Bill Shea's WWII Memorabilia Blog RSS

A day of R&R...not for us! You rest you rust! Sunday, March 26th...It was supposed to be a day of R&R which is what the group did. However, my dear friend Don C, who I have known and mentored for over 45 years, wanted to rent a car and see some of the many places on Guam that our tour group did not visit.  Don is a retired FBI agent and has been to Guam on at least two prior occasions. We visited the huge Piti gun site... and other bunker and gun emplacements overlooking the invasion beaches.  It was a low key...

Bill's final landing on Iwo Jima... Saturday, March 25th...MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! It all began with “rise and shine" at 4 a.m. We arrived at the airport around 6:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m. flight but two of my dear travel companions, Dusta and Scott, had access to the United Airlines lounge so the wait was tolerable.  There were around 400 people going to Iwo on three planes. It's the biggest group that's ever traveled to Iwo for these reunions. A lot of this has to do with the three-year hiatus due to the island being shut down by covid.  The Japanese only allow...

Prepping for Iwo Jima... Friday, March 24th....We received a comprehensive symposium and some strict regulations regarding the rules set down by the Japanese authorities regarding travel to Iwo. There is a ceremony, and all males must wear a sport jacket, tie and dress shirt. NO shorts! Mind you, Iwo temperatures at this time of year are in the 80s with humidity.   After the ceremony or once you leave the area where the ceremony is held, you can ditch the jacket, shirt and tie but still not shorts. We've been told we will be walking (NO transportation except for Iwo...

Passing the International Date Line... Tuesday, March the 21st...It was a long travel day including an eight hour flight to Guam. We got to know each other better while we were sitting in the United Airlines lounge. We have some very interesting people traveling with us.   David, who is a cinematographer and film editor for Tim Gray who founded the World War II Foundation, was born in Guam. His Dad died in the sixties and was buried in Guam. He plans to find the grave that nobody from his family had visited since then. At the time, he was only two years old....

The journey continues... Sunday, March 19th...This was meant to be sort of an open day as I had to pack, switch hotel rooms and unpack along with meeting up with the tour group at 6:30 PM for a kickoff orientation and dinner. I had one more special place I still wanted to visit for another trip down memory lane. There was a hotel on Waikiki Beach that had a huge banyan tree out on the patio leading to the beach. Forty years ago, I had found an old family album and there was a photo of my Grandfather taken in 1918 when...