October 1, 2025 • 35 mins
Don Graves tried to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps the day after President Franklin Roosevelt declared the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor a day of infamy. Since he was only 16 years old, Graves had to wait another six months to enlist. When he did, he went through basic training in California and was soon assigned as a flamethrower operator in the 2nd Battalion, 28th Regiment, 5th Marine Division.
In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Graves recounts the harrowing landing during the third wave at Iwo Jima, getting pinned down in the water, what they had to do to reach the volcanic ash beach, and how he begged God to spare his life as the bullets flew above him.
Graves also tells us about the fight up Mount Suribachi against Japanese forces with the higher ground. He explains what made the difference in the fight, a shocking encounter with a Japanese soldier during the battle, and what he remembers about the iconic flag raising atop Mount Suribachi.
Then Graves details an even more intense fight at Hill 362 A, where his unit lost all its remaining officers. He also takes us into the fighting in the caves, both with guns and with his flamethrower. And he shares one of the most devastating moments of the battle that took place in his own foxhole.
Finally, Graves describes leaving the island alive when so many other Marines didn't. And he remembers hearing the news of the Japanese surrender just as he was training for the invasion of Japan.
In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, Graves recounts the harrowing landing during the third wave at Iwo Jima, getting pinned down in the water, what they had to do to reach the volcanic ash beach, and how he begged God to spare his life as the bullets flew above him.
Graves also tells us about the fight up Mount Suribachi against Japanese forces with the higher ground. He explains what made the difference in the fight, a shocking encounter with a Japanese soldier during the battle, and what he remembers about the iconic flag raising atop Mount Suribachi.
Then Graves details an even more intense fight at Hill 362 A, where his unit lost all its remaining officers. He also takes us into the fighting in the caves, both with guns and with his flamethrower. And he shares one of the most devastating moments of the battle that took place in his own foxhole.
Finally, Graves describes leaving the island alive when so many other Marines didn't. And he remembers hearing the news of the Japanese surrender just as he was training for the invasion of Japan.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
this edition is US Marine Corps veteran Don Graves. Mister
Graves is a World War II veteran and served as
a flamethrower operator during the Battle of Ewogima while part
of the fifth Marine Division, twenty eighth Regiment, second Battalion.
We spoke with mister Graves a few years ago, but
(00:33):
learned some fascinating new details about his service on Ewojima
in this conversation. Don Graves was born in nineteen twenty
five and grew up in Michigan. He was sixteen years
old in December nineteen forty one when the Japanese bombed
Pearl Harbor. He vividly remembers hearing President Roosevelt asking for
a declaration of war from Congress the next day, and
(00:57):
that inspired him to want to join the service.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
And mister Roosevelt got on the air. We were listening
to big bands. There's two or three of us sitting
in the front seat, all sixteen years old, and we're
listening to big bands. Enjoined, and then all of a sudden,
the announcer came on and he said, ladies and gentlemen,
we interrupt this broadcast. The President of the United States
will address the nation. And we sat there. Now we
(01:23):
knew Pearl Harbor was it, but we didn't know where
Pearl Harbor was. And he came on and this is
what he said. Yesterday, December seventh, nineteen forty one, a
date that will live in infamy. United States of America
(01:44):
was suddenly and deliberately attacked upon by the naval and
armed forces of the Empire of Japan. I interpret the
will of Congress and of the people. We show gain
triumphant victory. So help us God. I said, I'm going
to own. I'm skipping school tomorrow morning. I'm heading for
(02:05):
the fourth building. Go up on the fourth floor of
the Marine Office. I'm going to join up. They said,
you can. You got to be seventeen and you're only sixteen.
I said, I only got six months to go, and
I'll get the paperwork. So my sisters, two sisters were
get ready for school, and I pretended I was getting ready.
And now my mother was a four to ten and
(02:27):
a half. I wish lady with a real good temper,
and I said, don't tell ma. I said, okay. They
took off. I ran all the way downtown Detroit, one mile.
I just went and they got up on the fourth
floor and the gunny sergeant met me. He said, we're
going to do for you, young man. I said, I
want to sign up. He said, hold you. I was
(02:50):
hoping he'd do it. I said sixteen. He said, I
can't touch you, buddy. You got to be seventeen years old.
When will you be seventeen? I said six months. He said,
tell you what I'll do. I'll give you the paper
that you need. You take this home to your mother
and father when you're seventeen, have them sign it, come
back here and we can do business. You want to
(03:12):
do that, I said, yes, sir, he said go. I
ran all the way back to house. I was so
excited I forgot I skipped school and ran in the
back door, and there's my mother and she said, what
are you doing home? And I told her I'm not
signing that paper. I went through the First World War
and I'm not going to go through this one. Throw
(03:33):
it away.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
But Graves stuffed the papers in a desk, and when
he turned seventeen, six months later, he again asked his
parents to sign. His father immediately agreed and eventually got
his mother to sign too. Graves then sprinted down to
the Marine recruiter to enlist. After boot camp in California,
Graves was surprised to find out he was chosen to
(03:54):
operate the flamethrower.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
My skipper loved me. I was a good man. He
was a paratrooper. They broke up help for him the
fifth Division. I was heading for the PX and he
caught up me, he says Graves as yes, sir, he said,
I we'll talk to you. I yes, sir. Congratulations you're
our new frames hower. I said, Skipper, I'm a look
(04:17):
at me, and it was an inch shorter then I
am now about ten pounds later he said, you'll be
hard to see. So what else could I do? I
took the frames tower and train with it. And he
was right, because you know the life span of a
framesower in ew Regima four minutes. I was the only
(04:39):
when I came back in the battalion that we know of. Yeah.
I came close to a couple of times. If I
hadn't had a rifle with me, a rifle man with me,
I would have been shop liver.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
After a lot of training, Graves and his fellow Marines
were off to the Pacific, and in February nineteen forty five,
it was time to go to battle at Ewo Jima.
The morning that the invasion began, Graves says he was
pleasantly stunned by the breakfast menu, at least for a
little while.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well, you know, let me just say this. Before we
left the ship, we had breakfast early in the morning.
We could see the battle, I mean they got them,
was covered with clouds. Oh, everything was going up on
the air of the Japs were fighting our boys, and
they served steak and eggs. They'd shift tables up on
top of deck LSD. I looked at that, and I
(05:28):
saw that steak in those eggs, And there was this
kid next to me, and I say, hey, buddy, Yeah,
what's with the steak and eggs? We never had we
had AG's. But no, it's the first time we ever
had steak, he said, Graves, usual head, what did they
do with convicts before they execute them? I said, yeah,
that's I understand.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Graves was in the third wave of the landing, and
he says the Marines were under fire long before they
ever hit.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
The beaches were coming in because we all sat down
on the deck and there were amphibious tractors and the
Japanese call them alligators with wheels. And we were heading
into the beach and all of a sudden I heard shooh,
got up like that, looked off the fantail direct hit.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Before long, it was time to jump off the landing
craft and wade to shore. But when you've got a
flamethrower on your back, that gets a little complicated.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well, the only way to get out you've got to
go over the saburg and when you load, you go
over inside. Now that flames were weighs seventy two pounds loaded.
