Stars and Stripes 3.27.15

Volume 7, No. 15 ©SS 2015

For information please contact Waverly Williams 803-774-1237 or waverly@theitem.com

FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015

A panel from “Autobiography,” an installation by Vietnam veteran Maurice Costello, displayed at the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago.

H EATH D RUZIN /Stars and Stripes

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Friday, March 27, 2015

COVER STORY

Words complete portraits

BY H EATH DRUZIN Stars and Stripes

H EATH D RUZIN /Stars and Stripes

“POW Prisoner,” by sculptor and Vietnam veteran John McManus, is displayed at the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago. The nonprofit museum displays works by and about veterans of all U.S. conflicts. The portraits at right are part of “100 Faces of War Experience,” artist Matt Mitchell’s nine-year project focusing on returning troops.

Museumgoers see combat through art by veterans

BY H EATH DRUZIN Stars and Stripes

CHICAGO — The weight of a metal canteen; the weight of a hand grenade; the weight of trauma. One Chicago art museum aims to give visitors better appreciation for the burdens carried by troops — largely through the eyes of veterans.

The National Veterans Art Museum is part gallery and part hands-on classroom, providing a creative outlet for veteran artists and educating a public who has had a decreasing connection to those who serve since the U.S. changed to an all-volunteer military in 1973.

“There’s still this large disconnect between those serving and the general population,” the museum’s gallery

‘ There’s still this large disconnect between

those serving and the general population. A lot of the art tries to explain things civilians don’t understand.

’

coordinator, Destinee Oitzinger, said.

“A lot of the art tries to explain things civilians don’t understand.”

The museum began as an art exhibition by Vietnam War veterans who opened the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in 1996.

With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan creating a new generation

Destinee Oitzinger museum’s gallery coordinator of combat veterans, the museum expanded to include art from and about veterans of all U.S. conflicts, changing its name to the National Veterans Art Museum in 2009. The art varies greatly, from statues to abstract painting, but every piece is by or about veterans.

SEE PAGE 3

As bombs fell on Baghdad and Kabul, Matt Mitchell went about his normal routine, an unaffected spectator while troops died overseas.

“I found I could just live my life as if nothing was happening, and it got under my skin,” he said.

So the artist sought understanding through a familiar medium: portraiture. That was in 2005, and nine years later he finally completed “100 Faces of War Experience” and put it on display for the first time at the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago.

Mitchell reflected the range of experiences of returning troops by creating 100 oil-oncanvas paintings, spending 40 to 80 hours on each life-size head-and-shoulders portrait. Many times, the veterans would tell him their experiences, often painful ones, as he painted. Their stories were often emotionally draining, he said, but ultimately were “uplifting” and educational for him and viewers of the project.

“Sure, you talk about heavy things, and the project is pretty heavy, but you realize that every single [veteran] out there fills in part of the picture,” he said.

He worked with a sociologist who specializes in the American military to sort through Department of Defense statistics to choose a group that reflected the broader military: branch of service, gender, race, career field, dates of deployment, deployment location and officer vs. enlisted. Each of the 50 states is represented.

Most are troops, though five are civilians who worked in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mitchell painted 10 people whose deaths were connected to their service, with each family providing Mitchell a photo of their loved one.

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COVER STORY Part gallery and part hands-on exhibit, “The Things They Carried” is based on the book of the same name and offers visitors the chance to handle things like backpacks and grenades that troops carried with them in Vietnam and see photographs and artwork made by troops in that conflict.

FROM PAGE 2

Some soldiers are dressed in their Army Combat Uniform, others wear civilian clothes, and one former infantry officer sports chest-length feathered earrings and an elaborate necklace with crisscrossed reflective belts covering his Army dress blues.

Mitchell, of Amherst, Mass., asked his subjects for up to 250 words — unedited — to go with their portraits. The tone ranges from proud to angry. Emilio Fernandez, who served in the Marines on two deployments to Iraq, wrote, “First to fight. The few and the proud. The change is forever.

Always faithful. The few who move towards the sound of chaos. I can tell you that these are true, and that my service to my country was an honor.

