WW2 Marine Describes EXTREMELY BRUTAL AND CLOSE Fighting on Iwo Jima

in the same plane we got uh uh real close to um water walking you know we came to one of the cameras to kind of like listen to you know i guess where they kind of uh have you know that they have kind of a church but there was a little trail there leading up to it and as we're going up the little trail uh i saw some guys were in front of me and i were getting by and when i did it i heard in some and the japanese just came off of the brush and he came down with a saber and there was a guy behind me named walker and he just walked right behind me and the japanese just came out of there just to hit anybody and i just had to walk by him and hit walker and i guess what could put his hand up there and he cut some of his fingers off in the stuck other guys the second rifle and the guy behind him boy he just shot the japanese right there because japanese fell when he came down you know with where the sword came down like that he just knew he was over you know so he's just going to take somebody with him and also right there as we were coming up there were some japanese they were dead there you know and this one was laying right on his back and and had a blood all over him and a helmet over his head and and i remember this mourinho went up there too and he shot through the hammond and we did that japanese started sitting up starting to set up yeah that's what that uh colonel chamber you tell us he said if you don't stink stick it that's what he was saying he was only 16 because he never didn't know they weren't just putting up that they were standing [Music] [Music] and i remember the night just before they washed the land next morning we had a a big dinner you know and i tell them about that i i got that turkey drumstick and i went up and the forks hold on the ship you know that's the front end it's out there out there on this and the spoon he eaten my eating my turkey leg and i could see them ships you know bombarding they could see and you could see the shell the shot that bigger was when the shot when they shot their big cruisers you could hear it then you could see the shell going over and hit and it would shake the whole thing you know i thought well there's not gonna be nothing left of that island they were they're bombing nothing you know and they got and then the next morning when they got ready to to land with where they still were shooting and then planes were coming over too and dropping bombs you know dropping them out but they were not getting any fire from the island at all they would not do a kind of fire from the island and and so they got prepared to go in you know but by that time you know i had been landing before you know and i was kind of helping out some of my summer cruises because by that time i i think i wasn't a buck sergeant or something i had some men and i could see there's ones that never been never been in uh in the landing before you know and i tried to stop talk to them to replace mishinu and try to tell them you know i said oh it's not going to be nothing left i said they're bombing that heck of that i said they won't be not he won't be that bad and try to try to calm them you know and then we gotta render we went up there just kind of we're just waiting you know they're going round and round and round the room you know and then oh and we were on alligators there nothing was elegant or distraction and and this clippers uh going around and around and and then they said okay and then they gave signal to go in you know so we hit and we were going extreme right that's where we were our our company was extreme right and and as we went in on them tracks and we got into the sand and and we got up and you just got so far and then just just kind of go into that you couldn't go anymore so we had to just get side outside you know that's the way you're done on this you just went off to the side you know went over the side of the track and went down and and then and then and then we could tell us we walked into the water and then it was kind of soft you know and we went through everything like that and we got up there and in the first and in muscle weed neither didn't there been less less than less than five minutes or whatever after reading the population when the mortar started and that's where they started shooting the motors and they and they were shooting the motors to the to the landing craft to besides house send it to the landing club and so we landed in this when they started landing the water and then the thing about it was especially the ones that they've been there before they just froze because the motors would dig for a hit you know you just dig kind of a hole you know and they just jump in there and they meet two or three guys jump in there and hold it and then pretty soon and then now they come out and get the whole bunch and you cannot get them you know because they would never have been and they just kind of just froze but in my mind i could say that i said they just shell in this part of it i said but their father the sign is not and and i tell them i said this move out coming with me come on but they wondered and then that they were clapping with a spoon he was a big gun guy before went in i guess he never had anyone he just when he got dangerous froze he got hit right there and then some of the other captains too some of the other officers you know they started moving out you know uh trying to get them to move out and well the thing i did you couldn't move i've told you i i don't know if i ever on that story where i i heard a share coming i i heard the show they were coming you and i heard that one and i saw where this is going to land on me because i could hear and i heard a thud and i said well that's right and i can't look around and that thing