MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- Visiting the National Museum of the Marine Corps on Feb. 20 were 18 veterans of the Battle of Iwo Jima, including the following four Marines.
Retired Lt. Gen. Lawrence Snowden, 93, is currently the most senior-ranking survivor of the battle. He was a captain serving with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division when he fought on Iwo Jima.
In 1995 he started the Reunion of Honor on Iwo Jima to honor both the American and Japanese who gave their lives.
Currently a resident of Tallahassee, Florida, next month he is traveling to Iwo Jima with three airplanes of veterans and their family members. Snowden said he makes sure all the attendees know that they are not going there to celebrate their victory, but to honor all who died.
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Albert Pagoaga, former corporal, was a private first class serving with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division when he fought on Iwo Jima.
A resident of Boise, Idaho, he is going back to the island for the first time next month on a trip sponsored by the Greatest Generation Foundation.
During his visit to the NMMC, Pagoaga regaled the docents with tales from his past and talked about using a Browning automatic rifle on the beach.
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Charles Frazier, former corporal with 8th Field Regiment Unit, 5th Marine Division, and Germantown, Maryland resident, is still going strong and working at age 89.
After his Marine Corps service, Frazier worked for the federal government for 36 years. After he retired, he said he was home for six weeks and couldn’t stand it, so he got a part-time job driving cars at a car dealership in Maryland and has been there for 33 years.
Frazier attended training at Montford Point, North Carolina, in 1944 and landed on Iwo Jima on Feb. 22. He said as a black man, he and his unit were first kept separate from the white Marines, but during battle they all served together.
He said he is not going back to the island for the 70th anniversary, because he "had enough of that" the first time.
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George Cattelona, 90, former sergeant and current resident of Raleigh, North Carolina, was a forward observer with L Battery, 4th Battalion, 13th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division on Iwo Jima.
During his tour of the NMMC, he spoke to Fox News and to a group of enlisted Marines who happened to be visiting the museum that day. The Marines appeared to hang on his every word as he told them, "It’s what you make of it," and "Don’t volunteer for nothing. You don’t know what you’re getting into."
He has been back to Iwo Jima once, in 2011, after two women held a fundraiser for him that raised several thousand dollars.
— Writer: ebaker@quanticosentryonline.com