U.S. Marine Corps veteran Ed Glennon recalls Iwo Jima and boot camp drill sergeants

Engineer survived battle of Iwo Jima | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun

Ed Glennon survived 2 months of backbreaking training at boot camp in Parris Island, S.C. "We were Yankees. The drill sergeants were mostly southerners. The called us Damn Yankees. They treated us like dirt." Glennon was assigned to the 5th Engineer Battalion of the 5th Marine Division, which trained for months at Camp Tarawa, until it was sent to Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945. "It was nothing like training. I think I was in hell. The first time you make a landing, you don't know what to expect or what to do. ... You couldn't take much ground. If you got 200 yards a day, you were lucky." (mydesert.com)