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Iwo Jima Visit Stirs Memories, Page 2
First time back

Marshall, Texas, resident James Ware, 81, a veteran of the battle, said he returned to the island for the first time after his wife encouraged him to "go and get it out of your system."

Ware said it is too soon to tell whether that will happen.

" I lost a lot of friends, but I lost one good friend here," said Ware, who was a private with the 3rd Battalion, 24th Regiment, 4th Marine Division.

"I got here the first day and left the last day," without getting wounded, he said.


Ware said he was a machine-gunner during battles on Saipan, Tinian and in the Marshall Islands, but he was a battalion intelligence scout during the battle of Iwo Jima.

He said part of his job was to escort forward observers to different locations on the island so they could guide off-shore artillery.

He also looked for enemy maps and documents in order to determine what their plans were, but, he said, on Iwo Jima, the plan was obvious.
Brian Williams/Pacific Daily News
U.S. and Japanese military personnel take part in the Iwo Jima memorial ceremony on Wednesday. The United States lost 6,821 servicemen during the battles, mostly Marines, and it is believed as many as 20,000 Japanese soldiers died.
Steve Limtiaco/Pacific Daily News
Iwo Jima veteran James Ware, 81, poses in front of a monument on the top of Mount Suribachi, which is where Marines and a Navy corpsman raised a large U.S. flag on Feb. 23, 1945 -- a few days into the monthlong bloody battle.
The Japanese military waited for Marines to gather on the beach before unleashing a deadly crossfire from Mount Suribachi, bunkers and caves. Marines rarely saw who was shooting at them because the Japanese, who were ordered to fight to the death, were attacking from an extensive maze of underground tunnels and caves.

A third of the Marines who died during World War II died on Iwo Jima, making it hallowed ground for that branch of the U.S. military.

Asked whether it was more difficult to be a machine-gunner in earlier battles or a scout on Iwo Jima, Ware said machine guns are heavy, but, "As a scout, all I had to do was carry a carbine and watch out for myself."


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