Iwo Jima Vet Harry Martin, a USMC Light Machine Gunner, tells his story (Full Interview)

so we set up the machine and started firing and we must have fired maybe 50 rounds of something yet or gonna blew up I think was probably in anything again because I got shot in the face and the the gunner he got shot in the chest in the meantime I started closing from the impact of the explosion and so I couldn't see for about two days out of my left side I'm Greg Carabas welcome to veterans Chronicles our guest this week is Harry Martin he's a US Marine Corps veteran of World War two and the Battle of Iwo Jima yes sir thank you very much for being with us you are welcome we're we aborted racer well I was born in a traverse cabin and upper the upper phones from Michigan and I spun in 1925 when did you join the service join the service in 1943 trying to get in early I listed twice first time they caught me because I had somewhat altered my birth certificate and I tried to make five of four 1924 as opposed 1925 that'll maybe 18 and so that didn't work finally got the word that I'm not in the Corps after I'd already taken my physical and passed so they caught up with me wash that out and I came from a trapping family my father was my father and mother were divorced when I was three and my grandma raised me and in the summertime my gran would come out she live in a different City my grandma come on she stay with us and we'd raise vegetables and what have you and we use these vegetables to barter for the things we didn't have okay because we were a low-income family logo okay and from there in the winter we hunt and trap to make our way through they receive money or not money but to barter for the things we didn't have because we were kind of a light truck farming in a summertime it sounds pretty much the way was trapped and drink and mush rats and Fox and what that beaver or whatever so that was my background I grew up there I sigh new blood because he used to skim pelts and kill the animals if they were alive and so I grew up in that atmosphere blood and smell of flesh you know flushing animals what have you for aunt very animals and so I had a pretty good start for the blood that was to kill me so they didn't bother me as much so when they actually let you in the Marine Corps after they after you got into the Marine Corps for real where did you go for your basic training I went to San Diego and from there San Diego Recruit Depot went up to Camp Pendleton Camp Elliott and took my training their advanced training and how soon were you sent overseas and almost immediately in other words we had no no leaf we went overseas assigned to a unit and went overseas and where did you go went to well first time at opal white Oh wahoo and then from Oahu we went over to Maui and that was our our base and mall way 4th Marine Division okay and then where did they send you in the Pacific Theater they you mean the islands yes went to a little I will name Saipan oh it was very little mountainous from Saipan after we secured site plant we went over Satine en and secured that what was your job my job I was a machine gunner light machine gunner and what kind of resistance were he facing there Saipan quite a bit on the beats especially because our landings area or zone was in what they call deflate fire okay inflate fire machine guns and we'll have you to the right and as we come on the beach that the target was pretty roll engulfed called cone-shaped conical shape and so that's what we faced from both flanks right and made us really bad and that's where I got my first Japanese sword dead Japanese officer yeah Wow how how big was that battle I mean how many huge it was up his mountain is very mountainous I guess we are there almost maybe three weeks something like that is I have to remember then we got through that and secured that we went to ding in and that was a little smaller operation there how did that go well that's my first experience that tank infantry track Japanese soldiers on the ground following the tank coming into our position of course we took care of that what caliber was your machine-gun ours orders yours mine was three caliber light machine yet of course at night we get our heavies open so we have to and it's sort of my birth for what they call FPL final protective line at night this could describe operating the gun a little bit describe how you operated the gun okay alright well first of all you set up a tripod and generally the gunner has a tripod the assistant gunner has the ammunition forth and it places the long sittin one headed and the gunner fires an assistant keeps the belt going straight and keeps the another box of ammunition at the ready in case you get through with it well you you got another one to go how big was your unit unit I would say about six members true motional mammal carriers so after Tinian where did you go after t9 we secured that and we came back to camp Maui and retrained they had replenished our personnel or have you retrained him or trained him and then we went on to you all tell me about coming ashore at you oh okay companies don't worry you did had a bad experience we were the first assault wave on the right flank and we were in Antillean tractors and our tractor