Roy Exum: Our Flag At Iwo Jima Wednesday, February 24, 2021 - by Roy Exum
Roy Exum
This morning marks the 76
th anniversary of the sun coming up on Mount Suribachi and, as it lit the dawn, every warrior in one of the most merciless battles in the Pacific theater could see the American flag on the crest of the 554-feet-tall hill. The battle to secure the island was perhaps the most intense fighting in World War II.
Almost 7,000 Marines and Navy Seabees were killed on the heavily fortified 8-square-mile island between February 19 and March 26 in 1945 while the Japanese lost approximately - get this number 28,000. (Remember, in just five weeks!) Only 214 of the enemy were able to surrender after five weeks of horrors, with as many as 3,000 Japanese hiding in the 11 miles of tunnels on the three-by-five-mile island.
If she had to compare the Montford Point Marines to someone, National Montford Point Marine Association (NMPMA) President Carmen Cole would liken them to Rosa Parks, who made history in 1955 refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus.
“Had she not done that, I would probably have never been afforded the opportunity to ride in the front of the many public transportation buses that I had to take to school and to work,” said Cole, a retired chief warrant officer 3.
The Montford Point Marines enlisted and fulfilled draft duties to endure social, physical and mental hardships that helped pave the way for future Black Marines and the desegregation of the military.