Up. Marines around me raised up, jumped up and starting firing weapons into the air, screaming and yelling and that kind of stuff. I really thought everybody lost their mind for a second. I couldnt figure out what was going on. Then i caught on what was going on, because they were looking and then i looked and theres old glory. I jumped up and started doing the same dumb thing, firing my weapon and jumping and screaming. Im carrying a weapon. I jumped up and started yelling and screaming like everybody else. I wondered how many marines we lost when we saw old glory up on top. It changed the attitude of the whole thing. It absolutely did something to us. From the exhibit space inside the National Museum of the marine corps, were joined by edward nebgloski and owen connor. Mr. Connor, on this eve of the 75th anniversary, explain why there are historic flags in that hallway that you are sitting in right now. Well, we wanted to take the opportunity to make sure the folks had the chance to see both the flags that were lifted. Its not something we generally do all the time, due to gallery considerations. Since its the anniversary, 75th in particular, we wanted to make the effort to give people this opportunity to see them. As we talked at the museum, both flags are important to the marine corps. As a historian, i talk the first flag is the most important flag for the veterans themselves who were actually at the battle. The second flag is americas first major media sensation. Its an iconic moment. When you have both flags out, theres two stories we can tell. That first flag, a smaller flag, explain how it went up and when the change happened and how if a into the battle did this all take place . It was shortly after the marines had landed on the 19th of february. They immediately, a threepronged attack through the island. They sent a patrol, a lieutenant and his men went to the top. When they reached the summit, they wanted to let everyone know this had cleared and they planted the first flag on the island. This flag was a smaller flag. It wasnt large enough to be seen. Marines immediately decided to put a larger flag up so they could see it. Theres iconic stories we heard about the moment they saw the flag go up. Ships were honking cons. Marines said they were busy trying not to be killed and k e their heads down. We heard a story from Woody Williams in the leadin to this segment. How much longer did the fighting go on after the flag was raised . Why did this moment become the moment that symbolizes the marine corps so much so that its the moment thats represented in the marine corps statue in arlington, virginia . The battle will go on, rage on for another month. That will entail hundreds, thousands of casualties. The flag raising at the outset of the battle its at a time where the marine corps is taking a significant number of casualties about on par of what the estimates had dictated. But there was also a sense of morale and continuing to press. And the flag raising represents that. For the marines that did see the flag raised, for the sailors at sea, it was symbolic in that the fight has just begun. Its going to continue together as a team, as a nation. This island can be seized. Unceremoniously in some ways became almost a calling charge, if you will. It was something that motivated the marines and continues to resonate in their minds as they pushed on for another month. Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of the start of the battle. The landings beginning february 19th of 1945 lasting 36 days, 26,000 american casualties, including nearly 7,000 dead. Of the 20 thousand japanese defenders, over 1,100 survived the battle. 27 medals of honor awarded for actions taking place during the battle. Thats our topic as we focus on the National Museum of marine corps this morning. This stop of our museum tour as we focus on the battle asking viewers to call in as well. On special phone lines split up regionally. If you are in the eastern or central time zone, 2027488000. A special line for marines and marine family members, 2027488002. You can go ahead and call in now as we show you some of the scenery of the museum. Owen connor is one of the gallery curators at that museum. Can you explain how the raising of the flag is incorporated into the dna of the museum you are sitting in . The second flag when they snap the image, the talk i do for the museum, i emphasize, its this iconic media moment. Early in the war we would send correspondents to the pacific. It could take weeks, months for things to get back. When it comes from the flag photo being taken, its literally from the battlefield to the front pages of america in about two days. Its really kind of an iconic moment, almost a viral moment. Its engrained in the museum, from the architecture you see and from the way its traveled through time, i say that it takes on bigger meaning even than within the marine corps. It symbolizes victory in world war ii. It came at the right time. Tanks were rolling across germany. Allies are winning in europe. Theres this image that comes that Shows Americans united in victory and all pulling together in this effort. Its engrained in everything the marine corps does. That moment captures the spirit of our country, it captured the marine corps mentality of the war. Its a beautiful artistic image that rises above the moment. There were some 