HARRY A. KENTON, USMC (Ret) now aged 92, lives in Tucson, Arizona and is a close friend of mine. He related the following information to me along with the personal photographs and document scans which he gave me permission to use. Harry Kenton was born in 1914 in Chicago and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1934. After undergoing his initial training at Parris Island, he was assigned first to Haiti and then in 1935 to Tiensing, China, as a consular Guard.
Pvt. Harry A. Kenton, USMC -- 1934
The consular personnel were withdrawn due to the advancing Japanese Imperial army and he was transferred to Coascula, Balboa, in Panama.
Sgt. Harry A. Kenton, USMC -- 1939
Following Pearl Harbor now Sgt. Kenton was transferred to E. Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment, 1st. Marine Division and was assigned to Tutuila, Pago Pago (Pango Pango), Samoa in order to help train the Marine invasion force for Guadalcanal.
Sgt. Harry A. Kenton, USMC -- Samoa, 1942
They were shelled by Japanese submarines and had to prepare a defensive perimeter. During the Guadalcanal landing and fight in 1942 Sgt. Kenton contracted Mosquito borne elephantitis and was transferred to a field hospital. After regaining his health he was assigned to destroyer duty in the Pacific theater of operations for the remainder of the war. At the end of WW2 now G/Sgt Kenton was assigned to Oahu, Hawaii, as a section NCOIC of small arms battlefield recovery and salvage. G/Sgt Kenton went on to serve in the Korean War and retired as a Chief Warrant Officer (Gunner) in 1957.
HARRY A. KENTON'S 1903 SPRINGFIELD RIFLE: Private Harry Kenton, new USMC enlistee, was issued a 1903 Springfield rifle (as were all US Marines at that time), serial number 1207769, on 10 April 1934.
Pvt. Harry A. Kenton, USMC -- original issue slip for 1903 Springfield rifle SN 1207769, 10 April 1934
After the Guadalcanal operation in 1942 the US Marine Corps switched to the US Rifle, cal 30, M1 (Garand). Sgt Kenton (now in the hospital) had previously turned in his Springfield rifle. One day during his tenure as a section NCOIC of small arms battlefield recovery and salvage in Oahu, Hawaii, following the end of the war, a list of recovered rifle serial numbers -- mostly Garands, but including some 1903 Springfields (undoubtably carbines too) -- came across his desk. Among them was 1903 Springfield rifle number 1207769 -- the very rifle he had been issued in 1934! He immediately sent a crew out to look for it -- and they found it! There was no record of its history during the war. He applied to the USMC for permission to purchase the rifle and was eventually allowed to for $25 (in 1954).
CWO Harry A. Kenton, USMC -- Receipt for purchase of 1903 Springfield rifle SN1207769 from the USMC
The battered stock was reconditioned and it was eventually fitted with an inscription plate bearing his name and "Guadalcanal 1942".
CWO Harry A. Kenton, USMC -- Inscription plate on 1903 Springfield rifle SN1207769
CWO Harry A. Kenton, USMC -- Serial number on 1903 Springfield rifle SN1207769
CWO Harry A. Kenton, USMC -- Retirement - 1957
It is now displayed on the wall of his house with a retrofitted bayonet and sling. I am sure there are not many veterans who own the actual rifle they were issued and carried in battle!
CWO Harry A. Kenton, USMC, Retired
Photo of the "Gunner", aged 91, holding his 1903 Springfield rifle, SN 1207769 -- taken in his backyard by me on 30 March 2005.
~~~~~~~~~~ Note: GyG's G&A Sites & Forums is an informational site and not for profit. Copyrighted material provided soley for education, study, research, and discussion, etc. Full credit to source shown when available. ~~~~~
http://tinyurl.com/2vu5rp For all the flak that Wikipedia gets, it is yet the only reference I have discovered which provides the full list of "other names" used by the troops. (C-Cap, PC, etc., as well as one more name I didn't know of/or had forgotten...) This alone ensures Wikipedia a place in my heart!
In my own experience I had always known it by its correct nomenclature, as garrison cap--although my DIs (1952) always called it a P-Cutter. Later, some of the older salts, I found, pretty much called it a C-Cap. Stationed at CJHP after boot camp, I recall that the MPs were always OTL for Marines w/sewn-up P-Cs! That is, the opening in the top of the cap sewed up/tailored. In those days it was the in-thing to have cutdown/tailored khaki shirts, unregulation (didn't need Brasso/Blitz for shining) belt buckles, double-soled/metal cleated dress shoes, etc.
Later, I learned that the garrison cap had been called "overseas cap"--back in the Old Corps--WW I, maybe.Just recently, I learned via Wikipedia that it had also been referred to as a C-Biter! (Imagine my surprise at this!)
~~~~~~~~~~ Note: GyG's G&A Sites & Forums is an informational site and not for profit. Copyrighted material provided soley for education, study, research, and discussion, etc. Full credit to source shown when available. ~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~ Note: GyG's G&A Sites & Forums is an informational site and not for profit. Copyrighted material provided soley for education, study, research, and discussion, etc. Full credit to source shown when available. ~~~~~
Guest Column: Stu Witt Witt takes 'last flight' with 1st lt. By STU WITT
Special to the News Review
Longtime Ridgecrest resident, Mojave Airport District manager and former top-gun pilot Stu Witt shares a moving experience he had on return flight from Washington, D.C. Feb. 17, 2007, 0350 curbside at 24th and M, Washington D.C., 16 degrees with a light breeze. Going after my second week of freezing temps to my home in SoCal. Fly my aircraft, ride a horse, climb a mountain and get back to living. I'm tired of the cold. 0425 paying the taxi fare at Dulles in front of the United Airlines counter, still cold. 0450 engaging the self-serve ticket machine, and it delivers my ticket, baggage tag and boarding pass. Hmmm, that Marine is all dressed up early. Oh, maybe . . . hmm. "Good morning, Captain, you're looking sharp." Pass Security and to my gate for a quick decaf coffee and five hours sleep. A quick check of the flight status monitor, and UA Flt 211 is on time, I'm up front, how bad can it be? Hmmm, that same Marine, he must be heading to Pendleton to see his lady at LAX for the long weekend all dressed up like that. Or maybe not? "Attention in the boarding area, we will begin boarding in 10 minutes, we have some additional duties to attend to this morning but we will have you out of here on time." That captain now has five others with him. Bingo, I get it, he is not visiting his lady, he's an official escort. How I remember doing that once. I still remember the names of the victim and family, the Bruno Family in Mojave. Wow, that was 24 years ago. I wonder if we will ever know who and why? On board, 0600: "Good morning folks this is the captain. This morning we have been attending to some additional duties, and I apologize for being 10 minutes late for pushback, but believe me, we will be early to LAX. "This morning it is my sad pleasure to announce that First Lt. Jared Landaker, USMC, will be flying with us to his Big Bear home in Southern California. Jared lost his life over the skies of Iraq earlier this month, and today we have the honor of returning him home along with his mother, father, brother and uncles. "Please join me in making the journey comfortable for the Landaker family and their uniformed escort. "Now sit back and enjoy our ride. We are not expecting any turbulence until we reach the Rocky Mountains, and at that time we will do what we can to ensure a smooth ride. For those interested, you can listen in to our progress on Button 9." Up Button 9: "Good morning UA 211 you are cleared to taxi, takeoff and cleared to LAX as filed." From the time we started rolling we never stop. First Lt. Landaker begins receiving his due. Four hours and 35 minutes later over Big Bear Mountain, the AB320 makes a left roll and steep bank and then one to the right. Nice touch, Captain. Five minutes out from landing, the captain says, "Ladies and gents, after landing I'm leaving the fasten seatbelt sign on, and I ask everyone in advance to yield to the Landaker family. Please remain seated until all members have departed the aircraft. Thank you for your patience. We are 20 minutes early." On rollout, I notice red lights, emergency vehicles everywhere. We are being escorted directly to our gate, no waiting anywhere, not even a pause. Out the left window are a dozen Marines in full dress blues, Highway Patrol, Police, Fire crews all in full dress with lights on. A true class act by everyone, down to a person from coast to coast. Way to go, United Airlines, for doing the little things right, because they are the big things, Air Traffic Control for getting the message, to all law enforcement for your display of brotherhood. When the family departs the aircraft, everyone sits silent, then I hear a lady say, "God bless you and your family. Thank you." Then another, then another, then a somber round of applause. The captain reads a prepared note from Mrs. Landaker to the effect, "Thank you all for your patience and heartfelt concern for us and our son. We sincerely appreciate the sentiment. It is nice to have Jared home." After departing the aircraft, I find myself along with 30 others from our flight looking for a window. Not a dry eye in the craft. All of us are bawling like babies. It is one of the most emotional