WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:01.467 --> 00:00:04.534 -So you all should see that the room has changed. 00:00:04.534 --> 00:00:08.000 I'm going to start my webcam up so you can see me. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:09.133 Okay. There we go. 00:00:09.133 --> 00:00:11.033 Hello, everybody. 00:00:11.033 --> 00:00:13.501 So my name, as you heard, is Chrissy, 00:00:13.501 --> 00:00:16.801 and we will be connecting a little bit later 00:00:16.801 --> 00:00:19.734 with the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia, 00:00:19.734 --> 00:00:21.100 and I have two special guests 00:00:21.100 --> 00:00:24.667 that I'll be introducing you to from that museum. 00:00:24.667 --> 00:00:26.501 So how the program will work, 00:00:26.501 --> 00:00:27.834 just to give you a little outline, 00:00:27.834 --> 00:00:30.767 is that I will spend about 15 minutes or so 00:00:30.767 --> 00:00:32.400 overviewing the war in the Pacific 00:00:32.400 --> 00:00:34.701 and specifically Iwo Jima, 00:00:34.701 --> 00:00:35.868 and then we're going to turn it over 00:00:35.868 --> 00:00:38.067 to the National Museum of the Marine Corps, 00:00:38.067 --> 00:00:39.901 and we will have Jim Bish, 00:00:39.901 --> 00:00:41.767 who is the teacher in residence there, 00:00:41.767 --> 00:00:44.234 and also, this wasn't advertised, 00:00:44.234 --> 00:00:46.701 but a surprise for you all watching live, 00:00:46.701 --> 00:00:47.934 a World War II veteran. 00:00:47.934 --> 00:00:50.501 His name is Mr. Frank Matthews, 00:00:50.501 --> 00:00:53.434 and he was a flamethrower on Iwo Jima. 00:00:53.434 --> 00:00:56.534 A couple tips related to that is that you guys see this 00:00:56.534 --> 00:00:59.434 Q-and-A pod right below me here. 00:00:59.434 --> 00:01:02.367 I would love for you all to type in questions for me, 00:01:02.367 --> 00:01:06.367 for Mr. Bish, for Mr. Matthews throughout the entire program, 00:01:06.367 --> 00:01:07.701 especially questions 00:01:07.701 --> 00:01:10.100 for our World War II veteran, Mr. Matthews. 00:01:10.100 --> 00:01:13.200 When we get to the part where we're talking with him, 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:15.200 I'll be looking at your student questions 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:17.534 in that Q-and-A pod to ask him, 00:01:17.534 --> 00:01:19.133 and so I might be giving you guys, 00:01:19.133 --> 00:01:21.801 you know, a little bit of a shout-out 00:01:21.801 --> 00:01:23.400 and choosing one of your questions, 00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:25.934 so please fill in that Q-and-A pod. 00:01:25.934 --> 00:01:29.100 Also, there will be another way to interact, poll questions, 00:01:29.100 --> 00:01:31.667 and I'm actually going to start this presentation off 00:01:31.667 --> 00:01:34.367 with a poll question for you guys out there. 00:01:34.367 --> 00:01:37.868 So I'm going to bring it up right now, 00:01:37.868 --> 00:01:40.067 and I'm going to expand it so you can see it. 00:01:40.067 --> 00:01:43.868 So my first question to start off our conversation today is 00:01:43.868 --> 00:01:47.033 how did the United States enter World War II? 00:01:47.033 --> 00:01:49.067 I'm going to give you guys some time to think about it. 00:01:49.067 --> 00:01:51.534 It's an easy question hopefully starting off today, 00:01:51.534 --> 00:01:53.734 but hopefully it'll get a little harder. 00:01:56.868 --> 00:01:58.100 Okay. 00:01:58.100 --> 00:02:00.801 You guys, you know what you're talking about. 00:02:00.801 --> 00:02:02.901 I'm going to expand the results here. 00:02:02.901 --> 00:02:05.868 So, yes, for those of you who said the fourth choice, 00:02:05.868 --> 00:02:09.133 "Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii," yes. 00:02:09.133 --> 00:02:10.434 That was how the United States, 00:02:10.434 --> 00:02:12.100 or the day after is when the United States 00:02:12.100 --> 00:02:15.367 officially entered the war, so very good, guys. 00:02:15.367 --> 00:02:17.868 Awesome warm-up question. 00:02:17.868 --> 00:02:24.167 I'm going to end the poll right now, and let's see here. 00:02:24.167 --> 00:02:26.667 Let me get this out of the way. 00:02:26.667 --> 00:02:27.968 So, yes, this... 00:02:27.968 --> 00:02:29.601 What you all will see on the screen 00:02:29.601 --> 00:02:33.634 is the very famous front page of the Honolulu Star Bulletin, 00:02:33.634 --> 00:02:36.367 "War! Oahu Bombed by Japanese Planes." 00:02:36.367 --> 00:02:38.367 That byline says, "Six known dead," 00:02:38.367 --> 00:02:42.067 but when the day was over, 2,400 plus Americans had died 00:02:42.067 --> 00:02:44.467 in the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, 00:02:44.467 --> 00:02:48.234 and then, of course, this famous speech happened the day after. 00:02:50.901 --> 00:02:53.200 Let me make sure you guys can hear that. 00:02:53.200 --> 00:03:02.267 All right. -Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, 00:03:02.267 --> 00:03:07.734 a date which will live in infamy, 00:03:07.734 --> 00:03:10.667 the United States of America 00:03:10.667 --> 00:03:16.667 was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces 00:03:16.667 --> 00:03:19.234 of the Empire of Japan. 00:03:21.601 --> 00:03:25.300 -Okay, so that was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:28.234 very famous "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress 00:03:28.234 --> 00:03:30.367 where he asked Congress to declare war on Japan, 00:03:30.367 --> 00:03:33.200 which happens, and in a few days after that, 00:03:33.200 --> 00:03:35.167 Germany declares war on the United States, 00:03:35.167 --> 00:03:37.767 so officially, the United States is at war, 00:03:37.767 --> 00:03:39.701 and we are specifically talking about today, 00:03:39.701 --> 00:03:41.434 of course, the war in the Pacific theater, 00:03:41.434 --> 00:03:43.534 which you can see behind me, 00:03:43.534 --> 00:03:46.200 and, of course, specifically Iwo Jima. 00:03:46.200 --> 00:03:49.400 So, there had to be a strategy involved in the Pacific here, 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:51.300 and that's what we're going to go to from the next slide, 00:03:51.300 --> 00:03:53.534 so you can see the entire Pacific theater 00:03:53.534 --> 00:03:55.067 in this next slide. 00:03:55.067 --> 00:03:58.133 And, you know, we had to have a strategy 00:03:58.133 --> 00:04:00.634 because we didn't have airplanes 00:04:00.634 --> 00:04:03.667 that could fly to Japan from Pearl Harbor 00:04:03.667 --> 00:04:06.601 or from the United States from the mainland 00:04:06.601 --> 00:04:09.033 to attack the Japanese home islands, 00:04:09.033 --> 00:04:10.400 so what we have to do 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:12.934 is we have to get a little bit closer to... 00:04:12.934 --> 00:04:15.067 even eventually for the potential 00:04:15.067 --> 00:04:17.367 of even landing forces on Japan. 00:04:17.367 --> 00:04:20.100 So we're trying to get closer and closer and closer, 00:04:20.100 --> 00:04:24.901 and that strategy is called island hopping, 00:04:24.901 --> 00:04:27.434 which we're going to see come up on-screen in a second. 00:04:27.434 --> 00:04:32.834 So the attack on Pearl Harbor was December 7th of 1941, 00:04:32.834 --> 00:04:36.968 and there it is, the island-hopping strategy, 00:04:36.968 --> 00:04:38.801 and then there were... 00:04:38.801 --> 00:04:42.634 Midway was the first Allied victory, 00:04:42.634 --> 00:04:45.934 Guadalcanal later after that in August of 1942, 00:04:45.934 --> 00:04:47.467 the first Allied offensive, 00:04:47.467 --> 00:04:49.234 and you're going to see we're trying to get closer 00:04:49.234 --> 00:04:51.767 and closer to Japan with each landing 00:04:51.767 --> 00:04:53.601 on these different islands. 00:04:53.601 --> 00:04:57.601 Next, taking the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, 00:04:57.601 --> 00:05:01.267 the Marianas, that'll come into our story in just 1 second, 00:05:01.267 --> 00:05:03.501 back to the Philippines, 00:05:03.501 --> 00:05:05.067 and then of course Iwo Jima, 00:05:05.067 --> 00:05:06.868 what we'll be talking about today 00:05:06.868 --> 00:05:09.567 and then, eventually, after Iwo Jima, Okinawa. 00:05:09.567 --> 00:05:12.300 So you see how this strategy is moving us closer and closer 00:05:12.300 --> 00:05:14.167 to those Japanese home islands 00:05:14.167 --> 00:05:16.934 to eventually launch not only air attacks 00:05:16.934 --> 00:05:19.901 but, as I said, potentially the possibility 00:05:19.901 --> 00:05:22.934 of staging an actual invasion. 00:05:22.934 --> 00:05:25.567 So at this time, when we... 00:05:25.567 --> 00:05:31.234 It is 1944, and we are fighting on the Mariana Islands, 00:05:31.234 --> 00:05:34.367 and a new powerful weapon is ready, 00:05:34.367 --> 00:05:36.968 and it actually brings up my second poll question 00:05:36.968 --> 00:05:38.534 for you all. 00:05:38.534 --> 00:05:40.534 It's going to come up on-screen in just one second. 00:05:40.534 --> 00:05:43.334 What do you think that new weapon was? 00:05:43.334 --> 00:05:44.968 And this is kind of a different poll question. 00:05:44.968 --> 00:05:47.667 You type in your answers versus selecting one. 00:05:47.667 --> 00:05:48.968 What do you think that powerful weapon 00:05:48.968 --> 00:05:52.767 was that was ready to use at this time? 00:05:52.767 --> 00:05:57.067 I'm going to broadcast your results in just one second. 00:05:57.067 --> 00:06:00.767 Whoa, lots of results coming in. 00:06:00.767 --> 00:06:02.200 All right. 00:06:02.200 --> 00:06:04.667 You'll see that almost everybody is saying the atomic bomb. 00:06:04.667 --> 00:06:06.968 So, actually, I kind of tricked you. 00:06:06.968 --> 00:06:08.667 I was waiting to see that response, 00:06:08.667 --> 00:06:10.100 but it's actually a different weapon. 00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:11.400 We're a little too early in the war 00:06:11.400 --> 00:06:13.300 for the atomic bomb to be ready. 00:06:13.300 --> 00:06:15.767 So, sorry, that was a little bit of a trick question. 00:06:15.767 --> 00:06:18.367 Let me show you that weapon that was. 00:06:18.367 --> 00:06:20.501 The B-29 bomber. 00:06:20.501 --> 00:06:23.000 It was called the Superfortress. 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:28.267 The crew, 10 to 14 men, it could fly 3,250 miles 00:06:28.267 --> 00:06:31.901 and could carry 20,000 pounds of bombs, 00:06:31.901 --> 00:06:34.968 and these planes were ready to fly 00:06:34.968 --> 00:06:37.300 to attack the Japanese home islands. 00:06:37.300 --> 00:06:38.734 There's a problem, though. 00:06:38.734 --> 00:06:42.968 Let me show you that problem right here on the next slide. 00:06:42.968 --> 00:06:49.767 You can see that the flight path from the Mariana Islands 00:06:49.767 --> 00:06:51.300 to the Japanese home islands, 00:06:51.300 --> 00:06:52.734 there's something kind of smack-dab 00:06:52.734 --> 00:06:54.067 in the middle of that flight path, 00:06:54.067 --> 00:06:55.767 and that is Iwo Jima. 00:06:55.767 --> 00:07:02.100 Now, if B-29s are spotted on Iwo Jima, 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:04.033 there are airfields on Iwo Jima 00:07:04.033 --> 00:07:06.133 where the Japanese can launch a counterattack 00:07:06.133 --> 00:07:07.868 against these B-29s 00:07:07.868 --> 00:07:11.133 so that these U.S. aircraft might not ever make it 00:07:11.133 --> 00:07:13.734 to the Japanese home islands to attack. 