was about that far from here just to finish this defense right there and that's when i saw i'm not going to stay here and i'd move down because i couldn't get him i i kept telling him i said come on move out follow me finally i couldn't and i went over and i got a nine to five and i'm remembering because if you went up and looked over the ridge they had the machine guns beside them on the machine guns the minute they went from one bank to the other and then i had machine but i went up there and i was on the side and there was a hole there and i got up the holder and these guys were setting up a machine gun they were down there always and i got up to shoot him and nothing happened that thing that they wanted when she got full of sand it was full of sick and i remember i laid down my back and i took off my dungaree and i got on my knife and i i tore off my my undershirt and i laid it out there and and laid on my parts and on top of that thing try to clean it up i try to clean it up as quick as i can and i tried to create them fun i thought i got to clean up i put everything on backwards because we were taught that to be able to do that really and i cleaned it i got up and i got a shoe but they had already moved back and the guys had already machine gunners they were there shoot and head on and retreated yeah but i could have stopped by two guys getting killed if i ever been able to shoot that gun uh my whole instinct and just say the same one just guess what i said ah i finally just went back to it because i was over there once i finally went to the cruiser a lot of guys i don't could find you know man it's terrible you know when you went back to the beach can you describe what did you see oh man i could see terrible thing man some place it was just you just see the hole and you can just see part of the instructions or part of assembly the rest of it you couldn't find where the body is it was terrible and then some of the guys were trying still done that uh trying to protect in some of them homes and told them we got to get out of here i said they're going to be moving but they finally stopped the shred and you know what but i remember when i was over there uh i was coming back to him there was a and the same came with some uh kind of attractive kind of attractive tank kind of a half bread small tank and they unloaded and they can't try to come into the beach and they just dug into the sun and they come here and they was going round and round and everyone got hit right there they got hit right there them tanks with the mortar i wanted because they were just out there going around now and then tracks wouldn't go nowhere at all on the scent on the sand and the way it was you know and and they're just sitting there moving just going around and then guys up there see they had spoilers spiders up on the top of the hill and they could tell their motors you know about and by what degree they used to show and they did and they got every one of them tanks three tanks and they got them right there and i could see them they were doing that from where i was over there when the tanks would get hit with the mortar i mean what did that actually look like well it was terrible or you couldn't see the guys come out of there at all because once they take a kiss i mean there's ain't no way they can just just get up i never saw one get up you might be you're able to release something coming out of the bottom but if you're just too hard the concussion of the chair you know you just kind of got to get you but to stop they want them attacks i don't know i don't know what happened because we moved out finally you know more out of there louder than backs you know got over the beach finally after all you know and it was over to get on to the other side at the top i really appreciate your description of of the landing sir my understanding of iwo jima you know the japanese they waited for the fourth and the fifth marine division men to come ashore and to pack the beach and it was only after you guys packed it that's when they opened up with everything yeah and they had everything you know already spotted and marked and so you didn't take any fire until you actually hit the beach yeah i saw yeah i saw it we didn't hit the fire after we hit the beach that's where the motorspear started coming down and from your from your memory was it mostly mortar was there any larger shells or no no just motors but machine guns the guys that that brave the motors you know they try to go over but then guys like cathedral they were sitting they were shooting right on top of that ledge because you go from one leg like this and go up and then another lady like that and i can't see you know to go up you know it wasn't just one big deal like that you know like like like the bank where we and not just go over to the bank you end so far and then it kind of delayed something and then a little bit more like that and so that's it was hard to get from this to this one and then to the other one there you know and and and and then uh the track and i mean it was it was just that hard a bit to get [Music] and could you please talk a little bit about the noise how deafening was it to have all these explosions going on you know uh i guess i was used to it you know it didn't bother me i but i knew in my mind that that the morning was set you know for a certain area and i could see it to my right and i couldn't see no shells over there you know so that's what i died and i was trying to say did you get to get out of there for a while the fire was going on they i guess they they had they know where the units were and that's where they had the motor set up for yeah yeah and so after you saw those three tanks getting blown up what happens to you all i i i never did go down there anymore i could just see him for where i was