moments of my life. We all stand silent and watch as Jared is taken by his honor guard to an awaiting hearse. Then the motorcade slowly makes its way off the ramp. I have finally seen the silent majority. It is deep within us all. Black, brown, white, yellow, red, purple, we are all children, parents, brothers, sisters — we are an American family. What you don't know is that on the flight I was tapped on the shoulder by Mrs. Landaker who introduced herself to me after I awoke. Early in our taxi out from the gate at Dulles, the gent next to me (a Fairfax City Council Member and acquaintance of the Thuot family) were talking to the flight attendant and mentioned that we had sons serving on active duty. "What do you say? How tragic — they must be devastated." He said many of the passengers had told him the same thing, so somewhere in the flight he shared his tidbits with Mrs. Landaker. Our flight attendant had been struggling with what to say, to find the right words, so he told the Landaker family of passengers who were parents of servicemembers who connected with their grief as parents. After I gathered myself, I stepped back to their row, two behind me and introduced myself to Mr. Landaker (a veteran of Southeast Asia as a tanker) and Jared's uncle and brother. What a somber moment. Their Marine captain escort was a first-rate class act. He had been Jared's tactics instructor and volunteered for this assignment, as he said, "Sir, it is the least I could do, he was my friend and a great stick. He absolutely loved to fly, It's an honor to be here on his last flight." On my connecting flight, my mind raced. How lucky I was to have had an opportunity to fly my father to Spain and ride the carrier USS John F. Kennedy home in 1981, the same year Jared was born. How lucky I was to have my father on the crows landing when I made my final cat shot in an F-14. Jared's father never had that chance. Jared was at war 10,000 miles away. When Mr. Landaker and I were talking he shared with me, "When Jared was born he had no soft spot on his head, and doctors feared he would be developmentally challenged. He became a physics major with honors, was a high school and college athlete and graduated with distinction from naval aviation flight school. "He was short in stature, but a Marine all the way." You can visit his life story at www.bigbeargrizzly.net. Bring tissue. Feb. 7, 2007, Anbar Province, Iraq. First Lt. Jared Landaker, United States Marine Corps, hero, from Big Bear, Calif., gave his life in service to his country. Fatally wounded when his CH-46 helicopter was shot down by enemy fire, Jared perished along with all of his crew. His life was the ultimate sacrifice for a grateful military family and nation. His death occurred at the same time as that of Anna Nicole Smith, a drug user with no pedigree who dominated our news for two weeks while Jared became a number on CNN. And most unfortunately, Jared's death underscores a fact that we are a military at war, not a nation at war. Until we become a nation committed to winning the fight, and elect leaders with the spine to ask Americans to sacrifice in order to win, we shall remain committed to being a nation with a military at war, and nothing more (and possibly no funding if Congress has its way!) First Lt. Landaker, a man I came to know in the skies over America on Feb. 17, 2007, from me to you, aviator to aviator, I am unbelievably humbled. It was my high honor to share your last flight. God bless you. Semper Fi
~~~~~~~~~~ Note: GyG's G&A Sites & Forums is an informational site and not for profit. Copyrighted material provided soley for education, study, research, and discussion, etc. Full credit to source shown when available. ~~~~~
~~~~~ Forget the Laurels and the Lore... It's Time to Tell... The 'Real' Marine Corps Story Story by Gary D. Null
Colonial Recruit
Nov. 10, 1998 marked the 223rd birthday of the Marine Corps. To commemorate this, many newspapers and the like will carry several congratulatory messages from governmental leaders and civilian organizations. In the midst of all this goodwill and before we get too carried away, I think it's about time for the truth to come out. The Marines have a lot to bide in their history. It's true, and as a former Marine, I say let's just take a closer look at those last 223 years. Right from the beginning there was trouble. The very first Marine recruiting station was a BAR in Philadelphia. What other service started in a bar? And Marines are not even ashamed of it. Look at that Marine Corps ring some of them wear! Right on it is a picture of Tun Tavern, the very bar. Then there is the somewhat suspicious fact that the first Commandant, Samuel Nicholas, just happened to be the owner of that same bar. Not too surprisingly, the first assignment of the new Marine Corps was to guard the ships and stores of the Continental Navy on the Philadelphia waterfront. We all know what sort of establishments are located on the water- fronts of any port in the world.
The Marines were formed in November with winter coming on. Think how cold it gets in the Northeast in the winter. Remember the Continental Army freezing at Valley Forge? What did the Marines do? They quickly ran off to frolic in the Bahamas, visiting beautiful New Providence. Even there they must have caused trouble. They arrived on March 3, 1776, and had to leave by the 17th. We don't know everything they did that made them leave so quickly, but it is known that they stole all the British cannons. They went back again in 1778, and, planning for the expedition, John Trent, Captain of Marines, wrote that they were determined to capture Fort Nassau "and then we could ... take what we pleased." What sort of example is this for our young people?
Still on the problem of taking things, Marines under John Paul Jones (who later became a Russian admiral-just whom was this guy loyal to?) raided the manor at Whitehaven, England. During the raid the owner's silverware was taken. Jones was so embarrassed with that impolite behavior that he later sent the silverware back with a letter of apology to the lady of the house. But first he had to pay the Marines for the silverware before they would return it to him. Talk about unrepentant!
Some of this behavior has come to be exemplified by their choice of mascots. For example, the mascot at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego several years ago was a bulldog named "Chesty." What a choice for a mascot. Chesty was ugly, uncouth, stubborn and couldn't hang on to his stripes. He was busted frequently for being AWOL, and, to add insult to injury, there was quite a bit of talk amongst dog owners in the area linking Chesty to several unwed mothers of the canine persuasion.
During the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, a primary duty of Marines aboard those old sailing ships was to get up high on the masts and then shoot important people on the opposing ship. These included the helmsman, gun crews and, most importantly, officers. They were easily identified, because the officers had the nice uniforms while the crew wore ragged canvas trousers, ran around barefoot and in general looked bad. A problem soon surfaced. It was discovered that during boarding operations, when Americans went onto the enemy vessel, the American officers looked like British officers to the Marines high above the decks. Marines have always been good shots, and so this was often hard on the American officers. Their remedy was to take some rope, twist it into a pretty design, and pin it to the top of their hats. The Marines were told not to shoot officers with the rope on top of their hats. Marine officers must still worry about that particular problem because even today they wear that design on top of their hats.
In the First World War one Marine sergeant, exhorting his Marines to attack the Germans, shouted, "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?" Now think about that. Of course they did; everybody does. What kind of argument was he presenting? What's worse, it worked! Now what does that tell you about the thinking processes of Marines?
It was in the First World War that questions of religion began to surface about the Marines. Very suspiciously, the Marines are the only service not to have chaplains. Notably, too, the Germans in that war began to call the Marines "devil dogs." Now why would they come up with the word "devil"? Significantly, the Marines are the only service not to have doctors either. Is there some black-magic ritual that makes Marines believe they are invulnerable, bulletproof, as it were? What conclusions can we draw from this?
In the interwar period, we find Marines stationed in China, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. It was then that the deficiencies of Marine aviators first appeared. These guys turned out to be terrible at bombing, a problem which has lasted until the present. How many Marine B-52 squadrons have you seen? In fact, the Marines were so bad at horizontal bombing that one Marine, a Lieutenant Sanderson, gave up entirely on it as early as 1919. Stationed in Haiti and clearly embarrassed by his inaccuracy, Lt Sanderson dove his aircraft directly toward the target, sighted on it over the nose of the plane and released his bomb at about 250 feet. With this technique he finally managed to hit the target. Soon his whole squadron was copying him. Rather unimaginatively, the Marines called this "dive bombing." Then, of all things, they brag about inventing it!
