WEBVTT 1 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:16.760 Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in 2 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:20.600 this edition is Nils Mockler. He's a US Marine Corps 3 00:00:20.679 --> 00:00:24.160 veteran of World War II and the Battle of Iwo Jima, 4 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:28.160 serving as a combat intelligence scout with the fourth Marine 5 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:32.600 Infantry Division. Mills. Mochler was born in Brooklyn in nineteen 6 00:00:32.679 --> 00:00:36.079 twenty six. After living in New Jersey for a while, 7 00:00:36.280 --> 00:00:39.719 he moved back to Brooklyn until he joined the US Marines. 8 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:43.719 His father was a World War I veteran who died 9 00:00:44.039 --> 00:00:46.320 just as the nation was about to plunge into the 10 00:00:46.359 --> 00:00:50.880 Great Depression. Moechler says, it was a very difficult time 11 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:51.719 for the family. 12 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:59.000 My father was a machine gutteran fress and putting most 13 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:02.520 of the major battle and got a little bit of 14 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:08.280 mustard gas and died in nineteen twenty nine. We stopped eating. 15 00:01:09.560 --> 00:01:12.120 We went from being the richest people in the neighborhood 16 00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:16.040 who were just as poor as anybody else. The difference 17 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:19.840 was we had an indoor toilet. My father had been 18 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:25.599 extremely successful. He was a bond trader, a partner in 19 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:33.200 a major oil exploration company, and a financial advis One 20 00:01:33.239 --> 00:01:36.439 thing he knew he didn't have many stocks because he 21 00:01:36.519 --> 00:01:40.840 knew stocks were overvalued, but he had cars in the 22 00:01:40.959 --> 00:01:44.879 farm and a house. In February of nineteen twenty nine, 23 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:50.000 we were rich. By October of nineteen twenty nine, everything 24 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:56.920 was worthless. So we went from steak and potatoes to 25 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:03.400 potatoes and oat meal. The depression. If you look at 26 00:02:03.400 --> 00:02:06.560 the pictures of all the marines on you, well, you 27 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:10.479 see the newspapers always wanted to shot of guys with 28 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:14.800 their shirts off. We all looked like survivors from Auschwitz. 29 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:17.439 You know, one hundred and forty pounds one hundred and 30 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:20.719 forty five pounds was pretty chunky. I was one hundred 31 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:26.599 and twenty two pounds, and the other scout was maybe 32 00:02:27.080 --> 00:02:30.840 two or three pounds lighter and a couple of inches shorter. 33 00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:37.039 We were We just had gotten by with minimum food 34 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:39.080 for all of our youth. 35 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:42.879 Mochler was fifteen years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl 36 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:47.680 Harbor December seventh, nineteen forty one. It's a day he 37 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:49.319 still remembers vividly. 38 00:02:49.719 --> 00:02:53.080 I was walking back from the movies with I had, 39 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:57.639 at that point in life, decided that girls were not 40 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:00.599 only pretty good, but that they were anything in the 41 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:05.680 world that we were walking back in Brooklyn, a fairly 42 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:09.120 long walk. There was no air conditioning back then. A 43 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:11.639 lot of people had their windows open. It was not 44 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:14.599 a very cold day. And as we walked back from 45 00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:19.560 the movies, we heard people talking about Pearl Harbor. Japanese 46 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:26.000 attached Pearl Harbor. And we got back and we got 47 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:32.960 the radio and listened to President Roosevelt, who was all 48 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:38.479 there was to politics then, and his you know, this 49 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:41.120 is a day that we're live in infamy. 50 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.120 Mochler enlisted in the Marines at the age of seventeen 51 00:03:44.199 --> 00:03:48.240 in nineteen forty four, only after he tried and failed 52 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:49.759 to join a year earlier. 53 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.199 I was one hundred and twenty two pounds and forty 54 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:53.800 three and they wouldn't take me in. I was one 55 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:56.360 hundred and twenty two pounds and forty four and they 56 00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:59.439 took me. So I was not supposed to be able 57 00:03:59.439 --> 00:04:05.479 to do long marches or anything else. I not only hasted. 