Mount Suribachi, at Iwo Jima's southern end, is in the lower left. Our battalion moved to the flat area by Meat Grinder Hill where all the dead Japanese had been.Īerial photograph, taken in early 1945, prior to the mid-February invasion of the island.
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The front windows of the cab were hinged so I could get hold of my weapon in a hurry. I took a gun rack off a wrecked Jeep and mounted it on the nose of the crane cab, which seemed a better place to keep my gun than the floor of the rig. I sold souvenirs, mostly to Army Air Force personnel. Hill 382 became known as “Meat Grinder Hill.”Īt some we pulled out dead Japanese and rifles, pistols, and ammunition. I found out later we had been looking for the Japanese commander of the island. The next morning, when we realized we wouldn’t find anything more, the Marines burned out the cave with flamethrowers. That evening the Marines dug foxholes they were on the fighting line. Marine flame thrower operator goes into action, covered by a pair of riflemen, on Iwo Jima. We found supplies and living quarters, but no people. He had me move the crane forward to a cave, which the colonel told me to dig out. The sergeant was waiting there with 40 Marines who spread out on either side of me. It took an hour to fuel the crane and return to the work site. His sergeant drove me about three-quarters of a mile to a rise called Hill 382.Īt the foot of the hill he showed me a flat area covered with dead Japanese, big mines and shell casings. When I said yes the colonel told me I was temporarily relieved of my duties. The colonel asked how far down I could dig. He pointed to three guys about 100 yards away and said one was a lieutenant colonel who wanted to talk to me. One day a Marine crawled up into my crane’s cab. We figured they were launched from a trough, like Fourth of July skyrockets. The Japanese also were using giant mortar shells that tumbled end over end in the air, making a frightening screaming noise.īut they usually landed in the water. The first shell hit about 20 feet from me and killed two of my buddies.
The Japanese tried to knock it out with eight-inch guns. There was a 105mm howitzer behind our bivouac. They had men going through pockets and checking dog tags and clothing and then stacking the bodies four or five high at an old Jap revetment. The Marine was waiting to be treated nearby at an evacuation center that was also identifying the dead.
(Coast Guard photo now in the collections of U.S. He's puffing on a cigarette supplied by a crew member while on the way to a hospital ship lying offshore. He explained that it was a booby trap and showed me the wires inside the bottle.Ī Marine casualty from the first wave at Iwo Jima rests on a bed of life preservers on board a Coast Guard Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel. His face was bloody from hundreds of tiny holes made by a grenade. I noticed a bottle of sake and had gotten down to fetch it when a passing Marine said, “I wouldn’t handle that if I were you.” I had to walk the crane with the shovel on it uphill past a B-29 in a gully with other abandoned equipment. Slit trenches got upgraded to four- and six-holers.Īfter working about 10 days I was sent to Airfield 2, a half-mile north, to help extend that strip. The showers were out in the open with no covering. It smelled like rotten eggs but it was hot enough. We got water for showers from underground. Marines didn’t have chow lines, just K rations, so whenever they had a chance they got into the Seabee chow line. On D+6 the main body of the 62nd came ashore.īy D+7 the cooks and bakers had the cook tent erected and we got our first hot meal with baked bread. One is burning by the bomber's nose, another off its right wing. The B-29 hit and destroyed four P-51 "Mustang" fighters. One evening after I finished my shift the first B-29 landed.Ī Boeing B-29 bomber burns on an Iwo Jima airfield after its brakes locked on landing and it swerved into an aircraft parking area, April 24, 1945. We had to watch out for snipers and mortar fire and live ammunition and mines.
Marines were fighting for the very piece of ground where we were trying to enlarge the strip. I put in nine or 10 hours a day extending the original airstrip to make it big enough to accommodate B-29s. I needed to work on the airfield, so the mechanics changed my rig over from a bucket to a shovel. Pond loaned me $100 and took care of sending it home. I wanted to send money for the funeral, but the paymaster was out on the ship. We couldn’t even move wounded men off the island. There was no way he would be able to get me home to bury her. Pond - I don’t think I ever knew his first name we generally called him “Mister Pond” - told me my mother had died. (Navy)Īround D+5, my company commander, Lt. Men with the 31st Naval Construction Battalion use a bulldozer and a rooter to open a cave at the end of Airstrip 1 on Iwo Jima.
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