Sterling Marine helped secure Iwo Jima during World War II

Note to readers: This is the second in a series of Sauk Valley Newspapers articles on some of the World War II veterans who are going to Washington, D.C., Nov. 10 on the Whiteside County Honor Flight.

STERLING – On Feb.  20, 1945, in the cold and the rain, Paul Van Oosten landed on Iwo Jima with 30,000 of his fellow Marines.

“It wasn’t very good,” said Van Oosten, now 86. The conditions were so bad “we couldn’t dig a hole, and bullets were flying everywhere.”

Van Oosten, a corporal in the 3rd Marine Division, carried ammunition and helped blow up pillboxes full of Japanese soldiers.

Talking about his 30 days on Iwo Jima, where he crawled on his belly through most of the 9-mile long island, is difficult.

“I could tell you a lot of stuff, but it’s hard to tell,” the Sterling man said.

After the ordeal on Iwo Jima, his unit went back to Guam, to train to invade Japan.

“We were already trained and ships loaded,” Van Oosten said. “We probably would have lost millions of men.”

The invasion never happened, though, because Japan surrendered after President Harry Truman dropped two atomic bombs on the country that August.

“That’s why I’m a Democrat: Harry Truman saved my butt.”

The Erie native was in the Marines for 30 months. He volunteered to serve rather than work on a farm.

“I wanted to be a Marine, because I always knew how good they were. You believe you’re the best there,” Van Oosten said.

He met his future wife, Frances Stultz, of Dixon, before he joined. They married on Nov. 15, 1946.

“She waited all them years, and I came back.”

They’ve been married 63 years and had five children.

Van Oosten is one of 37 World War II veterans scheduled to take the Honor Flight trip Nov. 10, to visit the World War II and other memorials in Washington, D.C.

The proud Marine will be joining vets from other branches.

“Am I going to argue about the Army on this trip? We think we’re better than the Army,” Van Oosten said with a laugh.