00:07:13.734 --> 00:07:15.601 Also, they could even send messages, 00:07:15.601 --> 00:07:17.801 send communications to the Japanese home islands, 00:07:17.801 --> 00:07:19.601 saying that these attacks are coming, 00:07:19.601 --> 00:07:22.267 taking away that element of surprise, 00:07:22.267 --> 00:07:25.234 and, on that very long journey between the Mariana Islands 00:07:25.234 --> 00:07:30.067 and the Japanese home islands, if those B-29s get in trouble, 00:07:30.067 --> 00:07:32.300 if they have some mechanical failures, 00:07:32.300 --> 00:07:34.634 there's really nowhere for them to land that's safe, 00:07:34.634 --> 00:07:36.267 so they're ditching their plane, potentially, 00:07:36.267 --> 00:07:39.100 in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 00:07:39.100 --> 00:07:41.767 So we had to take Iwo Jima, because, you can see, 00:07:41.767 --> 00:07:43.834 it's right in the middle of that flight path. 00:07:43.834 --> 00:07:46.133 Also keep in mind, in this island-hopping strategy, 00:07:46.133 --> 00:07:48.300 it's just putting us one step closer 00:07:48.300 --> 00:07:50.968 to those Japanese home islands. 00:07:50.968 --> 00:07:53.167 So here is Iwo Jima. 00:07:53.167 --> 00:07:56.334 Notice something interesting about this map. 00:07:56.334 --> 00:07:59.400 First off, I want you guys to pick out one more poll question. 00:07:59.400 --> 00:08:02.000 I know I'm asking a lot today. 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:03.968 I'm going to try to make sure this doesn't interfere 00:08:03.968 --> 00:08:05.501 with all of the map. 00:08:05.501 --> 00:08:08.434 Do you guys see...What unit of measure for this map? 00:08:08.434 --> 00:08:11.434 It's very interesting and plays a big role in our story here. 00:08:12.501 --> 00:08:15.534 And I'm going to broadcast those results in just one second. 00:08:17.801 --> 00:08:18.801 All right. 00:08:18.801 --> 00:08:20.834 Yes. 00:08:20.834 --> 00:08:22.367 Look at that. 00:08:22.367 --> 00:08:24.467 It's in yards. Isn't that really interesting? 00:08:24.467 --> 00:08:28.767 Usually when we see maps, that scale is usually within miles. 00:08:28.767 --> 00:08:33.834 Iwo Jima is such a small island that it's actually... 00:08:33.834 --> 00:08:36.000 Let me show you the dimensions. 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:39.501 It is two miles wide by four miles long, 00:08:39.501 --> 00:08:41.734 so eight square miles total. 00:08:41.734 --> 00:08:45.400 With the island being so small, there was, you know, 00:08:45.400 --> 00:08:47.200 a lot of close-range fighting, 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:50.400 which made the casualty-rate skyrocket, 00:08:50.400 --> 00:08:51.801 and we think about it. 00:08:51.801 --> 00:08:53.767 There are about 70,000 U.S. troops, 00:08:53.767 --> 00:08:55.734 mostly Marines and some Navy, 00:08:55.734 --> 00:08:59.033 and close to 22,000 Japanese troops on the island. 00:08:59.033 --> 00:09:01.367 If you put, you know, add those two numbers together, 00:09:01.367 --> 00:09:04.400 almost 100,000 troops tightly packed 00:09:04.400 --> 00:09:06.968 on this teeny, tiny island of eight square miles, 00:09:06.968 --> 00:09:09.133 and, as I said, that close-range fighting 00:09:09.133 --> 00:09:12.300 pushed up the casualty rate. 00:09:12.300 --> 00:09:14.400 And there were three main airfields 00:09:14.400 --> 00:09:15.868 that we wanted to attack 00:09:15.868 --> 00:09:17.868 because this is where the Japanese 00:09:17.868 --> 00:09:22.300 were launching those counterattacks to hit our B-29s, 00:09:22.300 --> 00:09:24.834 and you can see them here, and also at the bottom, 00:09:24.834 --> 00:09:28.868 a very distinct geographical feature of Iwo Jima 00:09:28.868 --> 00:09:30.100 is Mount Suribachi, 00:09:30.100 --> 00:09:32.701 and we'll be seeing that in just one second. 00:09:32.701 --> 00:09:36.567 So the landings occur on February 19th of 1945, 00:09:36.567 --> 00:09:41.033 so that 70th anniversary was on Thursday. 00:09:41.033 --> 00:09:45.300 And notice something interesting about the sand in this picture, 00:09:45.300 --> 00:09:48.334 and I actually have sand from Iwo Jima right here, 00:09:48.334 --> 00:09:50.834 not a typical sand you would see on the beach, 00:09:50.834 --> 00:09:52.868 you know, if you go on vacation or something like that. 00:09:52.868 --> 00:09:55.100 Notice it is black sand. 00:09:55.100 --> 00:09:58.634 Mount Suribachi is a volcano, 00:09:58.634 --> 00:10:04.300 and you can see here that the rest of the island 00:10:04.300 --> 00:10:05.767 is covered in this black sand, 00:10:05.767 --> 00:10:09.000 and that's what the Marines were landing on that day. 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:12.601 You can see a Marine here using a flamethrower 00:10:12.601 --> 00:10:14.601 on the island of Iwo Jima, 00:10:14.601 --> 00:10:20.534 and we will be talking to a flamethrower in just one second. 00:10:20.534 --> 00:10:22.534 And in the distance, in this picture, 00:10:22.534 --> 00:10:26.968 you can see Mount Suribachi, the highest point of Iwo Jima. 00:10:26.968 --> 00:10:29.200 It was a lookout for the Japanese, 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:32.467 and really, from that top of Suribachi, 00:10:32.467 --> 00:10:35.834 you could see just about the entire island, 00:10:35.834 --> 00:10:37.767 so that lookout point needed to be taken 00:10:37.767 --> 00:10:40.534 and taken pretty early on. 00:10:40.534 --> 00:10:44.234 And here you can see this black sand was tricky to get through, 00:10:44.234 --> 00:10:47.300 sinking in, whether it was people or vehicles or supplies, 00:10:47.300 --> 00:10:53.467 would sink into this soft black, you know, ashy sand. 00:10:53.467 --> 00:10:56.868 And finally, on February 23rd of 1945, 00:10:56.868 --> 00:10:59.501 today being the 70th anniversary, 00:10:59.501 --> 00:11:02.367 our Marines went up Mount Suribachi. 00:11:02.367 --> 00:11:04.434 They first sent a scout, a lookout group, 00:11:04.434 --> 00:11:07.100 to make sure everything was okay. 00:11:07.100 --> 00:11:09.434 That group, you know, didn't find any resistance, 00:11:09.434 --> 00:11:13.400 so a squad went up, and they went up with a flag 00:11:13.400 --> 00:11:15.534 to put on top of Mount Suribachi. 00:11:15.534 --> 00:11:19.200 Now it was a smaller flag, and when word actually... 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:22.334 When that flag went up and word went out that, 00:11:22.334 --> 00:11:24.901 you know, that the Marines had finally gotten to the top, 00:11:24.901 --> 00:11:27.734 you know, people were... You know, it was a moment 00:11:27.734 --> 00:11:30.467 where people were cheering from the beaches below 00:11:30.467 --> 00:11:31.968 if they saw it, 00:11:31.968 --> 00:11:33.167 but the flag was kind of small, 00:11:33.167 --> 00:11:34.801 and we're actually going to talk. 00:11:34.801 --> 00:11:36.701 The Marine Corps Museum will enlighten us 00:11:36.701 --> 00:11:39.501 a little bit more on the two different flags. 00:11:39.501 --> 00:11:41.701 This was such a small flag that, eventually though, 00:11:41.701 --> 00:11:44.634 there was a second flag that was put up there 00:11:44.634 --> 00:11:46.934 and hence this very iconic picture 00:11:46.934 --> 00:11:50.200 by Joe Rosenthal, photographer. 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:53.467 And this is the photograph that we all know from Iwo Jima, 00:11:53.467 --> 00:11:55.501 and, remember, this is the second flag raising, 00:11:55.501 --> 00:11:58.767 not the first, of this much larger flag. 00:11:58.767 --> 00:12:03.133 A question I get a lot and pretty often hear at the museum, 00:12:03.133 --> 00:12:06.467 "I heard that that flag raising was staged, that it was posed," 00:12:06.467 --> 00:12:08.634 and I want to play you all actually a video 00:12:08.634 --> 00:12:10.567 from our collection here 00:12:10.567 --> 00:12:13.167 about, actually, no, it's not posed, 00:12:13.167 --> 00:12:15.901 and you're going to hear from Norm Hatch 00:12:15.901 --> 00:12:18.968 telling you about the story of the second flag raising. 00:12:18.968 --> 00:12:21.033 What I'll do, everyone, while this is playing 00:12:21.033 --> 00:12:24.067 is I'm going to pause my video and audio, 00:12:24.067 --> 00:12:25.767 and then I'm going to play the video, 00:12:25.767 --> 00:12:27.901 and then I'll come back when it's over. 00:12:35.801 --> 00:12:39.567 -I was the photographic officer for the Fifth Marine Division, 00:12:39.567 --> 00:12:41.300 and the Fifth Marine Division had, 00:12:41.300 --> 00:12:45.167 in its area of responsibility, Mount Suribachi. 00:12:45.167 --> 00:12:49.434 It was decided that they would send a patrol up 00:12:49.434 --> 00:12:51.968 to see whether or not it was secure 00:12:51.968 --> 00:12:53.501 because the mountain was honeycombed 00:12:53.501 --> 00:12:55.601 with caves and positions. 00:12:55.601 --> 00:13:00.534 It had been a significant point of observation for the Japanese, 00:13:00.534 --> 00:13:01.868 and so we had to get rid of it 00:13:01.868 --> 00:13:05.434 because it was causing too much of a devastation. 00:13:05.434 --> 00:13:07.567 So the patrol went up and said, 00:13:07.567 --> 00:13:09.501 "Well, it looks like it's pretty well-secured." 00:13:09.501 --> 00:13:14.567 So they sent up another group, and with them, they had a flag, 00:13:14.567 --> 00:13:17.067 and, sure enough, they found a good pole up there, 00:13:17.067 --> 00:13:20.300 and they put it on it and put the flag up, 00:13:20.300 --> 00:13:22.634 but it was too small. 00:13:22.634 --> 00:13:24.901 It was obvious to everybody on the shore 00:13:24.901 --> 00:13:28.067 that something had to be done. 00:13:28.067 --> 00:13:29.834 My boss came to me and said, 00:13:29.834 --> 00:13:33.133 "Norm, they're going to put up a larger flag 00:13:33.133 --> 00:13:35.534 so that it can be seen by everybody," 00:13:35.534 --> 00:13:39.501 so I got word to two of my photographers, Bill Genaust, 00:13:39.501 --> 00:13:42.501 a movie man, and Bob Campbell, a still photographer, 00:13:42.501 --> 00:13:45.334 and I said, "You better get over there to the mountain and go up. 00:13:45.334 --> 00:13:47.534 They're going to put another flag up." 00:13:47.534 --> 00:13:51.267 On the way, they discovered Joe Rosenthal also going up. 00:13:51.267 --> 00:13:55.901 When the second flag went up, Rosenthal just got it by luck, 00:13:55.901 --> 00:13:57.934 and so did Bill Genaust. 00:13:57.934 --> 00:14:00.400 They were talking to each other, 00:14:00.400 --> 00:14:04.167 and Genaust was on Rosenthal's left, 00:14:04.167 --> 00:14:07.367 and he decided to go over and get on Rosenthal's right 00:14:07.367 --> 00:14:09.200 just at the time they started to pick the flag up, 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:12.033 and Rosenthal said, "Hey, Bill, it's going right now," 00:14:12.033 --> 00:14:13.367 and Bill turned around and shot, 00:14:13.367 --> 00:14:16.767 and Rosenthal shot, and that was it. 00:14:16.767 --> 00:14:18.868 There was several things that caused the myth 00:14:18.868 --> 00:14:21.033 about the flag raisings. 00:14:21.033 --> 00:14:23.801 One was the fact that Joe Rosenthal was asked 00:14:23.801 --> 00:14:25.834 when he arrived at Guam 00:14:25.834 --> 00:14:27.834 whether or not he had posed a photograph 00:14:27.834 --> 00:14:30.200 on top of Mount Suribachi, 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:32.567 and he said, yes, but the picture he posed 00:14:32.567 --> 00:14:34.834 was the group of men underneath the flagpole. 