110,000 americans who participated in the battle. How many of those were aremarin . The estimates are in the range of between 70,000 and 80,000. Now thats the initial landing and then, of course, post dday landings and reinforcements later. Typically, we look at roughly 74 to 75,000 marines will touch the ground. That includes the Navy Corpsmen with them. U. S. Army soldiers that were supporting us. What was the strategic importance of the battle . Considering the losses that we talked about already, could the island have been bypassed in the larger war effort . Thats a good question. The importance is you have to understand the larger picture. When you think of the campaign in the pacific with the marines and the navy and then the United States, the allies, its all about logistics. Its about getting enough combat power. What i mean by combat power is your forces, your equipment, your fire power, your beans,ban will. The pacific is a large theater. You have to build up enough combat power for the ultimate objective, which is japan. The capitulation of Japanese Forces. In order do that, the allies are going to have to make a slow, methodical approach seizing key strategic islands along the way. We have to pick and choose those islands based on what they present to us. Do they have ports where ships can anchor and offload . Do they have preconstructed facilities that the marines could just move in and take over, air fields, for example . As we get closer to mainland japan, ee withits the fortress going to stop aircraft from delivering. If we can seize it, we can save, we believe lund hundreds of ths of lives and hundreds of aircraft. The key is to think of it logistically and then what it represents to our ability to seize the mainland. Considering the force brought by the americans when they landed there, what was the japanese goal . Did they think they could win that fight . The Japanese Forces believed early on when they started to develop defenses that there was a chance that they could delay us and potentially defeat us. As the war lingers on, the belief is that the japanese probably wont have the industrial power, the industrial might to hold us off. So it goes from a defense and delay to an attritionstyle defense. The defenses are built 28 years earlier. They continue to be improved with each passing year. By time the leader of the Japanese Force gets there, he essentially knows that this is the last stand. Japans not going to be able to hold out. So the idea is to kill as Many Americans as he can with the potential to delay but knowing in the end thats going to be his final resting place. Live from the National Museum of the marine corps, were joined by edward nebgloski, owen connor, taking your phone calls. We do have the special line for marines and family members 2027488002 is that number. Calling from arlington, virginia, the home of that marine corps memorial, jessica, good morning. Caller good morning. Thanks for taking my call. I just wanted to say that i so much appreciate the work of the marine corps in trying to educate the public about the war in the pacific. I dont think the public is aware of the war in the pacific as much as the other areas that saw battle throughout the world. So im very appreciative of that. And will be thinking of the people that sacrificed their lives this week while the acknowledgement is being recognized. My dad was in the pacific as a marine scout bomber. He survived. All that said, thank you so much. Good luck. As we noted, the 75th anniversary of the beginnings of the landings begin tomorrow. Mr. Connor, whats going to be happening at the museum there throughout these days, the 75th anniversary . Were excited. The 22nd and 23rd were going to be showing large numbers of artifacts from the battle highlighting what we have collected since we opened in 2006. From my own personal collection that i curate here, were highlighting particularly the valor medals and sacrifice of personal stories of the marines involved. One of the things that i have noticed as we have collected here, we try to document the stories of each individual as much as the battle itself. Theres a trend that evolves in world war ii with the marine corps, particularly by wars end, you start realizing were running out of men to fight these battles. The number of medals we haves, you start seeing you trend where they are 17yearold enlistees, 18, 19yearold or later marines drafted who are family men in their 30s. By far the number of casualties you see reflected in the medals that we will display, you reflect this and the human toll. I think with this greatest generation and world war ii, we are so focused on americans pride and what we accomplished. But we have to understand that these are real people and they are marines that all gave up something, lost on this battle that sort of theres a human toll to it. We had our limits as a country. This is something you want to highlight those individual stories and faces this weekend. One of the people, one of the individuals our viewers saw from one of the cases in your exhibit space was the medal of honor and the navy cross of john bazalone. John is a renowned marine. Any u. S. Marine, especially those who have touched a machine gun, knows about john from the time you enter the marine corps until your last breath. John will receive the medal of honor as a machine gun squad leader during the battle for guadal canal. He will go back as part of the bond drive and later on while he is an instructor teaching future machine gunners, he will return to the pacific theater. He will land and he will be killed and awarded the navy cross. Whats interesting is a lot of the marines he trained in Camp Pendleton, california, before coming back to the pacific were the marines that he was killed with. Months later. We mentioned before that some 27 medals of honor were given out for actions. How many of the individuals who received those 27 medals made it off that island alive . 