Remembering Iwo Jima, remembering Jerry

Feb 19 is a special day in US history. It was the day that the Battle of Iwo Jima started in 1945. The flag raising on Mt Suribachi is quite well known. That the battle fought for many days after the flag raising is less so. Jerry landed on Iwo Jima and was among the lucky ones to walk off in March. It may not be a coincidence that Jerry left his world on Feb 19, 2012.

Jerry's coffin at the funeral home in 2012

You can listen to Jerry tell of his work in the Joint Assault Signal Company
http://jerrysherlockstory.blogspot.com/2007/09/jerry-story-joint-assault-signal.html

• If you see a veteran, thank them for their service.
• If you find a World War II veteran, listen to a story if they'll tell it. We are all losing too many of those these days.

This was originally posted on Jerry's Story in 2014

http://jerrysherlockstory.blogspot.com/2014/02/remembering-iwo-jima-remembering-jerry.html

Remembering Feb 19

I did get a little emotional in this recording, it came up and I couldn't hold it off. One item I did leave out is that while Dad/Jerry landed on on Iwo Jima Feb 19th, it was also the day he left us 4 years ago.




Jerry's Story can be found here   http://jerrysherlockstory.blogspot.com/

remembering Feb 19th and the landing on Iwo Jima

Story Corps can be found online here  https://storycorps.org/

Remembering

Feb 19th is a significant day.

Jerry landed on Iwo Jima in 1945.

Jerry left this world in 2012.

I made some pork pies this weekend for dinner tonight. My mother's recipe of course...

home made pork pie

• If you see a veteran today, thank them for their service...
• If the veteran you see happens to be from WWII, listen to one of their stories (if they'll talk). There are so few of them around now.

Other links of remembering today
http://www.franklinmatters.org/2014/02/remember-today.html

http://jerrysherlockstory.blogspot.com/2014/02/remembering-iwo-jima-remembering-jerry.html

Honor flight

Jerry is one of the lucky ones. His sons took him to the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC in 2007. Others still need to go.



Jerry, his sons and one grandson in front of the Iwo Jima Monument can be viewed here


Honor Flight Network raises money to bring veterans of all the armed forces to visit their memorial in Washington, DC.  http://www.honorflight.org/

Feb 19, 1945

I had a glorious morning yesterday, meeting with Michelle Clay and Anne Marie Bellavance at the Franklin Food Pantry. Michelle has volunteered to pull together a cook book of healthy recipes for the Food Pantry. She is enjoying the exercise, trying new recipes, exploring how to best do this for the Food Pantry. She wrote up her version of our meeting yesterday. While she was giddy, I am still dancing with joy!

Frank Moody, my brother-in-law, took Dad to lunch with a bunch of Frank's police friends. Many of them are Marines like Dad and yesterday was not just a Saturday lunch, yesterday was also the 66th anniversary of the landing on Iwo Jima. Frank wrote about the lunch and conversation to share Jerry's Story, in particular:

Yesterday was typical with Matt Wolf of INFORCE tactical lights showing A US ARMY SPECIAL FORCES SERGEANT a new tactical light. Jerry was duly impressed. He listened with rapt attention. I asked him what kind of light he used hunting in the caves on Iwo?

"oh sunlight.". 

Followed by the trade mark grin and laugh. The SF sergeant who has been back and forth to Iraq and A-Stan on numerous expeditions gave me a knowing look. It is the glance and acknowledgement of reverence from one professional to another about Jerry and those guys like him. They are described as Rock Stars. Truly.

I consider myself so lucky!

Iwo Jima Survivors - 65th Anniversary

My brother-in-law Frank and I had the honor and privilege to take Dad to the 65th Anniversary dinner for the Iwo Jima Survivors Association in Brandford, CT on Sunday. I'll post additional pictures and comments on Jerry's Story but I must say that it really was a pleasure to see Dad engaged in conversation with a fellow 1st JASCO member.

A constant comment from all who participated was that they were thankful to be there. I'll second that!

  Semper Fi!

Remember Iwo Jima

Where were you on Feb 19th?

Can you recall without looking at your calendar?

65 years ago, my father - then a 19 year old US Marine, had landed on the black volcanic shores of Iwo Jima on February 19th, 1945. Fierce fighting took place above and below ground on that island until March 26th.

On or about March 26th, yes, 65 years ago today, Jerry made his way to the beach to await a landing craft to board, to take him back to the safety of a ship, and then back to Hawaii. Solid food, shower, clean clothes for the first time since Feb 19th. Mission accomplished.

From Jerry's Story

Jerry is the one circled.

Jerry talked about his time in the Pacific at the VA Home in Bristol, RI on Thursday. He spoke without notes. He spoke deliberately and in detail. I complimented him on it after and he said "I left out a few stories". One wouldn't have noticed.

You can view that talk on Jerry's Story here.

And when you think back on what you were doing on February 19th.
Okay, you can go look at your calendar.

And when you reflect on all that you did in the time since then, think of the men who fought on Iwo Jima (in particular as this is their time for remembering) and those who fought elsewhere, and thank a veteran for their service.

The one line I was expecting to hear from Dad at the VA Home, I actually was surprised to not hear Thursday. Whenever he has talked about his time there, and until recently - this was not often, he would usually close with: "The real heroes did not come home."

"The real heroes did not come back"

On this day 65 years ago, the assault on Iwo Jima started. The battle lasted 35 days. Some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific Theater took place before it ended.

Jerry was part of the 1st Joint Assault Signal Company, 4th Marine Division that went ashore in the Blue 1 sector. He was also one of the lucky ones who walked off the island.

He has told us many times, "The real heroes did not come back".

On this day and for the next 35, let's remember all who served in the Pacific Theater, in particular those who served on Iwo Jima.

If you would like to know more about Iwo Jima, the book by James Bradley "Flag of our Fathers" is well worth the reading time. There are two movies by directed by Clint Eastwood, one based upon the book and one from the Japanese point of view that deliver a credible rendition of the battle. Jerry said, "it was very much like that." Flag of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima

Jerry talked about Tinian and the recovery on Hawaii before going to Iwo Jima in this audio

Jerry clarifies his statements about life in the foxhole in this audio

Jerry talks about the 1st Joint Assault Signal Company

This was originally posted to Jerry's Story, my blog to record the oral history of my father and our family.

"This is just a fantastic thing they've done for us,"

On this Memorial Day, consider a contribution to HonorFlight.org

Who is Honor Flight?

Honor Flight Network (honorflight.org), whose mission is to bring 12,000 World War II vets to Washington, D.C., this summer. That's double the number last year.

You may recall that my brothers and I took my father, Gerald (Jerry) Sherlock to Washington, D.C. last December. We did visit the WWI Memorial as well as the Iwo Jima Monument, and the Marine Corp Museum out at Quantico, VA. It was a great trip. He thoroughly appreciated it.

I still have items recorded about the trip to post (yes, I know I am behind).

As I left for Denver last week, there were a higher number of travelers than I expected in wheel chairs and WWI memorabilia boarding the plane in PVD headed to BWI. When I saw this article in the USA Today on Thursday, I said to myself "I bet that's where they were going!".

Consider helping another WWII veteran travel to Washington, D.C.
Consider a donation to Honorflight.org.

One good way to say thanks on this Memorial Day!