It’s February 19th, 1945. Iwo Jima.
Nestled among craggy volcanic cliffs
heavily armed Japanese soldiers in pillboxes see the approaching invasion force.
In the distance, crammed like matchsticks into amphibious landing craft
men from the 5th Marine Division lurch towards the beachhead and their fates under the drone of diesel engines.
Among those in the first wave is 23-year-old Corporal
Tony Stein from Dayton Ohio.
As the slow moving boats come ominously into range
the defenders open up with small arms, mortars and heavy machine guns.
There’s a slap and the whistle of bullets as rounds and shrapnel hit frothy sea
and tear through the boats’ thin hulls and into the Marines inside.
Slamming onto the beach, their ramps drop with mighty crashes
and the men scramble out and through the surf
desperately trying to find some protection on shore.
Stein starts forward and knows he has to act
if he and his comrades are to survive the day.
He deliberately tries to draw fire from the Japanese
in an attempt to get their attention away from his comrades
and also to get an idea of where the deadliest fire is coming from.
With Macgyver-like ingenuity
Stein and his cohorts are well-known for turning salvaged aircraft machine guns
into buzzsaw-like personal infantry weapons
aptly nicknamed “stingers.”
They were fabricated from an M1 Garand stock,
the sight and bipod of a BAR
and a salvaged aircraft machine gun.
Lastly, a carry handle from a Browning 1919 A6
was added to allow the men to fire it from the hip.
Featuring blistering rates of fire exceeding 1,200 rounds per minute
they’re lethal machines unlike anything the Japanese on Iwo Jima have ever seen.
Leaping up and charging headlong towards a nearby pillbox
Stein and his belching stinger have the enemy flustered and ducking for cover.
Just a few meters away,
he squeezes off the last few rounds through the narrow slit silencing the enemy soldiers inside.
The stingers are an incredibly effective weapon
but have two fundamental problems.
First they burn through ammo at an alarming rate leaving the firer exposed
and second their barrels can become so hot with the rapid fire that they actually warp.
Out of ammo Stein turns and runs back down the beach to reload
miraculously stopping along the way to retrieve a wounded soldier and drag him to safety.
Then when he’s rearmed
he takes off towards yet another Japanese position
again exhausting his ammunition in mere seconds
taking out the enemy soldiers and assisting a second wounded comrade on his way back down the beach.
But this time before making it to safety there's an incoming shot.
Stein is stunned as his stinger takes a direct hit and flies from his hands.
With determination Stein retrieves it and continues on.
Now sweating and dangerously close to overheating himself
he jettisons his helmet and boots
and grabs more ammo and storms another pillbox,
then another, and then another
retrieving stricken Marines each time
while his fellow men look on in disbelief.
In all Stein makes eight solo assaults
often getting to within just a few feet of the pillboxes
while all the while under withering fire.
As the Marines later go on to storm the peak of the island’s dormant volcano, Mount Suribachi
Stein is in the thick of it when a well-placed mortar round explodes near him
sending hot shrapnel cutting into his shoulder.
The now famous photograph of the American soldiers raising the flag over Iwo Jima
is taken as Stein is recovering in a nearby hospital ship.
In hospital Stein gets the word
that again his beloved Marines are taking heavy losses in their quest to take a hill.
Hill 362A is where isolated units of determined Japanese are still holed up in caves and bunkers
and surrender isn’t an option.
Against doctor’s orders he leaves the comfort of his infirmary bed
and reunites with his unit
and Stein leads a 19-man patrol against a Japanese machine gun nest
which is holding up the advance of his entire company.
Almost at the top
the gutsy kid from the American Heartland takes a fatal shot from a distant sniper
and drops on the spot.
His selfless and brazen service earned him multiple honors
including a Purple Heart and the nation's highest award
- the Medal of Honor
which was accepted by his proud but tearful mother and his young widow.
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