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Eight veterans who survived one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history gathered in Arlington to mark the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima—and to pass their memories to a new generation.

“I fought like hell,” retired Marine Raider Frank Wright said when asked about his role in the pivotal World War II battle.

The veterans participated in four days of commemorative events held Feb. 20-24 at the Crystal City National Landing Hilton. David Fields, a board member of the Iwo Jima Association of America, said more than 50 survivors had attended the 75th-anniversary reunion five years earlier. This time, only eight were able to return.

The battle began on Feb. 19, 1945, and lasted 36 days. More than 100,000 Americans fought on Iwo Jima, and 6,821 died as a result of the battle, including 5,931 Marines. About one-third of all Marines killed in action during World War II died there.

One of the battle’s defining moments came on Feb. 23, when Marines raised the American flag atop Mount Suribachi. Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal captured the scene in a photograph that later won the Pulitzer Prize.

Several survivors said they could still clearly remember seeing the flag.

“The flag wasn’t victory, it was hope,” said Nils Mocker, who served as a Marine combat intelligence scout during the battle.

Mocker was across the airfield, far from Mount Suribachi, when the flag went up. Shelling continued, but movement briefly stopped as troops looked toward the mountain and ships sounded their sirens.

“There was still shelling going on all around, but the ships began sounding their sirens and we felt hope,” he said.

Memories From Green Beach

Delmar Beard, a Navy veteran who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, was aboard the USS-715, one of the first tank landing ships to reach Green Beach.

Beard was 18 when his ship arrived near Mount Suribachi. Its crew had to unload ammunition, high-octane fuel and bulldozers while contending with the island’s volcanic ash, which made it impossible to drive a Jeep.

Although Beard narrowly avoided being wounded, he remembered the Marines who died along the beach because they could not be removed from the landing craft quickly enough.

He also brought a moment of blunt humor to the gathering. Asked what he did after returning home, Beard recalled that many servicemen had entered the war as high school dropouts only 16, 17 or 18 years old. He joked that coming home also brought his first sexual experience.

Lessons for New Generations

The anniversary program included a veterans panel, a visit to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico and wreath-laying ceremonies at the World War II Memorial and Marine Corps War Memorial.

U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen Preston White and Kekoa Alexander attended the events. White, making his third visit to the gathering, said the reunion offered a direct connection to military history and those who served before them.

Sailors from the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship named after the battle, also took part.

Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Isaac Rodriguez said younger service members could learn from the veterans’ experience. He planned to carry their message of perseverance into future missions.

Rear Adm. Takaai Hayamizu, the Japanese Embassy’s defense and naval attaché, joined the commemoration and spoke during a symposium about the alliance between the United States and Japan.

Hayamizu described ties between the U.S. Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force as strong, pointing to their many joint exercises.

“One plus one equals more than two where our relationship with the U.S. is concerned,” he said.

The weekend concluded with a gala honoring Frank Siller, chairman and CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Siller received the association’s Woody Williams Award, named for Hershel Woodrow “Woody” Williams, a Marine who survived Iwo Jima and was the last living World War II Medal of Honor recipient before his death in 2022.

Historian Dean Laubach, 28, traveled from Pennsylvania to honor his great-uncle, who served as a colonel in the 5th Amphibious Corps. He said meeting the veterans had permanently changed his life.

“We are in their debt for the life we live today,” Laubach said.