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U.S. Search Team Finds Iwo Jima Sites

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Jeremy Dokken
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« on: July 02, 2007, 03:07:54 am »

U.S. Search Team Finds Iwo Jima Sites

By ERIC TALMADGE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 27, 2007; 1:49 AM


IWO JIMA, Japan -- The U.S. search team looking for the remains of a Marine killed after filming the iconic flag-raising on Iwo Jima has found two possible sites and will recommend a larger team excavate them, officials said Wednesday.

"Our investigation has been very successful," said U.S. Army major Sean Stinchion, who has led the search team for 10 days of surveying and digging on the volcanic Pacific island.
"We found two caves and tunnels. We will recommend a follow-up team be brought in to use heavy equipment," he said.

He said the team did not find the remains of sergeant William H. Genaust, who filmed the flag-raising nine days before he was killed during combat on the island.

"We are the initial investigation. We surveyed the hill. We will need to return to actually dig for specific remains," Stinchion said.

The seven-man team, including an anthropologist, focused mainly on surveying Hill 362 A where Genaust was believed to have been killed.

It was the first U.S.-led search on Iwo Jima _ one of the fiercest and most symbolic battlegrounds of World War II _ in nearly 60 years.

The seven-member team arrived on Iwo Jima on June 17 and began slashing its way through thick, thorny brush on the island's interior in search of the area where Genaust is believed to have been killed.

A combat photographer with the 28th Marines, Genaust filmed the raising of the flag atop Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, standing just feet away from Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal as he took the photograph that won a Pulitzer Prize and came to symbolize the war in the Pacific.

Genaust, then 38, died nine days later when he was hit by machine-gun fire as he was helping fellow Marines secure a cave, said Johnnie Webb, a civilian official with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.

Some 88,000 U.S. service members are listed as missing from World War II, and JPAC conducts searches throughout the world to find them.

Iwo Jima _ inhabited only by a small contingent of Japanese troops _ continues to be an open grave.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/26/AR2007062602526.html

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Jeremy Dokken
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« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2007, 03:20:08 am »



Mount Suribachi is seen on Iwo Jima off Japan's main island in this file photo of July 12, 2004. A U.S. search team is on the island looking for a cave where a Marine combat photographer who filmed the famous World War II flag-raising 62 years ago is believed to have been killed in battle nine days later, military officials said Friday, June 22, 2007. The seven-member team, from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, based at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, is on Iwo Jima looking for the remains of Sgt. Willam H. Genaust and "as many other American servicemen as they can find," JPAC spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Brown told The Associated Press. (AP Photo/ Eric Talmadge, File) (Eric Talmadge - AP)


Though most of the American dead were recovered in 1948, some 250 U.S. troops are still missing from the Iwo Jima campaign. Many were lost at sea, meaning the chances of recovering their remains are slim. But many others died in caves or were buried by explosions.

Japan's government and military are helping with the search on Iwo Jima, which this month was officially renamed Iwo To _ the island's name before the war.

Japan sent its first search parties to the island in 1952 and others have followed every year since Iwo Jima was returned to Japanese control in 1968. They have recovered sets of 8,595 remains _ but, to date, no Americans, said Health Ministry official Nobukazu Iwadate.

The U.S. officially took the tiny volcanic island on March 26, 1945, after 31-day battle that pitted some 100,000 U.S. troops against 21,200 Japanese. Some 6,821 Americans were killed; only 1,033 Japanese survived. Of 82 U.S. Medals of Honor won by Marines in World War II, 26 were won on Iwo Jima.

Genaust paid the ultimate price.

On March 4, 1945, Marines were securing the cave, and are believed to have asked Genaust to use his movie camera to light their way. He volunteered to shine the light in the cave and was killed by enemy fire. The cave was secured after a gunfight, and its entrance sealed.

As a combat photographer, Genaust was trained to use a firearm, and he and another Marine protected the AP photographer as they climbed 546-foot Mount Suribachi. Genaust did not need to use his weapon; under heavy attack, the Japanese did not fire on the three men.

Genaust's footage also helped prove that the raising _ the second one that day _ was not staged, as some later claimed. He got no credit for his footage, however, in accordance with Marine Corps policy.

In 1995, a bronze plaque was put atop Suribachi to honor Genaust, who before coming ashore on Iwo Jima fought and was wounded in the battle on the Pacific island of Saipan. An actor portraying him appears in the Clint Eastwood movie "Flags of Our Fathers," and the annual Sgt. William Genaust Award has been established to honor the best videotape of a Marine Corps related news event.

The search was prompted in large part by information provided to JPAC by Bob Bolus, a Scranton, Pa., businessman who became intrigued by Genaust after reading a Parade magazine story about him two years ago. Using his own money, Bolus put together a team of experts, including an archivist, forensic anthropologist, geologist and surveyor, that was able to pinpoint where Genaust's remains were likely to be found.

JPAC officials stressed that searchers came to the island hoping to find other remains as well.

"Our motto is 'until they are home,'" said JPAC spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Brown. "'No man left behind' is a promise made to every individual who raises his hand."

Like Genaust, few of the troops involved in either of the flag-raisings survived the battle.

