Writing War History During Combat: A Marine Correspondent's Iwo Jima Experience

Marine Corps Correspondent, Sergeant Frederick Knowles “Dick” Dashiell, was a unique man. He looked like a nerd, wearing glasses and embodying an air of deep thought. He was not impressive physically as he stood 5’10” and weighed 170 pounds. He was skinny, scholarly, soft-spoken and came from a tradition of education. However, he was not all about books. Behind the unassuming figure lurked impressive athleticism and physicality. He was a star University of North Carolina football halfback from 1934-36 and every year helped his team to winning seasons, returning 40 punts for a total of 473 yards. As of 1993, he held the fourth best average for punt returns in UNC’s history at 11.8 yards per return. He also held the record for the longest punt at 96 yards. He was called

“Slippery” Dick and wore number 79.

Dashiell also came from a strong military heritage. His great-great grandfather James Dashiell fought in the Colonial Wars in the mid-1700s. His great-grandfather John Dashiell served in the Revolutionary War (1776-83). His grandfather, the Rev. John Thomas Dashiell, fought for the Union during the Civil War (1861-65). His other grandfather, Milton Emory Jones, also served for the Union. Dashiell’s family’s Civil War history is presented here to point out something interesting about America. Dashiell had grandfathers who fought against the grandfathers of his commanding officers; namely, USMC Commandant, General Alexander A. Vandegrift; 3rd Marine Division Commander, USMC Major Gen. Graves B. Erskine; and Fleet Marine Force Commander, USMC Lt. Gen. Holland “Howlin’ Mad” Smith. In just two generations, America had built an economic powerhouse, won the Spanish-American War and WWI, and slogged through the Great Depression. Now America was sending these grandsons out to fight shoulder-to-shoulder against a common foe that posed one of the greatest existential threats to democracy.

With this military pedigree, Dashiell entered the Corps in August 1943 at 28 years of age and many considered him an “old man.” He had tried to enter Candidates’ Class (the officer training program), but failed the color blindness test, twice. When drafted, he “opted for the Marine Corps.” When he was being processed, a clerk said he would never make it through boot camp because it was “too tough for a guy” his age. However, he figured his football career enabled him to “handle the physical part, and had experienced the discipline of meeting deadlines and figured I could meet the mental stress which I knew awaited me. Parris Island, of course, was a shocker, but I had not expected a bed of roses.”

After Boot Camp, Dashiell joined the 1st Battalion, 21st Marines, 3rd Marine Division on Guam as a correspondent and mainly hung around the guys in Baker and Charlie Companies, training for war with them and writing stories about their lives.

On 15 February, he boarded a ship with his fellow Marines all headed to a new battle, Iwo Jima. It anchored off the island on the 17 February and waited. His division was not supposed to be deployed since it was held in reserve in case things got bad on the island. Well, they got bad on Iwo very quickly after the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions took a beating after landing there on 19 February. On 20 February, Dashiell’s division got word they would land. Eventually, Dashiell hit the shores on 21 February and immediately started shooting Japanese and writing stories.

Soon after the killing started, news of this horrific battle appeared in newspapers and radio broadcasts back home. Dashiell’s father, Professor John Frederick Dashiell, wrote his daughter Dorothy (Dick’s sister) about this conflict on 22 February: “Do you know the news? This morning the radio announcers were telling that the [3rd Marine Division] has joined the Fourth and the Fifth in that awful battle for…Iwo Jima. And that battle is the bloodiest in the long whole history of the Marine Corps since 1775. So I am just awfully anxious about Dick. Better write him at once, write anything long or short, anything that a tired and battle-worn and maybe wounded man would get some comfort from. This is it! This is the great ordeal for which all his training has been shaped…We have had great Americans all through the century and a half of our national history. We’ve got them today. And, by golly, we’ve got them in the [3rd Marine Division]!”

Although the battle had only gone on for a few days, people in the States knew there was something special about it. Tens of thousands of mothers and fathers like Dashiell’s felt “awfully anxious” about their boys going into harm’s way. Hundreds of thousands of parents, grandparents, siblings and others worried about their fighting men. Professor Dashiell looked at what America was doing at Iwo with her projection of power to defend her freedom and this created a sense that sending off their boys to fight was very American and worth the angst. Professor Dashiell knew that since higher-ups felt the need to deploy his son’s division, it must mean the battle was worse than imagined. He was confident since the 3rd Marine Division was made up of men like his son, modern men full of patriotic fervor, the U.S. would prevail.

Dashiell’s reports are frequently used in my recent book “Flamethrower,” and his role on the island was important, since he represented more than 100 men who served at the front as journalists. These men carried a rifle in one hand and a Hermes typewriter in the other. Dashiell also had a Colt .45. He and his men helped document the heroic acts of several men while in the deployed areas and shared in the combat and hardships in order to inform the public. Historian Benis Frank wrote the “Combat Correspondent program could not have worked in any other but an elite organization, such as the Marine Corps, which was magnanimous enough to allow this group of mavericks, individualists and off-beat characters to come in and write about its activities.”

