Introduction: Today, my great-uncle, Morton “Morty” Bildner lives in Boca Raton, Florida with his wife, Joyce.  He in 81 years old and has the energy and charisma of a teenager.  In 1945, Morty, a young, strong, 19 year old boy, enlisted in the Marines to fight the Japanese in the Pacific.  He fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima, as a riflemen Private First Class.  Although wounded, my great-uncle survived, unlike the 6,821 Marines who died in the battle.  A short time ago, I was able to interview him about his experience on Iwo Jima.  My great-uncle was always very talkative, but until this time, he never spoke about his war experiences.  Luckily, he was now able to discuss his war experiences with me, and I now realize how brave, courageous, and heroic he was.

Basic Training:

Despite disapproval from his family, Morty enlisted in the Marines in 1944, when he was only 18 years old.  The theory regarding the Marines is that all Marines enlisted, but Morty knew several men who were actually drafted into the service.  After enlisting, Morty was sent to basic training on Parris Island, in South Carolina.  Along with Bildner, over 200,000 recruits were trained on the island.  For 10 weeks, Morty was taught everything from how to a shoot a gun to the proper discipline and etiquette of a Marine.   He considered the training to be difficult, physical, and demanding, despite the excellent shape he was in at the time.  He said that several Marines could not get through the vigorous training, and they were either discharged or held back to try again.  Despite the grueling and tiring training, Morty was able to complete basic training.

The Island of Iwo Jima:

Iwo Jima, which is located in the Pacific, served great importance for the Japanese.  The island, which is 4.5 miles long, had two airfields that were controlled by the Japanese.  The Japanese used the airfields to attack American planes that were on their way to Japan, and they used the island as an emergency landing for its planes. Not only were the Japanese interested in the island, but the United States was very attracted to the small island, as well.  The United States, like the Japanese, desired control of the island because they would be able to use airfields as emergency landings for its damaged planes that were on their way back from Japan.    The United States valued Iwo Jima’s location because it was between Japan and its bases in the Marianas, and controlling the island would ultimately get them to Japan.  To get to Japan, the United States used a military strategy called “island hopping.”  The United States used this strategy to capture the small islands that were controlled by the Japanese.  After one island was captured, they would “hop” to the next, until they reached Japan.  Morty thought that this approach would be extremely successful during the war.  He felt confident that the United States would achieve their goals of capturing the island and defeating the Japanese.

Japanese Strategy:

“You must not expect my survival.”

-- General Kuribayashi in a letter to his wife.

Knowing the importance of the island, the Japanese used several unique strategies in hope of defeating the Americans.  The Japanese, headed by General Kuribayashi, fought underground, and the 22,000 men that fought on the island dug 1500 trenches.  The 1500 trenches that were created were connected to 16 miles of underground tunnels.  Kuribayashi’s command center, which Morty never saw, was under 75 ft. of rock, and it had 5 ft. thick walls, along with a 10 ft. thick roof.  Each Japanese soldier was ordered to kill 10 American soldiers before they themselves died.  During the war, Private First Class Bildner was not afraid to kill Japanese soldiers because they were the enemy, and the United States mission was to capture the island.  According to Kuribayashi, the battle would call for “no Japanese survivors.”

The Battle of Iwo Jima:

On February 19, 1945, the 4th and 5th divisions, consisting of 30,000 Marines, arrived on the beaches of Iwo Jima at 8:59 A.M.  That day, the main objective was to capture Mt. Suribachi, which is located on the southern most part of the island.  Since the Japanese had control of the mountain, they were able to see all of the American movement on the island.  Because of this, the Japanese had the ability to fire wherever the Americans were stationed.  The next day, on February 20, 40,000 more Marines arrived at the island.  That day, the Marines started to capture Mt. Suribachi, which resulted in the first fighting on the mountain.  Unlike many Marines, Morty was not assigned to capture the mountain.  Since the Japanese placed themselves underground while fighting, the Marines were forced to use flamethrowers, grenades, gas, and satchel charges to attack Japanese forces.

With more and more soldiers coming, the Marines started to move to the peak of Mt. Suribachi on February 22, 1945.  The next day, after much fighting, the Marines took control of the mountain, and Lt. Harold Schreir raised a small American flag on the summit.  However, a more memorable flag was raised that day as well.  Later on that day, Lieutenant Colonel Chandler W, Johnson told Second Lieutenant Albert T. Tuttle to go down to one of the ships on the beach and retrieve a large flag, so that all troops on the island would know that the mountain had been taken over.  The flag, which is 96 inches by 56 inches, was raised by Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, John Bradley, Harlon Block, Michael Strank, and Rene Gagnon.  A photograph, by Joe Rosenthal, was taken of the six Marines hoisting the flag. The picture would become one of the most famous photographs in United States history.  Whenever my great-uncle looks at Rosenthal’s photograph, he is flooded with war memories.  However, he does not recall seeing the flag.