It's got two and a half here, two and a
half their five guns, a fuel with a pressure tank
in the middle. You got your hose hooked to the gun,
and that gun you hook over ther shoulders while you're
(06:52):
walking in that the fellow's got me up on this,
shove me over in the water.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Grave says. Trying to get on the beach and advance
forward was it's nearly impossible. And when you could inch
forward a bit, it was a very gruesome process.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
But we came to the beach. We could not get
up on the beach It was jammed packed with marines,
some of them dead, some of them. We couldn't get
up if you went up the top dam. We were
pinned down five hundred and seventy five feet Monsieur Rabacci
right down on us. Turkey shoot. I got up out
(07:29):
of the water and slurred around. They grabbed me out
of there. We went up and we moved up on
the sand. We had to call over our bodies to
get there, just to get up out of the water.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Still pinned down by enemy fire, Graves found himself begging
for his life.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So I lay there and I didn't know what to do.
Now you know, we weren't church people, depression kids. We
had in every good clothes. We looked terrible. So I said,
the only thing I tried was pray to God. And
I said, Lord, I don't know you, but if you're
(08:05):
real and you can do what people say, and you
do it for me and get me off this, I
don't know, serve with the rest of my life. But
I forgot that God has ears grave size.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
His units suffered immense losses that day, and all marines
were further demoralized when the most famous man among them
was killed as well.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Just waited and took our time. I mean, if you
jumped up and tried to go over, you dropped right there,
five hundred and seventy five feet pinned right down on us.
We had to get that stopped. It took a lot
of men. We lost two hundred kids on that beach.
Just my outfit, but all the way down and to
(08:46):
my right. John Basolon Medal of Mona Guadalcanal. He got
hit right there with a snaper and was killed. You know.
John was on a bond tour after Guadalcanal and he
said to his skipper, well she was chesty puller. He
was a captain at the time. Puller could go through
two fifths a day. He said, skipper, I can't do this.
(09:11):
I don't want to do this. He said, John will
raise a lot of money. He said, I want to
go back with my buddies. He said, well, you're a
medal of honor. I can't say no. Go. He took
off god everything. He joined us, He trained with us,
He hit the beach with us, and he got hit
by a sniper. Yeah, the word win. Our Basilon just
(09:32):
got it, and that hurt our morale. He was a
good man, good marine Manila John is what they called him.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Removing the Japanese from a top mount Surabachi became an
urgent priority for the Americans, and since Graves had no
idea where the rest of his unit was, he joined
in the effort to knock the Japanese off the mountain.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
When we hit the top, we made a turn. But
the problem was I lost my two men and I
was alone. So I headed towards Sarabaci, which was five
hundred and seventy five feet I rolled into a hole
and it's starting to get dark, and I saw another
marine in the hole of me, and he's got his
(10:15):
nim one towards month Sir Roboci, but he's not moving.
And I says, hey, Mac, what all picture? And we
were all mixed up. Didn't answer. I reached over and
touch him. Then I noticed the bottom half of his
body was on the other side. I got out of
that hole and jumped into another one. I lost my
two men. I'm alone and there's no way I can
(10:38):
get anybody now until the next day. A buddy yelled
our Graves, hold up, I'll go with you. He says,
I don't know where my outfit is. We were all
mixed up, but we fought, and so it took us
three days to go five hundred and seventy five feet
to reach the base of Sirbarci and they were hunkered
(10:58):
down around the each and they just let us have it. Yep.
We had to fight our way up, Sarah Batch and
they would just love Graves, Donatus. We couldn't throw ours up.
It was a bloody battle just to take that mountain.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That's US Marine Corps veteran Don Graves, who served as
a flamethrower operator at the Battle of Iwo Jima in
World War Two. Still to come more on the fighting
up Mount Surabaci and the even more fierce fighting that followed.
I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Sixty Seconds of Service.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
This sixty seconds of Service is presented by T Mobile,
recognizing these steadfast education and sacrifices made by service members
and their families. T mobile is committed to supporting active
duty veterans and military spouses. Visit t mobile dot com
slash military to learn more.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
The veteran who brings music to hospitals After serving as
a Marine band member, Michael Harris wanted to continue using
music to heal. He now volunteers at children's hospitals and
playing guitar and leading singalongs for young patients. His music
therapy sessions brighton hospital awards and reduced stress for families.
Michael says the joy on kids' faces reminds him of
(12:11):
the morale boosting power of music had when he played
for his fellow marines overseas. Today's sixty Seconds of Service
is brought to you by Previgen. Previgen is the number
one pharmacist recommended memory support brand. You can find Prevagen
and the Vitamin Aisle in stores everywhere. For more great
veteran stories, just go to Nationaldefense Network dot com.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
This says Veterans' Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbas. Our guest is
Don Graves, a US Marine Corps veteran of World War
Two and the Battle of Iwo Jima. Just as he
started his way up Mount Serabachi, Graves and another Marine
encountered a Japanese soldier. Instead of attacking, Graves tried to
convince him to surrender, and what happened next completely shocked him.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
That was a Japanese soldier. He ran across the front
of US and he dove in a hole. Just jump
right down in the hole. And I said, did you
see that? John said I saw him. Yes, I'll go
through hanger and his yaid no, no, no, no no,
let's start in talking about now. We had orientation before
we got into our landing craft. If you can take
(13:18):
a prisoner, take him. We don't know anything about that island,
because when they surrender, they'll tell you everybody. I said,
just a minute, and I said, debt ta koi de
da koi come, come, come, kohano shaki frame tour nothing.
I did it twice and I said, okay, John, let's
(13:39):
advance and we started to move. We took one step
and he came up out and he wasn't the way.
He looked different. He had a plumed hat, he had
a sword. He had a beautiful uniform on and I
said to John and I said, John that that sword
is mine. He said you could have it. We moved up.
We got about six feet from that hole, and he
(14:01):
was standing there like this boom, nothing left nothing. He
took the sword with him, committed Harry carry.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
The fight up Mount Serabaci was a costly one, and
Graves says it was the assistance from offshore. That helped
the Marines win the fight and set the stage for
the historic flag raising.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Call for aircraft. But up we're on the mountain already.
These you know that we're a little bit small when
they come down on our Marines and Navy boys. But
they did a good job. They pulverized that item for us,
and we seemed to crawl towards the top. And meanwhile,
here's what happened the flag. There was nothing in the
(14:47):
picture about a flag. We knew nothing about this. We
knew we just didn't have anything to do with the flag.
And then all of a sudden, Harold Schreier, lieutenant executive
officer to my battalion commander Chandler Johnson, and he was killed.
And he said, Harold, he reached in his blouse, he said,
(15:09):
take this flag is see I could get it up
for the skipper on the transport we came on. He
wants me to do it, would you do? He's yes, sir.
So they went up there and they got that flag up,
and we were wondering the heck did they put it on.
We didn't have a we didn't have anything. They found
dream pipe. So when you see the flag go up.