Much of what has been learned of Charlie Company came from Dashiell’s documentation. To get his stories, he went into the hell of combat: “I was with two other Marines at the top of a crag trying to sight an enemy machine gun position, when a number of enemy riflemen opened up on us and we were forced to slide down the hill on our backs and stomachs to get out of their range of fire.” Since he was a Marine first and a journalist second, putting his life in danger to memorialize his comrades was a given, but the manner in which he did his job, and the one thousand pages of articles he wrote, were a godsend for historians and for patriots who demand we never forget those who sacrificed so much for freedom.

Many men like Dashiell, journalists and photographers, often would never make it off the island since they were killed getting their stories. The following story will give a powerful example of the dangers these men encountered.

Dashiell’s foxhole buddy, combat photographer USMC Staff Sgt. Joe Franklin peeked around some rocks to see where the enemy was, but found none. A sergeant nearby “must have figured everything was clear” so he crept away from his cover and stuck his head right by Franklin’s. Wham. He took a bullet that passed along his temple region and “laid both eyes out on his cheeks,” but he was still alive with the bullet missing his brain. He rolled over on his back “with those blobs of jelly on his face” yelling in pain, “I can’t see.” In war, one must never forget that if you can see the enemy, the enemy can see you.

Dashiell performed so well while on Iwo Jima, that after the battle, Major General Erskine wrote him a “Letter of Commendation”: “[This award is given to Dashiell] for meritorious service while serving as a…combat correspondent…from 19 February to 16 March 1945. Landing with the first elements of the division [on 21 February], Sgt. Dashiell, despite the fact that he was allowed complete freedom of movement to obtain material, and with complete disregard for his own safety, voluntarily joined those groups involved in the most dangerous fighting in order to gather first-hand material for his news stories. He was constantly exposed to enemy machine gun, mortar, and small arms fire. He voluntarily left positions after they became comparatively secure to observe individuals and units involved in heavier fighting. His courage and professional skill resulted in the production of outstanding news stories, which, widely circulated in the [U.S.], acquainted the American people more fully with the combat phases of the fierce battle of Iwo.”

Out of the 366 reports Dashiell penned, 83 were done on Iwo Jima during the battle. He wrote these articles in “foxholes, abandoned (naturally) Jap dugouts and pillboxes, and even under the wings of wrecked planes.” When completed, he dispatched them to a communications ship or other vessel that “was returning from the island that was available.” Once on board, a censor and his command had to sign off on them for public consumption. Once approved, they were flown to Washington and distributed in various newspapers.

During the hell of Iwo Jima and after being on the island for two weeks, Dashiell wrote the following this his parents: “As you know, the scrap continues. The Japs are resisting here at Iwo just as frantically as they did the first day. What a horrible, horrible thing it all is. Death, filth, torn bodies, mortars, rockets, snipers, caves, pillboxes, tunnels, everything. The mental tension is terrific. There is no haven anywhere. I cannot begin to tell you all my experiences and all I’ve seen…I’ve seen enough to make me wish all Japs were dead—I mean all, each and everyone…Have often wondered why I have been spared. Not a scratch. But scared to death. I never knew what fear was. My God, the sinking feeling you get when the mortars burst around you…Have you seen any of my [articles in the newspapers]? [The commanding officer for Fleet Marine Force Lt. General Smith] complimented me, but I have no idea what play stories have received.” After Dashiell wrote this letter, he went back to writing articles, documenting his brother Marine heroics and killing Japanese.

Eventually, on 26 March, he walked off the island with his carbine, pistol and typewriter and boarded a Higgins boat to return to his ship that would take him back to Guam, heal, and get ready for the next battle—the invasion of Japan. He was only one out of four of the original company he arrived with (circa 200 men) who suffered no wounds during the six weeks he fought on the island. After what he experienced, he knew that during the invasion of Japan, he was going to die. However, before that would eventually happen, he promised himself he would continue to do his bests to document for the future his brother Leathernecks’ bravery. Luckily, the atomic bombs brought the war to an end, and, according to Dashiell, “saved my life and the lives of thousands of my Brother Marines.” During this time (Summer 1945), he also was one of the first journalists to interview future Medal of Honor recipient, Woody Williams, about his deeds which led to him getting this decoration. Dashiell would discover problems, though, with Woody's story.

It was men like Dashiell who made sure Marines know their legacy and the history to empower Leathernecks to do their vital work. Dashiell helps us remember who we are. He proves USMC Commandant Charles C. Krulak’s pronouncement that every Marine today is still tied to what the Marines did for us all on Iwo Jima.

For more about the Marines of Charlie Company, see FLAMETHROWER: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08666CNSH/ref=sr_1_2...

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