Colonel Joe Rodgers, Decorated Iwo Jima Marine (Full Interview)

hi I'm Greg rhombus honored to be joined today by US Marine Corps veteran Joe Rogers served in the Pacific Theater of World War two and is a veteran also the Battle of Iwo Jima answer thank you very much for your time today you're very welcome I'm happy to be here we're reboarded racer I was born in Birmingham Alabama in 1925 and was there a history of service in your family only outside mouth I mean I was the only boy in and my immediate family I had three sisters that dead not serving so I was a victims what did she join the service joined in 1941 1942 I should say in February that's when I was just about became a legal age I was 16 at the time and my father I had to wait for my mother to die at the age of 44 after Pearl Harbor for my get my father to sign the papers for me at our seventeen so he had an Alaia a bit too but I did straighten that out after I got out of boot camp I confessed that I when I became legal age I confessed to him that I lied to get in so it worked out that I didn't suffer any damage from it why was it important to you to serve so much that you would say that you were not the age that you actually were well of course I was a deep depression kid I was born nineteen to five and the 30s weren't real good and so I had a desire to better my ways up my hip my head myself something some way and I always admired a Marine Corps and so I wanted to get in if I could and when I could but my mother had cancer and she didn't die until 10 days after Pearl Harbor so my father agreed to sign the papers and I was 17 then and that gave me a first-class trip to San Diego California Camp Pendleton I kept when no I went to San Diego Marine Corps Base at the training center there what did they train you for to kill people mostly and try to stay as I said stay alive and of course I couldn't predict either one of them until long after it happened and I was still there did they designate you for infantry or some other type of unit at the time the when I got out of the rifle range and finished boot camp I went to Pearl Harbor and the guard company there at Pearl Harbor and we there was damage everywhere the all the ships of the fleet were in drydock being repaired and so I went to Marine barracks at Pearl Harbor and a guard company and our mission was to guard all of those Drydocks where they wreckage was being repaired so that was my first trip overseas and I was there until March when I got out of boot camp and went to went to the Pearl Harbor I was there for a year and a half and then came back in States to join the fourth Marine Division at Camp Pendleton and so when did you get deployed after that well when we got out of boot camp we boarded ship and went there at Pearl Harbor for the guard duty and when that was done we stayed there until they actually formed the 4th Marine Division and February of that year and and then because of where I was well I became part of the 4th Marine Division and that's when my ward they started and they shipped us over after 4th Marine Division was formed they shipped us over to the Marshall Islands at Kwajalein Atoll and that was our first combat yes after all that training what was it like to actually be in combat well it was strange because in our training we went to Jack's farm in San Diego in the in a and were trained in tanks and so when we finished the training at Jack's farm they told us we were going through it again and they didn't tell us why they just told us we were going through it again and we thought we were kind of dumb that we didn't pass but they didn't explain anything and we went through it after the second time they told us we were going again and then we really thought we were stupid because we this would be the fourth time and actually we wound up going through that tank school five different times and without knowing why but it became plain afterwards because we became when the fourth Marine Division was formed we became company D tanks fourth fourth tank battalion and then it became they they told us why we went through that school so many times our job was we were gonna reckon order for tanks and the Pacific and when we got to the quarter long Islands and so they saw how flat it was if you got any tanks in front of the infantry too if you got in front of any tanks on marshall islands it was a death sentence because they had shoot you because all they had to do it was so flat all they had to do was just overrun the island so after quadrille and we landed at the entrance to the Kwajalein atoll to guard the entrance of the lagoon because the ships were going to pass through that place and into the lagoon so they have access to all 17 islands and so we were there for three days I think until they got a minute of the lagoon and then they put us aboard ship and sent us to any we talk atoll because we were going to get into some fighting there we knew and so we want the any we talked atoll and they took all of our mechanized equipment away from us and gave us ten men rubber boats and our combat was going to consist of landing on islands and those rubber boats so we went to a staging area to get off of the landing craft into the rubber boats unfortunately the staging area was in an area where the tide was going out to sea and so when we got ready to go into the island we were assigned to go we were about 13 islands away from where we should be because we were out in the middle of sea captain captain katzenback or was very smart man and he figured that out so he found this 13th island but it was the opposite end of the atoll where we were going to be so we had the land on those 17 islands in the middle in the middle of the night and get to our assignment at the other end of the atoll before the invasion of the airstrip the next day and there was a coral reef that ran from NGB over to the island that we were assigned to and our job was to set up machine guns there and prevent the landing of Marines and I mean Japanese the next day to keep any Marines from going