Conversation of
Representatives
Robert K. Dornan (R - CA)
and
James M. Talent (R - MO)
Twisted Award
|
The Bizarre Conversation of Representatives Robert K. Dornan (R - CA) and James M. Talent (R - MO) |
Winner of a SpinnWebe
Twisted Award
|
Note from Warren:
The Following is the unchanged transcript of the 2-23-95 discussion on the
floor of the House of Representatives, as reported in the Congressional
Record. It took Representative Dornan until about Midnight to say
everything you see here. The general theme of the discussion was the necessity of changing
the Constitution of the United States in order to allow laws against flag desecration,
especially in light of the anniversary of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima.
It is a very large and unwieldy document, so I have included
links to the most interesting sections. These sections have also
been highlighted in Bold Text for your viewing ease.
Not one word has been changed
Note: This document is the unofficial version of the Congressional Record. The printed Congressional Record produced by the Government Printing Office is the only official version.
PART CONGRESSIONAL RECORD (HOUSE)
DATE February 23, 1995
PAGE PAGE H2168
TITLE
TEXT The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Largent). Under the Speaker`s announced policy of January 4, 1995, the gentleman from California (Mr. Dornan) is recognized for 50 minutes.
Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, it is awfully difficult to capture in a few minutes the essence of the history of the United States through its United States Marine Corps on such a day as this 23d of February 1995. I consider this day a second birthday for me. Before my colleagues leave the floor, I will show them why. PAGE H2168 I will address it directly to you, Mr. Speaker, because I believe you are a role model for young people around this country as are the four gentlemen that spoke a little while ago, African Americans, all proud citizens, South Carolina, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, discussing things from their hearts as they see it. And my second term colleague, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hoke) and the two other freshman Members, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Bryant) and the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Christensen), who spoke, also role models.
But the reason today is special for me and why I began on the
15th anniversary of Iwo Jima to begin to research it is on February
23, 1960, I was ferrying, as a National Guard pilot, my 6 years of
active duty were behind me, an Air Force F-86 Sabrejet to be
retired to the boneyard in Davis-Mothon in Arizona. So I had no
water survival equipment. The plane flamed out over the San
Fernando Valley. I took it out over the water to try and air-start,
got it started and it flamed out again. And then I wanted to punch
off these long-range refueling tanks that were to get me to
Arizona.
When I punched them off, only one came off so I had a 200-gallon
tank at 6 1/2 pounds each gallon. That was a 1300-pound anvil
under one wing. I tried to get in Point Magu. And in those days,
you were supposed to punch off your canopy. Now you keep it on for
a helicopter to foam you in case of fire. I punched off the
canopy. I had not flown in 73 days. The plane had not flown in 5
months. It was the hangar queen, last one off the field.
PAGE H2168
I was available, because I was what was called a `Guard bum`
going from job to job, dreaming about going to Congress, dreaming
about doing lots of things
in life and doing lots of different jobs with 4 kids and hopefully
more to come.
And I saw that field. And as the dirt and dust came up off the
floor of the aircraft when the canopy went off and a pop stickle
went flying by. Both my eyes were closed from grit. I got one
open and I could see the headline: `Pilot on Last Flight Dies with
Last Jet out of San Francisco-Van Nuys.` So I turned out toward the
water. I was going to punch out along the beach. I decided the
plane would jerk from the ejection and of course go inland and hit
an orphanage and kill children and nuns. So I turned it out to
sea. I intended still to come down in the surf, and I landed 6
miles out in the ocean. No Mae West, no raft, no survival
equipment, and began to instantly drown.
I did not get this helmet off. I had scratches on my face trying
to unsnap a simple snap that comes off that easily tonight. But I
could not get the helmet off. Got my gloves, jacket off. That was
it. Could not get my boots off and began to roll under the water
every time I tried to get my knotted laces off. And I had called
on Guard emergency channel communication with no Navy or Air Force
at Oxnard Air Force Base. And the helicopter was scrambled that had
been assigned to duty that very morning for the first time in
history, 1 hour before my ejection. It is still there today, 35
years later on the 23rd of February. And the helicopter came out,
coldest day of the year, wind, high waves, whitecaps everywhere.
And he saw this 2-inch white stripe on this red helmet, a whitecap
that would not go away. And he told the one enlisted man in the
back, keep your eye on it. Circling down, this little 2-man
helicopter, and this ensign saw the whitecap disappear. That was
me drowning.
PAGE H2168
I slipped below the water. And all of my colleagues here tonight
are Christian gentleman and they will understand that I am not
being corny. This is true.
I came up and I said, well, this is ridiculous. I grabbed the
harness, pushed it away from me and told him to level off, waited a
few moments. And then I put my two arms into it and he, never
having rescued anybody, immediately took off for the base and went
up to 1,500 feet, traffic pattern altitude. Of course, that is the
World Trade Tower, the Empire State Building is only 1250. And I
cannot even feel my muscles. I am in early hyperthermia holding it
just against me like this.
PAGE H2168
And this is the day the siege began at the Alamo. I like that.
It was the day that Zachary Taylor, to be President someday,
although very briefly, died in office at the beginning of his
second year, defeated General Santa Ana at the battle of Buena
Vista in Mexico. That was 11 years after Santa Ana had tortured and
killed every survivor at the Alamo, including men who served in
this Chamber like Davy Crockett.
And then I saw that it was the day that President-elect Lincoln
snuck into town because he had secretly avoided an assassination
plot that had been foiled in Baltimore by Pinkerton Guards. He was
getting ready to be sworn in. It was March 5 in those days, right
up till Roosevelt`s third term.
Then I saw that it was the date that the Japanese shelled the oil
refineries in Santa Barbara, 1942, three years before Iwo Jima. And
how my mother had panicked in Manhattan and called her sister and
my uncle, the Tinman on the Wizard of Oz, because all L.A. was H
2169 under a big alert from the Japanese attacking us. How things
changed in two years.
PAGE H2168
And then I saw Iwo Jima. And it jumped at me, and I began to
research this battle and the death toll for the United States
Marine Corps, their worst battle ever.
PAGE H2169
Mr. TALENT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
I have always been fascinated by the story, and really, the hair
on the back of my neck went up when you told that story. I am
certainly very glad, and I think the country has been very
well-served, that a sovereign who has always guided this Nation`s
fortunes chose to pull you out of that water at that point.
PAGE H2169
The gentleman said something. I have been listening to the whole
story. I just had to ask the gentleman, did you say that your
uncle was the Tinman on the Wizard of Oz?
Mr. DORNAN. Born and bred in Roxsbury, Massachusetts, Boston
Democrat, who in the 1940`s, with George Murphy and Ronald Reagan,
changed his loyalty to the Republican Party and died in 1979 in St.
John`s Hospital, same floor as John Wayne, who died 4 days later.
They were good Republicans, you bet.
