POST #22-25 

 Day Fifteen...Iwo Jima Battle Narrative, 6 March, 1945.. 

Mikey's Dads 100th Birthday Was 2-22-2022...

 We continue the day-by-day story of the First Battalion, 24th Marines, Baker company in the bloody battle of IWO JIMA...

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Day Fifteen...Leadership

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On February 22, 2022, (2-22-22) Mikey's Dad, Willard W. Wemple would have been 100 years old.  We are following Dad's time in the First Battalion, 24th Marines, Baker company, from February 19th to March 17th, 1945, in....Operation Detachment.

What we post here on the Blog Post about the B-1-24 will be minimal. But we will add links leading to a very good, detailed website...1st Battallion-24th Marines that will give way more information than we can deliver ourselves. We must warn you that some of the information will be graphic and upsetting, but will give you some idea about what Dad and the other Marines experienced.  If you see a mention of Baker Company, that is the unit dad was assigned to.

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On this day, 6 March 1945, Baker Company was on the attack yet again, their fifteenth day on Iwo Jima. Supporting artillery opened fire at 0845…after fifteen minutes, the first Baker Company squads started moving forward after the barrage. The Baker Company squads had barely left cover when a rain of mortars landed squarely on their lines.  Not Japanese, but friendly fire once again. Even after correcting the range, American shells landed uncomfortably close to the advancing lines, and Baker Company moved warily. Then the Japanese opened fire, and the advance halted.

They called for supporting artillery fire and got hundreds of rounds from land-based batteries and ships at sea.  Friendly aircraft dropped bombs on piles of rocks a thousand yards away...one such strike consumed twelve 500 pound bombs, forty 100 pound bombs, over a hundred 5 inch rockets, and thousands of rounds of machine-gun ammunition. None of this affected the Japanese fire at all. Their right platoon edged forward supported by demolition squads; impassible terrain stymied the center; the left could not move forward because the Japanese refused to move back.

Baker Company ended the day in defensive positions “slightly forward” of the previous night’s line; the gain did not even warrant a measure in yards in the battalion’s report. 

Just over two weeks had passed since the landings on Iwo Jima. The beaches were still plainly visible in the rear. The Marines recalled briefings that planned for an operation lasting three or four days.

Willard(Dad) and every man on the Baker Co. front who slept that night did so knowing that the next day would be more of the same. The plan was no different. Only the faces would change.

16 Baker Company men were wounded in action and two were killed this day, 6 March, 1945.

Read the narrative for today...it's very detailed, and again graphic...        

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TODAYS NARRATIVE

Todays narrative is Day FIFTEEN on Iwo Jima, 6 March, 1945...It will be called Leadership...

Click or tap HERE to go to the narrative...It's very interesting 

https://1-24thmarines.com/the-battles/iwo-jima/d15/

Over the next posts and next days we will continue posting daily updates that will follow the battle through logs and stories of the battle as told by a Military Historian and battle participants on the 1st Battallion-24th Marines Website...

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Until Next Time!!