In the Second World War strenuous efforts were made to keep the Marines out of the settled areas of the world. They have a well-deserved reputation for breaking things, and there are important artifacts in Europe. You will note that there are no photographs of large formations of Marines marching through Paris after its liberation. No, what you get from the Marines are some guys engaged in a civil engineering project - putting up flagpoles on a desolate, small volcanic Pacific island called Iwo Jima. Where else were they? Places like Guadalcanal, Tarawa and Bougainville. Places no self-respecting tourist ever goes.
In fact, Marines never fight in comfortable places. Right after the Second World War they went to Korea. They thought they had problems with cold in Philadelphia! Just look at the pictures of the First Division Marines coming down from the Chosin Reservoir. Those guys look frozen. And then, when the Corps tried to adjust, it overcompensated. Their next war they went to Vietnam. It wasn't hot enough for them there apparently, so they tried again. That time it was the Persian Gulf. The Gulf war appears to have been a bit of an anomaly in that the Marines took the town while the Army was sent into the boondocks. But the newscasts from Desert Storm clearly show what happened. There it was, the recurring breakage problem the Marines have always had. Kuwait City was definitely a candidate for urban renewal after the Marines were there.
Hopefully, these few examples will give pause and cause the reader to think about the real Marine Corps story on this, its birthday. ~~~~~ Editor's note: With tongue planted firmly in his cheek, this essay was written by Gary D. Null, who served in the Marine Corps from 1961 to 1970, to include 25 months in Vietnam. Mr. Null currently works as a civil service historian for the Air Force at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla. ~~~~~ Source: From Leatherneck magazine, November 1998 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~ Note: GyG's G&A Sites & Forums is an informational site and not for profit. Copyrighted material provided soley for education, study, research, and discussion, etc. Full credit to source shown when available. ~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~ Note: GyG's G&A Sites & Forums is an informational site and not for profit. Copyrighted material provided soley for education, study, research, and discussion, etc. Full credit to source shown when available. ~~~~~
George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography --- by Webster G. Tarpley & Anton Chaitkin
Chapter - VI -Bush in World War II
Plut aux dieux que ce fut le dernier de ses crimes! --Racine, Britannicus
George Bush has always traded shamelessly on his alleged record as a naval aviator during the Second World War in the Pacific theatre. During the 1964 senate campaign in Texas against Senator Ralph Yarborough, Bush televised a grainy old film which depicted young George being rescued at sea by the crew of the submarine USS Finnback after his Avenger torpedo bomber was hit by Japanese anti-aircraft fire during a bombing raid on the island of Chichi Jima on September 2, 1944. That film, retrieved from the Navy archives, backfired when it was put on the air too many times, eventually becoming something of a maladroit cliche.
Bush's campaign literature has always celebrated his alleged exploits as a naval aviator and the Distinguished Flying Cross he received. As we become increasingly familiar with the power of the Brown Brothers, Harriman/Skull and Bones network working for Senator Prescott Bush, we will learn to become increasingly skeptical of such official accolades and of the official accounts on which they are premissed.
But George Bush has always traded shamelessly on his alleged war record. During Bush's Gulf war adventure of 1990-91, the adulation of Bush's ostensible warrior prowess reached levels that were previously considered characteristic of openly totalitarian and militaristic regimes. Late in 1990, after Bush had committed himself irrevocably to his campaign of bombing and savagery against Iraq, hack writer Joe Hyams completed an authorized account of George Bush at war. This was entitled Flight of the Avenger (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991), and appeared during the time of the Middle East conflagration that was the product of Bush's obsessions. Hyams's work had the unmistakeable imprimatur of the regime: not just George, but also Barbara had been interviewed during its preparation, and its adulatory tone placed this squalid text squarely within the "red Studebaker" school of political hagiography.
The appearance of such a book at such a time is suggestive of the practice of the most infamous twentieth-century dictatorships, in which the figure of the strong man, Fuehrer, duce, or vozhd as he might be called, has been used for the transmission of symbolic-allegorical directives to the subject population. Was fascist Italy seeking to assert its economic autarky in food production in the face of trade sanctions by the League of Nations? Then a film would be produced by the MINCULPOP (the Ministry of Popular Culture, or propaganda) depicting Mussolini indefatigably harvesting grain. Was Nazi Germany in the final stages of preparation of a military campaign against a neighboring state? If so, Goebbels would orchestrate a cascade of magazine articles and best-selling pulp evoking the glories of Hitler in the trenches of 1914-18. Closer to our own time, Leonid Brezhnev sought to aliment his own personality cult with a little book called Malaya Zemlya, an account of his war experiences which was used by his propagandists to motivate his promotion to Marshal of the USSR and the erection of a statue in his honor during his own lifetime. This is the tradition to which Flight of the Avenger belongs.
Bush tells us in his campaign autobiography that he decided to enlist in the armed forces, specifically naval aviation, shortly after he heard of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. About six months later, Bush graduated from Phillips Academy, and the commencement speaker was Secretary of War Henry Stimson, eminence grise of the US ruling elite. Stimson was possibly mindful of the hecatomb of young members of the British ruling classes which had occurred in the trenches of World War I on the western front. In any event, Stimson's advice to the Andover graduates was that the war would go on for a long time, and that the best way of serving the country was to continue one's education in college. Prescott Bush supposedly asked his son if Stimson's recommendation had altered his plan to enlist. Young Bush answered that he was still committed to join the navy.
Henry L. Stimson was certainly an authoritative spokesman for the Eastern Liberal Establishment, and Bushman propaganda has lately exalted him as one of the seminal influences on Bush's political outlook. Stimson had been educated at both Yale (where he had been tapped by Skull and Bones) and Harvard Law School. He became the law partner of Elihu Root, who was Theordore Roosevelt's secretary of state. Stimson had been Theodore Roosevelt's anti-corruption, trust-busting US Attorney in New York City during the first years of the FBI, then Taft's secretary of war, a colonel of artillery in World War I, Governor General of the Philippines for Coolidge, secretary of state for Hoover, and enunciator of the "Stimson doctrine." This last was a piece of hypocritical posturing directed against Japan, asserting that changes in the international order brought about by force of arms (and thus in contravention of the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928) should not be given diplomatic recognition. This amounted to a US committment to uphold the Versailles system, the same policy upheld by Baker, Eagleburger, and Kissinger in the Serbian war on Slovenia and Croatia during 1991. Stimson, though a Republican, was brought into Roosevelt's war cabinet in 1940 in token of bipartisan intentions.
But in 1942, Bush was not buying Stimson's advice. It is doubtless significant that in the mind of young George Bush, World War Two meant exclusively the war in the Pacific, against the Japanese. In the Bush-approved accounts of this period of his life, there is scarcely a mention of the European theatre, despite the fact that Roosevelt and the entire Anglo-American establishment had accorded strategic priority to the "Germany first" scenario. Young George, it would appear, had his heart set on becoming a navy flier.
Normally the Navy required two years of college from volunteers wishing to become naval aviators. But, for reasons which have never been satisfactorily explained, young George was exempted from this requirement. Had father Prescott's crony Artemus Gates, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air, been instrumental in making the exception, which was the key to allowing George to become the youngest of all navy pilots?
On June 12, 1942, his eighteenth birthday, Bush joined the navy in Boston as a seaman second class. [fn 1] He was ordered to report for active duty as an aviation cadet on August 6, 1942. After a last date with Barbara, George was taken to Penn Station in New York City by father Prescott to board a troop train headed for Chapel Hill, North Carolina. At Chapel Hill Naval Air Station, one of Bush's fellow cadets was the well-known Boston Red Sox hitter Ted Williams, who would later join Bush on the campaign trail in his desperate fight in the New Hampshire primary in February, 1988.
After preflight training at Chapel Hill, Bush moved on to Wold-Chamberlain Naval Airfield in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he flew solo for the first time in November, 1942. In February, 1943 Bush moved on to Corpus Christi, Texas, for further training. Bush received his commission as an ensign at Corpus Christi on June 9, 1943.
After this Bush moved through a number of naval air bases over a period of almost a year for various types of advanced training. In mid-June 1943 he was learning to fly the Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo-bomber at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In August he made landings on the USS Sable, a paddle wheel ship that was used as an aircraft carrier for training purposes. During the summer of 1943 Bush spent a couple of weeks of leave with Barbara at Walker's Point in Kennebunkport; their engagement was announced in the New York Times of December 12, 1943.
