This Marine endured five amphibious assaults — and survived Iwo Jima
By Claire Barrett
Wednesday, Feb 19, 2025
Editor’s note: Feb. 19, 2025, marks the 80th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Iwo Jima. In February 2020, Military Times interviewed Marine Corps veteran and Iwo Jima survivor Don Harris. Harris died on July 25, 2020.
“We were all scared,” Marine Corps and World War II veteran Don Harris told Military Times in 2020. “Anybody who wasn’t was crazy. Sometimes, it was a combination of both crazy and scared.”
As a member of the Signal Company, 4th Marines, Harris made an astounding five amphibious landings during the Pacific War: Roi-Namur (Kwajalein), Eniwetok, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1923, Harris was a recent high school graduate when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. Thirteen days later, Harris turned 18 and a year later found himself on board a bus for Parris Island and an indefinite enlistment in the Marine Corps.
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-military/2025/02/19/this-marine-endured-five-amphibious-assaults-and-survived-iwo-jima/
