By Rene Ray De La Cruz
Staff Writer
APPLE VALLEY • John Hixson said tears streamed down his face as he watched five Marines raise the U.S. flag at Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.
Almost 70 years later, the Navy veteran’s tears continue to flow as Hixson remembers his time in the Pacific and several encounters with the Japanese Imperial troops during the war.
“I was on the USS Carteret giving cover to our guys with my carbine rifle,” said Hixson, 90, who lives in Apple Valley. “I was taking fire as our troops took the Suribachi beachhead and raised the first and second American flag.”
Hixson said he’ll never forget Feb. 19,1945, because it was D-Day at Iwo Jima and the day he survived his birthday.
“On the fourth day of the battle, we put up the second flag because the first one was too small,” Hixson said. “But when our guys saw that second flag go up, a sense of pride flowed through our troops because it was a sign that we were winning.”
Wearing a baseball cap with a patch from the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima” photo, Hixson seemed transported back in time as he pointed to black and white Google images of the Pacific conflict on the computer monitor.
“Right there! That’s the area on Suribachi where the enemy was shooting from,” Hixson said. “I remember some of the guys who were taking these pictures and I can still hear the bullets whizzing by my head.”
As Hixson’s ship transported the 5th Marine Division to Suribachi, Hixson said a Marine from Running Springs was injured when he went in with the 3rd Marine Division.
“I don’t remember his name, but a shell hit near him and he got shrapnel in the knee, hip and back,” Hixson said. “He told me it still hurts him after all these years.”
Hixson, who was on the USS Carteret for the battles of Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Iwe Shima, and on the USS Barnes for the Battle of Tarawa, said missing the bus for boot camp in San Diego prevented him from serving on an aircraft carrier that was later sunk by the enemy.
“I credit Jesus Christ for seeing me through every battle, and protecting me from every bullet that missed my skull by inches,” Hixson said. “Even a downed fighter jet missed hitting me by only a few feet.”
Hixson said he was nearly killed when a Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter crashed on the aircraft carrier USS Barnes in 1943.
“I took cover under the flight deck and I could feel and hear the smashing of metal,” Hixson said. “We lost the pilot and one of the guys onboard, and a bunch of our guys were injured.”
After leaving Suribachi for Saipan and dropping off a ship full of wounded Marines, the Carteret headed toward the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, where Hixson said he could almost touch the “belly of a Kamikaze aircraft” as it flew over the ship and crashed.
“I relayed the order not to fire, but I guess our guys heard ‘fire’ and engaged the enemy in the sky,” Hixson said. “As it turned out, the Kamikaze barely missed us and hit the water and exploded.”
Hixson said everyone on the Carteret was nervous as they approached the Yamota, the world’s largest enemy battleship at the time, which carried 18 -inch guns and could “lob shells at us from over 20 miles away.”
Hixson said he was relieved when he heard that the U.S. had sunk the Yamota before the monster ship could fire at any U.S. ships.
During the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima, Hixson said he was in Okinawa and remained there until the war ended.
“After I heard what we had done with the atomic bomb, I was stunned,” Hixson said. “I never knew we had that kind of technology.”
Hixson said one of his happier moments was having the opportunity to bring U.S. soldiers back to the states.
Hixson said a mighty roar went up on all the ships as sailors celebrated the news that the war was over.
“They put us in what was called the Magic Carpet ship,” Hixson said. “We brought the first load of Marines back to Portland, Oregon, and the entire town turned out to meet us at the dock.”
Before departing for the states, Hixson said U.S. troops picked up enemy rifles and handed them out to those waiting at the dock, as people handed them bottles of milk.
Since then, Hixson said he’s attended several Iwo Jima survivor meetings in Wichita Falls, Texas, where many Air Force officers thanked Hixson and the Navy for taking Iwo Jima so that American B-29 bombers could land.
Hixson said his three daughters asked him to pen his experiences without embellishment so that his five children, 16 grandchildren and future generations could remember his life.
“Oh dear, I don’t remember how many great-grandchildren I have, but I wrote everything down, word-for word,” Hixson said. “It was a labor of love for my family, and so every American could know a bit about the price of freedom that was paid for our freedom.”
Hixson has also shared his testimony to many groups and churches, and led the Pledge of Allegiance at the God and Country Celebration in November.
After an official at the Library of Congress interviewed Hixson for a special DVD project, Hixson said he was not happy with the interview because he was not given the list of questions before they were asked.
“The planes that were shot down, the ships that were sank, so many battles, so much loss of life,” Hixson said. “It’s tough to remember everything that happened so long ago. I just know that my Savior protected me through it all.”
Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227, RDeLa Cruz@VVDailyPress.com or on Twitter@RenegadeReports.