HomeMy WebLinkAboutNeal Berry, Brazos Valley Heroes .
• ,& Y.4 7
4 •. fix l
- r..' Z 'J . d ' sF3
,, °. ., , .
x ' * e i n a series of tributes to lembers of 4111e G re - ,s t " '
Generation" who served our country during World War 11
• i '' to �: F '� �`t i r e „
s
z a 22
. ,( � fi
£..� SAS oC'
s' , " q, ,y '
5 E m3„
rz: 'i'"� j
w
: r� ::. N eal k .
0:: Berry
: In 1943, Neal Berry, who had just graduated the action.
from school at Flynn, in Leon County, had to register "Finally we started putting down the resistance.
for the draft. When he went for his physical exam in There were three airfields on the island and when we
s { : Houston, he asked if he could volunteer for the captured the first one, within a very short time after
Marines. we secured it, B -24's started landing on their return '
"The next thing I knew, I was on my way to boot from bombing runs on Japan. Those airfields saved
camp in San Diego. a lot of American pilots' lives. ":
"I made PFC in boot and volunteered for the To completely control the island, Berry and the
paratroops because it would double my pay. They Marines had to remove the Japanese from the caves
TA started forming the 5th Marines and they disbanded they had dug on the island.
� _ the paratroops and put us in the 5th, which had a lot Some of their caves were five stories high, and
> of experienced guys assigned to it. During training there were long tunnels running from cave to cave.
q with the 5th, I found out that I was a natural at set- When you went in one you had to be careful. not only
Ling up and firing mortars with speed and accuracy, of the Japanese, but mines and booby traps. In most
so I got assigned to an 81 mortar platoon." of the caves you would find Japanese soldiers who
Af Berry and the 5th shipped out to Hawaii for had committed hari -kari by stabbing themselves in
ofm more training. Then the unit was sent to invade a the stomach. I saw several like that. In one cave d
small island held by the Japanese in the Pacific recovered a battle flag from one of the dead •
.= named Iwo Jima. Japanese and that is the battle flag shown in the pic-
` "We landed at iwo on February 19, 1945. After ture of what remained of my platoon. Near the end
about the 3rd wave had landed, the Japs really start- when we had them pushed back to the cliffs on the ;:;;
ed shelling us. They had their guns zeroed in on all back side of the island, the Japanese killed them- -
7 positions on the beach and the losses were terrific. I selves by jumping off cliffs rather than surrendering y
had a tripod, rifle, and all my other equipment and to us."
.' that volcanic ash sand was hell to move in. If you dug The battle for Iwo Jima lasted 36 days. Of the '
a foxhole it would get so hot that it would blister you 63 original members of Berry's platoon, only 16
if you sat there too long, so you had to keep moving. remained. All of the others were either killed or ..�
"The first night was pitch -black dark, and our wounded.
platoon was on the right flank of the company. "I was there from start to finish. I had a lot of
During the night the rest of the outfit got orders and close calls but was never hit or injured and I don't
moved out but no one informed us. The next morn- know why. I tried not to think about it too much when
, I
b ng our platoon discovered that we were alone. The it was all going on Maybe that is why," >
,.' Japs were in front of us and our 101 artillery battery When the battle for Iwo Jima was over, there
was behind us. We ended up catching hell from all were 29,851 U. S. casualties. Of those, 6,825 were ='
sides. We finally saw the lieutenant's runner and killed. Virtually all 22.000 Japanese perished.
, asked where everyone was. They were on the beach Twenty -six soldiers earned the Medal of Honor on
and our platoon had already been reported as MIA. Iwo Jima, more than =any other battle in U. S. history.
' .: For a while there, we thought we were all going to be After iwo Jima, Berry was sent to Japan as part 1
KIA instead of MIA. of the occupation force, until he was discharged in
"Our regiment was assigned to cross the island 1946. He returned to Texas, where he married, raised
starting at the base of Mt. Suribachi. From the time his family and started a business. He now lives in �;
we landed, everyone was on the front lines. No one Normangee, Texas, and is still involved in his busi-
' had any relief. On the second night our platoon ness, Big B Industries, which is headquartered in Ait
leader was killed and by the third day so was our pla- Houston, a pipeline and oil field business employing
toon sergeant, gunnery sergeant and corporal. We 125 people.
were really getting torn up. The third day was when Neal Berry's name can be found on the Brazos
1 ' the flag was raised on Mt. Suribachi, which I guess Valley Veterans Memorial. For more information, to
g is the most famous photo of WWII. Of those six guys make a contribution, or to nominate a veteran, con -
raising the flag, only three made it home." • tact the BVVM at www.veterans-memorialorg. or Bill
. For Berry and the rest of the Marines. the battle Youngkin at 979 - 260 -7030.
continued day and night, almost without a break in .
The Eagle
A Here when y ou need us.
theeagle com