We Were in the First Waves of Steel Amtracs Who Landed on Iwo Jima

By John Ryland Thurman

This book is based on my personal experiences. I have always felt that what I did was just my job and what was required of me to do as a Marine following orders. It became apparent to me when I visited the island of Okinawa for a month in 1997. I was honored by Marines, young and old, who were stationed there at the time. They wanted to hear of my experiences, to meet me and shake my hand. I started writing this book late in my life and I am not a professional writer. For a long time after Iwo Jima, I found it hard to talk about my experiences. I was able to do some talks at private clubs and at the Marine Corps Training Center in Okinawa and from these talks; I was encouraged to write this book.

What really made me decide to try and write was after my talk at the Marine Crops Training Center in Okinawa. There was a group of Marines waiting for me and one of the Marines stepped up and asked, Sir, we would like to ask you some questions. I said sure. He then asked Is our training anywhere near the real thing? That caught me for a second. I said yes, your body had been conditioned to be strong and is ready to handle any kind of unknown rough terrain and still have the strength to take out any enemy gun position; youre going to need it. But the mind could never be fully ready. It cant be. It has to happen fi rst. Youve been told what to expect, but it is diff erent when you see it for real right in front of your own eyes. You have to swallow hard and just keep going. Youre training has given you a healthy mind and this will get you through.

That question made me realize these young men need to be told what its like out there. I owe it to the men and the Corps. I have come to realize that these personal experiences are also a very important time and a piece of history that will go with me if I fail to share them here. Memories and sights that only a few have experienced and all should have the opportunity to learn about if they so choose. This book is not intended to be abrasive, insultive, discriminatory, or grotesque in nature as is more to capture and recollect the vivid memoirs of a Marine who fought on the front lines in the battle of Iwo Jima. To defend the freedoms and this great Country for which I have never taken for granted.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 13, 2009
• ISBN: 9781456721992

Book preview

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgement

Dedication

Preface

This book is based on my personal experiences. I have always felt that what I did was just my job and what was required of me to do as a Marine following orders. It became apparent to me when I visited the island of Okinawa for a month in 1997. I was honored by Marines, young and old, who were stationed there at the time. They wanted to hear of my experiences, to meet me and shake my hand. I started writing this book late in my life and I am not a professional writer. For a long time after Iwo Jima, I found it hard to talk about my experiences. I was able to do some talks at private clubs and at he Marine Corps Training Center in Okinawa and from these talks; I was encouraged to write this book.

What really made me decide to try and write was after my talk at the Marine Crops Training Center in Okinawa. There was a group of Marines waiting for me and one of the Marines stepped up and asked, Sir, we would like to ask you some questions. I said sure. He then asked Is our training anywhere near the real thing? That caught me for a second. I said yes, your body had been conditioned to be strong and is ready to handle any kind of unknown rough terrain and still have the strength to take out any enemy gun position; you’re going to need it. But the mind could never be fully ready. It can’t be. It has to happen first. You’ve been told what to expect, but it is different when you see it for real right in front of your own eyes. You have to swallow hard and just keep going. You’re training has given you a healthy mind and this will get you through.

That question made me realize these young men need to be told what it’s like out there. I owe it to the men and the Corps.

I have come to realize that these personal experiences are also a very important time and a piece of history that will go with me if I fail to share them here. Memories and sights that only a few have experienced and all should have the opportunity to learn about if they so choose. This book is not intended to be abrasive, insultive, discriminatory, or grotesque in nature as is more to capture and recollect the vivid memoirs of a Marine who fought on the front lines in the battle of Iwo Jima. To defend the freedoms and this great Country for which I have never taken for granted.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my daughter Commander Karen J. Thurman, USN, NC for supporting my efforts with typing and the completion of my book.

Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to my wife Carol and our four children - Steve, Linda, Mark, and Karen.

- Dad

We are so very proud of you and love you so very much

You are our inspiration

- Your loving wife and children

WE WERE IN THE FIRST WAVES OF STEEL AMTRACS

~ WHO LANDED ON IWO JIMA ~

I was born September 27, 1925 at Saint Josephs Hospital in Mitchell South Dakota. I was raised here on my parent’s local dairy farm in Mitchell with fifteen other siblings. Even though I moved on from the farm lands and pheasant country quite some time ago, nothing will ever be able to take the farmer out of me. Yes, to this day I still have the farmer inside of me. I loved farming and there’s nothing like the smell of good dirt. However, I always had a strong desire to join the United States Marine Corps. So much that I even tried to volunteer with the Marines when I was only 16 years old. I knew my father needed me to stay and help him work the farm so I stayed until my 18th birthday. Finally on the 28th of September I joined the Marine Corps and went to Fort Snelling (which is located near St. Paul Minneapolis) for my entrance examination. I then transferred to the Marine Corps Recruiting District (MCRD) located in San Diego California from October of 1943 to November 1943, which would become the beginning of my infantry training. After working the farm and being raised in a family of fifteen, hard work came naturally to me and boot camp just didn’t seem all that difficult. Upon completion of boot camp, I spent the next four months at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California.

