PARSIPPANY — The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle in which the U.S. Marines landed on, and eventually captured, the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. The battle would ultimately change the course of the war in the Pacific.
On Feb. 18, Gartenberg came to Picatinny Arsenal to visit the Marines of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Corps Regiment and related his experiences during the key battle. Gartenberg, 89, a resident of Parsippany.
Before entering the military, Gartenberg was an engineering student at City College of New York. Within 18 months, he found himself a graduate of Marine Corps boot camp, infantry school, and aboard a ship headed to Iwo Jima.
“I did some intense infantry training at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. I learned up to pick up cigarette and cigar butts on a daily basis,” Gartenberg joked.
As he recounted his story, the Marines chuckled along with Gartenberg, as did other veterans in the room, all vaguely recalling their “police calling” duties during their enlistment.
In November 1944, just before he left for the war, Gartenberg was assigned with the 4th Marine Division and went to Maui, Hawaii for training. His first assignment was guarding Japanese prisoners who were being transferred to the U.S.S. Indianapolis for interrogation.
“The problem with the Pacific War was that most people didn’t know where it was,” Gartenberg told the Marines.
“There was the Battle of Guadalcanal. OK, well, where was Guadalcanal?”
“On the Solomon Islands. OK, where were the Solomon Islands?”
Again the Marines laughed, but quickly fell silent to continue listening to the man who lived through the battle that every Marine is familiar with through tradition and knowledge handed down by generations of Marines before them.
“We boarded ship, January 1, 1945, and we had no idea where we were going,” Gartenberg said.
“You couldn’t even see Iwo Jima on a map. Not that anybody knew about it either,” he added.
Gartenberg said that because of the erroneous intelligence they received, they were completely unprepared for what they were about to endure.
“We were told there were 10,000 Japanese troops and the fight would take eight to ten days,” he said.
“There ended up being 22,000 troops and the eight to 10 days turned into five weeks.”
Gartenberg said that although they fired upon the island from their ships, the Japanese did not return fire.
“They didn’t want to reveal their positions,” he explained.
“The beaches were covered with black volcanic ash. We would later find that our tanks would get bogged down and our weapons would not fire because they would get clogged.”
“You couldn’t dig a foxhole for protection because the ash just didn’t allow it,” he said.
“Initially I was a rifleman, but then assigned to a machine gun.
“They took my M1 away and gave me a machine that didn’t have a sling. I had to use my bed roll as a sling,” he added.
Gartenberg described the scene once the fighting really took hold.
“Every square foot of beach was covered by mortar and artillery fire,” he said.
“Marines don’t retreat!” Gartenberg blurted out with intensity.
“We took that fire for three days and nights before capturing the airfield.”
Gartenberg’s tone then changed as he shifted from describing the battle to how news of the battle was received back in the states.
“There was a ton of criticism back home. The papers described the loss of four or five thousands Marines on an island that nobody ever heard of before,” he said.
“People questioned why we were there. People questioned our generals, and the Marines fighting the war.
“Then when that iconic photo of the flag raising on Mt. Surabachi hit home, then everything changed. Now the tide had turned. That photo changed the entire concept of the battle.”
Gartenberg was referring to the famous Associated Press photo taken by Joe Rosenthal. The photo captured a second flag raising after the mountain had been captured.
Rosenthal recalled what it was like to actually witness the original flag raising on Feb. 23, 1945.
“When the first flag went up there was so much cheering you would have thought it was Times Square on New Year’s Eve.”
Again, quite abruptly, Gutenberg’s demeanor changed. What was a glorious moment and incredible memory quickly turned to sadness.
“Six thousand, eight hundred and twenty-one Marines were killed in action and another 20,000 wounded,” he said somberly.
“One third of all Marines killed in the Pacific were killed at Iwo Jima.”
Gartenberg, he not only lost friends during that battle but feels that the battle and its high loss of life might have been forgotten were it not been for Rosenthal’s photo.
“I asked other fellas years later, ’Do you think people would be talking about Iwo Jima if the photo had not been taken?’ Sadly, they said, ‘No.’” he said.
After Gartenberg spoke, the Marines had a chance to ask him a few questions. Several Marines want to know about living conditions, weaponry and gear.
One Marine asked Gartenberg if he recalled what the atmosphere or spirit of the men was like as they approached the island on ship.
“Most of the men were more concerned about Kamikaze’s hitting the ship then they were about what was about to happen,” he said.
Gartenberg was wounded in a fight for Charlie Dog Ridge on his ninth day on Iwo Jima. The battled lasted February 19 to March 26, 1945.
Gartenberg is the president of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 246 of Morris County.
