{"id":249,"date":"2011-04-17T03:03:08","date_gmt":"2011-04-17T03:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thanassiscambanis.com\/sipa\/?p=249"},"modified":"2011-04-17T03:03:08","modified_gmt":"2011-04-17T03:03:08","slug":"once-a-marine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thanassiscambanis.com\/sipa\/2011\/04\/once-a-marine\/","title":{"rendered":"Once a Marine"},"content":{"rendered":"

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BY LAUREN SCHULZ<\/p>\n

NEW YORK – I met Allen Striffler for the first time on the steps of the New York Athletic Club in the fall of 2009.\u00a0 We had both just left a gala where Allen was being honored.\u00a0 I was in my military dress uniform and Allen was wearing a tuxedo. His ribbons were pinned to his lapel.\u00a0 A black limousine was waiting for him.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t speak much at the gala; when he did, the civilians and service members listened intently.<\/p>\n

It took almost 60 years before Allen was ready to talk about the battles of Roi-Namur, Tinian, Saipan and Iwo Jima.\u00a0 During the battle of Iwo Jima, Allen was wounded but returned a day later, just in time to see the flag raised on Mount Surabachi.<\/p>\n

In the last few years Allen has been honored at military galas, parades, schools and veteran events across the country. After ignoring his World War exploits for sixty years, Allen has, in a way, rejoined the Marines.\u00a0 Once a Marine always Marine.<\/p>\n

In 1941, at 17 years old, Allen decided he was going to join the best branch of service.\u00a0 He forged his parents\u2019 signatures and joined the Marines.<\/p>\n

He was sworn in on the steps of City Hall, in downtown New York City with a few others.\u00a0 Shortly after the ceremony the recruits boarded a train out of Penn Station.\u00a0 They were headed to Parris Island, South Carolina for basic training.<\/p>\n

A Marine in uniform awaited on the platform in Washington, D.C, outside a dirty troop transport. \u201cYou maggots, hurry up,\u201d the sergeant screamed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis train was like the ones that carried prisoners during the Civil War,\u201d Allen explained during an interview at his home in Rye, New York. \u00a0\u201cSmoke was coming out of the windows and there was soot on the floor.\u201d\u00a0 He paused,\u00a0 \u201cThat was my first experience with a drill instructor.\u201d<\/p>\n

They finally arrived at Parris Island and spent eight weeks training.\u00a0 \u201cI remember the first night and they played taps, some kids started crying and I yelled at them \u2018Get the hell out of here, you aren\u2019t going to be Marines.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

At that moment, Allen thought to himself that he was going to be the best.\u00a0 Thinking back to his days at Parris Island, the now 86-year-old man smiled, squinted his light blue eyes and laughed. \u201cThat didn\u2019t turn out, there were a lot of other young [recruits] that wanted the same thing,\u201d he said<\/p>\n

Allen spent two weeks on the rifle range and a lot of time running and working out.\u00a0 The drill instructors didn\u2019t talk about the Japanese or about the German Army.\u00a0 The only talk about the war came from Hollywood.\u00a0 \u201cEveryone thought John Wayne was going to win the war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At the end of the eight weeks the recruits could call themselves Marines.\u00a0 Each was handed a piece of paper from the drill instructor that said where they would be going next. Allen was headed to California where he would learn to be a radio operator. <\/strong><\/p>\n

By January 1944, Allen was attached to Headquarters Battalion, 23rd<\/sup> Regiment, 4th<\/sup> Marine Division.\u00a0 The \u201cFighting 4th<\/sup>\u201d was preparing to leave from San Diego, heading straight to the Marshall Islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to our leaving, 1st<\/sup> Division was just coming back from the Panama Canal.\u00a0 They looked like canaries, eyes were yellow, and skin was yellow from taking sulfur pills.\u00a0 A couple were brought in to tell us how this was not a common enemy.\u00a0 Fright is what I learned from them,\u201d Allen said, as his voice became soft and he looked away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were looking up to them and had established what it meant to be a Marine. Like talking to a big brother.\u00a0 Sometimes they would stop and wander and we new they were going back to what they had been through.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 4th<\/sup> Division set sail and arrived at the Marshall Islands late January 1944.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a little trouble bringing back the Marshall Islands,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cIt was very noisy at times and very quiet at others.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s division secured the Marshall Islands and was sent back to Maui, the home base.\u00a0 By June, they were headed to Saipan and Tinian.\u00a0 By the end of July, both islands were secure.\u00a0 The fighting was grueling and 30 percent of the division was wounded or killed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter each [battle] you were anxious to see who would come back.\u00a0 Then you would have replacements.\u00a0 You were looking at them and thinking to yourself you are replacing my friend,\u201d said Allen.\u00a0 The replacements were outcasts at first, but that didn\u2019t last too long.\u00a0 They soon assimilated into the unit.<\/p>\n

