Iwo Jima

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“Our very first mission was the worst one. We flew Nippon Nemesis, which was the first plane. After we completed our mission, our plane was badly damaged. There were 72 holes in the plane and the bomb bay doors wouldn't close. Our pilots said that because of the drag with the bomb bay doors not being closed, it was going to create a tremendous amount of drag and burn a lot of fuel and we were never going to reach Tinian. And prior to that, we had a meeting discussing what we would do if for some reason we were on a raid and couldn't get back to base. There were several options. One would be to land in Japan and become a POW and get beheaded because that's what the Japanese were doing. Or else, to fly to Russia, which, at the northern tip of Japan, was probably about 200 miles away. … Then, the other option was to take our chances and try to make Iwo Jima.

Well, prior to this, Iwo Jima was controlled by the Japanese. The flights going to Japan would be attacked by fighters that were based in Iwo Jima, and then planes returning from the target area would be hit again by fighters from Iwo Jima. So it was very important to capture Iwo Jima, being held by the Japanese, to eliminate this obstacle. Since Iwo Jima lies directly on the flight path to Japan, there was no way to avoid it. … Well, Iwo Jima is nothing more than coral sand. There are no trees of any kind and it's only got a small fighter strip. Any B-29 trying to land there, the tower would wave them off because they didn't want you to come here. But, anyway, a B-29 did land and we were able to land and get some added fuel and close our bomb bay doors and then continue on and then land in Tinian, not Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima labelled us as hospitable for landing there. But just because of that, there was no way that I would be here talking to you today. Because to land at sea, there was in most cases no rescue available…”

Editor's Note: Later in life, Mel Price reflected on his debt of gratitude to the Marines. He said, "If it wasn't for the Marines with 7,000 losing their lives in battle and ongoing protection, our squadrons would not have survived.  They are my heroes."