That's dream pipe put together, which the Japanese got to
(15:32):
run to trap rainwater rained every night and down in
the holes down in the bottom of mouse Erbartually, that's
what they used it for. So the flag was up
and you should have heard what went on. Five hundred
and twenty Navy ships out in the bay opened up
with sirens and everything horns. Everybody on the island up
(15:56):
in the north end where they were fighting, they let
everything go up in the air. It was a spectacle.
It was great and a lot of us just cried.
We felt so good.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Graves believes he is now just one of two living
Eojima veterans who were part of the fight on Mount Suribachi.
But there was little time to celebrate. What immediately followed
was an even tougher and deadlier fight against Japanese forces
on what was known as Hill three sixty two A.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
We lost our battalion. We came to Hill three sixty
two A. It was midday. I've always followed a little
behind because if they get me, like I said before,
I'm shop liver. That's all it is to it. So
I stayed behind. I still didn't have anybody assigned to me,
(16:48):
I mean they needed every man they could. So we
approached hill three sixty two A and everything opened up
with a big opening in front of it. They could
lob everything out of there. It was really something. And
I had my phone and all I heard was so
and so the company seat pays. So we're getting hit bad.
(17:09):
We need some help. We're losing our officers. Oh it
was just I just and I couldn't do nothing. I'm
all alone. I've got to really take take care of myself.
I just broke up. I just cried. I felt so bad.
Then they said Sergeant Goss just got it in the wrist.
Oh my gosh, he just died. Shock that's all you heard.
(17:33):
It was terrible. They beat the daylights out of us,
but we secured it. Then the next morning a buddy
of mine came up. He's our music. That's all he does,
taps all that, he said, Graves. We got a job
to do, is what. We got to close that in. See,
I had a demolition squad, but I carried the frames over.
(17:56):
So we got everything ready for I've got on can
of gasoline Primary corp fused. We had everything. We had
a shape charge like a Horne snaster like a beehive
like that, and then if you set it off, everything
down like that. So we carried that stuff up a
little trail to crawl up up on top of Hills Race.
(18:19):
They did to it, and some of our kids opened
up from a tank on us and right over my
ear and my shoulder of fifty caliber, just like that.
And I said, we've had it, Bud. He says, we
got to let him know who we are for crying
out loud. Then all of a sudden it stopped. Someone
must have said, those are our boys. Can you see
(18:41):
where God moved in there? Man? It had to be him. Well,
we finally got to the top, but we're on the
opposite side the holes over there. We had to carry
everything across twenty five dead soldiers Japanese, and we crawled
over them to get to the whole. We set the
(19:02):
five galloing can of gas off and like this, and
when it came in, we set her off eight seconds KABOOI.
When we got done with that, we put the shape
charge on top. We crawled off the top, set it boom,
never closed. It was never closed. We moved on from
(19:24):
there and we're on our own. We have no officers
do you know that a bunch of kids fought for
three weeks after Hill three sixty two A we fought
for We were well trained, we did it.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
That's Don Graves. He's a US Marine Corps veteran of
World War Two in the Battle of Iwo Jima, coming
up fighting in the caves. The tragedy that devastated Don Graves,
leaving the island alive and much more. I'm Greg Corumbus,
and this is Veterans Chronicles. This is Veterans. I'm Greg Corumbus.
(20:02):
Our guest is Don Graves, a US Marine Corps veteran
of World War Two. Just as on other Pacific islands,
Marines on Iwo Jima faced vicious nighttime Bonzai charges Japanese
soldiers streaming towards American positions to kill them. Grave says
there was only one thing the Americans could do kill them.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
We used the everything we had. You don't use the
flames at nighttime, Yeah, you light up. I'd grabbed a
carbine and we just fought him. I had a Japanese
make it through. He stood at the edge of my hole,
and you know, we're about twelve feet apart of the
whole fifteen feet and they all said, Graves, you got
(20:44):
one comer. I said, I see him. He's got a bag,
he's got hand grenades. They used hand grenades, and so
I'm sitting like this. The only weapon I've got that
time was my forty five. I couldn't hit the broadside
of a barn with a forty five. And I pulled that,
maybe pulled the hamber back, and he stowed over him,
and he's grunting and bam, bam bam. Bet fifteen runs.
(21:06):
I opened the whole thing up on him, and he
went and walked away from me. I said, he's coming,
but he says, I see him, and they killed him.
It was crazy. They were on drugs, alcohol drugs.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Fighting in caves was also common. Graves described shooting at
Japanese attackers in the caves and also how confusion there
merely led to tragedy.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
We were doing, My gosh, how many do we have
lived in Arbatam? My gosh, we're talking about one hundred
people maybe at that time, and we've got about another
week to go on the north end, and those caves
are a bit. There was a big one and our
battanion command held up in that so we went in there,
but we didn't know there was a cave around the back.
(21:53):
They could come in around this way. So they came around,
screaming and yelling and this is a bad one. And
I've got my flames right there, and I've got a
name one now eight rounds. And I saw him coming
and all of us opened up. We just dropped him,
dropped him. Another one came around and screamed, and I
(22:16):
hit him and he fell on the ground and he's
moaning and groaning and yelling, and I said, I'm going
to finish him. I walked over and it's my buddy.
I hit him right here on the chest, just through
the flesh. And I says, why were you yelling? He says,
I was afraid, and he sounded just like a Japanese.
(22:38):
He made it though. He came back with us. He
thanked me for the scar.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And of course caves are also where graves used as flamethrower.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
They've got a whole ground. I throw a couple of
short bursts in there. Now, look, she got five gunnos
of fuel, two and a half two and a half
pressure tank in the middle. If you held that trigger
back steady, you would have possibly about eight or nine
seconds of fuel, you're out. So what you do usual
(23:08):
and you get about five or six shots. Then you
got to call up for another one. And it does it.
He does the job. But like you say, some of
them will come running out, others will go back. And
that was the problem.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Believe it or not. There were brief, light hearted moments,
including the night where a Japanese soldier could smell the
Americans hot chocolate.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
We were teenagers. We didn't drink coffee. We had hot chocolate.
We'd take our de bar and diice it up water,
put it in the canteen cup, put it see two
hundred light. It just cooks away nice. You know, we
wanted it, so I got it all set up. We're
sitting in a hole. The Japanese are about two hundred
(23:51):
feet away, and all of a sudden I said, oh boy,
that's good, and the other kids says, there's three of us.
He said, let's have it. So I started reaching for it.
Then all of a sudden, hey, Marine, very good. Chocoletto.
You'll bring Charcoletto here. I said, if you want charcolett
(24:12):
you come and get He said, oh no, you bring here.
That went on that kind of stuff. Hey, facing death
and horsing around like that, don't tell me there's no morale.
