A Tomb Called Iwo Jima by King Dan

Author:King, Dan [King, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Publisher: Pacific Press
Published: 2014-11-09T08:00:00+00:00

The Marines are Landing

Akikusa watched boats carrying troops head towards the island, and described odd-looking tracked vehicles and tanks that came ashore ahead of the Marines.

Growing in the soil outside of Akikusa's vision port were a few lavender-colored flowers, looking much like morning glories. Akikusa had not taken notice of the delicate petals before, and felt it as a sign from heaven that he would survive the battle.

But as more and more vehicles and boats arrived, he grew worried. "The Marines were digging in down at the water's edge. There were so many of them," said Akikusa. "It reminded me of a crowd of baseball fans waiting for the stadium to open. I saw their numbers swell from several hundred to a few thousand. Each new wave piled on top of the last one," he said. He was worried that the lack of concentrated counter-fire meant that the Americans would overrun the island. Why weren't our big guns firing? he thought.

Akikusa was encouraged by the sharp sound of bugles echoing over the landscape. To the Marines in the first couple of waves, the staccato Japanese melody would have sounded like a cavalry charge from a John Wayne western movie. The cheery notes belied its dark lyrics, dete kuru, dete kuru, minna minna korose (Come out, come out, kill them all). The buglers' lips pressed hard, splitting against the metal mouthpieces, blowing with all of their might. They poked their bugles out of vent holes and observation ports to blow the the 4-second-long repetitive tune that cut through the ensuing explosions and gunfire.

Ensign Ōmagari heard the bugles, too, and exited the Nanpō tunnel complex to place his men in their spider holes.[58] For the sixty men under his direct control, Ōmagari had only twenty Type-38 Arisaka bolt-action rifles, two Type-89 50 mm "knee mortar" grenade launchers, and 120 Type-97 hand grenades. He told his men, "Iwo Jima will be our tomb."93

Radioman Tsuruji Akikusa said, "A runner brought a message from Kuribayashi's HQ asking if the enemy had landed. Another runner came with a message that congratulated us for repelling the invasion. This made me angry because it meant the Army wasn't engaged in the fight. It was the (naval) Southern Defense Sector doing all the work," Akikusa said. He saw Japanese rocket-bombs explode on the heavily packed shoreline. The Marines were pushed back into the surf as mortars, machine guns and artillery rounds rained down on the crowded beaches. "The beaches were so full of men, boats and vehicles, that there was no way to miss them. Many were forced back into the water. Yet, I saw many small boats coming and going, bringing even more Marines," Akikusa said.

One of those boats was piloted by 17-year-old Boatswain's Mate Third Class (BM3/c) John McKenzie in LCVP No. PA-159-24, from USS Darke (AP-159). McKenzie was carrying thirty Marines, from the 4th Marine Division, and was about 200 yards away from Red Beach 2 when he was broadsided by another LCVP that was heading back out to sea.

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