00:14:37.901 --> 00:14:39.434 Then there were a lot of professional photographers 00:14:39.434 --> 00:14:44.334 that thought the picture was so good that he must have posed it, 00:14:44.334 --> 00:14:46.434 and Joe's answer to that was, 00:14:46.434 --> 00:14:48.701 "If I was going to pose a picture, I wouldn't pose it 00:14:48.701 --> 00:14:51.234 with everybody's face turned away from me." 00:14:54.300 --> 00:14:58.067 It was an uplifting thing for the public at home. 00:14:58.067 --> 00:15:00.868 They thought that meant the battle was over. 00:15:00.868 --> 00:15:02.300 It really wasn't because the battle went on 00:15:02.300 --> 00:15:07.000 for another 27 or 28 days, 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:10.667 but the public now has gone through four years of war. 00:15:10.667 --> 00:15:12.167 They were tired. 00:15:12.167 --> 00:15:18.367 They needed a lot of spurring to keep going in the war plans, 00:15:18.367 --> 00:15:20.534 and by appearing on the front pages 00:15:20.534 --> 00:15:23.801 of practically every newspaper in the country, it did it. 00:15:31.300 --> 00:15:32.667 -So there's a little bit of background 00:15:32.667 --> 00:15:34.334 about the two flag raisings, and, as I said, 00:15:34.334 --> 00:15:35.667 the National Museum of the Marine Corps, 00:15:35.667 --> 00:15:38.067 they're going to fill us in a little bit more, too. 00:15:38.067 --> 00:15:39.801 Before I close out with my part, 00:15:39.801 --> 00:15:43.234 I just want to give you a few statistics on Iwo Jima, 00:15:43.234 --> 00:15:46.167 and they're going to pop up on-screen in just one second. 00:15:46.167 --> 00:15:49.300 The battle actually occurred for a little over a month. 00:15:49.300 --> 00:15:51.167 Most people think of that iconic flag raising 00:15:51.167 --> 00:15:52.834 within the first week, 00:15:52.834 --> 00:15:56.601 but there was many, many days of battle after that. 00:15:56.601 --> 00:16:00.834 19,000 U.S. wounded, close to 7,000 U.S. deaths, 00:16:00.834 --> 00:16:04.033 and this is actually the only battle in the Pacific 00:16:04.033 --> 00:16:07.868 during the war where U.S. casualties outnumbered 00:16:07.868 --> 00:16:09.100 the Japanese casualties, 00:16:09.100 --> 00:16:11.734 so if you add up the U.S. deaths with wounded, 00:16:11.734 --> 00:16:15.701 25,000-plus casualties compared to 00:16:15.701 --> 00:16:19.234 21,000 or so casualties on the Japanese side. 00:16:19.234 --> 00:16:25.200 27 Medals of Honor were awarded on this teeny, tiny island. 00:16:25.200 --> 00:16:27.300 But after it was taken, 00:16:27.300 --> 00:16:31.033 those B-29 bombers going to and from the Japanese home islands, 00:16:31.033 --> 00:16:34.534 many of them made emergency landings -- 00:16:34.534 --> 00:16:38.367 over, I think, 2,400 emergency landings on Iwo Jima -- 00:16:38.367 --> 00:16:43.834 which saved the lives of 22,000 U.S. aircrewmen. 00:16:43.834 --> 00:16:46.167 All right, so I'm going to actually end with that, 00:16:46.167 --> 00:16:47.934 with my part, and I'm going to turn it over 00:16:47.934 --> 00:16:50.901 to the National Museum of the Marine Corps. 00:16:50.901 --> 00:16:53.901 And, as I said, we will be connecting with Jim Bish. 00:16:53.901 --> 00:16:55.767 He's the teacher and resident 00:16:55.767 --> 00:16:57.834 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps 00:16:57.834 --> 00:17:02.868 and also veteran Frank Matthews, and let's see here. 00:17:02.868 --> 00:17:04.634 I'm going to bring up their presentation. 00:17:04.634 --> 00:17:05.834 -Can you hear me? -Let's see. 00:17:05.834 --> 00:17:08.267 Looks like they're about to connect with us. 00:17:08.267 --> 00:17:09.567 All right, Jim. 00:17:09.567 --> 00:17:11.334 -Can you hear me? -I see you there. 00:17:11.334 --> 00:17:13.501 Let's see if I can hear you. 00:17:13.501 --> 00:17:15.534 Yep, I can hear you just fine. 00:17:15.534 --> 00:17:18.501 Wonderful. Thank you so much for joining us today, 00:17:18.501 --> 00:17:20.834 especially because I know your weather has been a little rotten 00:17:20.834 --> 00:17:23.801 over the past few days, too, up in Virginia. 00:17:23.801 --> 00:17:25.067 So I really, really appreciate you both being here today. 00:17:25.067 --> 00:17:26.634 -Thank you. As your teacher said, 00:17:26.634 --> 00:17:28.868 my name is Jim Bish and I'm the teacher in residence 00:17:28.868 --> 00:17:30.801 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, 00:17:30.801 --> 00:17:32.868 and sitting right next to me is Frank Matthews, 00:17:32.868 --> 00:17:35.434 who will be joining us in just a little bit for some questions 00:17:35.434 --> 00:17:39.434 and answers as he lived on the island for about a month. 00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:43.367 Okay. 00:17:43.367 --> 00:17:45.601 What we're going to talk about first of all 00:17:45.601 --> 00:17:46.767 is the flag raising. 00:17:46.767 --> 00:17:49.400 I'm going to spend probably 5 to 10 minutes 00:17:49.400 --> 00:17:50.634 dealing with the flag raising. 00:17:50.634 --> 00:17:53.934 As you can tell, that image is very important 00:17:53.934 --> 00:17:56.767 to the National Museum of the Marine Corps. 00:17:56.767 --> 00:17:58.801 Not only is it one of the most iconic images 00:17:58.801 --> 00:18:00.267 in American history, 00:18:00.267 --> 00:18:02.501 but if you look at the design of our museum 00:18:02.501 --> 00:18:04.000 in Triangle, Virginia, 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.434 it is designed around the triangular shape 00:18:07.434 --> 00:18:09.467 that the Marines and the Naval Corpsmen 00:18:09.467 --> 00:18:13.968 made as they put up the flag in Rosenthal's photo, 00:18:13.968 --> 00:18:17.567 and of course you've got the mast of the ship -- 00:18:17.567 --> 00:18:19.000 or, excuse me, the mast of the flag -- 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:21.734 coming out in a very similar design. 00:18:21.734 --> 00:18:23.634 So it's such an important image 00:18:23.634 --> 00:18:25.901 that the architecture of this building 00:18:25.901 --> 00:18:28.000 really reflects that. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.834 Okay. 00:18:31.834 --> 00:18:33.033 That's fine. 00:18:33.033 --> 00:18:34.400 -All right. I'll go to the next slide there. 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:36.400 -Yeah. As Chrissy mentioned, going up with the flag, 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:38.000 the Easy Company was the group 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:42.267 that was assigned to take the flag up, and Harold Schrier 00:18:42.267 --> 00:18:46.968 was given the flag by his Lieutenant Colonel Johnson, 00:18:46.968 --> 00:18:49.167 and he said, "When you go up there, make sure, 00:18:49.167 --> 00:18:50.767 if you get to the top, put the flag up," 00:18:50.767 --> 00:18:54.300 so there was a group of about 40 Marines 00:18:54.300 --> 00:18:57.501 that headed up the mountain to put the flag up. 00:18:57.501 --> 00:19:02.834 This was in the early-morning hours, probably 9:30 to 10:00, 00:19:02.834 --> 00:19:06.634 on February 23rd, 1945. 00:19:06.634 --> 00:19:09.901 Okay. 00:19:09.901 --> 00:19:11.534 And, of course, embedded within those... 00:19:11.534 --> 00:19:14.834 -All right. -...40 Marines was Lou Lowery. 00:19:14.834 --> 00:19:17.634 Lou Lowery was the staff sergeant photographer 00:19:17.634 --> 00:19:19.400 with Leatherneck Magazine, 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:21.400 and he's going to be the man 00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:23.667 that actually shot the photographs 00:19:23.667 --> 00:19:25.767 documenting the first flag raising 00:19:25.767 --> 00:19:28.834 on south of Mount Suribachi. 00:19:28.834 --> 00:19:32.033 Okay, and what you have here is 00:19:32.033 --> 00:19:36.634 just a couple of images dealing with different Marines 00:19:36.634 --> 00:19:39.734 putting together that first flag raising. 00:19:39.734 --> 00:19:41.734 I'm going to turn this over to Frank now 00:19:41.734 --> 00:19:45.767 because I know he's got a good story of why those poles, 00:19:45.767 --> 00:19:48.200 those metal poles, were even on Mount Suribachi. 00:19:48.200 --> 00:19:50.868 It seems just kind of luck that they would find anything 00:19:50.868 --> 00:19:53.334 to put the flags up with. 00:19:53.334 --> 00:19:56.167 -Yeah. -Mount Suribachi, I was there, 00:19:56.167 --> 00:19:59.033 and it was a very important part 00:19:59.033 --> 00:20:02.334 of the Japanese military to live on Iwo Jima, 00:20:02.334 --> 00:20:05.567 because that island, for the last 250 years, 00:20:05.567 --> 00:20:07.467 the Japs have lived there, 00:20:07.467 --> 00:20:11.434 and it doesn't have any freshwater source, 00:20:11.434 --> 00:20:14.334 so the Japanese have survived all those years 00:20:14.334 --> 00:20:17.634 by collecting water, rainwater, 00:20:17.634 --> 00:20:20.367 usually at the top of Mount Suribachi. 00:20:20.367 --> 00:20:23.934 So the pipes are used to bring all that rainwater down 00:20:23.934 --> 00:20:28.501 to a cistern inside of the volcano, 00:20:28.501 --> 00:20:34.801 and when our Naval gunfire got into a fight 00:20:34.801 --> 00:20:39.701 with the Japanese big guns on top of Suribachi, 00:20:39.701 --> 00:20:42.868 of course, we knocked all those pipes apart, 00:20:42.868 --> 00:20:45.434 so when they looked for a flagpole, 00:20:45.434 --> 00:20:49.634 all they had to do was look around for a piece of a pipe 00:20:49.634 --> 00:20:53.133 that had been used one time for the Japanese 00:20:53.133 --> 00:20:56.367 to bring water down into that cistern. 00:20:56.367 --> 00:20:58.834 -Thank you, Frank. 00:20:58.834 --> 00:21:02.000 So you get a little bit there about some reason why. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:03.701 You can go to the next slide. 00:21:03.701 --> 00:21:05.167 -Sure. -Okay. 00:21:05.167 --> 00:21:08.067 Again, these are just some more images that Lowery had taken 00:21:08.067 --> 00:21:10.601 while he was waiting for the flag to go up. 00:21:10.601 --> 00:21:12.834 You can go ahead to the next one, 00:21:12.834 --> 00:21:15.767 and here they're getting ready to put the flag up. 00:21:15.767 --> 00:21:21.534 Unfortunately, Lou Lowery didn't have the... 00:21:21.534 --> 00:21:25.968 I don't know what it was, but unlike Rosenthal, 00:21:25.968 --> 00:21:28.501 he did not capture the moment of the flag going up, 00:21:28.501 --> 00:21:30.367 and that's really the real important thing. 00:21:30.367 --> 00:21:32.334 It's the act of doing, the act of... 00:21:32.334 --> 00:21:35.934 If you think of a basketball shot, is always the time 00:21:35.934 --> 00:21:37.701 when you're at the highest point of action, 00:21:37.701 --> 00:21:40.000 letting the ball loose or something like that, 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:42.267 and even though there were a lot of photographs 00:21:42.267 --> 00:21:46.033 taken that day by Lou Lowery, none of them captured the moment 00:21:46.033 --> 00:21:48.267 of what the second flag will reveal, 00:21:48.267 --> 00:21:49.534 and that's the sad story 00:21:49.534 --> 00:21:51.834 about between the first and second flag raising 00:21:51.834 --> 00:21:55.000 is the second image, the second flag going up, 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:56.601 that image of Rosenthal's, 00:21:56.601 --> 00:21:59.601 really just overpowered even the events that happened 00:21:59.601 --> 00:22:03.868 as far as the flags over on top of Mount Suribachi. 