Time got away from me today. More on Clyde Jackson on Iwo Jima tomorrow.
[b][i]Episode 7: Fighting on Iwo Jima Ends/U.S. Navy Contributions
Because our company had sustained so many casualties, we had to be pulled off of the front line. To illustrate how bad the situation was, our platoon was now being run by me and another Private First Class. We had no other of higher rank of experience in our platoon. After resting, rearming and receiving new replacements, we spent the next 24 hours integrating the new replacements into our platoon. We then returned to the fighting on the front lines, and I was wounded on March 12th.
By now the Japanese had been compressed into a very small area in the north part of the island, but because the area was so incredibly rugged and heavily fortified, it took the remnants of 4 regiments and 2 battalions 14 days to finish the battle. Just our regiment alone in that 14 days lost 140 killed and 388 wounded. Our regiment landed with 3,250 men and left with 300. Our company landed with 250 men and left with 7. The Battle for Iwo Jima was officially declared over on March 26, 1945.(66 years ago in 2011)
There have been very few things mentioned about the Navy losses at Iwo Jima, but a total of 27 fighting ships were damaged by Japanese fire, with a loss of 423 killed and 489 wounded. The aircraft carrier Bismark Sea was sunk with 127 killed and many wounded. The aircraft cattier Saratoga was so heavily damaged it was put out of action, with a loss of 123 killed and 192 wounded.
Episode 8: More on the U.S. Navy/Begin Clyde Jackson’s article, “Oh Happy Day”.
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I can’t even think which kind of feelings were rumbling in the head of one of those seven survivors from E Company, after that hell… I can’t find the right world in my language, you can imagine in English… :shock:
Thanx again, Texag57!!!
I have no words, either. It would be shocking, devastating, and so very, very sad. There is no way to repay their sacrifice.
[b][i]Episode 8:More about the work of the U.S. Navy
Many Navy personnel that brought the troops and materials ashore and retrieved the were wounded were also killed or wounded. Many Navy medical personnel that manned our battalion and regimental aid stations were killed and wounded including 7 Navy doctors killed. Navy Construction Battalion troops that cleared the landing strips so that damaged B-29’s could land were also killed or wounded. Now some of you might not know that there are two Navy Corpsmen are assigned to each Marine Infantry platoon. They have to do everything we do plus take care of us. The Navy Medical Corpsmen attached to the Marines suffered heavy losses. 195 killed and 529 wounded. Their casualty rate, percentage wise, was even greater than the Marines. Every Marine’s hero are these medical corpsmen!! There were many other unsung Navy heroes that were killed or wounded in the battle for Iwo Jima. [/i][/b]
Episode 9: Clyde Jackson’s Personal Article, "OH HAPPY DAY’
[b][i]“OH HAPPY DAY” BY CLYDE JACKSON
TOMORROW, I was going to be killed. TOMORROW I was going to die and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t hide, I couldn’t think of any way to keep it from happening.
Even though 200 men in our Marine infantry company of 236 on Iwo Jima had already been killed or wounded, I had never before had that dread feeling that I was going to die. After all, I was barely 19 years old and invincible; but all of that had changed this morning. I knew that TOMORROW I would be killed.
After 20 days of almost constant fighting day and night, I was dirty, hungry, and exhausted-a state that didn’t help my attitude about dying. Nights were the worst. In the darkness of this small eight-mile long, three-and -a-half mile wide island, with its rugged landscape, the imagination ran ahead of reality, seeing the enemy in every movement and shadow on its crags, cliffs, ridges, and valleys.
For the last two days our platoon had been out blowing up caves and tunnels previously bypassed as we tried to force the Japanese into the upper part of the island. This morning as we joined our company, the first person I saw was Sergeant Jay Brandt, all 220 pounds of him, with his undershorts down around his knees, picking grenade shrapnel out of his buttocks and legs. When I asked how things were going, he replied that they had just finished a fierce firefight that had ended in a stand-off. He also said that the Japanese now outnumbered us, at least in our own sector of the island, as we continued to compress them into a smaller and smaller area. My apprehension about TOMORROW grew!
Our platoon managed to move in and integrate with the remainder of the company, which by now comprised only about 35 of the original men and 30 recent replacements. About noon, another attempt was made to push forward, but the Japanese firing was so heavy that we did not make any headway. Several men were wounded and the man next (to) me, a new replacement, was shot through the forehead. I couldn’t even remember his name, but I did remember his saying that he had a wife and three children.
As the day progressed, there was more firing from both sides, and my concern about TOMORROW became greater. Late in the afternoon, two men from the rear brought us a small garbage can full of hot coffee, and I volunteered to get some for the two men with whom I was sharing a foxhole.
Next Posting: The Conclusion of Clyde Jackson’s fight on Iwo Jima.
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[b][i][FONT=“Garamond”][SIZE=“3”]Conclusion of Clyde Jackson’s combat on Iwo Jima
The Japanese must have detected our movement, because they began shelling us with mortars, wounding two men nearby. Then I felt the most terrific pain I had ever experienced. A mortar shell, which turned out to be a dud, hit me in the arm,driving bone through to the other side. Through tears and the pain, however, I realized that although my wound was painful, it was not life threatening, and I began to smile and smile. Now I was wounded and would not have to worry about TOMORROW.