13 were killed. Do the math. Historians historians, math isnt our strong suit. 13 or 14 were posthumous awards. 27 just for one battle alone sort of speaks to the volume we are speaking the savagery of the conflict, 24 commanders, 14 were wounded or killed. Its the truth. One of the commanders, Lieutenant Colonel chambers will receive the medal of honor, one of the more popular stories. The medal of honor consumes 80 of the medals of honor that will be received by the marine corps during the war. When you consider those staggering numbers, aside from the casualties, its amazing the ferocity of the fight and just the absolute heroism. These are the stories that we know about. The stories that we dont know, the things that happened that remain between those marines, the eyewitnesses, theres probably 27 more medals of honor that we just dont know about. Staying on that line for marines and family members, this is john out of north carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. I wanted to thank you all for having us on today. Very special for us and our family. We were a five star family in world war ii. We had navy and marines. My grandfather was wounded by sniper, day five. Luckily survived. I just want to say thank you from multiple generation marines that we really appreciate it. Thank you for the the call. Thank you and your family. Where does the fivestar family mean . Fivestar family, you got family members in theater, participating in the conflict. Five family members that were there. Then, of course, the gold star if one of those family members is killed. So, to see a flag in a window which is what most americans did at the time, a small flag that would be displayed in the window of their house, and for each Service Member that was deployed in theater participating in the war there was a star. So thats a significant contribution from that family. John is on that line for marines and family members from illinois. Good morning. Caller hi. This is john. My dad was on iwo jima. I was a marine in vietnam. Going the through Old Newspaper articles that my mom saved, my dad has been dead for 40 years, im going through newspaper articles and heres an article that my mom saved from 194445 i guess its 45. Its an article that says my dad got the purple heart on iwo jima. Within that article it also mentions a fellow from another neighborhood of chicago, the neighborhood of beverly, and its a fellow named mccarthy. Im almost certain hes mccarthy. He got the medal of honor. Old newspaper article. Can you recall a fellow named mccarthy getting the medal of honor on iwo jima and every jar head out there, go visit that museum in quantico. I was there for the dedication and its such a gorgeous place. All you jar heads got to go see it. Hey God Bless America today and hoorah for jar heads. Thank you to you, sir. Okay. Right off the bat there is mccarthy receives a medal of honor. Im not sure if its this particular one but ill certainly look into it. There are and i really appreciate the fact that the gentleman calls bes krch erme s. Ill look into that. I dont have it offhand. Owen connear is the world war ii gallery curator at the National Museum of marine corps joining us this morning in the special edition of the washington journal brought to you by the washington journal American History tv as we explore d. C. Museums and the american story. Mr. Connmr. Coner coming back t you, i want to talk about a picture of some glasses and pens and a brush that are in a case there. Can you tell the story specifically on those glasses . Yeah. Well, as a curator were always collecting personal stories and objects that marines gathered that sort of meant something to them in the battle but gives us the opportunity to talk about the marine themselves and sort of the characters and one of the characters that i was a donor to the museum in 2006 was william odom, better known to his friends as wild bill from boganville. He enlisted at 19. Previously wounded in the battle of saipan. When he fought in the battle of iwo jima he gathered artifacts that meant to him and some of these were japanese personal effects. But even at the worst and darkest of times marine could find a dark humor in the event. Bill would talk about, told me the story about with his glasses, they labelled them toe joes glasses. When narns were pinned down in the action he and a few of their friend entertained themselves waving the glasses over the berm the at the japanese snipers that were taking fire at them. As he related the story, by the end of the day they spent most of the day pinned down. A young soirn called up to their position and looking for some heroism and he decided he could take out the japanese sniper. But bill and his friends putold the young marine not to fire. They shot