Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
10:10 | The first job for the 26th Marines on Iwo Jima was to bisect the island. They accomplished that but the terrain and the dedicated enemy meant that this battle would continue for a while. Phillip Gamache describes the chaotic situation as the combat split units apart and threw ad hoc teams together. He witnessed some brave acts that would surely have led to medals, if they were known. Part 1 of 3.
Keywords : Phillip Gamache Iwo Jima North American P-51 Mustang delayed action fuse Japanese Corpsman Bob Rhodes Joe Purcell fire team Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) hand grenade Eddie Gerais
It was 1942 when New York native Philip Gamache entered the Marine Corps. He had decided on the Marines because, if he had to fight, he didn't want to fight in the cold. He underwent a year of training in California and Hawaii before he entered the fray.
After witnessing a Marine bravely pick up and throw a dropped, live grenade, Phillip Gamache and his "Guardian Angel" Corpsman Bob Rhodes fled and fell in with another group. He assaulted a Japanese position and relieved an officer of his Samurai sword. Because of the thermal activity on the island, digging in was replaced by piling stones. Part 2 of 3.
If you ran out of hand grenades, you could just pick them up on the battlefield because they were everywhere. That's one memory of Iwo Jima for Phillip Gamache. Another is the many scenes of heroic action from his fellow Marines, such as the time the smallest man in the unit carried the largest man to safety. One of the bravest was their Corpsman, who suffered the indignity of losing a rank once they were back aboard ship. Part 3 of 3.
When Phillip Gamache entered Sasebo for occupation duty, he was amazed at how clean the place was, despite repeated bombings. After scaring a few Japanese traffic cops, the Marines moved into the city and were greeted by the residents but they were puzzled by the Japanese latrines.
After occupation duty in Japan, Phillip Gamache had one more stop before returning home and that was Peleliu. There were still a lot of Japanese on the island under the watchful eyes of the Marines but there were some who had not been captured.
It was a long trip home from Peleliu to San Diego. There were no cheering crowds but Phillip Gamache didn't care. What he cared about was the plush Pullman cars they initially traveled in before being replaced by less comfortable accommodations. When he found out he was at the top of the list for promotion to corporal, he had to take action.
