Iwo Jima: The Island That Had To Be Taken | Boys of H Company | War Stories

at a critical turning point in the second world war 80 000 marines prepare for a daring assault on the strategic japanese island we didn't know how dangerous it was never had a clue it's like walking into a shooting gallery confronted by overwhelming resistance they risk everything to defeat a tyrannical enemy that is sworn to kill them and never surrender [Music] lost there was just unbelievable there was hell on earth many of the marines are boys no older than 20. many will never return from the black sand beaches of iwo jima and pay the ultimate price for their victory [Music] december 7th 1941 the japanese launched an unprovoked attack on the u.s naval fleet at pearl harbor president roosevelt spoke for the nation no matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion the american people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory imperial japan joined forces with hitler and mussolini the previous year to form the brutal axis powers the offensive strike on america was a defiant grab for power by the island nation and its military leaders america was at war u.s forces struck back at the japanese they liberated a string of islands from the imperial army and pushed ever closer to the japanese homeland the u.s set up air bases on these islands and on november 24th 1944 began a massive bombing campaign against tokyo for the americans iwo jima became an island of strategic importance situated halfway between tokyo and their air bases in saipan the us needed it to succeed in their advance on japan but to the japanese iwo jima was sovereign soil the first defense of their homeland the eight square miles of volcanic rock was equipped with radar installations to detect the approaching bombers and loaded with fighters to intercept and destroy them [Music] over a hundred american b-29 crews were lost the japanese fighters were also destroying us ships the island had to be taken february 18 1945 in the early morning hours the u.s navy began shelling iwo jima from both sea and air their objective was to soften the beachhead for the landing of 80 000 marines that would begin that day 19 year old private first class jim naughton was preparing for the invasion he was the most bomb place in the pacific and they figured they pretty well they thought that we'd probably be in there about three to four days to be done the americans on the ships had no idea their shells were having little effect on the japanese defenses japanese navy ensign kiyoshi endo samuel we were ordered to make underground shelters where we took cover the bombardments continued without a break but we were able to endure [Music] the japanese carved over 16 miles of tunnels and fortified gun emplacements under the entire island inside mount suribachi the tunnels plunged seven stories into the earth and included a heavily fortified hospital and command center japanese imperial army lieutenant general tatamichi kurabayashi commanded the island from deep inside suribachi outnumbered and outgunned by the us he could not win his strategy was simple and brutal kill as many marines as possible he ordered each of his soldiers to take at least 10 american lives anything less would mean a dishonorable death japanese master sergeant k it was considered an honor to die in battle we'd gladly offer our lives under such a virtuous commander on iwo jima the japanese soldiers could not count on any help from their navy or air force all the japanese warships and fighter planes were being moved to a neighboring island they were preparing for the inevitable final stand against the americans on okinawa the japanese left on iwo jima had to hold the island alone the u.s battle plan to take the island was to land three divisions of marines they would move north to take the airfields all except for one group the fifth division's 28th marines were ordered to split the japanese defenses in the south and take the highest point the dormant volcano mount suribachi private first class john douglas was 19 years old at the time and i can still see that in my mind's eye yet and looking it over and looking over the mountain and that was i i can tell you that i didn't know how successful we'd be going up that mountain i thought that was probably going to be a bad bad scene nineteen-year-old private first class clay coble there was never any uh talk about uh if we take it or that sort of thing we're going to get it and we're going in there and the japanese are going to surrender our boys i'm sorry to tell you but you're going to have to kill them now i know killing a lot of people have a lot of qualms but if you don't kill them they'll kill you an 18 year old doesn't think too far ahead i mean you you know you're going into action and i wasn't really scared i knew one thing that concerned me was i knew when i went over that rope ladder in the morning that i was leaving the mothership that i wasn't i would have nothing of america you know i would be just i would just be on on a place that i just had no idea of anything that was going to happen to me that part was scary on the eve of the invasion marines attended church services on their troop transports i mean most guys i think were pretty much ship shaped with with the almighty when they were getting going in because they never knew where they were going to be in eternity or not you know [Music] the day of the planned assault was monday february 19 1945. you could have heard a pin drop right on board ship because everybody's was you know pretty tense god only knew what was ahead of us you know whether they're going to get wounded killed or what what it's going to be like nobody talked down the hole when we were waiting to go until they say marines report to your debarkation station prune sergeant just said this is it let's go leg over the rail and start climbing down you'd like to be climbing up but you're climbing down you know you want to do anything but that but that's what your borders are and that's what you've been trained to do so you do it as the higgins boats filled with marines they left the ships and began circling waiting for the signal to hit the beach inside the small wooden crafts the marines were easy targets when you've never had fire coming towards you you don't even know what it sounds like but all of a sudden you realize these sounds are different than when you're firing you know it sounds like a ping ping ping ping when you're firing yourself it's quite noisy and then when you see people falling you know you know they're they're hit get him out of the way get in what he can get the invasion began at 9 00 a.m when the first wave of landing craft were ordered ashore for the japanese waiting on the island surrender was not an option i ordered that each man received two grenades the first grenade was intended for the enemy the second grenade was to be used to commit suicide if they were severely wounded or were going to be captured the soldiers knew they could not be taken by the americans at any cost all those who killed themselves before their capture would die with honor [Music] as the first wave of americans landed the japanese forces pounded them with heavy machine gun fire and shelling they were completely decimated by volleys of fire from japanese rockets motors and artillery pieces the damage to the americans who tried to land was enormous the men on the beach reported back to the command ship that they were pinned down by the overwhelming japanese resistance the 28th marines age company could not move in until the beach was cleared they circled and waited without any protection from enemy fire and shells i really realized that that i could very well be killed we could see planes being shot down coming down the flame and smoke you know and crashing in the water guys don't want to say you know i'm scared if one guy says it then the whole boatload is worried you keep it to yourself corporal wesley plummer was 20 years old i read the 23rd psalms a couple of times