the sniper just going replace him with something that could hit something. So the marines were thankful they had toe joes glasses and could keep them alive for the day just a little bit longer. That was a wonderful story. How much of your collection comes from donated items and is it something that continues to grow, especially now as were getting to a time where were losing so many world war ii veterans. Absolutely. Thats thing that means so much to me as a curator for the 75th anniversary. People see this Wonderful Museum and expect that the marine corps has always been collecting these things. But really we opened in 2006, and this has made such a wonderful, given such a wonderful the opportunity to add to our collection. The stories that individuals can relay and sort of bring in naturally through our doors, the vast majority of our donations come directly from the families. Sadly, you know, until recently the veterans themselves would bring the objects in and thats the thing thats so powerful to be able to speak to that marine and their families for them to share the photos of him, his accomplishments in the war, the war stories. I talk to people when they donate. Its an opportunity to build a time capsule to their loved ones, the marine history is not lost and our museum serves that purpose in allowing that to be documented and saved for future generations. The two flags behind you, were they ever in private collection or private hands . No. Thankfully one of the most, you know, important artifacts of course in the museum is the iwo jima artifacts. The marine corps recognized quickly these were above above average importance and despite the occasional phone call or donor mail claiming that third relative may have obtained the real one or something along those lines we know for a fact the marine corps had possession of these. Some of the earliest correspondence showed these marine flags were sent to quantico as early as april of 1945. So it was quickly recognized that these flags were of vital importance. They sent three flags back to headquarters, Quantico Marine corps base and basically its the first flag, the second flag and the third flag that flew over the Division Cemetery at the time. Very important artifacts. Taking your phone calls as we come up on 9 30 on the east coast. Special phone lines in this segment. Marines and family members. Otherwise split up regionally. From aberdeen, south dakota this is jim. Caller how are you doing, guys . Doing well, jim. Go ahead. Good morning. Caller good morning. I just want to say you guys are studs. I really love you. I think youre great. Ive had a number of uncles that fought in the korean war, world war ii. A number of things. I dont have a whole throat say because im kind of emotional, and i just respect this country so much. I just think its the best, the best country in the world in history. And god i love you guys. The thing is though i wanted to say was, well i just lost my uncle last week. I never had a chance to fight but i will fight for this country, i would fight for this country. Thanks for sharing your story and sorry for your loss. Talking about people getting emotional, i wonder what the scene is there, especially in front of the flag, the iwo jima flags. Is that something that happens as you watch people go through that exhibit . Yeah. Absolutely. Our museums, its entertaining. Theres a lot of things in the museum that are designed to captivate peoples minds and imagination but always inspires me when people come to the world war ii gallery, you know, a somber reverence when you realize what youre looking at. The callers comments about being an american its the unifying aspect between the photo and seeing the flag. It hits people hard. Another aspect of the gallery over your shoulder if youre looking at the unified, we have an exhibit that basically has an insignia for each corpsman and marine killed in the battle. It looks at the savagery of the battle. When you can put your hand on these ornaments and really it was a life lost in the battle sort of unifying to us all as americans, its really important thing. But im glad people do have that reverence for the flag and the rosenthal image is symbolic of us all as americans and not just the marine story. This is sandy on that line for marines and family members. Go ahead. Caller yes. I was concerned about the appointment of the marines. My father went out in 1942 to the south pacific. You know, as a marine. Were there many all over in iwo jima accounted for . Yeah. Absolutely. Go ahead. You know, not to cut off, absolutely. Africanamerican marines, they were represented on iwo jima. Their initial duties came ashore in the later waves. They proid a lot of logistical support. Helped to bring casualties back. Brought water and food and ammunition up to the front lines. Over time, though even the africanamerican marines would find themselves thrust into the front in fight right alongside their white hispanic brothers. Obviously, the marines were represented and represented well during the 36 day battle. There if i could say briefly, they are a very important part of the museum story for our world war ii gallery. We really enhanced certain aspects to tell the story but iwo jima is the culmination of their history where they are initially assigned to defense roles, not given the full support necessarily of our