The medical corpsman crawled over to see if he could help. I asked for a shot of morphine to ease the pain, but he had just given his last one to someone else. I told him that was OK with me, because I just wanted to get off the front line along with the other wounded. That’s when he told me the bad news: it was not going to happen, because there were Japanese snipers on the trail back to the rear. When I realized that meant I would have to spend the night on the front line, my smile faded and my fear of TOMORROW came rushing back. Not only could I not forestall TOMORROW, but now I was disabled and unable to fully protect myself. With help,I managed to return to the foxhole and the protection of my two friends.
Needless to say, I didn’t get any sleep because of the pain and thinking about TOMORROW. There was only sporadic firing by both sides during the night, but no real attacks. As soon as it was light, I sought out the corpsman, and to my great relief he was able to evacuate me and the other wounded men. I was taken to a battalion aid station, where I was given anesthesia while the doctor performed a partial repair of my wound.
I did not awake until the following morning as I was being carried on a stretcher to an awaiting plane bound for a hospital in Guam. I looked up at the blue sky and then I realized that TOMORROW was yesterday and I was still alive. O beautiful day!
O wonderful day!
O happy day!(30) [/SIZE][/FONT][/i][/b]Thanx again for his precious remembrance to the US Marine Veteran Clyde Jackson and to our good friends Texag57, for his precious help…
I am privileged to know Clyde Jackson, and honored to share his wartime experience on Iwo Jima. If you met him, you would not expect him to be a combat veteran. He is quiet, unassuming, and a very gentle man, as I am sure other surviving veterans from other nations who fought on both sides in that war.
My great uncle was on Iwo, never talked about it to family.
Sometimes he let slip some jewel, the Thompson SMG was great for fire fight till it jammed and you picked up a Garand to continue fighting. My dad told me he said that after some WW2 movie on tv?
I asked him if he was at Iwo and he told me: “yes I was, we cleared the caves from japs, they would hide in holes and shoot you in the back after you walked by”. This was a few months before he died.
When I read about him in paper was when I found out he won Bronze Star for Valor.
[b]I have another friend from our church, who passed away recently, who was in charge of a Marine demolitions unit. His job was to seal the caves, or blast the Japanese soldiers out. He was not at Iwo Jima, but did his work at Tarawa and Okinawa, among other places. [FONT=“Garamond”][His name was “Dutch” Raitz. I do miss him, for he was a very quiet and humble man, and a good friend.B][/[/FONT]
What a great thread. Thanks for sharing. My Uncle, Pvt. Lawrence J. Ryan was also assigned to F Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division. He died in July, 2004. Too soon. He too was wounded after Suribachi. He said he could not get flat enough on the ground as a Jap machine gun opened up. A MG round struck him in the top of the shoulder, and exited at the bottom of his shoulder blade.
Shortly before his death, as he reflected on Iwo, he said “life was cheap back then”, as he remebered how many of his fellow Marines were killed there.
Thank you Clyde Jackson!
[b][i]dwesol,
We have been in Colorado for several days, and I wanted to let you know that I will contact Clyde to see if he remembers your relative. I will let you know as soon as I hear back.
Cheers[/i][/b]
[b][i]dwesol,
Clyde Jackson said your uncle was in his same 10 man squad. He would like to get in touch with you, so I will get his email and send it to you. Small World.[/i][/b]
[b][b][i]dwesol,
Clyde Jackson’s email address is twojacksons@sbcglobal.net. He would like to hear from you. Let me know if you two made contact./I][/b][/b]
[SIZE=“3”][/SIZE]BOOT CAMP
As I stepped off of the train
I knew I had made a terrible Mistake
The sergeant was shouting at me
You stupid dumbass
You lowest of the low
Get in the line and follow me
The next day
Lining up to get our new uniforms
Being issues 38-inch dungarees
For my 24-inch size waist
Being humiliated by the sergeant
Since he had to hold up my dungarees
By the belt loops
Because every time I let go
To hoist my sea bag
My dungarees fell down
There we were marching dow the street
With the sergeant holding up my dungarees
Finally getting my web belt and buckle put together
Now cinched around my 24-inch waist
Holding up my 38-inch dungarees
Now I could march with humble pride
What an ignoble start to my Marine Corps career
November, 2010 Clyde Jackson
(Prose written by Clyde Jackson many years after World War II)
For one official-source naming of the Army units on Iwo Jima during the battle and i the mopping-up stage, see William S. Bartley, Iwo Jima: Amphibious Epic, Historical Branch, G-3 Division, HQ U.S. Marine Corps, 1954.
Onetiomeboot
Appendix V of Iwo Jima: Amphibious Epic, lists the units (Army, Navy and Marine) that comprised the Expeditionary Troops. Under “Garrison Forces (Assault Echelon),” is listed a number of units, including “Detachment, 147th Army Infantry Regiment,” that, according to the book, landed on 27 February. The remainder of the regiment came ashore later than that.
Onetimeboot
[i]Thanks, Onetimeboot, I’ll try to find the reference and do some more reading.
Best Regards[/i]
Great story from one of our great veterans. Thanks
My grandfather flew with the VC-84 squadron on the escort carrier USS Makin Island during the Iwo Jima campaign. The USS Makin Island was in positioned off of Iwo Jima on February 15th and departed the combat area on March 8th. Then the ship headed to Ulthi.