“WE FELT MIGHTY PROUD”
. . . memories from the past, for today and the future
May 30, 2016
With the arrival of Memorial Day, we are given a fitting moment to stop and reflect—to remember and pay tribute—to our veterans, both the living and the dead.
In February of 1945 the citizens of the United States stopped their work, their play, and their daily routines to tune their radios and catch the latest news updates from the war zones. In Europe the Allied troops were marching closer to Berlin by the day, while in the Pacific the battle for Iwo Jima still raged fiercely. On the 23rd the towering heights of Mt. Suribachi had been taken by the 28th Marines, and two flags had been raised on its summit. To commemorate this event and to inform the home front of the details of this historic moment, CBS correspondent Don Pryor interviewed Platoon Sergeant Ernest “Boots” Thomas, a member of the platoon that raised the flag. Here is a transcript of the interview:
PRYOR: This is Don Pryor on the flying bridge of Admiral Turner’s flagship off the coast of Iwo Jima. And here beside me is the leader of the Marine platoon from the Fifth Division which raised the American flag high on the top of Suribachi Volcano at the southern tip of Iwo Jima. He is platoon Sergeant Ernest I. Thomas, a modest but tough 20-year-old fighting man from Tallahassee, Florida. Sergeant, you are the first American in history who has ever raised Old Glory over a part of the Japanese home empire.
THOMAS: No, Mr. Pryor—I don’t want to give that impression. The [honor] belongs to every man in my platoon. . . . the rest of the men had just as big a part in it as we did.
PRYOR: How did you feel about it?
THOMAS: Well, to tell the truth, we didn’t have time to think about it. Later, of course, when we had everything more or less secure and we watched it whipping up there in the wind, we felt mighty proud. But our chief worry right then was how to defend it.
PRYOR: Were there many Japs around?
THOMAS: Not nearly as many as we expected. In fact, not a single shot was fired at us all the way up the side of the mountain and we didn’t lose a man—although we passed a lot of pillboxes on the way, and Japs were found in them later. I think the naval gunfire and the blasting from artillery and bombs must have buried a lot of them and pinned the others down.
PRYOR: How about the top of the mountain? What did you find up there?
THOMAS: There was a whole battery of heavy Japanese machine guns around the rim of the volcano. They seemed to be all ready for use, with ammunition stacked around them and magazines alongside.
PRYOR: But no Japs?
THOMAS: Not a one—not yet.
PRYOR: But later?
THOMAS: Yes. We climbed up the northern side of the mountain, but when we got to the top we found that the highest point was over to the left on the southeastern side. So we moved our skirmish line over there. Sergeant Howard M. Snyder of Kansas City and Corporal Harold P. Keller of Brooklyn, Iowa, were the first men to reach the spot where we raised the flag.
PRYOR: What about the Japs?
THOMAS: Oh—Private First Class Clarence Garrett sighted a Jap in a kind of combination cave and observation post off to the left. So while Lt. Schrier got the flag ready and one squad stood guard, the other two moved over there. We got three of them in that cave. Later, a Jap machine gun opened up on us from the opposite rim, but some men from F Company got him as they came up to join us.
PRYOR: Was there any ceremony when you raised the flag?
THOMAS: No. We were in too much of a hurry. Before we started up the mountain, Lt.-Col. Chandler W. Johnson, our battalion commander, handed the flag to Lt. Schrier—all rolled up, and said, “Put that on top of the hill.” And the lieutenant said, “Okay.” When we got there we put it up, on a flag pole made out of a piece of Japanese pipe. And then we got busy, mopping up our side of the mountain and sending out patrols. We stayed there all night, but nobody slept very much.
PRYOR: How long has it been since you’ve had a night’s sleep?
THOMAS: A real night’s sleep, you mean? I can’t remember.
PRYOR: Well, I think you’ve done your share for a few hours. And since you’ll be going back again before long, why don’t you go to bed?
You have just heard an interview with Sergeant Ernest I. “Tommy” Thomas of Tallahassee, Florida, who led a Marine platoon to the top of Suribachi Volcano and helped raise the first American flag ever to fly above any part of the Japanese home empire. This is Don Pryor, representing the combined American radio networks. I return you to the United States.
The full history leading up to the Pryor/Thomas interview is featured in Call Me No Hero
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