I'm privileged to have the opportunity to address a group of patriots. I've always had the guilt feeling to have survived the Battle of Iwo Jima when 6,800 Marines died to give me this honor.

 

December 1, 1925 I was born a few miles up the road in the Daniel Boone Homestead. I was the 11 th of 12 children born to Lloyd and Laura Fink. My father managed the farm for the owner. After a few farm managements, my father gave up farming.

 

A few years living in Morgantown and Gibraltar and we moved to Reading when my father secured a position at the Beryllium Corporation.

 

I entered North East Junior High School, having hand-me-down clothing and no money for the cafeteria, this being Depression Days, I would run home and back after lunch. Running would serve me well in the Marine Corps.

 

I moved onto Reading High School and we were now in World War II. Having no money, no possibility to ask a girl for a date, I wanted to enlist in the service, but my wise mother would not agree to sign. I quit school and went to work until my 18^th birthday.

 

I decided to join church with my good friend from work, whose twin sister also joined. This was something I thought I should do before being drafted. December 1, 1943, my 18^th birthday, I registered for the draft and volunteered for the Marine Corps. I was sworn in on January 5, 1944.

 

Reverend Rhoads confirmed me before I left for Boot Camp and my friend's sister, Miss June Bolig, asked me to write her. I wrote two letters and she graciously answered.

 

I entered Boot Camp in Parris Island, South Island and wondered how in the world I ever had gotten into something like this. They ran us into the ground from 4:30 in the morning until sometime in the night. I soon become strong enough physically to take all they could hand out.

 

I fired Expert on the rifle on the preliminary day, but with an injury to my shoulder I only made Sharp Shooter on Record Day.

 

I could run like a deer and ran the Bayonet Course in near record time. I came thru Boot Camp with little difficulty. I received a ten-day furlough and it would be the only furlough I would ever get. I went into work to visit my friend and returned 2 days before I would leave for the next base which the Richmond Naval Air Station in Homestead, Florida. My friend said his sister was disappointed that I made no effort to visit her. That was my first realization that I might have a chance with this lovely young lady. I visited her that night and we talked and dated the following evening and came to an understanding that she would wait for me. We didn't realize at that time that that would be 26 months.

 

I reported to the Richmond Naval Station. It was a blimp base with a large airfield and a large area. The blimps patrolled from Miami to Cuba for German submarines.

 

Marines guard all Naval Bases and we had 65 to stand watch on 6 posts. We were 10 boots replacing 10 older Marines sent to Combat Training. Two months later, we received 10 more boots to replace 10 more Marines to be sent to Combat Training.

 

We now rated 10 PFC’s and Sgt. Sharpe told me I was number one on the list for PFC which was quite an honor. The reason was because I was always found patrolling my post. After 6 months, we were all replaced by veterans returning from combat. We were sent to Camp Lejuene for Advanced Training and then onto Camp Pendleton to form the 31 st Replacement Draft.

After 2 weeks, we were shipped out to Hilo, Hawaii and were attached to the 5^th Marine Division. At Hilo we were used to load ships for the invasion of Iwo Jima. February 19, 1945, we landed on Iwo Jima at 11 am, the first day of the Invasion. I just turned 19 and was very gung ho. It didn't take long with sniper bullets whistling by my ears and shells falling all around to realize they were trying to kill me. The fun was over. We were not trained as Assault Troops. Our job was to unload supplies from the landing crafts. Why we were there at 11 0' clock is a mystery. All the crafts were bringing in was more troops. There were so many troops that all the laps had to do was fire and they would hit somebody. My foxhole buddy was Henry Gilbert from Lewiston, Maine. We dug a fox hole and helped with unloading supplies. That night was scary not knowing what was going on at the front. The next morning we were on top of the sand that sifted back in from explosions. We were given sand bags and Henry was taken out to unload ships to the landing craft. I was to shore up our fox hole between work on the beach. We were less than 200 yards from Mt. Suribachi.

 

That afternoon I was filling sandbags and heard machine guns fire. Bullets whistled over my head as I dove into my foxhole and filled sandbags from there the rest of the afternoon. The sniper apparently didn't have his right windage as I was sure I was his target.

 

That evening PFC Philpot who had the next fox hole had his pack on top of the sand and took out a pair of dungarees that were riddled with bullet holes. That night we had a Kamikaze air attack. Nothing hit the island, but the Aircraft Carrier Bismarck Sea was sunk and 281 sailors went down in four miles of water. This is one of the deepest trenches in the world.

 

The aircraft carrier Saratoga was badly damaged and sent back to the United States for repairs, which ended its tour of duty. Other ships received damage and many causalities.  The next day I was able to requisition some steel mesh portable airfield strips and put on top of our foxhole. I covered them with sandbags and our shelter halves for waterproofing and a foot of sand on top with only a small hole to get in and out.

 

That night the beach was bombarded and my pillbox withstood the shelling. Our Warrant Officer was killed along with other and there were numerous causalities. Some were even buried alive. The fourth day Mt. Suribachi was scaled and the American Flag was raised. We owned just a small part of the island, so it was immediately seen by all. What an honor and privilege to live and view a great moment in American History.