TIME: 2320
PAGE H2169
Mr. TALENT. I thank the gentleman, for that is one of my favorite
movies from certainly my favorite year of motion pictures.
PAGE H2169
Mr. DORNAN. He told me a story about how the Japanese this night
53 years ago shelled those oil refineries in Santa Barbara, how
they hid under the dining room table in their house on Roxbury
Drive in Beverly Hills and how it really was a massive alert and a
lot of people were hurt, I think a couple killed, by falling
anti-aircraft fire because there were no Japanese planes over Los
Angeles.
PAGE H2169
Mr. DORNAN. The Marine Corps picture at Iwo Jima has also become
a legend. It is an icon for the Corps.
PAGE H2169
I looked at President Reagan, he said, I can`t believe this, it`s
like a dream, that I`m going to maybe go on to win and be part of
American history. In Reagan`s good-bye speech on January 11, and I
meant to have that here and put it in the Record, his verbatim
words, he said words to the effect in his good-bye 9 days before
George Bush was inaugurated, our 40th President said, in sort of
putting down his text, although it was the way he was using the
teleprompters, he said, I want to talk to the children of America.
I want you to study the history of this country. And he mentioned
D-Day. I believe, I am not sure, he mentioned Iwo Jima. He
mentioned a World War I battle. He mentioned battles in our
revolutionary period.
I just visited Lexington Green on the 19th of this month, a few
days ago, a stirring place. I was shocked to see that an
African-American, Crispus Attucks, who died on Lexington Green, the
9th, killed in action, this man is not on the memorial with the
other great names, John Brown and Robert Monroe. I remember Reagan
saying in his good-buy speech, `Young people, if your parents at
the kitchen table don`t teach you about those who have gone before
you and gave their blood to build this great country of ours, I
give you permission to get angry at your parents.` And by extension
I am sure he meant the teachers. We are not teaching the history
of this Nation.
And how many college campuses today? This is a school day, spring
semester. How many high school campuses in America? How many grade
schools? This happened when I was in the seventh grade, and we were
hungry to get the news reports to learn about young men just a few
years older then us dying, and not just men. At this reception
tonight where I got this cup and this beautiful calendar, two-sided
poster, Paul McHale, a Desert Storm marine veteran, one of our
colleagues, had brought in the best film, black and white and color
I had ever seen, on Iwo Jima, and here were nurses on the bloody
beaches, Yellow Beach, Red Beach, Green Beach, on the beaches
holding these dying men in their arms. They had been flown in from
Guam on C-47 `Cooney Birds` and were flying these terribly wounded
men on a long plane flight back to Guam for hours. Many of the men
died on planes or died in the hospitals in Guam, and here is this
nurse on film saying that she never felt an affection for these
young men, like they were her children, or young brothers, until
she had children of her own. I found out tonight we lost 93
doctors. Doctors. That is how
many doctors. Imagine how many we must have had mixed among the
men to have 23 killed. We lost over 100, I think 127 paramedics.
I did not learn that until this evening, at this Marine reception
in the Rayburn Building. In every category, the death toll was
tremendous. It said that most of the people died a violent death.
Here is Wilson D. Watson, Wilson Douglas Watson. Private. Just a
private. But 24 years old. And these men looked like they were 30
at 24, in every theater of the world, because they were men in
those days at 18 and 19.
PAGE H2169
But here is what Wilson Watson did. Joined in Arkansas, born 18
February 1921. Actually he was born, I see here, in Tuscumbia,
Alabama. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of
his life above and beyond the call of duty as an automatic
rifleman, serving with the Second Battalion, 9th Marines, and this
stunned me when I read this sitting here because I went out in the
field for 3 days with the Marine Corps in Vietnam, May 20 through
23, 1966, with the Second Battalion of the 9th Marines, Echo
Company, I recall.
By the way, Mr. Speaker, sometimes the reach of this House is
amazing. The young captain who took me out with his unit and let
me on that H-34 Sparrow Hawk helicopter to go into a village that
was surrounded, designed, I repeat, by Ben Blaz, his name was
something like Jerry Horrick, Horricks, he lost his legs. Two
months later, by chance, I saw it in the Saturday Evening Post, and
I asked him, because I saw his wings, or we got to talking about
his flying, what was an F-8 Crusader pilot doing as a ground Marine
company commander?
PAGE H2169
PAGE H2170
PAGE H2170
Anyway, young Wilson Watson, second battalion 9th Marines, 3d
Marine Division, the same division in Vietnam, during action
against the enemy forces on Iwo Jima. By the way, all of those
islands are volcanic islands. For action over 2 days, the 26th and
27th of February 1945.
I do not know who wrote this, Mr. Speaker, but I believe it
should say the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. Naval services
does not sound impactful enough at the end.
Colonel Ripley says:
`The debris and detritus of war remain even after nearly 43
years. Rusty vehicle hulks, wrecked boats, sunken ships, canteens,
mess kits, thousands of rounds of corroded ammunition, blockhouses,
pillboxes, trenches, abandoned airfields, large naval shore guns,
artillery, etc. And beneath my feet remains of - ` he says 22. It
is actually 19,000 dead Japanese. We did take 1,083 POW`s out of a
garrison of over 20. He says, `We hated them then. There is more
respect now, defenders, brave men who die at their post.
`Rupert Brooke,` an English poet, `said it perfectly; `Here, in
some small corner of a forgotten field, will be forever England.`
And this brutally stinking sulfuric rock depressing to see,
demoralizing as it has lost its once vital importance and our
nation`s once great concern, will be forever America. It will be
forever in the memory of those 75,000 Marines who fought here.`
PAGE H2170
I learned yesterday from Commandant Mundy, addressing at the
beginning of the year, as is the tradition in the Armed Services
Committee where he said that of the 27 Marine battalion commanders,
and
we only have 24 now, Mr. Speaker, 24 in the whole Marine Corps
battalions, 27 fought in combat there, and 18 of those battalion
commanders fell. Some of them did survive, but were taken off the
island badly wounded, and more than a third died.
He said:
TIME: 2340
PAGE H2171
He writes:
That is double D-Day, Mr. Speaker. `The 3d Division, brought
along as a floating reserve,` that is our division that fought for
a decade in Vietnam in the I Corps around Da Nang, `wasn`t expected
to be needed. It was committed February 20, day 2,` and the first
unit landed on day 3, the 21st. `As planned, 30,000 men landed on
day 1. Most massed on the beachhead area.` I do look forward to
walking these beaches next month, Mr. Speaker.
`Defense perimeters had not been fully formed, because the tanks
lost traction in the volcanic ash. Heavy artillery landing was
delayed by heavy surf.` I witnessed that surf in these films this
evening, Mr. Speaker, waves coming over giant Amtraks and landing
vehicles, and they completely disappeared under as heavy a surf as
I have ever seen along the California coast.
