Land of the Setting Sun
From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of...
Before them lay a landscape from hell. A wall of black volcanic sand stretched along a coastline of turbulent tumbling surf; beyond, a lifeless, colorless terrain filled with crags and burrows met their gaze. Mud pits and sulphuric vents belched acidity into the air. A small mountain to the south, a trace reminder to this island's beginnings, lay quiet, worn into oblivion by time. It was hot. It was gritty. It was unforgiving. But so too were the men who gazed across this island from their landing crafts. The Fifth Division Marines were doing what they did best - fighting on distant shores to insure peace at home. A mission they had always accepted without hesitation. This week we touch Marine Thomas Lynch, a participant in one of the most famous island assaults in history - Iwo Jima, February/March 1945.
Ain't no mountain high enough
The photograph to your right needs little introduction. It was shot by AP photographer Joseph Rosenthal, at the precise moment these six Marines were raising the second flag on Mt. Suribachi, that small mountain to the south. It was chance timing. Although Rosenthal attempted to secure a foothold for his planned photograph, he noticed from the corner of his eye, the flag pole rising, so instinctively he turned, and without using the viewfinder, squeezed the shutter. It would not be until later, in the processing lab, that Rosenthal realized what he had captured. The photograph we found buried in Tom Lynch's ephemera tells us more. In faded ink on the reverse, we can decipher - In Memory of the Famous Flag Raising on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima. Distributed to the Members of 28th Marines, 5th Division, U.S.M.C. Tom was a radioman in the 28th Regiment of the 5th Division, a member of the second assault team, the men responsible for taking Mt. Suribachi. Semper Fi indeed. The photo paper and photographic style dates this image to the later 1940's.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Front
Birdie Tibbetts, a 1940's Major League All Star baseball catcher, put his career on hold to join the war effort. Unfortunately, his career had other plans. While in the Army he was assigned the task of creating a baseball team from enlisted major leaguers. Their purpose? To play games for the troops as a morale booster. The one requirement was the team had to be ready, at a moment's notice, to travel anywhere at any time. In February of 1945, the call arrived.
Play Ball!
On the fifth day after landing, and only one day after the flag raising, the Marines were treated to an exhibition Major League baseball game. From Birdie Tibbet's book Confessions of a Baseball Nomad he writes...With mortar shells still exploding nearby, the Seabees bulldozed a baseball diamond right out of that burned rock on Iwo Jima...Our job, it turned out, was simple. To play ball. To put on a big league baseball ballgame for 12,000 grimy, cheering, gun-toting soldiers. To take their mind off the sheer horror of what they had just been through.
Arriving on Iwo Jima via airplane, Birdie and his teammates were faced with a dilemma. On the approach end of the runway, the Japanese were firing at the plane; at the other end sat the Marines, providing cover. The island would not be secured until March 26th. It was only when we uncovered this story did we understand why a Major League baseball signed 28th Marines 1945 was among Tom Lynch's belongings. It was a souvenir of that day. The signatures are from his Marine buddies. Only one, Jimmy McNulty, reappears later in the baseball arena. Jim was also a Marine participant during invasion. He too watched the game alongside his comrades. After the war he played Minor League with the Brooklyn Dodgers at the urging of Branch Rickey. With the Dodgers, he lost his infield position to Jackie Robinson, as Jim's batting average was far too low for the Majors. Without advancement, he returned to local baseball in Fergus Falls, Minnesota where, in 1950, he helped guide his team to a state title.
I would gladly surrender...body & soul
In the Japanese language, there is no word for surrender. And no wonder, the Japanese spent centuries never needing to. A culture controlled by a military regime under the guise of royalty, the Japanese started a worldwide domination tour that left little in its wake. Until Pearl Harbor. As American forces advanced through the Pacific, the invasion of Iwo Jima meant much to the Japanese. Prior to this, all they lost was conquered territory. Iwo Jima was more. It was sacred homeland; the fighting intensified. To surrender, to admit defeat, was a disgrace to country, home, even ancestors.
In prior island campaigns, military intelligence worked hard to secure prisoners as their information was vital to strategic planning. But an incident on Guadalcanal forever destroyed this intent. Twenty Marines were ambushed and slaughtered by Japanese soldiers feigning surrender. From that moment forward the Marines adopted their own policy - No prisoners taken alive. This incident, known as the Goettge Patrol, spread throughout the divisions. Now intelligence officers were either foiled by retribution or Hari-kari.
A system, actually a surrender document, was created for use in the battlefield. They were dropped by the thousands across enemy positions, urging capitulation. American war psychologists were quite careful in the wording. The bearer has ceased resistance...it begins. I surrender was avoided. The leaflet illustrated was used on Iwo - Distributed on Iwo Jima around March 8, 1945. Even with this, Japanese response was rare, the enemy preferring instead to save face and soul. A distinctive red, white, and blue design was for the GI's benefit. It was a clear sign the prisoner was surrendering. Even with this, the survival rate remained low.
Land of the Setting Sun
By March 23, Iwo Jima was conquered and the war drifted north. A fine commemorative booklet, The Spearhead, was published for the Marines later in the year. All told, 6,812 Marines were killed, 19,217 wounded. The Japanese lost 21,844 soldiers with only 216 survivors. Today, the island is off limits to visitors. It has returned to what it has always been, a barren wasteland, forgotten in time except by the men who gave their all...the United States Marine Corps.
Best to all our veterans this Memorial Day, 2012. A large thank you from a grateful American citizenry. Without your sacrifices, we could never enjoy the world we live in. From the bridge at Lexington, to the fields of France. From the sands of Iwo Jima to the jungles of Vietnam, the desert landscape of Iraq to the mountains and valleys of Afghanistan. May your spirit that emboldens all of us live on and on...ad infinitum.