"When they fire those phosphorous shells there at night, you could hear the screamin.'" (Video Interview, Part 3, 8:37.1)

William Brooks Allen

William Allen, 2002 War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Marine Corps Unit: Regimental Weapons Company, 23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Infantry Division Service Location: Parris Island, South Carolina; Roi Island and Namur Island (Marshall Islands); Saipan and Tinian (Northern Mariana Islands); Iwo Jima; Pacific Theater Rank: Sergeant Place of Birth: Chattanooga, TN

Iwo Jima was William Allen's fourth island invasion in the Pacific Theater and by far the most horrible. Though he had been told the operation would last only 72 hours, the battle to take the island lasted almost a month. He was supposed to be among the first off the boat on the opening day of the battle, but he was held back by his commanding officer— and his replacement lasted only ten steps onto the beach before he was killed. The Japanese resistance was fierce, the island's terrain offered many hiding places, and the enemy offered a new piece of artillery: phosphorous shells whose fragments burned through clothing and skin. (Allen's account of Iwo Jima begins in Part 3 of the interview at the 4:30 mark.)