58 00:04:05.639 --> 00:04:09.599 We ran every morning, and I came in first every 59 00:04:09.639 --> 00:04:14.319 single morning. Before. I hadn't been able to join the Corps, 60 00:04:14.360 --> 00:04:18.480 but I could join the State Guard. So I wound 61 00:04:18.519 --> 00:04:22.519 up with old Foggy Pay. When I was nineteen years 62 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:25.240 old because they counted that time, so all of a 63 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:27.360 sudden I was getting an extra three or four dollars 64 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:32.399 a month, So officially I was a veteran as of 65 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:34.319 nineteen forty three. 66 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:35.920 And why the Marine Corps? 67 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:40.240 What else is there? It's that by far the best, 68 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:43.480 the toughest that I it'd be nice to be someplace 69 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:47.399 where I could go all out, and so the Marine 70 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:49.360 Corps was the only thing. Nothing else. 71 00:04:49.800 --> 00:04:52.000 Soon it was off to boot camp, which was no 72 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:53.199 problem for Mochler. 73 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:55.519 I looked at boot camp as they're trying to get 74 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:58.519 rid of the guys who can't make it. We had 75 00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:07.120 a really tough competent John instructor, combat veteran Guadalcanal Sergeant 76 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:11.319 Kerr Sir. I said, okay, if you could do it, 77 00:05:11.399 --> 00:05:12.079 I can do it. 78 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:15.040 And he did it all shortly after suffering an injury 79 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:18.120 that still bothers him more than eighty years later. 80 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:21.560 I was injured before I went to boot camp. I 81 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:25.639 went off the roof of the boathouse and Prospect Park 82 00:05:25.639 --> 00:05:28.879 and landed on the base of my spine. So I 83 00:05:29.079 --> 00:05:33.680 was walking around with a damaged coccas which I have 84 00:05:33.800 --> 00:05:38.000 had ever since then, which has hurt ever since I 85 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:41.839 missed one day, I went to Sick Baby because the 86 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:45.079 other guys in the unit figured me and pushed me 87 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:49.240 into going and made the appointment for me, and the 88 00:05:49.959 --> 00:05:52.319 cormin naturally took it for granted that I was dog 89 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:56.160 in it. So they gave me the standard treatment apc 90 00:05:57.120 --> 00:06:01.680 ASPERN finobarb and codeine and the shot of mineral oil 91 00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:03.399 and pushed me out the door, and I say, to 92 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:05.160 hell with you, I'll never see you again. 93 00:06:05.639 --> 00:06:08.639 Before long, the Marines decided Mochler might be a good 94 00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:12.360 candidate for a combat intelligence scout. It was an eye 95 00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:14.560 opening experience for him, to say the least. 96 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:18.839 It was a cycle of six weeks. They would bring 97 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:24.240 in a group of selected from everything east of the 98 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:30.759 Mississippi and come out with a collection of very different individuals. 99 00:06:30.839 --> 00:06:35.879 One guy who had shot and killed his sergeant and 100 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:39.879 wound up in Levenworth and then they did a retrial 101 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:44.720 and the rest of He was a Marine raider and 102 00:06:44.759 --> 00:06:48.439 he was on guard duty on the beach and his 103 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:53.319 sergeant came down, drunk out of his mind and fired 104 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:56.839 on him with his Service forty five. And the guy 105 00:06:56.920 --> 00:06:59.319 was very proud of himself. He got his rifle off 106 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:02.079 the shoulder. He said, I hit him through the cigar. 107 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:07.040 He was there. We had one other eagle scout. We 108 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:15.800 had a spook being run through the mu Matirebov his 109 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:20.519 father was a general in the Circassian army, and as 110 00:07:20.519 --> 00:07:23.839 he said, the Circasians taught the Cossacks how to ride. 111 00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:29.319 And he disappeared and was at the end of the year. 112 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:34.040 Training was assigned to the Radar School and the College 113 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:40.279 of the Ozarks. And forty five fifty years later I 114 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:43.240 saw his name on the first page of the New 115 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:46.279 York Times. Just you know, there couldn't be two people 116 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:50.000 named Matirbof, and there weren't. And I found a woman 117 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:53.120 from the State Department, and she said, there was never 118 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:56.079 any such thing as College of the Ozarks for Radar School. 