All,
I have just returned from Fredericksburg, TX and nearby Doss, TX where except for the aviation portion, the Iwo Jima Commemoration was a smashing success! Approximately 200+ Iwo Jima veterans and others attended the festivities. The major events were a parade and two reenactments of the assault on Mt. Suribachi. I spent a lot of time actually interviewing veterans including 4 P-51 pilots from Iwo Jima, and a B-29 Commander/Pilot. The P-51 pilots were mostly from the 45th Squadron including Mr. Brown, Mr. Burry, Mr. Scott, and Gen. Vanderhay. Mr. Brown flew 17 combat missions before being shot down by a B-29 gunner over Tokyo Bay, spent 2 hours in the water and then was picked up by a US submarine. Mr. Burry (Mr. Brown's best buddy) was part of a flight of 25 Mustangs that entered into the typhoon that did so much damage to the US Navy. Mr. Burry was the only P-51 pilot of the 25 to survive after bailing out, and floating in the storm-tossed waters for 6 days. Mr. Scott was shot down over Japan after shooting up an airfield and downing 2 Japanese planes. He spent 45 days with some B-29 crews in the prison of the Japanese Emperor. The B-29 Commander was also shot down over Japan and believes that his crew may be the only crew that survived the Japanese imprisonment of their crew intact. I spoke with so many Marines it would be impossible for me to list them all here, but it was great. About 10 USAAF reenactors came to represent the USAAF in the parade, which was really great. There were LOTS of WW2 vehicles and many, many, veterans in the trucks. Saturday was a day of low grey clouds, and thus the aircraft scheduled to come could not, but the scripted reenactment went on anyway. I was allowed to join approximately 300 reenactors (including 40 Japanese folks who came all the way from Japan to participate) portraying the assault on Mt. Suribachi in front of a large crowd and a bunch of the veterans in the largest ever PTO reenactment. There were minor details of course that could have been better, but overall it went very well with no major problems. This was definately a moment to remember, and a really special time to honor the Marines who fought for our freedoms.
My sister took well over 600 photos, so I will be looking through them later this week and posting some on my blog. Meanwhile, you can browse the photos (including my father and myself) taken by some people we work with at:
http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/blogs/dwp/
Semper Fi!
Ryan Short
Amatuer WIX correspondent
P.S. Scott, I have a suggestion. Maybe if people can get you information in advance we could set up some kind of "official" WIX member thingy for press passes for those who are willing to post pictures here.
_________________
Aerial Photographer with
Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites:
Texas Tailwheel Flight Training,
DoolittleRaid.com and
Lbirds.com.
The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31
- Train, Practice, Trust.
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. At any rate, around here Cedar clearing is commended and looked favorably upon as it's not native, takes up a lot of the water, and grows like a weed.