And in fighting there is morale, but it takes men,
and it takes the enemy to do it.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
But the devastating moments were far more common, and the
loss of a brand new marine to the island who
was in the same foxhol with Graves, was perhaps the
most difficult moment of all.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I'll take it to my grave that we had about
a week to go now and three of us sitting
in the hole, and I said, I better be looking
for snippers. So I got up there. I'm looking for
snippers up there. About fifteen minutes, I dropped back down
and I said, I can't find it. There's nothing's going
(25:06):
on out there. So I got on my horn. I said,
Graves Company CP. He said, go ahead, Graves. I said,
I've been up there for fifteen minutes and I can't
spot anything out there. Well you better keep looking, because
they fired around back here and hit the sergeant, our
first soldier, in the thigh. We got him down, the
medic So keep looking. By the way, you got a
(25:28):
kid coming for a replacement, I says, good, we can
use him. So about ten fifteen minutes later, he comes
to the top of the hole. We were waiting for him,
and he said, graves. I said, yo, what do you
want me to do is come on, don't sit down
tonight there'll be allowed to do. Just sit down. So
I said, well, I got to get up there. And
the kid says, great, let me take a look. And
(25:49):
I said, no, you get yourself shot. My two buddies says,
that's what he's here for. Give him the glasses. I
threw him the glasses. He took him got up where
I had been for fifteen minutes. That sniper knew i'd
be back. And this kid got up there, and he
was up there about ten minutes and we're your shooting
the brazen talking. He fell back, his helmet flew off
(26:15):
down on my feet, and I looked in the helmet.
Caught in the webbing was a beautiful lady sitting in
a chair with a baby on her lap. I lost it.
I just threw everything off me. I jumped up and
down and I shook my fists. I said, curse this
and cursed this Marine corps. Listen, curse God for letting
(26:42):
that kid take my place. I didn't understand. After I
asked God to get me off the isron, I served
him the rest of my life.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Finally, Graves and the rest of his unit were told
the fight was over. Graves tells us what was left
of his unit and what he witnessed on the way
back to the beach.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
We were released to leave the battle zone. And you know,
six weeks before that, there were three hundred of us
in my company. Here it is later six weeks. Do
you know how many left? Eight of us. Eight of
(27:19):
us walked off out of three hundred. We walked down
to the gate of the cemetery that's where we rallied,
and the old man was there, Harry the horse Liver,
said Bellowwood, First World War, full bird colonel. He said, men,
I want you to go through that gate and say
(27:40):
goodbye to your officers and your buddies. Come back out
and we'll join together. We'll get a boarder of ship,
go back, get ready for Japan. They hadn't surrendered yet.
We marched down there to the close by the gate,
and as we walked through, every marine that went through
there looked over to the left on a piece of paper.
Eight and what you've got right there and they were
(28:02):
reading it and then walk in. When I got there,
this is what I read. Fellas, when you go home,
tell the folks we did our best. That they may
have many more Tomorrow's not one dry eye went through
that gate. We came out, assembled, got on the Higgins.
It took us aboard ship. We went up the net,
(28:25):
got a board ship, took off.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Graves and the other Marines headed back to Hawaii for
recovery and to get ready for the next fight, the
invasion of mainland Japan. But while still in Hawaii they
got the news. They all wanted to hear.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
The word just flew right crazy. I had put a
show Bob Crosby, Bing Crosby's brother. He was a lieutenant,
a recreation officer. He said, Graves, it's time to draft
some buddies and put on a show. Just grab them.
I put a show on. It was at nighttime. We
had two weeks to do nothing, liberty, whatever you want
(28:59):
to do. And then after that we got ready for
Japan and we were training for them. We were going
to hit the main coast. Well. Harry Truman sent a
lute to the Pentagon. I would like to know what
the cost would be by taking the mainland of Japan.
(29:22):
They sent back the Pentagon sent back the balance and said, sir,
it would probably take about seven million. He said, we'll
drop the bomb. That's what happened. He dropped the bomb.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
World War Two has been portrayed many times, including the
twenty ten HBO series The Pacific. Steven Spielberg was an
executive producer. When Graves had the chance to meet Spielberg,
he was sure to point out one thing that he
believes could not possibly have happened.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
He's a gentleman, the good man. He saw me and
he kind of mild at me, and I walked over
and I said, mister Spielberg. He said yes, and he
asked me my name, and we began to talk and
I said, mister Spielberg, I've got to run something by you.
He says, go ahead. I said, Guadalcanal, John Bassolone. He said,
(30:18):
what about it. I said, sir, it didn't happen, and
I'll tell you why. They came to a big pond
of water, and he was a machine gun squadator. He
had a machine gun, and they moved arong the backside
and the Japanese came to the front side. And one
Japanese was here already and he was screaming in he
(30:40):
kill me, kill me, kill me, that's what he was doing.
And Basalon is behind his machine gun and he looks
at him like that. He pushes the machine aside, grabs
his forty five and runs across that pound bang bang
bang and turned rounds go back. Never happened, Kurt Marshall,
he left his weapon. That's a court martial. You sleep
(31:03):
with your weapon, you have it underneath your your sack.
It's with you all times. That never happened. I cited
two or three things and the movies that he made,
and he said, Graves, I just have to tell you something.
Hollywood wants to make money.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
A good gentleman, without a doubt, Graves remains proud of
his service, and he's especially proud to be a marine.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
I'm proud of the United States Marine Corps. The Army
did a tremendous job in Europe, and it was costly.
The Navy, we had the best navy. They beat the
blazers out of them, broke their backs, broke their fleet up.
We had the best navy, and the Marine Corps never
lost a battle only one time in the history of
(31:55):
the Marine Corps was at Korea up on the hill
when the Chinese were there with him. There's no way
we could have handled that. They ordered us to drop
our weapons, the first time in history of the Marine
Corps dropped their weapons and surrendered. We all lived. That
was a bad one. We've got a record, and I'm
(32:17):
proud of that record.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
And finally, you may remember Graves telling us how he
vowed to serve God all his life if he survived
Ewo Jima. Well, for several years Graves forgot all about it,
but God didn't, and Graves eventually made good on that promise.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
It took quite a while. Nine years from the date
after the war, I went to a belly Graham Bean.
It wasn't my choice. It was a very dear couple
friends of ours. They wanted to go to see Graham,
and you know, I really did want to go, but
I said, I'll change clothes and I'll come right over.
Oh boy, God is beginning to work. We went to
(32:55):
that meeting and sat there and Billy pointed out like that.
I swear that when never where I moved, his fingers
were coming like this right on my nose. He picked
on me. I thought, well that ended, and they gave
an invitation come up and receive Christ. And I fought
that thing so hard that I fell right on the floor.
(33:16):
I just cried like a baby. That was a mess.
And finally I got up on my feet and I said, well,
there's only one way to settle this. I've got to
join those folks up there. And then a voice said
to me, what about your wife? She was sitting there.
We were ready for divorce, we weren't making it. I
(33:37):
was losing friends. And I said, it's now going to work.
I turned around and looked at her. She said, let's
both go up. And we both went up together, received Christ,
gave us a bible paperwork. We went home, sat in
a brown leather chair, a wedding gift. We never sat
together until that time. And we sat there and I said,
(34:00):
you know there's a Bible someplace. Now, look, God, there's
an old Bible. I pulled it up, flipped it. I
never opened a Bible. I opened it up like that,
and I went there. She said, what is to say?
The Lord is good, a stronghold the day of trouble,
and he knoweth them that trust in him name. Once
they would never forget it. That was the conversion. Everything
(34:24):
was set with my wife and I. We raised four children.