Later in the summer of 1943 Bush moved on to the Naval Air Base at Norfolk, Virginia. In September, 1943 Bush's new squadron, called VT-51, moved on to the Naval Air Station at Chincoteague, Virginia, located on the Delmarva peninsula. On December 14, 1943 Bush and his squadron were brought to Philadelphia to attend the commissioning of the USS San Jacinto (CVL30), a light attack carrier built on a cruiser hull. Since the name of the ship recalled Sam Houston's defeat of the Mexican leader Santa Anna in 1836, and since the ship flew a Lone Star flag, Bushman propaganda has made much of these artefacts in an attempt to buttress "carpetbag" Bush's tenuous connections to the state of Texas. Bush's VF-51 squadron reported on board this ship for a shakedown cruise on February 6, 1944, and on March 25, 1944 the San Jacinto left for San Diego by way of the Panama Canal. The San Jacinto reached Pearl harbor on April 20, 1944, and was assigned to Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's Task Force 58/38, a group of fast carriers, on May 2, 1944.
In June Bush's ship joined battle with Japanese forces in the Marianas archpelago. Here Bush flew his first combat missions. On June 17, a loss of oil pressure forced Bush to make an emergency landing at sea. Bush, along with his two crewmembers, gunner Leo Nadeau and radioman-tail gunner John L. Delaney, were picked up by a US destroyer after some hours in the water. Bush's first Avenger, named by him the Barbara, was lost.
During July, 1944 Bush took part in thirteen air strikes, many in connection with the US marines landing on Guam. In August Bush's ship proceeded to the area of Iwo Jima and Chichi Jima in the Bonin Islands for a new round of sorties.
On September 2, 1944, Bush and three other Avenger pilots, escorted by Hellcat fighter planes, were directed to attack a radio transmitter on Chichi Jima. Planes from the USS Enterprise would also join in the attack. On this mission Bush's rear-seat gunner would not be the usual Leo Nadeau, but rather Lt. (jg) William Gardner "Ted" White, the squadron ordnance officer of VT-51, already a Yale graduate and already a member of Skull and Bones. White's father had been a classmate of Prescott Bush. White took his place in the rear-facing machine gun turret of Bush's TBM Avenger, the Barbara II. The radioman-gunner was John L. Delaney, a regular member of Bush's crew.
What happened in the skies of Chichi Jima that day is a matter of lively controversy. Bush has presented several differing versions of his own story. In his campaign autobiography published in 1987 Bush gives the following account:
The flak was the heaviest I'd ever flown into. The Japanese were ready and waiting: their antiaircraft guns were set up to nail us as we pushed into our dives. By the time VT-51 was ready to go in, the sky was thick with angry black clouds of exploding antiaircraft fire.
Don Melvin led the way, scoring hits on a radio tower. I followed, going into a thirty-five degree dive, an angle of attack that sounds shallow but in an Avenger felt as if you were headed straight down. The target map was strapped to my knee, and as I started into my dive, I'd already spotted the target area. Coming in, I was aware of black splotches of gunfire all around.
Suddenly there was a jolt, as if a massive fist had crunched into the belly of the plane. Smoke poured into the cockpit, and I could see flames rippling across the crease of the wing, edging towards the fuel tanks. I stayed with the dive, homed in on the target, unloaded our four 500-pound bombs, and pulled away, heading for the sea. Once over water, I leveled off and told Delaney and White to bail out, turning the plane to starboard to take the slipstream off the door near Delaney's station.
Up to that point, except for the sting of dense smoke blurring my vision, I was in fair shape. But when I went to make my jump, trouble came in pairs. [fn 2]
In this account, there is no more mention of White and Delaney until Bush hit the water and began looking around for them. Bush says that it was only after having been rescued by the USS Finnback, a submarine, that he "learned that neither Jack Delaney nor Ted White had survived. One went down with the plane; the other was seen jumping, but his parachute failed to open." The Hyams account of 1991 was written after an August 1988 interview with Chester Mierzejewski, another member of Bush's squadron, had raised important questions about the haste with which Bush bailed out, rather than attempting a water landing. Mierzejewski's account, which is summarized below, contradicted Bush's own version of these events, and hinted that Bush might have abandoned his two crewmembers to a horrible and needless death. The Hyams account, which is partly intended to refute Mierzejewski, develops as follows:
...Bush was piloting the third plane over the target, with Moore flying on his wing. He nosed over into a thirty-degree glide, heading straight for the radio tower. Determined to finally destroy the tower, he used no evasive tactics and held the plane directly on target. His vision ahead was occasionally cancelled by bursts of black smoke from the Japanese antiaircraft guns. The plane was descending through thickening clouds of flak pierced by the flaming arc of tracers.
There was a sudden flash of light followed by an explosion. "The plane was lifted forward, and we were enveloped in flames," Bush recalls. "I saw the flames running along the wings where the fuel tanks were and where the wings fold. I thought, This is really bad! It's hard to remember the details, but I looked at the instruments and couldn't see them for the smoke."
Don Melvin, circling above the action while waiting for his pilots to drop their bombs and get out, thought the Japanese shell had hit an oil line on Bush's Avenger. "You could have seen that smoke for a hundred miles."
Perhaps so, but it is difficult to understand why the smoke from Bush's plane was so distinctly visible in such a smoke-filled environment. Hyams goes on to describe Bush's completion of his bombing run. His account continues:
By then the wings were covered in flames and smoke, and the engine was blazing. He considered making a water landing but realized it would not be possible. Bailing out was absolutely the last choice, but he had no other option. He got on the radio and notified squadron leader Melvin of his decision. Melvin radioed back, "Received your message. Got you in sight. Will follow."
[...] Milt Moore, flying directly behind Bush, saw the Avenger going down smoking. "I pulled up to him; then he lost power and I went sailing by him."
As soon as he was back over water, Bush shouted on the intercom for White and Delaney to "hit the silk!" [...] Dick Gorman, Moore's radioman-gunner, remembers hearing someone on the intercom shout, "Hit the silk!" and asking Moore, "Is that you, Red?"
"No," Moore replied. "It's Bush, he's hit!"
Other squadron members heard Bush repeating the command to bail out, over and over, on the radio.
There was no response from either of Bush's crewmen and no way he could see them; a shield of armor plate between him and Lt. White blocked his view behind. He was certain that White and Delaney had bailed out the moment they got the order. [fn 3]
Hyams quotes a later entry by Melvin in the squadron log as to the fate of Bush's two crewmen: ""At a point approximately nine miles bearing 045'T (degrees) from Minami Jima, Bush and one other person were seen to bail out from about 3,000 feet. Bush's chute opened and he landed safely in the water, inflated his raft, and paddled farther away from Chi-Chi Jima. The chute of the other person who bailed out did not open. Bush has not yet been returned to the squadron...so this information is incomplete. While Lt. j.g. White and J.L. Delaney are reported missing in action, it is believed that both were killed as a result of the above described action." [fn 4] But it is interesting to note that this report, contrary to usual standard navy practice, has no date. This should alert us to that tampering with public records, such as Bush's filings at the Securities and Exchange Commission during the 1960's, which appears to be a specialty of the Brown Brothers, Harriman/Skull and Bones network.
For comparison, let us now cite the cursory account of this same incident provided by Bush's authorized biographer in the candidate's 1980 presidential campaign biography:
On a run toward the island, Bush's plane was struck by Japanese antiaircraft shells. One of his two crewmen was killed instantly and the aircraft was set on fire. Bush was able to score hits on the enemy installations with a couple of five-hundred pound bombs before he wriggled out of the smoking cockpit and floated towards the water. The other crewman also bailed out but died almost immediately thereafter because, as the fighter pilot behind Bush's plane was later to report, his parachute failed to open properly. Bush's own parachute became momentarily fouled on the tail of the plane after he hit the water. [fn 5]
King's account in interesting for its omission of any mention of Bush's injury in bailing out, a gashed forehead he got when he struck the tail assembly of the plane. This had to have occurred long before Bush had hit the water, so this account is garbled indeed.