across that coral reef and so we sat there and the battle started over it the airfield and we had set up a 50 caliber machine gun across that call and we sent there all day and guess what they didn't come across there until the afternoon late a navy plane from the battleship dropped us a note we saw him out there at the coral reef but we didn't know what he was doing he was diving and but he would come up and then ta da bomb again we couldn't see the crew he was dying on me but he saw us so he came over and dropped us a note and told us there was a Japanese out there and he every time he would try to strafe it well he would go under the water and when he make his tripping run will it the guy come back up so he couldn't get him because every time he was underwater when it when he was trying to scrape him so he said if we wanted to go out and get him he would dip his wings to show us where it was and so the first sergeant and three other guys than myself I didn't one of those rubber boats and rolled out there and he would show us where he was and when we would came in sight of him the first sergeant would motioned to him like that to come to us and he would shake his head said no so that happened and the first sergeant had a 44 that he carried on his left sole on his left hilt and when that guy shook his head he took that 44 out and fired her around that the guy about three feet away and he threw up his hand like this and then weird motion for him to come back accompany the boat and he shook his head and so the first sergeant fired a little closer to him and about four times he almost shot his ear off and the guy started saying they're ok ok you know so he waited for us to go in and he was practically naked he didn't have any anything but grenades and so we finally got him in the boat and took him back fortunately I had learned the little Japanese and this guy was a Korean that was aboard a battleship and landed at any time and I learned from him my limited knowledge of Japanese that if he was traveling with the Navy he he was became Navy if he was traveling with the army he became army so he switched back and forth he wasn't a regular Japanese soldier and so he was with the army on that landing and he was practically naked because he was the only one on that eight that Carl and so we questioned him the best I could in my limited Japanese and found out he might be a pretty important guy from for information so when I found now what all I could and that was about his name and his age in some of his history and so we decided he might be a good witness for g2 so we sent him back to the g2 headquarters and he did change he gave them quite a bit of information I don't think it made much difference there quad sling but in handy at other places because he was knowledgeable about the whole Pacific so it helped us when we got to Saipan after the Marshall Islands was over the operation was over so we used some of that knowledge at Saipan for our invasion of that Island and that was the end of the quad rolling land and any we talked and we were now on Saipan where Captain katzenback got shot five times and was evacuated he didn't kill him but fortunately it didn't hit any vital organs so he survived it and later became the defense secretary under President Harry Truman and he retired from that position about two years ago on earth so we gained some knowledge from the guy and Captain Kathryn back being where they were and I was captain captain backs runner on that island and so he when his successor came in they passed me along and I became Lee the runner for the next captain and through the years I was a runner for five different captains of that company the last one being II will Jima and he kept tequila shot on Iwo Jima Nam was evacuated and Lieutenant Barbour became the commanding officer of our company at that time and so he they just passed me along to him and he used me as his runner so I served five different captains in that company as a runner and my main job was to keep those guys alive I could and so they tried to prepare me for that and I only lost one of them I was able to they all told me your job is keep us alive you know don't worry about self course you take care of us so I did the best I could and when Lutheran went I got the Bronze Star on evil when the lieutenant barber gave me a an order to meet the commander of the battalion on the left because we will have a place called it was it either 362 or 382 and they took that place six times and we were the sixth time and they ran us into an ambush there and set us up and crossfire between mortars and machine guns and lieutenant barber gave me an order to go to the battalion command of the company commander on our left and tell him to move his company over and we would try to fill in the distance and close that gap because they they had machine gun fire set up crossfire and they were killed in a lot of Marines there our company were sixty-five percent casualties in that particular action and but it worked as lieutenant Obama thought it would and so he was commended I think for his action and I I got the brain the brown Bronx car because of the assignment he gave me let me tell you I either out ransom machine-gun bullets or they were allow the Gunners because they dug the dirt up around my feet for that five hundred yards I had to go find our yard and then I had to return to my company under the same circumstances and we took the corpsman down into that Massacre there and we wanted to get as many anybody we thought was alive we wanted to get them out they were dead and entered all over the place so we went from man to man down that it was laying on the ground and when we get Mau and when McGowan would examine them that he would tell us they were either dead or alive or we left the dead ones and tried to get the alive ones out we got a number of those people out but there were certain number of our people left then that were dead and an interesting sad story was we had two guys in our company that we call Martin's yep because