00:22:03.868 --> 00:22:06.267 You can go ahead to the next one. 00:22:06.267 --> 00:22:10.133 Okay, this is the next flag -- 00:22:10.133 --> 00:22:16.100 the next image of the first flag raising by Lou Lowery. 00:22:16.100 --> 00:22:17.601 It's flying in the air. 00:22:17.601 --> 00:22:18.701 Of course, we don't have it up there, 00:22:18.701 --> 00:22:19.968 just planting it into the ground, 00:22:19.968 --> 00:22:21.834 you know, kind of packing dirt around it 00:22:21.834 --> 00:22:23.067 so that it can be seen. 00:22:23.067 --> 00:22:25.167 This was roughly about 10:30 in the morning, 00:22:25.167 --> 00:22:28.267 and at that time, as Chrissy mentioned before, 00:22:28.267 --> 00:22:29.834 supposedly people that were around, 00:22:29.834 --> 00:22:33.734 especially ships that were close off the shores of Iwo Jima, 00:22:33.734 --> 00:22:37.767 started blowing their horns, things like that. 00:22:37.767 --> 00:22:41.100 It was obviously something big had happened, 00:22:41.100 --> 00:22:43.834 and that's at the point that Japanese, 00:22:43.834 --> 00:22:45.934 realizing what had taken place, 00:22:45.934 --> 00:22:48.167 they didn't like that story so much. 00:22:48.167 --> 00:22:54.100 Okay, and this is when Japanese soldiers came out of the cave, 00:22:54.100 --> 00:22:56.968 and there was... An enemy grenade was tossed. 00:22:56.968 --> 00:23:00.601 Lou Lowery, in the explosion and stuff, he was... 00:23:00.601 --> 00:23:03.601 He fell to the ground with his camera. 00:23:03.601 --> 00:23:05.234 The camera was damaged, but he was able 00:23:05.234 --> 00:23:06.601 to save the film of that, 00:23:06.601 --> 00:23:09.968 documenting that first flag raising. 00:23:09.968 --> 00:23:13.467 The...Pretty much the small action 00:23:13.467 --> 00:23:17.234 taken by the short firefight did not last that long, 00:23:17.234 --> 00:23:19.534 and all the Japanese were taken care of that were up there 00:23:19.534 --> 00:23:21.834 that had come out of their caves. 00:23:21.834 --> 00:23:23.968 Okay. 00:23:23.968 --> 00:23:27.534 Here, this is when you have the secretary of Navy, 00:23:27.534 --> 00:23:28.901 James Forrestal, 00:23:28.901 --> 00:23:33.300 was on-board with General Holland Smith, 00:23:33.300 --> 00:23:36.467 and that's when they saw the flag up there, 00:23:36.467 --> 00:23:38.334 and there are two important things that came out of this. 00:23:38.334 --> 00:23:42.801 First of all, Smith reportedly told Holland, 00:23:42.801 --> 00:23:46.000 or Forrestal reportedly told Holland Smith 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:48.133 that the raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi 00:23:48.133 --> 00:23:51.400 means the Marine Corps will last for another 500 years, 00:23:51.400 --> 00:23:52.801 and the second thing he thought, "You know, 00:23:52.801 --> 00:23:54.801 that would be a great souvenir to have," 00:23:54.801 --> 00:23:58.834 so word was passed down, 00:23:58.834 --> 00:24:02.667 and Chandler Johnson, 00:24:02.667 --> 00:24:04.334 who was the commander, 00:24:04.334 --> 00:24:07.133 the battalion commander, said, 00:24:07.133 --> 00:24:09.200 "No, maybe. They're not going to capture that flag. 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:11.167 That's not going to be souvenir of theirs. 00:24:11.167 --> 00:24:12.767 It's going to be ours," 00:24:12.767 --> 00:24:17.033 so they did go ahead and find a larger flag. 00:24:17.033 --> 00:24:20.133 Go ahead. 00:24:20.133 --> 00:24:25.868 The larger flag supposedly was taken off an LST-779. 00:24:25.868 --> 00:24:27.601 There's some controversy about this. 00:24:27.601 --> 00:24:31.968 The Marine Corps says it's LST-779. 00:24:31.968 --> 00:24:38.000 There are other Coast Guard claims it was taken off LST-758, 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:40.667 some action, but as far as the official history, 00:24:40.667 --> 00:24:44.033 779 is what it was, 00:24:44.033 --> 00:24:46.834 and a man by the name of Tuttle went ahead 00:24:46.834 --> 00:24:48.901 and found the flag, found the larger flag 00:24:48.901 --> 00:24:51.200 that supposedly was at a depot 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:55.234 originally in Pearl Harbor, and from there, they... 00:24:57.601 --> 00:25:00.767 It was handled to Corporal Gagnon 00:25:00.767 --> 00:25:02.667 to take up the mountain for the second flag 00:25:02.667 --> 00:25:05.767 raising to improve the sight 00:25:05.767 --> 00:25:07.267 and make sure we had a larger flag 00:25:07.267 --> 00:25:08.634 so more people could see it. 00:25:08.634 --> 00:25:11.067 The flags were put up there really as a...[ Coughs ] 00:25:11.067 --> 00:25:13.067 Excuse me. I've got a little cold. 00:25:13.067 --> 00:25:17.868 As a morale builder for the Marines fighting below. 00:25:17.868 --> 00:25:19.968 Okay. 00:25:19.968 --> 00:25:21.400 And here you have... 00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:23.067 Just behind the second group 00:25:23.067 --> 00:25:24.567 that was going up with the second flag, 00:25:24.567 --> 00:25:27.634 the larger flag, you have embedded three photographers. 00:25:27.634 --> 00:25:30.200 One was Private Bob Campbell. 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:32.334 The other was Staff Sergeant Bill Genaust, 00:25:32.334 --> 00:25:34.434 who was taking a movie picture, 00:25:34.434 --> 00:25:38.334 and then embedded with them was AP photographer, Joe Rosenthal. 00:25:38.334 --> 00:25:40.534 They met Lou Lowery coming down the mountain 00:25:40.534 --> 00:25:41.968 as they were heading up, 00:25:41.968 --> 00:25:44.400 and Lou Lowery said that they had already 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:47.100 taken pictures of the first flag, 00:25:47.100 --> 00:25:49.601 but he said, "It's a great view from up there, 00:25:49.601 --> 00:25:52.067 and go ahead and go up there and see what you can see," 00:25:52.067 --> 00:25:55.434 so the three men continued as Lou Lowery was coming down. 00:25:58.467 --> 00:25:59.667 Okay. 00:25:59.667 --> 00:26:02.667 These are pictures now taken by Bill Genaust. 00:26:02.667 --> 00:26:05.200 He was the one with the movie camera, 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:07.767 so he caught the entire sequence of events 00:26:07.767 --> 00:26:10.467 and still frames going up, and you can... 00:26:10.467 --> 00:26:14.100 This kind of disproves any idea that this was staged 00:26:14.100 --> 00:26:15.667 because, as you earlier mentioned, 00:26:15.667 --> 00:26:18.300 Rosenthal and Genaust almost missed it 00:26:18.300 --> 00:26:20.000 because they were getting set up for the camera, 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:21.634 and the Marines weren't paying attention 00:26:21.634 --> 00:26:22.868 to what they were doing. 00:26:22.868 --> 00:26:25.167 They had their job to do to get the flag up quickly 00:26:25.167 --> 00:26:27.067 and then make sure that they're protected. 00:26:27.067 --> 00:26:30.567 So, as a result, Genaust just got this, 00:26:30.567 --> 00:26:32.167 and that's when he told Bill, 00:26:32.167 --> 00:26:34.100 "Hey, it's going up," or Bill told Joe, 00:26:34.100 --> 00:26:36.601 "It's going up," and Joe spun around 00:26:36.601 --> 00:26:38.734 and caught the image that he did, 00:26:38.734 --> 00:26:42.234 but this kind of takes you through a series of images 00:26:42.234 --> 00:26:45.400 from the Genaust video to show you how it was, 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:47.501 and there's the second image. 00:26:47.501 --> 00:26:52.100 Okay, and this is the one where 1/400th of a second 00:26:52.100 --> 00:26:53.734 in Joe Rosenthal's life 00:26:53.734 --> 00:26:56.167 would carry him through his lifetime. 00:26:56.167 --> 00:26:58.200 You've got this one image he shot. 00:26:58.200 --> 00:26:59.934 He didn't know he'd gotten it 00:26:59.934 --> 00:27:03.100 because he turned around so quickly to shoot it, 00:27:03.100 --> 00:27:05.000 and he thought, "You know, I don't know if I even got that, 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:06.801 so to make it worthwhile, 00:27:06.801 --> 00:27:10.767 I need to photograph the pictures kind of like 00:27:10.767 --> 00:27:14.000 Lowery did beforehand of Marines around the flag," 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:16.200 so he did that just to make sure he had something 00:27:16.200 --> 00:27:18.601 before he came off the mountain. 00:27:18.601 --> 00:27:21.100 Okay. 00:27:23.734 --> 00:27:27.167 -Oops, sorry, went too far. -That's fine. 00:27:27.167 --> 00:27:29.234 We've got... 00:27:29.234 --> 00:27:32.834 So at the time, Rosenthal really didn't know 00:27:32.834 --> 00:27:36.634 if he had the pictures or what he even had. 00:27:36.634 --> 00:27:39.334 He knew he had the photos that would later become known 00:27:39.334 --> 00:27:43.067 as the Gung Ho images 00:27:43.067 --> 00:27:47.234 that were the Marines around the photograph, 00:27:47.234 --> 00:27:49.834 and that became part of the controversy, 00:27:49.834 --> 00:27:54.200 because later the images would be sent off to Guam. 00:27:54.200 --> 00:27:56.067 Joe would head down the mountain, 00:27:56.067 --> 00:27:59.534 and by the time he got back off Mount Suribachi... 00:27:59.534 --> 00:28:01.601 Is the images still there? 00:28:04.434 --> 00:28:06.033 Can't see them on my end. 00:28:06.033 --> 00:28:07.000 -Let's see here. Yeah. 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:11.133 Did it not show up? All right. 00:28:11.133 --> 00:28:12.834 We've got the cropped image of Iwo Jima 00:28:12.834 --> 00:28:14.067 that's up on the screen now. 00:28:14.067 --> 00:28:15.667 Might be, yeah, issues with a -- 00:28:15.667 --> 00:28:17.033 little bit of loading on your end, but yeah, 00:28:17.033 --> 00:28:20.067 we have the cropped image of Iwo up on screen right now. 00:28:20.067 --> 00:28:23.133 -And with that, he went ahead and went down the mountain, 00:28:23.133 --> 00:28:25.167 and at 1:00, he said he noticed his watch, 00:28:25.167 --> 00:28:29.400 and it was at 1:00, and he sent them off to Guam. 00:28:29.400 --> 00:28:32.000 They ended up getting right out to Guam. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.667 They were developed in Guam, and again, 00:28:34.667 --> 00:28:39.601 I can't see any images, so if you wanted to... 00:28:39.601 --> 00:28:40.701 -Let me move forward. Yeah. 00:28:40.701 --> 00:28:42.000 Now we have the New York Times... 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:43.334 -It was really remarkable that... 00:28:43.334 --> 00:28:44.868 -...front page with that iconic photo. 00:28:44.868 --> 00:28:46.701 -...because, within 17 hours, I mean, everybody 00:28:46.701 --> 00:28:49.534 that had developed the photos on Guam knew what they had. 00:28:49.534 --> 00:28:50.901 They go, "Oh, my goodness." 00:28:50.901 --> 00:28:54.267 This is something that everybody recognized the importance, 00:28:54.267 --> 00:28:56.534 so they quickly got those in the wire services, 00:28:56.534 --> 00:28:58.434 and it was really remarkable in the day that it... 00:28:58.434 --> 00:29:02.267 from 17 hours from the time that Rosenthal took the picture 00:29:02.267 --> 00:29:05.267 that it was actually part of... 00:29:05.267 --> 00:29:07.934 that it was in newspapers, and of course this is an image 00:29:07.934 --> 00:29:11.701 that Chrissy had up earlier of the New York Times, 00:29:11.701 --> 00:29:15.033 which is on the 25th of February. 