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Lions hear veteran recall Iwo Jima experiences

Cleburne Times-Review - 4/8/2017

April 07--Don Graves was just a few feet away from being in one of the most iconic photos of the 20th century.

On Feb. 23, 1945, photographer Joe Rosenthal took the iconic image of six U.S. Marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi on the South Pacific island of Iwo Jima.

Graves was among the more than 25,000 Marines of the 5th Division who landed on the black ash beach of the island to fight their way up Suribachi. He spoke about his experiences on Wednesday during a meeting of the Cleburne Lions Club.

In a video interview with CBS 11 presented at the meeting, Graves said he was so close to where the photograph was staged, "I could have helped raise that flag."

Graves came ashore, a 72-pound flamethrower on his back, in the third wave of the attack against Suribachi, where the Japanese had dug in their heavy artillery.

His first memories of the attack were of having his buddies haul him to the beach and attempt to hunker down in the black sand as mortar shells exploded around them. The fight up the mountain took three days just to move 600 feet against an entrenched enemy.

Most of Graves' mission was to use his flamethrower to root out the Japanese concealed in an elaborate tunnel system under the mountain.

While the flag raising inspired the Marines and would spur support for the war back home, it was an insult to the Japanese, Graves said. An enemy flag had been raised on Japanese soil.

It seemed to just make the Japanese soldiers want to dig in and fight more fiercely, Graves said. It was March 26 before the 8.1-square-mile island fell to U.S. forces.

More than 26,000 American casualties were suffered in the 36-day battle. Graves said he landed on the island in a company of 335 men. He was among the 17 men in his company who survived the battle.

Graves was just 17 when he joined the Marine Corps about a year after the Dec. 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor.

He grew up in Detroit, Michigan, a child of the Depression. He and his family knew hard times like most of the people in his neighborhood.

He told the Lions he had one pair of dress pants, usually worn just to church, when he went -- the pants became so worn and spotted he was embarrassed to go to church. He also had a pair of bib overalls he wore every day.

He started working at age 10, earning money selling papers, making a half-cent for each paper sold.

When he heard the declaration of war on the radio on Dec. 8, he and his buddies wanted to join the military as soon as they could. He was 16 then and ended up having to wait until he was 17 to enlist.

Doing his best impression of President Franklin Roosevelt, Graves read Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech declaring the state of war.

These days, when he shares his stories, he can add a little humor to his wartime experience, noting for instance he was a little guy assigned to heavy weapon like the flamethrower. "The little guy is less of a target."

Besides sharing his war experiences to groups like the Lions, Graves has also sung the national anthem at sporting events, including at Texas Rangers games.

His friend and manager Paul Swartz said Graves has been asked to sing the anthem on the opening day for the Cleburne Railroaders on May 18.

Graves said he talks about his about his experiences because "what I really try to do is represent the Greatest Generation."

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(c)2017 the Cleburne Times-Review (Cleburne, Texas)

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