72nd Anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima: A Veteran’s Story

By Elva Jo Crawford
    Shown in the photo are 26 year old Navy Seabee C. Gordon Powers, Jr. (Central High School Class of 1936) and his 18 year old Marine brother-in-law, Charles "Boo" Fridge, Jr. posing for a photograph in Hawaii,  late 1944 or early 1945.  While serving their country during World War II these brothers-in-law would cross paths with each other three times, and this meeting in Hawaii was the first of those three times.   When Boo Fridge first arrived in Hawaii from the states he knew that his sister's husband, Gordon Powers, was already there serving in the Navy Seabees and wanted to be sure to find him.  But, he did not know exactly where in Hawaii he was.   He did know that Gordon was in a unit called the  "Red Hill Camp".   So, he set out looking for it and eventually found Gordon's unit.  However, the day he found the Red Hill Camp, Gordon was on duty and would not be free to visit with Boo until later that evening.  So, one of Gordon's friends let Boo stay in their barracks until Gordon got off duty.  Gordon then took Boo out to eat that evening and treated him to a "fried chicken dinner".  At some point while they were out, they had this picture taken.  Boo says he does not remember exactly where the photo was taken; since, he says, there were a lot of photo shops in Hawaii.
    Boo and Gordon would both soon be leaving Hawaii on separate ships, unbeknowst to them, for "Operation Detachment",  the battle for a small island in the Pacific named "Iwo Jima", "Sulfur Island", about 650 miles south of Japan, where one of the bloodiest and most costly battles of the Pacific was soon to be fought.  The next two times they met up, it would be unexpectedly on that island. 
    Seventy-two years ago this month, February 19, 1945, Boo Fridge, along with 60,000 other Marines landed on Iwo Jima with another 10,000 US military personnel, including the Navy Seabees.  The very important battle for this island was originally expected to take only several days, considering how small it was (only about 8 square miles) and how much bombardment from the air it had already taken.  But, due to the extreme determination of the enemy and the elaborate underground  fortifications they had built for protection the battle took over a month and cost almost 7,000 American lives and approximately 20,000 Japanese lives, as well as causing thousands of Americans to be injured.
    Boo said that there was a time in his life that he remembered every single minute of every single day of that horrible 36-day battle for the Island of Iwo Jima; but, that with age, he was no longer remembering as much.  But, he well-remembered meeting up with his brother-in-law, Gordon, twice on the island.  He says that the first time he was on the front lines of the battle when his commander found a couple of Navy Seabees who had strayed over 200 yards past the front lines in order to "souvenir shop" in the caves and dugouts where the enemy had been.  After the commander gave the two men a good cursing out, he assigned Boo to escort them back to their post.  On the way back to their post, Boo inquired as to whether or not they knew Gordon.  And, they did.  So, when Boo arrived with the two stray Seabees he was able to visit with Gordon for a short while before heading back to the front lines.  Before heading back, Gordon asked his commander if he could borrow a jeep to drive Boo back so that he would not have to walk so far alone.  The commander agreed.  So, Gordon drove Boo back as far as he could and let him off near the front lines.  Gordon later said that was one of the hardest things he ever had to do, dropping off his 18 year old "kid brother-in-law" in the middle of that awful, pitch dark war zone and returning to base camp; but, he had to, of course.
    Before Boo and Gordon met up their 3rd and final time of the war, Boo had a birthday and turned 19 years old during the Battle of Iwo Jima.  He says things were so dangerous and terrible that all he could think of wanting for his birthday was to stay alive…….and see another few birthdays.   Then, one week, to the day, after his birthday Boo was blown off an ammunition dump and suffered a fractured neck.  But, the medical team on the island was not able to diagnose the fracture.  There were no X-ray machines available.  So, even though he did not feel well, after he stabilized somewhat he was sent back to the front lines.  He would spend almost 2 more weeks on the island before the battle was over on March 26 and he was put back on a ship to Hawaii.
    As he and his group of Marines were getting ready to board the ship back to Hawaii they, as well as all the other troops leaving the island, stopped at the American cemetery on the island to pay their respects to the several thousand American soldiers who had been killed in the battle and who were buried there.  As his group of Marines was passing by the graves of the American cemetery he saw Gordon for the 3rd time.  Gordon was working with a group of Seabees on a detail near the cemetery.  So, they got to visit briefly, again, one more time.
    It was not until Boo had made it back to Hawaii that he collapsed.  There it was discovered on X-ray that he had a fractured neck at the C2-C3 level that was partially healing and partially re-fracturing.  He had to have holes drilled into each side of his skull for placement of "tongs" for traction to his head to stabilize his spine for 3 weeks.  After 3 weeks in traction he was put in a body cast until the fracture was healed.  Sometime while he was in the military hospital he was awarded the Purple Heart for the wounds sustained in battle.  Today, anytime someone mentions the word “hero” to Boo, he quickly says, usually through tears, that the true heros are the ones that did not come home. 
    Gordon, already then suffering with back problems thought to have started in the military,  stayed longer with the Seabees on the island of Iwo Jima to complete building and repairing roads and runways for the US Army Airforces to have a base for pilots to have a strategic and safe place to land in that part of the Pacific, something thought to be critical to the success of the war effort.   Gordon eventually made it back to Hawaii, then on to California, and finally made it back home to Louisiana the week before Christmas 1945, 3 months after World War II had ended.  His wife, Johnnie, had been expecting their first child before he left for the war.  The baby, a girl, Ann, was born in October of 1943.  Gordon got to see her for the first time when he came home that Christmas of 1945—she was two years and two months old.
    Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander of the US Pacific Fleet said, “Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.”   Of the 2,400 pilots in the US Army Air Forces who found it necessary to land on Iwo Jima between March 1945 and the end of the war in September, a quote by one of them was published as saying, “Whenever I land on this island, I thank God and the men who fought for it.”    Today the island of Iwo Jima has been renamed and is closed to civilians and open only by special reservations by the military for memorials and etc., requiring chartered air flights.  The bodies of the several thousand Americans who lost their lives there and were buried first on the island were recovered not many years after the war ended and were transferred/re-buried at American military cemeteries or turned over to the families for re-burial.
    Gordon Powers passed away in 1980 at the age of 61.  His wife, Johnnie, passed away earlier this year at the age of 98.  They leave two grown children, a daughter Ann and a son Gordon Dale.  Charles "Boo" Fridge made it to his 90th birthday last year.   You can see a 2014 Youtube video of him singing the Marine Hymn online by Googling "Iwo Jima Veteran Sings Marines Hymn".  Boo has six grown children, two daughters, Lucy and Laurie, and four sons, Buddy, John, Jimmy, and Rodney.  Thank you for your service to our country.  Our prayers are with all the men and women of our military who sacrifice everyday for our country's peace and well-being. May God Bless them all.