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Found the Holy Grail of USMC Collecting


cplnorton
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Simply said.....Fantastic photo archive! :twothumbup: Thanks for sharing......Semper Fi......Bobgee

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suwanneetrader
There has been some discussion as to what unit Gordon Cornell served with at Iwo Jima. He was with B Co. V Corps Medical Battalion. There is also discussion of UNIS markings on his sea bag and what they mean.

3-2-H&S was from his post WWII days when he was with 3rd Bn 2nd Marines in 1951. The horizontal diamond is 3rd Marine Division - I have multiple 3rd Marine division sea bags and a 3rd Marine Div foot locker and all have this marking. I have found no reference to him having served in the 3rd division, but it is possible that he was attached at some point? The circle within a rectangle UNIS marking is one I have never seen but it is consistent with 3/2 which he served with during Korea.

With Iwo Jima being my focus area of collecting and research, I find these photos absolutely amazing!

 

Stinger: I'm glad someone besides me believes that the horizontal diamond is 3rd Div. In Alberti's book as well as others show a listing of UNIS markings with the vertical diamond being 3rd Div and the horizontal diamond being 1st Div. With this photo evidence as well as your research I believe the UNIS listing in all those REF Books is incorrect. Richard

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I can only echo what has already been posted, but THANK YOU for posting these, what an amazing and comprehensive collection, congratulations on the find of a lifetime!

 

Semper,

 

Ski

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Thanks everyone. I will try to get the remaining ones copied here this week, but most of the really good ones have already been seen. He has some good photos of some of the dead, and he has some really good shots from Saipan as well.

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Brian Dentino

What an amazing group of photos! Thanks so much for taking the time to scan and post them here for us to see. Just an outstanding documentation of the battle on Iwo! :thumbsup:

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The name of the Hospital Ship is the USS Solace, she was scrapped in 1981. I've been looking for an Iwo Navy Jumper from her for awhile now.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Solace_(AH-5)

 

I also agree this is one, this is one of the finest group of pictures of Iwo that I have seen and most importantly thank you for sharing it is greatly appreciated especially from myself who studies Iwo exclusively.

 

My biggest eye opener is the wrecked seaplane at the bottom of Suribachi. I'm sure it landed there OK, but later smashed against the shore which seemed to wreck havoc on landing craft during the battle. I remember reading about it in somewhere but this is the first picture I have seen.

 

Also remember there was a third "Official" flag raising in March that took place a few weeks before the Marines left the island. That was the flag raising where they had a speech that the island was secured while the 5th was still fighting closing out the last pocket.

 

I would have to think this is the second flag.

 

Thanks You

 

Leonardo

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  • 4 years later...

 

 

I only know he was in the Vth Amphibious Corps. From the family history, he was a cook, but with the heavy losses on the first day of Iwo, he was drafted into the infantry, and fought on Iwo until it was mostly secured. But other than that, the family is digging up all the records and I will go over and get copies.

 

Gordon also has several hundred photos of Hawaii, Saipan, the Marshalls, and Statesboro Japan for the occupation. He then has a seperate book with photos of Korea. There are probably a 1000 pictures total. But I really like the Iwo ones.

 

Some of the names he has pics of from Saipan and Iwo. The ones with quotations are nicknames.

 

Bill Keehn Bremerton, Wash

Simms Stauffer

Boyer

Lewis McDonald

Springer

Hanabaum

"Frenchie"

Lawrence

Kelleher

Parsons

Endland

haugen

Green

Haugen

Hollands

brown

Neyhey

Miana

Laventy

Oris

Brown

Kelley

MacKibben

Spicerman

Hultman

Oliver

Mitchell

Shimwell

"Duke"

George

Bill Hultman

Stulp

"steve"

"bill"

J.P Oliver

"Monty"

Stulp

cuspon

Oliver

Mig

Farkas

Robertson

Ive run across Kellehers items just recently to add to this thread.

post-52581-0-35115100-1500578134_thumb.jpg

post-52581-0-17505800-1500578145_thumb.jpg

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The forum had stopped supporting externally hosted photos to try and prevent this from happening, the mods here have been going back through and updating as we can. But recently photobucket started charging for their hosting services, so the mods can no longer get at the photos...

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I can't see ANY of the pics - Photobucket just says you have to update your 3rd party account. Can I see them if I subscribe to Photobucket, or are they gone from there?

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Im curious if the pic that is mentioned earlier in the post about the wrecked sea plane is the same as the wrecked plane I posted, maybe from another angle.

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  • 3 years later...
On 7/27/2012 at 12:39 PM, cplnorton said:

I posted this the other day but someone said it might have been from Korea.

 

This was Gordon's painted Sea Bag. It might have a clue but it might be Korea as well.

 

painteddufflebag003.jpg

 

painteddufflebag002.jpg

 

<630> would be 3rd Tank Battalion HQ. 

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A best seller could be written around those photos.  Absolutely amazing!  I’ve followed Cpl. Norton’s many posts on the CMP forum for years and his knowledge on Marine history is remarkable.

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  • 1 year later...
On 3/30/2021 at 6:33 PM, Stony said:

 

<630> would be 3rd Tank Battalion HQ. 

It wouldn't be <631> for HQ/3rd Tank Battalion?

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5 hours ago, BRO&amp;USMC said:

It wouldn't be <631> for HQ/3rd Tank Battalion?

<630> was an early assumption that it was HQ for the tank battalion. Newer research has revealed that the 600 series in the 3rd MarDiv was for all special troops and didn't follow the unis pattern for the 4th and 5th MarDivs. 3rd MarDiv tank battalion would be as follows.

 

631 is HQ

632 is Co. A

633 is Co. B

634 is Co. C

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

Well, you have definitely paid your dues regarding Marine historical WWII items, 1903’s, research, etc., and if anyone deserves to have found these photos, it is you!  Congratulations!  

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