As the pink and orange twilight began to light the battlegrounds of Iwo Jima, American soldiers in World War II could be seen carrying both live and dead bodies up the hill.
Memories of that famous World War II battle are still vivid after 60 years for U of M law professor Nicholas White, who fought for the Allies in the South Pacific from the summer of 1944 to the spring of 1945.
The McWherter Library will mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II with a collection of displays through mid-August.
White, who served and remained in Guam with the United States Marine Corps until the end of his military service, said the battles, which also included Iwo Jima, left a mixture of memorable and terrible moments.
White said those moments ranged from searching for Japanese soldiers with war dogs in the semi-jungle of Guam and using the volcanic grounds of Iwo Jima to heat up their rations. White tells of witnessing the famous raising of the flag from a mile away and how a wounded Japanese soldier generously gave his watch to an American soldier who carried him up a hill.
However, White said the experience his 21st regiment endured during the war still culminated in a bitter end.
During his time in Iwo Jima, he said the Japanese had killed about 40 or 50 percent of the men in his battalion.
“It was terrible,” White said. “We weren’t even hit as hard as the others.”
White said the Japanese all dug into underground locations and forced the Americans to change many of their war tactics.
“People don’t think so, but the Japanese were very good soldiers,” White said. “They weren’t very big people, and they had a lot of stamina.”
In March of 1945, about six months prior to the dropping of the atomic bombs, White returned to Guam, where all the replacements were getting ready for the invasion of the Honshu and Kyushu islands, he said.
A year later on Feb. 1, 1946, at 10 a.m. in Chicago, which had received 20 inches of snow, White ended his military service.
“I had been in the Pacific for two years and was not too acclimated to the weather,” White said.
Artifacts from the war placed inside the glass displays of the first, second and fourth floor of the McWherter Library could help explain his experience.
Each display case contains various collections of memorabilia, posters, CDs, pamphlets, government publications, prayer and ration books and newspaper articles, all chronicling the war and some of the people involved in it.
The display on the first floor holds mainly the government publications and Phillip B. Powell’s ration and prayer books donated by Betsy Ackert, a library assistant and Powell’s daughter.
The second-floor display includes the memorabilia and artifacts donated by Sue Reid Williams, the widow of veteran Robert Kelly Williams, while the fourth floor features posters, pictures and other books.
“It’s honoring the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II,” Ackert said.
Tom Mendina, the assistant to the dean of libraries, said although the anniversary is being celebrating much more in Europe, the library conducted three programs, which all took place in June, July and continue in mid-August.
“We try to coordinate the public programs in our displays,” Mendina said.
Each of the displays complemented the library’s program “60 Years After,” which was broken down into three parts, with the final one implemented on Aug. 17.
The programs included a panel discussion, lecture and another future panel discussion for the August edition, where local experts, veterans and professors from Christian Brothers University and The University, will be invited.
“It brings in people from the Memphis community,” Mendina said. “By far the people from outside the college have been here.”
Mendina said the displays are an opportunity for the people who have lived through World War II and others who have found the items in their attics to show their belongings to the public.
“They do it out of the goodness of their heart,” said Lee Slack, a library assistant.
