Iwo Jima: World War II Veterans Remember the Greatest Battle of the Pacific

by Larry Smith

Overview

“A vivid and compelling account by a true master of oral history.” —General James L. Jones, USMC (Ret.), Supreme Allied Commander, Europe

On February 19, 1945, nearly 70,000 American soldiers invaded a tiny volcanic island in the Pacific. Over the next thirty-five days, approximately 28,000 soldiers died, including nearly 22,000 Japanese and 6,821 Americans, making Iwo Jima one of the costliest battles of World War II. In his most important work to date, best-selling author Larry Smith lets twenty-two veterans of the conflict tell the story of this epic clash in their own words.

Many of these soldiers were no more than teenagers when they answered their country’s call, and yet the men relate the momentous events of this terrible conflict as if they occurred just last year, instead of more than half a century ago. Describing the initial charge across the treacherous black ash of the landing beach under heavy fire is Chuck Lindberg, the last survivor of the two teams that planted the flags on Mount Suribachi—a moment captured forever in Joe Rosenthal’s iconic photograph for the Associated Press. General Fred Haynes recounts his heroic attempts to keep order amid tremendous casualties on the battlefield. Woody Williams and George Wahlen, two of the battle’s twenty-six Medal of Honor recipients, tell their unbelievable stories, and Samuel Tso relates his role as one of the famous Navajo code talkers.

Though the flags went up just days after the invasion, the fighting wasn’t over: through nearly eight miles of tunnels, thousands of Japanese troops defended the island despite hundred-degree heat, famine rations, and the overpowering stench of sulfur. To get both sides of the story, Smith interviewed the daughter of Captain Tsunezo Wachi, one of the most prominent Japanese survivors, and presents new evidence about the disappearance of the famed Japanese commander Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who waged a brilliant defense of the island only to allegedly commit suicide rather than submit to the Americans.

Smith also investigates the controversy surrounding Rosenthal’s famous photograph of the flag raising, and he interviews bomber and fighter crewmen to hear firsthand whether they believed the terrible cost of capturing the island was truly justified by its strategic use as an emergency stop for B-29 Superfortress bombers. Through the story of Navy Cross recipient John Ripley, Smith brings the history of the island up-to-date—from its return to Japan in 1968 to the dramatic discoveries made in the caves of Iwo in the 1980s and the Japanese-American Reunion of Honor now held annually on the island.

With dozens of photographs and maps, Iwo Jima is a stunning history of this emblematic battle, but it is also a personal history of the generation of soldiers, many now in their final years, who waged one of the most important wars in American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393334913
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/17/2005
Pages:	374
Sales rank:	510,992
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Larry Smith is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Few and the Proud and Beyond Glory. The latter was adapted into a major Broadway play by Stephen Lang. Smith lives in South Norwalk, Connecticut.

Table of Contents

Maps xii

Introduction xv

Acknowledgments xxv

Part 1 The Invasion 3

1 Corporal Richard Nummer 5

2 Seaman James Bush 17

3 Corporal James "Salty" Hathaway 26

4 Captain Fred Haynes 42

5 Corporal Hershel Woodrow "Woody" Williams 58

Part 2 Iron Mike's Posse 75

6 Corporal Glenn Buzzard 77

7 Private First Class Pete Santoro 93

8 Private First Class Domenick Tutalo 103

Part 3 Russell, Tso, Abbatiello, and Waterhouse 111

9 Captain Gerald Russell 113

10 Private First Class Samuel Tso 130

11 Corporal A1 Abbatiello 144

12 Private First Class Charles Waterhouse 157

Part 4 The Flag Raisings 173

13 Warrant Officer Norman Hatch 179

14 Corporal Charles "Chuck" Lindberg 200

Part 5 The LST, Workhorse of the Invasion 211

15 Machinist's Mate Third Class Perle "Dusty" Ward 213

16 Pharmacist's Mate Third Class George Wahlen 221

17 Sergeant Cyril O'Brien 232

18 Sergeant Thomas Haywood McPhatter 248

Part 6 The Planes That Came 259

19 Lieutenant Robert Merklein 261

20 Staff Sergeant Valentine Chepeleff 272

21 Lieutenant Phil True 280

Part 7 Aftermath 293

22 The Japanese Commanders-Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi and Captain Tsunezo Wachi-and the Years Afterward 295

23 Patrick Mooney and the Graves 307

24 Colonel John W. Ripley, USMC (Ret.) 319

Appendix Military Terminology 341

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This audiobook is a must for all WWII aficionados." —-AudioFile

Editorial Reviews

"A superb reporter revisits Iwo Jima through the men who actually fought there and how they remembered their time in Hell."