00:29:15.033 --> 00:29:18.567 So within 2 days after the shooting, 17 hours, 00:29:18.567 --> 00:29:21.667 it was already in newspapers across the United States, 00:29:21.667 --> 00:29:24.501 which, as I said, was really phenomenal to have then. 00:29:27.367 --> 00:29:28.634 -Yeah, it was the quickest probably... 00:29:28.634 --> 00:29:29.901 -It's pretty remarkable. 00:29:29.901 --> 00:29:31.467 -...they've ever had that kind of turnaround, right? 00:29:31.467 --> 00:29:33.834 -Now, unfortunately, the first film was sent later to Guam, 00:29:33.834 --> 00:29:36.033 the first flag-raising pictures of Lowery, 00:29:36.033 --> 00:29:37.901 and that became part of the controversies because, 00:29:37.901 --> 00:29:41.701 when it ended up in American newspapers as the flag raising, 00:29:41.701 --> 00:29:44.267 everybody just assumed there was one flag raising, 00:29:44.267 --> 00:29:45.968 and that became part of the problem. 00:29:45.968 --> 00:29:50.634 The second images did not make it to Guam until after the... 00:29:50.634 --> 00:29:53.400 The first images, I should say, were not developed 00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:56.133 until after the second one was developed, 00:29:56.133 --> 00:29:59.334 and that was part of the problem. 00:29:59.334 --> 00:30:01.834 Okay. 00:30:04.067 --> 00:30:06.934 -And the next side shows the Gung Ho shot 00:30:06.934 --> 00:30:10.067 and then the other shot where you can see Rosenthal... 00:30:10.067 --> 00:30:11.400 -The Gung Ho shot is about... 00:30:11.400 --> 00:30:12.934 -...taking the picture of that Gung Ho shot. 00:30:12.934 --> 00:30:14.200 -...is pretty obvious. 00:30:14.200 --> 00:30:17.267 The Gung Ho shot was proven that Rosenthal was there 00:30:17.267 --> 00:30:19.133 taking pictures and Genaust, 00:30:19.133 --> 00:30:21.767 and that's what later he would thank... 00:30:21.767 --> 00:30:23.267 He would be asked... 00:30:23.267 --> 00:30:26.334 Rosenthal would be asked if he posed those pictures. 00:30:26.334 --> 00:30:30.367 They were talking about the real photograph of the flag raising, 00:30:30.367 --> 00:30:33.501 and Rosenthal thought that it was the "Gung Ho" photos. 00:30:33.501 --> 00:30:35.634 He said, "Yeah. We posed those. We had different people." 00:30:35.634 --> 00:30:38.234 So that also added to the controversy because Rosenthal, 00:30:38.234 --> 00:30:41.667 at that point, had not seen either one, okay? 00:30:46.100 --> 00:30:48.868 -And then this one, yeah, shows...Oh, yeah. 00:30:48.868 --> 00:30:50.200 I think you're talking about the controversy 00:30:50.200 --> 00:30:52.467 about it being developed, 00:30:52.467 --> 00:30:55.033 and, oh, and now into the 7th War Loan, saying, 00:30:55.033 --> 00:30:57.834 "Oh, that picture's so iconic. How can we potentially use it" 00:30:57.834 --> 00:30:59.868 -Yeah, that's Roosevelt. Roosevelt had noticed that 00:30:59.868 --> 00:31:01.434 everybody was buying those images. 00:31:01.434 --> 00:31:02.934 They couldn't get enough of them, 00:31:02.934 --> 00:31:05.300 and he said, "You know what? 00:31:05.300 --> 00:31:09.334 We're having problems because the 7th War Drive, 00:31:09.334 --> 00:31:12.267 bond drive was having problems just getting enough money." 00:31:12.267 --> 00:31:14.167 He said, "That's the image. That's what we're going to use," 00:31:14.167 --> 00:31:15.968 and unfortunately, he also said, 00:31:15.968 --> 00:31:17.767 "Let's try to identify and find those Marines 00:31:17.767 --> 00:31:20.267 and get those back here that were in that picture." 00:31:20.267 --> 00:31:22.200 So, you can go ahead. 00:31:25.868 --> 00:31:27.534 Yeah, and they... -Yeah, and then this shows 00:31:27.534 --> 00:31:30.734 Rosenthal there printing, you know, 00:31:30.734 --> 00:31:32.667 they're printing and printing and printing this image, 00:31:32.667 --> 00:31:34.767 like you were saying, and then a picture with Rosenthal... 00:31:34.767 --> 00:31:37.033 -The next one, you've got the Boy Scout troop... 00:31:37.033 --> 00:31:38.501 -...with the Boy Scout troop, I think. 00:31:38.501 --> 00:31:40.100 -...and, of course, he's... It just shows you how powerful. 00:31:40.100 --> 00:31:42.334 It made Rosenthal an instant celebrity, as well. 00:31:42.334 --> 00:31:45.200 Everybody wanted his name attached to the photo. 00:31:50.067 --> 00:31:51.234 -And then this next one here 00:31:51.234 --> 00:31:53.801 shows the six flag raisers with the one... 00:31:53.801 --> 00:31:55.100 -Yeah, Mr. Hansen. 00:31:55.100 --> 00:31:56.300 -...misidentified initially, the person, Hank Hansen. 00:31:56.300 --> 00:31:57.167 -He's going to be unidentified throughout 00:31:57.167 --> 00:31:59.100 the entire bond rally. 00:32:01.334 --> 00:32:06.200 They're...Both Hansens died, 00:32:06.200 --> 00:32:08.501 and as a result, nobody steps forward. 00:32:08.501 --> 00:32:10.868 The man that actually knew that it was not... 00:32:10.868 --> 00:32:14.701 correct was Ira Hayes, but he remained silent 00:32:14.701 --> 00:32:17.133 because they didn't want to cause even more controversy 00:32:17.133 --> 00:32:19.300 because the first flag raisers 00:32:19.300 --> 00:32:21.300 were not brought back home for this. 00:32:21.300 --> 00:32:25.601 So there was a lot of issues, and the Marines were dealing 00:32:25.601 --> 00:32:27.701 with a lot of these issues with the conflict. 00:32:27.701 --> 00:32:30.033 Then, of course, you have the second bond rally. 00:32:30.033 --> 00:32:31.367 You go forward. 00:32:31.367 --> 00:32:36.334 You're going to see Spencer Tracy and James Cagney. 00:32:38.367 --> 00:32:39.467 -Oh, yeah. Let's see here. 00:32:39.467 --> 00:32:40.601 Let me get to that. 00:32:40.601 --> 00:32:41.734 -All the celebrity status of that image. 00:32:41.734 --> 00:32:42.801 -Oh, there we go. There's that slide. 00:32:42.801 --> 00:32:43.634 Yeah, James Cagney and Spencer Tracy. 00:32:43.634 --> 00:32:45.734 -Okay. Go ahead. -Mm-hmm. 00:32:45.734 --> 00:32:49.267 -And here you have, unfortunately, the flag was then 00:32:49.267 --> 00:32:50.968 taken off Mount Suribachi. 00:32:50.968 --> 00:32:52.868 It was brought back, and, unfortunately, 00:32:52.868 --> 00:32:54.334 by the time that President Roosevelt 00:32:54.334 --> 00:32:59.000 wanted the flag back here for the bond rally in that image, 00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:01.567 they brought the flag back for this 00:33:01.567 --> 00:33:04.234 to go along with the bond drive, 00:33:04.234 --> 00:33:06.701 and, unfortunately, President Eisenhower died on April 12th. 00:33:06.701 --> 00:33:09.767 So as a result of that, 00:33:09.767 --> 00:33:12.200 the last days of his mourning period, 00:33:12.200 --> 00:33:15.367 the flag flew over the Capitol Building 00:33:15.367 --> 00:33:17.367 before it went out on the bond-drive rally. 00:33:17.367 --> 00:33:18.634 -You mean President Roosevelt, yes? 00:33:18.634 --> 00:33:20.767 -I mean President Roosevelt, yes, 00:33:20.767 --> 00:33:24.501 before President Roosevelt's... during his funeral. 00:33:24.501 --> 00:33:26.901 -Wow. -Okay? 00:33:26.901 --> 00:33:29.701 -Mm-hmm. -Yeah. 00:33:29.701 --> 00:33:31.000 This is the Bond Tour. 00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:32.300 -And we got a picture of the Bond Tour here, yeah. 00:33:32.300 --> 00:33:36.167 -Of course, you have the naval corpsmen. 00:33:36.167 --> 00:33:40.901 John Bradley is on crutches. He was wounded. 00:33:40.901 --> 00:33:44.434 Okay. 00:33:44.434 --> 00:33:45.968 These are the three survivors... 00:33:45.968 --> 00:33:47.467 -All right. And then them holding the flag. 00:33:47.467 --> 00:33:50.167 -Within 28 days after the flag raising, 00:33:50.167 --> 00:33:52.000 three of the five Marines 00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:54.868 and one naval corpsman had been killed. 00:33:54.868 --> 00:33:56.467 Three of the Marines had been killed, 00:33:56.467 --> 00:33:59.801 and these were the only two Marine survivors, and Bradley, 00:33:59.801 --> 00:34:01.734 that were part of the survivors 00:34:01.734 --> 00:34:05.567 that were able to come back for the Bond Tour. 00:34:07.567 --> 00:34:09.834 And this is... 00:34:09.834 --> 00:34:11.701 in Los Angeles. This even shows you... 00:34:11.701 --> 00:34:12.868 -See, right there, the Bond Tour in Los Angeles. 00:34:12.868 --> 00:34:14.334 -...you've got the image on buildings 00:34:14.334 --> 00:34:18.167 of how important that image was of Iwo Jima as the final... 00:34:18.167 --> 00:34:21.968 So the flag, the Marines, Bradley, 00:34:21.968 --> 00:34:24.667 were all on this Bond Tour, 00:34:24.667 --> 00:34:29.033 which raised more money than any previous bond tour or bond drive 00:34:29.033 --> 00:34:31.434 in World War II history. 00:34:31.434 --> 00:34:35.400 Okay? 00:34:35.400 --> 00:34:36.501 -And this stamp is important... 00:34:36.501 --> 00:34:37.667 -Yeah. Next we have the... 00:34:37.667 --> 00:34:38.834 -I have an actual... -...postage stamp. 00:34:38.834 --> 00:34:42.501 -This is a first-day cover of the stamp. 00:34:42.501 --> 00:34:44.100 This is an original. 00:34:44.100 --> 00:34:45.834 It came out in July 1945... 00:34:45.834 --> 00:34:48.834 -Oh, wow. -...from Washington, D.C. 00:34:48.834 --> 00:34:51.067 It sold more stamps... People supposedly were lined up 00:34:51.067 --> 00:34:53.000 for blocks to get that image of that first stamp. 00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:54.133 A little bit of controversy 00:34:54.133 --> 00:34:55.667 because there were alive people there. 00:34:55.667 --> 00:34:57.901 They had three people that were alive, and the Post Office said 00:34:57.901 --> 00:34:59.334 they would not allow for a stamp 00:34:59.334 --> 00:35:01.801 to have anyone that's alive on a stamp. 00:35:01.801 --> 00:35:05.501 So that finally was dealt with, and it supposedly became 00:35:05.501 --> 00:35:07.801 the most purchased stamp through the '60s, 00:35:07.801 --> 00:35:10.834 and legend has it that it was the most purchased stamp 00:35:10.834 --> 00:35:12.400 by the Postal Service 00:35:12.400 --> 00:35:16.167 up until the death of Elvis Presley in the 1970s. 00:35:18.300 --> 00:35:19.934 Okay. 00:35:19.934 --> 00:35:21.801 -Wow. 00:35:21.801 --> 00:35:23.200 And then this shows 00:35:23.200 --> 00:35:24.667 all their positions on the flag and then... 00:35:24.667 --> 00:35:27.334 -This is after the bond rally. -...Harlon Block, identified. 00:35:27.334 --> 00:35:29.767 -Ira Hayes finally went to Block's parents and said, 00:35:29.767 --> 00:35:31.501 "You know, your son was the one that planted, 00:35:31.501 --> 00:35:35.667 was at the base," and this added to more controversy. 00:35:35.667 --> 00:35:38.167 Hansen was taken off then after they had enough proof 00:35:38.167 --> 00:35:39.467 that it was Block, 00:35:39.467 --> 00:35:41.968 so it's just one problem after another, 00:35:41.968 --> 00:35:44.033 but you can imagine, for Marines, 00:35:44.033 --> 00:35:47.968 this was just a small thing in a day of keeping alive. 