Bob Dyches
Iwo Jima veteran
Bob Dyches
Corporal, USMC
1944–1946
LCpl. Bob Dyches
Hawaii, 1944
We really went through some stuff on Iwo.
I was born in Georgia, outside of Statesboro, on a farm in January 1926. I am the last of 15 siblings. My dad came over from Germany. He went through Ireland, met my mother and they got married and came to America. He died two weeks before I was discharged in 1946. I didn’t finish high school until I came back from the service. Living on a farm, you only go to school when there isn’t farm work.
I joined the Marine Corps on February 19, 1944 and went to boot camp in Parris Island, South Carolina. They had cut boot camp from 12 weeks to 8; they were desperate for men. Then I went to Camp Lejeune where we had a lot of time on the rifle range. We spent 3-4 weeks learning how to really fight. Then we were ordered to San Francisco where we boarded a ship bound for Hawaii. At that time, there were no germs in Hawaii and you had to spend three weeks in sanitary confinement.
Every day they were still training us to see what weapons we were good at: rifle, machine gun, pistol, or hand grenades. I was the best as a rifleman. I wound up in G Company 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment, 4th Marine Division. We sailed out of Pearl Harbor headed for combat—we didn’t know where, just some island. Iwo Jima was a small island, just 3 ½ miles at its widest point and seven miles long, but it was important, being close enough to Japan that our bombers could reach their homeland.
On February 19, 1945, we loaded onto landing barges maybe a quarter mile from the beach. We got as close as we could, jumped out of the barge with water up to our belly carrying 100 pounds of equipment and waded in to shore. The Japanese lived three stories underground in caves and bunkers. We got a little ways in before they started mowing us down. I did not see the flag raising on the 5th day, February 23rd. I got wounded by a grenade and was taken to a hospital ship. We really went through some stuff on Iwo.
When our plane landed in San Francisco, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt met us. They took us off in stretchers. She hugged us and said she was so glad to see us. She called us a bunch of savages for hunting down the Japs. She meant it as a compliment. I still have some metal in my back and all up and down my leg from the grenade. They took some out recently. I still have a lot near my spine, but the doctors won’t take it out—too close to my spine. Fortunately, the shrapnel in my body is in a place where it does not interfere with my health. I spent 21 months in hospitals in Hawaii and San Francisco. They’ve taken metal out of me for 72 years.
When I was discharged, I moved back to Georgia. Went to school at Draughon’s Business College for three years and then worked at Penny’s and Sears selling men’s suits. I spent 18 years in the theater business and worked as a manager at Lucas Theatre in Savannah. I met Hollywood stars like Loretta Young, Clark Gable and Lauren Bacall when they came to town to promote their movies.
Several years ago, I moved to Fredericksburg to be near my daughters. My wife died 4 ½ years ago with cancer. I lost my last brother and sister about three years ago. I am all alone except for my two daughters. {09-29-2015 • Fredericksburg, TX}