I never saw the movie, but I read the book back when it first came out and was on the NYT best seller list. It's a horrendous story.Mxrdad wrote:Wow TAM, I would love to be at one of your Family Reunions and listen to some of those stories. It's one thing reading a book, and seeing a movie, but to hear from the folks that "been there, done that" is really bringing it to life. That's one of those things that no matter how people try, you just can't understand unless you have been through it. Starvation is a horrible thought and those that have been on the brink of starvation know it better than those that have not. Not to mention all the other horrible things associated with war.The Annoyed Man wrote:
BTW, my family has a history both as combatant and victim in that war. My dad was at Iwo, and my mom survived an axis occupation, shelling, bombing, starvation, etc.
Remember the movie called Alive? The story of those athletes (I think Rugby but could be mistaken about that) that crashed in the Andes? There was a moment when one tells the other they are going to starve to death. The guy looks at him and says, "I'll just eat the Pilot, he got us in this mess to begin with". And they did eat the dead. They were worried they would be judged and condemned to eternal sea of fire, but their priests assured them they did nothing wrong, its what it took to preserve life. And anybody in that position would likely do the same thing. Sure, there were a few hold-outs, but when it got down to it, they too partaked in the preservation of life.
If anybody has not seen this movie, I highly recommend it. They even have a follow up movie called Alive?????? Can't remember the exact name but its 20 or so years after they were rescued and it shows how they moved on and made a life for themselves. Good stuff.
My mother's family was reduced to eating stray cats and rodents because the allies were advancing on one side of the city, and the Germans retreating on the other side. This was in North Africa. The allies were shelling the German rear guard, and the Germans were shelling the allied advance units. Most of the shells were falling on the city. Her older sister and brother in law had a 500 lb bomb land in the courtyard of their home. It was a colonial culture, and the homes of the French "pieds noire" tended to be large, spacious and comfortable, and were built around a fairly large courtyard with a garden, and perhaps a fountain and some fruit trees. The bomb leveled the home. They were in bed, and the air raid started before they ever heard any kind of warning. I don't know if it was a German, Italian, American, or British bomb. In any case, they were asleep in bed, and then they woke up.....still in bed.....surrounded by the rubble of their home. Both were terrible rattled, but neither one of them hurt beyond not being able to hear anything for a while.
I've posted my dad's story several times on this website. The short version is that he was a 3rd Marine Division 2nd Lt who went ashore at Iwo in D-Day +3, and was assigned command of 1st Platoon, E Co, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, then Lt Col Robert E Cushman commanding. Cushman's Wiki page says:
Dad was one of the 7 survivors from E Co, and the only officer of the 10 survivors. Another officer, Lt Wylcie O'Bannon had been rescued earlier by means of a tank.Major Cushman hiked from San Diego to Camp Pendleton with his unit in September 1942, and embarked for the Pacific Area in January 1943. That month, Major Cushman was appointed commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, and in May 1943 was promoted to lieutenant colonel. During the two years he held that post, he led his battalion repeatedly into combat, earning the Bronze Star with Combat “V” on Bougainville, the Navy Cross during the Battle of Guam, and the Legion of Merit with Combat “V” during the Battle of Iwo Jima, where two of his companies were nearly wiped out (10 survivors - 3 from F Co, and 7 from E Co) when they were trapped in a defilade later called "Cushman's Pocket.”
My dad was ordered to lead his 1st platoon, along with 2nd Platoon E/2/9, commanded by his best friend in the Marines, a 1st Lt Geo. Todd, plus the two assault platoons of F Co, 2/9, in an assault on a hill. It was a diversionary movement on the left, while the main effort to the right was being directed against Hill 362C, where General Kurabayashi's command center was believed to be located. Both feints advanced under cover of darkness without firing a shot. The 4 E and F Co platoons attained their objective. The main effort fell short, stopping on another hill that was 250 yards short of the actual objective 362C. Unfortunately for my dad, when the Japanese discovered them up there amongst their positions, they assumed that my dad's effort was the main line of advance, and reacted accordingly. They dropped all the mortar and machine gun fire they could bring to bear on those four hapless platoons, and killed all but 10 of the Marines, and wounded 9 of the remaining 10. My dad was shot in the chest with a 6.5mm rifle bullet. The terrain was such that the marines were in a shallow flat-bottomed depression at the top of the hill, completely surrounded on all sides by mortar pits and machine gun emplacements. They were hosed.
Here's a couple of pictures of Cushman's Pocket. The Japanese held all the high ground
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He survived, like the others, by pulling the bodies of dead marines on top of themselves to soak up the shrapnel and bullets flying around, and then they eventually took cover in an abandoned bunker. How they got out of The Pocket a long story, but they did. And I get to sit here and type this today.
It took several more days, maybe a week, to reduce Cushman's Pocket after my dad's action.