Let us also cite parts of the account provided by Fitzhugh Green in his 1989 authorized biography. Green has Bush making his attack "at a 60-degree angle." "For his two crew members," notes Green, "life was about to end." His version goes on:
Halfway through Bush's dive, the enemy found his range with one or more shells. Smoke filled his cabin; his plane controls weakened; the engine began coughing, and still he wasn't close enough to the target. He presumed the TBM to be terminally damaged. Fighting to stay on course, eyes smarting, Bush managed to launch his bombs at the last possible moment. He couldn't discern the result through black fumes. But a companion pilot affirmed later that the installation blew up, along with two other buildings. The navy would decorate Bush for literally sticking to his guns until he completed his mission under ferocious enemy fire.
Good! Now the trick was to keep the plane aloft long enough to accomplish two objectives: first, get far enough away from the island to allow rescue from the sea before capture or killing by the enemy; second, give his planemates time to parachute out of the burning aircraft.
The TBM sputtered on its last few hundred yards. Unbeknownst to Bush, one man freed himself. Neither fellow squadron pilots nor Bush ever were sure which crewmember this was. As he jumped, however, his parachute snarled and failed to open. [fn 6]
Green writes that when Bush was swimming in the water, he realized that "his crew had disappeared" and that "the loss of the two men numbed Bush."
For the 1992 presidential campaign, the Bushmen have readied yet another rehash of the adulatory "red Studebaker" printout in the form of a new biography by Richard Ben Cramer. This is distinguished as a literary effort above all by the artificial verbal pyrotechnics with which the author attempts to breathe new life into the dog-eared Bush canonical printout. For these, Cramer relies on a hyperkinetic style with non-verbal syntax which to some degree echoes Bush's own disjointed manner of speaking. The resulting text may have found favor with Bush when he was gripped by his hyperthyroid rages during the buildup for the Gulf war. A part of this text has appeared in Esquire Magazine. [fn 7] Here is Cramer's description of the critical phase of the incident:
He felt a jarring lurch, a crunch, and his plane leaped forward, like a giant had struck it from below with a fist. Smoke started to fill the cockpit. He saw a tongue of flame streaming down the right wing toward the crease. Christ! The fuel tanks!
He called to Delaney and White--We've been hit! He was diving. Melvin hit the tower dead-on--four five hundred pounders. West was on the same beam. Bush could have pulled out. Have to get rid of these bombs. Keep the dive....A few seconds...
He dropped on the target and let 'em fly. The bombs spun down, the plane shrugged with release, and Bush banked away hard to the east. No way he'd get to the rendezvous point with Melvin. The smoke was so bad he couldn't see the gauges. Was he climbing? Have to get to the water. They were dead if they bailed out over land. The Japs killed pilots. Gonna have to bail out. Bush radioed the skipper, called his crew. No answer. Does White know how to get to his chute? Bush looked back for an instant. God, was White hit? He was yelling the order to bail out, turning right rudder to take the slipstream off their hatch...had to get himself out. He levelled off over water, only a few miles from the island...more, ought to get out farther....that's it, got to be now...He flicked the red toggle switch on the dash--the IFF, Identification Friend or Foe --supposed to alert any US ship, send a special frequency back to his own carrier...no other way to communicate, had to get out now, had to be ... NOW.
It will be seen that these versions contain numerous internal contradictions, but that the hallmark of "red Studebaker" orthodoxy, especially after the appearance of the Mierzejewsky account, is that Bush's plane was on fire, with visible smoke and flames. The Bush propaganda machine needs the fire on board the Avenger in order to justify Bush's precipitous decision to bail out, leaving his two crew members to their fate, rather than attempting the water landing which might have saved them.
The only person who has ever claimed to have seen Bush's plane get hit, and to have seen it hit the water, is Chester Mierzejewksi, who was the rear turret gunner in the aircraft flown by Squadron Commander Douglas Melvin. During 1987-88, Mierzejewksi became increasingly indignant as he watched Bush repeat his canonical account of how he was shot down. Shortly before the Republican National Convention in 1988, Mierzekewski, by then a 68 year old retired aircraft foreman living in Cheshire, Connecticut, decided to tell his story to Allan Wolper and Al Ellenberg of the New York Post, which printed it as a copyrighted article. [fn 8]
"That guy is not telling the truth," Mierzejewski said of Bush.
As the rear-looking turret gunner on Commander Melvin's plane, Mierzejewski had the most advantageous position for observing the events in question here. Since Melvin's plane flew directly ahead of Bush's, he had a direct and unobstructed view of what was happening aft of his own plane. When the New York Post reporters asked former Lt. Legare Hole, the executive officer of Bush's squadron, about who might have best observed the last minutes of the Barbara II, Hole replied: "The turret gunner in Melvin's plane would have had a good view. If the plane was on fire, there is a very good chance he would be able to see that. The pilot can't see everything that the gunner can, and he'd miss an awful lot, " Hole told the New York Post.
Gunner Lawrence Mueller of Milwaukee, another former member of Bush's squadron who flew on the Chichi Jima mission, when asked who would have had the best view, replied: "The turret gunner of Melvin's plane." Mierzejewksi for his part said that his plane was flying about 100 feet ahead of Bush's plane during the incident - so close that he could see into Bush's cockpit.
Mierzejewki, who is also a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, told the New York Post that he saw "a puff of smoke" come out of Bush's plane and quickly dissipate. He asserted that after that there was no more smoke visible, that Bush's "plane was never on fire" and that "no smoke came out of his cockpit when he opened his canopy to bail out." Mierzejewski stated that only one man ever got out of the Barbara II, and that was Bush himself. "I was hoping I would see some other parachutes. I never did. I saw the plane go down. I knew the guys were still in it. It was a helpless feeling."
Mierzejewski has long been troubled by the notion that Bush's decision to parachute from his damaged aircraft might have cost the lives of Radioman second class John Delaney, a close friend of Mierzejewksy, as well as gunner Lt. Junior Grade William White. 'I think [Bush] could have saved those lives, if they were alive. I don't know that they were, but at least they had a chance if he had attempted a water landing,'" Mierzejewski told the New York Post.
Former executive officer Legare Hole summed up the question for the New York Post reporters as follows: "If the plane is on fire, it hastens your decision to bail out. If it is not on fire, you make a water landing." The point is that a water landing held out more hope for all members of the crew. The Avenger had been designed to float for approximately two minutes, giving the tailgunner enough time to inflate a raft and giving everyone an extra margin of time to get free of the plane before it sank. Bush had carried out a water landing back in June when his plane had lost oil pressure.
The official- but undated- report on the incident among the squadron records was signed by Commander Melvin and an intelligence officer named Lt. Martin E. Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick is deceased, and Melvin in 1988 was hospitalized with Parkinson's disease and could not be interviewed. Mierzejewski in early August 1988 had never seen the undated intelligence report in question. "Kilpatrick was the first person I spoke to when we got back to the ship," he said. "I told him what I saw. I don't understand why it's not in the report."
Gunner Lawrence Mueller tended to corroborate Mierzejewki's account. Mueller had kept a log book of his own in which he made notations as the squadron was debriefed in the ready room after each mission. For September 2, 1944, Mueller's personal log had the following entry: "White and Delaney presumed to have gone down with plane." Mueller told the New York Post that "no parachute was sighted except Bush's when the plane went down." The New York Post reporters were specific that according to Mueller, no one in the San Jacinto ready room during the debriefing had said anything about a fire on board Bush's plane. Mueller said: "I would have put it in my logbook if I had heard it."
According to this New York Post article, the report of Bush's debriefing aboard the submarine Finnback after his rescue makes no mention of any fire aboard the plane. When the New York Post reporters interviewed Thomas R. Keene, an airman from another carrier who had been picked up by the Finnback a few days after Bush, and referred to the alleged fire on board Bush's plane, "Keene was surprised to hear" it. "'Did he say that?," Keene asked.
Leo Nadeau, Bush's usual rear turret gunner, who had been in contact with Bush during the 1980's, attempted to undercut Mierzejewski's credibility by stating that "Ski," as Mierzejewski was called, would have been "too busy shooting" to have been able to focus on the events involving Bush's plane. But even the pro-Bush accounts agree that the reason that White had been allowed to come aloft in the first place was the expectation that there would be no Japanese aircraft over the target, making a thoroughly trained and experienced gunner superfluous. Indeed, no account alleges that any Japanese aircraft appeared over Chichi Jima.