country, but as the war progressed they were assigned to these ammunition and Depot Companies and they were not intend to be front line troops. And they were bloodied in this battle which is the most iconic. In the war its amazing, certainly a story we do document throughout the gallery and their journey throughout world war ii and became accepted as old marines and americans. Really important story. Ill add to that, that the marine is going to tell you, especially the marine thats under fire, that there are no politics, there is no social agenda. None of that when the shooting starts. It doesnt matter who the person is to your left and right. And what their skin color is. That will be ingrained in a lot of marines minds from that point forward. Iwo jima is like that stepping stone. From there the integration of africanamerican marines into all white units, it will take its roots there in iwo jima. And i think that is a significant part of the american story and the american experience. Monty in california, this is david on that line for marines and family members. Caller good morning. I served in the marine. My wife served for one week at Camp Pendleton with educators. We had the honor of having dinner with William Williams the congressional medal of honor winner. My god hes like a young guy. My wife wrote up an awardwinning poem about William Williams. My grandmother served in world war i, ended up being stationed in germany. Woody williams was a great american. God bless him and our marine corps. Do you happen to be any of that poem your wife wrote about Woody Williams . Caller right now not. He starts out by saying hes a young guy and then part of it she says he served this country and never asked why. He did it because thats what everyone is supposed to do. Even if they risk their lives. Avenues young guy when he went over there. My god, we were sitting there. He the actually had the congressional medal of honor with him. He was the guest of honor. We didnt know that. When they called him over he said im not leaving this table yet im not ready, i served in iwo jima and i have the right to do what do i want. Hes a crusty guy but god bless him. If you could, we showed a brief clip of Woody Williams to start this segment. Can you tell us the rest of his story . His story as far as the citation, medal of honor . Please. So, you know, hes in a position as an nco, as a corporal at iwo jima where the last thing you want to do is get held up in a position under enemy fire. Once the enemy pins you down you have to be able to break the enemys momentum and sometimes it takes the actions of one individual marine. Being his position, his stature as a small unit leader he knows that pressure is on him. He has got to pick up and move forward, getting his marines out from underneath that enemy fire. And what hell do is make several very daring designates and charges at enemy positions. Machine gun positions. Machine gun positions that are encased in concrete that well call pill boxes. Hell do that with small arms, with a pistol and rifle, hell do it a flame lower the. At one point hes able to reach a pill box and stick the nuzzle of his weapon inside the pill box while its firing at him. He has machine guns at different angles, different positions that can support the one pill box that hes trying to destroy. His marines see that and they immediately think we cant allow, you know, woody to go out there by himself and on top much that hes our leader and setting the example. The follow me kind of idea that marine corps ncos represent. His charge is daring. Its across fire sweater rain thats also targeted by artillery and mortar fire. Of course, he doesnt have the ability to see 360. He cant see everything thats going on the his left and right. But he certainly can feel the enemy fire thats targeted on him. And absolute amazing, daring act that if there was anything greater than the medal of honor he certainly should be considered for it. Back to the phone calls. This is dan out of falling waters, west virginia. Good morning. Caller good morning. I would just like to also say that its a Wonderful Museum. Its close to Quantico Marine base, and ive been through quantico and in front of lejeune hall theres a plaque dedicated to general lejeune. Congress wanted to disband the marine corps after world war i, and general lejeune is credited with saving the marine corps so they could fight greater fights later. Thank you. Thats just a comment. Seems like a Perfect Moment for the marine corps history chief to jump in here. Theres probably at least a dozen times where the marine corps as a service, as an organization is looked at, as, you know, redundant on the american taxpayer. You know, for example, the marines are a small force. We are restricted primarily to ships and naval stations throughout the 1700s and 1800s. Well assist the army and expand lane campaigns, seize islands. Well do very small armylike tasks. Well augment the army. As we enter world war i the marine corps is already in the process of transitioning from being more or less an augment to the army an an augment to the navy to be in completely maritime and conducting advance base force operations, which will conduct in world war ii. World war i happens and marine corps finds itself ashore. You know, thousands of marines fighting almost as if it was a second land army. And that will