UNCOMMON VALOR
UNCOMMON VALOR WAS A COMMON VIRTUE SOME HEROES OF IWO JIMA BY DWIGHT JON ZIMMERMAN
“This will be the bloodiest fight in Marine Corps history. We’ll catch seven kinds of hell on the beaches, and that will be just the beginning. The fighting will be fierce, and the casualties will be awful, but my Marines will take the damned island.” – Lt. Gen. Holland M. “Howlin’ Mad” Smith, Commander, V Amphibious Corps
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he battle was supposed to last a week. Instead, it took five. When it was over, the Japanese garrison of about 20,000 soldiers and sailors was wiped out. American casualties included 6,821 Marines and sailors killed and 19,217 wounded. Such a total is a testament to the grueling ferocity of combat on that remote Pacific island. Marine correspondent Sgt. Gilbert Preston Bailey observed that of the men who fought on Iwo Jima, “Stories will never be written about most of them. There are too many, and what they do has come to be taken for granted.” Yet over the years many of those stories – of heroism and sacrifice both great and small by men on the battle lines; of corpsmen and surgeons waging their own war to save the lives of those wounded; of Navy beachmasters and Construction Battalion personnel, the Seabees, imposing organization out of beachhead chaos; of cooks at their field kitchens, braving hostile fire in order to provide hot food; and so many others – have emerged, reminding each successive generation why Commander in Chief Pacific (CINCPAC) Fleet
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Headquarters Adm. Chester W. Nimitz said of those who fought on Iwo Jima, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.” That statement is underscored by the 27 Medals of Honor awarded to Marines and Navy servicemen who fought there, the highest number awarded in a single battle. The 22 Marine Medals of Honor represent more than 25 percent of the 83 Medals of Honor awarded to Marines in that conflict. Of the vast mountain of countless acts of heroism rendered on Iwo Jima, those who received the Medal of Honor represent the summit. What follows are some of their stories. The first Medal of Honor awarded in the battle was the result of action that occurred two days before Marines would set foot on Iwo Jima’s volcanic beaches. Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs – the forerunner of Navy SEALs) were conducting reconnaissance and demolitions missions to gather beach condition intelligence and destroy underwater obstacles in the days leading up to the amphibious assault. On the morning of Feb. 17, 1945, LCI(G)-449 (Landing Craft Infantry (Gunboat)), under
the command of Lt. j.g. Rufus G. Herring, was one of a flotilla of gunboats assigned to carry UDTs and then provide close-in support as they conducted their final mission before the assault. The 449’s complement of weapons included two 40 mm cannon, four 20 mm cannon, six .50-caliber machine guns, and 10 Mk 7 rocket launchers. After the UDTs had disembarked and proceeded to the beaches, the gunboats took up station about 250 yards offshore. The gunboats soon came under heavy and accurate artillery and machine gun fire from Mount Suribachi and elsewhere on the island. In less than two hours, all the gunboats had been hit, several severely. The 449 was struck repeatedly. One 40 mm gun was blown into the water. Cannon fire blasted apart the conning tower, killing 12 and wounding others. One of the wounded was Herring, who was knocked out. When he came to, he saw the 449’s decks were a charnel house of dead and wounded, with the gunboat wallowing out of control, the helmsman being one of the many dead.