Bush and Mierzejewski met again on board the San Jacinto after the downed pilot was returned from the Finnback about a month after the loss of the Barbara II. According to the New York Post account, about a month after all these events Bush, clad in Red Cross pajamas, returned to the San Jacinto. "He came into the ready room and sat down next to me," Mierzejewksi recounted. "He [Bush] knew I saw the whole thing. He said, 'Ski, I'm sure those two men were dead. I called them on the radio three times. They were dead.' When he told me they were dead, I couldn't prove they weren't. He seemed distraught. He was trying to assure me he did the best he could. I'm thinking what am I going to say to him," Mierzejewski commented in 1988.
Mierzejewski began to become concerned about Bush's presentation of his war record while watching Bush's December 1987 interview with David Frost, which was one of the candidate's most sanctimonious performances. In March, 1988 Mierzejeweski wrote to Bush and told him that his recollections were very different from the vice president's story. Mierzejewski's letter was not hostile in tone, but voiced concern that political opponents might come forward to dispute Bush. There was no reply to this letter, and Chester Mierzejewski ultimately elected to tell his own unique eye-witness version of the facts to the New York Post. Certainly his authoritative, first-hand account places a large question mark over the events of September 2, 1944 which Bush has so often sought to exploit for political gain.
Several days after Mierzejewski's interview was published, Bush's office obtained and released to the press a copy of the (undated) squadron log report. One Donald Rhodes of Bush's office called Mierzejewksi to offer him a copy of the report.
It is typical of Joe Hyams' hack work for Bush in The Flight of the Avenger that he never mentions Mierzejewksi's critical account, although he is obviously acutely aware of the objections raised by Mierzejewski and wants very much to discredit those objections. Indeed, Hyams totally ignores Mierzejewski as a source, and also studiously ignores the other witness who would have supported Mierzejewski, that is to say Mueller. Hyams had the support of Bush's White House staff in arranging interviews for his book, but somehow he never got around to talking to Mierzejewski and Mueller. This must increase our suspicion that Bush has some damning cicrumstance he wishes to hide.
Bush himself admits that he was in a big hurry to get out of his cockpit: "The wind was playing tricks, or more likely, I pulled the rip cord too soon." [fn 9] This caused his gashed forehead and damaged his parachute.
Concerning the ability of Brown Brothers, Harriman to fix a combat report in naval aviation, it is clear that this could be accomplished as easily as fixing a parking ticket. Artemus Gates is someone who could have helped out. Other Brown Brothers, Harriman assets in powerful posts included Secretary of War Stimson, Secretary of War for Air Robert Lovett, Special Envoy W. Averell Harriman, and even President Roosevelt's confidant and virtual alter ego, Harry Hopkins, an asset of the Harriman family.
Bush was very upset about what had happened to his two crewmen. Later, during one of his Skull and Bones "Life History" self-exposures, Bush referred to Lt. White, the Skull and Bones member who had gone to his death with the Barbara II: "I wish I hadn't let him go," said Bush, according to former Congressman Thomas W. L. (Lud) Ashley, a fellow Skull and Bones member and during 1991 one of the administrators of the Neil Bush legal defense fund. According to Ashley, "Bush was heartbroken. He had gone over it in his mind 100,000 times and concluded he couldn't have done anything....He didn't feel guilty about anything that happened....But the incident was a source of real grief to him. It tore him up, real anguish. It was so fresh in his mind. He had a real friendship with this man," said Ashley. [fn 10]
Bush later wrote letters to the families of the men who had died on his plane. He received a reply from Delaney's sister, Mary Jane Delaney. The letter read in part:
You mention in your letter that you would like to help me in some way. There is a way, and that is to stop thinking you are in any way responsible for your plane accident and what has happened to your men. I might have thought you were if my brother Jack had not always spoken of you as the best pilot in the squadron. [fn 11]
Bush also wrote a letter to his parents in which he talked about White and Delaney: "I try to think about it as little as possible, yet I cannot get the thought of those two out of my mind. Oh, I'm OK- I want to fly again and I won't be scared of it, but I know I won't be able to shake the memory of this incident and I don't believe I want to completely." [fn 12]
As Bush himself looked back on all these events from the threshold of his genocidal assault on Iraq, he complacently concluded that the pagan fates had preserved his life for some future purpose. He told Hyams:
There wasn't a sudden revelation of what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, but there was an awakening. There's no question that underlying all that were my own religious beliefs. In my own view there's got to be some kind of destiny and I was being spared for something on earth. [fn 13]
After having deliberately ignored the relevant dissenting views about the heroism of his patron, Hyams chooses to conclude his book on the following disturbing note:
When flying his Avenger off the deck of the San Jac, Bush was responsible for his own fate as well as his crewmen's. As president he is responsible for the fate of all Americans as well as that of much of the world.
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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Joseph Kobylski < jkobylski@comcast.net> Date: Feb 24, 2007 9:49 PM Subject: Lester Tenney To: MAJUSMCRET@aol.com, jpagespann@aol.com, gunnyg@gmail.com
Reference is made to Mr. Lester Tenney's experience with the Japanese during WW II. The Japanese soldiers that were on Iwo were the same as those who maltreated our POW at Bataan and in Japan except they did not have the same opportunity to do the same to our troops on Iwo. It's good to hear the truth from Mr.Tenney.
There is no substitute for truth.
It seems that Hollywood often has permeated the mind of our society with untruths. In August 2005 I called the business manager for Eastwood/Spielberg and said that I wanted to alert him to the fact that the book "Flags of Our Fathers" errs in many different aspects and that the flag raisers in Joe Rosenthals photo were named by the Marine Corps in findings that are uncertain and erroneous and are parroted in the book. I said that I thought that they would want the movie to be historically correct. I offered to send him the backup material by mail. He said he did not want the material and would not accept it.
The first flag raised boosted the morale of the servicemen at Iwo, the second more famous flag boosted the morale of our Nation at a time when it was needed. Both happenings were magnificent. The down side came when an effort was made in April 1945 to identify the flag raisers in the Rosenthal photo because FDR wanted them to lead the bond tour. When the book came out in 2000 Private Larry Ryan, who claimed to be one of the flag raisers in the Rosenthal photo, offered the media, including the History Channel, to take a polygraph test to support his claim and to provide information, including the fact that Navy medic John Bradley was not the person immediately behind the Marine inserting the flagpole into the ground, but Ryan was stonewalled. He had been saying that for decades at reunions also.
Lou Lowery, a Leatherneck magazine photographer, took photos atop Mt. Suribachi that show medic John Bradley wearing large medical pouches on each hip and canteens hanging on his backside. That is standard wear of a WW II medic. Furthermore, his pant cuffs are rolled up showing his leggings. That is not John Bradley in the Rosenthal photo showing a collapsed water canteen pouch on his hip. Medics don't wear water canteens on their hips.That is someone else.
Then who is it? As a flag raiser John Bradley then would have to replace either Michael Strank or Rene Gagnon, who are said to be in those positions barely visible behind the front four in the photo. Who did Bradley displace and where is that displaced person then in the photo? This alone shatters the credibility of who the flag raisers were and the positions that they occupied in the photo. We Marine grunts don't need falsehoods to enhance our image, we have proven our worth on the battlefield. This falsehood, and there are others, results in dishonoring the 7,000 young men who gave their lives for our Country on that Island.
There is more to this story, but I'll end here. I have been trying for seven years to help Larry Ryan tell this story to the public, he had been trying for decades. Maybe the media doesn't like to cover an individual's comments on important matters, it pays to stick with the big boys, which they consistently have done on this matter.
I hope that Mr. Tenney sees this e-mail. I admire his bravery.
Joe Kobylski JKobylski@comcast.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Re Lester Tenney... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1785617/posts Ref http://www.furl.net/item.jsp?id=16967024 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From: RAYMOND JACOBS To: Chuck Tatum , GunnyG , Roger Rabbit < jay5644@comcast.net>, greg latino , Ray Fornof , Tom Farrell < tomfarrell@cox.net> Date: Dec 31, 2005 4:44 PM
Subject: Fw: Iwo Jima flag raisers
R Interesting.I'm not sure where to go with this.Larry Ryan was with F Company.I can't recall a face to go with the name.I just don't remember him or why he would be there.Semper Fi,Ray.
----- Original Message ----- From: Joseph Kobylski To: John Kelly Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2005 5:14 PM
Subject: Iwo Jima flag raisers
Dear Mr. Kelly,
Reference is made to your e-mail of June 14 saying that the material that I sent you about the subject had been misplaced and asking me to comment by e-mail about what is local about the story I sent and to sketch out the details in an e-mail. Here goes.