00:35:47.968 --> 00:35:50.100 Their real task was to keep alive 00:35:50.100 --> 00:35:52.200 and keep their friends around them alive 00:35:52.200 --> 00:35:54.767 and do their job of liberating Iwo Jima. 00:35:54.767 --> 00:35:57.234 This was just something that was not that important, 00:35:57.234 --> 00:35:59.567 by putting a pole up and doing what they did. 00:35:59.567 --> 00:36:02.934 It took a few seconds out of their day, 00:36:02.934 --> 00:36:06.734 so paying attention to who was actually holding onto that pole 00:36:06.734 --> 00:36:09.434 was not something important to them at the time 00:36:09.434 --> 00:36:12.601 as the image made it an important event. 00:36:12.601 --> 00:36:16.334 Okay. 00:36:16.334 --> 00:36:19.367 -Mm-hmm. 00:36:19.367 --> 00:36:22.300 And then it looks like the mock-up 00:36:22.300 --> 00:36:23.868 for the Marine Corps memorial, 00:36:23.868 --> 00:36:25.934 which we see in these next couple images there with... 00:36:25.934 --> 00:36:27.868 -Yeah. -...Truman also looking 00:36:27.868 --> 00:36:29.467 at a sculpture... 00:36:29.467 --> 00:36:30.834 -Right, and then, of course, by the late 1940s... 00:36:30.834 --> 00:36:32.167 -...and then the, yeah, the erecting of the memorial. 00:36:32.167 --> 00:36:34.133 -...the Marine Corp was going to put up the memorial 00:36:34.133 --> 00:36:35.334 based upon that image, 00:36:35.334 --> 00:36:37.534 which we know now was the Iwo Jima memorial, 00:36:37.534 --> 00:36:39.667 and at that time, there was also controversy 00:36:39.667 --> 00:36:42.167 because some of the Marines from the first, 00:36:42.167 --> 00:36:44.067 and even Hansen's family, 00:36:44.067 --> 00:36:46.968 who was identified with the second flag raising 00:36:46.968 --> 00:36:49.734 for a while and then was removed, 00:36:49.734 --> 00:36:52.501 they were not given the credit they felt 00:36:52.501 --> 00:36:54.300 that they should have been given 00:36:54.300 --> 00:36:56.534 because they were, especially the first flag raisers, 00:36:56.534 --> 00:36:58.601 they were the ones that really cleared them out 00:36:58.601 --> 00:37:00.400 and went up there and sacrificed their lives 00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:02.067 to get the first flag up. 00:37:02.067 --> 00:37:04.300 So, that -- And, of course, the Marine Corps 00:37:04.300 --> 00:37:06.300 kind of squashed that for a while, too, 00:37:06.300 --> 00:37:08.234 when they already had this huge image out there. 00:37:08.234 --> 00:37:10.167 Then the second images came onboard. 00:37:10.167 --> 00:37:11.968 They kind of, you know, said, 00:37:11.968 --> 00:37:14.434 "Hey, we've already got an image. Don't mess up the story." 00:37:14.434 --> 00:37:18.934 So it was a lot of unintended consequences all the way around. 00:37:18.934 --> 00:37:20.734 -Mm-hmm. -And that... 00:37:20.734 --> 00:37:26.367 And if you go to the end... 00:37:26.367 --> 00:37:29.534 -Yep, all the way to the end here. 00:37:29.534 --> 00:37:31.734 Oh, yeah. I think this is with the... 00:37:31.734 --> 00:37:33.300 -The living flag raisers... -...living flag raisers... 00:37:33.300 --> 00:37:34.167 -There's Bradley, and you've got... 00:37:34.167 --> 00:37:35.467 -...at the dedication ceremony. 00:37:35.467 --> 00:37:37.801 -...Gagnon, and you've got Hayes there 00:37:37.801 --> 00:37:41.934 along with Vice President Nixon at the dedication, 00:37:41.934 --> 00:37:45.601 and then if you go past that, again, that's a lasting monument 00:37:45.601 --> 00:37:46.968 because our emblem 00:37:46.968 --> 00:37:49.901 for the National Museum of the Marine Corps 00:37:49.901 --> 00:37:51.334 is the image, 00:37:51.334 --> 00:37:54.133 kind of, with the National Museum of the Marine Corps. 00:37:54.133 --> 00:37:57.033 If you go to the very end, 00:37:57.033 --> 00:38:00.734 which there you see again the real image 00:38:00.734 --> 00:38:02.834 with the shape of our building here 00:38:02.834 --> 00:38:05.434 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps triangle. 00:38:05.434 --> 00:38:09.667 And with that... -Great. 00:38:09.667 --> 00:38:10.734 Thank you so much, Jim. 00:38:10.734 --> 00:38:12.133 I really appreciate it. -Sure. 00:38:12.133 --> 00:38:15.667 -Can you take one question before we turn it over to Frank? 00:38:15.667 --> 00:38:17.100 So speaking of controversy, 00:38:17.100 --> 00:38:18.767 I don't know if you guys can speak to this, 00:38:18.767 --> 00:38:22.767 but actually, the high school in North Platte, Nebraska, 00:38:22.767 --> 00:38:23.968 they were asking, 00:38:23.968 --> 00:38:25.501 "There's been controversy recently 00:38:25.501 --> 00:38:27.834 about the identification of John Bradley 00:38:27.834 --> 00:38:29.467 and that maybe not being accurate." 00:38:29.467 --> 00:38:30.868 -You know, there's been... -Can you speak to that at all? 00:38:30.868 --> 00:38:34.133 -...so many controversies in the last 45 or last 70 years 00:38:34.133 --> 00:38:36.000 concerning the flag raising. 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:40.167 Recently, there have been some images looked at very closely 00:38:40.167 --> 00:38:43.033 concerning John Bradley, 00:38:43.033 --> 00:38:46.100 that he was misidentified 00:38:46.100 --> 00:38:49.334 and that he shouldn't have been part of the second flag raising. 00:38:49.334 --> 00:38:51.767 I would...A lot of people 00:38:51.767 --> 00:38:54.868 that have really looked at that say that's suspect as well. 00:38:54.868 --> 00:38:57.467 I don't know one way or the other. 00:38:57.467 --> 00:38:59.200 I would suggest, though, that Bradley, 00:38:59.200 --> 00:39:03.501 because he was one of those that were actually alive at the end, 00:39:03.501 --> 00:39:08.234 that if there was any doubt throughout his time period, 00:39:08.234 --> 00:39:10.634 that that would have risen before this, 00:39:10.634 --> 00:39:12.367 but it is certainly, and I know, I think, 00:39:12.367 --> 00:39:14.367 one of the areas 00:39:14.367 --> 00:39:16.501 that it had circulated out of was out of Omaha. 00:39:16.501 --> 00:39:19.067 Since I'm from Nebraska, I kept on some of that as well. 00:39:19.067 --> 00:39:22.267 So go Huskers for you out there in North Platte, 00:39:22.267 --> 00:39:25.033 and because this has always been controversial, 00:39:25.033 --> 00:39:26.968 I'm sure that for the next 70 years, 00:39:26.968 --> 00:39:28.968 there will continue to be much more controversy 00:39:28.968 --> 00:39:30.400 over the flag raises. 00:39:35.701 --> 00:39:37.634 -All right. Well, thank you so much, Jim, and yeah. 00:39:37.634 --> 00:39:40.667 Now, students, prepare your questions 00:39:40.667 --> 00:39:43.067 for our special guest today, 00:39:43.067 --> 00:39:45.968 our other special guest, Veteran Frank Matthews. 00:39:45.968 --> 00:39:47.234 -Glad to be here. 00:39:47.234 --> 00:39:51.467 -Thank you so much for joining us today, Frank. 00:39:51.467 --> 00:39:53.033 Great. Well, we're happy to have you, too. 00:39:53.033 --> 00:39:54.801 I'm actually going to make our video, let's see, 00:39:54.801 --> 00:39:56.133 a little bit bigger so everybody can see... 00:39:56.133 --> 00:39:58.467 -Okay. -...you a little clearer here. 00:39:58.467 --> 00:40:00.534 There we go. 00:40:00.534 --> 00:40:04.467 So, yeah. So, now that you're on the big screen here, 00:40:04.467 --> 00:40:07.734 so, I wanted to know, kind of, 00:40:07.734 --> 00:40:09.467 we're going to go back to the beginning a little bit, 00:40:09.467 --> 00:40:13.434 and I was curious, how old were you 00:40:13.434 --> 00:40:16.467 when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, and when did you... 00:40:16.467 --> 00:40:17.634 -When Pearl Harbor occurred... 00:40:17.634 --> 00:40:18.601 -...you know, join up in the Marine Corps. 00:40:18.601 --> 00:40:20.834 -...that would be, of course, 1941. 00:40:20.834 --> 00:40:23.601 I was about 15 years old, 00:40:23.601 --> 00:40:26.300 so I was in the second year of high school in South Carolina, 00:40:26.300 --> 00:40:31.000 where I grew up, and for the next couple of years, 00:40:31.000 --> 00:40:32.734 everything was a little tight. 00:40:32.734 --> 00:40:35.234 You didn't do anything that you normally did, 00:40:35.234 --> 00:40:38.934 but I graduated from high school 1943, 00:40:38.934 --> 00:40:41.400 went immediately and joined the Marine Corps, 00:40:41.400 --> 00:40:43.033 went down to Parris Island, 00:40:43.033 --> 00:40:45.968 went through boot camp early '43, 00:40:45.968 --> 00:40:49.901 and they sent me up to Quantico for a while. 00:40:49.901 --> 00:40:57.000 And then Quantico, in the middle of August 1944, they came in, 00:40:57.000 --> 00:41:00.067 and somebody knew that the battle of Iwo Jima 00:41:00.067 --> 00:41:01.801 was going to happen, 00:41:01.801 --> 00:41:04.734 and so they pulled us through, a whole bunch of us, 00:41:04.734 --> 00:41:07.167 out of Quantico, 00:41:07.167 --> 00:41:10.901 sent me on a troop train all the way down to New Orleans, 00:41:10.901 --> 00:41:14.534 and we stopped there briefly, did calisthenics, 00:41:14.534 --> 00:41:18.133 and then took a train on out to the West Coast. 00:41:18.133 --> 00:41:21.100 And from there, we got aboard a troop transport, 00:41:21.100 --> 00:41:23.467 went all the way out to Pearl Harbor, 00:41:23.467 --> 00:41:27.400 and by early December 1944, 00:41:27.400 --> 00:41:30.334 I had been assigned to the 4th Marine Division 00:41:30.334 --> 00:41:32.367 on the island of Maui, 00:41:32.367 --> 00:41:38.067 and the other, the 3rd and 4th and 5th Marine divisions, 00:41:38.067 --> 00:41:41.868 those were the divisions that landed on Iwo Jima. 00:41:41.868 --> 00:41:44.767 The 4th was stationed on Maui. 00:41:44.767 --> 00:41:50.234 The 5th Division was on the big island of Hawaii. 00:41:50.234 --> 00:41:54.634 The 3rd division was located in Guam. 00:41:54.634 --> 00:41:58.234 We all got together, the 3rd, 4th, the 5th, 00:41:58.234 --> 00:42:00.601 and we went from Pearl Harbor. 00:42:00.601 --> 00:42:04.300 Took us about 6 weeks to go to Iwo Jima 00:42:04.300 --> 00:42:08.200 on a huge convoy of ships, 00:42:08.200 --> 00:42:09.801 and we landed on Iwo Jima. 00:42:09.801 --> 00:42:12.701 I went in on the first day. 00:42:12.701 --> 00:42:16.801 I was landing on the right flank of the island 00:42:16.801 --> 00:42:18.367 where my division, 00:42:18.367 --> 00:42:22.067 the 4th Division, was supposed to attack. 00:42:22.067 --> 00:42:24.734 So we were on the opposite end of the island 00:42:24.734 --> 00:42:27.834 from the flag raisers, the 5th Division. 00:42:27.834 --> 00:42:31.467 28th Regiment out of the 5th Division raised the flag 00:42:31.467 --> 00:42:33.701 then on the fourth day. 00:42:33.701 --> 00:42:39.100 On that particular day, which was 70 years ago today, 00:42:39.100 --> 00:42:42.200 I was just trying to get over having participated 00:42:42.200 --> 00:42:46.400 in taking the first airfield on the previous day, 00:42:46.400 --> 00:42:49.667 and it wasn't more than a day after that 00:42:49.667 --> 00:42:53.801 that I got the first of three wounds that I got on Iwo Jima. 00:42:53.801 --> 00:42:57.901 These wounds were not sufficient that I had to be evacuated. 00:42:57.901 --> 00:43:02.801 I didn't want to be evacuated, so the corpsmen and, of course, 00:43:02.801 --> 00:43:04.901 the medics kept me bandaged up. 00:43:04.901 --> 00:43:08.167 I managed to tough it out until the end of the battle. 00:43:09.267 --> 00:43:10.667 -Wow. 00:43:14.567 --> 00:43:16.334 A lot of students -- Well, first off, 00:43:16.334 --> 00:43:18.300 there's a lot of students in the audience saying, 00:43:18.300 --> 00:43:19.567 "Thank you for your service." 