Rosenthal's "Raising the Flag over Iwo Jima"

With the mountain secured, the Marines were able to take control of the island ever so slowly.  In March of 1945, the Marines were able to capture hill 382 and hill 362A, two important locations on the island, despite heavy artillery from their Japanese counterparts. On the night of March 25, more than 200 Japanese soldiers snuck behind the US lines.  After the fight, more than 90% of the Japanese soldiers died in the attack.  The next day, on March 26, 1945, the island of Iwo Jima was considered secure.  Morty’s prediction was correct: the United States had won the battle.

Morty at The Battle of Iwo Jima:

Like the 3rd and 4th division of the Marines, Morty hit the beaches of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945.  He was in the first wave of the reserve assault troops.  The boat that he rode to the island was a Higgins boat, which opened up when he landed on the island.  While riding to the island, he said that “the reality of war hit me on the ride to the beach.”  No one spoke on the ride to the island.  After landing on the beach, Morty experienced gunfire from all directions, and he saw hundreds of dead bodies on the beaches and in the water.  At first, all he saw was pandemonium, but he quickly settled down.  At that moment, their mission began. Morty and the rest of his squad then ran to the staging outfit.  While there, he and his squad tried to dig fox holes, but it was very difficult to accomplish because the volcanic ash coming from Mt. Suribachi kept falling on the beach.

For two days, Morty and his squad remained on the beach.  While on the beach, he had no fears about dying. Instead, he was more concerned about becoming blind or paralyzed.  Finally, he and his squad were ordered to move up to the front lines.  They needed to be very precise in their movements because if they advanced too far, they would have been shot in seconds.  The Marines’ mission of capturing the island was to have Marines secure each end of the island by going from one end to the other.  After getting called to the front lines, half of his squad went to the left side of the island, and the other half went to the right.  Morty and half of his squad went to the right side of the island.

As a Marine, Morty was instructed to kill any Japanese soldier in sight.  After killing his first Japanese soldier, Morty examined the body, where he found the soldier’s wallet, containing a picture of his wife and child.  Although this would haunt him (then, and for the rest of his life), Morty continued the fighting in defeating the Japanese.  However, on February 26, 1945, Morty was shot in the leg.  He said that it did not hurt, but he was totally numb. Although he was wounded, Morty managed to hide behind a nearby tree, ultimately saving his life.  Although the wound did not hit any major organs, he had a numb feeling in his leg for a several weeks, which resulted in a slight limp that still continues today.  His limp reminds him of his years as a Marine and his fighting on Iwo Jima.  Once he was shot, a medic, who he always describes as heroic, put him on a stretcher, and he was carried back to the beaches.  After arriving at the beach, Morty was stationed to the hospital in Guam to recover.  Morty was only on Iwo Jima four days, and he was then sent to the Navy Hospital on Pearl Harbor.  The hospital, which was a Quonset hut, housed hundreds of injured American soldiers.  While there, he refused to go to sleep until he was given a pistol, because there was a rumor that there were renegade Japanese soldiers nearby.  However, this proved not to be true.  After the rumor was dismissed, Morty was able to relax and recover from his wound.

Morty with his sister and father in 1944

After Iwo Jima:

After recovering from his wound, Morty was sent to be a part of the Military police on Okinawa, an island close to both Iwo Jima and Japan.  While there, he was able to enjoy hot showers, fresh milk, and laundry not done by himself, but by others.  As my great-uncle was in charge of security, he was allowed to have his own jeep and the privilege to practically do whatever he wanted to do.  His job, as head of security, was to mainly interrogate soldiers that were drafted into the Japanese army.  He felt fortunate that while recuperating from his wound, he was able to fully fulfill his responsibilities as a soldier.

Conclusion:

In the end, the Americans won the Battle of Iwo Jima, but it came at a high price.  Nearly 6,820 Marines died, more than any in Marine-corps history.  There were also 23, 573 Marine causalities as a result of the battle.  Not only were there a large number of American deaths, but there were many Japanese deaths as well.  More than 20,000 Japanese were killed, and another 1,083 were taken as Prisoners of War (POWs). On January 23, 2005, Morty was interviewed by filmmaker and historian Larry Cappetto.  Mr. Cappetto is traveling across the country, and he is interviewing survivors of World War Two, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, so that their stories can be preserved.  Luckily, Cappetto was able to interview my great-uncle, who spoke about the war for the first time in nearly 40 years.  Like Cappetto, I was able to talk and learn about my great-uncle's heroic past, and I am truly thankful for the opportunity.

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