{"id":5,"date":"2016-11-11T21:44:35","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T21:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/?p=5"},"modified":"2025-11-09T09:17:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T15:17:30","slug":"veterans-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/index.php\/2016\/11\/11\/veterans-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Battle<\/a>
Battle of Iwo Jima<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I have always loved my father.<\/p>\n

He is\u00a0a marine who served during World War II, and when I was about 30 years old, he asked me to sit down with him, and he told me his story.<\/p>\n

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.\u00a0 Dad was 14 years old at the time. America was now at war, and he decided that he wanted to join the fight. He volunteered for the marine corps at the age of 17. \u00a0But being so young, he was concerned that his parents would not allow him to go. He had to have a signed permission. So he took the paper to his Dad, and said, “Mom said I could go if it was ok with you”. \u00a0And his Dad agreed. \u00a0Then he took the paper to his Mom and said, “Dad said I could go if it was ok with you”. \u00a0So she agreed also.<\/p>\n

Once he turned\u00a018, he boarded a bus and went out to San Diego, California, for his basic\u00a0training, where they taught him how to survive war. \u00a0Being very smart, they decided to train him in communications as well. \u00a0So he learned to use morse code. He was the one who carried and operated the very heavy radio equipment for his squad. \u00a0After basic, he was stationed in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

World War II\u00a0began in Europe. \u00a0It was not until the European war had drawn to a close, that the pacific war began.\u00a0Dad was originally assigned to the 5th Amphibious Corp – Reconnaissance Battalion. He was deployed to 3 different battles. \u00a0First, was the island of Siapan. The mission was to take possession of the island. But there was a sailor that flew over the area just before they deployed. He could see that the island was crawling with Japs, and that they would surely all die. \u00a0So this mission was aborted at the last minute, but not before Dad had his first experience of war. \u00a0He jumped\u00a0off the ship where a Jap\u00a0had been blown in half, and became entangled in the long, stringy, human intestines, floating out in the ocean.<\/p>\n

The 5th Amphibious dissolved, and was absorbed into the 4th Division. Their next mission was the island of\u00a0Tinian. \u00a0This island was decidedly, the\u00a0perfect place for a landing strip, to support\u00a0the planes that would carry the A-Bombs. \u00a0So the mission was to secure the island. \u00a0The operation went smoothly, it took about a week. And finally, they went to Iwo Jima.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/a>
Joseph John Rosenthal (October 9, 1911 \u2013 August 20, 2006) was an American photographer who received the Pulitzer Prize for his iconic World War II photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, taken during the Battle of Iwo Jima. His picture became one of the best-known photographs of the war. (Wikipedia) He also took this photograph, my father is in the fox hole, left top, operating the radio. It was published in Life magazine during the war.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Iwo Jima is known to be the turning point in the pacific war. \u00a0Before Iwo Jima, America was considered to be losing the war. \u00a0After Iwo Jima, America was considered to be winning. \u00a0The island was\u00a0heavily fortified with Japanese at the beginning of the battle. \u00a0There was actually an entire city, underground, with barracks, hospitals, mess halls, everything the Japs needed. \u00a0They were literally “dug in”. \u00a0So this island would be really\u00a0a terrible battle. \u00a0Huge numbers of American lives were lost just upon arriving. \u00a0Dad lost many friends, and had many memorable experiences from the encounter.<\/p>\n

He remembers becoming so accustomed to being shot at, that he did not even try to cover himself a lot of times. \u00a0He remembers watching a fellow marine get shot as he leaned against a tree. \u00a0It took the marine about 30 minutes to reach the ground, as his lifeless body slid slowly down the tree trunk. \u00a0He remembers he and another marine\u00a0being trapped in a fox hole, lying on top of each other for 2 days, playing dead; while Japanese surrounded them. \u00a0He remembers the famous flag being raised, and thinking, “What are those crazy guys doing”?, as the battle raged on, all around them. And he remembers the day he earned his purple heart medal.<\/p>\n

The battle of Iwo Jima lasted 42 days. \u00a0Dad was there for the first 17. He said it was common to hear shells whipping through the air. From experience, he could tell by the sound, whether it was near or far, or right on him. \u00a0This day, he heard a shell coming toward him, closer and closer, rotating on it’s end, “whip-whip,… whip-whip,… whip-whip…”. He realized that it was coming right at him. Over the space of a split-second, he summoned the refuge of Mother Earth, hitting the dirt, into a foxhole. \u00a0Just then, the shell exploded, and he was buried\u00a0alive.<\/p>\n

He could hear the sound of a big, loud, Chinese gong, “Bongggggggggggggg…”. \u00a0He felt like he was in a spiraling tunnel, and as the sound slowly faded, his body seemed to race ever faster toward a distant, bright light. \u00a0He doesn’t know how long it went on, but it ended when a corporal of the surname “Clark”, who was a school superintendent from North Carolina, saw him go down, ran to him and dug him out.<\/p>\n

War is hell. \u00a0But there are people who are willing to endure it, for the sake of our country.<\/p>\n

Much of the first couple of days, he was unconscious. \u00a0And he has gaps in his memory about this. \u00a0But he recalls that someone dragged him to an aid station. And eventually they carried him on a stretcher to the hospital ship, Solace. \u00a0Here he received treatment and was transported for a several months long stay at the R&R hospital in Guam. His numerous injuries, of which some still plague him today, included a severe concussion, crushed lungs, and severe hearing loss. The entire recuperation phase is kind of blank in his memory.<\/p>\n

\"Marines<\/a>
Marines burrow in the volcanic sand, on the beach of Iwo Jima.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On this Veterans Day, I want to thank my father, and all veterans for your courage and sacrifice. \u00a0And may God bless America, the land of the free.<\/p>\n

\"89<\/a>
89 years old.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Footnote: \u00a0This year, 2018, my Dad is 93. \u00a0 He and my mother have been married for 72 great years. \u00a0Together, they have 3 daughters , 8 grandchildren, and altogether 10 great-grandchildren. He is in good health, but he can’t hear thunder without his hearing aids, and his memory is better at some times, more than others. \u00a0He spends his time helping my Mom, taking care of his chickens and other stuff around his farm.\u00a0 He actually just bought a milk cow! As always, he takes very good care of himself and follows a daily fitness routine. And these days, he battles the floods, droughts, and twisters.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

2nd Footnote: Dad passed away in the year 2020, at the age of 95. He was preceded in death by my mother, who died in 2018. They were wonderful parents and are greatly missed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have always loved my father. He is\u00a0a marine who served during World War II, and when I was about 30 years old, he asked me to sit down with him, and he told me his story. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.\u00a0 Dad was 14 years old at the time. America … Continue reading Veterans Day<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-world-war-ii","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221,"href":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions\/221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oldschooltrail.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}