Originally created 11/11/06

Veteran recalls Iwo Jima

By Staff Writer

Joseph Holladay still remembers 1945 when the naval vessel he was aboard emerged from a soupy China Sea fog to find itself sailing straight toward a U.S. heavy cruiser ship and the deafening booms of its eight-inch guns firing shots toward Iwo Jima.

The pivotal World War II battle had begun for the Navy quartermaster third class. The now-82-year-old North Augustan and his crew spent eight days laying anti-submarine and torpedo nets around the island, which is the setting for much of the recently released film Flags of Our Fathers.

The movie focuses on how a U.S. government public relations campaign aimed at selling war bonds manufactured heroes from Iwo Jima and created one of the most iconic images in the history of American war.

Overall, Mr. Holladay, whose five siblings also fought in the war, said he agrees with the message laid out by the book's author, James Bradley, and the film's director, Clint Eastwood.

"Wars weren't won by any individual, and heroes were made because they had a press agent back then," Mr. Holladay said.

The central dynamic driving the movie is what the public was led to believe about the image's significance and the context of the flag-raising in the battle itself.

The image of six men raising a flag above the island was sold to the public as a point of victory, the film shows. But the battle was far from over.

Although he didn't ever go ashore, from where his ship the Abele was anchored, he could see other boats unload soldiers at the beach and watched as fire squads made their way up the mountain.

"I wasn't necessarily happy that they put the flag up there," he said. "I was happy that they took the mortar nest out."

Before that, he said, he took cover with the crew while the Japanese lobbed anti-personnel mortar fire from atop Mount Suribachi, raining shrapnel on his boat.

After the flag went up, "we could go on about our business," he said.

One part of the film Mr. Holladay did take issue with was the lack of detail in the diversity of types of ships shown in the computer-generated panoramic views of convoys.

He also said the movie, which focuses heavily on the ground soldiers, missed out on the role played by the Navy.

"One of the things that I missed particularly was they didn't show the evacuation of the wounded on the beach."

Still, he said, the movie captured the spirit of the soldiers.

"The average person was just trying to save his hide. We weren't mad at anybody. We just wanted to get this thing over with."

Reach Justin Boron at (706) 823-3215 or justin.boron@augustachronicle.com.

Joseph S Holladay