PAGE H2171
He said, `The congestion on the beach had grown into a monumental
snarl of damaged tanks, landing crafts, smashed equipment. The
Japanese are holding their fire. They had their fields of fire
perfectly worked out.` One of our Marine colonels told me tonight
they had drilled holes in the volcanic rock where they inserted
mortar tubes so you could come along and drop a tube, and it was
perfectly positioned to pick out certain people on the beach. You
could move on after you dropped the mortar shell into its barrel.
PAGE H2171
Iwo Jima, `Sulfur Island,` gateway to Japan, populated by 21,000
subterranean troops, and I saw an eyewitness soldier tonight who
said they were not on the island, they were in the island.
Mr. Speaker, think, as I read these words, of this inane, stupid
argument of how we were going to present the B-29 fuselage of the
Enola Gay that dropped the first atom bomb on August 6 at though we
were in some kind of racist crusade against the Japanese islands.
This battle, and the battle 50 years ago next month in Okinawa,
just give a tiny feeling of the major death toll that we would have
suffered.
General Kuribayashi, graduated from their military college, their
West Point, in 1914, and he knew that his victory would be in
showing Marines what lay in store for them when they invaded Japan
and in denying
them the emergency airfield they needed for crippled B-29 bombers
at the halfway point of the Guam-Saipan to Tokyo air express.
At this point, let me add something, Mr. Speaker. There should
have been somebody here tonight whose life was saved by these
sacrifices, a chairman, a brand-new chairman, after being here over
22 years, Ben Gilman of New York, who was a B-29 crewman, told me
that his life was saved after Japanese fighters shot up his B-29
over the mainland of Honshu Island. He could not make it back to
his base further south, Saipan, Tinian, or Guam. He recovered on
Iwo Jima. He would have gone in the water like so many crewmen from
his bomb wing there that died at sea, shark attacks, some of the
worst shark-infested waters in the world.
PAGE H2171
Ben Gilman told me he owes his life to taking Iwo Jima, which
makes a good point. Did we have to take Iwo Jima? Would the
Japanese or Germans, if their roles had been reversed, have taken
Iwo Jima? They might not have. They would have told their pilots,
`Press on. If you do not make it, that is OK, we have got
teenagers to take your place.`
These thousands, these 6,821 marines and sailors and Army Air
force men, Coast Guardsmen who died, they gave their lives in a
direct trade at about four or five to one for the 27,000 men in the
air crews and fighters and mostly B-29`s that made it back to Iwo
Jima, coming back shot up from all of those raids in March and
April and May and June and July and through August 15, 1945 when
the cessation of shooting came about looking forward to the treaty
of surrender on the deck of the Missouri on September 2.
PAGE H2171
So Ben Gilman is a living testament of somebody who would not be
in this House if it had not been for this sacrifice and the atom
bombs would not have brought an end to this horrible death toll on
both sides. A million Japanese survived the war to have children
and grandchildren that are alive in a dynamic nation and its
economy today because we dropped those two bombs.
I am happy to say, under the lead of Joe McDade from Pennsylvania
here, and my hero in this House, our Gary Cooper, Sam Johnson of
Texas, who I watched take on the head of the Smithsonian Air and
Space Museum and say, `Would you have dropped the bomb, Doctor?`
And he says, `I would have obeyed orders.` He said, `No; would you
have dropped the bomb if you were Harry Truman?` `No; I would not.`
Sam held up that hand that has seen so much torture in Vietnam, he
holds up the hand and looks at him and says, `That is the
difference between you and me. I would have dropped the bomb.`
PAGE H2172
TIME: 1150
That is our Texan, Sam Johnson of Dallas. We won that battle. I
continue reading from Gene Rider`s Navy Times story.
See how men will die for a flag? And we debated all night a few
years ago in this well, Duncan Hunter led the debate, all night
long to pass a simple law that you cannot burn Old Glory in front
of veterans like these, some of them in wheelchairs. And we lost
that debate. When we are through with our 100 days, maybe, just
maybe, we will revisit whether or not you have a right to burn a
flag in front of courageous men and those Army nurses and Marine
nurses and Navy nurses, excuse me, that went in to help the Marine
Corps.
PAGE H2172
So he says put this flag, his simple order, put this on top of
the hill. Preceded by a patrol that met no opposition, E Platoon,
40 men plus litter bearers, notice everywhere they went, they have
litter bearers or doctors with them. I repeat, 820-some paramedics
died with all the Marines fighting. How many times must the word
`medic` have pierced the din of artillery and machine gun and flame
thrower fire there.
He said with their litter bearers they go up. Slowly they make
it up single file the steep slope to the crest. Rifles and
grenades ready. Some of the men scour the crater`s debris, and
there is a huge crater there. They found a pipe. They lashed the
colors to it, and at 10:31 a.m. the Stars and Stripes went up and
whipped in the blustery wind.
They soon returned to the El Dorado command ship two miles
offshore. CBS asked for recorded interviews. And General Smith
ordered Sgt. Ernest Thomas, one of the flag raisers, to come on
board for the interview. He was the very senior sergeant.
Afterwards Thomas had one of the thrills of his life. A hot bath,
his first in days, and a hot meal, and he couldn`t wait yet to get
back to his outfit.
PAGE H2172
This is captured on film, I just saw it a few hours ago, Mr.
Speaker, exuberant yells, ships blasting whistles, ships` bells
ringing, horns rang out. Lt. Col. Chandler Johnson was jubilant.
He had to have that flag as a souvenir for his battalion which had
paid such a price for its role in taking the mountain. He sent a
runner to scrounge up another flag.
PAGE H2172
He saw the just delivered 4 by 8, a pretty big flag, that is the
size I think I will replace my 5 by 7 with in front of my house
here in Virginia, and that is what I will use in my house in Garden
Grove. I am going to like that size the rest of my life, 4 by 8. He
saw them tying the banner`s lanyards around a long pipe about to be
positioned for hoisting.
Joe told me he had his back turned at this moment. He and
sergeant Bill Genaust scurried 25 feet up. He is just loading, and
just then six Marines struggled the unwieldy pipe upward, with that
big flag starting to whip out in the stiff breeze. Joe told me he
whipped around. Gene Rider has it here that he clicked his
speedgraphic loaded with black and white film at the midpoint just
at the right millisecond for this incredible, now an icon, historic
photograph.
Then Bob Campbell, another Marine photographer, shooting from a
different angle, and in these wonderful commemorative books that
the Marine Corps published, you see Bob Campbell`s picture
capturing the original H 2173 smaller flag being brought down by
Marines, still ducking from sniper fire, and the big one going up.
What an incredible moment that symbolizes to all the soldiers,
sailors, Marines and airmen fighting all around the world. What a
tribute to our beautiful Old Glory.
PAGE H2172
The Marines stood under the flag, looked across Iwo Jima, the
view from 556 feet was much different from that scene from the
foxholes and the caves and the Marines below. Keep in mind, there
is 31 days of hellish fighting to continue. Five days of carnage
and they owned a third of this 8 1/2 square miles of junk.