My life was changed forever by becoming a Marine; I became a patriot, a man and a warrior.”

Mariela Meylan, who served a tour in Iraq and Kuwait with the Army and was badly injured in a service-connected vehicle accident, did not have fond memories. “I felt like I was part of a mission, to me was pointless in the first place. ... I was just doing what I was told to do, whether I liked it or not. It was not very pleasant.”

At times, it was a struggle for Mitchell, now 45, to make ends meet as the project became a full-time job. He was helped by a few grants and most of all by his wife, Rebecca Guay, a fellow artist whom he says made tremendous sacrifices to help him.

When he started the project in 2005, people didn’t expect the war to last and often asked him what he would do when it was over. Nine years later, he wrapped up the project to coincide with the official end of combat operations in Afghanistan, though thousands of troops remain in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I’m left in the uncomfortable position that the project represents the official end, but especially people in the armed services are conscious of the fact that there are still a number of people left in Afghanistan, and Iraq has turned into a different thing,” he said.

Mitchell’s exhibition will be at the National Veterans Art Museum in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood through May 15.

H EATH D RUZIN / Stars and Stripes

FROM PAGE 2

Occupying a small upstairs gallery in the artsy Portage Park neighborhood, the museum features a temporary exhibition — currently it’s a nine-year portrait project called “100 Faces of War Experience” — and a permanent installation on the Vietnam War based on the book “The Things They Carried.” The Vietnam exhibit offers a literal and figurative illustration of the book’s title, with an extensive collection of everyday items that American troops carried in the jungles of Vietnam — from grenades to canteens — that visitors can pick up and examine. Also included are photos, letters and art showing the war experience through their lens.

The museum also rotates exhibitions from its 2,500-piece collection.

One of several on display now is Maurice Costello’s “Autobiography,” in which the phases of the artist’s life — motorcycle-riding young man; soldier in combat; drug-addled veteran and family man — are laid out chronologically. His experiences are reflected in sunglasses drawn on brightly colored oversized cutouts of his head.

The nonprofit museum, which is supported though grants and donations, emphasizes education and regularly brings in groups of high school and college students. It also draws a mixed group, including those with no military connection, many veterans and even more loved ones of veterans who often yearn to learn about the experiences of those who don’t share them, Oitzinger said.

“It’s a way to get the story out,” said Jim Moore, a Vietnam veteran, filmmaker and longtime museum board member. “It’s cathartic to a lot of the artists — they get to express some

thoughts and ideas and feelings they don’t normally get to express in their day-to-day life.”

Healing and understanding are themes that come up repeatedly in conversations with those connected to the museum, and it sponsors art therapy classes by licensed clinicians.

Executive director Brendan Foster said that outside of that environment, the museum, its art and the outlet it provides can help veteran artists who often deal with multiple stigmas — the perception that they are damaged, a persistent negative image associated with seeking help for the effects of trauma, and the very fact of working as an artist.

“We think there is inherent in the creative process a therapeutic element,” Foster said. “Bringing this all together can help alleviate some of those stigmas.”

Much of the museum’s collection deals with Vietnam, but with hundreds of thousands of veterans having served in Iraq and Afghanistan, new generations of artists are bringing their own style to postwar art. Oitzinger said the GI Bill is allowing more Iraq and Afghanistan veterans to get formalized art education.

A lot of their art is “more conceptual,” she said, “whereas Vietnam veterans tend to be more, ‘This is how it was, this is what I saw.’ ” For Giuseppe Pellicano, an Oregon artist and Army veteran who served in Kosovo, the museum is “the center hub” of the veteran artist community. Pellicano, whose work has been displayed there, said veterans showing their experiences through art can bring them closer to other Americans, who often misunderstand them.

“I would like the civilian community to understand that veterans

don’t have the monopoly on sorrow or trauma or PTSD,” he said. “It’s more about not separating and not a division of communities — but hopefully an inclusion, [an understanding] that we are part of the community.”

Exhibits are chosen by the board, and Oitzinger and Foster say they keep politics out of the equation. That is not to say the art is always apolitical — it ranges from stridently anti-war to supportive of U.S. wars — but the museum strives to be open to all ideas and mediums.