happen throughout our history. And from the result is that, you know, politicians will question do we need a second land army . Is there another mission for the marine corps . And there are times after world war i, the most obvious was postworld war ii when all the Services Come together to decide essentially what the department of defense is going to look like and this is before the marines land at okinawa and theres determination between the army and navy that the marine corps will go away, it will be a soshed sosh ed absorbed by the other branches and well have a collection of senior decorated marines go before and walk the halls of congress, known as the Chowder Society that put the marine corp story out there for the sake of our survival. We will survive. Public law will be written marine corps will stay a separate branch and have its own mission and thats what we execute to this day. Theres a number of times when the marine corps is almost absorbed by the other branches. Focusing on the mission of iwo jima on the eve of the 75th anniversary at the beginning of the landing. Mr. Coner weve been highlighting some exhibits you have on display down there at the National Marine corps museum. One is a helmet with an incredible amount of damage to it. Can you tell us about that helmet . Yeah. The helmet is stark testimony of the is a avalancsavagery of the. It was worn by a 32yearold marine. He was a member of the 4th engineer battalion and was struck by enemy fire on first day of the battle. Thankfully, if you look at it, you would have concerns but thankfully he survived. He noted lacerations to his head but evacuated from the island shortly after his injuries, and he donated the helmet to us. His family donated the helmet to us. He lived to the ripe old age, until 1969 when he passed away of natural causes. Within our collection theres numerous helmets and artifacts like that, thats your testimony as to how awful the invasion was and those are the kind of things, mementos that you have fairly recently we took in the collection from a young marine who was wound in the battle and the still had his pocket contents in the uniform, his dungarees and still find his cigarettes and wrapper from the days when he was wounded. These are the kind of artifacts that we have here that sort of captures that moment in time and hopefully affect our view terrifies way it affect us us. Back to that line for marines and family members. Gary, good morning. Caller hello. Youre on. Caller good morning. Im a descendant ofvajo code talker. Their role was to secure the airfield and send out the code when the flag went up on mt. Suribachi with the 28 marines which is what is involved with ira hayes and the code went like this [ speaking Foreign Language ] that means mt. Suribachi and then when they say over and out it said rabbit run home. So they came in on red beach, the second wave, with the radios. So i wanted to tell you that. It might have some information there at your museum, your anniversary. Thank you. Larry, stay on the line for a second. Go ahead, sir. Yes. The navajo code talkers are native american brothers that were able through their dialect through their language provide the ability for us to pass information that could not be deciphered by the japanese intelligence. And what an asset it proved to be. In addition to that, the native americans were some of the most fierce fighters. They in many ways that whole native american philosophy of protecting your ground, standing your ground, fighting for the person to your left and right meshed so well with being a u. S. Marine corps. Hats off to code talkers and everything they brought to the fight. Go ahead, mr. Coner. The museum is he debuting enhancement in the next few months focused on navajo code talk ir. Its one much those undertold stories. Its become cliche to talk about their contributions in the sense that they did this word sub City Institution and things like that. But what our exhibit will concentrate is the code aspect of it, that its not just something that was sort of simple rudimentary things but a story. That has been undertold in the whole role of code talker narrative and something so wonderful to hear the caller speaking in navajo. And they are not literal translations of things, they are actually quite fascinating what they were doing from a cryptologyical standpoint. I was going to ask larry before you go, do you remember what the code word was for iwo jima and could you speak it . Caller i dont have the code right now. But i do have semper fi. How does it go. Caller it goes like this. [ speaking Foreign Language ] so larry thank you so much for calling in this morning. Appreciate that. Kevin is next out of clearwater, florida. Good morning. Caller good morning. My father was with the navy underwater demolition, you know, frogmen. And he was in on the invasion of iwo jima. He said they were clearing away for the marines, and he said it was so structural because the marines were right on our butt. He said but after we did our job we had to go in with them. When he to fight. This was an invasion. Not a mission. And he just said at the beginning, he said guys were in front of me, to the right and left we were being slaughtered. I didnt wonder if i was going to die, i just wondered when. It took so long to get to the top, so many days to the bunkers and he said when it was