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May 31,2006
Here is a
letter that was submitted by Monte Railsback, friend of GySgt Samuel Manns
who passed only
a few weeks ago.
Leatherneck
Magazine Letter
of the Month
June 2006
Several weeks ago I received word that a Marine friend of mine was in the
hospital in Lansing, Mich., having had both his legs amputated due to
diabetes, which was most likely the result of exposure to Agent Orange in
Vietnam.
Living in Iowa put me at a disadvantage in helping my friend by long
distance, and I felt pretty certain that his family was not aware of what
this Marine might be entitled to since it wasn’t that long ago that I
helped him get enrolled in the Tricare for Life program.
Since I am a member of the Marine Corps League in Iowa, I thought I might
find some information about a Marine Corps League Detachment near his home
by searching the Internet. Sure enough, I found the Web site of the Capital
Detachment 148 of the MCL and e-mailed the webmaster, Phil Zamora, with my
plight. It wasn’t long before I received an e-mail from Phil, and he
informed me that he passed the information on to the commandant of the
detachment, Doug Williams.
Since that initial encounter with the members of Capital Det. 148, they
have visited this Marine in the hospital, notified the Marine Corps
Recruiting Station and Inspector-Instructor staff in Lansing of this Marine
being hospitalized, made appointments with the Veterans Administration, and
accompanied his wife and daughter to get the necessary paperwork completed
for any benefits this Marine may have coming. In addition, the commandant
has kept me posted by e-mail of the progress that is being made at each and
every step.
All of this was done as a result of providing Capital Det. 148 with
information on this Marine’s condition, as they did not know about him
because he was not a member of the MCL. This illustrates a very valuable
lesson: You should never stop being a Marine.
A good way to continue your service in the Marine Corps is by membership
in the MCL. It will always be there for you if you are in need. The only
requirement is that you are serving or have served honorably as a Marine.
Don’t put the onus on your family to try and figure things out should you
become incapacitated. By your being a MCL member, all your family has to do
is make one phone call and everything will be handled.
I write this letter because I believe that members of the Capital Det.
148, MCL deserve some recognition for their attention to duty, and I know
that there will be some who will say that this is nothing unusual, just
Marines doing their job, but is it? I am definitely proud of what they have
done and continue to do. I also know one Marine who is better off today than
yesterday, due to their help.
MSgt Monte L. Railsback, USMC (Ret)
Shellsburg, Iowa
January 06, 2006
Participant in first
Iwo flag-raising dies
Associated Press
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. —
Phil Ward, who was part of a Marine patrol that raised an American flag on
Iwo Jima hours before the famous World War II flag-raising photograph was
taken, has died.
Ward, who was 79, died Wednesday at his winter home in McAllen, Texas.
His funeral was Tuesday in Crawfordsville and his ashes will be interred
Jan. 19 at Arlington National Cemetery.
Ward was two weeks shy of his 19th birthday when he and other members of
F Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, landed on Iwo Jima, a
Japanese-occupied Pacific island. The battle was the deadliest in Marine
Corps history. Nearly 7,000 Americans and more than 21,000 Japanese died.
On Feb. 23, 1945, a reconnaissance patrol scaled the island’s 560-foot
Mount Suribachi to scout Japanese positions around the mountain’s volcanic
crater.
Ward, then a private first class, was a member of that patrol, which
reached the summit and raised a small American flag using a Japanese water
pipe as a flagpole. That first flag-raising was photographed by combat
photographer Sgt. Lou Lowery.
Later that day, a larger flag was erected on the mountain — an event
captured by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal in what became one
of the war’s most stirring images.
Over the years, many people have claimed they were present for the first
flag-raising.
Col. Walter E. Ford (Ret.), editor of Leatherneck, the Marine Corps
magazine, said Ward is not in the Lowery flag-raising photos. He did not
dispute that Ward was on the patrol, merely that he is not among the Marines
that Lowery photographed erecting the first flag. One of the men in the
Lowery photos and Ward’s platoon commander, however, maintain that Ward is
in some of the photos.
Ward, who was one of 11 children who grew up in Lynnsburg about 25 miles
northwest of Indianapolis, served three tours of duty in the Army after his
stint in the Marines.
He is survived by his second wife, a son, daughter, brother and six
sisters.
Copyright 2006 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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