It was February 23, the fifth day of the battle for Iwo Jima. Those of us at the debarkation station stayed busy supervising the loading of Marines and materiel into our boats. Being out in the open, we could see the island and boats going and coming but we were not close enough to see the action. We did know that the battle was not going well.
You can understand how elated we were when a seaman with binoculars yelled that the American flag had been raised on Mt. Suribachi. We all clamored to see the flag and joined in the celebration. Later though, we were depressed when we saw the flag had come down. Then, only minutes later, the flag was flying again.
I don't know when we on the Pickens learned what had happened. Joe Rosenthal, who traveled to Iwo on our ship, took a picture of the first flag raising which later became famous and known to everyone. He also took a picture of the second flag raising which he thought was the one people were so excited about. The sad thing is the Japanese re-took Mt. Suribachi in bloody battle, only to lose it to our Marines again.
You can understand how elated we were when a seaman with binoculars yelled that the American flag had been raised on Mt. Suribachi. We all clamored to see the flag and joined in the celebration. Later though, we were depressed when we saw the flag had come down. Then, only minutes later, the flag was flying again.
I don't know when we on the Pickens learned what had happened. Joe Rosenthal, who traveled to Iwo on our ship, took a picture of the first flag raising which later became famous and known to everyone. He also took a picture of the second flag raising which he thought was the one people were so excited about. The sad thing is the Japanese re-took Mt. Suribachi in bloody battle, only to lose it to our Marines again.
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