Evening star., 1945-04-08

grenade and fell on it and blew him
self up.
Occasionally, Pvt. Brown said, he
saw Japs running along the trenches
or in and out of pillboxes.
"One Nip" he related, popped
out of pillbox and laughed at us.
Before we could shoot at him, he
ran back in, and we couldn't get
him."
Call Down U. S. Barrage.
The Marines finally were able to
call for a barrage Of their own,
Mortar and artillery shells gave
them cover, behind which they dug
into holes and trenches.
That night" Brown said, I'VE
prayed for a Jap 'banzai' charge
We wanted them to come 'out of
their boxes and rush at us. We
were ready to NOW them down"
The Japs did not attack how
ever, and the next day the Marines
again charged the pillboxes.
I'VE went in with grenades and
bayonets," Pvt. Brown said. Our
artillery. mortars and naval and air
gunfire gave us good cover. We
didn't get pinned down like the day
before We carried that hellish COR
ner and cleaned out the Japs."
/ The corner is now known as Easy
Corner" after the name of Pvt.
Browns company-Easy company,
2lst Marine Regiment. AS Japa-
nese fortified position it was typical
of many strongpoints on Two that
held up the Marines and inflicted
heavy casualties. Later, it was dis
covered that the corner was part
of an extensive network Of forts
which in an area 1000 yards long
by 200 deep included 800 separate
pillboxes and dugouts.
Near the conclusion of the cam
paign, an officer in Pvt. Browns
company was wounded when he
tried to find the outfit on one of
his fanks japanese hand grenade
fragments hit him in both legs when
he was rs yards away from his own
lines.
He got to his feet and struggled
halfway back to his company before
falling again. While one Of his COM
panions covered him, Pvt. Brown
ran out through enemy machine
gun fire and assisted the officer
back to safety,
/ When relieved, Pvt. Browns COM
pany was commanded by lieuten-
ant who had come from another
unit. Only one corporal remained
out of II who had started. A multi
tude of Easy Corners" had whitfield
! the unit down to less than one
seventh Of its original strength.
Staver Sees Flag Raising.
1t. Staver, who landed on D day,
and went through the whole en-
gagement safely, wrote to his par
ents, Mr.. and Mrs. L. D. Staver,
that he had seen from the field the
raising of the American flag on
the volcano Mount Suribachl. You
can imagine what sight it was to
u.s." he said. There were both
cheers and tears. Whenever
we were in the sulphur areas. We
cooked chow in the sulphur pits.
All that was necessary was to dig
little hole in the bottom Of your
foxhole, and in about 10 minutes,
your can of beans was hot. So was
the seat of your pants-but what
could you do? 1t was even hotter
outside the hole, and it wasn't sui
phur either"
! It's been two weeks today since
we landed" he wrote on March 5.
but it seems ages. I went to church
yesterday 1t was in the field, and
rather impromptu. but it certainly
served the purpose, and the spirit
was there. I thanked God for be-
ing with me, for this has been a
rough one. We only hope that the
day the island will be secured is
not too far off"
Reporting that the fight still was
going on March 81 and he had been
on the front lines again, 1t. Staver
said things are still rough in the
field" adding, but you will never
know the half of it,
You may think the fighting is
over March 22) as the island was
secured the 14th. But the mopping
up continues, and you could possibly
have no conception of what mopping
up means and requires -
Ship Cheers Flag News.
Corpl. Rogers wrote to his parents,
Mr.. and Mrs. H. B. Rogers, from on
board ship offshore Two Jima to
which he had been assigned at the
ON radio: "All of us (Marines) talk
about flag waving and cheering, but
the sight I saw yesterday knocked
lot of that out of me- Describing
Mount Suribachi, which he had seen
stormed day and night by the 28th
Marines, as lone mass of smoke and
explosion" he said he was looking
at the summit through pair Of
field glasses when "some one up
there was erecting some kind of a
pole-then, all of a sudden, the
smoke blew away, the wind blew
briskly and the Stars and Stripes
was flying on the highest point Of
Iowa JlIIld, dIlO llCd1Cl W Aohyo
than any other What cheer went
up from the ship when it was an
nounced from the public address
system!"
Saying he had had some near
misses" and was only slightly
scratched, Corpl. Rogers wrote
March 9 it was nothing compared
with what the boys IN the line COM
panies have been through. Those
boys all deserve the Congressional
Medal of Honor.
1--WE had a hot time Of it one
night" he wrote, when a Jap shell
landed in an ammunition dump,
about 100 yards from us. Didn't
know which side we were on that
night. - caught tiny piece of
shrapnel in my left leg-strictly
Hollywood wound, about the size of
the end of a match. I tipped it out,
daubed some iodine from my kit on
it and that's the last thought about
it till now. That shell was the
oIococf- -1opded IN the edge Of DIR