Iwo Jima Marine Photo

[Corpsmancollector]

etienne, I can't deny you a commendation for noticing that amount of detail! :w00t:

 

Thanks for checking your manuals Craig, it must be for a specific individual action, as we've alluded to. As for the shovel cover, it's an interesting theory. I'm not aware of any USMC covers having a lower hook but I suppose one or two could have made their way into Marine hands from Army supply (I know there wasn't any need for rucksacks in the island hopping campaigns of the PTO, but as we've seen before 'never say never').

 

Great photo.

 

Will

[uplandmod]

He sure did!

 

Pfc Lee Dortsch, C 1/26, moving out on Iwo Jima–1945. He wears the field marching pack with entrenching tool. An automatic rifleman, he is armed with the M1918 BAR. On his cartridge belt hangs a canteen on the right hip and a jungle first aid pouch on the left. Pfc Dortsch also wears the bag for a light weight gas mask.

 

Pfc Dortsch served for 20 years in the armed forces. He took part in the Gaudalcanal campaign in 1/7 and was wounded there. He returned stateside for treatment and was later assigned to the 5th MarDiv. On Iwo Jima he received the Silver Star for gallantry in action. He was also wounded there.

 

After the war, Pfc Dortsch was an FBI Agent for three years. He then was commissioned in the US Air Force and flew B-47 bombers and F-86 fighters. He retired in 1962 as a major.

 

USMC Photo

 

Source: The Spearhead News Summer 2005 edition

 

Thanks for the Info on PFC Dortsch! Glad he made it out safely. To think if he didn't paint his last name across his shovel this would have been anonymous.

 

Could it be he had a surplus WWI shovel cover, as I believe they hang low as well.

 

Cheers!

Leonardo

['Flage Guy]

Jim, that is an interesting observation. Do you think the USMC received rucksack shovel covers from the Army or did they have covers made at the depot or did they have unit riggers to modify their covers? I've never seen a cover with the low mounted hook that was reported to be USMC gear but now I sure would like to find one.

 

Craig: I'm of the opinion (and that's all it is) that the Corps made a request for Shovel Covers, and recieved a load of the Rucksackers in the deal. These did not work well in practice; the weight of the Shovel pulls down on the Cover, and the grip ends up hanging down somewhat anyway (small wonder so many of them were refitted to the standard high hook placement, which was much more solid). The only way to rectify their malfunction would have been to add a web retaining loop for the securing strap to pass through, similar to the M1905 (?) leather-strapped Covers. More food for thought is that, for example, there was some complaint about the M1912 Packs hitting you in the back of the head when you hit the dirt while running- there is no doubt this happened with the high-mounted Shovels too, so that could explain why they don't show up a whole lot in period photos of Soldiers or Marines in the field.

 

But my opinion sure doesn't invalidate your question about the Depot possibly making up a few Covers in the "Rucksack" configuration. I've seen a couple things in this category here on the Forum just in the last month or so which I've never seen before, so it makes you wonder what the real deal is with these Covers :think:

About the time you think you got somethin' wired, you find out you're all wet!

[craig_pickrall]

Thanks for the additional thoughts.

 

I know what you mean about having any of this stuff figured out. I think there has been more info to come out in the last 5 years than the 25 years before that. It is amazing some of the things that show up here.

[uplandmod]

Wow! A recent article on Dortsch!

 

11/7/2011 10:12:00 PM

 

By Lisa Irish

 

After being stabbed in the chest and arm during the battle of Iwo Jima during World War II, U.S. Marine Corps Pfc. Lee Dortsch who served with the 5th Marine Division returned to the U.S. to recover.

 

Dortsch, now 88, of Prescott, said he thought he'd lose his left arm which had blackened, but a surgeon on one of the hospital ships saved it, then three months later the arm started turning pink, but he only regained limited use of it. Dortsch, who later made corporal, said he wanted to remain in the Marine Corps.

 

"I told them I just needed a one-handed weapon, but they kicked me out of the Marine Corps for my physical disability," Dortsch said. "It broke my heart. The Marine Corps was my family."

 

At a recent event, Bob Wallace, vice commandant of the Marine Corps League, said Dortsch, who served in three wars, had quite a story to tell about his time in the service.

 

After the war, Dortsch worked as a financial analyst with the FBI, but a friend could see he wasn't happy and asked him what he wanted to do. "I told her I wanted to learn to fly, so she drove me to flying lessons," he said. "After I went up in the cockpit, I thought 'I'm not going to be a gumshoe anymore, I want to be a pilot.' "

 

So Dortsch joined the Air Force, which had no problem with his arm, and he taught pilots how to fly for three years out of Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas, during the Korean War.

 

During the Vietnam War, Dortsch flew combat missions. "We flew right over the Ho Chi Minh Trail at night," Dortsch said. "The crew hung out of the aircraft and looked for targets for the troops to attack."

 

Dortsch said he joined the Marines when he was just 19, because "I was very angry about what had happened at Pearl Harbor. I always wanted to be a Marine."

 

But when Dortsch told his parents the planned to enlist in the Marines shortly after Pearl Harbor, they set a stipulation. "My folks wouldn't let me sign up until I agreed to finish high school," Dortsch said.

 

But Dortsch's father was not happy with his son's choice of service branch.

 

"My father was an old horse cavalryman in the Army, and he wanted to know why I didn't choose the Army cavalry," Dortsch said.

 

"I said, 'Dad there is no horse cavalry any more. That's an antique, its obsolete, they use tanks now.' "

 

Dortsch attributed his success in the Air Force and Marines to the discipline his father instilled in him early on.