119 00:07:56.120 --> 00:07:58.720 He's just being run through for cover. 120 00:07:59.399 --> 00:08:02.720 But Michael and many of the others were still barely adults, 121 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:06.360 which means there was still a strong streak of mischief 122 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:10.000 in them, including their work with dynamite during training. 123 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:14.720 Dynamite was more fun. Dynamite is nitro and you use 124 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:19.079 it and it's you know, Nitro was a vascular stimulant. 125 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:21.279 You wind up with a headache a little bit if 126 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:24.319 you handle it with sweaty hands, but dynamite was more 127 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:28.519 fun to work with. But the TNT, the kind of 128 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:30.600 guys we had. We had the one guy who was 129 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:38.320 the was in Princeton and he swam butterfly no less, 130 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:41.879 and they tried to recruit him for they told him 131 00:08:41.919 --> 00:08:44.320 there was a Marine Corps swim team even in nineteen 132 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:49.120 forty four. Ben Sicklin was the name Ronald Van Sicklin 133 00:08:49.240 --> 00:08:56.000 and another not case from California, biker John Dowd. They 134 00:08:56.039 --> 00:09:00.159 set us up to we wanted somebody well who'd do 135 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:07.200 a live firing. So they were Dutch Royal rememberings. They 136 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:12.320 were sappers from the Dutch into China. So they instructed 137 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:16.200 us in like fools. They trusted us to take this 138 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:21.600 block of TNT and we'd all practice with the snapping 139 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:25.840 a cap on the fuse and measuring your fuse and 140 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:29.279 timing how much you know, how long, how it would 141 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:34.039 burn this day and whatever. So we got a very 142 00:09:34.039 --> 00:09:36.360 long fuse and they didn't find any fault with that. 143 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:39.720 And there was the dump, and out in the dump 144 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:42.000 there was an old ice box. Because I guess they're 145 00:09:42.039 --> 00:09:46.799 getting moodered and getting refrigerators. So one of us was 146 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:51.080 to go out there and the other two go alongside. Right. Well, 147 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:55.440 while they were talking, we all walked over the box 148 00:09:55.480 --> 00:09:59.360 and got a few more blocks of TNTs. Fatigue jacket 149 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:02.840 has a good s back pockets. I got one in each. 150 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:09.600 I think John got two, so instead of one, we 151 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:15.480 had at least four or five blocks of tnt So 152 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:20.600 we went out there and Ronnie was setting his one 153 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:25.159 little charge. We took ours and put it with them, 154 00:10:25.399 --> 00:10:27.799 and then you had a fuse lighter you pulled on, 155 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.759 you lit it, and then we ran like hell to 156 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:35.200 the group back there. You know, what are you doing 157 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:38.279 one little block and why you were running? But it's 158 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:41.399 cast in stone. If you say hit the deck, you 159 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:43.399 hit the deck. I don't care if you're in general. 160 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:48.799 So everybody went down and we had an extremely satisfying 161 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:52.320 I mean, the whole area around where that ice box 162 00:10:52.360 --> 00:10:54.600 and call it was just nobody ever said a word 163 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:56.440 about it. That was the kind of the nutcases they 164 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:57.159 were looking for. 165 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:00.759 In the fall of nineteen forty four and his units 166 00:11:00.759 --> 00:11:04.679 sailed to Hawaii and trained on Maui until it was 167 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:08.399 time to deploy. He says, everyone knew they were going 168 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:13.279 to Ewojima, even the local newspapers, but nobody knew that 169 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:17.480 much about it. That would change in February nineteen forty five, 170 00:11:18.039 --> 00:11:21.000 and we'll hear all about the landing at Ewojima in 171 00:11:21.159 --> 00:11:26.559 just a moment. I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. 