PAGE H2173
TIME: 0000
I would like to submit this for the Record and close again with
those words that have been said 10 times at least tonight, that
uncommon valor was a common virtue that day, 27 Medals of Honor and
the debt that Americans born ever since, were too young to serve,
will never, ever be able to repay except by studying this history
and passing it onto the young men and women of our country, as
Ronald Reagan requested.
PAGE H2173
(FROM THE NAVY TIMES, FEBRUARY 27, 1995)
IWO JIMA: VALOR, DEATH AND A RAISED FLAG
(BY GENE RIDER)
The high command expected Iwo Jima to be a four-day piece of cake
for the 42,000 Marines of the 4th and 5th divisions. But Lt. Gen.
Holland M. `Howling Mad` Smith warned it would be the most grueling
battle in the Corps` history. He was the senior Marine officer in
the Pacific, but was outranked.
PAGE H2173
As planned, 30,000 men landed on Day One, most massed in the
beachhead area. Defense perimeters had not been fully formed
because tanks lost traction in volcanic ash. The heavy artillery
landing was delayed by a high surf and beach congestion, which had
grown into a monumental snarl, of damaged tanks, landing craft and
smashed equipment.
PAGE H2173
Iwo Jima - Sulphur Island - gateway to Japan, populated by 21,000
subterranean troops, was almost invisible in a smog of smoky
drizzle that smelled of death, sulphur and cordite. The Japanese
commander, Lt. Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, knew he couldn`t win.
But he and his troops were dedicated to death. Their victory would
be in showing Marines what lay in store when they invaded Japan and
in denying them the emergency airfield they needed for crippled
B-29 bombers at the halfway point of the Guam-Saipan-to-Tokyo air
expressway.
PAGE H2173
Preceded by a patrol that met no opposition, E platoon - 40 men
plus litter bearers - slowly made its way in single file up the
steep slopes to the crest. Rifles and grenades ready, some of the
men scouted the crater`s debris and found a pipe, lashed the colors
to it and at 10:31 a.m. the Stars and Stripes whipped in the
blustery wind.
PAGE H2173
Sgt. Lou Lowrey took pictures for Leatherneck magazine until a
Japanese leaped up from a cave, fired and missed Lowery. A Marine
gunned down the Japanese. Marines handily won a skirmish with
rifles and grenades.
PAGE H2173
The banner atop Suribachi was a lift for Marines in foxholes, and
sailors on the beach and on ships. Exuberant yells, whistles,
ships` bells and horns rang out.
PAGE H2173
He and Sgt. Bill Genault scurried out 25 feet just as six Marines
struggled the unwieldy pipe upward with the big flag whipping in
the stiff breeze. Joe clicked his Speed Graphic loaded with black
and white film at just the right millisecond for an historic
picture. Genault shot the same scene in color movies until his
film ran out. Pvt. Bob Campbell, the other Marine photographer,
was shooting from another location and got a shot of the small flag
being lowered with the new flag going up.
PAGE H2173
Casualties mounted as the carnage erupted into new fury as the
4th Division on the eastern front, 3rd Division in the center and
5th Division on the west hammered ahead with H 2174 tanks, flame
throwers, heavy artillery and offshore mortar and rocket boats.
Each yard was heartbreak.
Day 24, March 14 at 9:30 a.m., as CincPac ordered, there was a
short ceremony near the base of Suribachi. Gen. Smith`s personnel
officer, Col. David Stafford, read a proclamation issued by Adm.
Chester Nimitz from headquarters on Guam that officially claimed
victory and proclaimed Iwo Jima a U.S. territory. A bugler sounded
colors, our flag was hoisted, and a color guard, Adm. Richmond K.
Turner and Gen. Smith joined each division commander - Maj. Gens.
Graves B. Erskine, Clifton B. Cates and Keller E. Rockey of the
3rd, 4th and 5th divisions, respectively - in salutes.
PAGE H2173
Dedications of three separate cemeteries followed. Bill Ross,
Marine correspondent wrote that as Rockey spoke at the 5th`s
cemetery, a bulldozer dug more burial trenches for poncho-shrouded
Marines laid out in long lines awaiting burial and that a jeep
drove up with several more bodies.
Official figures are testimony to the valor of Americans who
served in the Iwo Jima battle. Total casualties 28,686. Of the
6,821 dead or missing, 5,931 were Marines, 195 were Navy corpsmen
attached to Marine units. Of the 27 Medals of Honor awarded to
Marines and corpsmen for valor at Iwo, more than half were awarded
posthumously.
The same day, Gen. Cates, dedicating his 4th Division`s cemetery,
said, `No words of mine can express the homage due these fallen
heroes. But I can assure you, and also their loved ones, that we
will carry their banner forward.`
PAGE H2174
While today`s Marines are highly skilled at fighting in the
desert and other open terrain with fast-moving tanks and light
armored vehicles - as well as fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft not
available in 1945 - experts say modern Marines would face many of
the same difficulties the 75,000 others did when they came ashore
Feb. 19, 1945, and faced down a well-dug-in enemy force of 20,000
Japanese defenders.
TOUGH ROW TO HOE
PAGE H2174
Some examples:
PAGE H2174
`It would probably still take individual Marines to root the
enemy out. I don`t think that today we have got the capability to
force them up out of their (fighting) holes.`
A DIFFERENT FUTURE
PAGE H2174
The best part: America might not even have to take such an island
- just simply go around it.
But if they did need to seize Iwo, future Marines would have
several distinct advantages.
For starters, the attack could come from over-the-horizon at
breakneck speeds and top maneuverability. The V-22 Osprey people
mover could help ferry Marines inland to high ground and Iwo
airstrips, instead of simply dropping them at the soggy, ash-sand
beaches and forcing Marines to slog their way ashore.
PAGE H2174
The AAAV could maneuver around any mines in the off-shore waters,
and roar from ship to shore at speeds of more than 30 mph, thereby
reducing their vulnerability to enemy fire.
`You shoot at us, you die,` Anderson said. `Every time they fire,
they would become a target.`
SOFTENING THE TARGET
Here again, robots could play a vital role. But just how vital
will be determined as much by culture as technology.
I said goodbye to my wife and four kids. I prepared to meet God.
I was so nervous and embarrassed that I was flippant, because I
literally said in my mind, Jesus, here I come, ready or not, and
slipped beneath the water. I remembered a story I had read on
drowning on someone that had been plunked out of the bottom of a
pool. I said, the water is warmer than I am. I am taking in
gulps. It is painless, and I thought about my wife hanging up the
laundry. Again, corny but true, that is just what she was doing
because that is what she did that time in the morning in the
backyard. I pictured her being alone with four kids, and I said, I
cannot give up. I have to try one more time.
It seemed hopeless, but I kicked to the surface and I came up.
Here was this Navy helicopter, and he dropped a harness.
