Don Graves
Iwo Jima Veteran
Don Graves
Corporal, USMC
1942–1946
PFC, Don Graves
Camp Pendleton, CA, 1942
I’m the only flame thrower in the Second Battalion that came off (Iwo Jima). We had 335 Marines going in; 18 came off.
Originally, I’m from Detroit. I quit high school to join the Marine Corps in 1942 when I was 17. It was always the Marine Corps. My dad was in the Corps.
In boot camp, Sergeant Phelps drove us in the ground. I thank him for everything he taught me; he made men out of us. After boot camp I was sent to New Zealand and then back to the States to form the 5th Division. We had a lot of combat guys in there. John Basilone (the legendary Medal of Honor awardee from Guadalcanal) was there. He got killed to my right, about 100 feet away.
No one knew about Iwo Jima. We knew we wanted that island because we could provide air support for our bombers. One day before we got there, they brought a clay model out. Here is Iwo Jima, this is where you are going to go. You’re going over the top, turn left, take Suribachi and then you will join the rest of your division going north. That’s what we did. They made me a flame thrower at Pendleton. I’m the only flame thrower in the Second Battalion that came off. We had 335 Marines going in; 18 came off.
I landed in the third wave on February 19th at 8:00 in the morning. On the beach, we knew this wasn’t going to be easy; we couldn’t move, we couldn’t get up. Guys were getting killed. Every time they’d go over the top, they’d drop. I was on the beach at least two hours. It took us three days to go 540 feet to Suribachi—inch by inch, foot by foot, shell hole by shell hole. You couldn’t dig a fox hole. Those shells from bombers left a beautiful hole. On the morning of the third day, we finally made it to the foot of Suribachi and had a grenade fight going up. I burned out a few pill boxes. I saw one Jap going into a pill box and yelled at him. All of a sudden, he came out. He had a beautiful uniform on and a beautiful sword. I thought, this guy is going out in style. He looked at me, had something in his hand, then boom! He was gone; there was nothing left of him. It took us all day to climb Suribachi. The first flag went up around 10:05. The second flag raising was later that afternoon. I was just out of view of the group photo.
It was a tough battle. The whole country was bothered. They said Truman is madder than blazes and so are we—killing our boys like that for that stinking island. Later they found it shortened the war and saved 29,000 Air Corps personnel. I think about my buddies all the time. How can anyone go through that thing—day one through the end and not get hit? Grace of God.
We went back to Hawaii to train for Japan. The division broke up because the war ended. I got out January 12, 1946 and went to work for a refrigeration plant. We were all veterans, men and women. I was laid off. I went to Wisconsin and met a Marine buddy and stayed there 32 years. Had our four kids there. I went into the ministry for 32 years and served until I was 82.
Know where I got converted? I lay on the beach at Iwo. Nowhere to go, I saw what was happening. I was scared. I put my face in the sand and said, ‘God I don’t know much about you, but if you can do for me what people tell me you can, I will serve you the rest of my life. {06-08-2018 • Fort Worth, TX}