Repair Man
May 29th, 2006, 11:25 PM
...Throughout the bloody morning, fresh troops landed on the beaches. Tangible progress was achieved in the opening hour and a half of combat. By 10:35 A.M., a small group of men from the first assault waves -- Company A of the 28th Regiment -- had survived a near suicidal, seven-hundred-yard dash across the island. The reptile's head was alive and deadly, but it had been severed.
How they got there was a portrait of American victory in microcosm. They got there with courage best exemplified by Tony Stein's head-long charge.
Stein was a twenty-three-year-old corporal from Dayton who became the first Medal of Honor winner on Iwo. For the risky mission he'd armed himself with a stinger gun, a light machine gun he'd taken from an airplane and adapted into a rapid-fire gun. When his comrades were stalled on their dash by concentrated Japanese fire, Stein stood upright, drawing the enemy's fire and allowing his buddies to get into position. But Stein was just getting warmed up. His next move was to charge the nearby Japanese pillboxes, alone. He did this several times, killing twenty of the enemy in close-range combat. Out of ammunition, he threw off his helmet and shoes and hurried barefoot to the beach to resupply himself. He did this eight times, carrying a wounded man to safety on each trip. Later in the day he covered the withdrawal of his platoon to the company position, though his weapon was shot from his hands twice...
On March 1st, 1945, just two weeks after his heroics, Tony Stein was gunned-down by Japanese soldiers on the island of Iwo Jima. Tony Stein was but one of 27 men who would receive the Congressional Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima (80 were awarded total throughout all of World War II).
Within the last few decades, our views of war have changed drastically. The political and military blunders of both Vietnam and Iraq have cast a shadow upon the sacrifice of our nation's soldiers.
Although it's getting late in the day, it's never too late to reflect upon the countless lives that have been lost forging and shaping our country over the last 230 years. For just one day, forget about the politics and the bullshit and say a prayer for those that have lost their lives in battle.
The quoted paragraphs are from the book Flags of Our Fathers, which was written by Jack Bradley, the son of one of the six men who hoisted the American Flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima.
How they got there was a portrait of American victory in microcosm. They got there with courage best exemplified by Tony Stein's head-long charge.
Stein was a twenty-three-year-old corporal from Dayton who became the first Medal of Honor winner on Iwo. For the risky mission he'd armed himself with a stinger gun, a light machine gun he'd taken from an airplane and adapted into a rapid-fire gun. When his comrades were stalled on their dash by concentrated Japanese fire, Stein stood upright, drawing the enemy's fire and allowing his buddies to get into position. But Stein was just getting warmed up. His next move was to charge the nearby Japanese pillboxes, alone. He did this several times, killing twenty of the enemy in close-range combat. Out of ammunition, he threw off his helmet and shoes and hurried barefoot to the beach to resupply himself. He did this eight times, carrying a wounded man to safety on each trip. Later in the day he covered the withdrawal of his platoon to the company position, though his weapon was shot from his hands twice...
On March 1st, 1945, just two weeks after his heroics, Tony Stein was gunned-down by Japanese soldiers on the island of Iwo Jima. Tony Stein was but one of 27 men who would receive the Congressional Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima (80 were awarded total throughout all of World War II).
Within the last few decades, our views of war have changed drastically. The political and military blunders of both Vietnam and Iraq have cast a shadow upon the sacrifice of our nation's soldiers.
Although it's getting late in the day, it's never too late to reflect upon the countless lives that have been lost forging and shaping our country over the last 230 years. For just one day, forget about the politics and the bullshit and say a prayer for those that have lost their lives in battle.
The quoted paragraphs are from the book Flags of Our Fathers, which was written by Jack Bradley, the son of one of the six men who hoisted the American Flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima.