Medal of Honor Tuesday: The Heroes of Iwo Jima
While (re-)reading James Bradley’s Flags of our Fathers a few days ago, a certain paragraph jumped out at me.
Referring to the epic World War II Battle for Iwo Jima, Bradley writes:
It was America’s most heroic battle. More medals for valor were awarded for action on Iwo Jima than in any other battle in the history of the United States…in just one month of fighting on this island, [U.S. Marines] were awarded twenty-seven Medals of Honor…
Five of the twenty-seven recipients were in fact U.S. Navy sailors (four of them Hospital Corpsmen). This minor clarification, however, does not take away in the slightest manner from the amazing fact that the twenty-two Medals of Honor awarded to the Iwo Jima Marines represent more than one-fourth of the 82 Medals of Honor awarded to Marines in the entirety of World War II.
The Battle for Iwo Jima was indeed the most highly decorated single engagement in Marine Corps history. It was also the bloodiest, most savage battle of the war.
Again, Bradley: “It ground on over thirty-six days. It claimed 25,581 U.S. casualties, including nearly 7,000 dead.”
With nearly 26,000 American casualties, the battle for Iwo Jima would become “the only Pacific battle in which a U.S. landing force suffered more casualties than it inflicted.” (The Imperial Japanese Army casualties included over 20,000 soldiers who fought to their deaths.)
One of the twenty-seven Iwo Jima Medal of Honor recipients is Herschel “Woody” Williams.
Up to two years ago, Williams was not only the last living Iwo Jima Medal of Honor recipient, but also the last living World War II Medal of Honor recipient.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society writes in part:
On Feb. 23, 1945, then-Corporal Williams…[o]ver the course of four hours…armed with a flamethrower and guarded by four Marine riflemen, repeatedly ran the width of the beach while under intense enemy fire to disarm and destroy seven pillboxes. His actions neutralized a considerable obstacle and created an access point for Marine Infantry units.
Woody passed away on June 29, 2022, in Huntington, West Virginia. He was 98.
Fourteen of the twenty-seven heroes were awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.
It would take volumes to adequately describe the actions of these fourteen men that led to their ultimate sacrifice and to being awarded the nation’s highest military honor.
Here are a few excerpts from some of the citations:
…charged the hostile fortifications and knocked out two more cave positions. Immediately thereafter, he launched a bazooka attack unassisted, firing four rounds into the one remaining pillbox and completely destroying it before he fell, mortally wounded by a vicious burst of enemy fire.
Realizing that his few remaining comrades could not repulse another organized attack, he called to his men to follow and then charged into the midst of the strong enemy force, firing his weapon and scattering them until he fell, mortally wounded by a grenade.
Determined to crush all resistance, he led his men indomitably, personally attacking foxholes and spider traps with his carbine and systematically reducing the fanatic opposition, until, stepping on a land mine, he sustained fatal wounds.
…determined to save the others if possible, shouted a warning, and instantly dived on the deadly missile, absorbing the exploding charge in his own body and thereby protecting his comrades from serious injury.
Stouthearted and indomitable, he unhesitatingly yielded his own life that his fellow marines might carry on the relentless battle against a fanatic enemy.
The citation accompanying the Medal of Honor for U.S. Navy Pharmacist’s Mate First Class Jon Harlan Willis is particularly heart-wrenching. It reads in part:
Willis resolutely administered first aid to the many marines wounded during the furious close-in fighting until he himself was struck by shrapnel and was ordered back to the battle-aid station. Without waiting for official medical release, he quickly returned to his company and, during a savage hand-to-hand enemy counterattack, daringly advanced to the extreme front lines under mortar and sniper fire to aid a marine lying wounded in a shell hole. Completely unmindful of his own danger as the Japanese intensified their attack, Willis calmly continued to administer blood plasma to his patient, promptly returning the first hostile grenade which landed in the shell hole while he was working and hurling back seven more in quick succession before the ninth one exploded in his hand and instantly killed him.
These are the thirteen other heroes who were awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously, in addition to John Harlan Willis.
Corporal Charles Joseph Berry
Pvt. First Class William Robert Caddy
Sgt. Darrell Samuel Cole
Sgt. Ross Franklin Gray
Platoon Sgt. Joseph Rodolph Julian
Pvt. First Class James Dennis La Belle
First Lt. Jack Lummus
First Lt. Harry Linn Martin
Pvt. George Phillips
Pvt. First Class Donald Jack Ruhl
Cpl. Tony Stein
Gunnery Sgt. William Gary Walsh
(U.S. Navy) Pharmacist’s Mate Third Class Jack Williams
The other twelve Medal of Honor recipients who, in addition to Herschel “Woody” Williams, survived 36 days of fierce fighting on that desolate, yet so strategically important volcanic island, are:
Lt. Col. Justice Marion Chambers
Capt. Robert Hugo Dunlap
Sgt. William George Harrell
(U.S. Navy) Lt. J.G. Ruffus Geddie Herring
Pvt. First Class Douglas Thomas Jacobson
Second Lt. John Harold Leims
Pvt. First Class Jacklyn Harold Lucas
Capt. Joseph Jeremiah McCarthy
Pvt. Franklin Earl Sigler
Pvt. Wilson Douglas Watson
(U.S. Navy) Pharmacist’s Mate First Class Francis Junior Pierce
(U.S. Navy) Pharmacist’s Mate Second Class George Edward Wahlen
On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz reflected on the courage and sacrifice of all who fought on Iwo Jima: “Among those who served on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.”
A great tribute by a great man, albeit in some ways an understatement.
In the conclusion to his book, Flags of our Fathers, and referring to the six men who raised the flag on Mt. Suribachi, Bradley writes — also in an understated way:
They were boys of common virtue.
Called to duty.
Brothers and sons. Friends and neighbors.
And fathersIt’s as simple as that.
I am sure Bradley would not mind me using those words to describe all the heroes of Iwo Jima.
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