WEBVTT 00:00.439 --> 00:14.532 My name is Jerry Yellen, I was a Captain in the Army Air Corps, and I flew B-51s off of Iwo Jima starting on March 7th, 1945 when the Marines took enough land around the first dirt airstrip. 00:14.930 --> 00:32.567 I made 19 flights over Japan, starting on April 7th, 8 hours in a P-51, and I flew the first mission escorting B-29s, and on August 14th, 1945 I flew the very last combat mission of World War II. 00:33.451 --> 00:43.066 And my wingman, Phil Schlomberg from Brooklyn, N.Y., 19 years old, was killed on that day so he was the last man killed in combat in World War II. 00:43.890 --> 00:52.118 I served in World War II. I enlisted as an aviation cadet on February 15th 1942, on my 18th birthday. 00:52.787 --> 01:03.612 I was inducted into the service in August of 1942. And I graduated from flying school with 10 hours in a P-40 in August of 1943. 01:04.876 --> 01:15.584 Was shipped overseas to Hawaii to get 50 more hours in a P-40, but I joined the 78th Fighter Squadron and I stayed in the 78th right through the war. 01:17.405 --> 01:29.469 Flying for your country and flying in combat against an enemy, is probably the high point of our life because we were all young, 10% of the nation served in uniform, 01:30.359 --> 01:37.573 the population of America was 16 million people... 160 million people, and 16 million of us served in the military. 01:38.879 --> 01:43.816 8 million young women became Rosie the Riveters and built the airplanes and the tanks and the boats. 01:44.742 --> 01:53.174 And the population of America served the nation as well. So everybody was at war, there was a purity of purpose which was to eliminate evil. 01:54.194 --> 02:01.317 And we did that. All of us, so, the highlight of my life was serving my country in time of war. 02:02.751 --> 02:13.080 Well, this is the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, the end of World War II. My wingman, Phil Schlomberg, had an older brother, who is now gone, 02:14.503 --> 02:27.824 who changed his name, it was Michael. Michael has a daughter by the name of Melanie, and the daughter married a Dutch architect by the name of Johannsen. And her daughter is Scarlett Johannsen, the movie star. 02:29.237 --> 02:42.870 And I know that family. And I'm here to pay tribute and honor to Phil Schlomberg, who was the last man killed off of Iwo Jima, before the end of the war. And this completes the circle for me. 02:44.520 --> 03:00.640 It's a healing day for me. Thinking back on all the people and all the things that we did, then, but we're not doing now. I came in 2010 for the 65th Anniversary. This is the first time... maybe the last time that I'll be on Iwo Jima. 03:01.923 --> 03:10.399 It's a long trip, I'm 91 years old, I don't know how much time I have left but it's just uh... it's a day of memories for me. 03:11.038 --> 03:27.030 Great memories and sad memories but I have uh... In 1988 my youngest son married the daughter of a Japanese Kamikaze pilot, which took me from hatred to love of family. I have 3 Japanese grandchildren. 03:27.596 --> 03:38.171 I'd like their contemporaries to know that my grand-children's grandparents served their countries with honor. 03:38.979 --> 03:53.705 no matter what we learned about the Japanese or what they learned about us. That was an atrocity, that evil has to be wiped out. We are not what we believe, we are all human beings, exactly the same. 03:54.743 --> 04:04.587 And there's evil in the world today and we have to fight that evil to make sure that there's freedom for free loving people in our world. 04:05.213 --> 04:12.959 And you guys in the Marines and Navy and Air Force are the ones with that responsibility. And I know you fulfill it well. 04:14.868 --> 04:25.624 It means that my cycle of life is near it's end. That's what it means to me. I'm here willingly and happily as a last fond memory of this island. 04:27.355 --> 04:49.622 Where I flew with 16 guys that didn't come back, and I'm representing them here. I'm the only guy, who was a pilot, who's on the island now, who was a pilot in World War II, so I'm representing a lot of people. And I hope I'm doing it humbly and doing it correctly because we're leaving this world rapidly. 04:50.084 --> 04:54.120 And soon, there'll be nobody left from World War II. 04:54.836 --> 05:03.271 My name is Jerry Yellen and I served in World War II. One of 16 million who served their nation, then.