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"After boot camp I was sent to New Zealand and then back to the States to form the 5th Division.
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."
Sent him 2 photos on 29 Feb and got them back signed on 11 Mar.. He also included a color photo of himself .. front says Don Graves US Marine Corps, 5th Marine Division, Iwo Jima, with a write up on the back..
I sent to a difference address but this is the address label he put on the return envelope..
Mr Don Graves
![[us]](./images/smilies/flag_us.gif "USA"){kind=small}
9736 Brewster Ln
Ft Worth, TX 76244
updated 5/9/2024