What follows, is a post from the Paynesville Historical Society Museum, Paynesville, MN, dated July of 2021. I felt compelled to post it as it feels as though our freedom is currently under threat. There is perhaps a renewed need to better appreciate what others have given to “support and defend” against the threat of Fascism, so that we may continue to breathe the air of a free country.
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Earl Grave, World War II Veteran – Earl Grave built his cabin on Lake Koronis in 1964; when he retired in 1988, he added onto the cabin to make a year-round home. He has been active around Paynesville, including golfing in a few leagues, until he turned 93. Earl is now 95 years old and continues to enjoy spending time at Lake Koronis. In August 2000, Earl shared his experiences as a Marine in World War II. The following is a portion of the interview, in Earl’s words: “When I turned 18, I knew I was going to be drafted so I decided to join the Marine Corps. In my day everybody was patriotic. I thought it was my duty to serve. That’s just the way it was.The Marine Corps let me finish high school. In 1944 when I came out of high school, within a week, I got on the train and went to San Diego. We traveled on a real old passenger train, and we had assigned seats. There were no berths for us, we were given a pillow and had to sleep in our seats. When we got there some of us had a bunch of red bumps on our arms. We didn’t know what they were but were told they were from bed bugs.We were issued sea bags and clothes. Later on we were shown how to pack it. Everything was organized and there was a lot of discipline. This was kind of an eye opener for everyone. Boot camp was good for us because we learned discipline. In the Marine Corps you never really had any rights. You did what you were told to do. From boot camp I went to Camp Pendleton. There we had training in 60 mm mortars and demolitions – explosives. We had to be careful not to shoot each other. I went from Camp Pendleton overseas to Maui where our main base was. We had training there such as mock landings and then I went to Iwo Jima.Our D-day in Iwo Jima was February 19, 1945. I can remember that very well. We had spent way over a month at sea on board a troop ship in a convoy. As we went, we picked up ships. Almost all the ships zigzagged because of submarines. On the way we’d do exercises. We slept in bunks that were five high with just room for you to lay between the person above and below you. We lived in that for over a month. I don’t know how many guys were on the troop ship, but we were packed. I know when we would have enemy in the area, they’d cut the ventilation off. We’d be down below deck, and you could hardly breathe down there. A lot of times you’d wake up with pains in your chest from the heavy air. We had a large convoy going to Iwo Jima. We were offshore a long ways and they shelled the living daylights out of that island. The morning we went in, we were awakened at 3:00 a.m. It was the only time in the Marine Corps that I was given steak and eggs for breakfast. As we ate you could hear the roar of the shelling on the beach. It almost looked like a lightning storm. You could see the smoke all along the shore of the island.After we had our breakfast, we got all our gear on and were ready to go. We went in waves. They put a net over the side of the ship and you lowered yourself down into the landing craft. One wave would go in and then another would come in at intervals behind them.There was a lot of debris on the beach and a lot of dead. We were trained to move off the beach. The instinct is to bunch up; people are that way. We spread out and went up the beach the best we could. A lot of men came off those ships. We poured in and went up the beach, moving in the best we knew how. But they (Japanese) were zeroed in on the beach and they shot artillery out of caves. Of course, they were hard to see. Every tree was shredded and there was nothing left on that island except caves and rock. They had all been blasted off with guns and artillery. I remember when I dug in the beach there, we got in a way and with a shovel we dug foxholes. We tried to reorganize at night. The volcanic ash had very hot steam coming up from it. If you were in a low area, it was very hot. My clothes got soaking wet from the moisture coming out of the ground. I got rid of some of my gear that first day. I kept my poncho, my shovel, ammunition, and some food and a canteen of water. You had to carry just as little as you could because it was hard going. So, that first night in the foxhole I got so hot that I couldn’t stand it. What I did was take an empty gas can, which was part of the debris on the island, and I laid that in the foxhole, and I laid on it. I practically cooked; it was so hot.As we went up the island we ran into pillboxes (gun emplacements with machine guns or artillery in them) and tried to get around them. We didn’t have many tanks, but we had our own flamethrowers and bazookas. We got the heck shot out of us many times. When we found dead Marines, we’d just lay a poncho over them. We always tried to help each other. They would come up with a jeep to pick up the dead and the wounded. I don’t think anyone realizes what combat is like until you’re there. I didn’t either until it happened. I was scared but you’re trained to fight. You either fight or you die. We would be up on the front line for a day or so and some would get wounded or shot. Then usually, in the evening, our squad would move back about 100 yards and another squad of Marines would move up and relieve us so we could get a little breather. I would get so tired at time I think I could sleep standing up. I was on Iwo Jima twenty some days. We had to reach the far side of the island. When I enlisted, I never really thought about the Marines being the first guys in combat. I think when you’re young you don’t think about the dangers of war. The island was only about three miles across and five miles long. The reason the island was important was for our airplanes to have a place to land. Even before I was off the island, airplanes were landing. We got to the far end of the island and we had a lot of casualties. There weren’t many guys left. When we came off the island I’ll never forget when we got on board ship. It was such a weird feeling, you were so used to walking, sitting and sleeping on the ground that it felt strange. We were a ragged looking bunch when we came off the island. A lot of us had our elbows worn through our dungarees and knees through our pants. I never had my shoes off once. My skin had rotted. They didn’t hurt and I never really thought about those things too much. We were too busy looking out for our own and everybody’s hide.I don’t think anyone can understand or be able to imagine how it was to be in the war. You get that sick feeling once in a while. You do a lot of praying and after I came off the island some of us were pretty goosy. You might be sitting at a table eating and then some little noise squeak or sound reminds you of noise associated with artillery shell and you’d dive to the ground or under a table. Your reflexes would do this automatically which you would have no control. Then you’d feel like a dummy when you’d see the people staring at you. It took me a month to stop reacting like that. People don’t really realize what freedom is. All I could think about is, “Boy, isn’t it going to be something just never to be shot at, to be able to walk down the street and breathe good fresh air, with just nobody wanting to kill you.” Most of us take it for granted that we live in a free country. You don’t really know what freedom really means a lot to people, especially people who have never had it. I don’t regret being in the Marine Corps. It was some of the best part of my life, but I wouldn’t want to go through the war again. We were just a bunch of young guys together who were doing what we thought was right.”