BATTLE NARRATIVE
Caves. Iwo Jima: 24 February 1945
The same sun that rose on flag-topped Suribachi shone its wan light on the dust-filled foxholes of an exhausted 4th Marine Division. Men stretched tired limbs, woke sleeping buddies, checked in with their neighbors, and lit their morning cigarettes. There were reports of sporadic mortar fire, isolated shots, and shadowy figures skulking around in the darkness.[1] As they ate their cold morning chow, few gave a thought to the barely visible flag behind them. They fixed their eyes and attention on the front.
The day’s orders called for King Hour at 0915, with the “limited objective” of seizing Line 0-1A.[2] Seventy-five minutes of “deliberate, destructive bombardment by Naval Units with 8” or heavier caliber… with a maximum VT and VF airstrike… and a coordinated Corps-Division Artillery concentration and preparation” would precede the attack.[3] Extended preparatory fires were badly needed. The 4th Marine Division was operating at an estimated 60% of its ideal combat efficiency, and the terrain ahead was just as unforgiving as it had been on the day before. Tactics were much the same, too – a brutal, frontal assault. Iwo Jima did not have the space for the fancy flanking maneuvers that worked so well in the Marianas, and as the battle inched northward into the tangles of rocks and blasted trees, tank and air support became more challenging to coordinate. It was up to the infantry to make the actual progress.
Renewed Assault
Fortunately for 1/24, the division’s main effort was focused on the left end of the line.[4] Histories of the battle record a bloody drama as 2/24 hurled itself against a rise in TA 183 CD, which had to fall so that the recently-arrived 21st Marines could reach Motoyama Airfield #2. This area, quickly nicknamed “Charlie-Dog Ridge,” changed hands several times in a single day; no sooner had the battalion wiped out the defenders than a tremendous mortar barrage shattered the troops on the summit. Bitterly, the battalion withdrew to the bottom of the hill; the Japanese quickly reoccupied the top. Still, the 2/24 managed to gain 200 yards. In the center, 3/24 notched a fifty-yard gain, thus helping to straighten out the regimental front.
Major Paul Treitel’s 1/24 started moving at 1030, with Able and Baker companies in the attack. Able gamely tried to cross the ground that stymied Charlie Company the day before, but the Japanese artillery was more than ready to repeat its deadly performance. Air bursts and knee mortars kept the Marines dodging – and calling for corpsmen throughout the day.
A few men ducked behind boulders or into shell holes for another, more fundamental reason. The ordinarily simple process of relieving oneself took on a new and terrifying dimension when every yard of the ground was under observation. Exposing themselves in front buddies was no problem – the idea of privacy on Iwo was so laughable that it barely registered for most Marines — but exposure to the enemy was something else. “In battle, eventually you have to stop and go to the bathroom,” remarked PFC John Pope. “Nobody wants to get shot with his pants down! We had some real funny incidents like that, a guy running across the field with his pants around his ankles.”[5] Fortunately, on Iwo, everyone was too busy to eat much. “I don’t remember taking a crap on Iwo,” recalled “Iron Mike” Mervosh. “Maybe we shit in our pants. They gave us this ration, which was a chocolate bar. If you had dentures, you could forget about eating the damn thing. You had to use a Ka-Bar to break it loose. Maybe that’s what you’d call asshole cement. I do remember you pissed in your helmet and threw it over the side of the foxhole. You weren’t going to get up to take a leak.” [6]
Pharmacist’s Mate DeVore “Flash” Gordon concurred. “It’s very difficult to appease Mother Nature when you’re in combat like that, you can hardly move out of your hole for being shot at,” he recalled. However, on D+5 Gordon heard a call more urgent than any cry of “corpsman.” He jumped into a nearby shell hole, “pulled my britches down and was doing my best… and along comes a mortar.”