Tough Marines had tears in their eyes and shouted for joy. Ships at sea fired their guns and blew their whistles and horns. Holding the beachhead up until now was in question. This took the eyes away from the Japanese.

 

The next 5 days were filled with unloading food, ammo and other supplies. The beach was relatively safe. The capture of Iwo Jima had just begun as the major defenses of the island were on the northern

right and left flank, and we were suffering horrendous losses. Our lines were growing thin.

 

The 10 th morning took all of our squad except me and 17 year old Miles

 

Frazier out to unload ships. At lOAM, Lt. Cooper came around and said he

 

needed one of us to fill a replacement draft to the front line.

I couldn't let Baby Frazier go. This was the last time I would see Henry Gilbert, my foxhole buddy, for over 3 months. I replaced into E Company, 2^nd Battalion, 26^th Regt, as a rifleman. I was naive to the fact that all 27^th Replacement Draft and the 31 st Replacement Draft would replace throughout the 5^th Marine Division, a total of 3,000 men.

 

The afternoon of the 10^th day, we moved into Reserve Position. I ate what ration I had aside of 3 toasted Japanese.

 

The next morning we moved onto the front line under fire. Later we received constant mortar fire and I took cover in a shallow shell hole for 3 hours. After a few hours, I put my head up to see what was going on. A bullet whistled by and then another by my ear. Again, the windage was not correct for the sniper. The shelling stopped and there were only 9 of us left. Three of our fire team and a Sgt. Busby. Ed Krupa was our fire team leader. A PFC acting corporal and a junior halfback from the Notre Dame football team. Sgt. Busby ordered a man out to find E Company. I was the man.

 

Common sense kept me from running into the Japanese lines. I was smart enough to know Easy Company was between Dog and Fox. Some Marines thought E Company was just to their right. I returned to Sgt. Busby but he wouldn't move until I was absolutely sure, so I was sent out again. Running close to the ground, I found more Marines digging in for the night and they were sure E Company was just to their right, but warned me that the dirt road had a sniper trained in on it.

I led the group to the dirt road, warning them of the sniper. We dashed across the road into a blown out block house. Four along the front wall, and 5 along the back wall. The sniper got all 5 on the back wall. Sniper bullets kicked sand up at my feet within 2 inches and again I wondered how I ever had gotten into something like this. I saw broken arms and legs hanging, when out of nowhere carne a Corpsman. In the line of fire, he administered first-aid. Uncommon valor was a common virtue.

 

Someone threw a smoke grenade and our fire team got out of there and joined the rest of the company. That night we dug a foxhole in the comer of a big bomb crater. We were at the edge of the third unfinished airfield. The Navy would fire flares over the island at night so we could follow any Jap movements. We fired at anything that moved.

 

With weird terrain and eerie lights, I could not sleep for the second night.

 

At 8:30 the next morning we assaulted over the third airstrip and into the short rocky cliffs. The Japs answered with a barrage of mortar fire, but none came close to me. They readjusted their sites and laid down a second barrage. One exploded on the cliff above me and I was pelted with rocks. They readjusted their sites again with a third barrage and one fell 5 feet from my legs. I received multiple shrapnel wounds on both legs. I was evacuated to a field hospital and out to a hospital ship that evening. After 3 days we left in a convoy to Saipan. This took 3 more days.

 

Two weeks in an Army hospital in Saipan and 2 weeks to a Naval Hospital in Pearl Harbor. After being discharged from the hospital and 2 weeks in a Rest Camp, I returned to the 5^th Marine Division, now back at Camp Tarawa on the big island of Hawaii.

 

We were training for the invasion of Japan. I became a well-trained, seasoned veteran. We were to be the first wave in the invasion of Japan and I knew I was probably going to die. I was saved by the atomic bomb. 200,000 Japanese died, but millions were saved.

 

Now I could go home to my faithful fiancée! We were the first wave in the occupation of Japan!

7 more months of duty, and I qualified to go home. We landed at San Diego. There were no parades, no "welcome home, hero" only the Salvation Army with a quart of milk and 2 glazed donuts. I was discharged at Great Lakes, Illinois and returned home to marry my patient sweetheart. We just celebrated our 60^th wedding anniversary. We have 2 children, 4 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren, and expecting the 8^th.

United States built the B-29 Bomber for long range. With the capture of Guam, Saipan and Tinian in the Mariannas, we could now reach Japan. It was approximately 3,000 miles round trip and this taxed the bombers to the fullest. Iwo Jima lies right in the flight path, approximately half-way. They had radar and 2 airfields with fighter planes. They would radio Japan with the forthcoming raids. If a B-29 was crippled it could not make the trip and would fall into the vast Pacific Ocean. Submarines were stationed alone the route but couldn't retrieve all survivors. With the taking of Iwo Jima, it provided a haven for B-29s. 28,000 Airmen were saved. Iwo Jima was the only battle where Marines had more casualties than the enemy. 20,000 Japanese were killed, 6,800 Marine were killed and 20,000 were wounded. Of the 353 Medals of Honor awarded in WWII, 27 were from Iwo Jima.