DON MARSHALL'S ACCOUNT (1)

DON MARSHALL'S report of his experiences on IWOJIMA begins at D-1 in the night when he "took a turn around the deck":
"The bright aluminum moon hanging in the sky paved an avenue of light across the calm Pacific waters toward the ship."
Then he tells us s.th. quite peculiar:
"I had finished my last murder mystery, reluctantly painted over the Jap flags on my helmet, as per request of Lieutenant Charles Schultz, C Company. If our fighter pilots kept score of kills on their planes, why couldn't I on my helmet?"
There was a (divine) service for "those needing comfort of prayer". Don, however, not being much too religious, went to a steak dinner, an old Marine tradition. And he goes on:
"Some, fearing stomach wounds, refused, but not I."
This was the plan for the landing:
"Fifth Amp Tracs were assigned to land troops on Blue Beaches and Yellow Beach 2, 5th Division Regiments 27th and 28th to the left, nearest the base of Mount Suribachi, and 4th Division Regiments 23rd and 25th to the right."
27th and 28th: securing the volcano, then turning north driving up the west side-23rd and 25th: cutting directly "across the island", taking Motoyama Airfiled, pivoting right, driving up to the centre and east side-3rd division: remaining at sea "as a floating reserve".
"We went into action on the third day."
And then the shelling begins:
"We could hear th whumps as our fleet's cannons slammed shells into the tiny island."
And he continues with his special humour telling us the UDT (Underwater Demolition Team) was "said to be half fish and half nuts."
They found only one mine.
All 12 LCIs hit; "nine of those put out of commission and one sunk"-no news of the cruiser Pensacola "getting slammed with artillery fire at 1, 600 yards taking six hits, 17 dead and 120 wounded"-"We were unaware the battleship Tennessee and a support destroyer had taken direct hits."
DON MARSHALL, seemingly cold as ice and of boundless optimism, plays chess with his crew chief SERGEANT WALTER "STONEY" CRAGG "laying on top of our amphib...when around 4. 30 a.m. orders came to stand down for loading."-"We planned on finishing the game later."-CRAGG supervising the loading and MARSHALL cranking the engine 42 times.
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