We went off in the ministry for thirty twenty nine years.
I had five churches. I had a wonderful ministry. I
go back to any church and preach if I want,
I thank God for that. I rug it. Old young marine.
(34:44):
He beat me up like a father that loves his
son and put me up at my feet. That's what
he did. That's my story.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
That's Don Graves, a US Marine Corps veteran of World
War Two. He served as a flamethrower operator during the
Battle of Rejima while part of the fifth Marine Division,
twenty eighth Regiment, second Battalion. I'm Greg Corumbus and this
is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, this is Greg Corumbus, and thanks
(35:20):
for listening to Veterans Chronicles, a presentation of the American
Veterans Center. For more information, please visit American Veteranscenter dot org.
You can also follow the American Veterans Center on Facebook
and on Twitter. We're at AVC update. Subscribe to the
American Veterans Center YouTube channel for full oral histories and
(35:42):
special features, and of course please subscribe to the Veterans
Chronicles podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again for listening,
and please join us next time for Veterans Chronicles
Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
this edition is US Marine Corps veteran Don Graves. Mister
Graves is a World War II veteran and served as
a flamethrower operator during the Battle of Ewogima while part
of the fifth Marine Division, twenty eighth Regiment, second Battalion.
We spoke with mister Graves a few years ago, but
(00:33):
learned some fascinating new details about his service on Ewojima
in this conversation. Don Graves was born in nineteen twenty
five and grew up in Michigan. He was sixteen years
old in December nineteen forty one when the Japanese bombed
Pearl Harbor. He vividly remembers hearing President Roosevelt asking for
a declaration of war from Congress the next day, and
(00:57):
that inspired him to want to join the service.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
And mister Roosevelt got on the air. We were listening
to big bands. There's two or three of us sitting
in the front seat, all sixteen years old, and we're
listening to big bands. Enjoined, and then all of a sudden,
the announcer came on and he said, ladies and gentlemen,
we interrupt this broadcast. The President of the United States
will address the nation. And we sat there. Now we
(01:23):
knew Pearl Harbor was it, but we didn't know where
Pearl Harbor was. And he came on and this is
what he said. Yesterday, December seventh, nineteen forty one, a
date that will live in infamy. United States of America
(01:44):
was suddenly and deliberately attacked upon by the naval and
armed forces of the Empire of Japan. I interpret the
will of Congress and of the people. We show gain
triumphant victory. So help us God. I said, I'm going
to own. I'm skipping school tomorrow morning. I'm heading for
(02:05):
the fourth building. Go up on the fourth floor of
the Marine Office. I'm going to join up. They said,
you can. You got to be seventeen and you're only sixteen.
I said, I only got six months to go, and
I'll get the paperwork. So my sisters, two sisters were
get ready for school, and I pretended I was getting ready.
And now my mother was a four to ten and
(02:27):
a half. I wish lady with a real good temper,
and I said, don't tell ma. I said, okay. They
took off. I ran all the way downtown Detroit, one mile.
I just went and they got up on the fourth
floor and the gunny sergeant met me. He said, we're
going to do for you, young man. I said, I
want to sign up. He said, hold you. I was
(02:50):
hoping he'd do it. I said sixteen. He said, I
can't touch you, buddy. You got to be seventeen years old.
When will you be seventeen? I said six months. He said,
tell you what I'll do. I'll give you the paper
that you need. You take this home to your mother
and father when you're seventeen, have them sign it, come
back here and we can do business. You want to
(03:12):
do that, I said, yes, sir, he said go. I
ran all the way back to house. I was so
excited I forgot I skipped school and ran in the
back door, and there's my mother and she said, what
are you doing home? And I told her I'm not
signing that paper. I went through the First World War
and I'm not going to go through this one. Throw
(03:33):
it away.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
But Graves stuffed the papers in a desk, and when
he turned seventeen, six months later, he again asked his
parents to sign. His father immediately agreed and eventually got
his mother to sign too. Graves then sprinted down to
the Marine recruiter to enlist. After boot camp in California,
Graves was surprised to find out he was chosen to
(03:54):
operate the flamethrower.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
My skipper loved me. I was a good man. He
was a paratrooper. They broke up help for him the
fifth Division. I was heading for the PX and he
caught up me, he says Graves as yes, sir, he said,
I we'll talk to you. I yes, sir. Congratulations you're
our new frames hower. I said, Skipper, I'm a look
(04:17):
at me, and it was an inch shorter then I
am now about ten pounds later he said, you'll be
hard to see. So what else could I do? I
took the frames tower and train with it. And he
was right, because you know the life span of a
framesower in ew Regima four minutes. I was the only
(04:39):
when I came back in the battalion that we know of. Yeah.
I came close to a couple of times. If I
hadn't had a rifle with me, a rifle man with me,
I would have been shop liver.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
After a lot of training, Graves and his fellow Marines
were off to the Pacific, and in February nineteen forty five,
it was time to go to battle at Ewo Jima.
The morning that the invasion began, Graves says he was
pleasantly stunned by the breakfast menu, at least for a
little while.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Well, you know, let me just say this. Before we
left the ship, we had breakfast early in the morning.
We could see the battle, I mean they got them,
was covered with clouds. Oh, everything was going up on
the air of the Japs were fighting our boys, and
they served steak and eggs. They'd shift tables up on
top of deck LSD. I looked at that, and I
(05:28):
saw that steak in those eggs, And there was this
kid next to me, and I say, hey, buddy, Yeah,
what's with the steak and eggs? We never had we
had AG's. But no, it's the first time we ever
had steak, he said, Graves, usual head, what did they
do with convicts before they execute them? I said, yeah,
that's I understand.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Graves was in the third wave of the landing, and
he says the Marines were under fire long before they
ever hit.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
The beaches were coming in because we all sat down
on the deck and there were amphibious tractors and the
Japanese call them alligators with wheels. And we were heading
into the beach and all of a sudden I heard shooh,
got up like that, looked off the fantail direct hit.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Before long, it was time to jump off the landing
craft and wade to shore. But when you've got a
flamethrower on your back, that gets a little complicated.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Well, the only way to get out you've got to
go over the saburg and when you load, you go
over inside. Now that flames were weighs seventy two pounds loaded.
It's got two and a half here, two and a
half their five guns, a fuel with a pressure tank
in the middle. You got your hose hooked to the gun,
and that gun you hook over ther shoulders while you're
(06:52):
walking in that the fellow's got me up on this,
shove me over in the water.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Grave says. Trying to get on the beach and advance
forward was it's nearly impossible. And when you could inch
forward a bit, it was a very gruesome process.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
But we came to the beach. We could not get
up on the beach It was jammed packed with marines,
some of them dead, some of them. We couldn't get
up if you went up the top dam. We were
pinned down five hundred and seventy five feet Monsieur Rabacci
right down on us. Turkey shoot. I got up out
(07:29):
of the water and slurred around. They grabbed me out
of there. We went up and we moved up on
the sand. We had to call over our bodies to
get there, just to get up out of the water.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Still pinned down by enemy fire, Graves found himself begging
for his life.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So I lay there and I didn't know what to do.