All I knew was that I had volunteered to train with a group who would later be known as the Carlson Raiders. Our training consisted mostly of submarine night raids and frequent use of the Thompson machine gun, not far from Oceanside California. Actually, it was the San Clemente Island which was just located off of the California coast near Catalina Island. This was when I joined the 5th Marine Division (MARDIV) and three months later the 5th MARDIV was broken down into three regiments. I was fortunate enough to become a member of the 27th Regiment 2nd Battalion Foxtrot Company. In April 1944 we headed for Hawaii by way of the Neiwok Marshal Islands and Sipain on board the Navy Troop Ship number 119. While on board I would receive eight more months of extensive training. At the time I felt well prepared, especially with the survival training we had received as a Carlson Raider. But, nothing could really prepare us mentally for what we were going to see had seen at the end.

We were just a few days from Hawaii when we were called out on top side of the APA 119 to attend our first briefing. One of many briefing we would receive. All the Marines on board had to break up into smaller briefing groups; there were just too many troops to form up in one area. We gathered around anywhere we could; on the fantail, bow, gun-turrets, other areas of the deck, and lastly down in our holds or in the berthing areas. Up till now, everything had been a deep secret for us. All we knew was that we were heading to the Pacific somewhere. There was some scuttlebutt going around about the possibility of the Yapi and Peleliu Islands but, we also had heard about the island of Iwo Jima. As we gathered around we were a little surprised to see a large map of Iwo Jima hanging up on the ship’s rigging. We were truly surprised. Surprised because we had the impression and belief that we would actually be landing on the Yap and Peleliu islands instead. It was at that point that we knew we were on our way to Iwo Jima. Realizing our convoy was just a few days away from landing on the island of Iwo Jima; we couldn’t help but wonder what was it going to be like? We found out that Iwo Jima was 645 miles from Tokyo and about half way between Saipan and Japan. And that would put Iwo Jima right in the middle of the American B-29 flight patterns that had been carrying out extensive bombing raids upon Japan, Okinawa and other important Japanese territorial targets. During the briefing we were told that when we land on Iwo Jima, we would be the first military troops to be this close to the homeland of Japan and we were prepared to invade Japan. At the beginning of WWII Japan had the largest Naval force for warfare but, the United States Navy had been rebuilding its Naval forces since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. That was the disheartening day that the USS Arizona sank taking all aboard with her to rest forever on the bottom of Pearl Harbor Bay. Now we were becoming the strongest Naval force in the south pacific.

During the brief we wanted to know what kind of conditions we would be fighting in. We were told that from air observations they could see nothing but rough terrain, lava rock everywhere, deep ravines, black dusty sand, hidden caves, no water and very little vegetation. Japan described the island as Sulfur Island. We were also told that Iwo Jima would be very heavily fortified with artillery positions and that Mt. Suribachi would, with no doubt be a very strong observation point for the Japanese Soldiers to pin point our positions; no matter where we would try to take cover (Later I will talk more about how the Japanese Soldiers would observe us from Mt. Suribachi. How they had us pinned down with heavy gun fire, which was nearly the end of us all). We were also to learn during our briefing, that the island of Iwo Jima was under heavy bomber attack and that the Navy’s gunners on board the battle ships had been shelling the island around the clock for days. Iwo Jima’s resistance should be very little. The island was only five miles long and two and a half miles wide. With an island of that size, we felt that we should be able to secure Iwo Jima in only two or three days. After that we figured we would be moving on to the Island of Okinawa as planned - little did we know we would never make it there.

At one time, Japan considered the island of Iwo Jima useless, but the war changed all that and the little island developed into a very important military air base. They had one active air field with two more under construction. From this one air field, Japanese zero fighters were intercepting our B-29s, that were already crippled from their raids on Japan. American B-29’s may have suffered some, but they were still able to put up a good fight against those furious zero fighters. The Japanese pilots were having a tough air battle against the American B-29’s and when possible they would call in their Kamikaze’s for added air support. The American B-29s had no place to crash-land, except in the open sea. The Japanese Kamikaze’s had one purpose - suicide. They would fly in from every direction and crash into American B-29s with the sole purpose of dying and taking a few of us with them. These attacks took place each time the bombers were on a raid to Japan and again when they were limping back to Saipan. The Navy PBY aircraft units would make as many rescue attempts as possible, unfortunately, not all of the rescue attempts were successful. So we knew this meant we had to move in as fast as we could, and to do whatever it would take to capture Iwo Jima before we would lose any more of the American B-29s and their crew.

Here is how the plan of attack was explained to us. The 5th Division will move in surrounding Mt. Suribachi, cutting it off from the rest of the island and taking away the advantage of the Japanese Soldier’s directing fire on our advancing troops. In order to carry this out the 28th regiment landed on green beach one (which was at the foot of Mt. Suribachi) and begin advancing up the side of the

Reviews for We Were in the First Waves of Steel Amtracs Who Landed on Iwo Jima

[William Myers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think that it is wonderful that Jack Thurman recorded his memories of his time in the Marine Corps in World War II. I throughly enjoyed his well written recollections of Iwo Jima, Camp Tarawa and the occupation of Japan. I am currently writing a book about Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th marines and Thurman will be included because he is in the famous "Gung Ho" photograph. If he is still alive I would love to speak with him. There are a number of questions that he possibly has the answer to. The book was outstanding and his descriptive writing was very vivid. I felt that I was almost there with him. Congratulations on another job well done Jarhead! Semper Fidelis, William L. Myers