Majeski's Memoirs - Landing at Iwo

The first time we landed at Iwo Jima was on March 13, 1945. We landed there to refuel as we did not have enough to get us back to Tinian. If the Marines had not captured Iwo we would have been forced to ditch somewhere out in the Pacific Ocean. Because of fuel shortages, battle damage and shot up engines we landed at Iwo Jima eight times out of thirty five missions.

Thank God for the U.S. Marines. After landing --- tanker trucks pulled up and we ( the crew ) proceeded to pump the gas. After refueling and prior to takeoff for Tinian, I looked about and saw the remnants of a Japanese tank nearby. I had to walk very carefully as there were hand-grenades lying about on the ground. The tank had the turret blown off so I climbed up to get a look inside. I looked down and there was the bottom half of a torso decomposing. Apparently the operator of the tank was blown in half. The stench coming out of that tank was indescribable --- Needless to say I flew off of that tank and had to regurgitate. That was the end of my investigating Japanese tanks.

The Marines were still fighting at the other end of the island. We could hear gunfire and hear flame throwers. The Japanese were holed up in caves and the Marines were flushing them out. After Iwo had begun to develop more runways were being built - fighters were being based there. It was becoming a major base. I recall seeing hundreds of men lined up on each side of the runways watching us land. It looked something like what we see at a drag strip today. The 29's landing there were something to see.

Some of the planes that crashed created an awesome spectacle. I recall one time ----- hundreds of men were milling about looking at the battle damage that our plane had sustained. I went back and looked up at that the vertical stabilizer. It looked like a sieve from all the flak holes.

As I stood there amazed that I had not been hit, I heard one of the Marines say " I wouldn't want to be that tail gunner'. I am sorry that I had not said to him, "I would not want to be you invading this island." I felt that my job was easy compared to his. I also should have said. "I owe my life to you." In retrospect I regret that I had not said that to him.

Back on Tinian a story circulated about a B-29 crew that had landed on Iwo Jima. The crew staying overnight were attacked by Japanese who had broken through the Marines lines. The story went that the Japanese using their Samurai swords had beheaded some of the crewman. I do not know if this really happened. I do know that on our next visit to Iwo we slept in tents that were surrounded by rows and rows of barbed wire. That sort of gave some validity to this story.