WEBVTT 00:00.323 --> 00:05.060 - I know there are no words that can express our sorrow 00:05.060 --> 00:08.920 and grief over the loss of those splendid young men 00:10.335 --> 00:11.985 and the injury to so many others. 00:13.380 --> 00:18.180 I know there are no words, also, that can ease the burden 00:18.180 --> 00:21.304 of grief for the families of those young men. 00:21.304 --> 00:23.887 (somber music) 00:29.573 --> 00:33.490 - Then the blast came and actually picked me up 00:34.770 --> 00:36.750 at a metal desk I was sittin' at 00:36.750 --> 00:39.130 and I was in a chair similar to this 00:39.130 --> 00:42.000 and flung across the wall in midair. 00:42.000 --> 00:44.103 The whole desk, me, the chair, everything. 00:46.520 --> 00:47.353 It was horrible. 00:48.870 --> 00:53.350 You know, maimed, injured, and missin' limbs, 00:53.350 --> 00:56.570 just when there was no longer walkin' wounded, 00:56.570 --> 00:59.290 I went down there and started diggin' people out 01:00.490 --> 01:05.060 which, as many as I could. 01:05.060 --> 01:07.420 The worst part was hearing 'em scream for help 01:07.420 --> 01:08.820 and you couldn't get to 'em. 01:09.950 --> 01:11.520 Just couldn't get to 'em. 01:14.768 --> 01:16.821 (veteran crying) 01:16.821 --> 01:21.821 And, soon after, you know, 01:22.590 --> 01:24.390 there were no more screams for help. 01:29.190 --> 01:30.610 - Lookin' at some of these young Marines 01:30.610 --> 01:33.800 that I'm around every day, and I knew they were over there, 01:33.800 --> 01:37.623 I mean, it was chaos, really in a way for me, it was chaos. 01:40.380 --> 01:42.320 I was lookin' at the news and I'm sittin' listenin' 01:42.320 --> 01:46.500 more bodies bein' pulled out, and the count kept goin' up. 01:46.500 --> 01:47.763 I had to turn it off. 01:48.960 --> 01:50.210 I couldn't just take it anymore, 01:50.210 --> 01:52.770 I had to turn it off and that's one of the things 01:52.770 --> 01:54.410 that bothered me for a long time too, 01:54.410 --> 01:59.060 is just knowing that this happened, in a place that I was 01:59.060 --> 02:01.890 at one time, with Marines I knew and Marines 02:01.890 --> 02:03.690 that are over there now that I know. 02:05.350 --> 02:07.300 - I was supposed to be in the barracks, 02:08.940 --> 02:12.290 but they sent me to the Iwo Jima to work combat cargo 02:12.290 --> 02:16.160 on the 16th, exactly almost to the minute, one-week prior. 02:16.160 --> 02:18.480 So, the guy who was sleepin' in my cot in that building 02:18.480 --> 02:19.743 is no longer with us. 02:21.430 --> 02:23.660 We only had one survivor out of our room 02:23.660 --> 02:26.603 and he was in the cot that was next to me. 02:28.020 --> 02:31.850 So, on combat cargo, we got the alert 02:31.850 --> 02:34.370 for emergency medevac, we come to the flight deck 02:34.370 --> 02:35.620 and we can still see the cloud, 02:35.620 --> 02:37.450 we know where the building is, we can always see 02:37.450 --> 02:39.360 the building, and the building's not there, 02:39.360 --> 02:43.860 but there's a big cloud and that's when we found out 02:43.860 --> 02:45.654 that it had been blown up. 02:45.654 --> 02:48.237 (somber music) 02:54.512 --> 02:57.685 - Were that the news release that it was, 02:57.685 --> 03:00.749 the barracks and it was the Marines, 03:00.749 --> 03:04.633 I was nervous, but I knew he would be okay. 03:08.480 --> 03:10.540 So, they had given me the call from home 03:13.660 --> 03:18.250 that he didn't make it, so I was in shock 03:20.336 --> 03:23.190 and then I was packing up because I wanted to go home, 03:23.190 --> 03:25.800 I wanted to go home, I wanted to go home. 03:25.800 --> 03:28.010 He loved his brothers in the Marines, 03:28.010 --> 03:31.300 he would've given his right arm and his whole life for them, 03:31.300 --> 03:32.173 I know that. 03:33.190 --> 03:38.190 It's like you have a family member, or a brother or sister, 03:38.330 --> 03:41.210 and you are on the other side of the country 03:41.210 --> 03:42.860 and you're callin' them every day, but you know, 03:42.860 --> 03:47.180 you know they over there, and if somethin' happenin' 03:47.180 --> 03:49.140 to 'em, you feel as though that if you were there, 03:49.140 --> 03:50.570 that wouldn't have happened. 03:50.570 --> 03:53.250 It's not that we wear these vests to show 03:53.250 --> 03:54.920 that we're big, bad Marines. 03:54.920 --> 03:57.360 Wear these vests to let everybody know what happened 03:57.360 --> 03:58.580 and never forget it. 03:58.580 --> 04:01.163 (somber music)