Ever Faithful
Townhall,
by
Gil Gutknecht
Original Article
Posted By: Piercentire,
5/26/2019 6:27:53 AM
It is impossible for us to imagine what it was really like to have been locked in a desperate fight on that small island in the Pacific. When they mustered out as Marines, they were young and idealistic. When they hit the beaches at Iwo Jima, most were still in their teens. After the guns finally went silent, the survivors were men. Men as hard as diamonds. They had seen and done unimaginable things. They changed the course of the war and were themselves, forever changed.
We are left to wonder if the War Department understood the enormous price
When I hear the words "make America great again", this is the America I am thinking about.
My Uncle Bill was one of those brave young men. He was on a different island in the Pacific, and their mission was to clear a runway for our planes to land. He got a medal for volunteering to go rescue a bulldozer out of a ditch while the Japanese shot at him. He is 96 now and still tough as nails.
18 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
udanja99 5/26/2019 7:40:19 AM (No. 84456)
I salute your uncle, #1. My father was on Guadalcanal. He would have been 97 now.
15 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
MickinPhoenix 5/26/2019 7:50:42 AM (No. 84460)
My cousin Charles May was a machine gunner during that battle. He was at Guam and Bougainville before that. He left for boot camp from Bellflower CA and on arriving at San Diego was diverted to a troop ship heading over seas. 33 months later he returned home for discharge.... he was a real hero to me.........Mick
14 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
dovestar 5/26/2019 9:09:31 AM (No. 84504)
My dad was there two weeks after the main battle. He said there were still Japanese hiding in places on the island. He was also at Okinawa. After we dropped the Bombs, he bought mom an engagement ring in San Diego before coming back home to Texas. Miss you, Dad.
12 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
mobiusmman 5/26/2019 9:42:14 AM (No. 84512)
My father-in-law was at Hickham Field when the Japanese bombed it. He was severely wounded, his dog tags blown off his neck and he lay in an Hawaii hospital for weeks un-identified. His family was notified he had been killed and he was” buried” back in Kansas without a body in the casket. He recovered. Returned home and yes, was as “hard as diamonds.” His life was plagued by PTSD. Pain from shrapnel lodged next to his spine that could not be removed. But he was damned good, loving man who married, raised three terrific daughters, was a great father-in-law and grandpa. A charter member of the Greatest Generation. I salute you Nemo. We miss you.
13 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Shells 5/26/2019 10:41:05 AM (No. 84550)
I’d like to salute Jack V. today. Survived D-Day and the Battle of the Buldge. Went on to quietly raise five children, two of whom he lost in separate car accidents. Never talked about anything until after 9/11. Passed away at 91 shortly after that.
He was my best friend’s father and my hero.
9 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Bluefindad 5/26/2019 12:29:19 PM (No. 84597)
My Dad was in the Beach Battalion and went ashore in the 3rd wave at Iwo Jima. He had just turned 19. The fire over the beach was intense and all but two of his company were wiped out. He almost never spoke of his experience, but years later he told me about a miracle.
As he lay in the black sand with overlapping fire all around, he prayed fervently for God to deliver him. Almost immediately he was struck and severely wounded by a mortar round. Dazed and half conscious, he looked up along the sloping beach and saw two men walking - apparently unconcerned by the withering fire - straight toward him. Upon reaching him they simply said "We're here for you". They carried him to a landing craft and he was transported to a medical ship. To his final days, Dad always wondered "Why me?" God never gave him a clear answer in this life but I'm sure he knows now. I miss him so much.
8 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
lakerman1 5/26/2019 2:00:51 PM (No. 84646)
I have to wonder how the war in the Pacific would have been more quickly successful, with lower casualties, if Douglas MacArthur had never been born.
He was an epic disaster, throughout his 'distinguished' career. I believe he was a bigger phony than Jon Cary.
The military was surprised by the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, but MacArthur, in the Phillippines did not have that excuse - he had a day's warning, yet left his aircraft on the ground, and lost them to the Japanese, on December 8, 1941. He wound up fleeing to Australia, sort of like Mayor Nagin fleeing to Houston, when Katrina hit New Orleans.
And for his military ineptitude, MacArthur was given the Medal of Honor! And when he became NATO commander in the Korean War, he screwed that up!
MacArthur graduated first in his class at West Point, but messed up every assignment he was given, including driving the bonus soldiers out of DC in the early 1930s.
Talk about stolen valor, and MacArthur should come to mind.
President Truman was the only one who saw through MacArthur, and did the right thing - Truman fired him!
4 people like this.
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