PAGE H2168
I was begging the guy, yelling, I could taste blood from
scratching my throat to jump in. I put my arm in the harness, and
he jerked me about 10 feet up in the air, and I fell back under the
water down, 5, 6, 8 feet. I figured I was gone again.
I did not want to go under the water and come up and hang on the
harness.
PAGE H2168
Slowly he brings me up inside. And when this enlisted man
grabbed my arm, I begged him not to touch me until he closed this
little trap door in the belly of the helicopter. When we got back
to the base, he said, corny but true, that I was being circled by
two or three huge sharks. They had lost four men to sharks in a
Navy boat the week before.
That is one of the reasons they put the helicopter on rescue
duty. `I didn`t think we would beat the sharks to you.`
February 23 became my birthday. It was the 15th anniversary of
Iwo Jima, and I went to the history book to see what happened on
that day. It is interesting how God lets history be attracted to
some days.
The Marine Corps had a little reception down in the bottom of the
Rayburn Building. They give us these little cups. It will be in my
Bronco for a long time with that `Semper Fi` staring at me.
The Marine Corps is one of our beloved, the smallest of our
services, but a beloved service because they have had some of our
toughest conflicts.
PAGE H2168
What is not known is that next month in Okinawa, where more
Marines died but basically in an Army battle, we lost more men than
we lost in Iwo Jima.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from St. Louis, MO (Mr.
Talent).
Mr. DORNAN. It was the best year.
Mr. TALENT. It really was. I do not mean to interrupt the
gentleman`s story, but I really had to ask. I thank the gentleman
for yielding.
Mr. TALENT. I was not aware that the Japanese had ever shelled
the mainland.
Mr. DORNAN. They had. They had struck our mainland on this very
day 53 years ago. And Jack Haley like his friend Fred Allen who I
used to call `Uncle` until I found out later there was no blood,
but all of that show business community then all started to go
overseas. My uncle went to Italy and
North Africa. Wayne`s case, the `Sands of Iwo Jima,` as Sergeant
Striker. That is probably his best known role.
Yes, it is fun to have an uncle who has become a legend.
Mr. TALENT. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I am going to see in just a few brief short minutes for those
people, Mr. Speaker, who are channel surfing tonight, sometimes we
say 1,300,000 watching, but after an excellent discussion on tort
reform and it was fascinating, but you have to pay attention,
because we are changing history here these first 50 some days of
100, and before that, a discussion that had its points on
affirmative action and level playing field, but good men of
conscience and women of different conscience coming to different
solutions.
This is something that I do because President Reagan ordered me
to do it, personally, on several occasions, once when I was in a
room with him, alone with Nancy and Ronald Reagan when he was
declared the winner in the New Hampshire primary. I was the only
one there with the Reagans. I thought, what a moment of history,
flashing, I think it was ABC, Ronald Reagan the winner. He had
beaten a terrific World War II hero, boby mangled 50 years ago on
April 14 of this year, Bob Dole, and it was in that race he had
beaten, really George Bush was the finalist going into New
Hampshire, he had beaten Ronald Reagan big time in Ohio with the
help of a state coordinator friend of mine Floyd Brown.
PAGE H2169
I asked my West Pointer, Bill Fallon, who is my legislative
assistant for defense affairs, I said, Bill, for obvious reasons,
get me someone from Arkansas who won the Medal of Honor on that
sulfuric, death-smelling, cordite-smelling hell on earth, and he
picks one out from Arkansas, representative of all the other 27, 14
of the 27 Medal of Honor winners died. One of them was H 2170
sitting up in that gallery who was only 17 years and 6 days when he
threw himself on a grenade and pulled another one under him on
February 20, day 2. The flag went on up day 5 of a 36-day battle
and all the records that I am reading say they expected it to be a
cakewalk and over in 4 days. But not General `Howlin` Smith. He
said this is going to be the worst battle in Marine Corps history,
and he was right. `Howlin` Smith.
Here I recall Clinton on Ted Koppel on Lincoln`s birthday 1992
telling Koppel, I was only a boy of 23 when I was in London trying
to avoid serving. A boy at 23? How come Lucas up there was a man 6
days past his 17th birthday?
It does not say his company here. And the young commander that
allowed me to go in on a Sparrow Hawk designed by a colleague of
ours who I served with here for 8 years. He is watching. I called
him in Virginia and told him to watch, Ben Blaz, one of the most
distinguished people I have ever served with in this Chamber.
Brigadier General Benjamin Blaz was the commander of the 9th
Marines and we did not discover that until we were sitting back
here about 3 rows talking one day and I told him about my days of
combat with the Marines as a volunteer reporter from a small Santa
Monica newspaper, and he said, Bob, in that distinguished way of
his, I was the commander of the 9th Marines. This young Medal of
Honor winner was with the 9th Marines in a different time.
And he said, `I want to be Commandant someday and I want to go
all the way in my career.` He said, `Flying is important, giving
air cover to these kids is important, but I figured if you`re going
to make it to the top, you better be a ground Marine and see what
the gunfire`s like at the grass level.`
TIME: 2330
There he was, and 2 months later he lost his legs. I believe he
was from Glendale. If anybody, Mr. Speaker, knows Jerry Horrick,
something like that, please write me. I would love to see how he
is doing.
With his squad abruptly halted by intense fire from enemy
fortifications in the high rocky ridges and crags commanding the
line of advance, Pvt. Watson boldly rushed 1 pillbox and fired into
the embrasure with his weapon, keeping the enemy pinned down
singlehandedly until he was in a position to hurl in a grenade, and
then running to the rear of the emplacement to destroy the
retreating Japanese and enable his platoon to take its objective.
Again pinned down at the foot of a small hill, he dauntlessly
scaled the jagged incline under fierce mortar and machinegun
barrages and, with his assistant BAR man, charged the crest of the
hill, firing from his hip.
This is where John Wayne learned his style.
PAGE H2170
Fighting ferociously against Japanese troops attacking with
grenades and knee mortars from the reverse slope, he stood
fearlessly erect in his exposed position to cover the hostile
entrenchments and held the hill under savage fire for 15 minutes,
killing 60 Japanese before his ammunition was exhausted and his
platoon was able to join him. His courageous initiative and
valiant fighting spirit against devastating odds were directly
responsible for the continued advance of his platoon, and his
inspiring leadership throughout this bitterly fought action
reflects the highest credit upon Pvt. Watson and the U.S. Naval
Service.
Wilson Watson lived. I do not know if he is still alive 50 years
later. Someone will probably write and tell me.
PAGE H2170
This seems so far way, 50 years, and yet it is not, Mr. Speaker.
