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1st Lt Nion Robert Tucker, Jr.
B/1/28th Marines
Wounded in action (fragment, abdomen) at Iwo Jima, February 19, 1945; died of wounds February 25, 1945
Other Comments:
Silver Star
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to First Lieutenant Nion R. Tucker, Jr. (MCSN: 0-25241), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity as Leader of a Rifle Platoon attached to Company B, First Battalion, Twenty-eighth Marines, FIFTH Marine Division in action against enemy Japanese forces during the seizure of Iwo Jima, in the Volcano Islands on 19 February 1945. Confronted by the enemy's solid coordinated system of defenses shortly after hitting the beach in the initial landing wave, First Lieutenant Tucker boldly led his unit in a frontal assault against strong fortifications delivering concentrated mortar, machine gun and artillery fire in the beach area and charging four pill boxes and an almost impregnable block house with fierce aggressiveness, succeeded in destroying all five of the enemy strong points as he advanced 300 yards across the beach. With his platoon reduced to one-third its original strength when he discovered that his company commander had become isolated with the remnants of another platoon and was lying seriously wounded under intense enemy fire approximately 400 yards to the left, he unhesitatingly led the remainder of his squad in a second assault, repeatedly exposing himself to the merciless blasts of deadly gun fire as he smashed through the surrounding pill boxes and reached the besieged group. Again risking his life to direct the last of his men into a position of comparative safety, he was fatally struck by a burst of shrapnel and collapsed where he stood. An able and inspiring leader, First Lieutenant Tucker by his daring tactics, cool decision and dauntless courage in the face of overwhelming odds aided materially in the reestablishment of his company. His valiant devotion to duty during this critical phase of the action was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country. Action Date: February 19, 1945
Western Pacific Campaign (1944-45)/Battle of Iwo Jima
From Month/Year
February / 1945
To Month/Year
March / 1945
Description The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945), or Operation Detachment, was a major battle in which the United States Armed Forces fought for and captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Japanese Empire. The American invasion had the goal of capturing the entire island, including its three airfields (including South Field and Central Field), to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the War in the Pacific of World War II.
After the heavy losses incurred in the battle, the strategic value of the island became controversial. It was useless to the U.S. Army as a staging base and useless to the U.S. Navy as a fleet base. However, Navy SEABEES rebuilt the landing strips, which were used as emergency landing strips for USAAF B-29s.
The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with a dense network of bunkers, hidden artillery positions, and 18 km (11 mi) of underground tunnels. The Americans on the ground were supported by extensive naval artillery and complete air supremacy over Iwo Jima from the beginning of the battle by U.S. Navy and Marine Corps aviators.
Iwo Jima was the only battle by the U.S. Marine Corps in which the Japanese combat deaths were thrice those of the Americans throughout the battle. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner, some of whom were captured because they had been knocked unconscious or otherwise disabled. The majority of the remainder were killed in action, although it has been estimated that as many as 3,000 continued to resist within the various cave systems for many days afterwards, eventually succumbing to their injuries or surrendering weeks later.
Despite the bloody fighting and severe casualties on both sides, the Japanese defeat was assured from the start. Overwhelming American superiority in arms and numbers as well as complete control of air power — coupled with the impossibility of Japanese retreat or reinforcement — permitted no plausible circumstance in which the Americans could have lost the battle.
The battle was immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the 166 m (545 ft) Mount Suribachi by five U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy battlefield Hospital Corpsman. The photograph records the second flag-raising on the mountain, both of which took place on the fifth day of the 35-day battle. Rosenthal's photograph promptly became an indelible icon — of that battle, of that war in the Pacific, and of the Marine Corps itself — and has been widely reproduced.
