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Saturday, February 22, 1997

Texas and New Mexico veterans of Iwo Jima recall sacrifice of blood

By JIM CONLEY El Paso Times

EL PASO, Texas - It was just a little, volcanic island in the western Pacific called Iwo Jima, but 52 years ago it became one of the most famous battle sites in U.S. history.

Eight square miles of land was bought with 6,821 Marine Corps lives and 19,217 wounded - the Marines' second-bloodiest battle after Tarawa.

Elmo A. Burns, then a Marine gunnery sergeant, lay wounded by sniper fire when a Navy corpsman pointed out the historic moment unfolding before them: "Look, Gunny, they're raising a flag on Suribachi."

The flag-raising by the Marines atop Mount Suribachi Feb. 23, 1945 - four days after the battle began - became the most famous photo of World War II.

Three of the six men in the photo taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal never learned of their fame: they died on Iwo Jima. The most famous of the survivors was Ira Hayes, a Native American whose life story was made into a movie in the early 1960s.

Three Iwo Jima veterans recalled this week the importance of the battle: Burns, a retired Marine sergeant major now living in El Paso; David E. Valdez of Anthony, N.M., a Navy SeaBee in the war; and Orba Lee Malone of El Paso, an Army Air Force veteran.

They were joined at a lunchtime gathering on Tuesday by Gunnery Sgt. Alfredo Cooke and several other El Paso Marine recruiters for a living history lesson.

"The main reason people associate the Marines with World War II is the flag-raising on Mount Suribachi," said Cooke, 38, a veteran of Desert Storm combat. "But Iwo Jima's significance is it symbolizes the tenacity - the dogged determination - that Marines have to accomplish the mission at all costs."

"They fought an enemy who possessed the same traits as the Marines, the same kind of well-trained troops," Cooke said.

Valdez, 78, a retired federal prison employee and farmer, said the Japanese were indeed tenacious as they fought from deep, interlocking caves in the volcanic rock. More than 21,000 Japanese died in the battle.

"Even with flame throwers, it was difficult to get them out," Valdez said. "We tried pumping water in there, but mostly they would come out when they got hungry. And there were snipers for about three months who kept shooting our heavy equipment drivers."

The major battle for Iwo Jima ended around March 25, but for months, American troops tracked down and killed about 2,000 more Japanese defenders. The last two gave up three years after the war, in 1948.

Malone, 76, a retired lawyer, said he owes his life to the Marines for securing the island so his crippled bomber could land there after bombing Japan.

The Marines were ordered to take Iwo Jima because it would give the United States an airstrip for crippled B-29 bombers only 600 miles from Japan, half the distance they had been flying from Guam.

Malone said he used Iwo Jima 12 times when returning from 12-to-15-hour bombing raids over Japan. By the time the war ended, about 2,500 planes, with 11 crewmen per plane, had found refuge on Iwo Jima - a potential of 27,500 lives saved by the sacrifices of U.S. military invaders.

"Three or four times we wouldn't have made it to Guam if the Marines hadn't taken Iwo Jima," Malone said. "The first time I landed there was April 1, 1945, and there had been about 100 Marines killed there a few nights before in a Japanese attack.

"I had two friends killed there - one I only found out about later," Malone said. "One of the most poignant experiences I ever had in my life was to go to that little island one of the times we landed there and stand at the grave of Wick Mason, who had been my friend.

"Yes, we all felt grateful to the Marines," Malone said.

Valdez said people should remember Iwo Jima and the battle's significance.

"I'd like people to remember that we still have a really fine country and we had to fight for it," Valdez said. "I think oftentimes people take for granted that freedom comes easy. But you actually have to fight for it."

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