Iwo Jima Veteran speaks at Library, Part 1

The Dripping Springs Community Library hosted World War 2 Iwo Jima veteran Fred Harvey as a speaker on Wednesday Sept. 4.  Mr. Harvey served with the 5^thMarine Division and was made available through a program by the National Museum of the Pacific War. Harvey is a native Texan, born in Memphis Texas.

The event began with a short video produced by the National Museum of the Pacific War, which explained the context of the war in the Pacific and the need for Iwo Jima as a forward air base for the U.S. Army Air Force bombers.

Harvey was born was one of nine children. His father abandoned his family, and life was very hard. “My father left my mother while 6 of us were still at home. My mom had to support us,” Harvey said. “I went to the ceremony of the divorce. The judge said, ‘Im granting your divorce, but you’re going to have to pay this woman 42 dollars per month in alimony.’ My father pulled out 42 dollars out of his pocket, and handed them to the judge, who then handed them over to my mother. That was the last cent he ever spent on me and mother and my brothers. But my mother was tough. My mom was a Comanche Indian. They were the last tribe to surrender, I don’t think my mom every surrendered. On the day I told her I wanted to enlist in the Marines, she was hanging up clothes. I was still underage. I had some marine corps paper, she took some of the papers out my hand and made confetti out of them. Then she went to the end of the clothes lines, it had a big circle of wire left over. She took wire and made a switch, and hit me with it. Then she dropped that switch, and I saw there were tears in her eyes. I had never seen tears in her eyes before. I went into the house, when I came out, she had signed the papers for me to enlist underage.”

Harvey’s mother made him promise several things before leaving for the Marine Corps, 1) that he would not drink alcohol while away and come home a drunkard, 2) that he would not shirk from his responsibilities or be cowardly, and 3) that he would not get any tattoos. 

“I enlisted in the paratroopers, but the Marines decided not to drop any more Marines in the Pacific after a horrible tragedy in which some Marines were dropped in twelve-foot-high sword grass,” Harvey said. “I was rolled into the infantry as a demo man. As a demo man, I carried TNT on my back, plus gear in the front, so I couldn’t carry a rifle. I was supposed to be issued a pistol, but they were out of them. I tried to buy one off post, but it was war time and there was a pistol shortage. There were none to be had, so I wrote my mother. I told her the type of pistol I needed, and what type of ammunition it should use. Now there was a guy named Armstrong that lived in a trailer house that had a 45 caliber pistol, so she went to him. She showed him the piece of paper with what I required, and he said he would sell it to her for $200 dollars. Well my mom didn’t have $200 dollars. All she had was $75. So she left his place and started walking home. Before she got too far away from the trailer, he caught up with her and tapped her on the shoulder and asked, ‘Why do you need such a big pistol?’ My mother said, ‘My son needs it. He’s in the Marines.’ He softened up and said, ‘Come on back, we’ll talk business.’ He cleaned up the pistol, and gave her a clip. He said he figured I needed it more than him.”

Part 2 will be in next week’s Century News, “Getting to Iwo Jima as a Marine.”

Part 2: https://www.drippingspringsnews.com/news/iwo-jima-veteran-speaks-library-0