“We’re here to support that open conversation,” Oitzinger said.

Encompassing that range is Matt Mitchell’s “100 Faces of War Experience.” Mitchell, who is not a veteran, spent nine years seeking to paint a cross-section of those who went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan to better understand their experiences.

Starting in 2005, he traveled around the country to paint 100 portraits and gave his subjects a chance to provide up to 250 words to go unedited with their portraits.

Some wrote about their struggles, some wrote about their pride in service, some wrote poetry, a few wrote nothing — an untidy mix of experiences veterans have, rather than the simplified version often portrayed in popular culture. For Mitchell, the National Veterans Art Museum was one place he could trust to portray those mixed messages, from subversive to flag-waving.

“Here is a group who is not going to try to gloss over or simplify the message,” he said. “They’re not afraid of a complex nature to veterans’ experiences.” druzin.heath@stripes.com Twitter: @Druzin_Stripes

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Friday, March 27, 2015

AFGHANISTAN

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and President Barack Obama take questions during during a press conference at the White House on Tuesday.

JOE G ROMELSKI /Stars and Stripes

Obama delays US troop withdrawal

BY TRAVIS J. TRITTEN Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Tuesday the U.S. will slow its planned military withdrawal from Afghanistan this year to assist the fledgling pro-American government against a tenacious insurgency.

The president and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced jointly at the White House that the current 9,800 troops will remain through the end of 2015 to advise and train national army

‘ As long as our men

and women are in Afghanistan there are risks involved. It is a dangerous place. It means some folks are going to be rotating in for a few months more than what they would have been.

’

President Barack Obama

and police forces against the Taliban, despite an early plan to reduce U.S. forces to 5,500. Obama said a plan to withdraw to an embassy presence by the time he leaves office has not changed.

The Afghanistan war officially ended in January, and Obama had promised to wrap up military operations there. But the administration reassessed the withdrawal after requests from Ghani’s government — and the dramatic and bloody rise of the Islamic State in Iraq following a military withdrawal in 2010.

“As long as our men and women are in Afghanistan there are risks involved. It is a dangerous place,” Obama said. “It means some folks are going to be rotating in for a few months more than what they would have been.”

Military personnel are advising and training about 330,000 members of the Afghan security forces, which are growing stronger “month by month,” he said.

The additional forces this year will allow more time to prepare those soldiers and police as well as shore up logistical support, ensuring the Afghans not only have needed equipment but are using it properly, Obama said.

On Monday, the administration announced it will also request new funding from Congress to pump up Afghan end strength to 352,000, yet the president has not provided a dollar figure for the initiative.

The administration’s goal is to create a security force that can defeat the Taliban and maintain the new unity government. But Taliban attacks continue — now mostly on Afghan forces — and attempts at a negotiated peace settlement have not panned out.

Over the past year, the administration has also faced the bloody rise of the Islamic State in Iraq, which occured after the full withdrawal of U.S. military forces in 2011. Republicans in Congress hammered Obama for what they deemed a premature withdrawal that could lead to a similar collapse.

Obama said the revised withdrawal timeline and renewed support is part of new chapter in Afghanistan relations after the country’s contentious but successful democratic election last year. After results were disputed, Ghani agreed to a power-sharing arrangement with his opponent Abdullah Abdullah, who accompanied the new Afghan president to Washington this week for the announcement.

The administration sees Ghani as a

more reliable partner than his predecessor Hamid Karzai, who had an often antagonistic relationship with Washington and the military.

During Ghani’s visit this week, he made a series of comments — including thanking American troops and taxpayers — seemingly meant to cement his reputation as a leader capable of working closely with the U.S. “You stood shoulder to shoulder with us and I want to say, ‘Thank you,’ ” Ghani said during the White House announcement with Obama.

He gave a nod to U.S. concerns about endemic government corruption and women’s rights, saying Afghanistan looks forward to a day when it will have a female president.

“This partnership with the United States has a foundation,” Ghani said. tritten.travis@stripes.com Twitter: @Travis_Tritten

‘ You stood shoulder to

shoulder with us and I want to say ‘Thank you.’