one of them was tall um the other one they were inseparable you never saw one that you didn't see the other they were good friends and they both were shot and McGowan told us they were they had didn't have a chance to get Maya there he said they just barely here you know you know so we finally discussed it and we were talking about it we got to this guy and we we were talking and we asked my god is this guy alive if he's alive we're gonna try to get him out he said he saw near dead you don't need to bother and that was true of both of them and they were 25 yards apart of 25 feet apart those two guys when we went back and took them in your thoughts wounded out that one guy had called that 25 yards over to his buddy and laid his head on the guy's chest and we found them both dead there and so it haunted us because they were alive and we left them but they probably would not have made it so McGowan probably did the wise thing I don't know but tell me the story of corporal Berbers Berbers varnish was he was a private first class like me and he was shot and went down and we were over we were standing we were kneeling over him trying to decide whether we get him out because he was hit several times and so finally McGowan was standing over talking well we don't get him out of there or not and when we finally just said we're gone there's this guy alive and he said yes but just barely and she said well if he's alive we're gonna try to get him out of here we did we got ver was out there he was evacuated he went through the hospital ship and they repaired him three months later he was back in the company regular duty and finished the wall finished evil with us and survived evil and a little Side Story to that after I got back two years on my 90th birthday I got a call from Washington State and the guy's name was verse he was he was that guy's son and he calls when they ran a video Fox News ran a story of my 90th birthday and when he saw that on Fox News he called me in Las Vegas to thank me for my part of saving his father those many many years ago and it was one of the most gratifying calls I ever gotten Berbers had just died the year before he called me when he found out who for hours he called me immediately and told me how he and his brothers appreciated but unfortunately his father passed away the year before so well that my destiny because not only were you making a huge impact right then and there in the battle but now you see yeah whatever it was 60 70 years later yeah it's uh you know as I reflected over the years I found so many things that amazed me and I plan to be a 430 year man when I went in but my sister talked me out of it when I was up for discharge and she said you can go back into Michael after 90 days and get all the benefits you're trying to get now by shipping over so she talked me into it and since I was engaged to a gal in California well I accepted her so we got married over together six seven years and she unfortunately died in 2012 and I had to say goodbye to her and but we had 67 years together we had a normal life we had two wonderful daughters and they're still around well I guess one of them is with with me here today she's here she takes care of me like her mother so I have to have her along with me let me back you up a little bit okay so we kind of jumped into the middle of the Battle of Iwo Jima so Carmer tell me about when you first came ashore uh and what the resistance was like the Japanese well the third Marine Division was it's me that came in first and they were at the bottom of Mount Suribachi we came in a second wave and we were next to the 3rd Marine Division and then the 5th division came in after us and was on our right so the guys the guns up there were big guns up on Mount Suribachi when we landed there we were right in their line of fire fire so they pinned us now on the beach and that's where all the confusion came because the boats that we went on and went in on was the the the garbage that was keeping other troops from coming in so we had to call for the Seabees and the Navy pull those that those boats that were keeping the reinforcements in no seriously and they pull those the wreckage out to sink them so we could get more boats in there and then the Seabees had to come in and put ramps because our tanks couldn't traverse and that black sand and so the Seabees came in and put ramps up where the tanks could go up because they were bogged down they couldn't climb that steep Beach and once they got the thing cleared out well then it became a normal operation again brought in more people because they found out that there was shallow water there they could drop them off in the water and they could wade in that's how we got em we okay it's gonna ask how what you're doing this whole time yeah I'm laying on the beach try and stay alive and during that time I probably gained three feet up that steep thing because you couldn't even it became mud and you couldn't even climb up that so I gained about three feet and I was still at the top of that beach when the first b-29 landed on the first airfield so that was how slow it was but once we got up that bridge onto that airfield we went across the airfield to cut off any vets from anybody on the left and third Marine Division went oh the men of 3rd Marine Division they went across and one up Suribachi so we had the island separated and our fourth the division started to the right which was north and third Marine Division went up through Bochy so we finally got across the airfield and terns headed north but that they were still fighting on the end of the runway when we got there so but the strategy worked and eventually and we got battle lines going both directions and it became an operation that was halfway sensible the only thing is a general whip was kind of wrong when he said it was gonna take 72 hours I'll take the whole out it turned in a little bit more than today's one five weeks so just energy was working that now it became a more normal operation but that doesn't mean that you know most of