Iwo Jima + 75

It wasn't a one-day thing. Technically speaking, it went on for more than a month, but the famous US flag raising on Mount Suribachi was after only a few days of fighting. The bombardment from the sea started on February 16,1945, but the first day of guys on the beach was the 19th. This post should have been two days ago, but I spaced out. My worries about my memory will need to be a different post at some point. My father, in the Marine 4th division, was shot in the leg on that first day, which is probably the reason I got to exist. He was evacuated to a hospital area (eventually on a ship to the military hospital on Maui), hurting, with lifelong nerve damage at the spot, but alive and relatively well when some of his friends were killed in the next few days. What a luck of the draw such things are. I haven't decided whether or not to mention it the next time I visit. His memory is pretty Swiss-cheesey, but he had a version of survivor's guilt (without knowing the term until much later) for most of his life, so it might pop up if I mention it.
In all the healthcare discussions, it is still amazing to me that after those seventy-five years, the VA provides some of his care (although much of it is reimbursed by Medicare).