RECOUNTS OF IWO JIMA: PFC BILL MONTGOMERY

“It was the fourth day after we landed, I was all alone, lying on a slope on the edge of an airfield, when I heard some ships’ horns sounding. And cheering started from guys in the foxholes.

I casted my eyes to the summit of Surabachi, and there was the flag! What a feeling that was! I felt ecstasy! I knew it was all over. So many of us had been killed. We made it through... I quickly realized it wasn't over at all.

I endured the entire 37-day fight, day after bloody day.

I hate to use this term, but Iwo Jima was really a killing ground. Hate to say that, but that’s exactly what it was.

I came across Marines sitting on the ground, hands to their faces, sobbing their hearts out. Their minds just snapped.

Toward the end we were told to go pick up the dead Marines and put them on the edge of the road to be picked up by truck and taken to the cemetery. Many of them have been laying there for a week or so. A lot of guys grabbed a dead Marine by the arm or leg—and it would come off.

Long trenches were scooped out in the ground, then row after row of dead Marines were wrapped in their ponchos and laid to rest. I remember looking for the GRAVESITES of my buddies who were killed.. I then realized I was looking over the graves of thousands of young Americans who gave their lives, many too young to have learned what life was all about.

That wasn’t a pleasant sight, as a matter of fact, I don’t remember ever seeing a pleasant sight on Iwo. Except the ship when we left.

Out of the 50 men I landed with, only myself and 5 others survived." – PFC Bill Montgomery, 2nd Bn, 26th Marines, 5th Marine division