the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he maketh me lie down in green pastures he leadeth me beside the still waters he restoreth my soul he leaded me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death i will fear no evil for that or with me i've carried it ever since i left iwo jima three hours after the first wave stormed the beaches they had finally broken through each company was ordered to land whether you like it or not you're going you got to go corporal charles johnson was 21 years old as soon as the higginbots hit the deck and the gizmo went down i'd look and see all the junk and every i said holy christmas this place is something else this is gonna be something [Music] when the ramp drops you all get out of there as fast as you can some go right some go left some go straight the marines had trained for this day for thousands of hours when they hit the beach their training took over everybody spreads out because you're taught that you never ever keep together bad enough to get one guy killed instead of getting four or five killed the reason that you want to clear the beaches they've already got their artillery and all their mortars zeroed in they they've got all the numbers in all they have to do is just drop in the rounds and that's you had to get off the beach because that's where they wipe you out [Music] to clear the beach the marines had to overcome the first of iwo jima's formidable natural it defenses a tremendous 15 to 18 foot embankment of sand there we had to get up over that the island's unique volcanic ash sand was harder to move in than any of the marines had expected [Music] it was terrible sand it was very coarse and loose and it just practically went down to your ankles and so it's tough to run you couldn't get traction from this sand it was very difficult to walk or run sort of like coffee grinds [Music] the course sand made it impossible to dig in and find any cover john douglas had the extra burden of clearing the beach with a heavy browning automatic rifle and clips of ammunition called magazines the weapon weighed 19 and a half pounds each magazine weighed a pound and a half and i carried 13 magazines and that's why i couldn't clear the beach i couldn't go any farther and when i went down i could see i could see the sand or the machine a machine gun was coming and i couldn't do anything about it i couldn't move like the marines before them the boys of age company found themselves trapped on the beach they were facing certain death from the japanese guns if they could not free themselves from the treacherous black sand [Music] noon on february 19th 1945 the 28th marines h company landed on the treacherous sands of iwo jima it was the first u.s invasion of japanese soil and the japanese defenders were prepared to die rather than surrender one yard to the americans before the first day's end the boys of h company and the rest of the 28th marine's mission was to cut across the island nearly 700 yards over open enemy territory as soon as the men hit the beach they could only advance a few feet before they were trapped by crushing enemy fire the japanese in front of them and a wall of wreckage behind them there was no chance for relief the japanese destroyed much of the heavy equipment the marines were depending on to take the island corporal wesley plummer when we landed on the beach it was very crowded some of the boats they had to stop offshore because of the wreckage there wasn't any place for them to dock or land private first class bill nicholas was 19 years old you could smell the the cordite the gunpowder very readily and there were sights of the there were sites that you would see but you would not want to share them with anybody [Music] people have been literally destroyed or some were wounded trying to find someplace to get help the best way i can explain i look at the beach and i look it was like hell on earth that's the best way i can smell it terrible looking site [Music] as thousands of marines were wounded their bodies ripped apart by japanese guns medical corpsmen and doctors fought to save lives in the midst of the carnage u.s navy lieutenant dr thomas brown all the men that i saw on the beach in our battalion when i landed were dead it wasn't but a minute or two until i heard that corman saying oh jesus help me he was attending a wounded marine whose part of his skull had been blown away and i said roy i'm not jesus but i'll help you we banished his head there wasn't really much to do and he'd given him a shot of morphine the man was dying and we knew it and just a few minutes he expired with his last gasp [Music] the marines believed the months of intense u.s bombing before the battle eliminated the enemy defenses but once the men landed heavy fire was coming at them from fortified bunkers dug into the side of mount suribachi every marine on the island had to thought i know that at some time i'm going to get hit i don't know when or how bad but i'm not going to get off this island without having been hit we were like sitting ducks the men of age company had to advance they had to get off the beach or they would be slaughtered in the face of relentless enemy fire they climbed over the beach embankment and onto an exposed plateau when we got over the rise the first rise on the beach was when all hail broke loose [Music] and that's when we started having a lot of casualties because of all the firepower and shelling and so forth that was going on i mean it was heavy stuff coming in i mean artillery fire and mortars and grenades and rifle fire and everything i got off the beach and the first thing i thought i saw was a i thought this is my first seeing of a dead jab and i got up there and and it was only legs and it was just the bottom and that was they had the same kind of leggings that i had on the same kind of shoes that i had on i knew it was a marine it was impossible for the marines to fight an invisible enemy i didn't see any japanese at any time and getting off the beach they could see us but we couldn't see them and that was a very confusing part the japanese turned the entire island into an underground fortress miles of interconnected underground bunkers and caves ran the entire length of iwo jima the tunnels gave the japanese their only advantage surprise attacks japanese ensign seiya oyede japan had less than 21 000 men on iwo jima and the u.s had several times more the americans possessed superior weapons and greater stockpiles of supplies but iwojima had to be defended to the end in order to protect the japanese mainland because of the tunnel network the japanese could ambush the marines from any direction no matter where the marines moved they were constantly surrounded by enemy fire you just kind of zigzagged and you didn't really know what you're zigzagging from but you just did that's the way you're trained and you go as far as you can and safely and then keep your line and then get down if you've never been shot at by two or more people that's trying to kill you you've missed an experience because when the bullets come close to your head they make a pop noise i mean a very loud pop noise of course as long as you hear them you're okay it's those that you don't hear that gives you trouble you're bound to get hit because there's just firepower everywhere just like walking into a shooting gallery the only cover the marines could find was the massive bombed out craters well you look for a hole to jump in and then when you think you you've been in that hole long enough you take off again and jump in the next one whatever you could some protection try you look for protect protection along the way when the men found cover they used it to regroup i don't know where nothing's that either keeping and the squad leader took out a picture out of his billfold of his girlfriend back home he kissed that picture and he said honey if you could just see me now he put it back in very carefully very cautiously in his billfold and put his billfold back in his pocket he stepped up over this little rise and he was shot