because there was more traffic than that beside the tank you know more people coming in too you know and they're right they were evacuated and as much as they could they were evacuating too uh wounded and and there wasn't they could help they were actually there you know if they were dead then they just waited to wait you know but if they were wounded they would evacuate them right away and try to grin and it was it was amazing i needed to stay around to find out you know i never didn't look back on that much but i do remember them tanks or what are going on and so can you please take us through that first day how do you guys get inland yeah we finally was able to get to the top and we kind of got organized a little bit but like i say most of our offices were gone so there's nobody to really tell us exactly what what's what you know and the platoons were kind of just didn't have no captains you know uh captains were gone and and there was a listed man or a on a staff you know that the the they're not officers you know and they're trying to get together the platoons and and getting them squared away and and and the first first type of time we have we had to dig in because we didn't know if they were going to come in into that night or whatever you know like they did in indiana we didn't know so we just prepared for it once we got on top but there was not not that much uh space you know but they didn't come in you know to us out there they did and they just cut themselves uh in caves you know mostly doing the taker there and then they had them flares going up all the time too you know even the night and but when there was so much oxygen from them at night you know but we could see the action going up on the hill too we're going down to one side of rachel you know you could see that not that much going up because they didn't have their master sisters but they had they were so much that fish marines were going up there you uh you know you were a platoon sergeant and all your officers have been killed that means you have a lot of responsibility you you are now really in charge well i i i actually wasn't there but two sergeants yet when i landed there no there was a the one that was a producer was lyndon moost lyndon moose uh he was from there where the marines started their tavern there whatever they're in the east coast that's where he's from lizardmute anyway he was a heck of a guy he's a brave son of a anyway uh he was uh later on before i before i took over the platoon at that time he was he was the one that was a platoon sergeant and i remember the day he got shot we've been there maybe a day or two and when he got killed didn't know he didn't get killed he just got wounded but they came back and told me he said lyndon was got wounded and bringing him back so he came back and said came back with me he said marty you better you got to take over and he said you got to take over uh so i said okay so i went up in front and they said linda munich i said i said well we got we get our squads you know to get together find out what's going to go what's going to happen so that's when i first started having to deal with the petunia after he got wounded yeah what's that responsibility like well it's kind of rough you know because you got to go around you know no way and then you just couldn't just sit you know you can't just sit there you know you got to move around but uh i just had a feeling that that i was going to make it anyway he had that feeling you know i never did feel like i'm going to get killed i never did i just felt i'm going to make it and i'm going to do it and i took a chance there's a lot of time you know that i thought you know i'm not going to get it i took a lot of changes i don't know if i told you this but i told that other guy that uh interviewed me about what happened to me there with uh one of the times it was kind of raining you know that that day and and we're trying to dig in and for the night because it's going to be flares you know it had been kind of a little missed it would come a little missed at night you know in the cuddling and i remember it's got some rocks there and there was a couple of the borders and i got in between them boulders and we hadn't slept for quite a couple of days you know and we got in that between them boulders and i and i had my gun on top of me like the lane then the motors and and the flare the flare went up and and i looked up there and there was a japanese standing on top and i could see his eyes uh glasses and he just froze stared at you and i was laying there like that i was laying out there i just didn't move i understand that when they ran it took off then i had somebody shoot somebody shot him nothing but he stopped right over me he never didn't look down i was in between the wrong ones yeah and i didn't even move i just sat there and oh a lot of stuff and like a lot of times i saw happiness things things that happened you know and i never could tell just like i say they were meant for me and then and then they didn't i know i i uh we had we had this guy he was supposed to be a kind of like a sniper you know he was shooting he was on uh he was shooting at 30 out of six not the same one and 30 out six you know supposed to be pretty good pretty powerful and pretty pretty good for shooting you 30-yard six gun so we're sitting there before we went down that last straw that we went down one of the times before went down that draw you know to come out and he said i said now because we have been trying to go down and get hit every time every time we start down him and we didn't he couldn't see him we didn't never conceive so he said they sneak up there he said up there to their legs they sneak up there and see if we can see them suckers they said you want to call me i don't want to go with you so we