Dear Sgt. Grit,
Attached, please find the list of names/cities that are written on the flag, a current picture of my Dad with the flag, an old picture of his unit when they were on Oahu (before they went to Iwo Jima), and a picture of him back then.
Thanks for posting them.
glenda clark
Names for the men in the Oahu image:
Bottom Row (Left to Right): Young, Woodley, Milberger, Pursell, Connolly, Maas, VanBlargen, Wade, Kneece, Plummerman, Adams, Seize-Murphy, Crowell
Center Row (Left to Right): Matheur, Anson, DiGiora, DeMartino, Wilkinson, Simmons, Simpson, Burroughs, Vernon, Wilkinson
Bottom Row (Left to Right): Urban, Young, Arnold, Godier, Beilmier, Holien, Gabbert?, Hill, Anderson, Lundry, Simpson, Sieg, Veira, Craft, Sullivan, Martin, Hodge, Haslock
This is a picture I took yesterday of my Dad (Raymond Aubrey Pursell) and a flag he brought back from Japan. (At the top of the flag, my Dad had written: Service Co. 5th Amphibious Corps Sasebo, Kyushu, Japan). He had all the men in the company sign the flag at the time, which makes it even more of a treasure to him. The following is a list of those men's names and the hometowns at the time of WWII. Because the ink on the flag had faded a bit, we had some difficulty reading some of the names. If there is a question mark following either the name or the hometown, it is because we were not completely sure we had the spelling correct.
It would do his heart good to hear from any of these guys, or members of their families (or any other veterans of Iwo Jima). They could send the emails to me, and I would gladly forward them to him.
Thank you, Sgt. Grit, for posting this, and a big 'Semper Fi' from my Dad to all of his fellow Marines reading it!
glendajoy [at] comcast [dot] net
Glenda Clark- daughter of.
Raymond Aubrey Pursell
USMC/1943 – 1946