How did I survive Iwo Jima?

By Debra Adams Simmons, HISTORY Executive Editor

For 37 days, Bill Montgomery fought on the volcanic Japanese island known as Iwo Jima. Montgomery, on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the deadly World War II battle, still wonders how he survived—when most of the men in his unit did not.

“I never understood how I wasn’t hit,” Montgomery told National Geographic. “I feel guilty. But thankful, too.”

Now 95, he can still see his distraught fellow Marines on the ground, “hands to their faces, sobbing their hearts out,” he says. “Their minds just snapped. A lot of us just got kind of numb, immune to any shock.”

Montgomery (pictured below) is one of the few Marines to endure the entire ordeal, which began February 19, 1945. Nearly 7,000 U.S. soldiers were killed and 20,000 wounded. More than 19,000 Japanese soldiers also were killed.

These days, the battle is best known for the iconic image (above) of five Marines and one Navy corpsman raising an American flag on Mount Suribachi, four days after the fighting began. Three of those men would be killed before Iwo Jima was won. The U.S. Medal of Honor was given to 27 servicemen who fought in Iwo Jima, more than any other battle in U.S. history.

Fewer than 400,000 of the 16 million who served in World War II are still alive. Throughout the year, we’ll be sharing their stories.

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