went you kind of crept up there we got close to the edge and we saw this one jab down there standing up there right now and he shot but the guy didn't fall and he just kind of went back in the cave and about that time i had to shoot and i felt the heat i felt the heat and the smell the powder as but to this day i smell hot and the powder and hot closet came to my eye they spotted me and then the other side that that day too my name is cheater name was cheetah we were climbing there that last day before i went in that for that cave we were climbing there and all of a sudden we were climbing about that far again had a shot moving looking over and he got shot around the floor so i knew there was one right there real close know so right away i took up shot that way you know and i went out there and i slid around and came around and i came out behind in japanese and he was sitting there looking through the brush you know to see what and i just shut off hand like that but i shot him right on the head you know and then and even then with his head blowing up he had a grain in his hand and he was trying to detonate daddy grenade in his boots even though his head blown off he was still trying to do that i didn't remember to this day i remember oh things like that happened it just happened to be the other guy around yeah and correct me if i'm wrong but uh this is the same day that you the you got the silver star yeah so if you don't mind if you could please continue with that story so after you knock out that one japanese soldier what happens but that's kind of that's kind of the beginning of that because then i knew that they were pretty close and this is like they i come under there and try to come back where the guys were because this guy had got shoot right by me and i came back around as i came back there was a boulder by the from here to the door luckily kind of a kind of flat like that and i came on this side of the boulder and and when i when i looked over and and japanese on the other side peeked over too you know we both were looking at each other by saying but the heck out of this he he shot first and i get he just shot and we did then he went down and i knew that he had gone down so then i thought well he's not there anymore so i kind of just crawled up there and looked and i saw him going down and that's when i saw him going over to that cave you know i i saw him you know and and that's different than the weather had it rolled up because then when i saw where he went and i thought well he ran in that cave and i went back i said i can't go in there with just the name one i don't know how many people are there so i went back in there and i told his name was kik i said kick let me have your machine your bar and i didn't know what i was going to do or nothing i just got to be here because i kind of thought that that would be the last day there you know if we could get down to the beach you know we would be home anyway i i got that bar and i kind of went down and followed the way he had gone you know and i kind of went in there real close but i couldn't see that that much in there so i just walked right on in and i could see a lot of eyes you know looking at me so i just sprayed the whole thing so i just the minute i the minute i got in front of the table i just swept the whole thing with 20 rounds you know and left and come back and i just i didn't try to count or whatever i just shut the whole thing went back to where the guys were and when we were there i had brother i had got a replacement that morning they came here just got off a ship and replaced them sending them up why they sent them up there that day when they kind of figured it was going to be the last day i never could figure that out so he came up there and i told him i said you know what i said i told them there's a japanese stop right there say where we can we can't spot him he said i want you to get in behind this thing right here i said but i i be careful i said don't pick up around anything because then cycles know where we're at i knew he was just new you know i said don't expose yourself i said don't expose yourself i said we don't know where they're at out there i said just sit there behind here and and and we're going to move out i said pretty soon and when we do move out and we'll see what what's going to happen so i went back and told the guys i said where are we going to charge are we going to get out of here i said i want you all to follow me when we go and i'm going to go and i say but i'm going to i got a replacement here i got to tell him where we're going to be i went over to get him and he had been shot he had been been killed and and i thought i i was used to them guys hiding in japanese so i got down there and i looked to the other side it wasn't too far there was a kind of like a little lady a ledge up on top and there was a little clay and i looked and i could see something there was not natural not natural and i went back again to the guys and i told them i said load up that basuka for me this guy that carried the meshuggah i said load up that basuka for me so he did he loaded up the basuca and i came up there with a rep that replacement had been shot and i looked and i said that's not natural and i shut i shot into that die and i said oh there's something there i said i said i know i didn't go down there to check i just showed him but i could tell it might have been somebody there so i told the guys okay i went back out there okay let's move out i said let's go down to the hell hell high water we're going down i say when we get to the beach we're home and so we're going to board ship just follow me and we go so i took off and i said come on so they did we started going down and i went by where i had hit that with a bazooka and sure enough there's a japanese right there