Battle of Iwo Jima

The May 25th Parade Magazine ran a Memorial Day story by Larry Smithon Richard Nummer, 82, and his experiences at the Battle of Iwo Jima.

During the battle, almost all 21,000 Japanese defenders died, 6800 Americanswere killed and another 17,000 wounded.


FOXHOLE JUMPING

He said he arrived at Iwo Jima the night before the landing and remembers being served steak and eggs the next morning. Nummer went in with the fifth wave and says they would run off the beach foxhole to foxhole. He'd run up and "tap a guy on his shoulder, and he'd run a little father and you'd get into his hole, like leapfrogging. So I get into this hole and tap the guy on his shoulder and--nothing. He was gone."


SO HE PUT THE BULLET HOLE IN THE FLAG ON MT. SURIBACHI

Five days later, he and his group were the first Marines to sleep at the top of the prominent feature. Says Nummer, "On Feb. 27, my 19th birthday, we were taking turns on guard duty. My foxhole buddy had just got off to sleep, and I kind of dozed off. It was so dark. Then I heard a noise, and I turned around and shot. But it was just the flag, snapping in the wind.

"For 40 years, I never talked about it, but soon as I saw that flag in a museum, I knew I put a hole in it. It's right there--in the second stripe. Probably the most famous picture ever taken, and I stuck my little hole in it. I should have been court-martialed."


"MY FINGER FROZE ON THE TRIGGER."

One night on Iwo Jima, he was on guard duty and say a figure coming toward him. He called twice for passwords and did not receive a reply, so he shot.

The next morning, a lieutenant congratulated him and siad he could take anything off the body of the Japanese soldier he wanted. He took his wallet and bayonet.

He was always bothered by this and 40 years later, decided to return it. He met some Japanese men at a car show and they took the items back to Japan. A year later he got a letter from the daughter of the man he'd shot. She was born ten days after he left and had never gotten to meet him. She was very thankful.

Very Interesting Stories. --Old Coot