Last year I met Joe Rosenthal, the only survivor of the scene that
day who took that picture. He was in the Rayburn Building in room
2117, the anteroom of the Armed Services room, and I called the
photographer over and any Member lucky enough to be passing through
the anteroom at that moment got a picture with Joe Rosenthal
against a big, beautiful oil painting that is the prominent
feature, along with the capstand taken up from the harbor of Havana
that literally came off of the U.S.S. Maine that was sunk in that
harbor in 1898, those are the two main objects of yes, military
art, and posed with Joe. He is healthy, and all of the other six
men at that second flag-raising, because there was a smaller flag
raised first. What a touch in history to hold Joe`s hand in front
of that magnificent picture. As some of my colleagues on the other
side of the aisle when Sonny Montgomery began a series of very
touching 5-minute speeches pointed out, if you want to go to your
library, this book, `Iwo Jima: Legacy of Valor,` by Bill Ross, who
I learned tonight passed on, which was published in 1983, and this
is a dog-eared copy from one of our majors in the liaison office.
This book I hope he will let me use when I fly to Iwo Jima at the
end of next month for the commemorative of this 6-day battle. I
flew around this island in an old seaplane flying to Vietnam, I
have looked at it from the air at high altitude, and I do not
believe we should have ever given it back to the Japanese. It is
not used for anything now. It is 8-1/2 square miles of junk real
estate is the way one hero described it.
I would like to read, Mr. Speaker, a letter written by a veteran
just a few years ago in 1987 sitting on top of the edge of Mount
Suribachi, writing it to a friend. And it is Col. John W. Ripley,
one of the young officers in that horrendous battle, and he made
his way back, his solo pilgrimage to this bloody site of so much
American heroism, and he writes to his friend, Ross McKenzie, I
repeat, from the top of Mount Suribachi, 556-foot mountain, the
only high
ground really on this volcanic rock. This is an actual extinct
volcano, and all of the lava from centuries of erupting that poured
in a northwesterly direction giving it a big pork chop shape, and
as I said, 8 1/2 miles.
PAGE H2170
Dear Ross, From this most unlikely spot I am inspired to write
you for reasons I can`t fully explain. Certainly you have received
no other letters from here I would wager, and you may find this
interesting. It`s the middle of the night - cold, windy,
uncomfortable & profoundly moving.
He is writing by flashlight. `I`m looking down on a tiny island 3
miles wide and 5 miles long. Down there, and here where I`m
writing by flashlight,` a lot of these figures are a little off, so
I corrected them, and I hope he does not mind if he is listening,
where 5,951 marines died. There were another 870-some Navy men,
Air Force men, air crews, 220-some men died on the U.S.S. Bismark
Sea which was sunk by a Japanese kamikaze, Coast Guard men bringing
the landing craft in earlier, Navy men of all types. Six thousand
eight hundred twenty-one is the precise figure of everyone.
The mountain is Suribachi, the island, Iwo Jima. Of the hundreds
of thousands of words written about this place, nothing comes close
to describing its starkness, its inestimable cost and now, sadly,
the poverty of its abandonment.
PAGE H2170
The entire island is a shrine, mostly Japanese, but a few
American - only a few. Americans don`t seem to care about such
things when, as is the case here, it`s inconvenient. H 2171 And yet
this island, its name and most especially this very spot where I
sit - where the flag was raised - is immortalized in our national
consciousness for as long as there is an America.
PAGE H2171
Of the 75,000 Marines who fought here suffered wounds here and
the 5800 who gave their blood and lives to its black soil. Again
Rupert Brooke. `In that rich earth, a richer dust concealed. Their
hopes, their happiness, their dreams ended here. And if we fail to
honor them in our memory and our prayers, we should be damned to
hell for such failure.`
``I brought a small team here, Ross, to survey the island for
future exercise use. The Japanese would prefer that we did not
exercise here, but that will be over my dead body.` I do not know,
Mr. Speaker, who won this debate 7 years ago.
I find it hard to believe and impossible to accept that our
Government gave this island back to the Japanese. It is as if we
gave them Gettysburg or Arlington National Cemetery. Americans died
here in such numbers that in 9 1/2 months the toll here would have
equaled, if it had lasted 9 1/2 months, would have equaled the
entire 10-11 years of the Vietnam struggle. The Marine Corps
should never lose its right to exercise here, and I am proud of
having something to do with assuring that it will be so. Yours, I,
John, John Ripley, Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps, Retired.
Mr. Speaker, it is amazing how we will pass people on the street
and not know what they have done for their country, just a senior
gentleman or lady walking by, we say hello or nod. We do not know
that they laid their life on the altar of liberty, of freedom,
sometimes in foreign countries far away, and went on
with their lives with the memories of all the friends of their
youth who did not make it.
PAGE H2171
Gene Rider in Navy Times wrote a column a few days ago, well,
actually it is dated a few days from now, February 27, so it is the
current Navy Times, and I think it sums it up better than anything
I have read. I would like to read a few paragraphs from it, Mr.
Speaker. This is Gene Ryder. I hope he is listening.
He is a CBS Radio correspondent who lives in San Diego, and if he
has a friend listening, call Gene to hear his words going out to
Guam where our day begins, Alaska, and the Virgin Islands and all
50 States, thanks to the wonder of C-SPAN.
PAGE H2171
Iwo Jima, valor, death, and a raised flag. The high command
expected Iwo Jima to be a 4-day piece of cake for the 42,000
Marines of the 4th and 5th Divisions. But Lieutenant General
Howland M. `Howling Mad` Smith warned it would be the most grueling
battle in the Corps` history. He was the senior Marine officer in
the entire Pacific, but he was outranked. In the first 18 hours
alone, 2,312 men had fallen.
He said;
Things started to improve on the beach, false feeling of
security. The heavy artillery landed. Twenty-five miles offshore,
60 Japanese kamikaze planes in several waves swooped in to hit the
smaller escort carriers. Detected early on, many were shot down.
Two slammed into one of our big supercarriers, the Saratoga that
had been battling since 1942 all across the Pacific, killing 128 on
the Saratoga, wounding another almost 200. Another kamikaze crashed
midship on the Bismarck Sea. Bombs went off, and engulfed in great
flames, the carrier sank quickly, 812 sailors into the icy water,
218 dying.
There were caves all the way through and tunnels. `The almost
invisible smog of smoky drizzle that smelled of cordite and death
and sulfur; the Japanese commander, Lt. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, he
knew he could not win, but he and his troops were dedicated to
death.`
PAGE H2171
I learned last week that we are awarding Purple Hearts today in
Somalia, Grenada, Panama, Purple Hearts have gone to several men
putting their lives on the line in Haiti to restore order to the
pathetic little island, and these Purple Hearts were struck in
1945, this year 50 years ago, and we are still drawing from that
supply, because these were from a lot ordered in thousands that we
thought we would be giving out in the invasion of Japan and the
major islands, and the death toll and wounding toll that we would
take there. It is one of the amazing pieces of small information
about current Purple Hearts and how many are still stored away.