he had been right there he had a saber as i went by so he had a saber and he had one of our guns 45 and he had a beatrice he ate one in his day as i saw i went by i didn't say a thing i just kept going you know they got it and we went down and uh and the guy just followed me and as i was going down i looked i saw the flight i saw right there but it was a guy with a camera up in the legs up there i could see how the camera and it was there was they was taking picture service and we were going down he was sitting up on top up there see that was clear up here on that side they would just start going down that ravine so we really we got down there to the to the end of the reed the bottom of it and i said okay i said we're going on the way here till we get orders to go aboard shield so we got down there we just laid kind of laid down and that's the picture that i got there where we were laying down and there was laying around me out there they were sitting there and then and then and the story kind of goes on while we're sitting there the tanks come out with the flamethrowers you know and they drove around and they came out and said we're looking for uh sergeant martinez they say where is fargo martinez i didn't say nothing when a guy said there's sergeant martinez there and he pointed to me and said you know we've got a southern martinez god is going to show us they have caves that are up there that we're going to go blast to put flamethrowers on them with tanks put flamethrowers and get them for caves he said sorry martin i said my last order was i said when i got here said i'm going aboard ship i said you got to get somebody else to take you up there i'm not going so i that didn't go back up there yeah we didn't mention it in this interview but i read previously that you were ordered to go to that meat grinder which which is where all the japanese were hit out and if you made it through if you made it to the beach then you were you were done oh it's done and you did exactly what you were told plus some yeah i uh yeah it's incredible what who you know what you've done and what you've gone through sir [Music] i just have a couple questions if that's okay yeah i don't know why and then and then we'll wrap up for iwo jima the story about the the replacement who was killed hmm what made you realize uh something was out of place when you were looking for that japanese soldier was it camouflage or what was it and there's a club of house i obviously used to uh i guess i had done a lot of hunting you know when i was young and i knew the there come a flight from the real and and also on the islands i've been in the name islands and i could tell when they got some of the brush they didn't belong you know and just something to do you know they don't belong there they're just different than whatever else is around you know uh and yes i just and you know what's the only thing there was across that they could have had a vision of him you know yeah they could have had mission in there but i sure always hated that that poor guy just came into the island to get killed send them why they sent me a replacement up there to this day i never couldn't realize it and there was another question so you gave us the account of how you got the bar and you go back to that cave that you saw that one japanese soldier run into how did you approach the cave so that they wouldn't fire at you yeah well i didn't go straight into it face right to it i kind of went to the side you know where they were looking out at me but i saw him but i didn't go straight in the way he did i went to the side of it and then just slipped right on in and and i knew there had to be some more in there and when i did i i just opened up right away on on the vr but i could see i could see uh kind of dark but i could see their eyes you know because a lot of them wear glasses a lot and they that could kind of tell you know but uh i just shripped a whole with the 20 rounds i just swept the whole thing and i loaded the whole the whole magazine here today so i didn't know if there's any harmony beside him or how many more that i could see i i probably couldn't see probably more than two or three you know really because it was kind of dark in that actually but i could tell there was more people in there yeah i could there was more than in there and how deep in the cave did you actually get not that far then no it just just to the dive way no i did i didn't go in the cave and then they dipped it all i just went to the face of it and right there i could see him the cave wasn't that deep it wasn't a deep area cave that did you like the other ones that they went on like it was kind of just like a cave thing into the side of the into the side of the bank of the thing you know i don't think i didn't i never did go back to sea i don't know if they were it was a continuous to it or not just to be honest with you i could be wrong that they could have been continuous potential because a lot of them were connected you know some were connected with you but i never did get into any of their caves at all your citation for the silver star it credits you with 15. oh yeah yeah that's what they said i never did they had no idea they were asking me about it i said i never just stopped to claim i had no idea at all to me could have been just three or four or whatever you know but i know i i slipped the whole thing with a with a gun but but is it also plausible in your opinion that there could have been 15 in there oh no could i mean i i knew there was a lot but i didn't take over that many just to be honest with you i didn't think there would be that many and i know this is a silly question but you you you were almost at the end of the campaign yeah no one wants to be the last guy killed in a battle i know you saw that japanese soldier