The Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima)
By: Del “Abe” Jones
02-20-2005
Said a Vet from Nineteen forty-five,
“Men were dying by the score.”
An eyewitness to a famous Battle
Immortalized forever more.
Quartermaster on a LST
“Eyewitness to a sad, horrible day.”
“A slaughter right there on the Beach”
Is what, this Veteran had to say.
Coast Guardsman Robert Resnick
Was more than just a witness there
He furnished the Stars and Stripes
In that picture all generations share.
A symbol for the Marine Corps
Cast in bronze for all to see
The Flag raised on that mountain top
Is part of our Nation’s History.
One of the bloodiest Battles of the War
Fought for thirty-six days and nights
More than twenty two thousand Japanese
In one of the Marines fiercest fights.
The first part of Japan we invaded
And as Resnick’s ship sat on the beach
Marine Gagnon asked him for a Flag
And a long pipe to raise it’s reach.
They lost their sight of the Marine
As he headed to that Mountain top
Amidst the gun’s bullets flying
That never, ever seemed to stop.
As they began to leave the Beach
A tremendous cheer went all around
And, “Every ship tooted it’s horn.”
As they raised the Flag that he had found.
For years another was credited
Until the year, Two thousand-one
When at a Fifth Marine Convention
The Marines learned he really was the one.
A big, old Marine bellowed out,
“Do you really mean to tell me,
That you never realized that you
Won that Battle, single-handedly?”
The President of the Fifth Marines
Made him an honorary member
And as they did some tears were shed
As they all began to remember
About that day sixty years ago
Up there on Mount Surabachi
When the Stars and Stripes were raised high
Was still a vivid, cherished, memory.