Gordon recalled the Japanese sighting technique as “one up, one down.” The first round landed in the vicinity, not near enough to do damage, but close enough that he could tell he was the target. He knew a second round was incoming and winced as it struck right beside his shell hole. A third was on the way, “and I knew I had to get out of there VERY fast. I leaped out of the hole with my britches in the breeze and my butt exposed – and it happened I leaped into my lieutenant’s hole. And he said ‘Doc, this is no time for love, pull your pants up!’ It was quite funny – except that mortar did land right in the hole where I was.”[7]
Before the day was out, Doc Gordon was struck down by a mortar round he couldn’t dodge. Peppered with shrapnel and partially paralyzed, he was carried away to the hospital ship USS Solace.
“We fired mortars and artillery almost continuously into the areas where enemy activity was observed,” notes the battalion After Action Report. “However, their point-blank firing of small arms continued. Our casualties continued to increase while our advances were nil.”[8] The loss of seven veteran NCOs in Able Company alone was brutal testimony to the effectiveness of the Japanese fire. For a second day, the defenders kept the assault companies at bay.
4th Marine Division troops attack, while a flamethrower operator awaits the call to advance. USMC photo.
Cave Clearing
Private Domenick Tutalo was used to volunteering. He’d volunteered for the Marines less than a month after his eighteenth birthday, volunteered to go to a Pacific-bound replacement draft, volunteered for machine gun training with Charlie Company, 24th Marines. However, “I couldn’t tell you why I chose to become a demolition man and flamethrower.” [9]
The Assault and Demolition platoon was an experimental unit, born out of experience in the Mariana islands. There, each rifle platoon trained one of its squads in the art of advanced destruction using satchel charges, bazookas, flamethrowers and blocks of C4 with dangerously temperamental detonators. This duty was taken on in addition to, not in place of, their regular roles as riflemen; it was assumed that demolitions work would be only a secondary specialty.
However, these squads were called upon so often that Platoon Sergeant Harry Koff suggested creating a dedicated assault unit. Reports of formidable Japanese defenses at Peleliu reinforced the idea, and so the new unit was given the go-ahead on 1 November 1944. 1Lt. Arthur L. McGilvray Jr., a former Paramarine, was placed in command of the platoon, but the real boss was Platoon Sergeant Koff. “He was tough,” recalled Tutalo. “I liked him later, but at that time, I thought he was a son of a gun. He was by the book, a Jewish man, religious. You couldn’t curse or nothing. When he was there, you watched what you said.”
Koff’s chosen men were a mixture of combat veterans drawn from every company in the battalion and replacements fresh from the States. He had limited time to mold them into a cohesive unit, and he worked them hard. “The training was very rough,” continued Tutalo. “We spent months learning how to blow things up with satchel charges and burn with flamethrowers.”[10] The nineteen-year-old Tutalo stood five-feet-five-inches and tipped the scales at 126 pounds: the M2 flamethrower alone was more than half his body weight. Fortunately, Tutalo was in exceptional shape, both physically and mentally. “At the time, it wasn’t that heavy,” he said. “You’re carrying a tank of napalm, but actually, at that time, you don’t think it’s dangerous. Your mind doesn’t think about that.”[11]
Really, it’s better not to think about the danger. It’s better to focus on the routine. Wait for the call from a pinned-down platoon. Put down your rifle and draw your weapons — the bazooka, the heavy satchel charges, the cumbersome flamethrower. Let the riflemen point out the objective, let the BARs and machine guns shoot right over your head, let them pin down the Japanese while you creep up as close as you can, cursing the short range of the flamethrower and how fast it burned through fuel. Ten seconds of flame total – make them count. When the covering fire stops, get in there before the enemy reacts because they know you’re coming. If it’s a cave, aim for the back to incinerate the enemy or shoot across the front to draw out the air and asphyxiate them. If it’s a bunker, aim for the firing port. Use short bursts and brace yourself against the recoil. Let your buddy with the satchel charge take over, pray that his aim is true as he underhand throws eighteen pounds of explosive into an opening, hope that the Japanese are too shocked to throw the charge back, brace for the explosion and the shower of rubble and be ready to hit them with the flame again. Above all, be ready for the sight of your enemies running out on fire from head to toe, and hope that the riflemen are coming up behind you to put them down or toss grenades into the ruined defenses. And then get back under cover, because another emplacement has you in its sights, or the Japanese are calling down mortars where they’ve seen the smoke. If your tank is empty, just drop it and wait. Your assistant will carry it away. You have a few minutes to recuperate before he returns with a full one. And you’ll need those few minutes because you’ll be doing this again and again and again.
