ATLANTA -- Atlanta businessman Cal Atwood, who spends his days in pristine offices, remembers the filthy horrors of the Battle of Iwo Jima as if it happened yesterday.
This weekend's big Atlanta reunion of Iwo Jima veterans officially began last night. The guest of honor, former Navy corpsman George Wahlen of Roy, Utah, arrived today to participate in the gathering of 1,400 vets and their families at the Atlanta Airport Marriott.
It was Mr. Atwood's idea to make Mr. Wahlen, 70, the guest of honor, because the Atlantan saw what Mr. Wahlen did to earn the the nation's highest award.
Mr. Atwood remembers firing at Japanese while offering comfort to fellow Marine James DeBretagne, whose blood was spurting from wounds. All of a sudden, he said, Mr. Wahlen crawled up and saved the wounded man's life.
Mr. Wahlen was presented the Medal of Honor by President Truman for rescuing 14 wounded Marines "under heavy mortar and artillery fire." The father of five later attended college, joined the Army and retired as a major after serving in both Korea and Vietnam.
Though discussions of the battle, which began 50 years ago Sunday, often focus on the 5,931 Marines who were killed over a 36-day period, more than 1,400 former Marines are singling out Navy corpsmen such as Mr. Wahlen to honor at their 50th-anniversary reunion, which began with a concert by a Marine Corps Band.
Mr. Atwood, who earned a master's degree from Columbia University, said Navy corpsmen deserve to be singled out because "every Marine was helped or knows someone saved by one."
Mr. Wahlen is one of three Navy medics who won the Medal of Honor for heroism on Iwo Jima. Although generals were considered for special recognition at the reunion, when Mr. Atwood suggested that corpsmen be honored, discussion ended.
The Atlanta gathering is one of five or six big reunions marking the 50th anniversary of the historic battle, which began Feb. 19, 1945.
Other events include displays of helicopters and modern Marine equipment, such as Hummer vehicles used in the Persian Gulf War.
The group will hold a memorial service tomorrow at 9:30 a.m., and other events which will culminate in a dinner-dance and banquet tomorrow night, at which House Speaker Newt Gingrich is scheduled to speak.
But it is corpsmen who will be most appreciated, said Mr. Atwood, 70, who still carries a bullet in his leg that causes a limp his golf buddies rib him about.
Mr. Wahlen, a soft-spoken, modest man, was wounded three times on Iwo, but he doesn't see himself as a hero.
"You just did what you had to do," he said.