Private Wayne D. Thomas, formerly a member of the 30th Replacement Draft, was assigned to the 24th Marines during the battle of Iwo Jima. He became a mortar gunner with First Battalion’s Company A, under 2nd Lieutenant Walter Russell. Thomas ultimately survived the battle, but was transferred out of Company A in the late spring of 1945 for hospitalization at Farragut, Idaho.
These newspaper clippings were submitted by his grandson, Larry Rynearson. Of particular note is the group photograph – the only currently known image of Company A mortar men on Iwo Jima. Aside from Lieutenant Russell, a former gunnery sergeant promoted up to take the place of the late Lt. Philip Wood, all of these Marines are in their first battle.
