Russell, Tso, Abbatiello, and Waterhouse
The four men in this section had revealing, widely divergent experiences. Gerald Russell commanded a battalion, Samuel Tso sent out in Navajo word that Suribachi had fallen, Al Abbatiello was instrumental in the capture of Suribachi, and Charlie Waterhouse never got to fire a shot. Starting out as an artilleryman, Russell survived Guadalcanal, came back to the States, and transferred to the infantry so he could have more time with his wife. But then, as a brand-new infantry officer, he had to prove himself to the troops right up to the minute he landed on Red Beach One in the third wave at Iwo.
Samuel Tso, nicknamed Chief, had to contend with discrimination everywhere he went. He was denied contact with his family for years because none of them could read or write and there was no telephone on the reservation in northern Arizona.
Al Abbatiello didn’t want to become a raider because he thought it would be too dangerous, but then he confronted almost ceaseless combat in his thirty-six days on Iwo.
Charlie Waterhouse, an expert marksman who was to go on to a splendid career as a Marine Corps artist and illustrator, had barely got into the fight when a bullet in the arm stopped him cold, and he was out of it by the third day. After many operations he went home to art school, and eventually made hundreds of paintings of Marine Corps subjects.