172 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:30.240 Sixty Seconds of Service. This sixty Seconds of Service is 173 00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:33.600 presented by T Mobile. T Mobile offers exclusive discounts for 174 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:36.639 a veteran and military families and are proud supporters of 175 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:40.000 the National Defense Network. Visit t mobile dot com slash 176 00:11:40.039 --> 00:11:43.120 military to learn more about how they support our military 177 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:46.039 community that's helping. Bets of Anderson, South Carolina is a 178 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:50.080 nonprofit volunteer organization supporting all military members. Most of its 179 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:52.679 veterans are from the Vietnam War era, but its ranks 180 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:55.360 are growing with veterans from recent conflicts in the Middle East. 181 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:58.759 The organization recently broke round on its new one million 182 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:03.320 dollar facility, one ninety six Woodbard Avenue. The nonprofit organization 183 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.399 was established due to inadequate support for veterans with PTSD 184 00:12:06.919 --> 00:12:10.360 following the discontinuation of counseling services at the South Carolina 185 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:14.679 Veterans Administration Clinic in twenty fourteen. Today's sixty Seconds of 186 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:17.639 Service is brought to you by Prevagen. Prevagen is the 187 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:21.200 number one pharmacist recommended memory support brand. You can find 188 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:24.200 Prevagen in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. 189 00:12:24.519 --> 00:12:28.840 This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in 190 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:32.559 this edition is Nils Mockler. He's a US Marine Corps 191 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:36.039 veteran of World War II and the Battle of Ewojima. 192 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:40.879 Around Christmas nineteen forty four, he and many other Marines 193 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:45.519 departed Hawaii for Ewojima, fighting would begin less than two 194 00:12:45.559 --> 00:12:50.720 months later. Despite being just eighteen years old, Moechler witnessed 195 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:53.960 the opening of the battle plans aboard his ship, and 196 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:57.120 he tells us about that moment and coming ashore on 197 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:02.360 Ewojima on D plus one, I was probably. 198 00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:07.240 The youngest person to sit in on the ohso secret 199 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:11.759 opening of the document that officially was going to be 200 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:15.519 Abo Jima. And the map of Ebo Jama spread out 201 00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:18.519 about like that, and on the map there were two 202 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:23.399 lines like this one all the way up on the 203 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:28.399 north east end of the island. D day we take 204 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:34.360 the beach, we take the airfield, we take the dormant volcano, 205 00:13:34.919 --> 00:13:40.039 and about half of the rest of the island. That 206 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:43.600 was D Day D one. We take the rest of 207 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:49.440 the island and we had absolute control of the air. 208 00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:53.440 No worry about any kind of strafing or bombing or 209 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:56.679 anything else. We've got it, and we're going to use 210 00:13:56.679 --> 00:13:59.720 a tactic that has not been used since World War One, 211 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:04.919 a rolling barrage. The artillery was set up and fire 212 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:10.120 in a line across the entire sort of plateau. There 213 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:12.200 was no beach on that part of the island, There 214 00:14:12.279 --> 00:14:17.919 was just rocks, and the infantry would advance behind this 215 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:22.320 rolling barrage. So they didn't use the term. But what 216 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:24.519 I got out of it is the two easiest days 217 00:14:24.559 --> 00:14:29.120 in Marine Corps history. We would go in dressed like 218 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:34.519 this with a wool blanket, a shelter. Half the two 219 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:37.759 pieces would go together for a pup ten, a poncho, 220 00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:46.919 one canteen of water, metal helmet, first aid kit, bayonet, sheath, knife, 221 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:52.480 and your mess kit all hung on the fabric belt. 222 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:57.120 You carried them one rifle, about seven pounds of semi 223 00:14:57.159 --> 00:15:00.840 automatic rifle, one or two clips of ammunition. 