in the chest and fell back he never did say another word didn't groan he was dead before he hit the ground i thought man they mean business you know they they're going to kill all of us if they can under crushing enemy fire the men tried to push forward private first class jim norton made it off the beach not only to receive orders to go back go back and get wilson's gear he was a runner assigned to carry messages between commanders but his squad was cut off without their radio equipment the other runner was killed landing on evil so um my lieutenant said to me not and go back and get wilson's gear when naughton got to the beach he was not prepared for the sight of his dead buddy i guess you just can't believe it that has happened you know uh but when you see him there he's realizing he's he's gone you know it's a it's a shock that you're going to see many times i couldn't even find this stuff you know it was just chaos back there i mean guys were hollering at me you know get you know get the hell out of here and you just have to go on you know leave him there somebody's going to take care of him and do something for him i mean for his body so that's a that's a tough thing to live with [Music] as the sun set on the first day h companies stopped a few hundred feet short of covering the width of the island over two thousand marines were killed or wounded those that survived suffered extreme exhaustion none of the marines predicted the ferocity with which the japanese fought after the first day of battle we uh all had in our minds it was not going to be a five-day battle it was going to be much longer as the marines prepared to spend their first night on iwo jima sleep was not an option no matter how tired they were usually you get off a beach area and then you get into trees or brush or something it gives you some cover we had no cover on evil except to burrow in the sand marine patrols probed the japanese defenses under cover of darkness they had no idea that with each step they took the enemy was literally right under their feet hidden by their vast network of tunnels the japanese could strike anywhere at any time february 19 1945 as navy ships shelled enemy positions on iwo jima the japanese responded with a heavy artillery barrage the u.s marines on the island were caught in the crossfire private first class jim norton the noise of those things going over was incredible it's not like a free train and of course then they're exploding all over the place i think most of us figured this was it we were going to end up an eternity next second you know because it was just unbelievable holes and craters from the intense shelling provided only fleeting protection an artillery shell landed right next to pfc norton with sniper fire all around him he didn't dare leave the hole i expected it to go off anytime [Music] big long thing like that it didn't but it was there for days in the black of night japanese forces had a clear advantage they had created hidden firing positions called spider holes connected to their vast network of tunnels they used them to ambush the marines outmanned and outgunned the japanese had to rely on surprise to gain any advantage on the americans but the marines were trained to be wary of japanese tricks and avoid shooting at night even if they thought they saw an enemy soldier [Music] private first class bill nicholas we've been told don't open file at somebody a night unless you're real sure because several things one you may get the wrong man two you may cons uh give away your concealment or your position pfc nicholas carried a browning automatic rifle which could fire 450 rounds per minute it was a powerful weapon which made nicholas a prime target of japanese snipers shooting that brownian automatic rifle out into the middle of nowhere would do nothing more than draw fire [Music] where is it coming from i don't know i don't see it i'm not gonna shoot out there if i can't see him at night to distinguish friend from foe the marines used passwords they chose words with sounds that did not exist in the japanese language the passwords were either cars or trees lincoln because they have a tough time pronouncing l's and you were to use maple because they have a real tough time pronouncing those when the sun finally rose on the second morning private first class jim norton discovered he'd survived the night only because of the vigilance of a fellow marine right outside the foxhole probably within five feet was a dead japanese and he had all kinds of stuff on him to blow us up so somebody got him before he got us and it was that way every night you know your nerves play tricks on you you think you see them and they're not there but a lot of times they are and you don't see them [Music] that morning the 28th marines h company was to begin the assault on the right side of mount suribachi they waited for the navy to soften japanese resistance japanese navy ensign kiyoshi endo watched the bombardments the american battleships were lined up in a row when one row completed their mission the next one would come in from the south the bombardment continued without a break the japanese returned fire unleashing an intense artillery barrage [Music] for the marines on the ground the shells were landing dangerously close corporal wesley plummer there was a terrific amount of shelling from the ships out at sea and the planes strafing and bombing and dropping napalm bombs just a few hundred yards or or so in front of us the u.s commanders monitored the attack on board ship at 8 30 a.m the naval bombardment stopped to allow the marines to move out but when the navy shelling ceased the japanese resistance was as heavy as before the first troops to assault the mountain were devastated by heavy japanese fire each company was called up to relieve them they were all in bandages blood soaked bandages and they had rifles turned upside down with plasma going out and then the guys were wounded let's go and we thought if we have to window where those guys were and we're going to get the same treatment lots of wounds boy as the 28th marines age company took up their position they were pinned down [Music] japanese gunners exacted a devastating toll on the company [Music] bob norman was shot our lieutenant was here all by the same japanese position there private first class john douglas we were drawing enemy fire from a part of monster avacy that you could see you could see them firing off out of that area we were having trouble we couldn't couldn't move and so the tank came up and tried to give us a little support the sherman tanks brought the firepower of 75 millimeter cannons but they also increased the danger for the marines on the ground tanks draw tremendous fire always from the enemy usually mortar fire and he was writing back about as close as he can get and uh we hollered at him to move because those the mortars from the japanese were coming right around us the tank crew's field of vision was limited by the vehicle's tiny windows the crew couldn't find the japanese mortar position without opening the hatch and exposing themselves to enemy fire [Music] the company was going to be wiped out if they could not direct the tanks fire there's a telephone right there you grab it and you can communicate with the driver of the tank and the rest of the people in there it was a suicide mission to get to the tank's telephone it was a terrible place to go to because all the small iron fire from the japanese was directed at the tank and anybody that was talking on it was going to get probably going to get shot charles johnson didn't hesitate i really don't know what possessed me to do that i don't know i know that we need more firepower up there if johnson didn't make it to the tank the men of h company would be slaughtered on the second day of the battle of iwo jima the men of the 28th marines h company were pinned down at the base of mount suribachi [Music] they were under heavy fire from a japanese mortar the marines called in a sherman tank to destroy the japanese position but the