Albert Greg Sutcliffe
Private First Class
4th Marine Division
25th Marine Regiment
2nd Battalion, Company F
2nd platoon
demolition squad
During WWII, PFC Albert Greg Sutcliffe served with the demolition squad of the 2nd platoon, Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, and 4th Marine Division.
Sutcliffe knew from childhood that he wanted to become a Marine after hearing of them in action during the Boxer Rebellion, seeing them in their dress blues, and reading the book Fix Bayonets.
Sutcliffe would join the Marines with his best friend in Los Angeles during his senior year of high school. They were told they were full and would call him when needed. Sutcliffe was content with just waiting around, so he continued to contact the recruiter and inquire about when he would leave. Sutcliffe was told to settle down and get a date for prom; it would be a while before he left. Sutcliffe asked a date to prom, and in typical Marine Corps fashion, he was called to active duty the next day.
Sutcliffe reported to boot camp in San Diego, where, over the next eight weeks, they trained to become United States Marines. He recalled being promoted to Private First Class as one of the proudest moments in his life. He made it known that, in those days, Private First Class was a big deal. He would be sent to a training area called Jacks Farm, where they would undergo follow-up training.
He was sent to a replacement depot, where units such as mess kit repair, cooks, and other misc supply units were stationed. PFC Sutcliffe tolerated this for approximately a week before he knew he needed a transfer. After several attempts to speak to his First Sergeant, Sutcliffe finally requested a transfer to the newly formed Marine Raiders. About a week later, Sutcliffe and many new Marines were sent to Las Pulgas on Camp Pendleton. Here, he would join the Marines of Fox Company, 25th Marines.
Sutcliffe trained as a bazooka man before being sent to the Pacific. Soon, PFC Sutcliffe landed on Roi Namur as part of the Kwajalein Campaign. Sutcliffe's squad landed directly in a Japanese firing lane, where the men would be subjected to heavy Japanese machine gun fire. Within minutes, two of Greg's friends were killed, and two more were wounded. These casualties had been to Sutcliffe's house for Christmas dinner the previous December.
Next, Sutcliffe and the men of Fox Company would land on Saipan, where he would be wounded. PFC Sutcliffe had made it 100 yards onto the beach when a Japanese shell landed behind him. A Marine had been between Sutcliffe and the blast, "tearing him up pretty badly." When Sutcliffe awoke, he was on a hill, caught in barbed wire. After freeing himself, he ran to check on the fallen Marine. Sutcliffe recalled him being in pretty bad shape, so he returned to the beach to grab a corpsman, which took him back. Years later, the son of the wounded Marine would write to Sutcliffe. He remembers that day being hot and humid, and he was so worn out he could barely move. Sutcliffe recalled the scariest night he spent in the Marine Corps being the second night on Saipan. They could hear and smell the Japanese moving around their lines, with constant flares above them. On the eighth day, Sutcliffe's unit became cut off and surrounded by the Japanese. Unable to dig into the hard soil, they placed rocks around them to provide protection. A Japanese shell landed next to them, wounding Sutcliffe and a friend. Two others in the hole said they were wounded, so Sutcliffe ran back to friendly lines to get a Corpsman, "whistling the Marine Corps Hymn to avoid being shot by his own men. When he brought the Corpman back, it turned out the two Marines had been hit by debris and not wounded by shrapnel, leading the Corpman to chew Sutcliffe out. Sutcliffe would be evacuated by Jeep the next day, all while under Japanese machine gun fire.
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Several months later, Sutcliffe would participate in the assault on Iwo Jima. Originally slated to land on H+4 hours, the beach was under heavy fire when he would make his landing., During the journey from ship to shore, we saw a Kingfisher airplane be shot down by the Japanese, crashing into the water. He recalled an LST pass them with a dead sailor hanging off the side. Sutchillfe and his squad would land at 1 pm on February 19th, 1945. "It was hard to describe that beach; it was full of black-sucking sand, loaded with jeeps, cannons, and Marines."
Sutcliffe was pulling a two-wheel cart full of ammunition but quickly abandoned the effort due to the volcanic sand's nature. They made it 100 yards when one of his friends was wounded. Sutcliffe began bandaging up his wounds and looked up to see a cameraman with "coke bottle glasses" filming him. It would turn out to be Joe Rosenthal.
The men went about securing the right ridge and the outskirts of the airstrip. They were under constant fire from Japanese snipers, machine guns, and indirect weapons. "It just went from bad to worse as they took the first ridge. That night, a Japanese soldier crept up to Sutcliffe's fighting hole, where Greg grabbed his buddy's captured Japanese pistol as he was unable to reach his rifle. As he went to aim at the Japanese soldier, the weapon would misfire when he pulled the trigger, and the Japanese soldier would run away. The following day, Sutcliffe and a friend would return down the line to retrieve their gear when a Japanese shell landed on the ridge, killing three Marines and wounding three others. They would spend the day on the ridge, looking at their initial assault beach, witnessing the carnage below.
The following day, they were ordered to move forward, and His team leader took over the squad as their squad leader was killed. Sutcliffe and his team leader walked beside each other when he asked Sutcliffe for a light. As he turned around to his team leader, his team leader was dead, having been shot in the chest immediately after lighting his cigarette.
On this ridge, Sutcliffe saw the flag on top of Mt. Suribachi. He did not realize how significant this moment would be; he was just happy knowing that his rear area (Suribachi) was now secured. Several days later, Sutcliffe would be moving through a revine as a fireteam leader. A shell would hit right next to him, and Sutcliffe would recall it as "raining blood." He would soon realize that the blood was his as he had been hit in the throat. He plugged the hole in his throat and ran back to the company CP, where he learned their CP had also just taken a hit. He continued his run, where he found a Corpsman and was placed in an ambulance that took him to the beach. From the shore, an Amphibious Tracor took him to a hospital ship.
Greg would work for Mobil Oil and Farmers Insurance after the war. He was married to his wife for 66 years before her passing. When asked about their marriage, Greg simply said, "It still hurts." Greg's wife always encouraged him to attend his unit reunions, and his comrades eventually asked Greg to return to Iwo Jima with them. Greg declined the offer, stating that "he had used all his luck up on that island, and if he went, he would either break a leg or have a heart attack." He made it clear that though he returned to Saipan, he would never return to Iwo. Of the 31 men in his platoon on Iwo, only one survived the battle without getting hit.
Greg is also a survivor of the Second Attack on Pearl Harbour, a seldom-discussed subject. Here, his ship was hit, and Greg and his unit were forced to swim to shore from the flaming wreckage. Gred would become an avid reader of Marine Corps history, maintaining a vast library.
Greg felt great pride in the Fourth Marine Division. "We were the best ones around, and there is no doubt about that."