the Japanese were underground so they had and most of them died under their turn we blew the we found two entrances to those caverns and we put 500-pound C two at each entrance and blew it up seal them off and that's where we got some knowledge because after we blew it up and the rocks came down and kept funky stop falling almost a Japanese craft climbed up out of one of those entrances that we blew up he was bleeding it knows no length coming up but was able to communicate with him that he's the one that told us that how many people were still on the grounds the Admiral was still I mean the general was still under that general Kuribayashi was under there with 20,000 troops and so many of them died on there we sent him back in there to tell him was gonna bomb again and come out if they wish and when he came back out of there he said that Admiral general Kuribayashi said they weren't coming out they were gonna stay there and so unfortunately he died there because he didn't bring us all out they didn't surrender that was their policy right that was their boss and they you see he gave each one or his command a command that we are probably gonna die here but it's an honor to die for the Emperor so that doesn't matter but I want each one of you to make a personal pledge that before you die you'll kill 10 Marines at least and so he made them pledge that and of course they would have tried that if they ever come up out of their things but not too many people came to the surface but it still became quite a battle because on the northern end we were still losing people every time we took a step we were still losing people until we hit the other end and finally for us it was over them so but it they still were dying even after we come back from the front so it was pretty pretty nasty stuff how would you describe the skill of the Japanese fighter they were obviously dedicated but the Japanese are part problem they are very racist and they are also dedicated to the Emperor and of course they got that belief about those nine virgins they're going to get when they get to heaven if they die for the country and so they were very tenacious and I think everyone a Medicare carry out that ten Marines before I die and they were most significant but as a fighting unit you drop their commander and they've become totally disorganized they weren't like us at times there was one time we had to accompany and the fourth Marine Division there was a private leading the company because the officers had been shot but the Japanese were like that if you drop their leaders they've become totally disorganized and they were not a very effective fighting unit once that happened and so that was a major factor of the people that were on the surface fighting because they they just go to pieces when they don't have a leader and it was it was a big deal for that operation so we're almost out of time but as you look back now 75 years since the battle what does your service and the service of your fellow Marines mean to you that day that changed my life completely my mother was a dear Christian that brought us up in a Christian home and I thought I was a Christian all during that war so I didn't fear death at all but I went through that whole war on my mother's religion thinking I was okay but I didn't become a Christian until I was 55 years old a long time after the war because moved Pomona California and a little next door to a Methodist parsonage there and as a young minister from Mississippi named Maggie Wilks was the second preacher that came there after we moved there in 1954 and we became fast friends he was from Mississippi nufs Alabama so we had that Southern heritage you know and we talked a lot and became big friends and one day I'm talking to McGee and he says Joel I hate to tell you this but you're not even a Christian I said Oh McGee I've been a Christian all my life he said no yeah he says you've been skating along on your mother's religion and that's no good I said what'd I do to become Christian McGee he said do you want to become a Christian right now and I saw yes I do just tell me how he said well close your eyes and repeat this prayer after me and he said to me the prisoners need you know the sinner's prayer the prayer accept Jesus and then when I opened my eyes the world look totally different for me and McGee said now you're a Christian sir and I've tried to be a Christian from then on because it changed my life I never finished high school that I intended to go back to finish it and when my wife and I got mad and I hadn't we had my oldest daughter it became apparent to me it's more important for you to put milk on the table for that kid than it is for you to go to spectacle and so that's how it is today and we have two wonderful daughters because of it because of my wife mainly I was just disciplinarian family cause my wife would tell them one to do something that she didn't like she said where did your father get told and so that became password not and I taught my daughter's this the best thing you can do to show your love for your father is to love and respect your mother you know you better do it because there's consequences if you don't yes sir and so I'll tell you today that was a that was a part of the reason matter of fact if my dog my oldest daughter was in here she said if I hadn't been afraid of you I'd probably be in haight-ashbury today so I was fine I love that we'll have to call time there thank you sir very much for your time today I appreciate being here thank you and I have a hope see you around next year excellent Joe Rogers US Marine Corps veteran World War two in the Battle of Iwo Jima I'm Gregg Caramba this is Veterans Chronicles you

Channel: American Veterans Center

Views: 286,951

Keywords: AVC, American Veterans Center, veteran, veterans, history, army, navy, air force, marines, coast guard, military, navy seal, united states marine corps, world war ii, wwii, iwo jima

Id: r8isPZ3N8d4

Length: 39min 54sec (2394 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 07 2020