Witness what happened to the crew of the Indianapolis that
delivered the first H 2172 atom bomb to Tinian. They sunk. They
were not accounted for for 3 days, a terrible military `Snafu`, and
500 of the 800 or 900 that died in the water were torn apart by
sharks.
PAGE H2172
Big guns silent, tanks mired in mud, no spotting airplanes on day
four, but it seemed eerily quiet. Perfect day for infantry.
Leaning into near gale force gusts and driving sheets of rain,
Marines begin probing the steep bouldered slopes of Suribachi,
flame throwers, demolition charges, grenades, and men winning the
Medal of Honor, destroyed pill boxes and bunkers as our patrols
drove upward. There were sporadic nasty skirmishes and
casualties. By nightfall it was apparent that only a few of the
2,000 Japanese packed into the caves on that mountain on the
southwest corner of the island in all those labyrinths at several
levels, they remained alive in there.
The weather on day 5, different. Greatly improved. Lt. Colonel
Chandler Johnson, I don`t know if he is still alive, commander of
the Second Battalion, 28th Regiment, had seen the totals through
day three. 4,574 of his men killed or wounded. In the 5th
Division, 2,057 men killed or wounded. A great many were from his
own battalion. He decided they needed a topping out party, a flag
on top of Suribachi. He called together Lt. Harold Schrier, a route
to follow up the steep slopes he said. Take this folded flag, a
smaller one, and put this on top of the hill.
Sergeant Lou Lowery took pictures for `Leatherneck,` a great
magazine 50 years later. And a Japanese suddenly leapt up from a
cave, fired, and just barely missed Low Lowery. A Marine gunned him
down.
PAGE H2172
Marines handily won a skirmish that developed using rifles and
grenades. It wasn`t planned. James Forrestal, the Secretary of
the Navy, and what a handsome guy, he turned out to be 2 years
later our first Secretary of Defense. I thought looking at the film
today, they had pictures of him on the deck of the command ship,
the El Dorado, but he was actually on the beach already, on Green
Beach, and he is standing beside Gen. Howling Smith, where 23
Marines were killed right in that area within that very hour, and
they watched that flag unfurl. It was a very emotional moment.
Our Marines that were in our
liaison department particularly asked me to point out what James V.
Forrestal said. He set that handsome square jaw of his and he said
`General Howling,` pointing up to the flag on Suribachi, the
earlier smaller flag, `this means a Marine Corps for 500 years.`
Howling Mad then choked up.
A few days later he died on Iwo Jima. He gave up his life. That
was his last hot shower, his last hot meal. The banner atop
Suribachi was a lift for the Marines in the foxholes down in all
the lower part of the island. The sailors on the beach and on the
ships, they saw it.
The officer on one of the landing ship tanks at the beach broke
out the ship`s ceremonial flag. It was twice as large and
delivered to the summit about an hour later. About then, a five
foot five bespectacled 33-year-old civilian in Marine dungarees
reached the top with a pack full of photographic gear.
He was joined by two Marine combat photographers. They were
feeling put out by having missed the flag raising. Of course, that
five foot five, 33-year-old, now 83, was none other than Joe
Rosenthal, San Francisco Associated Press.
Rosenthal came down slowly from the top, made the rounds of the
command posts and aid stations, and caught a ride on a press boat
back out to the El Dorado. He wrote captions for his day`s pictures
and made sure they were in the press pouch for the courier
seaplane, probably a Catalina, back to Guam. There they would be
developed, checked by censors, radioed stateside by CINCPAC`s high
powered transmitters. He wasn`t sure of what he made up there at
the top, he didn`t even get to see his work, and a day or so later
the Associated Press radioed congratulations. And that turned out
to be the defining event of his life.
Casualties mounted as the carnage erupted into a new fury, and as
the 4th division on the eastern front, 3d division in the center
and 5th division on the west hammered ahead with tanks, flame
throwers, mortars, rockets, each day was heartbreak and it went on
for 31 more days.
PAGE H2172
I ask permission to put the rest of this in the Record and close
with this in the final minute or so, Mr. Speaker.
This battle is not over, keeping our country strong. And here is
another article after Gene Rider`s in the same Navy Times, if it
had to be done all over again, how future Marines would take Iwo
Jima in another way. They project their thinking, Chris Lawson,
the Times staff writer, to 2010, and the star of this event is none
other than the V-22 `Osprey.` On the ground it is the advanced
armored amphibious vehicle, AAAU. These two systems are in doubt
whether or not we are going to fully develop them for our great
Corps. And it shows how this 36-day battle would have been
shortened by vertical envelopment and putting our troops behind all
of the Japanese forces and how much loss of life could have been
prevented in this terrible conflict.
In the first 18 hours, 2,312 men had fallen. The 3rd division,
brought along as floating reserve, wasn`t expected to be needed.
It was committed on Feb. 20 and first unit landed on Day Three,
Feb. 21.
Much of the enemy`s firepower came from caves and labyrinths of
Mount Suribachi, the 556-foot-high dead volcano overlooking our
beachhead at the island`s southern tip. Much of our bombardment
and air strikes were concentrated on Suribachi and by Day Three it
had been jolted to its core.
Things were improving on the beach. Heavy artillery landed. But
25 miles offshore, 60 planes in several waves of a kamikaze mission
swooped in to attack our escort carriers. Detected early on, many
were shot down. Two slammed into the carrier Saratoga, killing 128
and wounding 192. Another crashed amidship on the Bismarck Sea.
Engulfed by great flames, the carrier sank quickly and 812 sailors
took to the icy waters, 218 dying.
Big guns silent, tanks mired in mud, no spotting planes, dawn on
Day Four seemed eerily quiet. It was a perfect day for infantry.
Leaning into near-gale-force gusts that drove sheets of rain,
Marines began probing the steep, bouldered slopes of Suribachi.
Flame throwers, demolition charges and grenades destroyed pill
boxes and bunkers as our patrols drove upward. There were sporadic
nasty skirmishes and casualties. By nightfall, it was apparent
that only a few of the 2,000 Japanese packed into caves and
labyrinths at several levels remained.
The weather on Day Five was greatly improved. Lt. Col. Chandler
Johnson, commander of the 2d Battalion, 28th Regiment, had seen the
totals through Day Three - 4,574 men killed or wounded. Of the
2,057 5th Division men killed or wounded, a great many were from
his battalion.
Johnson thought it was time for a `topping-out` party. After
giving Lt. Harold Schrier a route to follow up the steep slopes, he
handed him a folded flag and said: `Put this on the top of the
hill.`
It wasn`t planned. James Forrestal, the secretary of the Navy,
who had boarded the command ship Eldorado at Guam with Gen. Smith
beside him, stood on Green Beach, where 23 Marines had been killed
within the hour, and watched the flag unfurled.
It was an emotional moment. Forrestal said, `Holland, this means
a Marine Corps for 500 years.` `Howling Mad` choked up. They soon
returned to the Eldorado two miles offshore, where SBC recorded
interviews for later broadcast. Smith ordered Sgt. Ernest Thomas,
one of the flag raisers, to come for an interview. Afterward,
Thomas had a bath and a hot meal and couldn`t wait to get back to
his outfit. He gave his life a few days later.
