in the war. He was among the veterans participating in a weekend of
events sponsored by the Iwo Jima Association of America Feb. 20-24 at the Crystal City National Landing Hilton.
“Five years ago we had more than 50 Iwo Jima survivors gather at the 75th reunion,” said David Fields, a board member of the Iwo Jima Association of America that sponsored the gathering. “This year only eight veterans were able to return.”
The battle of Iwo Jima began the morning of Feb. 19 and continued for 36 days. The raising of the American flag on Feb. 23, 1945, atop Mount Suribachi was immortalized in a Pulitzer-Prize winning photograph by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal.
Several of the survivors recalled vividly the moment when the Marines raised the flag atop Mount Suribachi.
“The flag wasn’t victory, it was hope,” said Nils Mocker, a Marine combat intelligence scout during the battle. “I was as far away from the flag as you could get – on the other side of the airfield. But at that moment everyone had stopped moving and just looked up at the mountain. There was still shelling going on all around but the ships began sounding their sirens and we felt hope.”
Approximately one-third of all Marines killed in action during World War II were killed on Iwo Jima. More than 100,000 Americans fought there and 6,821 died as a result — 5,931 of them Marines.
The four-day series of 80th anniversary events included a veterans panel, a visit to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico and wreath-laying ceremonies at the WWII Memorial and the Marine Corps War Memorial.
U.S. Naval Academy midshipman Preston White attended the weekend of events with fellow classman Kekoa Alexander.
“This is a wonderful opportunity and a great experience,” said White, who has attended the gathering for three years. “It is a great tie back to our history and a way to feel a connection to those who have served before us.”
Also in attendance were sailors from the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship named for the battle. Among them was Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Isaac Rodriguez.
“You can always learn from older generations and people who have more experience than you,” Rodriguez said. “I’ll take what I learned from them into my future missions – to persevere and never give up.”
Also in attendance to commemorate the battle was the Japanese embassy’s Defense and Naval Attache Rear Adm. Takaai Hayamizu, who spoke at the symposium on the alliance between the U.S. and Japan.
“The relationship between the U.S. Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is very strong,” Hayamizu said. “We conduct many joint exercises. One plus one equals more than two where our relationship with the U.S. is concerned.”
Delmar Beard, a Navy veteran who served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam, was on the USS-715, one of the first Tank Landing Ships to land on the island’s Green Beach.
“We were the first ship next to Mount Suribachi,” said Beard, who was 18 at the time. “We had to unload all the ammunition and high-octane gas and bulldozers. You couldn’t drive a jeep on the volcanic ash of the island.”
Beard narrowly missed being wounded in the battle but remembers seeing those that were left behind.
“You saw a lot of Marines — I’m sorry to say — dead on the beach because they couldn’t get them off the landing craft fast enough,” Beard recalled.
Beard provided a bit of levity when he was asked what he did once he returned home after the war.
“We were a bunch of high school dropouts – 16, 17, 18 years old,” Beard said. “As soon as we got home we had sex for the first time – that was the best.”
The culmination of the weekend was a gala, where Tower to Tunnels Foundation CEO/Chair Frank Siller was presented with the IJAA’s Woody Williams Award, named in honor of Herschel Woodrow “Woody” Williams, a Marine survivor of Iwo Jima and the last living Medal of Honor recipient from WWII prior to his death in 2022.
“We are in their debt for the life we live today,” said Dean Laubach, a 28-year-old historian who traveled from his home in Pennsylvania to honor his great uncle, who was a colonel in the 5th Amphibious Corps. “My life has been forever changed because of these veterans, for having shared their company.”
Navy. Lt. Jennifer Bowman, right, greets veterans of the Battle of Iwo Jima following a survivors panel discussion Feb. 22 in Arlington.