My dad's personal records…

[The Annoyed Man]

My middle brother and I are taking steps to catalog, digitize, and distribute to the family copies of a bunch of interesting letters and documents of my father's, particularly going back to his WW2 and immediate post-war years. In the process, we ran across this one (edited a little to preserve privacy). Imagine, you know your son is headed into eventual combat on some remote Pacific island, and then you get one of these delivered to your house:

(POST EDITED TO CORRECT A TYPO)

[Mike S]

Wow! Was Lt Smith your father, or was this a U.S.M.C. screw up sending a notification to the wrong address??

[mayor]

Interesting.

[puma guy]

That was a time in America when so many received that kind of notification or worse and stoically accepted the news. I can't imagine the anxiety your grand parents went through awaiting further information on your dad's status. Even in their grief and stress I'm sure they proudly accepted that America was doing the right thing and viewed those who served as heroes. Those whom we call the Greatest Generation also includes those who were left at home to endure whatever came their way regarding those they loved. There will never be an America like that I'm afraid, but fortunately there are still patriots who uphold that same proud tradition of serving. I can't salute your dad, but I thank him for his service.

[anygunanywhere]

That was a time in America when so many received that kind of notification or worse and stoically accepted the news. I can't imagine the anxiety your grand parents went through awaiting further information on your dad's status. Even in their grief and stress I'm sure they proudly accepted that America was doing the right thing and viewed those who served as heroes. Those whom we call the Greatest Generation also includes those who were left at home to endure whatever came their way regarding those they loved. There will never be an America like that I'm afraid, but fortunately there are still patriots who uphold that same proud tradition of serving. I can't salute your dad, but I thank him for his service.

All military families suffer when their spouse, mom, dad, son, daughter, etc are on deployment. My wife and sons lived through my 9 fleet ballistic missile patrols not hearing from me for 2 1/2 months at a time. It really dowsn't matter which branch or specialty, the loneliness and longing are the same. That is why every Veteran's Day on 11/11 I honor my wife for her courage in my absence and remind others of the same. They deserve the honors as well.

[The Annoyed Man]

Wow! Was Lt Smith your father, or was this a U.S.M.C. screw up sending a notification to the wrong address??

Yeah, he was my dad. The bullet (6.5mm Arisaka) hit him in the solar plexus and struck a brass button on his field jacket first. Then it sprayed brass jacket button and copper jacketing fragments into his left lung, while the bullet core got deflected up and slightly to the left, where it stayed in his rib cage, dissecting between 2 ribs all the way around to his back where it exited next to his spine just below his left scapula.

He was hit within the 1st few minutes after dawn in Cushman's Pocket. He and the other 6 survivors (5 of them also wounded…a couple quite severely) that were still there with him were trapped in the Pocket until just before sunrise the next morning, when marines from the battalion command element were able to get to them and bring them back through the lines to "safety".

He and the others received initial treatment at the battalion aid station. Well…my dad received initial treatment from a corpsman in the field, who tragically was killed by a 3rd round while my dad was helping him, after he had been hit twice while rendering aid to my dad. In any event, dad's wounds were probed and a few larger fragments removed, and then he was put on a C47 (Suribachi had already been reduced and the main airfield was already handling US flights) and flown to Guam where he had his surgery and convalescence.

Dad went ashore on D-day+3 (February 22, 1945) as part of a replacement draft from the 3rd Division reserve being held offshore. He was then assigned to E/2/9 and given 1st Platoon. E Co had been in the line and pretty badly shot up. They were given a few days to rest and refit, and for my dad to get to know his men a bit. The irony is that they were "resting and refitting" only about 25 yards back of the lines. 2/9 was continuously in the lines from March 2nd to March 8. Approximately 2500 men came ashore with the 9th Regiment. Of those:

KIA: officers 22, enlisted 486, total 508
WIA: officers 62, enlisted 1402, total 1464
MIA: officers 0, enlisted 7, total 7
DWRIA: officers 4, enlisted 53, total 57
TOTAL LOSSES: officers 88, enlisted 1948, total 2036 out of 2500.