’

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani

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Friday, March 27, 2015

VETERANS

Paperwork rule for VA seen as hindering vets

BY H EATH DRUZIN Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — Beginning this week, veterans filing or appealing claims must use standardized forms, a controversial move that the Department of Veterans Affairs says will streamline the process, but some advocates say it will cost tens of thousands of veterans their benefits.

“This change is largely unnecessary and it’s been made solely for the convenience of the VA,” said Gerald Manard, Veterans of Foreign Wars National Veterans Service deputy director.

Until now, veterans have been able to begin the claims or appeals process by submitting a letter or even a scrap of paper. That informal system preserved the initial date of their claim, meaning any benefits awarded would go back to the date that the VA received the note. Under the new system, benefits will still go back to the date of claim or appeal, but the clock starts only when a veteran files standardized VA paperwork.

If the VA receives a handwritten note, department officials will send back a response informing the veteran of the proper paperwork and where to find it, though they will not send the paperwork itself. Replacing the informal claim is an “intent to file” form, for those who want to file a claim but still need to gather more information or documentation.

VA officials have said the new process will reduce confusion.

Thomas Murphy, VA’s director of compensation service, said inaccurate information in informal claims often led to delays in compensation for veterans.

“It was difficult to keep track of and veterans often had wrong dates of claim as a

Ways to file a claim and appeal with the VA Veterans and survivors can file claims and get more information at http://explore. va.gov/file-claim Forms and assistance is available from accredited veterans service organizations and can be mailed.

It is also possible to call the VA and register an intent to file over the phone.

Veterans and survivors can also call (800) 8271000 to notify the VA of an intent to file a claim or appeal.

result,” he said.

Veterans advocates, however, are incensed by the mandate, and officials with Disabled American Veterans and VFW say they are mulling legal action.

Older veterans, who may not own a computer, could be disproportionately affected, along with those suffering from brain injuries who may have difficulty navigating the formal site and keeping track of user names and passwords, Disabled American Veterans’ National Service Director Jim Marszalek said.

“Those are the people we’re

leaving behind, those most in need,” he said.

Another worry is that tens of thousands of veterans could potentially lose months of benefits in the confusion over the new rules and the wait for the VA to respond to them.

That’s because the clock won’t start on benefits until the date a veteran submits the proper intent-to-file form — meaning many who mistakenly file informal claims will have to wait for the VA to respond and start over. The VA has no deadline to respond and will not send the claim forms with their letter, another sticking point for advocates.

“That’s unfairly penalizing veterans,” Marszalek said.

Murphy points out that the VA announced the deadline six months ago and even created a new avenue to file informal claims — a call center toll-free number. He added that the change in the VA simply brings it in line with other federal agencies, such as Social Security and Medicare, and that it’s unnecessary to send veterans forms when responding to improperly filed claims.

“I believe we’re at such a place in society that we don’t need to be sending you a form,” he said.

Among the many controversies swirling around the VA is a backlog of disability claims that has dogged the department for years. The change could help the VA with the backlog, because veterans who have trouble with the new system or mistakenly file an informal claim will delay or give up on filing, Manard said.

“Thousands of veterans who haven’t got the word or who haven’t understood what they saw in the newspaper or magazine … are going to do what they’ve always done,” Manard said. druzin.heath@stripes.com

BRIAN BRANNON /Courtesy of the U.S. Navy

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti talks about serving in the Navy Reserve during a ceremony aboard the USS Iowa Museum in San Pedro, Calif., on March 8.

Dempsey lauds LA’s efforts for veterans

BY JENNIFER HLAD Stars and Stripes

LOS ANGELES — Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey on Monday praised efforts by the University of Southern California and local leaders to help veterans and military families, but said much remains to be done.

Hosted by the USC Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families, the event was billed as a “community matters” discussion with the U.S. military’s top officer.

Dempsey shared the story of an Air Force parajumper who rescued 12 soldiers stranded on the side of a mountain in Afghanistan. The man told Dempsey he wasn’t thinking about the possible consequences, just that he needed to help his fellow servicemembers.