Lt. Col. Johnson was jubilant. He had to have that flag as a
souvenir for his battalion, which had paid such a price for its
role in taking Suribachi. He sent a runner to scrounge for another
flag. An officer on the tank landing ship at the beach broke out
the ship`s ceremonial flag. It was twice as large and was
delivered to the summit about an hour later.
About then, a 5-foot-5 bespectacled 33-year-old civilian in
Marine dungarees reached the top with a full pack of photo gear.
He was joined by two Marine combat photographers. They were
feeling put out by having missed the flag raising. Joe Rosenthal,
Associated Press out of San Francisco, saw the just-delivered 4x8
banner`s lanyards being put around a long pipe about to be
positioned for hoisting.
Marines stood under the flag and looked across Iwo Jima. The view
from 556 feet was much different from that seen from foxholes,
caves and ravines below. After five days of carnage, they owned
one-third of this 8 1/2 square miles of junk real estate and had
yet to reach Day One`s objective.
Rosenthal came down slowly from the top, made the rounds of
command posts and aid stations and caught a ride on a press boat to
the Eldorado. He wrote captions for his day`s pictures and made
sure they were in the press pouch for the courier seaplane to Guam,
where they`d be developed, checked by censors and radioed stateside
by CincPac`s high-power transmitters. He wasn`t sure of what he`d
made at the top. A day or so later the Association Press radioed
congratulations.
By Day 14, the battle line was at Day Two`s objective.
PAGE H2173
That day, crippled over Tokyo, the B-29 Dinah Might, was the
first Superfort bomber to land on Iwo Jima while trying to return
to Guam. With the short, shell-shocked runway under sporadic fire,
the 65-ton bomber flopped down for a wild but safe landing.
A Doberman pinscher war dog led his handler`s patrol to a huge
cave on the eastern coast where scores of Japanese had lain dead
for days in an overpowering stench. Seven Japanese came out of a
catacomb and surrendered.
Gen. Erskine spoke at the 3rd`s cemetery. `Victory was never in
doubt. Its cost was. What was in doubt was whether there would be
any of us left to dedicate our cemetery . . . let the world count
our crosses, over and over . . . let us do away with ranks and
ratings and designations . . . old timers . . . replacements - here
lie only Marines.`
(In the mid-1950s the bodies of all Marines buried on Iwo Jima
were exhumed and returned to American soil.)
PAGE H2173
Day 35, March 25, remnants of regiments 26, 27 and 28 wearily and
warily slogged into Bloody Gorge on the northwest tip of Iwo Jima.
There was no resistance: There were no more Japanese.
An estimate of Japanese killed: 20,000. Just 1,083 were taken
prisoner - many from the Korean labor battalion.
PAGE H2173
On March 14, Adm. Nimitz issued a press release that ended with
`Among the Americans who served at Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a
common virtue.`
IF IT HAD TO BE DONE ALL OVER AGAIN - FUTURE MARINES WOULD TAKE IWO
IN ANOTHER WAY
(BY CHRIS LAWSON)
PAGE H2174
But in 2010, if all goes as planned, the Corps will have the
tools in hand to tackle the mission in an entirely new way. From
the V-22 Osprey troop carrier to the high-speed advanced amphibious
assault vehicle the Corps will be generations ahead of the
technology available both in 1945 and today. Indeed, its arsenal
might even include robot-controlled vehicles.
The current amphibious tractor travels only 5 mph, a mere 2 mph
advantage over World War II models.
Helicopters would be rendered ineffective because nearly every
square inch of the small island would be covered with defensive
fire.
PAGE H2174
Troop mobility would not be significantly improved, since most of
today`s radios and other equipment are the same size and weight as
they were in Vietnam.
Fancy technology, like global positioning systems, would not have
much value on an island with a total area of just eight square
miles.
But today`s Marines would have one distinct advantage. They
would likely fight at night. `We could fight in the dark pretty
well, but to take a place like Iwo, we`d do it pretty much the same
way,` said Col. Gary Anderson, the director of the Corps`
Experimental Unit, a futuristic warfighting think tank at Quantico,
Va.
But in 2010, if the Marines get the weapons platforms they`re
currently vying for and take advantage of burgeoning commercial
technologies, bloody Iwo might not be so bloody.
Thank again to the legs and speed of the V-22, the logistics
trains would likely be based at sea - not on the beach, where in
World War II it fell victim to a continuous bombardment by enemy
forces.
The Marines would also have the capability to land infestation
teams on the critical high ground and take that advantage away from
the enemy. Marines would likely land atop Mount Suribachi and
fight their way down to the bottom, instead of working their way up
under deadly attack.
PAGE H2174
ROBOTS TOO
Anderson said robotic technology could have a dramatic effect as
well, and possible save the lives of thousands of Marines.
Remote-controlled AAAVs, for example, could roar ashore and act as
a magnet for enemy fire. Sophisticated sensing systems could then
acquire the targets.
PAGE H2174
The best part: advanced Marine weaponry will likely allow
shooters to engage their targets from the line of sight.
`If you can get eyes on target, you can kill them,` Anderson
said. `You wouldn`t do away totally with rifle-to-rifle and
hand-to-hand combat, but you`d cut it way down. In 1945, 85
percent of the fighting was done that way. We think we could get
that down to 20 percent.`
PAGE H2174
The Marines, Navy and Air Force would also pound the daylights
out of the islands with bomb after sophisticated bomb in an effort
to prep the battlefield for maximum effectiveness.
`Would you see a robot platoon raise the flag on Mount Suribachi?
I don`t think so,` Anderson said with a laugh. `But one of the
raisers might be a robot.`
PAGE H2174
OUTLINE 1. TIME: 2310 H2168
MORE ON IWO JIMA H2168
2. TIME: 2320 H2169
3. TIME: 2330 H2170
4. TIME: 2340 H2171
5. TIME: 1150 H2172
6. TIME: 0000 H2173
7. (FROM THE NAVY TIMES, FEBRUARY 27, 1995) H2173
IWO JIMA: VALOR, DEATH AND A RAISED FLAG H2173
(BY GENE RIDER) H2173
8. A `TOPPING-OUT` PARTY H2173
9. THE ADVANCE H2173
10. (FROM THE NAVY TIMES, FEBRUARY 27, 1995) H2174
IF IT HAD TO BE DONE ALL OVER AGAIN - FUTURE
MARINES WOULD TAKE IWO IN ANOTHER WAY H2174
(BY CHRIS LAWSON) H2174
11. TOUGH ROW TO HOE H2174
12. A DIFFERENT FUTURE H2174
13. ROBOTS TOO H2174
14. SOFTENING THE TARGET H2174
.
Warren S. Apel