Today, June 14th is Flag Day.
If you have an American Flag please display your flag proudly.
This is also a good time to refresh yourself on appropriate flag etiquette.

yep. I have been lax. I use to put it out every day and then stopped over the winter. bad me.

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Old guy comes into the Home Depot about two weeks ago. Here in Pennsylvania, we have a lot of vets, and they like to display it proudly, usually with a license plate, and/or a hat.

I've seen 'em all, and due to my background, I pay attention to such matters.


About 6:45 AM this one morning, in walks an old guy. His hat is a slight bit different. It says, "Iwo Jima vet" .

I said to him, "Where were you when they raised the flags?"

He said, "Less than 50 yards away, both times". I knew I was talking to a Marine, right there and then. (Coulda been a corpsman, after all, he was alive-not fair-just editorializing) Many sailors saw "the" flag raising... from a boat...


http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=first+flag+raising+at+iwo+jima&id=CAF114F593AB4450D2F4FDC165FBFA423EECADDB&FORM=IQFRBA#view=detail&id=44067265EB684EE43F0AD8E03ADFCF90E2232EB5&selectedIndex=2 


and the iconic one...


http://ts4.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.4596707009299931&pid=1.7&w=264&h=188&c=7&rs=1 






I asked him what his MOS was. He told me he was an 0331. I almost shit myself. I'd bet he's gotta be about the last machine-gunner alive from Iwo. Not many got off that island in the first place. I said, "Not many of you walked off Iwo". His response, "I didn't, I was carried off, and damn lucky for that. "

I told my boss about him, as he happened to come by while the old guy was still there. He went up and gave him the 89 bucks worth of stuff in his cart.

Here in Pennsylvania, we have various license plates for military service. The most common one being the "purple heart" tag. This gentleman had a purple heart on his tag, but it was different. It had a "V" in the heart, and he also had a Navy Crosses on the tag. It didn't end there... In smaller print, it had, "Guadalcanal, Saipan, Iwo Jima" You can google that sequence of events to find out just how profound it was for me to be looking at this old man.

Amazing, considering his MOS

The personalization read, "On Iwo".

That man saw both flags raised up on Mt. Surabachi, amazing he lived long enough to see it, absolutely amazing he lived to tell about it, amazing he is still alive today.

That was my flag day, though a bit early.

What a man. I wish I had met him too. I have read the stories before but I still can not fathom what he lived thru. It sure makes you want to punch someone in the face when they bitch that their latte does not have enough foam.

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What a great gift. The man held the 2nd most dangerous job on earth at that particular time, with the world at war. The most dangerous job was a Japanese machine gunner, and not one of them survived to my knowledge, in any of the 3 battles depicted on his license plate. Not one. Some Russkies might argue, but I believe the US Marines machine gunners have a good case.

I doubt any Japanese machine gunners survived but then most of their men survived. That is what made it so horrific when our men had to fight them. If they are willing to die they will do a whole lot more shit than a soldier who wants to see his wife again.

A book you have to read is James Bradley's (Flag of Our Fathers) Flyboys. He wrote about the men who flew the bombing runs on Chichi Jima. He ties it into Iwo. He brings President Bush into the story. It is mainly about the fliers who were shot down and captured.

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I'm not familar with TWO flag raisings on Iwo Jima. What was the other?

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I did read that book. Great book. To our younger members...

Books are these things that go on for more than one page. 😆

I linked the 1st one. Here's the link again...



http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=first+flag+raising+at+iwo+jima&id=CAF114F593AB4450D2F4FDC165FBFA423EECADDB&FORM=IQFRBA#view=detail&id=44067265EB684EE43F0AD8E03ADFCF90E2232EB5&selectedIndex=Flag  wasn't big enough for the squid REMFS to see from their boats (Semi-editorializing again, lol)

don't forget Photo op too.

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