“He put his life at risk … on behalf of 12 men he’d never met,” Dempsey said.

And he did so “because it was part of his ethos, part of his character.”

Thousands of veterans have served with a similar ethos, but now they need the help of communities and civil-

ians, Dempsey said. While some need long-term help and support, there is also “a huge number who don’t need a handout; they just need a handshake,” he said.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve, said communities must welcome veterans home “with more than a smile and a hug” — they need help with jobs, housing and access to services, he said.

Los Angeles is making strides, he said. The city launched a “10,000 Strong” initiative, focused on getting that many veterans hired by 2017. Since the program launched in June, about 3,000 veterans have gotten jobs, he said.

Dempsey on Monday gave what he said is the highest form of praise in the military — a strong “well done” — for the work local leaders have done. Still, he said, one size does not fit all, and the initiatives that have worked well so far in LA can’t be imposed on every community.

“The best things I see generally happen from the bottom up,” he said. hlad.jennifer@stripes.com Twitter: @jhlad

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Navy corpsman Petty Officer 3rd Class Michael Vallet sits in the black Iwo Jima sands for a moment of solemn reflection during the 70th anniversary ceremony of the Battle of Iwo Jima on Saturday.

PHOTOS

BY

M ATTHEW M. BURKE /Stars and Stripes

Return to Iwo Jima

BY M ATTHEW M. BURKE Stars and Stripes

IWO TO, Japan — One by one, they descended the steep incline, past the beach grass and lush vegetation that whispered in a melancholy wind. Past the destroyed

pillbox and rusted machine gun that still peered toward the black sand beach as it did when it fired on their fellow Marines 70 years earlier.

As they hit the volcanic powder below, they sunk up to their ankles, surrounded by rusty shrapnel from devastating Japanese mortar fire.

Some faltered, their bodies stiff with age, but they were immediately propped up by the latest generation of Marines.

Nothing was going to keep them from once again hitting the beach.

Nothing would keep them from honoring their fallen comrades, perhaps for the last time.

Though it seemed as if eons had passed, the battle for Iwo Jima came alive in their minds.

On Saturday, a couple of dozen survivors of the fight returned to the battlefield for a ceremony marking its 70th anniversary.

Many of the attendees, now in their late 80s and early 90s, said it would be their last journey back to the “sulfur island,” now referred to as Iwo To by the Japanese, who maintain the small scrap of land between the Mariana Islands and the Japanese mainland as a military base.

“When I saw … the carnage on that beach, and everything just torn to hell all over the place, this is when I went from boyhood to manhood,” said Norman Baker, who

was 18 when he hit Red Beach 2 with the 4th Marine Division on Feb. 19, 1945.

“I’m happy to be here with the guys and what have you,” he said, “but I can contemplate the horror of what we went through in the war and everything, and that will never leave guys like me.”

Baker recounted the pain of losing his best friend, Lincoln Clement Jr., to an exploding shell as they moved inland during the invasion.

He held vigil and ate his rations next to Clement’s body until he was evacuated. His friend’s death contributed to lifelong nightmares.

“[Lincoln] was like a brother, a dedicated brother,” Baker said. “We did everything together. We got so close it was more than family. I was never that close with my brothers or sisters than I was with Linc. And that’s why I have never forgotten him, never will. I have his pictures hanging in my library.”

Baker also recalled witnessing the artillery barrage that led to the death of Lt. Col. Chandler Johnson, who ordered the flag-raising on Mount Suribachi that was captured in an iconic photo by The Associated Press’ Joe Rosenthal.

Last week’s trip was equally hard on Hershel “Woody” Williams, the last living Medal of Honor recipient from the battle.

“My emotions are like a tornado,” Williams said — his medal around his neck and greatgrandson Benjamin Casey in his arms — as he surveyed the landscape he attacked with the 3rd Marine Division.

“They go up, and then something happens, and they go down. So they’ve been roller-coastering all day.”

Williams was honored for clearing a series of Japanese pillboxes with a flamethrower under heavy fire, then refusing evacuation despite shrapnel wounds.