Tutalo’s flamethrower squad, led by veteran Sergeant Harlan C. Jeffery, frequently trained with Charlie Company – but in combat, they supported anyone who called. And they were earning experience in spades. “In our first engagement up on the right flank at Iwo, everybody got killed except the sergeant [Jeffery] and another flamethrower,” Tutalo said of the disaster that befell his squad on D+1.[12] Since then, life had been a constant cycle of waiting for a call, a few moments of terror and flame, then back to waiting. They soon lost count of the number of fortifications they attacked; none knew how many Japanese they had shot, incinerated, blown to bits, or buried alive.
Now, Tutalo was headed back to the sector where he’d had his close call. Charlie Company took over for F/2/25 in the hated Boat Basin area. The beachfront defenses had defied the Marines for nearly five full days, and once again, the task was to burn and blast each individual position. Only one tank was available to help, and its range was limited: Iwo was terrible ground for tanks. “The terrain got rougher and rougher because of the catacombs and stuff where the water had washed in amongst it over the years,” said machine gunner Glenn Buzzard. “Some places you could step over a crack, and you’d see a big gap deep down there.” [13]
“The caves were down below the cliffs,” remembered PFC Arthur LaPorte. “We had to go to aid another company down there, between the cliffs and the water. It was like a horseshoe in there, and the ships couldn’t help us there firing because they were blocked by the terrain. So this company went in and tried to knock out the pillboxes, bunkers and caves, and they got pretty beat up.” As they watched for snipers, Marines also watched their steps – LaPorte almost tripped on a booby trap. “I think it was a gas cylinder that the Japanese had if they wanted to use gas on us. We marked it so no-one would step on it. I imagine if it busted it would turn into vapors and be poisonous. So we had to worry about things like that.” [14]
A few of the caves were silent, and some Marines ventured inside – theoretically hunting for Japanese stragglers, but really hunting for souvenirs. The new guys wanted a keepsake or a trophy; veterans wanted bartering chips. “We got a lot of souvenirs on Saipan and Tinian, sabers and weapons and everything like that,” said Mike Mervosh. “We carried them aboard ship and gave them to sailors for a loaf of bread, a can of peaches, juice, or pears.”[15] Swords, flags, currency, and pistols were top priority, but there were plenty of larger prizes too. PFC LaPorte marveled at a 1930s-era American motorcycle “all shot up” in one such emplacement. One of his squad leaders, Corporal Sandy Ball, loved motorcycles and spent some time tinkering with the machine – but no dice.
Replacements and old hands alike succumbed to the urge. Corporal Robert Johnston of Somerville, Massachusetts, was fighting his fourth battle; Assistant Cook Joseph O. Rooney of Watertown was experiencing his first. The pair cautiously approached a cave that bore the scars of hard fighting, picking their way over the debris-strewn floor. Johnston counted eighteen motionless Japanese bodies among the rubble – but only seventeen of them were dead. The last man, an officer, waited until Johnston’s turned away, then leaped to his feet brandishing a saber. Rooney yelled a warning, and Johnston dropped to the deck as the cook blazed away, killing the would-be ambusher. Shaken by this close call, the Boston boys swore off exploring – but not before Johnston relieved the officer of his saber.[16]
Not far away, another young Marine was poking around in a cave, hunting for souvenirs – “a very foolish move,” in the opinion of Art LaPorte. What started as a lark quickly turned tragic as a second Marine approached the cave. “He didn’t know [anyone] was in there, and this guy comes out – his buddy thought he was a Jap, and shot him right between the eyes,” said LaPorte. “So then, of course, he cracked up. And we lost two men [because] of a very foolish deal.” [17]
This horrible accident quashed any desire to enter the caves, and the word went down to send up the demolition squads. As much as Charlie Company would have loved to see the friendly faces of the combat engineers, those specialists were busy sealing larger caves in the rear. The task of clearing the final resistance in the Boat Basin fell to flamethrower men like Tutalo and Jeffery.
