Event to honor ‘uncommon valor’ at Battle of Iwo Jima

YOUNG HARRIS – While the Iwo Jima survivors of Towns and Union counties are no longer with us, they are not forgotten. Every year on Presidents Day, veterans and citizens alike gather at the Towns County Recreation Center at Foster Park in Young Harris to remember those who fought in one of the costliest battles of World War II.

The Marine Corps League’s Unicoi Detachment 783 will host this year’s event, to begin promptly at 10 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 16. Noted on this year’s agenda is guest speaker retired U.S. Air Force TSgt. Brandy Creel, of Young Harris.

Attendees are encouraged to remain after the ceremony to enjoy coffee, cake and camaraderie. The indoor event is open to the public as well as all veteran service organizations and first responders.

In a message to his forces in March 1945, Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz noted, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.” It was a reference to the extreme courage consistently displayed by ordinary service members of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marines during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Many of those very ordinary people would go on to do extraordinary things during the 36-day battle. John “Doc” Bradley, Harlan Block, John Basilone, Thomas Begay and Jane Kendeigh are just a few names of their names.

John “Doc” Bradley was a Fleet Marine Force Corpsman assigned to Third Platoon, E Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines who landed on the beach with the ninth wave of assault Marines at the south end of Iwo Jima near Mount Suribachi.

On Feb. 21, Bradley risked his life under fire to save the life of a wounded Marine who was caught in the open under heavy Japanese fire. Despite being pinned down himself, Bradley traversed over 30 yards of open ground so he could administer plasma to the downed Marine.

While the plasma was being administered, he shielded the Marine with his own body, then carried the Marine to safety once the plasma bottle was depleted. For his actions, Bradley was awarded the Navy Cross.

On March 12, Bradley and three Marines received shrapnel wounds from an enemy mortar round. Ignoring his own wounds, John helped the wounded Marines to the aid station. Upon arrival, doctors noticed Bradley’s badly damaged legs. Despite his attempts to return to the battlefield, he was evacuated to an aid station on Guam and later to the Naval Hospital in Oakland, California.

After his release from the Naval Hospital, John returned to Antigo, Wisconsin, and married his high school sweetheart Betty Van Grop. John and Betty raised six sons and two daughters and ran a successful business, Bradley Funeral Home.

He spent the rest of his life giving a lot of his time, and money, to local causes. It has been said that John “Doc” Bradley was a great example of small-town American values.

Marine Harlon Block was born in Yorktown, Texas, the third of six children, to Edward Frederick Block and Ada Belle Block. He enlisted in the Marine Corps on Feb. 18, 1943, and would later be assigned to Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines.

On the morning of Feb. 23, 1945, Cpl. Block was a part of the squad from Easy Company that raised the second U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi. His mother immediately identified him when she first saw the Rosenthal photograph of the flag raising in 1945. She maintained that belief until her son was properly identified later as having been one of the six men that day.

On March 1, Block was killed instantly by shrapnel from a mortar round while leading his squad during an attack on Nishi Ridge. He was 20 years old.

Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone has been credited with at least 38 confirmed kills during the Battle of Guadalcanal. There he single-handedly held off a Japanese assault using only a water-cooled machine gun, a pistol and a machete when his ammunition ran out.

For his actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor on May 21, 1943. In August of that same year, Basilone was sent back stateside and assigned to the War Bond Tour, where he felt out of place and underutilized.

On Dec. 27, 1943, after two requests to return to the war, he was transferred to Camp Pendleton, where he was promoted to Gunnery Sergeant. After his request to return to the fleet was approved, Basilone was assigned to C Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division.

On Feb. 19, during the first day of the invasion on Iwo Jima, he served as a machine gun section leader on Red Beach II. During their advancement, he took out a Japanese stronghold, then aided a Marine tank that had become trapped in an enemy minefield under intense mortar and artillery barrages. He was later killed by small arms fire while leading Marines at Motoyama Airfield #1. John Basilone is buried in the National Cemetery at Arlington.

At the age of 16, Thomas H. Begay enlisted in the United States Marine Corps during World War II and unknowingly embarked on a path that would forever alter the course of history. He originally signed up to be an aerial gunner but instead was chosen to be a part of the Navajo Code Talkers.

After completing Code Talker training, Begay was selected as one of the 33 Navajo Code Talkers to be assigned to the renowned 5th Marine Division Signal Company’s Radio Section, H & S Company, 27th Marines.

Along with other Navajo Code Talkers, Begay would prove his worth during the Battle of Iwo Jima. In the first 48 hours, Navajo Code Talkers sent and received over 800 messages, all without error.

After WWII, he continued his service in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, where he was part of the 7th Infantry Division and survived the grueling Battle of the Chosin Reservoir.

In 2001, Begay received the Congressional Silver Medal, recognizing his exceptional service as a U.S. Marine Navajo Code Talker.

Following his military service, Begay dedicated himself to public service, working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 40 years. His dedication and contributions extended beyond the battlefield, impacting the Navajo Nation and its tribal trust programs.

Ensign Jane Louise Kendeigh was born on March 30, 1922. She was the third child born to Earl and Olive Kendeigh, who operated a farm in Oberlin, Ohio. She loved working with the animals on the farm, which seemed to bring out the nurturing side of her.

Kendeigh graduated from nursing school in 1942. As WWII progressed, she saw a need for flight nurses in the military and graduated in the first class of female flight nurses, being commissioned as an Ensign in 1943.

On March 6, 1945, at the age of 22, Ensign Kendeigh became the first U.S. Navy Flight Nurse to fly on an evacuation mission into an active battlefield. It was there on Iwo Jima that she realized the importance of the evacuation missions, and that this was her life’s mission.

After Iwo Jima, Kendeigh assisted in the evacuation of wounded men during the Battle of Okinawa. During that campaign, Navy, Marine Corps and Army Air Corps aircraft evacuated 16,599 casualties. Nearly 60% of those casualties were evacuated by flights that contained female flight nurses.

As of early 2026, it is estimated that only about three or four survivors of the Battle of Iwo Jima are still alive. Known surviving veterans include Don Graves and Billy Byrd, among a very small handful of others.

As a flamethrower, Marine veteran Don Graves is among only 18 survivors out of 335 in his unit.

Following his service, Marine veteran William “Billy” Byrd returned home to Mississippi. During a ceremony on Nov. 15, 2019, Billy was formally added to the Wall of Honor at the G. V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi.

This Presidents Day, come to the Towns County Recreation Center at Foster Park to remember those who fought in one of the costliest battles of WWII.