“I never planned to come back,” he said. “I never would have if it hadn’t been for grandsons and great-grandsons that talked me into it. But now I’m glad I did, certainly for my sake. It has maybe helped a little in closure.”

SEE PAGE 12

Marine 1st Lt. John Roberts, left, and Gunnery Sgt. Stephen Traynham raise a flag on Mount Suribachi near the spot of the iconic Iwo Jima flag-raising following the ceremony marking 70 years since the battle.

The ‘’Reunion Honor’’ Williams said itof was also impormonument Jima, and tant to impart on theIwo knowledge now called Iwonext To, was the experience to the generation, sitesacrifices of the 70th anniversary so the of more than 6,800 commemoration ceremony of U.S. servicemembers killed and the Battle of Iwo . Itforgotdrew 19,000 wounded willJima not be ten.veterans On the Japanese approxifrom bothside, Japan and mately 18,000 States, were killed. the United as well as politicians and military officials on Saturday.

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Friday, March 27, 2015

PACIFIC FROM PAGE 11

After months of aerial and naval bombardment, the battle for Iwo Jima began on Feb. 19, 1945, with the Marines launching an amphibious assault and the Japanese waiting in bunkers dug deep into the volcanic rock.

Some 70,000 Marines took part in the 36-day battle. The island was declared secure on March 16.

The anniversary commemoration started under an intense sun as several hundred American and Japanese civilians, veterans and government officials arrived on military and commercial flights. They were bused out to the “Reunion of Honor,” a solitary obelisk monument that overlooks the beach and is surrounded by stones.

Bands from the III Marine Expeditionary Force and Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force played, and the flags of both nations were displayed as a misty rain fell. Then a steady stream of speakers reflected on the battle and what it meant to humanity and themselves.

“I keep in my mind that the peace and prosperity we enjoy now were built upon the many noble sacrifices of the war dead,” said Japanese House of Representatives member Yoshitaka Shindo, whose grandfather, Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, was garrison commander of Iwo Jima during the battle. “And I would also like to renew my resolve to make further efforts for the peace and stability of the world through cooperation between Japan and the United States, who now form a firm alliance.”

Japanese Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Marine Corps commandant Gen. Joseph When that Dunford Jr. flag went up also spoke.

“Today, the on the 23rd (of United States February), we and Japan got a new spirit. are interdeWe are going to pendent,” Mabus said. win this thing! I “Through can still see it, cooperation absolutely. in everything from internaHershel tional security ‘Woody’ Williams to free trade, last living Medal of Honor we depend on recipient from the battle

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More photos and video of the event and additional stories about the battle and WWII stripes.com/go/iwojima

PHOTOS

BY

M ATTHEW M. BURKE /Stars and Stripes

Above: Marine Lance Cpl. Morgan Barnes helps steady Battle of Iwo Jima veteran and fellow Marine Carl DeHaven as he makes his way to the ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the World War II battle. Below: Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, left, and Marine Corps commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. arrive at the event one another so that each nation may live in peace and prosperity.

“As partners, we will face the challenges of the future together, but we will never forget the lessons of our past. In trying times, we will invoke the character traits demonstrated here

by Japanese soldiers and United States sailors and Marines: honor, courage and sacrifice.”

The speeches were followed by wreath-layings, 30 seconds of silence and a volley of rifle fire.

While the colors were retired, many current Marines mingled and traded stories with the old breed.

“The flag went up (on Suribachi), and everyone started firing their guns in the air,” recalled Marine veteran Carl DeHaven. “The ships were firing, their whistles were blowing; they were going crazy. They were like, ‘The island’s secure; we’re going to go home.’ But that wasn’t the case.”

DeHaven had the grim task of collecting the dead and wounded and bringing them to either the cemetery or the beach.

“It was a morbid place to go back to because you’re used to seeing all the dead laying around and the dead being

carried out, and I was responsible for taking a lot of the dead out.”

After the ceremony, a handful of Marines hiked down the dirt road toward Suribachi for a pilgrimage of honor. It took a little over an hour to reach the 554-foot mountain’s summit, unfurling and raising the stars and bars in the same spot where Rosenthal’s photo was taken.