Harlan Jeffery had multiple scores to settle with the Japanese. He still hadn’t forgiven them for the shot in his shoulder, a souvenir of Saipan. Rather saltily, he wore his “air-conditioned” helmet with bullet holes fore and aft, courtesy of his close call in the draw on D+1. Returning to the Boat Basin brought back bad memories, and when a Japanese pillbox opened up on Charlie Company, Jeffery lost his temper. He rallied the survivors of his squad to burn out the Japanese pillbox – and then another, and another. The rampage ended when the third position was a smoking ruin, and Jeffery watched in satisfaction as the company’s advance resumed. He would later receive the Silver Star for his actions on D+5.[18]
Private Tutalo was part of this assault. As he shot napalm at living human beings, the young Marine tried hard to shut his mind to what he was seeing, hearing, and doing. “A lot of things went blank. It’s hard to talk about battles.” [19]
“To stay alive, we finally resorted to flame throwers,” reported Corporal Johnston. “We would blow flames into one end of a tunnel, and the enemy would run out of the other side of the tunnel. Then the fighting would happen with our soldiers stationed at the other end…. Sometimes we could not get the Japanese out of the tunnels and just had to close up the caves with putty explosives. It was so hard.” [20]
One cave blew up dramatically. “Apparently, it was storage for airplane fuel,” recalled Art LaPorte. “The flames went in the cliff about a hundred feet. We ran like rabbits from there! One guy threw down gear and rifle and took off for the beach.” The flames quickly died subsided; the embarrassed Marine collected up his gear, ears burning from his buddies’ laughter. Less amused was his squad leader, a leather-lunged sergeant who “really chewed him out for throwing his rifle down.” [21]
When the assault squads were busy, rifle platoons had to take their share of the demolitions work. In Third Platoon’s sector, 2Lt. Jack Manning “could see enemy soldiers running in this huge cave entrance. It was big enough to drive a truck in. We decided to blow the entrance up and seal whatever was in there for good.”As Manning’s men threw white phosphorous grenades for cover, the lieutenant grabbed a hefty satchel charge.
Mindful of earlier incidents, Manning and his men had no desire to poke around the scene of their triumph. Ten years later, one of the lieutenant’s friends returned to the island and investigated the cave. “The cave had been a Japanese hospital, and inside they found over a hundred iron hospital beds with a skeleton on each bed,” related Manning. “[They] had the cave permanently sealed, and to this day, it has been undisturbed.” [22]
A Japanese cave in northern Iwo. Jack Manning believed this to be the cave he destroyed with satchel charges. USMC photo.
As on previous days, the order to consolidate positions came down at 1700. Since jumping off that morning, First Battalion edged forward only 100 yards, but their regiment had finally straightened out its front. For the first time, all three 1/24 rifle companies were on the line together, with Able on the left, Baker in the center, and Charlie maintaining the American right flank against the water. They were still well within the range of danger, as Corporal Kenneth Imhof discovered. “I was preparing to dig in for the night when a machine gun opened up on us from a cliff pillbox,” he reported. “A buddy and [I] were wounded and quickly evacuated. I just got on the ‘right’ ship and luckily returned to the States.” [23]
A platoon from Company A, Second Armored Amphibian Battalion, clanked into position behind Charlie Company for the night. The amphibious tanks, called LVTAs, were a familiar and welcome sight to 1/24. Starting on D+2, the curious-looking machines rumbled behind the lines or bobbed in the surf offshore, covering areas unreachable by naval guns and inaccessible to tanks. When confronted by an impassable strongpoint earlier in the day, one of their number lumbered into the water and simply swam around behind the obstacle, destroying two Japanese machine-gun posts before calling in an airstrike on the entire position.
