31st Navy Seabees' Association
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31st Navy Seabees' Association |
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IWO JIMA The 31st Naval Construction Battalion participated in the battle for the Japanese held volcanic island of Iwo Jima. Marines and Seabees stormed the beaches of Iwo Jima on February 19th 1945 after days of bombardment by US Navy ships offshore. Despite the bombing, the Japanese soldiers fought tenaciously to keep this strategically signifcant island under Japan's control. Over 7,000 Marines and Seabees lost their lives during the battle. When the high-point of the island, Mt. Surabachi, was taken under US control a US Flag was raised by Marines and sailors who had reached the summit. Joe Rosenthal, a war journalist, snapped a photo of the flag raising that would immortalize the valor of the men who died on Iwo and become an enduring symbol of American resolve and courage. The men of the 31st Seabees were attached to the 5th Marine Division during the invasion. They fought along side their Marine counterparts and provided essential resupply efforts during the invasion. They drove LSTs, provided staging areas for supplies, transported wounded back to our ships and helped bury the dead. Later the 31st established a base camp to provide food and shelter to the forces on the island and built the road up Suribachi and a runway that would be used for forward refueling and repair of B-29s headed for Japan. In the days after the invasion a 31st Seabee, Waldon T. Rich, having received a copy of the, even then famous, Rosenthal photograph of the flag raising from his wife in the States decided to replicate the photo in a sandstone carving behind his tent on the island. The carving endures today and can be seen in the photographs below. More photos and information is provided in the links on the left.
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