Iwo Jima's 65th Anniversary
This week (actually Feb. 19) is the 65th Anniversary of the Battle for Iwo Jima. 5 days later, on Feb. 24, Joe Rosenthal made his famous photograph. Possibly the most famous photograph ever made. The National Museum of the Marine Corps, in Quantico, VA, hosted a Commemoration event, and Medal of Honor recipients and retired generals spoke. Even the current National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, General James L. Jones Jr., USMC (Ret), made an appearance and closed the event with some remarks.
All in all it appeared to be a successful event. Most importantly, though, was the gathering of the 500 or so Iwo Jima veterans. This is probably the last time these men will gather, so I thought it was a nice opportunity to take some portraits and collect some audio. Of course, I’d have loved to get all 500 in pictures, but that seemed to be a complete impossibility. So I settled for about 10.
I made an audio slideshow but the paper is unwilling or unable to publish it (long, long story which is really about the idiocy of small papers with no budget trying their hand at multimedia, but I digress). When that gets on the web, I'll update this post and my facebook biz page.
Here's the updated link: http://media.gatewayva.com/isn/slideshow/IWO_JIMA_022610/publish_to_web/indepix.htm
Kenneth Fisk celebrated his 20th birthday landing on Iwo Jima.
Josias Villarreal, San Antonio, TX.
Edward McHenry, Rancho Santa Fe, CA.
Bill Johnson, Wimberly, TX.
Tom Hodge, New Boston, TX.
Leroy Hulser, Flagler Beach, FL.
Charles Tauser, Moscow Hills, MO, lasted 1 day on the island, getting shot through the throat, missing his jugular “by a hair”, sparing his life.
Paul G. Smith, Parkville, MO. Part of the only MP platoon that landed on Iwo.
But my favorite veterans I met were the Navajo Code Talkers. Bill Toledo fought on Iwo and was kind enough to speak in his native language, actually singing the USMC anthem in Navajo. Please visit navajocodetalkers.org for some more information. It really is a fascinating story.
Bill Toledo, Navajo Code Talker, Laguna, NM.
Bill Toledo and Frank Willett, Crownpoint, NM. Willett fought in the Pacific Theater, but not in Iwo. He came to Quantico to support the other Code Talkers who survived Iwo.
All in all it appeared to be a successful event. Most importantly, though, was the gathering of the 500 or so Iwo Jima veterans. This is probably the last time these men will gather, so I thought it was a nice opportunity to take some portraits and collect some audio. Of course, I’d have loved to get all 500 in pictures, but that seemed to be a complete impossibility. So I settled for about 10.
I made an audio slideshow but the paper is unwilling or unable to publish it (long, long story which is really about the idiocy of small papers with no budget trying their hand at multimedia, but I digress). When that gets on the web, I'll update this post and my facebook biz page.
Here's the updated link: http://media.gatewayva.com/isn/slideshow/IWO_JIMA_022610/publish_to_web/indepix.htm
Kenneth Fisk celebrated his 20th birthday landing on Iwo Jima.
Josias Villarreal, San Antonio, TX.
Edward McHenry, Rancho Santa Fe, CA.
Bill Johnson, Wimberly, TX.
Tom Hodge, New Boston, TX.
Leroy Hulser, Flagler Beach, FL.
Charles Tauser, Moscow Hills, MO, lasted 1 day on the island, getting shot through the throat, missing his jugular “by a hair”, sparing his life.
Paul G. Smith, Parkville, MO. Part of the only MP platoon that landed on Iwo.But my favorite veterans I met were the Navajo Code Talkers. Bill Toledo fought on Iwo and was kind enough to speak in his native language, actually singing the USMC anthem in Navajo. Please visit navajocodetalkers.org for some more information. It really is a fascinating story.
Bill Toledo, Navajo Code Talker, Laguna, NM.
Bill Toledo and Frank Willett, Crownpoint, NM. Willett fought in the Pacific Theater, but not in Iwo. He came to Quantico to support the other Code Talkers who survived Iwo.
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