Published: June 23, 2006 04:25 pm      

Remembering the fight

Former US Marine shares his account of the Battle of Iwo Jima

Approximately one-third of the United States Marines that were killed during World War II were killed during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Marion ‘Frank’ Walker was one of the lucky ones that survived the battle, which was 61 years ago.

Walker, now 81, has dedicated the rest of his life to telling his account of what happened during the 36-day combat on the island of Iwo Jima.

“It’s only been since last year I’ve been able to open up about this,” Walker said. “I find myself one of very few living survivors and if we don’t tell it now, it will die with us. This battle is not taught in schools.”

Walker spoke to an audience of more than 80 people Thursday night at the New Albany-Floyd County Public Library about his experiences in the Marine Corps and the Battle of Iwo Jima — the deadliest battle in the 231-year history of the Marine Corps.

“If you could condense the carnage of all of the war in the Pacific onto a tiny island — that’s Iwo Jima,” Walker said.

Walker, a resident of Brownstown, was in the 5th Division, 2nd Battalion of the Marine Corps. He grew up in Seymour and joined the Marines when he was 17.

“I was just a country boy with a keen interest of what was going on around me.”

Walker said the purpose of his story is not to educate, but to make people understand the terrors of war.

“Until I get to the point when I can’t talk anymore, I’m going to talk about this. We have to erase today’s belief that there is glory in war — believe me, there is no glory in war,” Walker said. “This is a nation of video games and expensive electronics. The new generations today are so unaware of the dangers of war.”

Walker recounted the day that the Marines landed on Iwo Jima.

“The island was heavily bombarded for 74 days before we got there. We didn’t think there could be a living soul on the island — boy, were we wrong.”

The island of Iwo Jima has approximately 45 miles of tunnels running below its surface. The Japanese forces were encamped in the tunnels, which had an electrical system for fresh air, and were able to keep the Marines from seeing them.

Don Brody, a New Albany historian, gave the audience some information about the background of the island of Iwo Jima.

“The Japanese have fortifications that are unparalleled because they started fortifying that island in 1921, when they were awarded 21,000 miles of the South Pacific,” Brody said. “They were preparing for World War II in 1921.”

Walker said that factor was a major problem for the Marines. The enemy was invisible, but they were open targets.

“There were about 2,000 casualties in the first two to three hours. They could see us, but we couldn’t see them — we soon discovered that we were trapped. The sand was like quicksand, we couldn’t get any equipment on that beach.”

The Marines reached Mt. Suribachi, the high point of the island, in two days. It took them four days to reach the summit and on Feb. 23, 1945, the famous flag-raising took place. The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by Joe Rosenthal pictures six Marines raising an American flag on the top of Mt. Suribachi. It has been rumored that the picture, which has appeared on the covers of books, magazines, posters and stamps as an icon of American heroism, was staged.

“They say the flag-raising was staged. It was not. I was there, I saw it happen. When our flag went up, we heard a roar and we didn’t know what was going on — we didn’t know that they were watching from the ships with binoculars — we were just being Marines,” Walker said.

However, their joy of taking Mt. Suribachi was swept away when they got back to the base of the mount.

“Our battalion was completely non-existent — of 120 men in our battalion who landed on the island, 12 got off. Was I spared by God to tell this story of war? I do not know.”

Walker recounted the rest of his time on the island, until he came to the part that he had blocked out of his memory.

“I do remember being issued clean clothes and a cold shower on the ship, but I don’t remember how I got there and I didn’t remember any of the faces I’d known before.”

Walker closed his presentation by denouncing the act of war.

“If our leaders in Washington had to go through an Iwo Jima of yesterday, then there would be no war today. Let them replace the guns with pencils and then maybe we’ll have peace on earth.”

The statement, however, sparked a discussion between some younger members of the audience, to which Walker said “I fight for freedom, not for politics.”

One member of the audience, Mark Maupin of Louisville, stood up and spoke about his father, Lloyd Delbert Maupin, who was a 3rd Division Marine on Iwo Jima at the same time Walker was on the island.

“My father lived to be 85 years old and I only got tidbits of the story, but I know this, my father despised war and he thought killing was horrendous, but he would go back to Iwo Jima in a second,” Maupin said. “It is a thankless job that nobody wants.”