Iwo Jima survivors gather, remember

Sixteen survivors of Iwo Jima pose for a group picture on the first night of their annual reunion in Chapel Hill. They are (from left, front) George Johnson, Marion D. Freano, James Maddox, Grady Sinclair, (center) Eddie Gibbs, Frank Thompson, James Shelby, J.K. Brumbelow, William J. Hulsey, Lytle Turpen; (back) William Morrin, F.M. Bearden, Rufus Bobo, Beamon Smith, Marvin D. Boyd and Bead Cook Henson. (T-G Photo by Clint Confehr) [Click to enlarge]

CHAPEL HILL -- From GI Joe to Sgt. Bilko, they're all here in flesh and blood, spirit and memory.

These are the men of the 483rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery unit during World War II who gather annually to renew friendships born in war and to remember those who died in combat.

They survived Iwo Jima, a battle named for a South Pacific island immortalized by the flag raising photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal.

The AP photo is frequently seen as the most famous photo from the war, yet the imagery from the veterans' own words shines through their recollections of that time and place.

Struggling on the way to place their guns, a landing craft's "screw hit a reef and we were immobile and drifted out to sea," J.K. Brumbelow wrote years later in papers created by the reunion group. "A crew member had to dive in to try to repair the screw or replace it..."

Then with guns in place two months later, "early in the morning, about 200 Japs in a banzi came toward our position. Just a short way from us were some P-51 pilots sleeping in tents that had wood floors made of ammunition pallets," Brumbelow wrote. "The Japs killed the guards that were trying to keep the pilots safe and caught the pilots asleep and cut throats of seven. A few got away.

The Japs set fire to the wood and burned some of the dead," he wrote. "We were lucky that a company of Marines were still in the area and took care of the Japs...

"We had only 14 men in our crew. The odds were in favor of the enemy."

The Battle of Iwo Jima took 6,821 American lives, including 5,931 Marines, the costliest battle in Marine Corps history, and the Corps' loss was nearly a third of all Marines killed in the war, according to the AP.

Combat stories sweep across time, but it's the recurring stories told about one comrade or another that emerge so often in veterans' tales about what they did in the war.

Bedford County resident Bead Cook Henson tells about John Nash of Cookeville, and tells on himself, as well.

Henson, better known as Cook in Shelbyville, went into Nash's tent to pull a prank by tipping Nash's cot over. Nash rolled, fell out and later confronted his comrade.

"'We'uns don't mess with you'uns, and you'us don't mess with we'uns,'" Henson said Nash him told while poking a left forefinger into his chest near the collarbone.

"He was as good a soldier as I ever knew," Henson said. "He hit me in the chest once, and it took me three days to catch my breath."

More war stories from the vets of the 483rd are planned for Monday's edition of the Times-Gazette.