all over it was, he said for the most part it was a bunch of young guys laying on the beach dead, you know. So many young guys. And he said my men and i walked the beach. Not one soldier spoke of heroics, you know. And he said when he came back, you know, he said thats the reason why i never would hardly ever go to the beach with the family because when i would go to the beach iwo jima would all come back to me and i said oh, like its never really over . He said sometimes. Like the other man who was in on the battle of iwo jima. He said i have been in other battles but for me iwo jima was the worse because it was so narrow, and the enemy was right there, so close to us. That he said it was 46 days of sheer terror for me. You know. And he said at night japanese would sneaking up, it was so dark and try to kill some of our soldiers with knives and everything. Anyway, you know, so interesting to listen to your show because youre hearing a different perspective because not everybody went through the same experience at iwo jima. Had it so much worse, you know. But anyway, thank you, its been very interesting. Thank you. Thanks for sharing his story. What do you take from that . Well, you know, its interesting, the one of the techniques that the marines have as we come ashore at iwo jima is the estimation is that the marine corps will take casualties to 33 of the force. We actually almost reached that. 31 of the force is wounded or killed, destroyed, equipment destroyed. But as the initial wave goes ashore and casualties start to mount, each Landing Craft that comes in, the sailors and marines would throw crates of ammunition into the sand, just scattered about for, you know, they are not putting them in any particular location. They are just throwing them out so marines can when they gate chance come back, break the can open, get a resupply of ammunition and move back and try to get an inch further. In addition to throwing out cans ever ammunition, we start to throw out or the marines and sailors start to throw out ponchos. The confusion is what do we need these ponchos for initially . Marines start to recognize its to cover the dead that are littering the beach. Thats a somber thought. I can only imagine being a survivor of iwo jima if i went back to see that beach and remembering what it looked like 75 years earlier. That would be amazing. But the gentleman, the caller talking about his relative doing the underwater demolition, clearing away. Make no bones about it. We had been bombing iwo jima from the air for 77 days prior to the 19th of february. Then we through naval bombardment for three days prior to the landing. You know, the element of surprise is gone. The japanese know were coming 77 days before it happens. So, a lot of the obstacles they put out underwater, very few but enough to get the marines to believe that okay this is going to be a defended beach. Really the obstacles are about, you know, 100 yards inland and that is the volcanic ash, the large hump that the marines have to go over and when they finally go over after about an hour being on the beach, they break a certain defense line and the japanese start to engage them. The initial entry on the beaches not bad at all. About an hour later when we hit that high ground of the volcanic ashburn, thats when we the trigger the japanese defenses. About ten minutes left in our program this morning. From the National Marine corps museum, down in quantico, virginia. A tweet as weve been having this conversation from mlb who writes in i get to watch d. C. At least every other year. I normally spend a week there. No matter how many times i go theres one monument that gives me a chill and a smieshlgs its the raising of the flag at iwo jima. Its the actions of our finest. Can you talk about the history of that memorial in arlington and how many survivors of iwo jima were there, do you know, when it was dedicated . I know it sort of falls outside of my scope of what we do as we concentrate on the museum. What i can say about the sculpture and just the flag raising, something important that the flag has a journey. The story whether its through the sculpture in arlington or whether what you see here displayed at the museum, other than it being this immediate moment i talk about the journey to us and how it got to the museum. One of the more fascinating stories it becomes the symbol of the 7th bond war tour. It becomes the main visual for the war bond tour. I want raises more money for the cause than all other war bonds prior to it. Thats amazing as americans were paying for a war as it occurs and even by 1945 wages were increasing and folks were more worried about improvements after the war, these men are still fighting, they are still conscious and the emotion can inspire people to fight for their country. The flag continues its journey. After the war theres a freedom train that carries the original version of the declaration. Theres a renewed sense of patriotism. 