I am local. I have lived in the Hyattsville, MD, area for more than 50 years and have worked as an auditor in the U.S. General Accounting Office headquarter's in D.C. for 30 years. What is local also is my extensive effort to attract media attention to Private Larry Ryan, from Wisconsin, who claimed to be and was not credited as one of the Iwo flag raisers in the famous photo by Joe Rosenthal that boosted our Nation's morale during WWII. In addition, the Iwo Jima Memorial of the flag raising and Marine Corps Headquarters are in the metro area.
Many years ago Mr. Ryan contacted the Marine Corps historian about his role and that of others who were said to have been the flag raisers. He also contacted Col. Dave Severance, who led E Company on Iwo and whose members were said to be the flag raisers. Larry was with F Company. Both belittled and disregarded his claim. Then in October 1998 James Bradley, son of flag raiser John Bradley, was the main speaker at a reunion of Iwo veterans in Peoria, Ill., and was in the process of gathering material for a book about his father and the other flag raisers. It appears that James Bradley left no stone unturned in his quest, except one, Private Ryan. Larry Ryan called him and said that he was with his father at the time that the flag was raised and an arrangement was made for an interview. But Bradley did not show up even though he stayed in a hotel room only a few doors away from Larry's room. Imagine, a man whose father told him nothing about the battle for Iwo Jima chose not to interview a Marine who associated with his father at the time of the flag raising. Unbelievable! Obviously, Larry was disappointed again. James Bradley went on to write his book, "Flags of Our Fathers", and it became a best seller that was issued in May 2000.
In February 2000 I was able to get an article published in the Post about the bravery of a fellow Marine. Buoyed by that success I asked Larry if he wanted me to try to get his story known. He said "sure." Larry's background was one of being a hard working brick layer and was not into writing letters to support his claim. I prepared a draft of what he told me, presented information about the circumstances in naming the flag raisers by the Marine Corps and others, and said that Bradley's book was in error. Larry was pleased after his review and suggested a few minor changes. I sent the letter to numerous major newspapers in the Country as well as other rmedia sources, including the History Channel and other TV outlets, requesting that they interview Mr. Ryan and that he was willing to take a polygraph test to validate his claim. How many others who named the flag raisers offered to do the same? I venture to say - none. Its sad to say not one responded. This was on only concerted effort made on Larry's behalf. It is disconcerting to find that people will listen to someone like author Bradley, who wasn't even born at that time, and no one cares to talk to someone like Private Ryan who was at the site at the time of the flag raising, a significant historical event.
I contacted History Channel and asked that it interview Private Ryan about two months before it aired a story about the flag raising. It failed to do so, but James Bradley was prominantly interviewed on the TV program. Why not. James Bradley was the author of a bestselling book while Larry Ryan was just a grunt at the flag raising site. The History Channel's program did no serve history very well. But then again, there's no business like show business.
The Marine Corps management paid virtually no attention to the raisers of the second flag, which replaced a smaller flag that flew for a few hours. Their interest seemed to have been with the first and much less known flag. Yet they had plenty of time to identify the flag raisers in a timely manner because our Regiment was in reserve for about a week before it swung north into battle. The flags were raised on the fifth day of the battle, which lasted for thirty six days. After the battle resumed, three of the six flag raisers were killed in action, not knowing of their celebrity.
An effort was made in Hawaii to identify the flag raisers about sixty days after the flag raising, where our Division trained for the invasion of Japan. I was told that the interest arose because Preslident Roosevelt took an interest in the flag raising and that there was a saving bonds tour that was upcoming.
At a Iwo veterans reunion in Washington D.C. in February 2000 I spoke with General Fred Haynes, who ran the reunion. General Haynes was a Captain in our Regiment on Iwo. I asked questions about the identification of the flag raisers and said that it must have been difficult to name them. He said it was very difficult because the photograph was like an "unknown soldiers photograph" in that only one face was shown, and that one only partially so. That particular Marine was said to be John Bradley. General Haynes it was difficult to identify that figure as John Bradley. Larry Ryan, who was with Bradley at the time, said emphatically that Bradley, who was in fact one of the flag raisers, was not in that position in the photograph.
In a book by an Iwo veterain, flagraiser Franklin Sousley is described as the second figure from the left in the Rosenthal photo and it states that he landed on the beach as a B.A.R. man. (Browning Automatic Rifle, a rather cumbersome weapon to carry.) Yet that person shown in the photo which was taken only a few days later was carrying an M1 Garand Rifle, standard fare for riflemen on Iwo, and not a B.A.R. Has the Marine Corps ever explained this apparent discrepancy? This is not to say Sousley was not one of the flag raisers. Franklin Sousley may very well have been one but in another position in that group. Larry Ryan contended the it is he, Ryan, who is carrying the M1 rifle.
I am proud to have served in the Marine Corps. But truth is infinately more important to me than image. Truth, like free speech, is one of the great ideals for which our Nation stands.
Now we have Clint Eastwood, Oscar-winning movie director, whose next project is to begin filming "Flags of Our Fathers" later this year, based on James Bradley's book. I sure would like to send him the same packet of materials that I am sending to you again but by certified mail in the hope that it will not get lost. Perusal of the material should answer other questions that you may have and it adds other interesting details about the story. If Clintwood's movie adheres to James Bradley's book it may repeat the same errors cited above. Moreover, he and his staff should be aware of the circumstances under which the flag raisers were named, which were greatly prone to error and uncertainty. How can I reach him and his writers so that they would avoid some myths about a significant historical event? I will gladly send the same packet of materials to anyone who has the means or method to publicize Private Ryan's story. All they have to do is send me a request by e-mail.
Mr. Kelly, I know that you are a very busy person, but I surely hope that you will write a column about Mr. Ryan, who I believe without reservation. Given the extensive distribution of The Washington Post, that would go a long way for Mr. Ryan to leave a deserving legacy to his family and grandchildren.
Your effort will be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Joe Kobylski
Joe Kobylski JKobylski@comcast.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ref http://www.network54.com/Forum/220604/message/1136066720/ Iwo%20Jima%20Flag%20Raisers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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As I write, a U.S. Marine in Iraq is under investigation for shooting a wounded, unarmed Iraqi terrorist. The terrorists routinely booby-trap bodies. A Marine was killed by such a booby-trap the day before the shooting; another was killed the same way the very day of the shooting. And the Marine being investigated had been shot in the face the day before the shooting. But none of this apparently is relevant.
A combat marine explains how it really is as follows: "It's a safety issue, pure and simple. After assaulting through a target, we put a security round in everybody's head. Sorry al-Reuters, there's no paddy wagon rolling around Fallujah picking up ‘prisoners’ and offering them a hot cup a joe, falafel, and a blanket. There's no time to dick around on the target. You clear the space, dump the chumps, and moveon.org. Are Corpsman expected to treat wounded terrorists? Negative. Hey libs, worried about the defense budget? Well, it would be waste, fraud, and abuse for a Corpsman to expend one man-minute or a battle dressing on a terrorist. It's much cheaper to just spend the $.02 on a 5.56mm FMJ.
“By the way, in our view, terrorists who chop off civilian's heads are not prisoners, they are carcasses. Chopping off a civilian's head is another reason why these idiots are known as ‘unlawful combatants.’ It seems that most of the world's journalists have forgotten that fact. Let me be very clear about this issue. I have looked around the web, and many people get this concept, but there are some stragglers. Here is your typical Marine sitrep (situation report):
“You just took fire from unlawful combatants (no uniform – breaking every Geneva Convention rule there is) shooting from a religious building attempting to use the sanctuary status of their position as protection. But you're in Fallujah now, and the Marine Corps has decided that they're not playing that game this time. That was Najaf. So you set the mosque on fire and you hose down the terrorists with small arms, launch some AT-4s (Rockets), some 40MM grenades into the building and things quiet down.
“So you run over there, and find some tangos (bad guys) wounded and pretending to be dead. You are aware that suicide martyrdom is like really popular with these idiots, and they think taking some Marines with them would be really cool. So you can either risk your life and your fire team's lives by having them cover you while you bend down and search a guy that you think is pretending to be dead for some reason. Most of the time these are the guys with the grenade or vest made of explosives. Also, you don't know who or what is in the next room. You're already speaking English to the rest of your fire team or squad which lets the terrorist know you are there and you are his enemy.
