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| 65th Anniversary of Iwo Jima |
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| Written by Kym King | |
| Wednesday, 24 February 2010 | |
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By Kym King Ceremony commemorates 65th Anniversary of Iwo Jima A ceremony to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima was hosted by the Marine Corps League Dan Daly Detachment #858 and the Franklin Sousley VFW Post #1834, Feb. 21. The annual program is held in honor of all veterans who have given the ultimate sacrifice and to honor Fleming County’s native son and hero PFC Franklin Runyon Sousley. Sousley was among the five Marines and a Navy corpsman in the famous Joe Rosenthal photograph of the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi after the Battle of Iwo Jima. Donald G. Dixon, PDC Marine Corps League of Kentucky, welcomed over 75 guests who came out for the program that included special guest, State Senator Mike Denham, Sousley’s aunt Florine Moran, and guest speaker, Dr. Patrick F. Hagihara, MD, Professor, UK Department of Surgery, who gave an in depth talk about the need to secure the tiny volcanic island. “The need to secure that island goes back to the 1800s,” Hagihara said. Ultimately the island became a stop for the B-29 bomber. Hagihara was on the island of Oahu, Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was bombed. However he was not in school that day. According to the introduction of Hagihara, 95 percent of his classmates were killed during the attack. During the program Iwo-Jima survivor Louis Drawdy spoke about Commandant Anthony Gale and how up until now, Gale has not been recognized as a United States veteran. Gale died while living in Stanford in 1843. “Commandant Gale was never recognized because he was asked to resign from the Marine Corps,” Drawdy said. “On March 6 we will give Gale the recognition he deserves as we erect a monument on the courthouse lawn in Lincoln County. We will keep finding and paying tribute to our fallen marines.” Also during the program Mackenzie Phillips talked about the respect she has gained for veterans as she researched the history of Franklin Sousley for a school project. Sousley was born in Fleming County on September 19, 1925. He entered the Marine Corps Reserve on January 5, 1944 and sailed with Company E to Iwo Jima and landed on D-day, February 19. Sousley survived the battle of Suribachi and moved northward with his regiment. On March 21 Private First Class Sousley was killed by a sniper bullet during the fighting around Kitano Point. At the age of 19, he was the last of the flag raisers to die on Iwo Jima. Although the weather for the Sousley Ceremony was warm and sunny, the second part of the program that is usually conducted at the Elizaville cemetery such as the flag raising, Taps, the rifle salute and Chris Paul’s playing of the bag pipes was held at the VFW due to extreme muddy conditions at the grave site. To conclude the ceremony WWII veteran and Iwo Jima survivor Paul Travis traveled to the Elizaville Cemetery and placed the traditional wreath at the base of Sousley’s monument. |
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