“I walked down through the sand a little bit, saw a couple of bunkers, then walked up the mountain,” Master Gunnery Sgt. Kevin Gascon said after reaching the summit. Meeting his predecessors and hearing their stories had left a major impression.

“I got to shake their hands and talk to them about their experiences. This was the best day in the Marine Corps,” he said.

For veterans like Williams and Baker, the battle was still vividly replaying in their memories, and likely will for the rest of their lives. They just hoped the sacrifices of so many were not in vain and that they would continue to be honored after they are gone.

“When he sees Mount Suribachi now, it’s going to mean something

to this little fella right here,” Williams said, pointing to his small great-grandson.

“If we had never put Old Glory on Mount Suribachi, it would have been just another campaign. But the fact that we put it up on enemy territory, the flag is what energized everything that took place. Our morale was dragging, we had lost so many guys.”

Williams’ eyes then twinkled, and a smile slowly formed on his face.

“When that flag went up on the 23rd (of February), we got a new spirit. We

Friday, March 27, 2015

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Navy is getting Ospreys Stars and Stripes

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Navy says it plans to obtain its own fleet of 44 V-22 Ospreys, taking possession of eight a year starting in 2020.

The decision to replace the aging fleet of C-2A Greyhound cargo aircraft with the tilt-rotor hybrid was made in an internal working document drafted earlier this year that laid the groundwork for funding, Navy spokesman Lt. Robert Myers wrote in a statement to Stars and Stripes.

The Navy V-22 Joint Program Office expects to issue a contract for development of a Navy variant in fiscal 2016, with production beginning in fiscal 2018.

Operating as a basic transport aircraft, the Navy variant will be virtually the same as the Marine Corps MV-22, but will add an extended-range fuel system, high-frequency radio and public-address system, Myers said.

“The Navy conducted a V-22 Military Utility Assessment to assess the viability of the V-22 to perform the [carrier-onboard-delivery] mission from the aircraft carrier and evaluate its impact on flight deck

Friday, March 27, 2015

Inventory stickers find way into homes, hearts

MILITARY

BY M ATTHEW M. BURKE

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Courtesy of the U.S. Navy

A Marine V-22A Osprey lands aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu on Oct. 31. Because of the hybrid aircraft’s flexibility, the Navy is looking to acquire its own V-22 fleet. and cyclic operations,” Myers said. “Within the scope of this assessment, the V-22 demonstrated an effective, flexible and safe capability.”

Navy pilots currently train alongside their Marine counterparts to develop a knowledge base for the aircraft, Myers said. The Osprey already operates off Navy carriers.

The sea-service is the latest entity at home or abroad to enter the market for the Bell-Boeing helicopter-toplane hybrid. The Marine Corps has obtained more than 200 Ospreys to replace aging CH-46E Sea Knight assault support helicopters and has a requirement of 360. Air Force Special Operations’ aircrews have 33 with a requirement of 50.

The aircraft has performed admirably under fire in Iraq and Afghanistan and in humanitarian operations in the Philippines despite safety concerns that plagued the platform early in its development.

The Japanese government plans to add as many as 17 tiltrotor aircraft by fiscal 2018,

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher Terry Leonard, Editor Robert H. Reid, Senior Managing Editor Tina Croley, Managing Editor for Content Amanda L. Trypanis, U.S. Edition Editor Michael Davidson, Revenue Director CONTACT US 529 14th Street NW, Suite 350, Washington, D.C. 20045-1301 Email: stripesweekly@stripes.com Editorial: (202) 761-0908 Advertising: (202) 761-0910 Michael Davidson, Weekly Partnership Director: davidson.michael@stripes.com Additional contact information: stripes.com

most likely the V-22 Osprey.

Israel has also expressed interest.

News of the Navy’s intentions caused some grumbling, according to industry publications, as there was no competition to develop the Navy’s next carrier-onboard-delivery system. However, Navy officials said they explored other options and consulted with industry insiders. They said it would be easier and cheaper to go with the V-22 than to start a new program.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus told members of Congress in February that the current platform requires a tail hook and needs to be arrested and catapulted while the Osprey does not. The Osprey can be used in different parts of the carrier and can also be used on other ships.