tank crew couldn't see the enemy corporal charles johnson risked death by trying to direct the tank crews fire [Music] so he did what we really were trained to do and that's to go into the back of the tank and he told them where the japanese were company hoped the tank would destroy the enemy position before the enemy zeroed in on corporal johnson johnson was hit sir coleman he sacrificed himself to save the men of h company williams risked his life to save johnson as their friend private first class jim norton watched helplessly [Applause] i wanted to go with him see how he was you know but i knew i couldn't but i knew he was at least okay because he was walking you know because of johnson's heroic actions the tank found its target [Music] i didn't do any more than anybody else on an island believe me i mean there's guys on that island did just as much maybe more than i ever did but i i'd maybe i was in the right place at the right time that's it corporal johnson was evacuated to the beach where he found a friend from h company who had been critically wounded in the same mortar attack [Applause] though the wounded were no longer on the front lines they still were not safe navy dr thomas brown there were a lot of men who were waiting to be evacuated from the beach were killed by the enemy fire while they were waiting johnson and his friend were evacuated for treatment to a hospital ship just off the coast of iwo jima while on board johnson saw firsthand the massive number of casualties suffered on the island many of the men didn't make it the bodies of dead marines filled the deck johnson's friend was among them they said all guys that can make it please come over this because they buried him at sea when they put him up on the slab with the flag over draped over him and then they said prayers and all and they left it up and dumped them right in the ocean i could hear the splash in the water it was rough left side yeah [Music] it just hurts so much that i i i it's hard to explain i just it just hurt me tremendously [Music] if you let your mind think about being buried at sea it's a very very cold cold serious serious thing and they couldn't keep those men all that way too till they finally got them somewhere but it's just a it's about the worst thing i can think of as being buried at sea back on iwo jima the 28th marines h company were still locked in a fierce battle at the base of mount suribachi the men had no cover they were in clear view of the japanese gun emplacements on the mountain the company was taking heavy casualties second day our lieutenant was gone you know that's your the guy who's been trained to lead a platoon and knew all those battle plans and everything else and he's gone so then a platoon sergeant got to take the platoon after that eventually it was a corporal doing it so that's one thing about americans i mean when you're there's always some guy that can take charge you know what i mean even if it's a private and keep moving i mean they don't just say we gotta quit because you know the commander is gone or something the 28th marines advance was long and bloody on the way up they had to destroy each japanese bunker built into the mountain every yard the men advanced was hard fought private first class john douglas to go across the island i think was a thousand yards or something like that at that bottleneck area and we were three days going across that thousand yards it was just just a miserable slow process and you you'd be down for more than you'd be up going the casualties mounted as the 28th marines tried to advance up the mountain at the base of suribachi h company was caught in a deadly crossfire i had my var and another bar for another squad was in the same hole i was at the squad leader said one of you fellows have got a split because you got too much firepower in one area so i was with the group that i was supposed to be with and he was out this young fella just got shot 125 caliber right through his throat he only fluttered his eyes a couple of times and he was dead i wonder if you're not gonna be next because uh it's getting down to now six or seven guys that are that are not killed in our of our 45 guys so not killed or wounded you know as the 28th marines moved closer to the summit the japanese resistance intensified every day was worse every day was worse only a few days into the battle the marines were suffering from exhaustion and sleep deprivation the relentless days of heavy combat were taking a toll i can't see nothing they rarely got a glimpse of the enemy when they did they had only seconds to act the slightest hesitation cost them their i lives fire my br because it was full of volcanic ash and i had a dickens of a time even keeping that thing clean up till that point and it wouldn't fire half the time the japanese got down and we got down and then the grenade went off february 22 1945 [Music] the battle of iwo jima was in its fourth night the men of the 28th regiment's h company we're locked in heavy fighting at the base of mount suribachi corporal clyde larkin and private first class john douglas were in a hole facing a japanese infiltrator [Music] his weapon jammed as the japanese soldier pulled the pin on the hand grenade [Music] larkin got off a shot but missed i said to lark and i said larkin i'm hit and he he said he said a funny thing he said don't die here doug he said get out of the hole and and i knew i had to get out of the hole i knew i had to get some help medical corpsman archie williams was in a nearby hole with pfc jim norton help was only 30 feet away but douglas's leg was severely wounded he would have to crawl over the exposed ground barbie get him somehow he made it out of the hole i need room i'm here gave me some morphine and then he just sat there in the hole with me i just just stayed there all night with me he just never left me he just stayed right right there he just was a hero he's my hero [Music] the amazing thing about a corn is that they they respond to every cry and everybody that's in need i don't care how heavy the fire was and how much it was out and open if someone hollered corman a corpsman came running when you've got to go out where somebody's been wounded and take care of them you're putting yourself right into the same spot they were so the chances you're not getting hit are almost unbelievable but that's what these guys do constantly they're very courageous the life of a corpsman is very very fragile stretcher bearers carried douglas to the aid station at first light as he was lifted out his best friend charlie bond found him he was an eye company and i was an age company and he he told me don't take care of myself and be and be well anyway he didn't make it [Music] charlie bond was killed in a mortar blast to have somebody that's your real buddy you know it really i don't know it just makes um it makes war real close the 28th marines assault on suribachi stalled pinned down by heavy resistance they could not advance any further they continued suffering heavy casualties private first class bill nicholas all of the 28th regiment was around mount sribachi each company was somewhat in the middle of a broken line around the base once again the company was being decimated by heavy artillery high on the mountain they brought in more firepower bfc nicholas was ordered to help the tank direct its fire [Music] as i picked up the phone the japanese began to file mortar shells down around that area one of them exploded someplace behind me and some of the fragments hit me in the leg i got one piece a shrapnel which went through my nose up for my eye pfc nicholas was put aboard a higgins boat the same craft the marines used to land and was taken off the island as he was being transferred to the hospital ship he saw a welcome sight [Music] i lifted up in the stretcher and everything stopped i remember kind of leaning over my side and hauling down you know what's going on and they said look over that way you see it and i looked over toward mount shirabachi and at that time the the flag went