GREEN BEACH: We started rolling tape on Green Beach, which is where the 28th Marines landed February 19th, 1945. The island has risen since the battle, and invasion beaches are wider now than they were at the time of the battle. While crossing Green Beach we came across huge chunks of shrapnel, the size of your hand (and bigger), from exploding Japanese artillery and mortars rounds. Just below the first tier of the beach we found what we think to an ammo dump that was hit during the battle – around this area were hundreds of “burst” .50 rounds.

As we were strapped to cut the show for time (45 minutes + 15 minutes of commercials), we were not able to show you everything that we shot – one example of this was buying an underage Marine his first beer… They called him “Chick” for chicken, Chick Harris F-2-23 (4th Marine Division) lied about his age to get into the Marines (at this time in our history it was not uncommon for underage patriots to leave home and join the military). Chick is mentioned in Bradley’s FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, he and his buddy Corpsman Daniel B Thomas were called “The Butter Milk Boys” by the Marines they served with as they were not old enough to buy beer. Daniel (Danny) Thomas and I became good friends, and made two trips back to Iwo together (2002 and 2005), where he shared with me the fate of Chick, who was cut down as soon as he began to make his way across the beach.

On THIS trip back to Iwo, I wanted to do something for Chick and his memory, so while crossing the beach, we stopped and I produced a can of beer, that I opened and placed in the black sand. I surrounded the can with rocks, and placed a small American flag inside the circle – this was Chick’s unofficial personal monument. Not a riveting moment in the history of television, but rather a simple act to honor a kid who never got to grow up.

I think it’s important to make note that Battle Rats Iwo Jima was not a full-blown production with a full crew in the field. We actually were a small 5 man band host, c-host, cameraman (who also ran sound) and a production assistant. My hat goes off to my crew for enduring and humping all that gear on foot, across the island and into 54 different tunnel systems. On the island there are 300 known tunnel networks, with 5 of these being deemed safe. The other 295 are either off limits or “enter at your own risk”. But with three days unlimited access we pushed ourselves to explore and “film” (record) as much of the island battlefield as we could.

There are some 300 Japanese tunnels and caves on the island of Iwo Jima. ONLY 5 of these 300 tunnels are deemed “safe”, and visitors are ONLY allowed to enter and explore these five “safe” tunnels and caves. The other 297 tunnels and caves are off-limits. The risk of cave-ins, affixation, and undetected booby traps being too high to allow visitors to enter. During our 72 hours on the island, we the BATTLE RATS found and explored 54 different Japanese tunnels. Each of which were marked with GPS waypoints. I would like it known that while we did at times take chances and risks, we did exude a certain degree of caution and were not foolhardy in our tunnel explorations.

As we made our way inland from the landing beaches we came across trails of spent shell casings. You could literally follow the path of individual Marines, and see how they fought their way off the beaches and began to move towards their objectives such as Mount Suribachi, Motoyama #1 (the main Japanese airfield), and the cliffs of the East Boat Basin. The Marines landed into an inverted “U” trap, to where the Japanese held the high ground on both the left and right flanks, and was dug-in all along, and behind the runways.

It never fails to impress me, the level of intensity of which the landing beaches were shelled. Even today you can walk along the beaches and stumble upon large shrapnel fragments that rained down upon the Marines. Some of these are the size of your hand, and even larger! If there was one weapon that the Japanese used with brutal efficiency, it would have to be their artillery. The entire landing area was “dialed-in” with preregistered firing coordinates that allowed the Japanese gunners and mortarmen to saturate the “Marine” targets. As the sand was nothing but loose volcanic ash, it was next to impossible for the Marines to dig-in and seek cover from the incessant Japanese shelling.