Iwo Jima Diary

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This is a little bit off topic to the Mil Surp subforum but I figured this is the best place to put this on NES.

Grandfather's account of the Battle of Iwo Jima. He served in the Navy aboard the USS Talladega.

Take note the last page is a memorandum of the first day of battle.

I only found out about this diary last Thanksgiving; my grandmother (age 96) still has it among his things. Unfortunately he passed away in the early 70s but like most WW2 vets my Dad said he never talked about any of this stuff.


https://imgur.com/a/cWnXk
 
Incredible story. Thanks for sharing it. I've met a few Iwo Jima vets, and if you can get them to talk at all, they have the same reactions. Tough fight with a dug-in enemy, and terrible number of casualties.
 
Thanks for sharing. My Dad was in both theaters and we still have not talked about it very much...He's 92 and I am 59.
 
This is awesome, thanks for sharing.
My mother is holding my great grandmother's journal she kept regarding my grandfather's comings/goings and letters when he was in the Philippines in anti aircraft for me, along with my grandfather's army jacket and other items, all in a large trunk.
I never got to meet my grandfather since he was hit and killed by a car while delivering mail as a postman, but the letters, documents and artifacts are priceless to me.
I'm hoping to go through them soon and maybe we can use this thread for posting interesting historical items.

ETA: It's hard not to be moved by lines like "Helped carry a few. Will never forget it. They are laying everywhere. Estimated 10,000 casualties. Buried one kid at sea this morning."
Beyond belief.
 
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Thanks for sharing your Grandfather's account of Iwo Jima. I can't imagine the stress and fatigue, but you can see it a little in his handwriting on the Feb 20 page. We owe that generation a lot, and not the least of it would be stopping the momentum that likely would have changed our world had it continued.
 
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