The last known surviving flag-raiser, Charles W. Lindberg, who helped put up the first flag, died Sunday in the Minneapolis, Minn., suburb of Edinaone. He was 86.

But there remain lingering disputes over the identity of at least one man in the first flag-raising.

A California veteran of Iwo Jima, Raymond Jacobs, has said he believes he is the man with a radio on his back who had usually been identified as Pfc. Gene Marshall, a radio operator with the 5th Marine Division who died in 1987. The other men involved in the raising all have died.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/26/AR2007062602526_2.html
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Jeremy Dokken
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« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2007, 03:21:47 am »

Caves May Shed Light on Iwo Jima Marine

By ERIC TALMADGE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 27, 2007; 8:45 PM

IWO JIMA, Japan -- Avoiding unexploded grenades and hacking their way through cactus under a blazing sun, an American search team has located two caves where they believe a Marine who filmed the iconic flag-raising on Iwo Jima may have been killed 62 years ago in one of World War II's most symbolic battles.

The team, which wrapped up its 10-day expedition Wednesday, was the first U.S.-led search on this remote volcanic island since 1948.

Army Maj. Sean Stinchon, who led the effort, told The Associated Press the team conducted an extensive search on the southwestern side of Hill 362A, where Sgt. William H. Genaust was believed killed by enemy gunfire on March 4, 1945.

Stinchon said the seven-member team located two previously unmapped sites, but was unable to search them because of the possibility of a collapse and because of obstacles blocking the way. He said the team will recommend a larger search party be sent in with heavy equipment to excavate.

He said an explosives expert was on the team _ Iwo Jima continues to be riddled with unexploded ordnance _ and checked before the team did any "poking around." At the site, shrapnel from the battle, a turning point of the war, still littered the ground.

The condition of the two caves also underscored the difficulty of the mission.

One was blocked by craggy debris, and searchers had to dig through five feet of dirt to get to the opening of the second cave. Bullet holes riddled the entrances to several caves and tunnels nearby _ one of which stretched the width of the hill itself.

"It's not a best-case scenario," Stinchon said.

Still, he said the mission was "very successful" and has created hope that the bodies of Genaust _ and possibly others _ may be found.

"This is an initial investigation," he said. "We are definitely hopeful."

Iwo Jima was the site of some of the fiercest fighting of World War II, and the photograph taken by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal of the flag-raising atop Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, came to symbolize the Pacific War and the valor of the Marines.

Genaust helped escort Rosenthal up the mountain, then filmed the flag-raising _ the second that day _ from just feet away from Rosenthal, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his still photograph.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062700229.html?tid=informbox
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Jeremy Dokken
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« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2007, 03:24:05 am »

"We did everything we could with our hands and with shovels," Stinchon told the AP, the only civilian media with the team on site.

Though they did not turn up any remains or material evidence, Stinchon said the mission may bring searchers closer to finding Genaust.



The team, sent by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, headquartered at Hickam Air Base in Hawaii, used machetes to hack through the dense foliage and cactus, which now covers much of the interior of this island.

"We really didn't know what to expect," he said.

Inhabited only by a small contingent of Japanese troops, Iwo Jima is an open grave.

The U.S. officially took the island on March 26, 1945, after a 31-day battle that pitted about 100,000 U.S. troops against 21,200 Japanese. Some 6,821 Americans were killed; only 1,033 Japanese survived.

Some 280 U.S. troops, not including pilots and those lost at sea, are still missing from the campaign. Many of them died in caves or were buried by explosions.

Japan's government and military are helping with the search on Iwo Jima, which this month was officially renamed Iwo To _ the island's name before the war.

Japan sent its first search parties to the island in 1952 and others have followed every year since Iwo Jima was returned to Japanese control in 1968. They have recovered 8,595 sets of remains _ but, to date, no Americans.

"Probably the majority of the remains they are getting are the easy ones," said Hugh Tuller, a forensic anthropologist with the U.S. team. "The chances of Americans being mixed in with them are rather slim. They have been looking more at the surface and open caves."

Genaust was 38 when he was killed.

On March 4, 1945, Marines were securing a cave on Hill 362A _ named after its height above sea-level _ when they asked Genaust to borrow his movie camera to light their way. He volunteered to shine the light in the cave himself, and was killed by enemy fire.

The cave was secured after a gunfight, and its entrance sealed, possibly by an explosion.

Genaust and another Marine protected the AP photographer as they climbed 546-foot Mount Suribachi. Under heavy attack, the Japanese did not fire on the three men. Genaust's footage helped prove the flag-raising was not staged, as some later claimed.

In 1995, a bronze plaque was put atop Suribachi to honor Genaust, who before Iwo Jima was wounded on the Pacific island of Saipan. An actor portraying him appears in the Clint Eastwood movie "Flags of Our Fathers," and an annual award has been established to honor the best videotape of a Marine Corps-related news event.

The search was prompted in large part by information provided by Bob Bolus, a Scranton, Pa., businessman who became intrigued by Genaust after reading a Parade magazine story about him two years ago. Bolus put together a team of experts that was able to pinpoint where Genaust's remains were likely to be found.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062700229_2.html?tid=informbox
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