Now you know, we weren't church people, depression kids. We
had in every good clothes. We looked terrible. So I said,
the only thing I tried was pray to God. And
I said, Lord, I don't know you, but if you're
(08:05):
real and you can do what people say, and you
do it for me and get me off this, I
don't know, serve with the rest of my life. But
I forgot that God has ears grave size.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
His units suffered immense losses that day, and all marines
were further demoralized when the most famous man among them
was killed as well.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Just waited and took our time. I mean, if you
jumped up and tried to go over, you dropped right there,
five hundred and seventy five feet pinned right down on us.
We had to get that stopped. It took a lot
of men. We lost two hundred kids on that beach.
Just my outfit, but all the way down and to
(08:46):
my right. John Basolon Medal of Mona Guadalcanal. He got
hit right there with a snaper and was killed. You know.
John was on a bond tour after Guadalcanal and he
said to his skipper, well she was chesty puller. He
was a captain at the time. Puller could go through
two fifths a day. He said, skipper, I can't do this.
(09:11):
I don't want to do this. He said, John will
raise a lot of money. He said, I want to
go back with my buddies. He said, well, you're a
medal of honor. I can't say no. Go. He took
off god everything. He joined us, He trained with us,
He hit the beach with us, and he got hit
by a sniper. Yeah, the word win. Our Basilon just
(09:32):
got it, and that hurt our morale. He was a
good man, good marine Manila John is what they called him.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Removing the Japanese from a top mount Surabachi became an
urgent priority for the Americans, and since Graves had no
idea where the rest of his unit was, he joined
in the effort to knock the Japanese off the mountain.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
When we hit the top, we made a turn. But
the problem was I lost my two men and I
was alone. So I headed towards Sarabaci, which was five
hundred and seventy five feet I rolled into a hole
and it's starting to get dark, and I saw another
marine in the hole of me, and he's got his
(10:15):
nim one towards month Sir Roboci, but he's not moving.
And I says, hey, Mac, what all picture? And we
were all mixed up. Didn't answer. I reached over and
touch him. Then I noticed the bottom half of his
body was on the other side. I got out of
that hole and jumped into another one. I lost my
two men. I'm alone and there's no way I can
(10:38):
get anybody now until the next day. A buddy yelled
our Graves, hold up, I'll go with you. He says,
I don't know where my outfit is. We were all
mixed up, but we fought, and so it took us
three days to go five hundred and seventy five feet
to reach the base of Sirbarci and they were hunkered
(10:58):
down around the each and they just let us have it. Yep.
We had to fight our way up, Sarah Batch and
they would just love Graves, Donatus. We couldn't throw ours up.
It was a bloody battle just to take that mountain.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That's US Marine Corps veteran Don Graves, who served as
a flamethrower operator at the Battle of Iwo Jima in
World War Two. Still to come more on the fighting
up Mount Surabaci and the even more fierce fighting that followed.
I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Sixty Seconds of Service.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
This sixty seconds of Service is presented by T Mobile,
recognizing these steadfast education and sacrifices made by service members
and their families. T mobile is committed to supporting active
duty veterans and military spouses. Visit t mobile dot com
slash military to learn more.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
The veteran who brings music to hospitals After serving as
a Marine band member, Michael Harris wanted to continue using
music to heal. He now volunteers at children's hospitals and
playing guitar and leading singalongs for young patients. His music
therapy sessions brighton hospital awards and reduced stress for families.
Michael says the joy on kids' faces reminds him of
(12:11):
the morale boosting power of music had when he played
for his fellow marines overseas. Today's sixty Seconds of Service
is brought to you by Previgen. Previgen is the number
one pharmacist recommended memory support brand. You can find Prevagen
and the Vitamin Aisle in stores everywhere. For more great
veteran stories, just go to Nationaldefense Network dot com.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
This says Veterans' Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbas. Our guest is
Don Graves, a US Marine Corps veteran of World War
Two and the Battle of Iwo Jima. Just as he
started his way up Mount Serabachi, Graves and another Marine
encountered a Japanese soldier. Instead of attacking, Graves tried to
convince him to surrender, and what happened next completely shocked him.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
That was a Japanese soldier. He ran across the front
of US and he dove in a hole. Just jump
right down in the hole. And I said, did you
see that? John said I saw him. Yes, I'll go
through hanger and his yaid no, no, no, no no,
let's start in talking about now. We had orientation before
we got into our landing craft. If you can take
(13:18):
a prisoner, take him. We don't know anything about that island,
because when they surrender, they'll tell you everybody. I said,
just a minute, and I said, debt ta koi de
da koi come, come, come, kohano shaki frame tour nothing.
I did it twice and I said, okay, John, let's
(13:39):
advance and we started to move. We took one step
and he came up out and he wasn't the way.
He looked different. He had a plumed hat, he had
a sword. He had a beautiful uniform on and I
said to John and I said, John that that sword
is mine. He said you could have it. We moved up.
We got about six feet from that hole, and he
(14:01):
was standing there like this boom, nothing left nothing. He
took the sword with him, committed Harry carry.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
The fight up Mount Serabaci was a costly one, and
Graves says it was the assistance from offshore. That helped
the Marines win the fight and set the stage for
the historic flag raising.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Call for aircraft. But up we're on the mountain already.
These you know that we're a little bit small when
they come down on our Marines and Navy boys. But
they did a good job. They pulverized that item for us,
and we seemed to crawl towards the top. And meanwhile,
here's what happened the flag. There was nothing in the
(14:47):
picture about a flag. We knew nothing about this. We
knew we just didn't have anything to do with the flag.
And then all of a sudden, Harold Schreier, lieutenant executive
officer to my battalion commander Chandler Johnson, and he was killed.
And he said, Harold, he reached in his blouse, he said,
(15:09):
take this flag is see I could get it up
for the skipper on the transport we came on. He
wants me to do it, would you do? He's yes, sir.
So they went up there and they got that flag up,
and we were wondering the heck did they put it on.
We didn't have a we didn't have anything. They found
dream pipe. So when you see the flag go up.
That's dream pipe put together, which the Japanese got to
(15:32):
run to trap rainwater rained every night and down in
the holes down in the bottom of mouse Erbartually, that's
what they used it for. So the flag was up
and you should have heard what went on. Five hundred
and twenty Navy ships out in the bay opened up
with sirens and everything horns. Everybody on the island up
(15:56):
in the north end where they were fighting, they let
everything go up in the air. It was a spectacle.
It was great and a lot of us just cried.
We felt so good.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Graves believes he is now just one of two living
Eojima veterans who were part of the fight on Mount Suribachi.
But there was little time to celebrate. What immediately followed
was an even tougher and deadlier fight against Japanese forces
on what was known as Hill three sixty two A.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
We lost our battalion. We came to Hill three sixty
two A. It was midday. I've always followed a little
behind because if they get me, like I said before,
I'm shop liver. That's all it is to it. So
I stayed behind. I still didn't have anybody assigned to me,
(16:48):
I mean they needed every man they could. So we
approached hill three sixty two A and everything opened up
with a big opening in front of it. They could
lob everything out of there. It was really something. And
I had my phone and all I heard was so
and so the company seat pays. So we're getting hit bad.
