SPOTLIGHT ON MARINE HEROES #4
"In the final analysis battles are won not by machines but by men trained to fight, wanting to live, but unafraid to die. Iwo Jima has come to symbolize the courage and offensive spirit that brought victory to the Armed Forces of the United States in World War II."
Iwo Jima–Amphibious Epic
LtCol Whitman Barkley
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Iwo Jima casualties
19 February–26 March 1945
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KIA |
DOW |
MIA |
WIA |
Total |
| Marines |
4,554 |
1,331 |
46 |
17,272 |
23,203 |
| Naval FMF Medical Personnel |
178 |
19 |
0 |
541 |
738 |
| Naval Construction Bns |
42 |
7 |
2 |
218 |
269 |
| Naval Ships, craft and air units |
143 |
44 |
446 |
1,158 |
1,791 |
| Army |
9 |
0 |
0 |
28 |
37 |
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4,926 |
1,401 |
494 |
19,217 |
26,038 |
3rd Bn, 25th Marines on Iwo Jima–
casualty statistics and the men behind the numbers
The 26th Marines on Iwo Jima–
a regiment's fight to sustain its strength
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(left) Entrance to the 5th MarDiv cemetery on Iwo Jima with Mount Suribachi in the background.
USMC Photo
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Condolence letter to the family of Sgt Wyatt Percell, killed on Iwo Jima
Headquarters Third Battalion
27th Marines 5th Marine Division
F.P.O. San Francisco, Calif.
14 May 1945
Dear Mrs. Percell,
There is little that can be said to help relieve the mental anguish of losing someone so dear as a husband. However, I'd like to express my sincerest regrets in this dark hour. Your husband was a fine example of American manhood. He was liked by all that knew him and his personal courage was an inspiration. May it be a consolation that he died serving his country,
Your husband was killed in action on February 20th, 1945 on Iwo Jima. The company to which he belonged was advancing across one of the airfields on the island. He was instantly killed by an enemy artillery shell. He was buried in Plot 2, Row 3, Grave 343, 5th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima.
Please accept the heartfelt sympathies of all the officers and men of this organization. If I may be able to assist you in any way please do not fail to contact me.
Donn J. Robertson
Lt Col USMC
Commanding
Mrs. Luella E. Percell
Junction City, Oregon
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LtCol Robertson wrote 177 letters like this to to the families of Marines killed in his battalion on Iwo Jima. The original was written in pencil on a simple sheet of lined paper. Sgt. Percell's daughter, Vivian, was a young girl at the time of his death. She still lives in Junction City, Oregon.
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(left) Grave of GySgt John Basilone in the 5th MarDiv Cemetery on Iwo Jima–1945. He was a Medal of Honor recipient with the 1st MarDiv on Guadalcanal in 1942. Gunny Basilone volunteered for duty with the 5th MarDiv and was killed by a Japanese mortar round on 19 Feb 1945. He was awarded a posthumous Navy Cross.
USMC Photo
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Remarks by MajGen Graves Erskine at the dedication of the
3rd MarDiv Cemetery
on Iwo Jima –March 1945
"Only the accumulated praise of time will pay proper tribute to our valiant dead. Long after those who lament their immediate loss are themselves dead, these men will be mourned by the Nation. They are the Nation's loss! There is talk of great history, of the greatest fight in our history, of unheard-of sacrifice and unheard-of courage. These phrases are correct, but they are prematurely employed. Victory was never in doubt. Its cost was. The enemy could have displaced every cubic inch of volcanic ash on this fortress with concrete pillboxes and blockhouses, which he nearly did, and still victory would not have been in doubt. What was in doubt, in all our minds, was whether there would be any of us left to dedicate this cemetery at the end, or whether the last Marine would die knocking out the last Japanese gun and gunner. Let the world count our crosses! Let them count over and over. Then when they understand the significance of the fighting for Iwo Jima, let them wonder how few they are. We understand and we wonder-we who are separated from our dead by a few feet of earth; from death by inches and fractions of an inch. The cost to us in quality, one who did not fight side by side with those who fell, can never understand."
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(above) The price of victory– A fallen Marine is laid to
rest in Iwo Jima's black sand–1945 USMC Photo |
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SPOTLIGHT ON IWO JIMA INDEX
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