up the men of the fifth division's 28th marines easy company finally fought their way to the summit of the mountain and raised the flag and that was yeah that was a wonderful sight [Music] but there's a lot of guys that never saw it you know never saw them never will see that corporal wesley plummer watched from the base of the mountain that made tears come to eyes it was emotional after all the fellas that we had lost but we'd lost during the few days it took take that place [Music] the marines paid a staggering price to plant that flag on mount suribachi over 5600 marines had been killed or wounded in the first five days the men who had survived took some comfort in their victory on mount suribachi you know we thought it was over they figure it was the end with the flag up there like that what the marines didn't know was that while they may have captured suribachi the japanese still occupied miles of tunnels and caves that traversed the inside japanese navy ensign kiyoshi endo some ke khan isn't [Music] they transformed the shape of the mountain blowing away a third of it but unless the u.s blew off the whole mountain the japanese could not be wiped out each company was ordered to push north and help take the airfields in the center of the island as the marines moved out they discovered the famous flag was a rallying point for their enemy it intensified the hatred of the japanese on there i mean they really want to war then after that seeing our flag up there private first class clay coble you couldn't get up and run if you did you would be killed and and when you when you're in something like that you can lay off a flat you really get to know mother earth as the japanese resistance intensified the marines feared many of them would not survive the long and bloody fight that lay ahead february 19th 1945 over 80 000 u.s marines stormed the beaches of iwo jima island it was the first u.s invasion of japanese territory and the japanese vowed to defend their homeland to the death it had been more than three years since the japanese launched an unprovoked sneak attack on the american naval fleet docked at pearl harbor u.s forces were locked in brutal combat in the pacific with a tyrannical enemy bent on world domination that had allied itself with hitler and mussolini after five days of fighting on iwo jima the u.s flag was raised atop mount suribachi but the marines on the island feared the fighting was far from over the japanese continued to attack american forces from a fortified network of tunnels and caves concentrated in mount suribachi japanese ensign kiyoshiendo was conquered but we still did a lot of damage to the americans general kribayashi's operation to go underground was effective the marines turned north towards the airfields in the center of the island the fighting was ferocious in the next three days over 2400 marines were wounded or killed [Music] private first class jim norton you have visions of what combat might be like we never thought we'd be in anything like this the loss there was just unbelievable with hell on earth that place was just unbelievable the marines discovered and captured hundreds of caves connected to tunnels these caves explained how the enemy could remain invisible yet continue to put up such deadly resistance the americans tried to use prisoners of war to convince the japanese in the caves to come out many ultimately chose death over surrender u.s forces used flamethrowers to blast the caves and tunnels with napalm japanese master sergeant k when we joined the service we knew we would fight to the last drop of blood for our country we had been taught that if we became pows we would be shot to death there is no other choice [Music] we went down in their caves some i went into a couple of them just give you a queasy feeling being in there to be honest with you you know because you never know where they were going to come out or where they were and um we didn't stand there too long we just looked around and see if we could see any of them in there i think then what we probably did was sealed it off machine gun at clay cobalt provided cover for demolition experts as they used explosives to seal off caves trapping the enemy soldiers who remained inside [Applause] i heard one trying to dig out all night long i didn't get much sleep that night because i was afraid he was going to break through real near where i was my foxhole so i really stayed alert he was still digging when we went on i i don't i doubt if he ever got out as the battle moved into its second week there were rare lulls in the fighting giving the marines a chance to rest and ride home all communication from the island was controlled letters home were kept short and vague on a letter i wrote to my mother in february 26 1945 i said dear mom the fighting was fierce but i came through all right these have been eight hectic days i told my mother that he's fine and uh i was on iwo jima and that's all i could write that's all they'd allow us to write and that it was a real short letter after the days of fighting home seemed a lifetime away and so did a hot meal the men were issued rations which included cigarettes crackers and cans of meat dr thomas brown discovered a style of cooking unique to iwo we were in an area of uh evil where the land was hot and it was old volcanic soil and we used to cook our rations and some of those steam vents that came up through the rocks from way down here someplace the accommodations were much better on the hospital ship anchored off the coast on board the wounded marines got a reprieve from the harsh conditions on the island but for many of the wounded men their battle was not over after three days on board private first class bill nicholas got his orders having found out that this piece of shrapnel did not injure my eye uh basically i was announced capable to go back to the island and so we did it again we climbed over the side along with some replacements that have been in that hurricane's boat when it came up to the hospital ship we climbed down and joined them and went back to the beach nicholas was sent back into the heat of the battle his first mission was to locate his unit it was no easy task marines were now spread across the width of the island i finally walked up to and i recognized one of my buddies and i said where's h company and he said well you're in it so i'm back with my group again 12 days into the battle what remained of the 28th marines h company move north to help secure the rest of the island the third and fourth division had taken the second airfield and h company moved along their left flank as the marines closed in on the northern end of the island fighting intensified japanese troops were becoming more and more desperate we were up at the northern end of the island of course our platoon headquarters was at rear of the line which meant that when they came from our rear we were all alone all of a sudden they come out i mean they come out fast they were coming out running shouting waving their flags japanese ensign kioshiendo when officers made their last assaults they let the charge with their swords charging into enemy fire it was a matter of principle to charge into the enemy when they were going to die it was over probably in a short time maybe five or ten minutes never saw any other live ones after that at all you know i saw a lot of dead ones but there were no live ones the marines knew the japanese would fight to the death they had no regard for their lives and i believe they felt it was an honor to die for their emperor and that's not the way we felt or it's not the way i felt and they they used very treacherous tricks when fighting as long as any of them were living they uh they would fight [Music] one day three came out and they had their hands up real high and this little short stick with a white flag or a rag or something on it signify we're surrendering and when they got out in the open and some got up to you know accept that surrender he fell down and he became a human tripod if you will and they had