After the service, he went to work for Martin’s (after several consolidations, now Lockheed Martin), married the woman he loved and raised two sons. He coached them in basketball and baseball, led them in scouting and was there for them as they grew to men. After Martin’s (where he worked with the Gemini Program team), he went to work for NAC Charge (a credit card of antiquity) that was eventually acquired by Citibank. He has since retired from there and now works doing maintenance at the church he has attended for nearly his entire life. He remains without doubt the finest man it has ever been my privilege to know.

His father was never a soldier. William E. Fleischmann (the first), son of a baker who had come to this country in the wake of the first world war (and who, as a baker, had ready access to yeast during Prohibition and was know to make some of the most remarkable bathtub gin imaginable), he was working as a manager at Rukert Terminals (in the Port of Baltimore) when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  Like so many outraged Americans he went to enlist, but his boss intervened (shipping, and particularly the ports on the Atlantic coast, was deemed vital industry) saying he was indispensable and his enlistment was denied. He, too, raised two sons in the Baltimore area and was one of the first Scoutmasters in the Baltimore Area Council. For a long time, I deeply regretted that he’d never met my wife (we had only been dating a short while when he passed away) before realizing that he had been present with me all along. I was named for him.

William J. Dohler was, by all accounts, a brutal, bigoted, bear of a man. He was quick to anger and felt no compunction about using his belt to discipline his wife and children. I don’t really remember him that way (except for the bigotry – to him, it was high praise to say “he’s almost a white man”); he was my maternal grandfather. I’ll never know whether he had always been the man his children remember or if his experiences in Depression and war made him who he was. In the wake of Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corp and eventually found himself as part of the Fifth Marine Division fighting in the Pacific Theater.

On February 23, 1945, he found himself dug in somewhere below the summit of Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima when there was a flag raising of some note that took place (twice) atop the rise. Whatever his faults, when his country called him, he answered. He did his duty and (eventually) came home.

By the time the Battle of Iwo Jima was over, it was clear that more than 8,700 Americans would not, including more than 6,800 killed in action, another 1,400 who would later die of wounds received and nearly 500 missing.

The Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest military honor, was awarded to 27 servicemen for actions in the taking of Iwo Jima, including 22 for United States Marines (the most ever awarded for a single action). A column such as this could not possibly do justice to the actions and sacrifices of these American heroes. As one might expect, the brevity of the award citations (which I encourage everyone to read) nearly damns them with faint praise. The recipients (* - posthumous):

Corporal Charles J. Berry, USMC *

Private First Class William R. Caddy, USMCR *

Colonel Justice M. Chambers, USMCR

Sergeant Darrell S. Cole, USMCR *

Captain Robert H. Dunlap, USMCR

Sergeant Ross F. Gray, USMCR *

Sergeant William G. Harrell, USMC

Lieutenant Rufus G. Herring, USNR

Private First Class Douglas T. Jacobson, USMCR

Platoon Sergeant Joseph R. Julian, USMCR *

Private First Class James D. LaBelle, USMCR *

Second Lieutenant John H. Leims, USMCR

Private First Class Jacklyn H. Lucas, USMCR

First Lieutenant Jack Lummus, USMCR

First Lieutenant Harry L. Martin, USMCR

Captain Joseph J. McCarthy, USMCR

Private George Phillips, USMCR *

Pharmacist's Mate First Class Francis J. Pierce, USN

Private First Class Donald J. Ruhl, USMCR

Private Franklin E. Sigler, USMCR

Corporal Tony Stein, USMCR

Pharmacist's Mate Second Class George E. Wahlen, USN

Gunnery Sergeant William G. Walsh, USMCR *

Private Wilson D. Watson, USMCR

Corporal Hershel W. Williams, USMCR

Pharmacist's Mate Third Class Jack Williams, USNR *

Pharmacist's Mate First Class John H. Willis, USN *

Here is the citation for GySgt William G. Walsh:

“For extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Leader of an Assault Platoon, attached to Company G, Third Battalion, Twenty-seventh Marines, FIFTH Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces at Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, on 27 February 1945. With the advance of his company toward Hill 362 disrupted by vicious machine-gun fire from a forward position which guarded the approaches to this key enemy stronghold, Gunnery Sergeant Walsh fearlessly charged at the head of his platoon against the Japanese entrenched on the ridge above him, utterly oblivious to the unrelenting fury of hostile automatic weapons fire and hand grenades employed with fanatic desperation to smash his daring assault. Thrown back by the enemy's savage resistance, he once again led his men in a seemingly impossible attack up the steep, rocky slope, boldly defiant of the annihilating streams of bullets which saturated the area. Despite his own casualty losses and the overwhelming advantage held by the Japanese in superior numbers and dominant position, he gained the ridge's top only to be subjected to an intense barrage of hand grenades thrown by the remaining Japanese staging a suicidal last stand on the reverse slope. When one of the grenades fell in the midst of his surviving men, huddled together in a small trench, Gunnery Sergeant Walsh, in a final valiant act of complete self-sacrifice, instantly threw himself upon the deadly bomb, absorbing with his own body the full and terrific force of the explosion. Through his extraordinary initiative and inspiring valor in the face of almost certain death, he saved his comrades from injury and possible loss of life and enabled his company to seize and hold this vital enemy position. He gallantly gave his life for his country.”

This Memorial Day, take a moment to thank those who have, in whatever capacity, served this nation and, by so doing, have preserved for us the freedom we enjoy.