Bay Area vets remember Battle of Iwo Jima on 70th anniversary

ALAMEDA, Calif. (KGO) -- Seventy years ago, the battle for Iwo Jima was just about to begin, the D-Day of the War in the Pacific

A hundred bombers were set to take flight and 30,000 Marines would be hitting the beach. ABC7 News' Wayne Freedman spent some time Wednesday with some of the Marines who were there on Feb. 19, 1945, the official date of the Battle of Iwo Jima.

A trio now, but the group was part of a legion charging a beachhead that led ultimately to Wednesday's commemorative lunch.

This is not the first time that the Joe Rosenthal Chapter of Marine Corps Combat Correspondents has gotten together. They've had years and years of monthly meetings which have grown smaller with time.

Ken Gouladt, Floyd Hunter and Dale Cook are vessels of first person histories from the most costly Marine battle of World War II.

"There was on Iwo Jima, 6,821 men killed and there were 1,9000 of us wounded," Cook said.

"We salute those who have passed away," Hunter said.

The three men brought mementos and photographs. Black and white images do not dull memories of the Pacific theater's fiercest battle against a determined enemy fighting to the death.

"You live in a hole all day. And then at night one man sleeps and the other is awake because they are sneaking through the night and cutting guys throats," Hunter said.

Of all the pictures, one taken by the late Joe Rosenthal, of their own group, became symbolic and made every front page in America. These men saw that moment from far below.

Ken Gouladt said he had no idea what he was witnessing an images that would become iconic. "I was trying to stay alive," he said.

By the virtue of fate, or luck and against the odds, they remain so. Boys who helped make history and win a war so many years ago, sharing the subtle luxury of a quiet lunch.