Although vehicles were usually considered liabilities for the attention they drew – and some infiltrators did target the LVTAs that night – their presence acted as a comfort and a deterrent. Still, eleven infiltrators were killed on “the quietest [night] the companies had experienced thus far.” [24]
[1] Major General Clifton B. Cates, Fourth Marine Division Operations Report, IWO JIMA, 19 Feb to 16 Mar 1945 (18 May 1945), 16. Hereafter “Division Report.”
[2] This interim objective line apparently did not exist before D+5, and was a tacit admission that the O-2 line was not going to be reached anytime soon.
[3] Division Report, 16. “VT” is operational shorthand for torpedo bombers, “VF” means fighters.
[4] This was for two reasons. To the left, the 21st Marines (Third Division) were tasked with taking Motoyama #2, requiring flank support from the 24th. And, the 24th had to straighten its own line in order to advance on O-1A with anything approaching unit cohesion.
[5] John Charles Pope Collection (AFC/2001/001/96665), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Oral history interview.
[6] Larry Smith, The Few And The Proud: Marine Corps Drill Instructors In Their Own Words (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006), 30.
[7] DeVore Basil Gordon Collection (AFC/2001/001/11128), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Oral history interview.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Major Charles L. Banks, “Final Report on IWO JIMA Operation, Battalion Landing Team 1/24,” in Annex George to Fourth Marine Division Report on Iwo Jima: RCT 24 Report (2o April, 1945), 124. Hereafter “Final Report.”
[10] Domenick Tutalo in Larry Smith, Iwo Jima (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2008), 105.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.
[13] “PFC Domenick Tutalo” in Gail Chatfield, By Dammit, We’re Marines! (San Diego: Methvin, 2008), 82.
[14] Tutalo in Smith, Iwo Jima, 106-107.
[15] Art LaPorte, oral history interview conducted by Matthew Rozell, The Hudson Falls High School World War II Living History Project, October 1998.
[16] Robert Johnston, oral history interview conducted by the author, 6 August 2015. Johnston brought the saber home; it hung on the wall of his Boston home until his death in 2018.
[17] LaPorte interview.
[18] Chris Burrell, “Randolph native recalls fight for Iwo Jima as Marine,” The Enterprise 18 Feb. 2011. His Silver Star citation seems to conflate two separate actions, as there is no record of Jeffery being wounded on D+5. The “air conditioned” helmet – painted with “Feb 20 Iwo Jima” – remained one of Harlan Jeffery’s most prized possessions for the rest of his life.
[19] Tutalo in Chatfield, 82.
[20] Robert Johnston, oral history interview, “Memories of Robert Johnston,” interviewer and date unknown, transcribed by Dick Krug. Available online.
[21] LaPorte interview.
[22] Jim Kyle, “Iwo Jima: ‘Every yard paid for in blood of Marines,'” The Baytown Sun, Baytown, Texas (22 February 1987), 8-A. Lieutenant Manning would receive the Bronze Star for this feat.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Final Report.
Battalion Daily Report
Casualties, Evacuations, Joinings & Transfers
KIA/DOW
WIA & EVAC*
SICK
JOINED
TRANSFERRED
STRENGTH
Out of an original landing strength of 893 officers and men.
