"Somebody whispered to me, 'You know what you're holding in your hand? A land mine.' But of course it was unarmed." (Video Interview, Part 2, 9:18.0)

Jesse Gibbs

Jesse Gibbs, 2003 [detail] War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Army Air Forces/Corps Unit: 302nd Fighter Control Squadron; Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, 7th Fighter Command Service Location: Fort Thomas, Kentucky; Keesler Field, Mississippi; Bradley Field, Connecticut; Kipapa Field, Stanley Field, Wheeler Field and Hickam Field, Oahu; Iwo Jima; Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands); Pacific Theater Rank: Sergeant Place of Birth: KY

In a remarkable monologue lasting nearly 20 minutes, Air Corpsman Jesse Gibbs recounts what he saw during the intense fighting on Iwo Jima. His job was to bring ashore motorized transportation and he admits that the only time he ever fired a weapon was during a celebration that attended a false report that Germany had surrendered to the Allies. But Gibbs witnessed plenty of horrors, including the suicidal charge of a lone Japanese soldier carrying a hand grenade and the ghastly remains of another enemy combatant—a sight that made him wonder if the world had gone completely mad.