a machine gun strapped on his back some of the japanese would jump out with a hand grenade to the chest and they would explode in in midair [Music] even after death the japanese were dangerous they would booby-trap their own dead because a lot of guys were looking for souvenirs if you didn't get your own dead out of there pretty fast they'd booby-trap them so i mean you touched a body you'd be killed u.s military planners thought the battle of iwo jima would last three to four days but after two weeks of fighting there was still no end in sight [Music] really you feel hopeless when you're on there you figure you're never gonna get off that's where i felt i thought we'd never get off that thing and we didn't know where we're going to be how we were going to end up you know because they were not giving up that's for sure almost 12 000 marines had either been killed or wounded so you just wonder with all the guys that are gone you just have to figure somewhere along the line i'm going to get it you know you often times you're a little more alone than you think you're going to be the 28th marines h company was trying to advance northward beyond a place called nishi village they were closing in on the new japanese command center and the fighting escalated the marines couldn't see the enemy but suspected they were just over the ridge we were protected by rocks and various other things but we knew we had to go forward and we were on the reverse slope of a hill and one of our guys i think could see the enemy there and he said anybody got any grenades and i threw a couple to them hand grenades were the best way to soften the target before the marines stormed over the ridge the enemy also had grenades you know i didn't think it was a grenade i don't know it didn't look like it should have realized what it was but i didn't but after 14 days you're not as alert as you were when you first got there but the next thing i know i got hit it had been 14 bloody days since the marines stormed the beaches of iwo jima the 28th marines h company was pushing to the northern end of the island when the japanese attacked them the marines had taken a small ridge but the japanese showed no signs of retreating marine private first class jim norton's lower right leg was nearly severed by a hand grenade blast the japanese mounted a counter-attack and pushed the marines off the ridge with no choice but to withdraw they left the wounded jim norton in a crater until they could retake the ridge pfc naughton was alone in no man's land he was trapped between the two lines and in excruciating pain i don't know how to explain it's almost like getting hit by a truck i guess but also if you ever put your finger in a live socket you know you have that buzzing feeling well that's the way your whole side felt similar to that i do remember passing out and how long it was out i don't know corman arky williams would have to brave enemy fire to help norton so he made his way toward the japanese to help his friend it wasn't just a strange cormorant coming up i mean i knew him and we lived with this guy for a year and a half he was in my tent so i mean we were real buddies and i think he gave me a shot of morphing i'm not positive he was going to do other things and he straightened up a little bit and he said oh i'm hit i set them on me to give you a shot of motion he says yes i said i don't know how so he told me and i did and he said i'm going back i said no stay here i said don't worry where we are they'll get us you know he's not like i'm going i'm going to go back no his reason for going backward probably thought that he would bleed to death that i possibly would you stay here you stay low so he did leave even though i didn't want him to i didn't want to be alone i suppose and as he went back he saw another wounded marine maybe wounded from the same thing that hit me arkey was shot again this time the wound was fatal [Music] he was just an ordinary guy who you knew would do what he had to do you know when i guess americans are like that we do what we have to do when we have to do it and that's what they did but he was a great guy and he was gone just like that with arky dead pfc norton was again alone in no man's land bleeding heavily from his shattered leg the pain was intense i remember that and i kept thinking if i had a knife i could cut that off and it wouldn't hurt so bad which is ridiculous but you know you don't know what to think i couldn't even move because if i did the sniper was all peppering that hole all the time right around where i was so i just had to stay still pretend i was dead i figured if i did and why you know i would be i was out there all alone for a long time probably 12 hours or more and then the sniper fire was gone it got dark and i called for help i guess they told me i did i don't remember doing it the closest marines were 50 yards away at first they weren't certain whether norton's cries were a japanese trick then his close friend jack burns recognized his voice none is that you i remember jack burns calling me and he says keep talking so i can find you so i did burns and i were friends so he volunteered to go out i'll go first cover me to reach norton sergeant burns and the other marines had to leave their cover and crawl into no man's land in full sight of japanese positions [Music] there were no trees left i mean they were just stumps or whatever was left them after being blown around and found they didn't know where they were going well they took their life in their hands going out there together no question about it they should have got a medal for going out there because they were ahead of the lines you know at night always get their wounded and they even bring back their dead if they can they didn't have even the structure they had a shelter half which is the piece of the tent that you put together when you two guys put it together for a pup tent and they managed to get me into that [Music] and all the time that we were going back they were shooting flares down at us so they could see us both the japanese and our own side was shooting flares so every time those flares would go off you have to stop dumping on the ground you might say and get down so they couldn't be seen i think they put me on a jeep then and took me down to the aid station norton's friends had rescued him from the japanese but his life was still in danger navy dr thomas brown the aid station was not protected some doctors were shot one was killed and i know of it's the only one ever heard of and a few were injured to the point that they were out of action sometimes battle was intense i remember we took care of 92 casualties in a period of about two hours [Music] i'm not going to say what great heroes we were we were taught in medical school to take care of the sick or injured the navy doctors could see that norton's condition was critical i guess they tried to straighten this thing out my leg and they asked me if i could feel it i said no oh yeah okay chaplain come here a priest came over to me and gave me the last right well it's pretty well gone by that time you know i've lost a lot of blood while norton was fighting for his life his fellow marines continued pushing forward after two weeks the marines had captured iwo jima's airfields at great cost and the reason for taking the island was already becoming clear [Music] the crew of a b-29 bomber called dynamite was returning from a tokyo bombing run its bombay doors were stuck open creating extra drag that depleted its guess we're going in fuel the reserve fuel tank's valve was also stuck while marines were fighting in the northern end of the island the damaged b-29 made an emergency landing thirty minutes later the repaired plane left iwo jima its crew of 11 was saved from that point on american supply planes routinely used the airstrips even as bitter japanese resistance continued in the northern tip of the island with each step towards the enemy command center the japanese became more desperate all the japanese forces were now concentrated in