 

"I really admired my old dad," Dortsch said of his father. "He taught me respect, responsibility and kept a tight rein on me when I got a little wild."

 

Dortsch said his family is precious to him and that his sister, her husband and his nieces and nephews that live nearby in Prescott Valley visit him often.

 

When asked about the toughest thing he's dealt with, Dortsch talked about losing his younger brother, Joe.

 

Dortsch said he was recovering from being injured in Guadalcanal in October 1942 when he heard Joe had died after his plane went down in Hokkaido, Japan, during the war.

 

"He was a good kid. He knew how to fight. He went hand to hand and took two or three men with him, but they killed him," Dortsch said of his brother.

 

"When I was platoon leader at our Army JROTC in high school, Joe was our platoon sergeant and he'd take guys out behind the shop building to teach them a lesson when they needed it."

[uplandmod]

Finally discovered what that rope was for.

 

I just read in one of my Iwo Oral History books from a Marine who states that they were given ropes such as these to climb up some of the tall terraces on the opening days of Iow Jima.

 

They worked in groups of three to get over the tall terraces that were on some of the landing area on the beaches.

 

Thanks everyone for all your help! This was a great thread!

 

Leonardo

[craig_pickrall]

Did they mention what size and length of rope was used? Was it plain rope or did it have loops or toggles at the ends?

[conn]

hello

 

i had menbers from my marine corp league years ago tell me about carrying ropes that were used to swng explosive charges into caves from above

[nix284]

This truly was a great thread. I learned more than a few things reading this. Hat's off to those involved.

[uplandmod]

Didn't think I was going to find the quote but I did!

 

Never in doubt by Lynn Kessler

 

Pg 40

Pfc Fred Schribert 3rd battalion 25th Marines 4th Division

 

"...and everybody had a wooden handle with a rope with knots, if we had to scale the high ground that they were telling us to take..."

 

I kind of had this quote confused with an earlier quote on pg 18 where another 4th Marine vet discusses how he used a three man team to get over the terraces.

 

Both quotes are about Iwo Jima.

 

 

And yes I agree this really was a great thread all around!

 

Thank you!

Leonardo

[uplandmod]

I have looked through manuals dating from 1940 to 1954, both USMC and Army, that cover the Auto Rifle Fire Team. In all cases it is a 3 man team. The BAR man, the assistant BAR man and the ammo bearer. I was looking for any indication of a rope, of the type shown, being on the TO&E. I can not find any mention of it so this appears to be something added for this particular action. Since it is Iwo Jima and there were no sea walls involved it must be for moving something heavy through the black sand. I'm not sure why the fire team would be involved in this.

 

Craig,

Yes there was no seawall but it appears with all the oral history's on the battle I have read the island had a natural seawall of sorts with the high terraces yards from the beach. Depending on which beach they landed at they posed a real problem getting over them on the first few days into the battle.

 

Doyler,

 

Looks like you hit the nail on the head, I just needed some confirmation from you stated.

 

Your hypothesis was dead on, thank you!!!

 

Leonardo

[69Stinger]

Agreed, this is an outstanding study of an assault Marine on Iwo. I also have been fascinated by this photo ever since I was a kid. The picture is from " The Battle For Iwo Jima" part of the Landmark children's book series written in 1967 by none other than Mr. Robert Leckie. You'll notice that Dortsch does not openly carry any M-1 ammo clips in either a cartridge belt or bandoliers (bandoliers would have been swinging out to the side and visible). I have always speculated that he carried his M-1 ammunition in the lightweight gas mask bag, and filled to the hilt it is! As for the rope wrapped around the shovel: it appears that the rope is what is holding the shovel onto his pack. That shovel is very vertical on the pack and does not appear to be hooked onto the equipment attaching tab of the upper pack. It's impossible to be sure as he could also be using the jungle pack shovel cover. Excellent thread for an excellent photo. I am happy to have learned that he did make it off Iwo.

This is the photo I'm using to put my Iwo Jima USMC display together.

 

I'm nearly finished with all the items,

but I am inquiring what the rope on the shovel was used for and was it a special issue item (ie does it have wood/metal handles, etc)

 

Thank You!

 

Leonardo

[combat-helmets]

You can see clearly that this Marine is wearing International Shoe Co. made boondockers ... I know, that's irrational

 

Yes, I saw that too, so you are not alone in your madness..

I have to comment on the thread just to say that to me, the rope is there to scale obstacles, or who knows, lug the BAR up a cliff..

I would think rope would be essential gear for each man's kit. very smart to have...

[uplandmod]

Agreed, this is an outstanding study of an assault Marine on Iwo. I also have been fascinated by this photo ever since I was a kid. The picture is from " The Battle For Iwo Jima" part of the Landmark children's book series written in 1967 by none other than Mr. Robert Leckie. You'll notice that Dortsch does not openly carry any M-1 ammo clips in either a cartridge belt or bandoliers (bandoliers would have been swinging out to the side and visible). I have always speculated that he carried his M-1 ammunition in the lightweight gas mask bag, and filled to the hilt it is! As for the rope wrapped around the shovel: it appears that the rope is what is holding the shovel onto his pack. That shovel is very vertical on the pack and does not appear to be hooked onto the equipment attaching tab of the upper pack. It's impossible to be sure as he could also be using the jungle pack shovel cover. Excellent thread for an excellent photo. I am happy to have learned that he did make it off Iwo.

 

Nice catch on what book its from. I had bought it from a library donation and have been completely fascinated with it, in fact a copy of the photo hangs at my office at work.

 

The best part was after I watched The pacific I realized it was written by the late Robert Leckie.

 

A well written book considering it was written for the teen market.

 

Leonardo