00:43:19.567 --> 00:43:21.334 I'm seeing that a lot. 00:43:24.033 --> 00:43:29.367 And we also, we're seeing a lot of questions about, 00:43:29.367 --> 00:43:31.601 you know, what was your job on the island? 00:43:31.601 --> 00:43:33.734 They know flamethrower, and someone was curious about... 00:43:33.734 --> 00:43:34.968 -I went in carrying Browning automatic rifle... 00:43:34.968 --> 00:43:36.667 -...how much did the flamethrower even weigh? 00:43:36.667 --> 00:43:43.400 -...at first, which is roughly akin to the AK-47 00:43:43.400 --> 00:43:45.734 that they've used recently, 00:43:45.734 --> 00:43:48.100 and it had a lot of good features, 00:43:48.100 --> 00:43:50.834 and it was a very rugged weapon. 00:43:50.834 --> 00:43:54.901 I carried for the first three weeks on Iwo Jima. 00:43:54.901 --> 00:43:59.100 The last week, they switched me mostly to a flamethrower. 00:43:59.100 --> 00:44:01.901 Flamethrower weighed 83 pounds. 00:44:01.901 --> 00:44:06.367 I thought it was very unfair for them to ask me to carry it 00:44:06.367 --> 00:44:10.200 because I only weighed 155 pounds myself, 00:44:10.200 --> 00:44:16.934 but the flamethrower was what we call the M2 flamethrower, 00:44:16.934 --> 00:44:20.601 and you can see pictures of that. 00:44:20.601 --> 00:44:23.701 The flamethrower would carry enough fuel 00:44:23.701 --> 00:44:26.400 for about a three-minute burst of flame. 00:44:26.400 --> 00:44:29.334 We had to make that last all day, though, 00:44:29.334 --> 00:44:33.067 or at least half a day, when we went out on patrol. 00:44:33.067 --> 00:44:35.567 -Wow. 00:44:38.434 --> 00:44:40.634 And then we're getting a few more questions, too, 00:44:40.634 --> 00:44:44.000 about the conditions on Iwo Jima. 00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:47.000 You know, what was it like? How was it living on the island? 00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:48.033 What did you all eat... 00:44:48.033 --> 00:44:49.334 -We landed on Iwo Jima in February. 00:44:49.334 --> 00:44:50.667 -...while you were there, those sorts of things? 00:44:50.667 --> 00:44:54.534 -Iwo Jima is the same latitude as Key West, Florida, 00:44:54.534 --> 00:44:57.200 and you know how Key West, Florida is in February. 00:44:57.200 --> 00:45:02.033 It's not too cold, and so then Iwo Jima is not too cold, 00:45:02.033 --> 00:45:06.901 and anyway, you had some volcanic action still going on, 00:45:06.901 --> 00:45:12.167 although the volcano there has not erupted in 24,000 years. 00:45:12.167 --> 00:45:16.000 So that's Mount Suribachi. 00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:17.734 I was not on Mount Suribachi. 00:45:17.734 --> 00:45:20.133 I was on the other end of the island, 00:45:20.133 --> 00:45:22.934 and so I didn't see the flag go up, 00:45:22.934 --> 00:45:25.501 although I had a lot of buddies who did. 00:45:25.501 --> 00:45:28.801 They were in the unit that raised it, the 28th, 00:45:28.801 --> 00:45:31.367 but the 4th Division on the other end of the island, 00:45:31.367 --> 00:45:34.100 we were concerned with taking the first, 00:45:34.100 --> 00:45:37.901 and then we had two more airfields to take after that. 00:45:37.901 --> 00:45:40.701 And our end of the island, there was a great deal 00:45:40.701 --> 00:45:43.968 of the underground Japanese emplacements. 00:45:51.234 --> 00:45:53.667 -And then, what... You know, what were -- 00:45:53.667 --> 00:45:55.601 What were some of the thoughts going through your head? 00:45:55.601 --> 00:45:57.100 A lot of students were wondering if you were scared or... 00:45:57.100 --> 00:45:58.634 -I get a lot of questions about that 00:45:58.634 --> 00:46:00.067 from the Washington Post, for example. 00:46:00.067 --> 00:46:01.367 -What was it like day to day? What you were thinking? 00:46:01.367 --> 00:46:04.834 -One of their questions to me not too long ago was 00:46:04.834 --> 00:46:08.133 was I afraid on Iwo Jima, 00:46:08.133 --> 00:46:13.067 and I pointed to them that I had joined the 4th Division 00:46:13.067 --> 00:46:14.601 about a month before we left 00:46:14.601 --> 00:46:17.634 for Iwo Jima, and so I was... 00:46:17.634 --> 00:46:20.300 The guys I was going into Iwo Jima with 00:46:20.300 --> 00:46:24.434 had already been in four battles, 4th Division. 00:46:24.434 --> 00:46:30.934 Iwo Jima was our fifth battle in World War II, so I was... 00:46:30.934 --> 00:46:33.334 Well, the main thing that went through my mind 00:46:33.334 --> 00:46:34.767 as we landed that morning, 00:46:34.767 --> 00:46:39.567 which was 70 years ago on the 19th. 00:46:39.567 --> 00:46:42.734 The main thing going through my mind was, 00:46:42.734 --> 00:46:45.300 I was afraid, but not in the way you think. 00:46:45.300 --> 00:46:48.334 I was afraid that I was going to do something stupid. 00:46:48.334 --> 00:46:52.267 All of them had already been in combat. I never had been. 00:46:52.267 --> 00:46:55.601 So that was my thought for the first few days on Iwo Jima -- 00:46:55.601 --> 00:46:58.267 "Don't do something I'm not supposed to." 00:46:58.267 --> 00:47:02.701 Because all the other guys were old vets, 00:47:02.701 --> 00:47:06.534 and they gave me a lot of good help, by the way. 00:47:12.100 --> 00:47:15.167 -Did you...Now, you said you were wounded three times, 00:47:15.167 --> 00:47:17.834 but weren't you the only 00:47:17.834 --> 00:47:21.133 one of your squad to make it off, you know... 00:47:21.133 --> 00:47:22.267 -On the last day that I was on... 00:47:22.267 --> 00:47:23.601 -...still walking off Iwo Jima, correct? 00:47:23.601 --> 00:47:25.267 -...Iwo Jima, which was the 28th day of the battle, 00:47:25.267 --> 00:47:28.801 that was the last day that my unit was there, 00:47:28.801 --> 00:47:33.767 so I had to leave whether I was well or not. 00:47:33.767 --> 00:47:37.334 I had had three wounds, but none of them were sufficient 00:47:37.334 --> 00:47:40.934 to put me off the island if I didn't want to be. 00:47:40.934 --> 00:47:44.634 So on that last day, there were 36 gentlemen, 00:47:44.634 --> 00:47:47.634 36 men in my platoon. 00:47:47.634 --> 00:47:51.000 That's how many men there are in a Marine platoon, 00:47:51.000 --> 00:47:53.567 but there was only one there that day as we got aboard 00:47:53.567 --> 00:47:55.634 a ship heading back to Maui, 00:47:55.634 --> 00:47:57.434 and that was me. 00:47:57.434 --> 00:48:01.534 So we got off... We got on the ship, 00:48:01.534 --> 00:48:07.934 and I was bandaged up somewhat, but I made it back to Maui, 00:48:07.934 --> 00:48:10.434 and I can show you a picture 00:48:10.434 --> 00:48:15.033 if it would mean anything to your viewers. 00:48:15.033 --> 00:48:18.501 This is me about a week after we got back to Maui. 00:48:18.501 --> 00:48:19.901 Can you see it? 00:48:19.901 --> 00:48:23.334 -If you hold it up a little higher, closer to your face. 00:48:23.334 --> 00:48:24.968 -That's what I looked like when I was 19... 00:48:24.968 --> 00:48:26.968 -Yeah, there we go. 00:48:26.968 --> 00:48:29.634 ...about a week after we got back to Maui. 00:48:33.901 --> 00:48:37.200 -Wow, and were you recovering from your wounds 00:48:37.200 --> 00:48:38.934 then in Maui, and, you know, for the... 00:48:38.934 --> 00:48:40.133 What happened through the rest of the war? 00:48:40.133 --> 00:48:42.834 Were you ever, you know, you know, 00:48:42.834 --> 00:48:44.534 assigned to any other battle or given other... 00:48:44.534 --> 00:48:45.734 -Well, we were getting ready to invade Japan. 00:48:45.734 --> 00:48:47.801 -...assignments or... before the war ended? 00:48:47.801 --> 00:48:52.300 -And so we were getting... They built a mock village, 00:48:52.300 --> 00:48:56.634 a mock Japanese village there on the island of Maui, 00:48:56.634 --> 00:49:00.434 and we practiced getting ready to hit Japan, 00:49:00.434 --> 00:49:07.801 which we never had to do because the war ended in August of 1945. 00:49:07.801 --> 00:49:11.334 And I came home, and eventually, I went to college 00:49:11.334 --> 00:49:13.701 and all that stuff later. 00:49:18.667 --> 00:49:20.734 -Some students in the audience were wondering, 00:49:20.734 --> 00:49:21.901 you know, how... 00:49:21.901 --> 00:49:23.834 You know, I'm sure you saw, you know, 00:49:23.834 --> 00:49:26.901 many terrible things on Iwo Jima. 00:49:26.901 --> 00:49:28.901 You know, we talked about the battle being, you know, 00:49:28.901 --> 00:49:31.400 at such close-range combat. 00:49:31.400 --> 00:49:33.534 How did you deal with those things when you, you know, 00:49:33.534 --> 00:49:35.634 either on the island or returning home? 00:49:35.634 --> 00:49:37.767 You know, were those difficult things to get through... 00:49:37.767 --> 00:49:39.133 -The first night on Iwo Jima was... 00:49:39.133 --> 00:49:40.300 -...when you were back here in the States? 00:49:40.300 --> 00:49:41.601 -...the worst for me 00:49:41.601 --> 00:49:46.501 in terms of face-to-face combat with the Japanese. 00:49:46.501 --> 00:49:50.767 We landed on the island, and our job was to get down 00:49:50.767 --> 00:49:55.801 to where the 4th Division 00:49:55.801 --> 00:49:59.133 had a 3rd Battalion of the 25th 00:49:59.133 --> 00:50:01.534 had been almost cut to pieces. 00:50:01.534 --> 00:50:05.801 They had started out the battle with 900 men on the morning 00:50:05.801 --> 00:50:07.300 that we landed, 00:50:07.300 --> 00:50:12.133 and by the afternoon, they were down to 150 survivors. 00:50:12.133 --> 00:50:15.267 They lost 750 men, mostly killed. 00:50:15.267 --> 00:50:18.501 So they got on the radio, and they said, "We need help," 00:50:18.501 --> 00:50:23.234 and my unit was a division reserve for the 4th Division. 00:50:23.234 --> 00:50:27.200 They put us on several different vessels. 00:50:27.200 --> 00:50:29.634 We didn't have access to Higgins boats. 00:50:29.634 --> 00:50:33.133 We had to come in on what was called on LSM, 00:50:33.133 --> 00:50:35.200 carried five tanks, 00:50:35.200 --> 00:50:40.367 and they had already unloaded their tanks on the beach. 00:50:40.367 --> 00:50:41.701 So they got us in, 00:50:41.701 --> 00:50:44.467 but they couldn't get us in at the right place 00:50:44.467 --> 00:50:48.767 because it was a total disaster on D-Day on Iwo Jima. 00:50:48.767 --> 00:50:51.667 So they had to land us on the complete left flank 00:50:51.667 --> 00:50:53.834 right near the volcano, 00:50:53.834 --> 00:50:57.334 and then my unit had to walk almost a mile 00:50:57.334 --> 00:50:58.701 until we got all the way down 00:50:58.701 --> 00:51:00.734 to where we were supposed to be 00:51:00.734 --> 00:51:03.667 on the complete other end of the beach. 00:51:03.667 --> 00:51:08.234 And as we were walking along, we were trying to hold on 00:51:08.234 --> 00:51:11.267 to the other four men in our fire team, 00:51:11.267 --> 00:51:14.534 and we managed to get down there, 00:51:14.534 --> 00:51:17.734 and we found that the Japanese were coming up 00:51:17.734 --> 00:51:20.434 trying to retake that end of the beach 00:51:20.434 --> 00:51:23.667 because they wanted to be able to fire 00:51:23.667 --> 00:51:26.133 from both ends of the beach down the beach, 00:51:26.133 --> 00:51:32.234 which they called their death trap. 00:51:32.234 --> 00:51:34.667 And so they were coming up from underground, 00:51:34.667 --> 00:51:39.701 and they had usually, they would have a sword, 00:51:39.701 --> 00:51:42.534 or they would have some kind of a bayonet, 00:51:42.534 --> 00:51:46.567 and you could see in their faces there in the flickering of light 00:51:46.567 --> 00:51:48.868 from whatever light source was coming up there 00:51:48.868 --> 00:51:51.801 that they were anticipating a little battle, 00:51:51.801 --> 00:51:56.300 a little fight with the stupid Marines with a sword fight. 