the last square mile of the island corporal wesley plummer we were on the north end of the island and we were hitting very heavy resistance from the japanese and they called for a machine gun cover the advancing marines machine gunners had to set up in an elevated and exposed position so they could lay down a field of covering fire i knew how dangerous it was to set the machine gun up but it was just part of protecting giving fire fire protection to our platoons one man had already been killed in the area where plummer needed to set up his machine gun [Music] but he did not hesitate so i climbed over the rocks and things and set the machine gun up i could hear the bullets whistling around me [Music] if plumber's machine gun jammed or he got shot his fellow marines would be cut down by the japanese after weeks of fighting the battle of iwo jima corporal wesley plummer took up a position where a machine gun crew had just been killed the marines were pinned down by japanese fire corporal plumber's machine gun fire would provide enough cover to allow the platoon to advance if he could survive we'd set a machine gun up where you could get maximum fire or give maximum protection and you're not thinking about yourself you you're thinking about fellas you're protected i fired from that area for a couple of hours fortunately i didn't get wasn't hit my fire and and from mortars and other machine guns so forth why our company was able to advance and get across this ravine and up the other side as the battle wore on some of the marines took a break to enjoy an unexpected delivery private first class bill nicholas they did have mail call and we thought that's a miracle to be on iwo jima and have this go on the way it is and now they're having a mail call my letter was from uh dr l p brookhoff the superintendent of schools hey sir more mail from the mainland no sergeant that's all we got today lo and behold i read the letter and what it said in it was that i was receiving being awarded the membership in the national honor society but the bottom line you might say is that it told me that i was going to be granted my high school diploma congratulations that's right i took my helmet off and my baseball cap which i had i folded the letter up and put it between my line on my helmet put the baseball cap back on and put the helmet back on and that was that so i had my high school diploma maybe someday it might do me some good but it's in the past as of now after 23 days of fighting nicholas's high school classes seemed far away the lessons he was now learning were a matter of life or death who goes there you're coming in lincoln maple he thought he saw three marines approaching his position but one of them didn't look quite right the leggings that you lace down over your trousers to make them tight against your boots he had him on backwards [Music] most everybody the same instance said he's not a marine three marines shot him and the man was taken out of action as they suspected the man was a japanese soldier disguised as a marine they couldn't let their guard down for a moment against an increasingly desperate enemy the next morning bill nicholas and his platoon continued their push northward toward the middle today we decided to move out we moved about 40 50 feet in front of the place where we were the men were walking into a trap japanese soldiers were hiding in the spider hole it just took a few seconds uh i got hit in the left arm the two fellas in the middle were killed instantly my buddy had the thumb on his left hand shot off the marines were trained to make sure enemy soldiers were dead before looking after their fallen colleagues he said though the other two fellas are gone they're dead i'll help you out so he lifted me up and halfway carried me back to where he had been and i don't remember very much except that i never had any pain a lot of blood bill nicholas was evacuated from the island but this time he would not return to the battle as the marines pushed closer to the northern tip of the island they became bogged down in an area where the fighting was so fierce it was called bloody gorge japanese imperial army general tatamichi kurabayashi was in a desperate situation his forces were running out of ammunition and water japanese master sergeant k uh our physical condition has deteriorated we were suffering from shortage of food and water we did not have any new bandages so we tore the uniforms from dead soldiers to wrap our wounds with fewer than a thousand japanese forces remaining japanese master sergeant k can i carried a message to general kurabayashi's headquarters the communique was from rear admiral ichimaru requesting all the forces to join together at tatum on the northern edge of the island he knew that it would be the last battle even though the japanese troops were starving they did not consider surrendering but after weeks of fighting the japanese forces could not muster much resistance against the relentless advance of the americans the battle of iwo jima neared its end when marines uncovered what they believed to be general kurabayashi's last hideout [Music] march 26 1945 after 36 days of fighting on iwo jima u.s marines reached the final command bunker used by japanese army general tadamichi kurobayashi and the last remaining japanese command forces were inside corporal wesley plummer didn't believe they could have survived well when they blew that up it was the largest explosion and most noise i'd ever heard i don't know how many thousands of pounds of powder that they put in it but it was it was really really a large noise plowed noise some japanese believe general kurabayashi may have been killed in a last stand with american forces or may have committed suicide his body was never found for the japanese the end of the battle brought conflicting feelings japanese ensign kioshiendo the young soldiers who are trembling with the fight before the battle ready to face certain deaths cried with grief at the news they were mortified by the defeat the older soldiers only had an expression of relief some soldiers harbored deep resentment towards their leaders specifically prime minister hideki tojo japanese ensign say oiday i will never forgive torjo he interrupt people in the direct distress and he remained in tokyo and lived in luxury even now i will not forgive him [Music] with the battle finally over the marines who fought to take the island were replaced with fresh forces as they marched back to the beach they passed a graveyard where thousands of their brother marines were buried that whole area that we had fought in was seemed like it's covered in white crosses all the casualties on the island during the 36-day battle over six thousand marines died [Music] we had memorial service for the fifth marine division very emotional i felt real bad about all the fellas that were killed and all the friends that i'd lost and hope that uh there wouldn't be any more battles any place like the one where you just come finished up on iwo jima during the battle the 28th marines h company suffered an 82 casualty rate this one company landed with 240 marines and six navy corpsmen they left the island with only 43 men it took some time for those men to grasp the fact that they had survived private first class clay coble still we were not real sure that everything was secure or the battle was over until we got aboard ship as the island was disappearing we felt more elated because we were off the island we were not in any more imminent danger some of the troops just stood there at the rail looked back at it but i think most of us said to heck what they were through with that it didn't amount to anything and i had no desire to look back at it and just a lonely island out there in the middle of the ocean when we got aboard ship they had pork chops gravy mashed potatoes and homemade roll yeast rolls that's the first food we'd had the american marines had been through 36 days of fighting [Music] for many of the men it was the first cooked meal they had eaten in days larry goodness