224 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:01.759 Some of the. 225 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:06.240 Guys who were warriors had a couple of bandoliers that 226 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:09.120 they would drape over their shoulder. I don't know that else. 227 00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:17.279 We got two k rations, which are inedible. The cardboard 228 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.840 boxes looked like they'd been dipped in paraffin, and the 229 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:23.000 story was that the box tasted better than the food 230 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:30.200 inside were terrible. That was our complete preparation. So we 231 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:41.120 came in and we had the Coastguard professionals serfment and 232 00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:44.080 the guy put the thing right up. I walked out 233 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:47.159 and stepped into the sand and sank up over the 234 00:15:47.159 --> 00:15:51.159 tops of my shoes, but dried not a drop of water. Perfect. 235 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:58.320 Headquarters was only up two levels. It was not really 236 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:01.279 a beach, should be a level spot and then a 237 00:16:01.399 --> 00:16:08.919 wall of what passes percent It's black, heavy, almost like 238 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:16.360 class bees and gets into everything. So the headquarters company 239 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:22.639 was set up in a giant crater, and the headquarters 240 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:30.200 consisted of the captain, the first sergeant, and a guy 241 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:35.600 with a switchboard about the size of a toast orban screen. 242 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:42.159 The plug in they try to reach the guys who 243 00:16:42.200 --> 00:16:49.440 were going to be advancing for another day, and that 244 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:53.600 was it had a fly over the top for a 245 00:16:53.720 --> 00:16:57.000 rain and a camfliers net over the top of that, 246 00:16:57.159 --> 00:16:59.080 and that was headquarters Company. 247 00:17:00.279 --> 00:17:04.640 Says the Japanese response to the landing was fierce, heavy. 248 00:17:04.440 --> 00:17:09.839 Enough that the you dug a hole as much as 249 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:14.240 you could in the sand and got into it. And 250 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:17.319 there was no real plan for what to do after 251 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:25.920 day d one, so just do without sleep for about 252 00:17:25.960 --> 00:17:30.039 two or three days. And the standard was, you know, 253 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:36.799 what the hell is going on? And remember there was 254 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:42.200 no real radio commune communication. The radios weighed about thirty 255 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:47.039 pounds in a rubber pack with six foot antenna, so 256 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:53.039 they were targets and so there was no real communication 257 00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:58.039 except you know, you could walk up and yell in 258 00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:01.680 somebody's ear, and that was about it. So the first 259 00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:04.400 couple of days it was just get in a hole 260 00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:05.119 and stay there. 261 00:18:05.519 --> 00:18:08.799 That's Nils Mochler, a US Marine Corps veteran of World 262 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:13.000 War Two and the Battle of Ewojima. When we come back, 263 00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:18.759 Mochler describes combat life in the foxholes and being surrounded 264 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:24.240 by death. I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. 265 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:29.799 This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in 266 00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:33.559 this edition is Nils Mockler. He's a US Marine Corps 267 00:18:33.599 --> 00:18:36.599 veteran of World War two and the Battle of Ewojima, 268 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:40.079 serving as a combat infantry scout with the fourth Marine 269 00:18:40.119 --> 00:18:44.079 Infantry Division. We now pick up Mochler's story as he 270 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:48.000 describes getting off the beach and moving inward and upward 271 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:53.079 on Ewojima, and he remembers a devoted chaplain who stood 272 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:54.160 out during the battle. 273 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:57.759 They moved me up all by myself, following up by 274 00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:02.079 the end of the airport and the right about where 275 00:19:02.119 --> 00:19:06.640 the ridge started. And with the tunnel system, which we 276 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:09.319 did not know about. We thought they were just hiding 277 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:13.359 out in caves, and we kept waiting for them to 278 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:15.440 come around from the other side of the island and 279 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:18.599 to make a charge at the beach. So I was 280 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:23.079 a trip wire, and so I was just on the 281 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:26.440 card duty for like six hours at night. But the 282 00:19:26.480 --> 00:19:30.799 rest of the night I would be up because we 283 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:34.359 expecting we're going to see a whole line of Japanese 284 