The marines around me raised up, jumped up, and started firing their weapons into the air, screaming and yelling and that kind of stuff. And i really thought everybody had lost their minds for a second. I could not figure out what was going on. And then i caught on what was going on because they were on the mountain and i looked, and there is old glory on top. I jumped up and started doing the same dumb thing they were doing, firing my weapon in the air and jumping and screaming. I was carrying a weapon. I jumped up and started firing in the air and yelling and screaming like everybody else. I wondered during them how many marines we lost at that particular moment. But it changed the whole attitude about the whole thing. From the exhibit space inside the National Museum of the marine corps in quantico, virginia, we are joined by marine corps history chief Edward Nevgloski, and owen connor. On this eve of the 75th anniversary of the battle of iwo jima, explain why there are two historic flags in that hallway that you are sitting in right now. We wanted to take the opportunity to make sure that folks had coul the mountain. Since it is the anniversary, and we wanted to make the effort to give people this opportunity to see them, as we talk at the museum, both flags are important to the marine corps. We talk about the first flag being the most important flag. That is the veterans that were at the battle that so it lifted. The second that the second flag is the First American major media event. It is iconic. Explain how the flags went up, when the change happened, and how far into the battle of iwo jima this to face. It was shortly after the marines had landed, a threepronged attack. They wanted to isolate the mountain. When it was isolated, they sent a control a patrol to the top, not knowing what they would find, but when they reach the summit, they wanted to let everyone know they cleared the peak and they planted the first flag on the island. This flag was a smaller flag. It was not large enough to be seen, so it was immediately decided to put a larger flag on Mount Suribachi. We have heard numerous veterans telling us the moment they saw the flag go up, you heard the ships surrounding the island honking their horns, you saw marines cheering. Humorously, a lot of veterans we have spoken to pointed out that they were busy trying not to be killed during the battle and kept their heads down, so you hear a lot of Great Stories from when the flag first went up. We heard one of those first stories from woody williams. You are sitting next to Edward Nevgloski, the marine corps history chief. How much longer did the battle go on after the flag was raised over Mount Suribachi, and why did this moment become the moment that symbolizes the marine corps so much so that the moment that is represented in the marine corps statue in arlington, virginia . The battle will go on, would rage on for another month. The battle entailed hundreds of thousands of casualties. So, you know, the flag raising at the outset of the battle, it was at a time when the marine corps is taking a significant number of casualties. The battle on par with what 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, the sailors that were out at sea, it was symbolic in that the fight has just begun, it is going to continue together as a team come as a nation. This island can be seized. Unceremoniously in some it became a calling charge, if you will. It was something that motivated the marines and continued to resignation to resonate in their minds as they pushed on for another month. Tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of the start of the battle of iwo jima, the landings beginning february 19 of 1945, lasting 36 days, 26,000 american casualties, including nearly 7000 dead. Of the 20,000 japanese defenders, only 1100 survived the battle. Medals of honor awarded during for actions during the battle. The topic as we focus on the National Museum of the marine corps this money. As we focus on the battle of iwo jima, asking viewers to call in as well come on special phone lines split up regionally. If you are in the eastern or central time zones, 202, 748, 8000. A special line marines and marine family members, 2027488002. Go ahead and start calling and 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 over Mount Suribachi is incorporated into the dna of the museum that you are sitting in . The second flag when rosenthal snapped the image, i often emphasize it is really this iconic media moment. Early in the war we would send correspondence to the pacific and it could take weeks, months for things to get back. But when it comes to the flag being taken, it is literally from the battlefield, the front pages of america. Within about two days, International Dateline times. It is almost a viral moment. It is ingrained in the museum, from the architecture that you see and from the way it has traveled through time. I always say it takes on bigger meaning within the marine corps. It symbolizes victory in world war ii, it came at the right time. Patents tanks were rolling across germany, the allies were winning in to europe, and then there is this pattons tanks were rolling across germany, the allies were winning in europe. It is really ingrained in everything the marine corps does, because that moment captures the spirit of our country, captures the marine corps mentality. It is such a beautiful artistic image that rises above the moment. Mr. Nevgloski, there were 700,000 that participated in the war of the battle of iwo jima. How much were marines . 