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Cpl Steven Ryan (LoneWolf)
to remember
Marine LtGen Keller E Rockey.
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Contact Info
Last Address Columbia City
Date of Passing Jun 06, 1970
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
ROCKEY, KELLER EMRICK (First Award) Captain, U.S. Marine Corps 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment (Marines), 2d Division, A.E.F. Date of Action: June 6, 1918
Citation:
The Navy Cross is presented to Keller Emrick Rockey, Captain, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving with the 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment (Marines), 2d Division, A.E.F. in action at Chateau-Thierry, France, on June 6, 1918. Captain Rockey performed distinguished service by bringing up supports and placing them in the front lines at great personal exposure, showing exceptional ability and extraordinary heroism. He was indefatigable and invaluable in carrying forward the attack and organizing and holding the position.
Other Award: Distinguished Service Cross (Same Action), Navy Cross w/Gold Star (2nd Nicaragua)
ROCKEY, KELLER EMRICK (Second Award) Major, U.S. Marine Corps 1st Battalion, 11th Regiment, 2d Marine Brigade (Nicaragua), Date of Action: January 19 - November 11, 1928
Citation:
The Navy Cross is presented to Keller Emrick Rockey, Major, U.S. Marine Corps, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer, First Battalion, Eleventh Regiment, Second Brigade, U.S. Marine Corps, operating in the Northern Area of Nicaragua from January 19, 1928 to November 11, 1928. Major Rockey displayed great zeal, initiative and sound judgment in planning and leading many combat patrols against the numerous and active bandit groups infesting the practically unexplored area. His courage, ability and good judgment contributed largely to the successful suppression of banditry in the province of Nuevo Segovia and in the northern area.
Other Comments:
ROCKEY, KELLER EMRICK
Captain, U.S. Marine Corps 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment (Marines), 2d Division, A.E.F. Date of Action: June 6, 1918
Citation:
The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Keller Emrick Rockey, Captain, U.S. Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving with the 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment (Marines), 2d Division, A.E.F. in action at Chateau-Thierry, France, on June 6, 1918. Captain Rockey performed distinguished service by bringing up supports and placing them in the front lines at great personal exposure, showing exceptional ability and extraordinary heroism. He was indefatigable and invaluable in carrying forward the attack and organizing and holding the position.
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.