By February 1945 Allen was back aboard ship and headed to Iwo Jima with his unit, a 15 or 16-day sail from Maui.<\/p>\n

Allen remembers the landing crafts all over the place, the black sand, and the red and green flashes from the battle ships firing.\u00a0 \u201cThe shells looked like garbage cans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A Marine next to him on the landing boat said \u201cIsn\u2019t that pretty?\u201d\u00a0 Again, with a slight grin and soft chuckle, Allen laughed remembering, \u201cI figured I would go with him because he isn\u2019t going to let anything bother him.\u201d<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t remember sleeping or taking care of his personal hygiene.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t recall where he went to the bathroom or how he shaved.\u00a0 Like any battle, Allen explained, once the lines were established, day and night all blend together.\u00a0 He did remember drinking coffee though.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would cook the coffee in our helmets,\u201d he said.\u00a0 The smell brings him back from time to time.<\/p>\n

Four days into the battle Allen was hit with shrapnel.\u00a0 His shoulder, forearm and foot still have the scars.\u00a0 A corpsman took him off the island to a troop transport ship with wounded men stacked six racks high.\u00a0 After four days of fighting, the hospital ships were already full.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst I saw that bothered me so much [was when] I opened my eyes and looked across at a young Marine hit in the face with a grenade \u2013 so full of morphine \u2013 all you could hear was his moaning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

At that moment he knew he had to get back to the fight.\u00a0 Allen said he kept thinking about his friends. \u00a0They were closer to him than his actual brothers.<\/p>\n

He climbed off the makeshift hospital boat and jumped down into the water on one foot.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t have a weapon or a pack, and all he remembers carrying was a white Navy blanket from the boat.\u00a0 He laughed. \u201cI have no idea why I had that blanket. Why didn\u2019t I carry a bulls eye for Christ sake?\u201d<\/p>\n

When Allen got onto the beach he spotted an officer.\u00a0 At that time the only way to tell an officer was by the ink marks on his shirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked up to him and said I am looking for headquarters 1\/23, do you know where they might be?\u201d\u00a0 The officer replied, \u201c I don\u2019t have a fucking idea where they are, but if you don\u2019t find them your ass is mine because I need people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI found them,\u201d Allen said.\u00a0 With his foot and arm bandaged he was able to continue to fight.<\/p>\n

By day 18 or 19, Allen was in his foxhole with his friend Jimmy Jarvis.<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting on the edge of a hole, we heard a couple of quick pops and Jimmy pushed me in and jumped on top of me,\u201d Allen said.\u00a0 \u201cThe explosion spread out over us, all the dirt sprayed, and I thought we were hit.\u201d\u00a0 Allen\u2019s voice got quiet, and he paused, \u201cIf he hadn\u2019t pushed me in I would be dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

When they came home from Iwo Jima, Allen had some more time on his contract.\u00a0 He was sent to China to help with the Japanese refugees.\u00a0 From there he came back to New York and got a job the second day he was home.\u00a0 He moved into Manhattan and quickly established himself as a businessman.\u00a0 Allen worked as a broker for oil companies.\u00a0 He wore tailor-made suits, dined at the finest restaurants and drank at the best clubs.<\/p>\n

Only after several years as a retired grandfather did the doors to his memory open.\u00a0 Living in Rye, New York, Allen saw in the paper that a military fair was coming to a nearby park.<\/p>\n

Allen thought to himself, \u201cI should go over and take a look and see what it was all about.\u201d\u00a0 As he was walking through the crowd he overheard one young man say to a group that he had some sand from Iwo Jima.<\/p>\n

Allen, smiling once again, stopped in front of the group and said to the man with the sand,\u00a0 \u201cso do I\u00a0 – I still have it in my shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that is how it all started, to be able to say that opened up a door and let me go back,\u201d said Allen.\u00a0 \u201cMy life today is wrapped around my family, and now I have my Marine Corps family.\u00a0 I think about them all the time.\u201d