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THE END OF A BATTLE
For the survivors of Landing Team 1/27, the battle was over. The war still went on and Iwo Jima was bursting at the seams with activity. While the Marines had been bleeding and dying in the badlands, engineers andSeabees turned Iwo’s airfields into bustling fighter and bomber bases. The place was far different from that morning when Americans had first set foot on the island so long ago. Before shoving off from the island, thousands of Marines made the pilgrimage to visit their buddies in the 5th Marine Division Cemetery. Alone and in small groups, men wandered among the rows of graves. Finding a best friend or a battle buddy, they stopped to read the simple inscription on a white cross or Star of David. There were so many graves. A few feet of volcanic ash separated the living from their dead buddies but, the gap yawned wide. In that solemn place, Marines remembered little things. They thought of the difference in fractions of an inch between life and death and were humbled by the sacrifice of those who had died for them. Remembering their best friends and shared experiences, young men struggled to make sense of it all. Many would spend years asking questions like, “Why so many and not me?”
In the future, some would refight the battle in the quiet places of their lives. And every Marine wandering through the cemetery would carry a piece of Iwo Jima with him as long as he lived. For now though these young men were just glad to be alive. On 23 March 1945 the remnants of 1/27 boarded transports and sailed from Iwo Jima back to Camp Tarawa. In a sense, the voyage to Hawaii was the start of a new journey. Only a handful of the Marines who had landed on D-Day were still standing in the ranks. They climbed up the cargo nets aboard ship and entered a world very different from the one they had just left. The ships were clean and bright with plenty of hot chow, unlike the privations, noise and clinging death of Iwo Jima.
The 1st Battalion, 27th Marines paid a high price for its part in the campaign for bloody Iwo. Eleven of the battalion’s officers and 222 enlisted Marines died in combat. In addition, 27 officers and 530 enlisted Marines were wounded. Many of the wounded would carry the scars of battle for the rest of their lives. In the scale of suffering for victory, 1/27’s tally of 790 Marines killed or wounded was among the highest of the infantry battalion’s that fought on Iwo. Once back in Camp Tarawa, many wrote to the families of the lost. These poignant letters told of shared memories, the bonds of friendship and many other things. Commanders of fallen Marines sent their condolences to the next of kin of fallen Marines. Col Wornham wrote to Honey Gal about her husband. Wornham wrote: “Without a doubt this is the hardest letter I’ve ever had to write in my life. Nothing that I say will relieve your grief I know, but it may help just a little to know that many others and myself in particular, share your grief. “Before I left the island I wentdown to the cemetery to say goodbye to all our personnel resting there at peace with the world. It was quiet—the guns now still—just the way they gave their lives to have it, they, the real heroes of Iwo Jima. “Mrs. Butler I want you to know that in that cemetery, where so many of my officers and men rest, I said my final goodbye to John. It isn’t much I know, but of them all he was my most devoted and closest friend. He was, Mrs. Butler, a loyal officer and a gallant leader. The Marine Corps could not afford to lose him.” (2) Some letters contained information about how a Marine died without revealing details that were too painful to read, or write about. LtCol Frank DeSantis, one of John’s best friends, wrote Honey Gal just after the battle: “By now you must already know how it happened. He was killed on March 5th. That means he had been through over ten days of bitter fighting…Tom Wornham said John was the fightenest man he has ever seen. When it came, he was just coming out of the line, his battalion was scheduled for a rest. As it was described to me John had just gotten in his jeep to drive to the rear when a Jap shell landed under the jeep. He never suffered Denise and it was much, much better that way.” (3) Heartsick and tired, the survivors arrived in Hawaii. Back at Camp Tarawa, divisional headquarters ordered all units to allow Marines to rest and recuperate. Slowly, the wounds healed and men began to live again. New replacements streamed into Camp Tarawa. They stood in awe of the combat veterans, most of whom were still teenagers grown old before their time. During the summer of 1945 events moved quickly. The 5th Marine Division began a new training program for the planned invasion of Japan. Beginning with individual tasks, the routine of training started again. In August, news of the atomic bombs spread like wildfire. On 14 August 1945, the Japanese empire surrendered unconditionally.
The 5th Marine Division set sail once again, this time bound for Japan itself. From September–December 1945, the division took part in the occupation force. Then, its World War II mission complete, the Spearhead Marines returned home. The infantry battalions of the 27th Marines were deactivated in early January 1946. Most of the Marines returned to civilian life, but a handful remained on active duty.
In America’s consciousness, the flagraising on Mount Suribachi became the iconic image of World War II. Oddly enough, most of the Marines in 1/27 didn’t see the flag going up. They were locked in battle and facing the wrong way. Nevertheless, they helped raise the flag as surely as if they were on top of the volcano that day. LtCol Butler built a fine battalion, one that any commander would have been proud of. A professional Marine, he put the stamp of excellence in everything his Marines did. The skipper had a bunch of great leaders to help him, Marines like Gunny Basilone, PltSgt Joseph Julian, 2ndLt Clair Voss and many others. Leading from the front, these men were faced with the two imperatives of leading men in war; taking care of their Marines, and mission accomplishment. In the cold equation of war, the battalion leaders set the example every day and many of them died on Iwo’s black sands, or up in the rugged badlands. Almost all of the key leaders in 1/27 who landed with the battalion on D-Day were wounded or killed during the campaign. These Marines had trained and led their men for over a year prior to Iwo Jima. In the crucible of combat, leadeship at every level often made the difference between victory and utter defeat. From LtCol Butler right down to the newest fireteam leader, each officer and noncommissioned officer did his utmost to win. Many Americans recognize the name John Basilone. Some even know he was one of America’s first living Medal of Honor recipients in World War II and that he died on Iwo Jima. Most don’t have any idea of the heroic role he played on Red Beach 2. But he wasn’t alone. The Marine Corps did many things very well in World War II. One of the most notable was its organic ability to build new units that held together, fought and prevailed in the shock of their first time in combat. Arguably, no other military service did this quite as well as the United States Marine Corps. The 1st Battalion, 27th Marines demonstrated this admirably on Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima was the toughest combat of World War II. It was the only battle of the Pacific war in which the Japanese inflicted more casualties than they took. Marine units kept fighting well past the point where they would have been classed as “combat ineffective” under normal circumstances. But the fighting on Iwo was anything but normal. Victory in battle was not an accident. It was the result of training, unit cohesion and esprit de corps—and good men. Technology played a role. Yet in the final tally, the young Marines on Iwo Jima won the day, not their weapons. Each Marine who served in LtCol Butler’s battalion performed heroically. Simply by shouldering his gear and moving into battle, the infantry Marine exhibited bravery that cannot and should not be forgotten. Standing fast in the face of fear—watching friends die—continuing the mission—these were daily, even hourly facts of life on Iwo Jima. The Marine Corps has always maintained a fierce, almost tribal view about itself. Phrases like “Marines never quit” are more than just empty words to those who wear the Eagle, Globe and Anchor. On Iwo Jima, and a thousand other battlefields, these words have meant the difference between victory and defeat. Iwo Jima itself was just a small volcanic island in a vast war, but what happened there during 36 days in 1945 was something extraordinary. On a hellish machine-age battlefield, young men under fire accomplished the impossible; they hammered their bodies against concrete and steel. Against all odds, the concrete and steel gave way. It could not hold against a few good men.
THE END
Notes on cited material: (1) Casualty statistics extracted from Iwo Jima–Amphibious Epic, by Whitman Bartley, Appendix III, pg 220
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