00:51:56.300 --> 00:51:59.868 Well, we had bayonets, but we had no intention 00:51:59.868 --> 00:52:03.133 of working on fighting them on their terms. 00:52:03.133 --> 00:52:04.734 So we would do two things. 00:52:04.734 --> 00:52:08.200 First, we would parry and knock their sword away 00:52:08.200 --> 00:52:09.767 if they got that close. 00:52:09.767 --> 00:52:12.701 The second thing is we would shoot, 00:52:12.701 --> 00:52:17.367 and so I could see in a lot of faces, the Japanese, 00:52:17.367 --> 00:52:21.334 as they died from my having just shot them, 00:52:21.334 --> 00:52:23.801 you can see the contempt that were in their eyes. 00:52:23.801 --> 00:52:27.367 "This stupid Marine didn't even know how to play the game." 00:52:27.367 --> 00:52:29.968 I wasn't interested in playing their game, 00:52:29.968 --> 00:52:32.067 and that went on the first night. 00:52:32.067 --> 00:52:34.501 The next morning, the Navy brought in a great, 00:52:34.501 --> 00:52:37.467 big battleship, the New Jersey, 00:52:37.467 --> 00:52:40.567 and they forced the Japanese 00:52:40.567 --> 00:52:43.267 to get back in their underground tunnels, 00:52:43.267 --> 00:52:48.167 and we started getting organized on the beach, 00:52:48.167 --> 00:52:51.133 but we were on the other end away from the flag. 00:52:56.767 --> 00:53:00.200 A couple of students in the audience were wondering, 00:53:00.200 --> 00:53:03.234 you know, did you have any good friends on, you know, Iwo Jima, 00:53:03.234 --> 00:53:06.901 you know, from your squad, you know, and did some... 00:53:06.901 --> 00:53:08.734 -One of my best friends on the island... 00:53:08.734 --> 00:53:10.133 -...of maybe get potentially killed? 00:53:10.133 --> 00:53:12.133 -...I don't remember how I got to know him, 00:53:12.133 --> 00:53:17.267 was the division mail sergeant, and he was from Pennsylvania. 00:53:17.267 --> 00:53:20.834 His last name was Ahlin. 00:53:20.834 --> 00:53:23.667 I lost track of him after the war, 00:53:23.667 --> 00:53:27.100 but he was a real energetic candidate. 00:53:27.100 --> 00:53:28.567 He was a sergeant. 00:53:28.567 --> 00:53:31.701 I was just a Private first class at that point, 00:53:31.701 --> 00:53:36.901 but he managed to get a mail tent up and going, 00:53:36.901 --> 00:53:40.400 and we have a picture of that mail tent at the museum, 00:53:40.400 --> 00:53:42.400 and in the back, in the shadow underneath, 00:53:42.400 --> 00:53:45.467 you can see a shadowy black figure up under there, 00:53:45.467 --> 00:53:49.767 and that's me because I helped him get the tent going up, 00:53:49.767 --> 00:53:54.033 and he got the tent up and was the only one who got a tent. 00:53:54.033 --> 00:53:56.701 We were the only division to get a tent going, 00:53:56.701 --> 00:53:58.701 and so we handled the mail 00:53:58.701 --> 00:54:01.801 for all the other two divisions on Iwo Jima 00:54:01.801 --> 00:54:05.834 and the other units that came in there for the whole battle. 00:54:05.834 --> 00:54:12.100 So the 4th Division did get a mail tent going. 00:54:12.100 --> 00:54:14.434 I was a part of that, but my job then... 00:54:14.434 --> 00:54:15.767 -And you were part of that. 00:54:15.767 --> 00:54:19.200 -...began to be more and more to go out on patrols. 00:54:19.200 --> 00:54:21.701 I went out on patrols almost every day 00:54:21.701 --> 00:54:26.267 for the next 28 days I was on the island. 00:54:26.267 --> 00:54:30.400 -Wow. 00:54:30.400 --> 00:54:32.501 Now, returning home, 00:54:32.501 --> 00:54:36.601 since we're getting a little close to the end of time today, 00:54:36.601 --> 00:54:38.067 do you... 00:54:38.067 --> 00:54:40.734 I was reading that article about you in the paper 00:54:40.734 --> 00:54:43.467 about composing music again 00:54:43.467 --> 00:54:46.000 and then playing and having those pieces played 00:54:46.000 --> 00:54:48.133 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps 00:54:48.133 --> 00:54:51.567 and those pieces being a tribute to, 00:54:51.567 --> 00:54:54.634 you know, your fellow soldiers who were, 00:54:54.634 --> 00:54:56.033 you know, injured or killed on Iwo Jima. 00:54:56.033 --> 00:54:57.167 -Sure. The... 00:54:57.167 --> 00:54:58.434 -Can you talk a little bit more about that? 00:54:58.434 --> 00:55:00.100 -A lot of Marines had their little habits, 00:55:00.100 --> 00:55:02.067 their little hobbies that they did. 00:55:02.067 --> 00:55:06.267 A lot of them wrote articles and kept notes about what they did. 00:55:06.267 --> 00:55:08.501 Sometimes you were not supposed to, 00:55:08.501 --> 00:55:10.868 but a lot of people drew pictures. 00:55:10.868 --> 00:55:15.434 A lot of Marines were artists, and they drew pictures of things 00:55:15.434 --> 00:55:18.501 that they saw wherever they were. 00:55:18.501 --> 00:55:20.968 I had my own little hobby because I was... 00:55:20.968 --> 00:55:23.534 I had grown up in South Carolina. 00:55:23.534 --> 00:55:25.534 My father was a minister. 00:55:25.534 --> 00:55:27.534 I had learned to play piano and organ, 00:55:27.534 --> 00:55:29.601 so when I went into the Marine Corps, 00:55:29.601 --> 00:55:31.701 the Chaplins discovered this, 00:55:31.701 --> 00:55:34.701 and they started using me to play the organ 00:55:34.701 --> 00:55:36.834 for a lot of the church services, 00:55:36.834 --> 00:55:38.534 which at first was a little bad. 00:55:38.534 --> 00:55:41.100 The other Marines would laugh at me 00:55:41.100 --> 00:55:43.901 because of the fact that I was going 00:55:43.901 --> 00:55:47.434 and playing for church services while they would be out. 00:55:47.434 --> 00:55:49.801 They'd be having a beer somewhere, 00:55:49.801 --> 00:55:52.000 and I found out real soon, though, 00:55:52.000 --> 00:55:56.767 when we got to Hawaii, and especially after Iwo Jima, 00:55:56.767 --> 00:56:00.167 that I went to some of the churches, 00:56:00.167 --> 00:56:04.067 and you would run into a lot more pretty girls there 00:56:04.067 --> 00:56:06.467 than you would at some beer parlor. 00:56:06.467 --> 00:56:10.701 So I got used to the idea that it wasn't such a bad thing, 00:56:10.701 --> 00:56:15.667 but anyway, that's what I did as a part of my part-time... 00:56:15.667 --> 00:56:19.868 I wrote a lot of little music pieces, and then over the years, 00:56:19.868 --> 00:56:23.400 as I finished college and majored in music, 00:56:23.400 --> 00:56:27.300 and I have several degrees and taught music at college level, 00:56:27.300 --> 00:56:31.033 that the music I wrote, I have... 00:56:31.033 --> 00:56:32.300 It's my personal thing, 00:56:32.300 --> 00:56:35.501 but I have a lot of music that I orchestrated, 00:56:35.501 --> 00:56:38.267 and some of it has been performed, 00:56:38.267 --> 00:56:39.834 but I've never pushed it. 00:56:39.834 --> 00:56:43.367 So that was my hobby, and sometimes now 00:56:43.367 --> 00:56:46.300 there are some organizations 00:56:46.300 --> 00:56:50.934 who are getting ready and have done some of my music recently. 00:56:50.934 --> 00:56:52.634 Well, if they find this interesting, 00:56:52.634 --> 00:56:55.901 but realize, please, that it's my own interest, 00:56:55.901 --> 00:56:59.033 and I'm not trying to push my music. 00:56:59.033 --> 00:57:00.367 [ Chuckles ] 00:57:04.033 --> 00:57:06.334 -Well, thank you, and I guess... 00:57:06.334 --> 00:57:09.267 I think we are at our at least 1:00 Central Time, 00:57:09.267 --> 00:57:11.033 2:00 your time, Eastern, 00:57:11.033 --> 00:57:12.567 and I don't want to keep students 00:57:12.567 --> 00:57:14.801 and teachers any longer if they're on a schedule. 00:57:14.801 --> 00:57:17.601 So, Mr. Matthews, 00:57:17.601 --> 00:57:19.067 thank you so much... -Thank you. 00:57:19.067 --> 00:57:20.400 I've enjoyed it very much. -...for being with us today 00:57:20.400 --> 00:57:22.367 and sharing some of your story. 00:57:24.767 --> 00:57:26.400 We have as well, and, Jim, 00:57:26.400 --> 00:57:29.300 thank you, as well, for your insight 00:57:29.300 --> 00:57:31.601 on the flag raisings, today. 00:57:35.067 --> 00:57:36.667 You guys stay warm up there, 00:57:36.667 --> 00:57:39.167 and I'm going to actually close out the program today. 00:57:39.167 --> 00:57:41.367 I'm going to move into a different area. 00:57:41.367 --> 00:57:45.067 You're going to see the room change one more time, 00:57:45.067 --> 00:57:46.734 and I want to close out today 00:57:46.734 --> 00:57:49.934 with telling you all about our essay contest. 00:57:49.934 --> 00:57:54.601 We have an annual essay contest here at the museum every year. 00:57:54.601 --> 00:57:57.067 This year, it is about Iwo Jima 00:57:57.067 --> 00:57:59.200 and this idea of what makes a hero 00:57:59.200 --> 00:58:03.234 based on this flag raising and based on some famous words 00:58:03.234 --> 00:58:05.601 by one of the flag raisers, Ira Hayes. 00:58:05.601 --> 00:58:07.934 Now, he said, "How could I feel like a hero 00:58:07.934 --> 00:58:11.300 when only five men in my platoon of 45 survived, 00:58:11.300 --> 00:58:14.267 when only 27 men in my company of 250 00:58:14.267 --> 00:58:17.400 managed to escape injury or death on Iwo Jima?" 00:58:17.400 --> 00:58:20.234 And we want you all to respond to that question, you know, 00:58:20.234 --> 00:58:21.634 "What makes a hero?" 00:58:21.634 --> 00:58:25.267 You can find more information about that essay contest 00:58:25.267 --> 00:58:27.667 at the link that you see there. 00:58:27.667 --> 00:58:30.868 I also want to tell teachers, you can see your WebLinks. 00:58:30.868 --> 00:58:32.901 So some of you might have not received teacher guide, 00:58:32.901 --> 00:58:35.434 especially if you registered just today. 00:58:35.434 --> 00:58:37.868 So you can find all of our educational resources 00:58:37.868 --> 00:58:43.067 and, of course, everything that we have to offer on Iwo Jima 00:58:43.067 --> 00:58:45.567 and, of course, a link to our wonderful special guest 00:58:45.567 --> 00:58:48.234 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. 00:58:48.234 --> 00:58:49.601 What I want to close out with today 00:58:49.601 --> 00:58:52.767 is actually one more poll for you students out there, 00:58:52.767 --> 00:58:54.367 and then we're going to end it for today. 00:58:54.367 --> 00:58:56.601 I'm going to drag it right in from this Q&A area 00:58:56.601 --> 00:58:58.334 so you guys can see it, 00:58:58.334 --> 00:59:01.467 and it's a very famous quote by Chester Nimitz, 00:59:01.467 --> 00:59:04.601 and he said this, what you see on screen. 00:59:04.601 --> 00:59:05.901 What do you think this quote means? 00:59:05.901 --> 00:59:07.667 "Of the Marines on Iwo Jima, 00:59:07.667 --> 00:59:10.634 uncommon valor was a common virtue." 00:59:10.634 --> 00:59:13.167 I want you guys to think about that as a class and respond 00:59:13.167 --> 00:59:14.968 to what you think that means. 00:59:14.968 --> 00:59:17.701 You know, that's one of the most famous quotes from, you know... 00:59:17.701 --> 00:59:19.100 There's a lot of famous quotes from World War II, 00:59:19.100 --> 00:59:20.634 but that's one of them up there, 00:59:20.634 --> 00:59:25.033 and I want you to brainstorm about it as a class 00:59:25.033 --> 00:59:27.367 and, you know, what we've learned today. 00:59:27.367 --> 00:59:32.501 But from Chrissy here at the National World War II Museum 00:59:32.501 --> 00:59:33.334 and thanking...