70, 000, 80,000 that is the initial landing, and then post landings and later. Roughly 74,000 to 75,000 marines will touch the ground, and that includes the navy core men are with them. In addition, the u. S. Army soldiers that were supporting. What was the strategic importance of the battle . Considering the losses we talked about already, could the island have been bypassed in the larger war it is a good question. The importance of iwo jima is, you have to understand the larger picture. When you think of the campaign of the pacific with the marines and the navy, and of course the United States, the allies, it is all about logistics. It is about getting enough combat power and what i mean about combat power is your forces, your equipment, your firepower, your bullets and bandaids, if you will. The pacific is a very large theater. You have to build up enough power, combat power, for the ultimate objective, which is mainly japan, the complete capitulation of the Japanese Forces. In order to do that, the allies are going to have to make a slow, methodical approach, seizing key strategic islands along the way. And of course as that is occurring, we have to pick and choose these islands based on what those islands present to us. Do they have ports where ships can anchor and offload . Do they have preconstructed facilities that the marines can move in and take over . Airfields, for example. As we get closer to mainland japan, iwo jima is that fortress in the middle of the pacific that is going to stop our aircraft from delivering to mainly japan. If we can cz iwo jima, we if we can cz iwo jima, we can save hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of aircraft. So the key is to think of honor it logistically, and then what iwo jima resents for our ability to seize the mainland. The force brought by americans when they landed there, what was the japanese goal . Did they think they could win the fight . The Japanese Forces believed early on when they started to develop defenses on iwo jima 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 will not have the industrial power, the industrial might to hold us off. So it goes from a defense and delay to an attrition style defense. Iwo jima, the defenses there are built 28 years earlier, and they continue to be improved with each passing year. By the time the leader of the Japanese Force gets to iwo jima, he essentially knows that this is the last stand. Japan is not going to be able to hold out, so the idea is to kill as Many Americans to delay, but knowing that in the end, that is going to be his final resting place. Live from the National Museum of the marine corps, we are joined by Edward Nevgloski, marine corps history chief, owen connor, world war gallery world war ii gallery curator. We have the special lines for marines and family members 2027488002. Jessica, good morning. Thanks for taking my call. I wanted to say 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 inner throughout the world. So i am very appreciative of that. And i will be thinking about the people who sacrificed their lives this week while the acknowledgment of image ima of iwo jima is being recognized. I debt was in the civic as a marine scout. He survived, but all that said, thank you so much and good luck. We noted the 75th anniversary of the beginnings of the landings at iwo jima begin tomorrow. Mr. Connor, what is going to be happening at the museum there throughout these days, the 75th anniversary . We are really excited. The 22nd, 23rd, we will be showing large numbers of artifacts from the battle, highlighting what we really have collected since we opened in 2006 it from my own personal collection, the collection i curate here, we are highlighting particularly the Valley Metals and the sacrifice, the personal stories of the marines involved. One of the things i noticed since we have collected here, we tried to document the stories of each individual as much as the battle itself. There is a trend that involves in world war ii with the marine corps, particularly by wars and end, realizing that we are running out of men to fight these battles, and the number of metals that you have, to see trends where they are 17yearold enlistees, or they are later marines who are drafted, who are family men in their 30s. So by far the number of casualties you see reflected in these metals that will be displaying is reflected in the human toll. For moms that that the generation of makes the media world war ii, we are so focused on American Pride and what we accomplished, but we on a problem i just know what to also have to understand that do my second day for michael these are real people and they are marines that all gave up something that really there is a human toll to it, team and we had our limits as a country, and this is something that we want to highlight those individual stories and faces this weekend. Its a one of the individuals are viewers just saw from the cases in your exhibit space three was the navy cross of john as have you been here a lot more alone john basilone. Okay written john basilone, any gunner knows about john. He will receive the medal of honor as a machine gun squad leader during the battle for guadalcanal. He will depart the theater and go back as part of the bond drive, and then later on while he is an instructor at Camp Pendleton teaching future marine machine gunners, he will return to the site, return to the pacific theater, and he will land on iwo jima, and he will be killed in the war, and get the navy cross. A letter the marines that were trained in Camp Pendleton, california, becoming back to the pacific to and landed on iwo jima, where the marines he was killed with months later. We mentioned before, some 27 medals of honor were given them if you looking for out for actions on iwo jima good segments at how many of the i screwed i have to fix it but you still wants is 8 00 marine individuals who received not the other one those 27 medals made it off doing the math, historians math of the 27 deaths, 13 or 14 were posthumous awards to marines. 