into stalled out and they on the beach on the surf zone trying to restart it couldn't restart and we've taken hits all the time and water's coming in and no tellin what else a lot of rifle fire machine gun fire so I decided I'm getting out of that can yeah so I went over to the side and when I wanted to decide it was over my head of course somebody hands me on machine gun and that didn't help any 35 more pounds and I'm soaking wet with my equipment right and anyway I kept worried about this because this guy is still segments like that tractor and he wanted to get out of there too okay but I tracked her and I kept thinking about the treads keep going around and a wave would come in and raise the back of that thing and it would pitch in y'all you know and I want to get that machine gun and get out of there and so I has a mobile time there and fight like that good drip went up the gradient and onto the beach got up on the beach here and finally got a hold of my we a Rio semble gym I sit around the beach they can hit someone a five-level fire and then from there we set up the machine gun to me dude there's nobody ahead of us okay so anything up there of course he couldn't see the targets we're underground or in bunkers or caves and very few people did we see it first okay so we set up the machine and started firing and we must have fired maybe 50 rounds of something yet are gonna blew up I think was probably in anything again because I got shot in the face and the the gunner he got shot in the chest and so I didn't see him anymore but I got shot in the face the corpsman came over that's me up you know the meantime I started closing from the impact of the explosion and so I couldn't see for about two days out of my left side and then eventually things kind of slowed down and I could see better the second day and we just kept advancing forward but I think with three days for a solid jab and of course he came out of a bunker we're on a cave or something we're on a fighting musician couldn't see him and unless they came out and so when we were doing the machine getting air we shouldn't attack targets of opportunity we're shooting what we thought would be a gun emplacement or a firing position so we were kind of shooting blind for a while not knowing worthy one can see them so all this time that they're shooting this so all this time they're shooting at you yeah well I can't say in all of yeah hell of you obviously you I mean we're all the Marines yeah you go if you can't see them huh you can't see them apart I am if I have a problem with you couldn't seen him anyway but it but you have no idea where to aim nah nah we just know there's nothing ahead of us other than there to be an enemy so era shoot any suspected fire position that we could think of and this little waited in it and kept advancing and once he got off the beach how big of I don't know if it advantage is the right word but how did it get better once you were off that Beach uh yes spots yes sometimes you'd hit pocket of resistance sometimes dancing and the same situation because there's a camouflage shooting on the caves of holes or whatever spider traps whatever so that was pretty well that I did we did finally cc1 with you I did see got a little a little shook up and he got out of his position keep trying to go to the rear retreating and we nailed him yeah how fast could you pick up and move that gun is faster vu as fast as we could have if we didn't hear any resistance then we advanced and kept on going and trying to keep on that cool that's cool integrity yeah yeah kind of keep on line no get it and there's something oh my god you're gonna shoot that ass you know so you had to keep in touch almost life right right right so what was the toughest part going forward I mean you said they're all in the caves they're on these bunkers so what are you shooting at well when you're receiving fire generally it's not good idea to stand out in advance unless you can see it then you can address the situation yeah as it happens but we do receive one gunfire so how did you effectively fire back if they had all this protection from the bunkers and the and the caves well we did armored person and our tracers what have you an arm ammonition our belts so we had we could see where we're shooting you know from the tracers I had not the course yet armored person mixed in there too so that I'd take care of any fortification unless it was really heavy yeah so let's I'm just shooting behind but we knew this I said before either there's nobody in ahead of this we were the first wave salt wave what do you think when you think back on that now I mean I'm sure it was terrifying in the moment but what do you think now well as I think back on it the Lord had to be direct direct to you he had to meet his director because they we went through quite a bit of fire and finally I was hit and the last day first and last thing where'd you get hit the second time this second time was mopping up the end of the island mopping out and I got one of the foot how fierce were the Japanese all the way to the end they were tough tough now they were all trained well protected and of course they had tunneling systems that we knew not about you know three stories deep the