Don spotting aerial bombs in the sand.-"The whole place was mined!"-He found a rifle (M 1 Garand) "and jammed it upright in the sand as a warning post".-"I ran from one hole to another gathering M1s and carbines, affixed the bajonets and stuck each one by a mine."-"I pointed to the marked bombs, they acknowledged with a wave."-Then, heading back to his tractor at the beach.-"black ash packed my shoes"-He took the leggings of a fallen Marine.-He discarded his shoes.-He called them a luxury, for '"size 15 boon-dockers were hard to come by, even for the Marines."-"During the past six months, I had fought barefoot on Saipan."-Lieutenant Joe Reece offered him a pass to the States, but Don refused.-His boots arrived two days before they sailed to Iwo.-Otherwise he would have been left behind.-He "tried the radio again."-Male voice identifying as Moby Dick.-"turned up the volume full bore."-Marines advancing "to the Chatanooga Choo Choo, One O'Clock Jump and all othe favourites"-"I hope the troops enjoyed it"
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drawing: passing tractor striking aerial bomb-"Of the men who went in the air, one landed right in front of me, a quivering mass of strawberry jam."-"He gasped a few times, then expired. There was nothing I could do."-Few minutes before, one of the tractor crew had asked Don "where the 24th was."-Don "was tempted to ask for a ride but didn't."-"I motioned them to the right..."-"they swung the tractor, moved about twenty feet and struck the mine. To this day I feel responsible."---
photo: on this shot Don recognised " the amtrac blown apart by the bomb"
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