James Brady

"Iwo Jima is by turns poignant and powerful, inspiring and sobering. This is a superb and fascinating work by one of our nation’s leading oral historians."

Jay Winik

"Smith has cast his net widely and generated interviews with a wide range of veterans, so his book affords a broader-than-usual view of the battle…Eminently readable and historiographically useful"

Booklist

"Page after page of compelling stories unfold in Larry Smith’s brilliant oral history, Iwo Jima. The tales of valor and humanity, as told by veterans of the battle, reveal the magnitude of their remarkable accomplishment during this pivotal campaign of the Pacific war. This is neither a statistical account nor a mere catalog of the ships. Rather, it is a dramatic portrait of ordinary men confronting and surviving extraordinary events, all in their own words."

Walter Anderson

"Nobody can get warriors to share their heroic stories better than Larry Smith."

Jack Jacobs

The story of the Battle of Iwo Jima is well known, especially with the attention it received on its 60th anniversary in 2005 and the publication then of several fine studies (e.g., James Bradley and Ron Powers's Flags of Our Fathers), not to mention Clint Eastwood's two recent films. Now best-selling author Smith (Beyond Glory) has amassed a superb collection of 22 oral histories from Iwo Jima veterans, including two Medal of Honor winners, a Navajo "Code-Talker," the last surviving flag raiser from the first flag raising on Mount Suribachi, a war correspondent, and an African American marine who served in an ammo company. These veterans make for a good mix of officers and enlisted men. In his introductions and follow-ups to their memories, Smith discusses the controversy surrounding the flag raisings (whether posed or genuine, etc.), the fate of Japanese commander Kuribayashi, and the ultimate fate of the island itself, among other topics. In spite of the extensive literature on Iwo Jima, this is a unique and compelling book; strongly recommended for all collections. (Photos not seen.)
—David Lee Poremba

Library Journal

Veterans tell personal stories of the iconic 1945 island battle. In his third oral-history collection, veteran journalist Smith (The Few and the Proud: Marine Corps Drill Instructors in Their Own Words, 2006) interviewed 22 retired soldiers, all over the age of 80. Readers accustomed to today's wars, in which a single American death makes headlines, may recoil at the mass slaughter these men witnessed. Several marine flamethrowers relate the gruesome mechanics of their specialty. A surviving medic (nearly 200 died) reveals the equally horrific duties that won him a Medal of Honor. A sailor who participated in minesweeping before his ship's landing recalls how, despite never touching shore, dozens of his shipmates died. An operations officer describes the weeks during which almost all his fellow officers and friends fell. Perhaps the most moving subject is Samuel Tso, a Navajo from a poor family who never saw them during four years at a government high school in which officials forced students to speak only English. Drafted into the legendary code-talkers, he and his fellow tribesmen used the formerly forbidden Navajo language as a secure method of communication between units during battle. Several crewmen describe missions during which an emergency landing on Iwo saved their lives. Since each veteran summarizes his life history, readers will learn what it was like to grow up in Depression-era America, when nearly everyone struggled. Thankfully, all of the stories contained here have happy endings. Exemplary oral history.

Kirkus Reviews

"This audiobook is a must for all WWII aficionados." ---AudioFile

From the Publisher

Dick Hill takes listeners back nearly 64 years to February 19, 1945, and the U.S. invasion of Iwo Jima, a tiny volcanic island in the Pacific occupied by the Japanese. Hill is more than up to the challenge of portraying the memories and varying accents of 22 survivors of one of the costliest battles of WWII, a battle that claimed nearly 22,000 Japanese and 7,000 American lives. Enhancing the listening experience even more is Hill's exacting grasp of a Japanese accent. Author Larry Smith does an exceptional job of weaving the personal memories of the heroic veterans and factual nuggets—either previously unreported or unknown—on the battle itself. This audiobook is a must for all WWII aficionados. J.P.D. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2009 - AudioFile