Col. David E. Severance, CO of company that raised both flags on Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi, dies at 102
Col. David Elliott Severance, USMC (Ret.), who had just turned 102 on Feb. 4, passed away at his home in La Jolla, Calif., on Aug. 2. The colonel will be buried with military honors next to his wife at the cemetery adjacent to the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station on Sept. 15. He was a 26-year-old mustang (former enlisted Marine) captain and company commander of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division, when they landed at Green Beach on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945. At the time, he had no idea of the fame the men from his company would attain for raising the flag on Mount Suribachi five days later.
The campaign was only going to last about that long, the troops were told. That’s all it would take to secure the sulfuric island only about 8 square miles, 5 miles long, and 800 yards to 2.5 miles across at the widest point. Taking Iwo Jima was important because it was roughly half way between the Mariana Islands, where U.S. bombing raids on Japan originated, and the Japanese mainland. Radar warned the Japanese the bombers were coming, and Japanese fighter planes and mainland anti-aircraft guns were often instrumental in damaging planes returning to the Marianas, causing them to go down in the Pacific and losing entire crews.
For the first five days, the fighting on Iwo Jima was ferocious and casualties were high.
“We had nearly 30 percent casualties those first few days,” Severance said. “Our CP was set up at the base of Suribachi and we were headed north. The vantage from Suribachi and the fire from various spots there made it necessary to secure the mountain.”
When battalion commander Lt. Col. Chandler Johnson told then-Capt. Severance to send a patrol up Mount Suribachi to secure and occupy it, he sent a 40-man patrol led by Lt. Harold “George” Schrier, along with an American flag the colonel wanted raised, if possible. The patrol found a pole, fastened the flag to it and raised it at about 10:30 a.m.
“That boosted our morale,” Severance said. The Marines below the mountain cheered and hollered, and the ships at sea blasted horns and clanged bells and whistles, mistakenly thinking the battle was over that actually raged on for more than 30 days.
Platoon Sgt. Ernest “Boots” Thomas later told a reporter aboard ship that Schrier, Sgt. Hank Hansen and himself raised the flag after fastening it to a water pipe. Cpl. Charles Lindbergh, Navy Corpsman PhM2 John Bradley, Pvt. Phil Ward and Pfcs. James Michels and Raymond Jacobs were there helping. No photo of the first flag raising exists because Marine photographer Sgt. Lou Lowery was reloading his camera.
Soon afterward, because Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal wanted the flag, Lt. Col. Johnson ordered a larger flag in its place and the first one brought back for the battalion, which Severance said was later placed in the battalion safe. Easy Company runner Pfc. Rene Gagnon was delivering radio batteries to Schrier and was given the second flag to take with him that was later famously depicted in Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal’s iconic photo and Marine photographer Sgt. Bill Genaust’s moving picture film.
Gagnon went along with four men Severance was sending up the mountain to string combat telephone wire to Suribachi. Those four men—Sgt. Michael Strank, Cpl. Harlon Block, Pfcs. Franklin Sousley and Ira Hayes—plus Gagnon, Pvt. Harold Scholtz (not identified as one of the second flag raisers until 2016) and Cpl. Harold Keller (not identified as one of the second flag raisers until 2019) helped attach the second flag to another pole and raise it as the first flag came down. Scholtz and Keller replaced Gagnon and Bradley, both of whom went on a stateside bond drive with Hayes that helped raise $26.3 billion to help fund the rest of the war.
“We didn’t think more about it until a couple of weeks later when they wanted the men identified from the second flag raising to take back for the bond tour,” Severance said. Only Hayes and Gagnon were still alive; and Scholtz and Keller were not yet identified as having helped raise the second flag. The other three had been killed a few days after the flag was raised. Hayes did not want to go back and reportedly threatened Gagnon, who was asked to identify the flag raisers, if he named him. But back in the states at Headquarters Marine Corps, Gagnon was apparently persuaded to name Hayes and Navy Cross recipient Bradley, who had been wounded and was in the hospital on Guam, as the surviving flag raisers.
For much of the last 75 years, Severance was continuously asked about the famous flag raising and the 40-man patrol, including responding to a large number of claims from men (or their families) who said they were one of the flag raisers or were part of the 40-man patrol.
“If everybody who said they were on the mountain then were there, the whole mountain would have sunk into the ocean,” he first said years ago, but in recent years no longer wanted to talk about the matter. “I’m fed up with the whole flag thing.”
One set of facts has been clear and constant from the start: Col. David E. Severance’s distinguished and storied career began when he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1938, later received a commission, served with the 1st Parachute Battalion and fought on Bougainville. After the Paramarines were disbanded, he later joined the newly formed 5th Marine Division and received the Silver Cross on Iwo Jima, then became a Marine aviator and received the Distinguished Flying Cross in Korea, where he flew 69 missions.
Well done, Marine.