commanding general general Kiribati his CP was on a second deck second floor down he was not up on that you know up on the ground level he was a deep in directing and in protection you might say but my understanding of him that general curator Bochy who was in charge he was a his back his ancestry was Samurai so he was one tough cookie and he gave instructions to the Japanese each shepherd soldier was supposed to get 10 Americans that was a ratio and they funny want to lived up to it that meaning they were death they were consecrated and of course that's Jeff and my understanding is it's the first Japanese hell land that he had taken and they out try to keep us from getting farther into Japan proper yeah you're getting pretty close at that point yes about 500 miles of you did you ever go into any of the caves yeah oh yeah what was it like in there ah Erie and you're a little apprehensive where does this lead to you yeah what am I getting myself into yeah how many's in here of what day what are they using you know how elaborate was it pardon how elaborate it wasn't no my understanding later on I read they used Korean from the Japanese Korean War they had used Korean laborers POWs miners specifically to build those caves that were to shore up and what happened they were miners so they know what they're doing pretty nice right fairly elaborate can said considering the time and what they had to work with right what was it like at the end of the battle we're well we're still a little apprehensive we're a little keyed up you know take a little while on wind and then when they came back that's the first time I saw mom Suribachi yes and the flags up there well it was I heard they talked about the flag I didn't see the flag until he came off the beach that was binded by my concentration was in the other direction and we get now fired from exactly yeah so as you look back now at Iwo Jima what comes to mind about your service and the folks you served with know what in terms of what you accomplished and the people you served with what comes to mind well one thing and we were the victors you know and I in a sense I had a little sympathy for the Japanese they're fighting for their lives of course I was too and our treat you know but the third the first thing tons of mine Rosenthal I got a big picture of that flag race and I got it was the one that he signed hanging down on my den and so I've seen a lot of that and then I seen a lot of it here and my question is how come there's so much emphasis on Mount Suribachi and the flag reason well they're putting that flag up there I'm losing men you know and that's important it's a good simple and whatever you want or mental but when all the emphasis on that what about there are such guys whose to our rare yeah you don't see any images on the troops or the the main push push or the assaults that's what was heartbreaking heart-rendering to see some of these arranged as cheetah for over a month yeah well libel I've made a lost time I thought it's 34 days I understand was a few days longer I don't know but my bit my mission who was at a about and I did I did the best I could you were on that every single day of the whole battle right yeah Wow what do you want younger generations to know about your service and the well just to be aware of the blood loss of sacrifice later on you know his years went by I understood you know we had three airfields there or they had two and working on the third one the Japanese okay and what that bet became a safe heaven after we got in or Seabees got out there and made them bigger and better air air strips and for the p-51 to escort that b-29s in from Guam from Saipan and and also on the way back you know these p-51 Zack Lu escort for the Bombers the b-29 to flying forwards but it was a safe haven for those planes that were shot up limp back to couldn't make it back to Saipan Tinian and Guam so he had to land there take care of the calves Elise patch up the planes and only kind of a rest stop for their journey back to their their airfields that they originated from and so we saved a lot of people at weight you know and of course that was limitary to the the bombings there the atomic bomb Harry did a good job when he made that goal because later on I was in Japanese up a fake occupational force when ng Japan and eventually I saw where we were Donal and the fourth division the name of that place there with Chickasaw e beach it was nothing but mountains and caves so it would have been a tremendous loss here would have been a woge EEMA Oh potentially Wow you know Ritchie Ritchie really so we saved a lot of been there yes sir yes sir well Harriette we thank you very much for your time with us today and we thank you for your service to our country thank you very much thank you Harry Barton is a veteran of the US Marine Corps World War two and the Battle of Iwo Jima I'm Greg Caramba this is Veterans Chronicles you

Channel: American Veterans Center

Views: 720,663

Rating: 4.9402604 out of 5

Keywords: AVC, American Veterans Center, veteran, veterans, history, army, navy, air force, marines, coast guard, military, navy seal, Iwo Jima

Id: lsM0hr10sWg

Length: 22min 16sec (1336 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 16 2020