“It is a more flexible platform,” he said. “And the further we got in, the clearer that that option became. It was a very affordable aircraft.”

A spokeswoman for Boeing referred requests for comment to Navy officials. burke.matt@stripes.com

This publication is a compilation of stories from Stars and Stripes, the editorially independent newspaper authorized by the Department of Defense for members of the military community. The contents of Stars and Stripes are unofficial, and are not to be considered as the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, including the Defense Department or the military services. The U.S. Edition of Stars and Stripes is published jointly by Stars and Stripes and this newspaper.

The appearance of advertising in this publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the DOD or Stars and Stripes of the products or services advertised.

Products or services advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use, or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation, or any other nonmerit factor of the purchaser, user, or patron.

© Stars and Stripes, 2015

npacking my suitcase day, I was at a friend’s house after returning from … I looked down and saw an a visit last week with orange sticker like this, and my mom, I almost then I smiled because a civilian overlooked one of the gifts I person would never understand brought home. Mom gave me about the sticker collections quite a few things she knew that military families have.”

I’d like to have: embroidered I’m glad I’m not the only one tea towels that belonged to my who gets sentimental — even grandmother, a handful of old philosophical — about a little photos, an antique sewing box. bit of adhesive tape.

Among these treasures was Our sticker collections hint one item that might not seem at our past and future transilike much of a gift — a little tions. Those moves also shape blue inventory sticker. I had to the way I live in the present, smile when I saw that she had honing some skills and dulling saved it. I remember when she others. For example, I’m good told me she found it, more than at moving in. Within a week 40 years after her last military or two I can unpack the boxes, move. hang enough curtains and picIt was after I had a similar tures to be ready for weekend experience while cleaning guests, a birthday celebration the floor one day. I moved the or even Christmas. We’ve all kitchen trash bin to vacuum done it. in the corner, and there it was: I’m not so good at spring a little blue sticker. It was cleaning. I SPOUSE CALLS imprinted only with a number, usually wait “120,” but I recognized it imuntil it’s mediately, because I’ve seen moving time thousands like it in a variety of to declutter, colors. An inventory sticker. clean out We’d moved months before. closets, and The boxes were long unpacked, deep clean so why did it show up that under the day? Maybe it was on a box appliances. of Christmas decorations I’d I’m pretty recently put away. Perhaps it good at makTerri Barnes turned up on a sneaker sole ing friends and then was quickly, and Join the conversation with Terri at tossed in the just as quickstripes.com/go/spousecalls general direcly evaluating tion of the those who garbage. will remain One way or another, it ended acquaintances. I don’t meaup on the floor, a reminder that sure the depth of friendship moving is not just something by the number of hours spent my family does every two or together or the number of miles three years, it sticks to us all that separate us. My closest the time. The evidence is alfriends are often from military ways there, hidden on the back families, because we don’t have of a dresser or in plain sight on to explain these things to each the kitchen floor. other. I’m not so good at saying I shared a photo of my goodbye, in spite of having misplaced inventory sticker on plenty of practice. I’m much Facebook, and several military better at saying, “I hope our spouses left comments. paths cross again.” In military life, they often do.

“Oh, no! You lost part of your My mom — a military wife family history off the back of for 20 years — also commented your couch! Put it back! Put it on that Facebook post about my back!” said Army wife Carol sticker find, and the fact that Simpson. June Herring, whose she had recently found one, too. husband retired from the Air “They never all go away!”

Force a few years ago, kept she said. No, they don’t. They some of her inventory stickers stick to us like the memories we on purpose. “I still have a few make and the friends we find in that I just leave there for a good all the places this life takes us. memory whenever I run across That’s what makes one little blue them,” she said. inventory sticker such a sweet Deb Hammer, another Army gift from my mother to me. wife, said, “This is a reminder: Don’t get too comfy. Eventually This column is excerpted from someone tags your things and Terri Barnes’ book “Spouse Calls: Messages From a Military Life.” takes them away. Just the other