My Recent Writing on WWII in the Pacific

Bataan Death March survivor Ed L.

Ralph L., Bataan Death March and POW in Japan.

The USS Indianapolis.

Hap Halloran, top center, with B-29 crew.

The little girl at right watched the Pearl Harbor attack from Pearl City, only a few hundred yards from Ford Island.

Pete Benavage is my old Western Civ teacher from high school. He was a sergeant on Iwo Jima. This photo is captured from a Japanese TV documentary about Iwo Jima.

Bill Morrison, Iwo Jima Marine.

Bill Lynne, Navy Corpsman with 1st Marines.

Bob Crowton's Navy Cross, awarded for heroism at Okinawa.

Bob Crowton's wife Marge admires his Navy Cross.

Kay Morris, B-24 copilot, flew many long over-water missions against Japan.

Bill Lynne, Navy Corpsman, Pacific.

Bill Harten, USS West Virginia, Pearl Harbor survivor.

Joe Lajzer, Bataan Death March survivor and survivor of four years in a Japanese prison camp.

I have been working hard on Untold Valor: Pacific and have some fine stories. The book will be arranged chronologically by battles/campaigns and each chapter will feature two to three men or women who were there. Chapters so far include:

Pearl Harbor: Interviews, Pearl Harbor survivor from USS West Virginia; lady who was a 6-year old whose dad was stationed at Pearl and who watched the attack from Pearl City.

Wake Island: Interview: a civilian construction worker who was captured and spent the war as a POW.

Bataan Death March: interviews with three Bataan Death March survivors who also survived hellish POW camps and Hell Ship trips.

Pilots: interviews with two pilots who flew long over-water missions to Japan.

Navy Corpsmen: Interviews with three Navy corpsmen who served with the First Marine Division on Saipan and Okinawa.

Okinawa: interviews with Marines and Navy Corpsmen who were there, including a Marine Lt. who won the Navy Cross there.

Iwo Jima: Interviews with three Marines who were there.

USS Indianapolis: Interviews with three men who survived the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, sunk by a Japanese sub in 1945. The survivors spent days in shark-infested waters before rescue, and most died waiting for rescue. Also interviewed Hunter Scott, who as a young man called attention to the fact that Captain McVay was wrongly accused of negligence.

B-29 POW: Interview with a man who was shot down and was a POW in Tokyo during the March 10, 1945 firebombings.

Possible one or two more chapters, but it depends on if I can find the men to interview. I would like to interview a carrier pilot and a Seabee.

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.