“You are speaking loud because your hearing is poor from shooting people for several days. So you know that there are many other rooms to enter, and that if anyone is still alive in those rooms, they know that Americans are in the mosque. Meanwhile (3 seconds later), you still have this terrorist (that was just shooting at you from a mosque) playing possum. What do you do? You double tap his head, and you go to the next room, that's what!!!
“What about the Geneva Convention and all that Law of Land Warfare stuff? What about it? Without even addressing the issues at hand, your first thought should be, ‘I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6.’
“Bear in mind that this tactic of double tapping a fallen terrorist is a perpetual mindset that is reinforced by experience on a minute by minute basis. Secondly, you are fighting an unlawful combatant in a Sanctuary, which is a double No-No on his part. Third, tactically you are in no position to take ‘prisoners’ because there are more rooms to search and clear, and the behavior of said terrorist indicates that he is up to no good. No good in Fallujah is a very large place and the low end of no good and the high end of no good are fundamentally the same. Marines end up getting hurt or die.
“So there is no compelling reason for you to do anything but double tap this idiot and get on with the mission. If you are a veteran, then everything I have just written is self evident. If you are not a veteran, then at least try to put yourself in the situation. Remember, in Fallujah there is no yesterday, there is no tomorrow, there is only now. RIGHT NOW. Have you ever lived in NOW for a week? It is really, really not easy. If you have never lived in NOW for longer than it takes to finish the big roller coaster at Six Flags, then shut your hole about putting Marines in jail for ‘War Crimes.’”
Recently, one of our preachers preached a message the theme of which was “Now and Then.” Now is what we have here. Then is what Jesus has promised. But in the world our Marines in Iraq inhabit, there is no Then. (Yes, we know there is, but we are talking about a military Then.)
Before a judge sentences a man to death, he retires to his chambers. He cogitates. He considers the facts. He hits the law books. Maybe he consults with other judges. After all that he delivers his ruling. After all that, if he is wrong, the appeals court will correct him. And if the appeals court is wrong, the Supreme Court will correct it.
Now suppose the trial judge only has two seconds, maybe three—yes, three seconds—to decide. Suppose someone will die, whatever he rules. And suppose that, if the judge makes a mistake, if he let’s the wrong man up, he—yes, he, the judge—will die. Why, that’s preposterous, utterly ridiculous. Such an arrangement would never be tolerated.
But that is the situation confronting our Iraqi Marines. And it shouldn’t surprise us. It is the nature of military combat, especially combat against the satanic monsters we face in that country. What is revealing is that the Marine who wrote this helpful report had to do so anonymously. He calls himself “Froggy.” If Washington finds out who he is, he could be on trial himself.
Why? This is the answer that separates the women from the girls. Because George W. Bush is a traitor. Because George W. Bush is a Communist world government traitor. Because George W. Bush has put our men in harm’s way and won’t back them up; because in fact he gives the edge to the enemy.
Consider that because he has just a couple of seconds to decide, our Marine could easily make a mistake. After he “double taps” somebody, he could find out that, hey, the guy was unarmed; he wasn’t booby-trapped. Too bad! But he was there. He wasn’t an innocent bystander. He was a terrorist trying to get to Paradise and our Marine helped him get there. He didn’t know until he arrived that those 47 virgins all have a serious case of the clap – because they are personally recycled by the Prophet – and they’re 74 years old.
He may even have been an “innocent bystander,” in the wrong place at the wrong time. Did we kill any innocent bystanders in World War II? How about millions, all across Europe and Japan? Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Remember the Dresden Fire Bombing, which was worse? All innocent bystanders! There were no military targets in Dresden. Were there any complaints? Hello!
The difference was that WWII was the last war we fought to win. Today, we don’t fight to win, we fight to fight. The true purpose of the war is to be in the war, so simple that many observers are too smart to understand. Traitor Bush is using the war to advance the conspiracy’s scheme to advance the cause of world government.
And our Marine is a pawn in the “managed” conflict. In front of him is the terrorist he must kill to survive. Behind him is the lawyer who would send him to prison. Washington is giving the edge to the enemy, which is killing our Marine. Remember, if our Marine hesitates just one second, worried about the legal ramifications of what he does, he could be dead. Let’s go over this step by step.
· Giving the edge to the enemy is treason.
· The Department of Defense gives the edge to the enemy.
· The Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, serves at the pleasure of the President and does what he says.
· The policy of giving the enemy the edge is Bush’s policy. It is what he wants. If he wants a different policy, he can get it in ten minutes simply by picking up the phone.
· Therefore Bush is committing treason and is a traitor. His war games are more important to him than our Marines.
Before we even permit a discussion of the upcoming attack on Iran, we must adopt a policy of victory in Iraq, as a guarantee of how the war in Iran will be fought. But, hey, in the spirit of the time, we need to be reasonable, right? I’m willing to compromise. Why not draft the bull dykes at the Anti-American Communist Liars Union, dress them in regulation Corps utilities and send them in first to read the carcasses their rights. Hey, bull dykes! Here’s your chance to parade your cojones. We could even throw in traitor slut Jihad Jane.
"Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."
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Alan Stang has been a network radio talk show host and was one of Mike Wallace's first writers. He was a senior writer for American Opinion magazine and has lectured around the world for more than 30 years. He is also the author of ten books. Go to www.stangbooks.com to read about Alan Stang's blockbuster new novel, He, about the greatest hero of all time, Jesus Christ.
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~~~~~~~~~~ This is... Gunny G's... GLOBE and ANCHOR Marines Sites & Forums By R.W. "Dick" Gaines Gny Sgt USMC (Ret.) 1952-'72 Semper Fidelis ~~~~~~~~~~ Note: GyG's G&A Sites & Forums is an informational site and not for profit. Copyrighted material provided soley for education, study, research, and discussion, etc. Full credit to source shown when available. ~~~~~
"...LITTLE METAL DISCS OR PAPER STRIPS THE WORLD PROCLAIMS AS VALUABLE AND REAL..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"
The body is the central figure in the dreaming of the world. There is no dream without it, nor does it exist without the dream in which it acts as if it were a person to be seen and be believed. It takes the central place in every dream, which tells the story of how it was made by other bodies, born into the world outside the body, lives a little while and dies, to be united in the dust with other bodies dying like itself. In the brief time allotted it to live, it seeks for other bodies as its friends and enemies. Its safety is its main concern. Its comfort is its guiding rule. It tries to look for pleasure, and avoid the things that would be hurtful. Above all, it tries to teach itself its pains and joys are different and can be told apart.
The dreaming of the world takes many forms, because the body seeks in many ways to prove it is autonomous and real. It puts things on itself that it has bought with little metal discs or paper strips the world proclaims as valuable and real. It works to get them, doing senseless things, and tosses them away for senseless things it does not need and does not even want. It hires other bodies, that they may protect it and collect more senseless things that it can call its own. It looks about for special bodies that can share its dream. Sometimes it dreams it is a conqueror of bodies weaker than itself. But in some phases of the dream, it is the slave of bodies that would hurt and torture it.
The body's serial adventures, from the time of birth to dying are the theme of every dream the world has ever had. The "hero" of this dream will never change, nor will its purpose. Though the dream itself takes many forms, and seems to show a great variety of places and events wherein its "hero" finds itself, the dream has but one purpose, taught in many ways. This single lesson does it try to teach again, and still again, and yet once more; that it is cause and not effect. And you are its effect, and cannot be its cause.
Thus are you not the dreamer, but the dream. And so you wander idly in and out of places and events that it contrives. That this is all the body does is true, for it is but a figure in a dream. But who reacts to figures in a dream unless he sees them as if they were real? The instant that he sees them as they are they have no more effects on him, because he understands he gave them their effects by causing them and making them seem real...." ACIM ~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~ This is... Gunny G's... GLOBE and ANCHOR Marines Sites & Forums By R.W. "Dick" Gaines Gny Sgt USMC (Ret.) 1952-'72 Semper Fidelis ~~~~~~~~~~ Note: GyG's G&A Sites & Forums is an informational site and not for profit. Copyrighted material provided soley for education, study, research, and discussion, etc. Full credit to source shown when available. ~~~~~
