Iwo Jima battle still resonates today

Perhaps more surprising than the fact he lived through weeks of hell on Iwo Jima or that he still lives to tell about it, is the notion that Larry Kirby sees one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history among the best things that ever happened to him.

“It was a terrible place,” 98-year-old Kirby, said. “It was bad. I still feel honored and gifted to have been there.”

Kirby, formerly a platoon sergeant from 1st Platoon, E Co, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division is still strong enough to stand and speak to an audience, as he did Tuesday before over 100 veterans, mostly Marines, and their supporters at the State House.

Walter O’Malley, a Corporal from the 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division, who was among the first to land on the island of Iwo Jima, also attended the event.

Kirby said that his time on the volcanic island, where more than 27,000 American casualties were recorded and over 6,100 U.S. Marines died, taught him a lifelong lesson not often associated with war but that has served him well for nearly eight decades since.

“Love,” he said. “Strange for a Marine, love. But we all realized that our most important possession was our life. We fight to stay alive; without life, you have nothing and nobody would ever trade his life for money, or positions, anything.”

“But I saw young Marines risk their lives, and deliberately give their lives, for their friends. Because they loved them. So that was the lesson I learned: love is the most valuable thing in the world. Priceless,” he continued.

The Battle of Iwo Jima started on February 19, 1945 and would carry through to the end of March.

Operation Detachment, as the island assault was called, was meant to last a week, Marine Lt. Gen. David Furness said Tuesday, but a determined and unrelenting Japanese force held their ground and fought from a series of underground tunnels against American forces for more than a month, becoming “a brutal, savage slug-fest that lasted for 36 days.”

“The actions of the Marines on that small volcanic island defined the ethos of our Corps for generations and it continues to shape who we believe we are today,” Furness said.

Dozens of young Marines attended the event, which marked the 78 years since the Battle of Iwo Jima.

MATT STONE — BOSTON HERALD Walter “Miz” O’Malley, a World War II veteran who fought in Iwo Jima, is flanked by Marine cadets at a State House ceremony yesterday. O’Malley is one of the last few from that epic battle.

MATT STONE — BOSTON HERALD A man salutes 97-year-old Walter “Miz” O’Malley, a World War II veteran who fought in Iwo Jima, as he is pushed by Marine cadets during an Iwo Jima Day ceremony at the State House yesterday.