Eventually, the 9th disappears from the rosters, and the remaining men (about enough to make up a company) were redistributed to the 21st Regiment. I’m in possession of a scanned copy of the real-time after action reports written down during the battle. There’s a lot confusion about dates and times, between this report, and follow on reports, not to mention in the official 3rd Division History (of which I possess an original copy, published in 1947.

The only date I can be absolutely certain of is the date my dad went ashore…D-day+3, being 02/22/1945…because he never varied from telling it that way, but whether he was hospitalized on March 6th on Guam, or if that’s simply the date that his "official" status finally caught up with him and so that’s what was put in the telegram to his mother, who knows? In a long letter to his SOCS class reunion committee (which I have previously posted here), he said that he was given 2 days to meet his men and get the platoon organized for the upcoming assault. For absolute certain, he was wounded at least 2 full days, possibly longer, before arriving on Guam via C47. So if he came ashore on the 22nd, had the 23rd and 24th to get his platoon ready, then that would mean that he assaulted into Cushman's pocket early predawn on the 25th, the same day he was shot … which doesn’t seem right if he was hospitalized on 03/06; because working backwards from the 6th, he would have been shot on or about the 3rd or 4th of March. Somewhere in there, we’re missing a week. Either that, or the records aren’t entirely reliable.

[Mike S]

I think it's amazing that you're family has this depth of knowledge of your father's service. The fog of war during such massive operations like the Pacific campaign coupled with casualties being evacuated en-mass to Guam no doubt contributed to the ambiguity of dates with his injury to arrival at Guam timeline. God Bless you & your family for keeping this history alive, & God Bless your father for his service & sharing his story.

[puma guy]

I think it's amazing that you're family has this depth of knowledge of your father's service. The fog of war during such massive operations like the Pacific campaign coupled with casualties being evacuated en-mass to Guam no doubt contributed to the ambiguity of dates with his injury to arrival at Guam timeline. God Bless you & your family for keeping this history alive, & God Bless your father for his service & sharing his story.

It is amazing. My dad's records were destroyed in a fire according to the DOD when I tried to get them. The only records I have are a a couple of the old sepia negative copies of forms that he saved recording his enlistment date, resignation and acceptance of his commission after completing basic training. He originally didn't want to enlist using his Texas A&M Corp background, but was convinced to accept the commission and go into the Veterinary Corp ending up in the China Burma India theater in northern India's Assam District at the Chabua Army Air Corp base where most of the flights over 'The Hump" originated.

[The Annoyed Man]

I think it's amazing that you're family has this depth of knowledge of your father's service. The fog of war during such massive operations like the Pacific campaign coupled with casualties being evacuated en-mass to Guam no doubt contributed to the ambiguity of dates with his injury to arrival at Guam timeline. God Bless you & your family for keeping this history alive, & God Bless your father for his service & sharing his story.

It is amazing. My dad's records were destroyed in a fire according to the DOD when I tried to get them. The only records I have are a a couple of the old sepia negative copies of forms that he saved recording his enlistment date, resignation and acceptance of his commission after completing basic training. He originally didn't want to enlist using his Texas A&M Corp background, but was convinced to accept the commission and go into the Veterinary Corp ending up in the China Burma India theater in northern India's Assam District at the Chabua Army Air Corp base where most of the flights over 'The Hump" originated.

I was told the same thing by the DoD when I requested my dad's records…that they were destroyed in a fire. However, they were able to send me a copy taken from microfilm of his discharge papers, what would today be called a DD214. So I do have that. Everything else I have is taken either from his own oral history, various books, FOIA requested materials given to me by others, and personal correspondences between myself and others who were there.

[Paladin]

Thanks for posting! Iwo was one of the toughest battles in American history