Pacific War Memorial dedicated
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
More than half a century after the idea first came up — amidst sunny skies, a stunning natural backdrop and the sounds of a military band — the Pacific War Memorial was dedicated yesterday at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i in Kane'ohe.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
The 6,000-pound, 40-foot bronze and granite memorial is a replica of the National Iwo Jima Memorial in Newington, Conn. Both memorials are based on Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of the second Iwo Jima flag-raising on Mount Suribachi, possibly the most famous photograph ever taken.
Frank M. Collins, 96, who was a Seabee in Iwo Jima during World War II, views the newly-dedicated Pacific War Memorial at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i in Kane'ohe.
The $600,000 memorial is the result of a seven-year campaign spearheaded by Alice Clark, chairwoman of the Pacific War Memorial Association, who made yesterday's memorial presentation.
But Clark says it wasn't until after her association began its research that it discovered plans for a Pacific War Memorial made more than five decades ago.
"The Pacific War Memorial Commission was organized in 1946 and 1947," said Clark, who said memorial plans were drafted in 1951. "We did not know anything about this. They proposed a 'Memorial Boulevard To Peace,' which is actually Nimitz Highway now. And they wanted to put things all along the boulevard recognizing all the branches of the military."
Nothing ever came of that plan. But more than 1,000 people present at yesterday's dedication, including numerous Iwo Jima veterans, seemed delighted that Clark's design had become a reality.
"This memorial that we gather here this morning to dedicate, commemorates the brave deeds of all American combat warriors," said keynote speaker Col. Harvey "Barney" Barnum Jr., deputy assistant secretary of the Navy (reserve affairs), and the fourth Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor in Vietnam.
"There was no subtility in the battle of Iwo Jima, there was no room for it. On that island, one-third the size of Manhattan, two ideologies clashed head-on."
The battle of Iwo Jima began on Feb. 19, 1945, and was fought by Marines trained in Hawai'i. When the fighting ended, 36 days after it began, about 7,000 Marines and about 22,000 Japanese were dead.
"It is a great honor for me to be here as a survivor of Iwo Jima," said speaker Maj. Gen. Fred Haynes, who asked fellow veterans from all branches of the military to stand to be applauded.
"Gents, if you can stand, please get up."
One who stood was Richard Fiske, who was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and fought the entire conflict at Iwo Jima. He described Iwo Jima as "36 straight days of Pearl Harbor."
Another battle veteran, Charles Beidleman of Northampton, Pa., stood beside the Pacific War Memorial and gazed at three photos etched into the 10-foot granite base.
One, the first flag-raising photo, was taken by Louis Lowery on Feb. 23, 1945. A second, taken later that day by Robert Campbell, shows the first smaller flag being exchanged for a larger flag. The third, Rosenthal's photo, is of the larger flag being raised.
"I knew every one of those guys," said Beidleman, who was wounded three times at Iwo Jima, and was hospitalized for a year after he took a direct hit on March 10, 1945.
"The butcher's bill for freedom and our way of life has never been cheap," Barnum said. "But Iwo Jima set new, gruesome standards we were not prepared for. No living American had ever experienced such carnage. But consider what was accomplished."
Because the island was captured, 2,251 B-29 bombers made emergency landings at Iwo Jima, he said. Safe B-29 passage to and from Japan brought an early end to World War II, saving hundreds of thousands of lives.
