"Before the landing, you could barely tell an island was there because of all the smoke going up. I was in the fifth wave to hit the beach. The Japanese held their fire until the landing sites were choked with Marines and equipment, then unleashed a deadly barrage. It would rip through ranks, and whenever that fire hit a body, it'd jump about six inches high.
There's a piece of scalp about the size of your hand lying there . . . the 75mm cannon hit him..friendly fire. That was the only thing I saw that was left of him. My buddy Griswald was right behind me and stepped on a land mine. Blew his legs off. I turned around, and what a horrible sight.
I went back for my bazooka and there was a 20-foot cliff beyond where I thought I'd left it. I looked down and there were five people. I said, 'Anyone seen my bazooka?' They turned around and faced me. They were Japs. I killed all five of them. I killed a lot of Japanese. I mean a lot. We just viewed them as something like vermin, and I never thought about it. I was kind-of numb. They were dead, and that was what you were there for.
You can't imagine...I can't describe how horrible war is. Even to myself, I have a hard time realizing how horrible it was." - U.S. Marine Tom Sherman, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, 5th Marine Division, Iwo Jima, Februrary 1945 #stayzero #ww2 #marines #war #reality