HILL 382

"I was hit by mortar fire on Hill 382, Iwo Jima, March 1, 1945. I was a squad leader in I-C- 25 and was hit in a shell hole where six other Marines were killed plus others wounded by the same shell. The photo would have been taken on the way to the beach for the trip to the hospital ship that took me to Guam. I had been hit with shrapnel in the thighs of both legs and a piece in the left leg lodged against the nerve making the leg useless for support, hence my weight on the corpsman to keep all my weight on the right leg. I had to use the same system to get off the ridge. I was helped out of the shell hole and ran a three legged race with Sgt. Robert Summers of the 2nd platoon, C Co. He took me but made me disassemble my M-1 and throw it in three directions. I was also hit across the right side of my nose and the piece lodged in my cheek and was later removed at St. Albans Hospital in New York. My helmet was torn to pieces and off my head and I also received minor scalp wounds, hence the bandage on the head and the right side of my face. The day before, February 28th, I was put in for the Bronze Star for heroic achievement and was presented the same in December '45 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard where I was discharged. I also made landings on Mellu Island at Roi- Namur, Saipan, where I was also wounded and the assault landing on Tinian. I attended weapons school at Camp Lejeune in 1943. That was the only time in my 40 months in the Corps I spent in the barracks, the rest was in tents or foxholes. I spent 11 days on Iwo Jima which is one day less the Allen Matthews, who wrote of his 12 days with I-C-25 in his book The Assault."

-Plt. Sgt. Bernardin R. Gingras, I-C-25,USMCR

Those are my father's own words describing the photograph which is the basis of this carving I did for him. Officially neither the Department of Defense or the Marine Corps have ever identified the Marine in the picture. The Navy Corpsman was identified, but unfortunately he did not survive the conflict. The "unknown Marine" has appeared in many books and magazines since 1945. He appears in the Clint Eastwood movie, Flags of Our Fathers and has a prominent place in the Iwo Jima photo collage at the new Marine Museum in Quantico, Virginia.

Is it my father? I guess we will really never know. Dad passed away in 2002. This carving was one of his prized possessions. I can tell you that it sure looks like him, even with that wide eyed dazed look that was surely worn by many Marines who spent hellish days and nights in arguably one of the fiercest battles the world has ever known. When pressed, he would point to the Marine's jacket. Standard issue at the time was a button jacket. Not happy with that, he added a zipper inside the jacket, his own modification. Other Marines may have done the same. The original photo is taken from quite a distance from the Marine and Corpsman. A zipper can clearly be seen inside the jacket in the photograph when it is blown up as you see it here.

So, is it my father? I guess we will never really know who it is in this moment frozen in time in 1945. His surviving squad members said it was him. He said it was him. That has always been good enough for me. Regardless, it is an iconic photograph. I hope my carving does it justice.

Iwo Jima photo collage at the Marine Museum in Quantico, Virginia

Semper Fidelis