run in the cave you could have just gone back to your outfit you could have let someone else worry about it why did you why did you risk your life i mean because you know you could have been killed oh and i i just figured that he had somebody there that he was going to you know and the things that you kind of just go by and stick you know that you begin to suspect or know and kind of whether they move or act or whatever you know and any kind of movement gives you an idea of something if you're looking for it you know and you learn to do it you know and and i just figured you know when they came in there and and shot shot the rifle and he didn't even point he just came up and saw each other he just shot you know and went down but i i didn't i didn't try to do that i just kind of waited and then i clipped up there and then i saw him walking over to that cave and went in but i said i couldn't go in there where the m1 yeah yeah and then you know just for clarification you you told us the other story about firing the bazooka uh and as you walked by on your way to the beach you saw that samurai sword did you pick it up did i why did you find it then the story went ago ah no i didn't i saw it there and i saw him one of our guns and he showed up b-28 and i think a main aid two beside the sword i didn't pick it up i just saw it i didn't see nothing and i went down and when we were sitting over there and i didn't finish telling the story when we went down they were sitting over there and this guy was from texas i could not remember he was kind of a happy-go-lucky guy i told him saying i had never picked up a thing i had never had picked up i never had touched the japanese after he got dead or went through him sparkling or doing nothing i never did i cannot remember this guy texting her i said i said i i know i can get you a pete 38 that was a japanese man i said i can get you a japanese beat 30 80 if you want to go with me up right there where we came from yeah he said okay there you go let's go so we went up there and i went up there and uh i got the sword and i got a wonderful 45 that they had taken he had taken off of dead marine and uh and i got him the p-38 but the saber had a dog leg on it from from the blast and half of the scabbard was going blowing off halfway just the handle and the dark leg on the blade you know from from the blast but i picked it up and and uh bane it and and we came down i came down with all that stuff and so i went aboard ship with all that stuff because i uh they said you could couldn't take nothing so i i did have that all that stuff you know and uh but i'm going to tell you about that maintenance we was up kind of far north you know and we hadn't changed socks like this on the mountain and then when oh we had a dungaree jacket and it got cold man we couldn't go up top side now you gotta go so i thought well i'll go down there where the navy is and they give me some clothes and i took their bayonet with me and i went down and i saw them they were chipping on the on the guns they called them chipping guns you know getting the pain and i went off and i said hey i said i got a bayonet i said somebody got some sweaters and socks and tv yeah everybody wanted something yo we did this guy doing he said what do you want to know when i want some sweaters i said and some socks and changes i said yeah come on so we went down and he got me a turtleneck sweater and a regular sweater and some socks and stevie and i gave him the bean and yeah uh there was something something there i did go back up there and got this uh yeah and then they sold out one of my nephews got in i had another nephew that took shop there in clayton and he took that and straightened that thing up because they didn't have this cabin you know but it straightened that dog leg on that thing you got just a straight screen he done it he he was he took shop you know and he knew he knew how to do it you straighten it up is it still in the family yeah when my nephew has gotten well i think but don't have no scavenger nothing just to see and a story bill hudson oh here's there if you if you just lift up your foot i'll get that there you go oh yeah so so bill hudson was one of your men yeah yeah and he wrote a book and in his book he says manuel martinez was the bravest most courageous person i have ever known oh gosh a true hero and a patriot i mean this isn't a family member this isn't a you know this is someone who served under you who who could have said whatever he wanted but i mean he means that can you talk a little bit about what what was your strategy to being a good leader to being a leader that people respected and followed and i think you got to sit by example more than anything else that's about the same that's what i figured you know on if if you tell somebody to do something and you not have to do it yourself i mean don't ever tell them don't never depend on them do something if you don't ain't going to do it yourself yeah that's the way i always felt you know or i won't tell somebody to change something unless i know that i am right i want it perfectly right you know [Music] you

Channel: Remember WWII with Rishi Sharma

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Keywords: world war II, veterans, world war II veterans, world war 2, combat veterans, heroes of world war, heroes of war, soldiers, marines, navy, airforce, combat, army, interviews, WWII, fighting the germans, fighting the japanese, Allied forces, Allies, iwo jima, infantry, 4th marine division, WW2, WW2 Veterans, WWII VETERANS, World war two vets, world war two veterans, wwii, wwii veterans iwo jima, ww2 marines, wwii marines, world war two marines, marine corps, WWII marines, mt.surabachi, wars

Id: c6zkzQL7G2A

Length: 44min 20sec (2660 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021