that was good that was real real good food although the surviving marines were on their way home a remnant of japanese forces remained on iwo jima japanese soldiers like master sergeant k kanai hid out for months finding food wherever they could we snuck into enemy encampments to steal food the american's rations were quite good compared to the japanese military ratios he assured me that he would take me to a completely safe place therefore i should come out of the cave he asked me to give my honken and my grenade to him i handed them over since i didn't have the strength to pull myself out i gave him my hand and he pulled me out of the cave hey the marines were waiting for him check his pocket i thought this would be the end of my life we had been told that if we became pows we'd be shocked to death and i was carried to the marines post japanese master sergeant cake and i was one of only about 250 japanese troops taken prisoner the remaining forces died in combat japanese ensign kyocendo the japanese that totaled over 20 000. on the other hand the american death toll was over 6 000 and they're injured were about 20 000. the number of deaths on the japanese side was much larger because the americans rescued and treated their injured the japanese soldiers who were injured could have survived if they were rescued but that was not possible so they all died because of the massive number of american wounded injured marines filled military hospitals all over the pacific private first class jim norton was treated in guam [Music] as soon as he was able he asked a nurse to help him right home the news was not good your mom you have probably received my february 26th letter written in action and know how busy we were you understand i'm sure that i could not write as often as usual but you know that you always are my thoughts i was very lucky at the time i wrote i wrote to you but the going got tougher and i was wounded two weeks ago today as i lie here thinking things over i decided you would want to know what really did happen the [ __ ] mortar hit and my right foot and ankle were broken causing a compound fracture apparently infection set in and the doctors at the rear line aid station found it necessary to amputate my right leg i'm very anxious to reassure you that i'm not worried about myself one bit and i know how very lucky i am to be alive and i'm looking forward to the day when i can be home with you for good goodbye now god bless you all my love jim all the marines who were physically able began to prepare for an even bloodier battle ahead we got back on the ship and went back to hilo hawaii and went back to camp we were getting ready to invade japan we felt that he'd have to be real lucky to if we landed on japan to survive and i i didn't have an optimistic view of uh of that i felt that uh i'd used all my luck up on iwo jima i figured i'd go on for years because of what we'd experienced at iwo jima and no giving up you know they wouldn't give up so we figured they'd fight right down to the last and to land on you know the japanese islands are something there we thought it would go be terrible we didn't know about an atomic bomb which is the real reason the war ended when it did on august 6 1945 the united states dropped an atomic bomb on the japanese industrial city of hiroshima and again three days later on nagasaki it is terrible to kill so many people with a single bomb but at that time japan was prepared to continue fighting even if all of the 100 million citizens were killed although i feel so sorry for the victims of hiroshima and nagasaki i believe that it is due to the sacrifice that people of japan were saved on september 2nd 1945 the japanese formerly surrendered the war had claimed 300 000 american lives and over a million japanese [Music] the cost in human life was tremendous [Music] but world war ii was finally over pfc bill nicholas [Music] it's just a good feeling to know that hostilities have ended we achieved our goal the war is done but now it's time to go back and be a civilian [Music] the transition would not be an easy one for the men wounded on iwo jima [Music] well they wanted to take all the amputees from east of the mississippi to the philadelphia naval hospital which was going to be headquartered for amputees [Music] it was a whistle-stop tour for the veterans and a chance for americans to finally see the heroes of iwo jima they said that they would stop in chicago and my mother could come out and visit me on the train and all the media were there you know newspaper photographers so my mother and myself our pictures were in the tribune and sometimes all kinds it was about seven papers in chicago at the time so they were in all of them it was great to see her after all that time i'd been gone for several couple years the marines received a warm welcome in chicago but the journey ahead would be difficult for the gravely injured men and they were not ready for what happened when they stopped in a town in pennsylvania [Music] the men and women who came out to meet the train were not prepared to see the price that was paid for a little island that many of them had never heard of before [Music] i mean there was a site that nobody wanted to see all these young guys getting off with legs gone and arm's gone and it was a shock to them all so they just turned and went back in the station they just couldn't take it you know i can't blame her for that many americans were overwhelmed by the evidence of what these young marines suffered on iwo jima but for the fighting men of each company the extreme sacrifice was necessary we were all young gung-ho marines and uh we wanted to fulfill the things that we were taught to do and i think we did a good job of it on iwo jima for his bravery under fire wesley plummer was awarded the silver star for helping destroy an enemy mortar position charles johnson was also awarded the silver star [Music] because he made the ultimate sacrifice to save jim norton and one other marine jack archie williams was posthumously awarded the congressional medal of honor freedom doesn't come free a lot of people thinks that it does and but that's not right we had to fight for it and uh we'll probably have to continue to fight for our freedom over the years this freedom is it's a costly thing it doesn't come cheap and i'd do it again i didn't listen to the marine corps again i'm proud to have been a part of it and i i wouldn't i wouldn't take a thing for it i i need the money but i wouldn't take a million dollars for it because of the tremendous sacrifice they made for the symbol of that freedom many of the men never looked at the american flag the same way again i have a tough time at hockey games we go to hockey games real often and when they play the national anthem or sing the national anthem it's not hard for me to cry that flag to me really means something i get pretty upset when i see on tv or read about it in the paper people destroying a burning american flag never been present when that has occurred i just hope i am never present because that would be hard for me to take to see some burning our flag because so many lives have been lost with that freedom [Music] we had a pack before we went in the boys were men in my squad and that was if we come out of this alive and good don't feel guilty about those that did not make it you go about living a life and don't waste it [Music] bye

Channel: War Stories

Views: 778,560

Rating: 4.7895317 out of 5

Keywords: military history, war, war documentary, military tactics, war stories, history of war, Boys of H Company, Iwo Jima, Pacific WW2, history full documentary, documentaries, documentary movies - topic, 2017 documentary, bbc documentary, channel 4, documentary history, documentary history, iwo jima, letters from iwo jima, world war ii, world war 2, the boys of h company, war film, marine corps, boot camp, marine corps documentary, marine corps documentary on netflix, ww2

Id: BxAeovEGkKU

Length: 104min 7sec (6247 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021