Iwo Jima veteran visits Afghan-bound battalion

CAMP PENDLETON, CA, UNITED STATES

02.03.2011

Courtesy Story

1st Marine Division

Story by Col. Christopher C. Starling

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- In late 1944, based on casualty estimates and the inevitable need for replacement officers in the war against Japan, the U.S. Marine Corps convened a special Officer Candidates School at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Four hundred officers were trained, commissioned, and rushed to the Pacific Theater of Operations. Half would be sent to Iwo Jima in Feburary 1945, the remainder would serve on Okinawa beginning in April 1945.

Richard Burress, a native Nebraskan, was one of 200 officers assigned to the V Amphibious Corps destined for “Iwo.” Four days after the landing, Feb. 19, 1945, 2nd Lt. Richard Burress joined Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment. He would lead First Platoon, Baker Company, through the rest of the epic battle.

Today, Richard Burress lives and works at Stanford University where he is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He has had distinguished careers as a Marine officer, as an agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and as legal counsel serving on Capitol Hill and in the White House during the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations.

In January 2011, Burress visited his old unit at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Companies of 1/23 were spread out at different locations throughout 200 square miles of training area engaged in live-fire and scenario-based training. With mock Afghan villages and rows of mine resistant vehicles as a backdrop, Burress was welcomed with cheers and applause from companies of Marines in combat gear. It was a welcome break from scheduled events to meet one of those of whom Adm. Chester W. Nimitz remarked: “uncommon valor was a common virtue.”

Burress thanked the Marines for their service and shared some of his personal experiences. He described conditions on Iwo and some timeless tactical lessons learned. The water on Iwo was always wretched, so Burress would routinely squeeze grapefruit into his water to make it palatable. Rations were scarce, yet one day, he was handed a new kind of package which contained surprisingly decent quality food. When partway through his meal he asked the Marine who had given him the ‘new rations’ where they came from, the young Marine replied “I took them from the colonel’s jeep.”

Burress responded to the young Marine: “I hope he didn’t see you!” Somehow both of them avoided the wrath of Col. “Mad Dog” Dillon.

In one of his first days on the island he recalled being handed a cup of coffee at the Company command post. As the company meeting adjourned, Burress intended to pause there and enjoy the rest of his warm beverage. At the urgent behest of his platoon sergeant, a veteran of Saipan and Tinian, he dumped the coffee and set off for his platoon position. Seconds later a Japanese mortar round slammed into the company command post, killing or wounding all still gathered there. His lesson to 1/23 Marines of today: don’t bunch up, keep as dispersed as possible on the battlefield.

Burress reminded Marines that they are making their memories now. Speaking from personal experience, he emphasized that by being a Marine, people will view you differently for the rest of your life, and that high expectations are therefore implied.

“You share a special bond as Marines. Your close friendships today will be your close friendships seventy years from now,” Burress said.

He continued by encouraging Marines to learn and build on their experiences and consider public service or, after leaving the service.
As 1/23 deploys to Afghanistan in February, the young Marines will do so inspired by a unique living link to their unit’s storied past.

• Date Taken: 02.03.2011
• Date Posted: 02.03.2011 16:30
• Story ID: 64754
• Location: CAMP PENDLETON, CA, US