Remembering IWO JIMA

When I was a high school freshman, I had a Western Civ teacher by the name of Peter Bonavedge (unsure of the spelling). I loved the guy. He was one of those individuals you could just tell by being around him was at peace with himself and the rest of the world. Mr. Benavedge always wore a suit and tie, had gray hair, combed straight back, and always looked every inch the way a teacher should have looked in those days, right down to his spit-shined black shoes.

I really loved this guy as a teacher and as a person. My guess is he is no longer of this world, but he is one of several good teachers that I had in high school that made me love history.

Mr. B had been a Captain in the Marine Corps, and he had landed on Iwo on Day One. He rarely talked about it, but I have to admit that the few times he brought it up are the only times I remember from his class. For when 'Cap' talked about Iwo, the lesson went from being abstract to being very concrete. Cap was there. This man WAS history.

Cap told us that one day on Iwo, one of the first days, when men were dying like flies, he had a young private come to him in a foxhole.

"Cap," the young man said. "I'm so scared. I just KNOW that if I go out today, I'm gonna get killed. Please don't make me go, Cap. I swear to you, I will go every other day, but I've had a premonition that if I go today, I'll die."

Cap was in a dilemma. As a captain of Marines, he was in charge of several platoons of men. If he let this man stay behind, he risked all. But if he made this man go, and the man died, he would have this man's death on his hands.

He let the man stay behind that day, and the man went on to fight galliently for Cap the rest of the time on Iwo---a battle that killed thousands of young Americans.

I was watching a show on Military Channel tonight about Iwo and about the vets who went back to it. It made me think of 'Cap' Benavage, my old history teacher, such a kind man, such a good and decent man, who dug deep and despite his better judgement let one young man live that day. What a hero you are. And how few know your story.

This blog entry is in honor of Cap Benavage, my old history teacher. God bless you, Cap.

"Ordinary Hero" Eddie Martens Makes a Crucial Decision Over London, 1943

In the summer of 1943, Lt. Edwin W. 'Eddie' Martens, had just taken off as the pilot of a B-17 bomber from his base at Podington, England. The 92nd Bomb Group's Podington base was northwest of London, and as Martens' plane, 'Berlin Special' began to climb to altitude, the bomb-laden plane suddenly caught fire.

Martens ordered the crew to bail out and prepared to do the same, envisioning the violent explosion that was imminent aboard the plane. However, as he prepared to jump, he noticed that the plane was flying directly over London. Recalling stories of burning planes crashing in London and killing innocent people on the ground, Martens' fought his way through blinding smoke and heat to reach the fire and beat out the flames. He then managed to land the plane safely at a nearby airfield, sparing the people of London.

Martens flew thirty missions over Germany, and after the war returned to his Nebraska farm, where he built an airstrip, restored planes, and taught flying.

Martens died June 10, 2007 at the age of 86.

The only photo I could find of Eddie Martens on the web shows him with one of his restored aircraft. Martens became a civilian instructor after the war and opened Martens Air Service in Grant, Nebraska. He restored and rebuilt old airplanes, and built new ones. He helped found the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 562, serving several years as president and vice-president. As a regular at local fly-ins, he won several awards for his work on a Waco UPF-7 that he rebuilt from a wreck.