"Some 2,300 Marines were killed or wounded in the first 18 hours..."

Many times as many US soldiers were killed on Iwo Jima as have or will be killed in Iraq. Does anyone question why we fought over that lousy island?

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Memorial Day, 2005

Mayor Caruso, Council members, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans  I am very honored to be here in Saddle River to add a few thoughts about Memorial Day. Thank you.

Back in the days of the last century, when I was a lot younger, and thinner, we had a holiday May 30th called Decoration Day. My parents would take me to the ceremony in Ridgefield Park where they had some old guys giving speeches about duty and patriotism and heroism. They didn't impress me very much because as a kid, what did I know about these abstract terms.  I was usually bored stiff.  I didn't know what those words were all about. I found out a few years later.

What I did know was that the United States was the greatest country in the world and the greatest in the history of the world. How did I know that? I was taught it in school, in the Boy Scouts, and by my parents. They knew full well the flaws in our country's history, but they also knew full well why their ancestors had come to this country, some of them suffering many
hardships to get here.

All my friends knew this too. We knew all about, and took great pride in the inventions by Americans --the submarine, the airplane, the sewing machine, the reaper, the telephone, the electric lights, the movies, the phonograph, etc. We knew about the American revolution. Our heroes were George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James
Madison, Patrick Henry "Give me liberty or give me death," and Nathan Hale who said: "I regret that I have but one life to give for my Country-- as he was hanged.

We knew about the Civil War. Our heroes were Abraham Lincoln, General Grant, and General Sherman. We knew that when Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Grant let him keep his sword and his men keep their weapons.

Then came December 7th, 1941, FDR's proclaimed "Day of Infamy." While the greatest country in the world was going about its business, Japanese aircraft savagely attacked Pearl Harbor. Most of my generation rushed out to join the services, in my case the Marines. That first year, the Marine Corps had so many 17 and 18 year olds trying to join, it couldn't handle them all. I had to wait three months before they got around to me. Why did we rush out to join?  Ask anyone my age. We wanted to defend our country
and kill Japanese. Ah, we were so young. Some of us got a lot more than we had bargained for. And that's why we are here today. Every year at this time, I consider a gathering such as this, my class reunion. I combine the classes of 1935 to 1945 with my class of 1940 and remember them all. Out of 60 boys in my class, nine were killed. At the same time, I was good friends with many Teaneck High School students. Four of my good friends were killed.. One was my good friend, Rudolph "Midge" DeCanio, all county
basketball player. He was a machine gunner. We were together through three battles, Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. He was shot between the eyes his
second day on Iwo. I have never forgotten Midge, and have often asked myself " why me?

Why did I walk off that island while Midge was buried there at the age of 20? What might he have become? A doctor? A Governor? A husband and father of some kids who never had a chance to be born? I heard former President George Bush (the father) say the same thing. Why was his gunner killed when his plane was shot down in the Pacific, and why not him? I'll bet every veteran here has his own Midge DeCanio and has often asked that same question, why me?

And speaking about Iwo Jima, everyone that I have met of the 26,000 casualties on that island carries a burden of guilt because he left his buddies before the job was finished. Almost 7000 were buried there and
those are the heroes. When I left, I thought all my friends were dead and didn't have any contact with the survivors for more than 50 years.

No matter where you were on that island for some five weeks, you were being shot at. The Japanese had every spot zeroed in with their artillery and kept firing away.

Here's a quote by Arthur Herman in the Wall Street Journal, February 19th, 2005:

"....Iwo Jima would be the first island of the Japanese homeland to be attacked. The Japanese had put in miles of tunnels and bunkers, with 361 artillery pieces, 65 heavy mortars, 33 large naval guns, and 21,000
defenders determined to fight to the death Their motto, 'kill 10 of the enemy before dying.' American commanders expected 40% casualties on the first assault. "Even before the attack, the Navy' bombardment lost more ships and men than it lost on D-Day, without making a significant dent on
Japanese defenses. Then at 9;00AM on the 19th, Marines loaded down with 70 to 100 pounds of equipment each hit the beach and immediately sank into the thick volcanic ash. They found themselves on a barren moonscape stripped of any cover or vegetation, where Japanese artillery could pound them with unrelenting fury. Scores of wounded Marines helplessly waiting to be evacuated off the beach were killed 'with the greatest possible violence,' as veteran war reporter Robert Sherrod put it. Shells tore bodies in half and scattered arms and legs in all directions.....

Some 2300 Marines were killed or wounded in the first 18 hours. It was, as Sherrod said, 'a nightmare in hell.' "And overlooking it all, rising 556 feet above the carnage, stood Mount Suribachi where the Japanese could direct their fire along the entire beach. It took four days of bloody fighting to reach the summit and when Marines did, they planted an American flag. When it was replaced by a larger one, photographer Joe Rosenthal recorded the scene-the most famous photograph of WWII and the most enduring symbol of a modern democracy at war.