* Does not include minor wounds not requiring evacuation from the line.
| Name | Company | Rank | Role | Change | Cause | Disposition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bartels, Ronald Paul | Able | PFC | Mortarman | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Able Company |
| Brown, Robert Lee Sr. | Able | Private | Machine Gunner | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, both legs | Evacuated to USS Bolivar |
| Casale, John Andrew | Able | PFC | Mortarman | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Able Company |
| Fischer, Charles Martin | Able | Corporal | Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Gunshot through groin | Evacuated, ship unknown |
| Footit, Douglas Bernard | Able | Corporal | Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, right arm & chest | Evacuated to USS Highlands |
| Gamboa, Robert Echave | Able | Corporal | Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, left shoulder | Evacuated to USS Solace |
| Gordon, DeVore Basil | Headquarters | PhM3c | Corpsman | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel; partial paralysis | Evacuated to USS Solace |
| Graham, Robert William | Charlie | PFC | Machine Gunner | Wounded In Action | Combat Fatigue | Evacuated to USS Hendry |
| Groote, Edwin Henry | Headquarters | PFC | Flamethrower | Killed In Action | Multiple gunshot wounds | Removed for burial |
| Hartigan, Thomas Matthew | Headquarters | Private | Assault & Demolitions | Wounded In Action | Blast concussion | Evacuated to USS Ozark |
| Haynes, Johnny Brown | Able | PFC | Rifleman | Killed In Action | Gunshot, head | Removed for burial |
| Imhof, Kenneth Eugene | Charlie | Corporal | Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, left buttocks | Evacuated to USS Ozark |
| Leitch, Joseph Howard | Headquarters | Sergeant | Assault Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Multiple shrapnel wounds | Evacuated to USS Ozark |
| McNeally, Carl Lloyd | Charlie | Corporal | BARman | Killed In Action | Gunshot, head | Removed for burial |
| Nichinson, Sol | Headquarters | PFC | Assault & Demolitions | Wounded In Action | Unknown (slight) | Not evacuated |
| Olliges, Lawrence Herman | Headquarters | Corporal | Assault & Demolitions | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To HQ Company |
| Palmer, Ronald Royal | Able | Corporal | BARman | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, right leg, chest & face | Evacuated to USS Bolivar |
| Peck, William Adams | Able | Corporal | MG Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, left leg, back & arms | Evacuated to USS Berrien |
| Rasberry, Fred Thomas | Able | Private | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Fracture, left arm | Evacuated to USS LST-930 |
| Ryan, Thomas Francis Jr. | Charlie | PFC | BARman | Killed In Action | Gunshot, head | Burial at sea from USS Hendry |
| Schoenfelder, Henry Dewey Jr. | Able | PFC | Mortarman | Returned To Duty | From hospital | To Able Company |
| Sizemore, Sink Jr. | Able | Platoon Sergeant | Platoon NCO | Wounded In Action | Unknown (slight) | Not evacuated |
| Stewart, Edward Leroy | Able | Sergeant | Squad Leader | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, left hip | Evacuated to USS Berrien |
| Strunk, Donald Bertram | Baker | PFC | Machine Gunner | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, legs & buttocks | Evacuated to USS Hendry |
| Tierney, John Joseph | Able | Private | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, left arm | Evacuated to USS Solace |
| Willey, Joseph Marshall | Charlie | PFC | BARman | Wounded In Action | Gunshot, right arm | Evacuated to USS Hendry |
| Yush, Leonard | Able | Corporal | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, left thigh | Evacuated to USS Berrien |
| Zenn, Andrew | Charlie | Private | Rifleman | Wounded In Action | Shrapnel, right leg, left shoulder & ear | Evacuated to USS Ozark |
There is no picture of my Uncle Johnny B. Haynes on this page? His picture is posted on another Able Company page.
Thanks for the heads up, Curtis – the picture has been added.
Cheers,
Geoffrey
Thank you!
Johnny b Haynes was my grandmothers only brother. Where could I find more information on his time in the service?
My Great Uncle was KIA on this date at IWO JIMA. Melvin Boe. Any clue where I can get more information about how he was KIA?
https://marines.togetherweserved.com/usmc/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=SBVTimeLine&type=Person&ID=398850
https://marines.togetherweserved.com/usmc/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=398850
Hi Robert, I sent you an email concerning PFC Melvin Boe.
God bless you Uncle J.B. we will never forget the price you paid for all of our freedom , you will always be with us with sincere love always, your niece Erma J. Swan Sutor!