Friday Drives It Home

Iwo

When Teller reached the silver sands on the island's south end, he stumbled his way to the grassy embankment, falling to his knees, the salt of the Pacific dripping from under his helmet. The young courier had left the landing craft in the cover of darkness early that morning to make the four mile trek across the shredded metallic debris of Iwo Jima, a daunting task that called for audacity and allusiveness. He had slept little the night before, understanding that his orders had not been given lightly, for they were the kind that symbolized a premonition of death. And while he had prepared multiple letters to be sent home in the event that he should meet his maker, his prayers that night had been more earnest than usual, asking God for swiftness in his steps and conviction in his heart. He closed his eyes and began drifting in and out of sleep.

When Lieutenant J.T. Morris saw the courier collapse at the base of the tented headquarters, he abandoned the mild coffee and hurdled down the slope to assist Teller with the duffel bags that he had brought from the offshore cruiser.When Commander Adams had notified him some days before that he would be sending a courier to deliver both mail and morphine, Lieutenant Morris thought him a fool. Such an assignment was murder. But Morris' men of the 509th Composite needed their mail for morale, and there was never enough morphine. He was honored to see a man who had braved the recklessness of his mission to successfully carry out his orders. Morris  knew that couriers had been of high importance as of late, since the grounds on Iwo  didn't allow for rovers and jeeps. The Lieutenant slung the two steel-rimmed duffel bags over his shoulder and marched to the quartermaster camp near base of Suribachi, calling out for a medic to tend to Teller's exhaustion.

When the duffel of mail came, Private Lance Ellerby heaved it over his shoulder and began making the rounds of the men who were awaiting their daily shift deployment to Suribachi. He had grown accustomed to the resounding booms in the sky from the surrounding carriers, constantly bombarding the low-lying Japanese fortresses, nestled quietly in the cover of the hills. His position in the quartermaster corp had kept him away from the lines of fire, but entrenched in the faces of the wounded and downtrodden. Yet sorting the mail and delivering it by company had given him a little bit of pleasure each day. He had been on the island since midway through the second siege, and was already hearing rumors of the war concluding in the European theater.As smoke piled up in the afternoon sky, Ellerby went from company to company, distributing to both the enlisted and the officers, listening to laughter and weeps as the men read letters from their loved ones.

Robert Newman had been stationed at Iwo since early February, when the gunning had first started. He had recently received a commission as Staff Sergeant of the 104th Composite on account of his heroism at Truk Lagoon and was becoming a highly revered leader of his company. But while the tides seemed to be turning slowly in  favor of the allies in the Pacific war, his mind had been lost in Oyster Bay, New York, for his young wife Marie was expecting.

As Ellerby approached the Newman company encampment, he saw him waiting anxiously outside of his quarters, freshly shaven, pacing around restlessly. Ellerby gave a salute, but was put at ease. 'A letter for you, Sergeant.' Newman thanked him and retreated in to his tent, taking a seat upon the folding stool that the Marines had issued him in San Diego. He opened the letter, sweat dripping on to the frayed edges of the weathered envelope. He chuckled at the stork on the stamp. It was from Marie, and had been signed and dated nine days prior. That had to be some kind of record, he thought. But as he read on, his eyes swelled with tears and he forgot completely about the war, for the great news regarded his newborn son: the healthy tone of his skin and the head of hair that bounded from him. Newman knew the war would be ending soon and he felt as though God would protect him throughout the remainder of it. He would live to see the end of it and he would live to see his newborn son. He would live to teach him to be a good and honorable man. He would live to tell him about Iwo Jima.

Coldplay - What If (Instrumental) 

Jakob Dylan - Holy Rollers For Love

Billy Joel - New York State Of Mind

In Cannes

Harry Nilsson - Everybody's Talking (Micamino rework) 

Bruce Springsteen - Secret Garden (Cristoff Remix)