"Yet instead of meaning the end of the battle, it marked the beginning, which dragged on for another month and cost 26,000 men. The Marines pushed
on. Over the next agonizing weeks, they took the rest of the island yard by yard, bunker by bunker, cave by cave, They fought through places called Bloody Gorge and the Meat Grinder. They learned to take no prisoners in fighting a skilled and fanatical enemy who gave no quarter and expected none. Twenty out of every 21 Japanese defenders died where they stood.

One in every three Marines were either killed or wounded.

Twenty seven Marines and Naval Corpsmen won Medals of Honor, 13 posthumously.

One third of all the Marines killed in WWII died on Iwo Jima.

Admiral Chester Nimitz Commander in Chief said, 'Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue."

Can you see why we didn't talk about it for more than 50 years. Is it any wonder why most of our "baby boomer" children have no idea of the sacrifices a whole generation of their fathers and mothers made so they can live in freedom?

So welcome to our 65th Class Reunion.  There's not many of us left. We are also here to remember the men and women who died in Korea and Vietnam.  Those in Vietnam won every battle and the politicians lost the war. I have always admired the men who fought at that time. On the home front they were reviled and spat upon, yet they did their jobs magnificently. And we are also remembering all the heroes who gave their lives for their country from the Revolution right up to today's war on terrorism. We have been blessed to have such exceptional people who gave us our liberty and helped preserve it.

And I want to add to that list, those exceptional people, those firemen, policemen, and EMT workers who ran into those burning twin towers to rescue people. They do that on a daily basis, but it took 911 for them to gain the recognition they truly deserve. Yet even this valor and sacrifice is not the full story of what Iwo Jima means, or what Rosenthal's immortal photograph truly symbolizes. The lesson of Iwo Jima is an ancient one.   Sometimes free societies must be as tough and unrelenting as their enemies.

Totalitarians test their opponent's resolve by generating extreme conditions of brutality and violence; in those conditions-in the streets of Fallujah or on the beach and in the bunkers of Iwo Jima-they believe weak democratic nerves will crack. This in turn demonstrates their moral superiority: that by giving up their own decency and humanity they have become stronger than those who have not.

Free societies can afford only one response. There were no complicated legal issues or questions of 'moral equivalence' on Iwo Jima It was kill or be killed. That remains the nature of war even for free societies. The real question is, who outlasts whom? The real significance of Iwo Jima is that as long as Americans cherish the memory of those who served at Iwo Jima,
and grasp the crucial lesson they offer all free societies, the totalitarians will never win.

But, those of us who are still standing are not finished. All those sacrifices will be for nothing if we don't continue the battle for freedom and for our values at home. Our country has been weakened morally to the
point where, some 10 or 20 years down the line, we might not have a country because we may not have the will to fight for it. Medal of Honor Winner Marine Corps General Ray Davis called it to our attention a few years ago.   He said our job isn't finished and challenged us to go to work and help educate the young people of America to the values we hold dear. We owe it to our dead buddies, we owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our country, and we owe it to our grandchildren.

The young are being deprived of their country's history and are being taught all about our country's defects and none of the good qualities that make it the best hope of mankind. History is not being put into
perspective. I recommend you read  Bill Bennett's book, "Why We Fight" if you want an idea of what's happening to our country.

Back in September 2001 after we were so horrendously attacked by fanatical murderers, I saw a lot of flags being waved, but I didn't see a rush by
today's 18-year olds to sign up to defend their country, did you? What I hear is a bunch of spoiled, self indulgent college kids demanding their rights and some demanding rights for our enemies. A small group, I'm sure, but growing larger. Some colleges wont permit the ROTC to operate on their campuses, and some wont even fly the American Flag because they don't want to offend some people.

Well, I'm offended! Is this why I ran up a beach under fire? Is this what our dead comrades fought for? We have some wonderful people, our kind of people in our armed forces, but each year they are drawn from a smaller and smaller pool of young people who are willing to make sacrifices for their country. If we truly want to honor our fallen comrades, we must make every day a Memorial Day. Get busy and start educating our young people about what's really important in life. What better place to start than with our own grandchildren. Stop indulging their every whim and teach them responsibility by holding them accountable for their actions.

Then take a look at their schools and see what they are being taught, and not taught. That's a good start. I leave you with a bit of wisdom from Senator John McCain: "For I have learned the truth: there are greater pursuits than self-seeking. Glory is not conceit. It is not a decoration for valor. It is not a prize for being the most clever, the strongest, or the boldest.

Glory belongs to the act of being constant to something greater than yourself, to a cause, to your principles, to the people on whom you rely, and who rely on you in return.

No misfortune, no injury, no humiliation can destroy it."

Frank Hall