(17:09):
We need some help. We're losing our officers. Oh it
was just I just and I couldn't do nothing. I'm
all alone. I've got to really take take care of myself.
I just broke up. I just cried. I felt so bad.
Then they said Sergeant Goss just got it in the wrist.
Oh my gosh, he just died. Shock that's all you heard.
(17:33):
It was terrible. They beat the daylights out of us,
but we secured it. Then the next morning a buddy
of mine came up. He's our music. That's all he does,
taps all that, he said, Graves. We got a job
to do, is what. We got to close that in. See,
I had a demolition squad, but I carried the frames over.
(17:56):
So we got everything ready for I've got on can
of gasoline Primary corp fused. We had everything. We had
a shape charge like a Horne snaster like a beehive
like that, and then if you set it off, everything
down like that. So we carried that stuff up a
little trail to crawl up up on top of Hills Race.
(18:19):
They did to it, and some of our kids opened
up from a tank on us and right over my
ear and my shoulder of fifty caliber, just like that.
And I said, we've had it, Bud. He says, we
got to let him know who we are for crying
out loud. Then all of a sudden it stopped. Someone
must have said, those are our boys. Can you see
(18:41):
where God moved in there? Man? It had to be him. Well,
we finally got to the top, but we're on the
opposite side the holes over there. We had to carry
everything across twenty five dead soldiers Japanese, and we crawled
over them to get to the whole. We set the
(19:02):
five galloing can of gas off and like this, and
when it came in, we set her off eight seconds KABOOI.
When we got done with that, we put the shape
charge on top. We crawled off the top, set it boom,
never closed. It was never closed. We moved on from
(19:24):
there and we're on our own. We have no officers
do you know that a bunch of kids fought for
three weeks after Hill three sixty two A we fought
for We were well trained, we did it.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
That's Don Graves. He's a US Marine Corps veteran of
World War Two in the Battle of Iwo Jima, coming
up fighting in the caves. The tragedy that devastated Don Graves,
leaving the island alive and much more. I'm Greg Corumbus,
and this is Veterans Chronicles. This is Veterans. I'm Greg Corumbus.
(20:02):
Our guest is Don Graves, a US Marine Corps veteran
of World War Two. Just as on other Pacific islands,
Marines on Iwo Jima faced vicious nighttime Bonzai charges Japanese
soldiers streaming towards American positions to kill them. Grave says
there was only one thing the Americans could do kill them.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
We used the everything we had. You don't use the
flames at nighttime, Yeah, you light up. I'd grabbed a
carbine and we just fought him. I had a Japanese
make it through. He stood at the edge of my hole,
and you know, we're about twelve feet apart of the
whole fifteen feet and they all said, Graves, you got
(20:44):
one comer. I said, I see him. He's got a bag,
he's got hand grenades. They used hand grenades, and so
I'm sitting like this. The only weapon I've got that
time was my forty five. I couldn't hit the broadside
of a barn with a forty five. And I pulled that,
maybe pulled the hamber back, and he stowed over him,
and he's grunting and bam, bam bam. Bet fifteen runs.
(21:06):
I opened the whole thing up on him, and he
went and walked away from me. I said, he's coming,
but he says, I see him, and they killed him.
It was crazy. They were on drugs, alcohol drugs.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Fighting in caves was also common. Graves described shooting at
Japanese attackers in the caves and also how confusion there
merely led to tragedy.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
We were doing, My gosh, how many do we have
lived in Arbatam? My gosh, we're talking about one hundred
people maybe at that time, and we've got about another
week to go on the north end, and those caves
are a bit. There was a big one and our
battanion command held up in that so we went in there,
but we didn't know there was a cave around the back.
(21:53):
They could come in around this way. So they came around,
screaming and yelling and this is a bad one. And
I've got my flames right there, and I've got a
name one now eight rounds. And I saw him coming
and all of us opened up. We just dropped him,
dropped him. Another one came around and screamed, and I
(22:16):
hit him and he fell on the ground and he's
moaning and groaning and yelling, and I said, I'm going
to finish him. I walked over and it's my buddy.
I hit him right here on the chest, just through
the flesh. And I says, why were you yelling? He says,
I was afraid, and he sounded just like a Japanese.
(22:38):
He made it though. He came back with us. He
thanked me for the scar.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And of course caves are also where graves used as flamethrower.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
They've got a whole ground. I throw a couple of
short bursts in there. Now, look, she got five gunnos
of fuel, two and a half two and a half
pressure tank in the middle. If you held that trigger
back steady, you would have possibly about eight or nine
seconds of fuel, you're out. So what you do usual
(23:08):
and you get about five or six shots. Then you
got to call up for another one. And it does it.
He does the job. But like you say, some of
them will come running out, others will go back. And
that was the problem.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Believe it or not. There were brief, light hearted moments,
including the night where a Japanese soldier could smell the
Americans hot chocolate.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
We were teenagers. We didn't drink coffee. We had hot chocolate.
We'd take our de bar and diice it up water,
put it in the canteen cup, put it see two
hundred light. It just cooks away nice. You know, we
wanted it, so I got it all set up. We're
sitting in a hole. The Japanese are about two hundred
(23:51):
feet away, and all of a sudden I said, oh boy,
that's good, and the other kids says, there's three of us.
He said, let's have it. So I started reaching for it.
Then all of a sudden, hey, Marine, very good. Chocoletto.
You'll bring Charcoletto here. I said, if you want charcolett
(24:12):
you come and get He said, oh no, you bring here.
That went on that kind of stuff. Hey, facing death
and horsing around like that, don't tell me there's no morale.
And in fighting there is morale, but it takes men,
and it takes the enemy to do it.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
But the devastating moments were far more common, and the
loss of a brand new marine to the island who
was in the same foxhol with Graves, was perhaps the
most difficult moment of all.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I'll take it to my grave that we had about
a week to go now and three of us sitting
in the hole, and I said, I better be looking
for snippers. So I got up there. I'm looking for
snippers up there. About fifteen minutes, I dropped back down
and I said, I can't find it. There's nothing's going
(25:06):
on out there. So I got on my horn. I said,
Graves Company CP. He said, go ahead, Graves. I said,
I've been up there for fifteen minutes and I can't
spot anything out there. Well you better keep looking, because
they fired around back here and hit the sergeant, our
first soldier, in the thigh. We got him down, the
medic So keep looking. By the way, you got a
(25:28):
kid coming for a replacement, I says, good, we can
use him. So about ten fifteen minutes later, he comes
to the top of the hole. We were waiting for him,
and he said, graves. I said, yo, what do you
want me to do is come on, don't sit down
tonight there'll be allowed to do. Just sit down. So
I said, well, I got to get up there. And
the kid says, great, let me take a look. And
(25:49):
I said, no, you get yourself shot. My two buddies says,
that's what he's here for. Give him the glasses. I
threw him the glasses. He took him got up where
I had been for fifteen minutes. That sniper knew i'd
be back. And this kid got up there, and he
was up there about ten minutes and we're your shooting
the brazen talking. He fell back, his helmet flew off
(26:15):
down on my feet, and I looked in the helmet.