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:39.079 come running at us. So who was up And very 285 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:42.039 briefly I had a guy in the next hole to 286 00:19:42.119 --> 00:19:46.640 me who had a guitar and he was a chaplain 287 00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:49.720 and I found out afterwards he was the chaplain for 288 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:53.000 the whole division. He was there for one day. Earl 289 00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:58.279 Dian Sneery the officers had their insignia under their lapels 290 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:01.079 so they could see was a pin on top. Nobody 291 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:03.799 could tell what rank he was or because he was 292 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:06.720 a chaplain. And he went down to the beach and 293 00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:12.160 requisitioned a couple of pocketfuls of little bottles of Napoleon 294 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:16.400 brandy and then went to visit the uh the wounded. 295 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:21.799 There was a giant bunker who was into the hillside, 296 00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:28.039 so that's where the high command was and where the 297 00:20:28.039 --> 00:20:30.240 hospital had been set up. And he would check with 298 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:33.799 the corman to say, who could use this, you know, 299 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:37.480 so somebody's just gotta legged it shot up. Bless you, 300 00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:41.119 my son. And then he disappeared and we took me. 301 00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:45.119 I tried to find him for years. And then guy 302 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:49.119 was in charge of the association in New York Capital 303 00:20:49.160 --> 00:20:52.519 District who was really good on computer and he found 304 00:20:52.519 --> 00:20:59.200 a way of penetrating the the family site and found it. 305 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:02.680 I don't know what his rank was when he retired. 306 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:06.359 He died in the nineteen nineties. 307 00:21:06.559 --> 00:21:09.279 Milkler also went into detail about the Marines he was 308 00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:12.960 attached to as an infantry scout. He says this battle 309 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:16.720 hardened group didn't readily welcome the new guy, but he 310 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:18.279 stayed focused on his job. 311 00:21:18.440 --> 00:21:23.480 For me most of the time boredom, waiting for something 312 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:27.599 to happen and go out and find the freaking tanks 313 00:21:27.640 --> 00:21:30.480 to go out. And the tankers had no use for 314 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:35.279 anybody from company headquarters. They were already set. They knew 315 00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:40.519 where the CBS had set up. Send somebody out if 316 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:43.480 it was welding or burning, that could fix their tank. 317 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:48.240 But they had set up their own communication for ammunition 318 00:21:48.359 --> 00:21:51.440 and fuel and everything else. They had no use for 319 00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:57.759 the headquarters company at all. Is again on Maui, the 320 00:21:57.799 --> 00:22:00.640 tankers were down right down by the ocean on the 321 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:05.960 level ground, and the division was halfway up the mountain 322 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:14.759 of Haliokola, and so they had come out as a 323 00:22:14.799 --> 00:22:21.680 combat unit. Nineteen forty two, early forty two to Caledonia. 324 00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:29.200 Were all the young men from Caledonia were in England, 325 00:22:29.319 --> 00:22:33.599 and the girls welcomed them, and the food was great, 326 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:38.480 and they were all regular marine, so a lot of 327 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:44.200 them were earning over forty five or fifty dollars a month, 328 00:22:44.279 --> 00:22:51.359 which was five or six times what Australian soldier, sailor 329 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:56.240 or marine would get. So they loved no cal and 330 00:22:56.319 --> 00:23:01.759 they had absolutely no respect whatsoever for the commanding officer 331 00:23:01.880 --> 00:23:06.799 of the headquarters company, and no use for me as 332 00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:08.799 a buck private. What the hell are you doing here? 333 00:23:09.720 --> 00:23:12.240 But I started off, You just walk out like a 334 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:15.039 block or two. And I was the first tank that 335 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:21.240 was disabled, and they had dropped their skate patch so 336 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:24.960 they could get up and get into it. Because a 337 00:23:25.039 --> 00:23:28.319 couple of hundred feet away there were people standing there 338 00:23:28.359 --> 00:23:32.759 with rifles waiting to shoot anybody who looked important. You 339 00:23:32.759 --> 00:23:35.759 know what their ideal was to get to wound somebody, 340 00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:39.759 get them down and have Corman come out, try to 341 00:23:39.799 --> 00:23:42.519 take care of them, and little bears come to pick 342 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:45.680 