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"Down Memory Lane"
A skilled writer would know not only
where to begin this piece of autobiography but where it
would go. You know me well enough to realize I'm not skilled
so bare with me on this journey… adventure…. or whatever
you would like to call it.
Let's set the table - - on February 19, 1945,
as a member of the 1st JASCO (Joint Assault Signal Company)
attached to the 4th Marine Division. I hit Yellow Beach 1 on
Iwo Jima at 15 minutes after H Hour (H+ 15 minutes), carrying
a portable radio and generator (our jeep with radio was not
to arrive for 5 days) the four of us called for strafing, bombing,
napalming from Navy and Marine aircraft on Japanese targets
(concentrations of Japanese personnel, tanks, pillboxes, caves, etc.).
Also, there were teams working with naval gunfire and beach artillery.
Well, I have just returned from a 55th
anniversary reunion on Iwo Jima. There were about 40 Iwo
Jima Marine veterans, plus some Navy, Army, and Air Force
veterans; wives and children; historians; and interested
other public. Japanese politicians and families joined us
in a memorial service.
Facts: there are underground in the caves
and tunnels thousands of dead Japanese soldiers; most of these
tunnels are sealed; Iwo Jima is Japan; one large runway replaces
the original 3. There are very few building on the island and minimal
Japanese activity (as I observed). The island "jungle" is heavy in
vegetation, with numerous Japanese memorials all over. The U.S.
has a memorial on the top of Mt. Suribachi in memory of the flag raisers.
Upon my arrival on Iwo Jima (a 2 hour flight from Guam)
we were met by 125 young Marines (male and female) from Okinawa and escorted
between 2 lines of them, standing at attention. This reception was very
emotional, as I don't think there was a Marine veteran that didn't wipe
an away a tear or two. The Marine Corps has recruited an outstanding group
of young men and women, as we were to learn in one one one conversations with
them during that day.
I went to the top of Mt. Suribachi, which was
a major lookout for the Japanese during the '45 invasion. I imagined
I was a Japanese soldier, walking up on a February morning in 1945
and seeing a flotilla of U.S. Navy ships preparing to shell my island.
What a hellish and forsaken reaction would have possessed me. Then on
February 19th, I wake up and see an even larger flotilla of Navy ships
and hundreds of landing crafts preparing to land on my island. What
a futile and helpless feeling would overwhelm me.
From the top of Mt. Suribachi I was able to
observe every square inch of the landing beaches, and almost
every square foot of the rest of the island. No wonder the
Japanese were able to see every movement we made as we landed
and attempted to get off the beach. Their intense and accurate
gunfire was hell until the 5th U.S. Marine Division was able
to neutralize not just the top of Mt. Suribachi, but the many
caves and fortifications on its north side
I then, with one of the young
Marines at my rear, journeyed though the Japanese
hospital, which was entirely underground. By use of
a flashlight I walked through tunnel after tunnel
marveling at the length and breadth of the excavating
that had been done. One section of tunnel must have been
very near the active volcano as the temperature was so
intense that even 3 seconds in the area was too much.
There were hundreds of rusting and broken items throughout
the tunnels.
Keep in mind that the entire island
had many tunnels such as this, tunnels that have not
been opened since we closed them in '45, tunnels that
are presumed to hold thousands of dead Japanese bodies.
I'm sure that Japan looks upon Iwo Jima as one huge cemetery.
My final stop "Down Memory Lane" was on
Yellow Beach 1. I expected I would need Kleenex on this visit
into the past, but I found the walk from the water's edge up
the inclines and across the terraces through the deep black
volcanic sand was rather matter of fact. I recalled my hitting
the beach running but suddenly in sand over my ankle due to
the weight of gear I was carrying and then hitting the beach
in a prone position with Japanese gunfire striking all around.
Platoon leaders were ordering their men to get off the beach
and up to the top terrace. I called for a corpsman as a wounded
Marine was near me. I moved up one terrace and dropped again
noticing a dead Marine with a Thompson sub-machine gun. After
approximately 3 second (I think) of decision-making I decided
to take the machine gun as if would give me more firepower
than my carbine, but enough of the past.
After 20 minutes walking the beach
and terraces, processing the memory bank, looking out
to the Pacific where battleships, cruisers, and
destroyers were bombarding the island I felt I had
cleansed the memory and was ready to return to reality
and the year 2000.
Even if the Japanese decided to permit
another reunion on Iwo Jima I don't believe I would participate.
I have relived that miraculous experience, cleansed the memory,
re-fought the battle, given thanks for walking off the island
with nothing more than a minor wound, told my war stories to
others who were there, listened to theirs, walked the tunnels
that provided refuge to Japanese soldiers, walked the runway
that many B-29's used in emergencies there by saving thousands
of American Air Force crews from crashing into the Pacific;
and filled a bottle with some of the black volcanic sand.
Although Iwo Jima was the center point/target/focus
of this tour I also toured the battlefields of Saipan and Tinian. Saipan
was a bloody campaign for the Marines and a sad event for the civilians.
I stopped at Banzai Point, a cliff over looking a rocky area bombarded
by pounding surf. It was at this location at this location that hundreds
of civilians committed suicide by jumping off the cliff, onto the rocks
and into the Pacific. This included mothers who threw their children, i
ncluding infants, over the cliff and jumped in after the act. Stop here
for a minute, think about it, a mother is so brainwashed
(by the Japanese soldiers) that she throws her own children into sure
death.
A 4th Division Marine who was there
said it was horrible and despite pleas from the Marines
the civilians committed suicide regardless. He said it
was horrible to see the dead bodies floating in the
pounding surf. War is a hell for civilians as for the
military.
I also journeyed to the top of Suicide
Ridge on Saipan where civilians committed suicide as at Banzai
Point. The beautiful view of the blue-green Pacific water in
the distance was gloomed by the sad history of 1944.
Tinian Island was my last stop.
The hi-light here was walking the airfield the Enola Gay
took off from to drop the atomic bomb on Japan and seeing Atomic
Pit #1 and #2 where the two atomic bombs were assembled before
loading onto the B-29's for delivery to Japan.
I was on Guam 3 nights but only had two
2/3 of one day to use the white sandy beach and swim in the
Pacific. The water was warm and perfect for swimming. In fact,
if Guam were as close to the U.S. as Hawaii I would choose Guam.
It has beautiful resorts, many up-scale shops for the shopper,
humid and ware temperature (great shorts weather), white sand
beaches, and for the history buffs there is a good-sized plateful.
Oh, yes that other 1/3 of the day we were invited to the Governor's
mansion for breakfast. Quite a mansion; southern style on a hill
overlooking a section of downtown, the Catholic Cathedral, and
a bay opening onto the Pacific.
Ok. I've used a great many words to describe
my adventure into history and geography. One last thought before I go.
But for the sacrifices made by Americans in W.W. II we might be speaking
Japanese on the west coast and German on the east. Thank a veteran when
you meet one!
R.J. Gilbride
March 24,2000
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