27 for one battle alone sort of speaks to the volume. Just the savagery of the conflict of 24 battalion commanders, 14 were wounded or killed in a. The uncommon valor, the common virtue, it is certainly not hollow words. It is absolutely true. And one of those battalion commanders, Lieutenant Colonel chambers received to the medal of honor, one of the more popular stories. The medal of honor at iwo jima consumes 80 of the medals of honor that will be received by the marine corps during the war. So when you consider those staggering numbers, aside from the casualties, it is 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, there are probably 27 more medals of honor that we just dont know about. On the line for marines and family members, this is john out of kitty hawk, north carolina. Good morning, john. Would morning. Thank you for having them on today. This is very special for my family. We were a fivestar family in world war ii. We had navy and marines at iwo jima. My grandfather, thomas hines, was wounded by a sniper, and luckily survived. I just want to say thank you from multiple generation marines, we really appreciate it. John, thank you for the call. Mr. Nevglosk, what does a fivestar family mean . You have five family members there in theatre, participating in conflict. The goldstar is if one of those family members is killed. To see a flag in the 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, deployed in theater for being in the war, there was a star. So that is the significant contribution from that family. John is on the line for marines and family members from illinois. Good morning. Hi, this is john. My dad was on iwo jima, i was a marine in vietnam. Going through Old Newspaper articles that my mom saved, my dad has been dead for 40 years. I am going through newspaper articles, and here is an article that my mom saved from 1944, 45. I guess it is 1945. It is an article that says my dad got the purple heart on iwo jima. Within that article, it also mentions another neighborhood of chicago, the neighborhood, a fellow named maccarthy. Im almost certain it is mccarthy. He got the medal of honor. But it is all an old yellow piece of newspaper article. Can you recall a fellow giving a medal to a marine . It is such a gorgeous place. All of you jar heads have got to go see it. God bless america. Woohoo for jar heads. Edward nevgloski, for you, sir. I do not know if it is this particular one, but i will certainly look into it. I really appreciate the fact that the gentleman calls me ski that is such a marine corps thing. If you are a marine and your last name ends with s k. I. , you will certainly be known as ski. Owen connor is the world war ii gallery coordinator at the National Museum of the marine corps, joining us this morning into special edition of the washington journal, brought to you by the washington journal American History tv. As we explored d. C. Area museums and the american story. Mr. Connor, coming back to the mr. Connor, my back to the exhibit, related to iwo jima, i want to talk about a picture of some glasses, pens and a brush that are in a case there. Can you tell the story specifically of those glasses . As a curator, we are always collecting personal stories, and their option their object that meant something to marines in the battle. It also gives us an opportunity to talk about the marines themselves and the characters. One of the characters, william odom he was better known to his friends as wild bill from bougainville, and he was a young marine who enlisted in 19. He had been previously wounded in the battle of saipan. When he fought in iwo jima, he had gathered artifacts that meant something to him, and some of these were captured japanese personal effects. He wanted to tell the story about how even at the worst and darkest of times, marines could find dark humor in the events. He would tell me the story about, they labeled them tojos glasses, and when the marines were pinned down in the action that day, he and his friends entertained themselves, waving the glasses over the berm at the japanese snipers that were taking fire at them. As he related the story, humorously, by the end of the day, they had spent most of the day pinned down, and a young southern had crawled up to their position and was looking for some heroism, and he decided he could take out the japanese sniper. Bill and his friends pummeled the young marine quickly and told him not to fire, which caused the marines confusion. He said that if they shut the sniper, they would just replace him with somebody who might be able to hit something. So he said they were happy that they had tojos glasses that we keep them alive a little bit longer. I thought it was a wonderful story. How much of your collection comes from donated items, and is it something that continues to grow, especially now, as we are getting to a time where we are losing so many world war ii veterans . Absolutely, and that is what means so much to me. People see this Wonderful Museum and they expect that the marine corps has always been collecting these things. It really we opened in 2006, and this has made such a wonderful it has given us such a wonderful opportunity to add to our collection. These stories that individuals can relate, just bring in naturally through our doors, the vast majority of our donations come directly from the families. Sadly, until recently the veterans themselves would bring the object in. That is the thing that is 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 and it is an opportunity to build a time capsule to their loved ones, their marines. So that the marine history is not lost. Our museum sort of serves that purpose in allowing that to be documented and saved for future generations. The flags behind you . Were they in a private collection or private hands . Thankfully, the most important artifacts are the iwo jima flags. Despite intels cl