them up, and then they would have a real target 343 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:51.319 worth working on. We didn't realize that they had telephone 344 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:57.079 conversation between the different supposed caves that we had knocked 345 00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:00.240 out the day before. It took a while to get that. 346 00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:05.240 Never got to fire or shot. Nobody did I know 347 00:24:05.319 --> 00:24:09.119 of delivery shot at me. I did not want to 348 00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:12.160 look important. I didn't walk around carrying a pad or 349 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:15.599 anything like that. I left the rifle on my shoulder 350 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:20.000 the same thing. I don't know about all of the officers, 351 00:24:20.039 --> 00:24:22.640 but most of the officers ducked their forty fives and 352 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:25.880 picked up on them one because otherwise you were a target. 353 00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:29.240 The carmen took the cross off their helmets and got 354 00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:34.640 a regular camouflage cover. That was the only camouflage we 355 00:24:34.680 --> 00:24:40.119 had was on the helmets, and they would carry m ones. 356 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:42.200 They might not know which end the bullet was supposed 357 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:43.920 to come out of, but they know if they didn't 358 00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:49.799 have one, that they were different. So I looked unimportant 359 00:24:49.880 --> 00:24:50.839 and I'm here. 360 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:55.039 Battle during the daytime was often difficult because the Japanese 361 00:24:55.039 --> 00:24:59.599 were invisible, often hiding in caves and tunnels. Night time 362 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:03.279 was something else, with Mochler and the other Marines keeping 363 00:25:03.319 --> 00:25:07.559 a very tense watch in preparation for Japanese attacks on 364 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:08.480 their foxholes. 365 00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:14.839 I was not afraid twice when it came up close 366 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:19.200 and personal, when there's a machine gun fire coming in 367 00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:22.880 front of me, and I hid behind something very substantial. 368 00:25:23.400 --> 00:25:27.079 And I realized when I was hiding behind his combat wire, 369 00:25:27.119 --> 00:25:30.839 which is about as thin as the the wire coat hanger, 370 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:33.240 and I was trying to hide behind that and trying 371 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:39.039 to get down inside the helmet. I laughed about that. 372 00:25:39.240 --> 00:25:43.799 I still think it's just funny, but no, you couldn't 373 00:25:43.799 --> 00:25:47.480 really dig a hole. It was cave in. Seventy five 374 00:25:47.480 --> 00:25:53.480 millimeter cannon came in cardboard like mailing tubes about about 375 00:25:53.519 --> 00:25:55.960 yay long, and they were all over the place and 376 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:58.720 you could take them and put them in keep the 377 00:25:58.759 --> 00:26:02.160 hole from so you're not lying in the sand. You're 378 00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:05.119 on a couple of these. But the deepest hole I 379 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:09.640 could dig was about that deep. So I was out 380 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:12.640 of machine gun ranger. But at night I would just 381 00:26:12.759 --> 00:26:19.440 I would sit up all night, and they weren't really holes. 382 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:24.240 Farther out with the front line troops, it was dirt 383 00:26:24.279 --> 00:26:28.039 and they could dig real fox holes where two or 384 00:26:28.079 --> 00:26:32.519 three guys could get in. But on the beach you 385 00:26:32.599 --> 00:26:37.599 were basically sleeping in a little shallow trenches. 386 00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:40.799 Mockler says some of the most sobering moments of his 387 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:45.920 time on ewo Jima involved observing the ever growing cemetery 388 00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:47.799 of American service members. 389 00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:51.240 The drama was that I had to go down to 390 00:26:51.319 --> 00:26:57.039 the company headquarters at least twice a day, so that's 391 00:26:57.079 --> 00:27:02.559 four trips back and forth, and the first was before 392 00:27:02.599 --> 00:27:05.759 the flag went up. I started in the cemetery was 393 00:27:05.799 --> 00:27:10.480 small enough to walk around. The cemetery grew by more 394 00:27:10.519 --> 00:27:18.359 than the thousand feet a day. So after about day 395 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:22.400 four or five, Uh, there was a path through what 396 00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:29.000 I could go through and smell what somebody who'd been 397 00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:32.720 out in the sun for a couple of days after 398 00:27:32.799 --> 00:27:36.359 being blown up and wrapped in a poncho and buried 399 00:27:36.359 --> 00:27:41.720 in cinders, what the cemetery smelled like. And the greatest 400 00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:48.119 registration guys could sit and eat their really terrible food 401 00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:53.039