1945 were still bringing back memories and iconry of the flag. Its just the power of iwo jima flag raising and what it means to us as americans. Jean is out of illinois. Good morning. Caller good morning. I was wondering how long after the invasion of iwo did they invade okinawa . My father, i have an article from the paper, my father was with two men on okinawa, and he was 28 years old. But what i wondered whether more casualties on iwo or more on okinawa . I know there was a lot of casualties. Also i remember my dad came back, we were never told to get out of bed, we were always told to hit the deck. We were never called in for supper, it was always chow down. Different lingo from the marine corps that we absorbed as kids. My brother also served and he was on okinawa. Thanks so much for the call. Yes. So, postiwo jima several months later well start to focus and we have been to concussion on okinawa as the next step in that, the Island Hopping campaign that the marines are executing. Okinawa will be much more complex, of course, as an island. Much larger than iwo jima. Iwo jima is only eight square miles. Okinawa, you know, four, five times that. Youre also definitely encroaching upon youre no longer in the japanese front yard in okinawa, youre in their living room. Youre actually cracking into their living room. And we have to understand okinawa is also going to be the pinnacle where we establish and bring all of our combat power remember i talked earlier about the logistics mind consistent of the pacific theater. All of that combat power will make its way from the different islands past iwo jima to okinawa. That is the stepping done for mainland japan. So youre going to have several hundred or im sorry 100 plus thousands troops land at okinawa. Youre going to have twice number of casualties. Youll have a lot of civilian caughts as well. All the islands previously to okinawa will be uninhabited. Other than japanese other people youll find is korean laborers that were building fortress. He might find island inhabitants but small in number. Okinawa youll have true japanese citizens there. So the complexity of okinawa months later is extremely significant to understand what okinawa meant compared to what iwo jima. Iwo jima is yet another stepping stone to get to okinawa. Okinawa is the pinnacle to get to mainland japan. Time for just maybe one or two phone calls this morning. Were live from the National Museum of the marine corps. This is jeff out of new hampshire. Go ahead. Caller thank you for picking up the call today, cspan. I had two quick things. First i want to thank all the past, present and future Service Members. We have so much in this country because of you people. Im trying to look at the gentleman in the red tie but due to the delay i cant look you in the eye and thank you and thank everybody else to gets us there. Second this goes to the gentleman with the red tie, my motherinlaw who passed away a number of years ago she was related to rennie gagham. My wife remembers him coming to the house when she was a kid. And they made to big deal of it. When she was a kid they made no big deal of it. When he came here, just amazing to me that my wifes side of the family made to big deal of it they are related to that hero. Thats all i have to say. Thank to you all our veterans. Can you fill us in a little bit on who he was . Yes. So, thank you. And, you know, thank you for being an american citizen worth fighting for. Rennie gagham is a marine involved in the iwo jima operations. Hes there for the first flag raising and then hell go, hes identified as an early flag rais raiser. Hell go back to the United States as part of the 7th bond drive. Hell become a face thats known and a name thats known for years dealing with the flag raising and hes been, you know, highlighted in a couple of movies. Hes just another marine, and i think thats what the caller is talking about. There are so many dedicated americans that will fight and survive, fight and die on iwo jima. But everyone of them to a man are just, your average red blood american boys that went overseas to stop fascism, to stop, you know, the evil that was occurring. You know, a lot of them will come home and never tell their family members not only what they experienced as an individual but what they were part of. They just went, they did their job, he they came home and they dedicated the rest of their lives to being the best person, the best american they could be and they were living their lives for the guys who did not come home. And, you know, rennie is one of them. Not a big deal. He served on iwo jima. He wouldnt want anyone to give him accolades. He just wanted to be known as several thousands more that were just like him that went and just did their job. Talks about his character. Good story to end on. We do appreciate your time and we appreciate the museum, inviting us in this morning. Thank you. Week nights this week were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan 3. Tonight the focus is the 1945 yelta conference that occurred during world war ii. First a documentary on the february conference. Then an examination of the World War Ii Allied summits in tehran, quebec and moscow which preceded the conference in 1945 followed by discussion on the major issues and decisions of the yelta conference which took place at a crimean resort in ukraine. Thats tonight beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan 3. Issrish ambassador to the u. And history ondaniel mulhall talk about the relationship between two countries ever since. The museum of the American Revolution in philadelphia is the host of this event. Welcome all. Im scott stevenson, the president and ceo of the museum of the american resolution. [ applause ] thank you very much. I always start this