Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:04 | As he waited off shore at Iwo Jima, Phil Wells was reassigned as a Radioman/Runner when the Marine who had that job fell out of his bunk and broke his arm. The first day he was wounded by shrapnel but he stayed with his unit. They nicknamed him "Chick" because he was the youngest looking guy there. He says a mistake was made when they bypassed some of the tunnels and caves.
Keywords : Phil Wells Iwo Jima Radioman runner shrapnel Purple Heart tunnel Japanese C-2 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR)
He was off to war with the Marine Corps, and at his high school graduation, Phil Wells was represented by a cap and gown on an empty seat. Joining the 4th Division as a replacement, he found himself watching the Japanese fire as he circled off shore at Iwo Jima, waiting for the landing to begin.
The Marines suffered heavy losses the first four days at Iwo Jima. Radioman/Runner Phil Wells followed a Lieutenant and then a Sergeant as leaders kept falling. He was kept busy going back and forth to the rear for replacements and supplies. He also learned, the hard way, the proper configuration of the radio antenna.
Eventually, at Iwo Jima, his platoon had lost all the leaders except Corporals. Phil Wells, nicknamed "Chick," was the Radioman/Runner and he took a call from a Colonel who told him he had to pick, from four corporals, a new Lieutenant. That was a lot of sway for a Private.
On Iwo Jima, all of the original members of his platoon were awarded Purple Hearts, but Phil Wells says there were some men there of a different mind. On a trip back to the beach to bring up replacements, he passed a shell hole where two Captains were cowering, claiming to be pinned down even though they were a hundred yards behind the front line.
It was thirty six straight days on Iwo Jima with no change of clothes or regular meals. Phil Wells carried an extra bandolier stuffed with fruit bars. He had come ashore with the fourth wave just as Japanese gunners really began to fire on the landing force. As a runner, he didn't come face to face with the enemy, though once he was sure he had. What's that password?
As the air fields on Iwo Jima were being rebuilt, the weary Marines who had taken the island climbed the cargo nets back onto the transport ships anchored off shore. Phil Wells recalls that the Captain of his assigned transport told them that they were free of any duty and had the run of the galley. That was nice.