Caught in the webbing was a beautiful lady sitting in
a chair with a baby on her lap. I lost it.
I just threw everything off me. I jumped up and
down and I shook my fists. I said, curse this
and cursed this Marine corps. Listen, curse God for letting
(26:42):
that kid take my place. I didn't understand. After I
asked God to get me off the isron, I served
him the rest of my life.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Finally, Graves and the rest of his unit were told
the fight was over. Graves tells us what was left
of his unit and what he witnessed on the way
back to the beach.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
We were released to leave the battle zone. And you know,
six weeks before that, there were three hundred of us
in my company. Here it is later six weeks. Do
you know how many left? Eight of us. Eight of
(27:19):
us walked off out of three hundred. We walked down
to the gate of the cemetery that's where we rallied,
and the old man was there, Harry the horse Liver,
said Bellowwood, First World War, full bird colonel. He said, men,
I want you to go through that gate and say
(27:40):
goodbye to your officers and your buddies. Come back out
and we'll join together. We'll get a boarder of ship,
go back, get ready for Japan. They hadn't surrendered yet.
We marched down there to the close by the gate,
and as we walked through, every marine that went through
there looked over to the left on a piece of paper.
Eight and what you've got right there and they were
(28:02):
reading it and then walk in. When I got there,
this is what I read. Fellas, when you go home,
tell the folks we did our best. That they may
have many more Tomorrow's not one dry eye went through
that gate. We came out, assembled, got on the Higgins.
It took us aboard ship. We went up the net,
(28:25):
got a board ship, took off.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Graves and the other Marines headed back to Hawaii for
recovery and to get ready for the next fight, the
invasion of mainland Japan. But while still in Hawaii they
got the news. They all wanted to hear.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
The word just flew right crazy. I had put a
show Bob Crosby, Bing Crosby's brother. He was a lieutenant,
a recreation officer. He said, Graves, it's time to draft
some buddies and put on a show. Just grab them.
I put a show on. It was at nighttime. We
had two weeks to do nothing, liberty, whatever you want
(28:59):
to do. And then after that we got ready for
Japan and we were training for them. We were going
to hit the main coast. Well. Harry Truman sent a
lute to the Pentagon. I would like to know what
the cost would be by taking the mainland of Japan.
(29:22):
They sent back the Pentagon sent back the balance and said, sir,
it would probably take about seven million. He said, we'll
drop the bomb. That's what happened. He dropped the bomb.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
World War Two has been portrayed many times, including the
twenty ten HBO series The Pacific. Steven Spielberg was an
executive producer. When Graves had the chance to meet Spielberg,
he was sure to point out one thing that he
believes could not possibly have happened.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
He's a gentleman, the good man. He saw me and
he kind of mild at me, and I walked over
and I said, mister Spielberg. He said yes, and he
asked me my name, and we began to talk and
I said, mister Spielberg, I've got to run something by you.
He says, go ahead. I said, Guadalcanal, John Bassolone. He said,
(30:18):
what about it. I said, sir, it didn't happen, and
I'll tell you why. They came to a big pond
of water, and he was a machine gun squadator. He
had a machine gun, and they moved arong the backside
and the Japanese came to the front side. And one
Japanese was here already and he was screaming in he
(30:40):
kill me, kill me, kill me, that's what he was doing.
And Basalon is behind his machine gun and he looks
at him like that. He pushes the machine aside, grabs
his forty five and runs across that pound bang bang
bang and turned rounds go back. Never happened, Kurt Marshall,
he left his weapon. That's a court martial. You sleep
(31:03):
with your weapon, you have it underneath your your sack.
It's with you all times. That never happened. I cited
two or three things and the movies that he made,
and he said, Graves, I just have to tell you something.
Hollywood wants to make money.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
A good gentleman, without a doubt, Graves remains proud of
his service, and he's especially proud to be a marine.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
I'm proud of the United States Marine Corps. The Army
did a tremendous job in Europe, and it was costly.
The Navy, we had the best navy. They beat the
blazers out of them, broke their backs, broke their fleet up.
We had the best navy, and the Marine Corps never
lost a battle only one time in the history of
(31:55):
the Marine Corps was at Korea up on the hill
when the Chinese were there with him. There's no way
we could have handled that. They ordered us to drop
our weapons, the first time in history of the Marine
Corps dropped their weapons and surrendered. We all lived. That
was a bad one. We've got a record, and I'm
(32:17):
proud of that record.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
And finally, you may remember Graves telling us how he
vowed to serve God all his life if he survived
Ewo Jima. Well, for several years Graves forgot all about it,
but God didn't, and Graves eventually made good on that promise.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
It took quite a while. Nine years from the date
after the war, I went to a belly Graham Bean.
It wasn't my choice. It was a very dear couple
friends of ours. They wanted to go to see Graham,
and you know, I really did want to go, but
I said, I'll change clothes and I'll come right over.
Oh boy, God is beginning to work. We went to
(32:55):
that meeting and sat there and Billy pointed out like that.
I swear that when never where I moved, his fingers
were coming like this right on my nose. He picked
on me. I thought, well that ended, and they gave
an invitation come up and receive Christ. And I fought
that thing so hard that I fell right on the floor.
(33:16):
I just cried like a baby. That was a mess.
And finally I got up on my feet and I said, well,
there's only one way to settle this. I've got to
join those folks up there. And then a voice said
to me, what about your wife? She was sitting there.
We were ready for divorce, we weren't making it. I
(33:37):
was losing friends. And I said, it's now going to work.
I turned around and looked at her. She said, let's
both go up. And we both went up together, received Christ,
gave us a bible paperwork. We went home, sat in
a brown leather chair, a wedding gift. We never sat
together until that time. And we sat there and I said,
(34:00):
you know there's a Bible someplace. Now, look, God, there's
an old Bible. I pulled it up, flipped it. I
never opened a Bible. I opened it up like that,
and I went there. She said, what is to say?
The Lord is good, a stronghold the day of trouble,
and he knoweth them that trust in him name. Once
they would never forget it. That was the conversion. Everything
(34:24):
was set with my wife and I. We raised four children.
We went off in the ministry for thirty twenty nine years.
I had five churches. I had a wonderful ministry. I
go back to any church and preach if I want,
I thank God for that. I rug it. Old young marine.
(34:44):
He beat me up like a father that loves his
son and put me up at my feet. That's what
he did. That's my story.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
That's Don Graves, a US Marine Corps veteran of World
War Two. He served as a flamethrower operator during the
Battle of Rejima while part of the fifth Marine Division,
twenty eighth Regiment, second Battalion. I'm Greg Corumbus and this
is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, this is Greg Corumbus, and thanks
(35:20):
for listening to Veterans Chronicles, a presentation of the American
Veterans Center. For more information, please visit American Veteranscenter dot org.
You can also follow the American Veterans Center on Facebook
and on Twitter. We're at AVC update. Subscribe to the
American Veterans Center YouTube channel for full oral histories and
(35:42):
special features, and of course please subscribe to the Veterans
Chronicles podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks again for listening,
and please join us next time for Veterans Chronicles
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.