Chesapeake WWII vet gets gifts earned by sacrifice

Christmas Eve is always special for Oliver Francisco, but he will not forget the one he had this year.

Both he and his wife were born on Christmas Eve, and on Friday, they turned 85 and 87, respectively. But it is the presents he received that he will cherish so dearly.

Francisco, a Marine veteran, fought on Iwo Jima, one of the fiercest battles against the Japanese during World War II.

Only recently did he start talking about the experience, which consumed 14 days of his young life and ended when he was shot in the hand and nearly lost his thumb.

"It was 5:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday," he recalled of the day in 1945 when he earned his Purple Heart. "Japanese fellow jumped up behind me and shot me with a pistol. Couldn't believe it."

To his surprise Friday, two Marines showed up at his birthday party, held at his son-in-law's business, A&B Propane, in Chesapeake.

"Hey, here comes the jarheads!" Francisco shouted as Lt. Gen. Dennis Hejlik and

Sgt. Maj. Greg Grizzle entered the store.

After warm handshakes and a few jokes, the Marines presented Francisco with four gifts, as well as some priceless memories.

First was an American flag that had been flown in his honor at the Iwo Jima War Memorial outside of Washington. It was crisply folded and signed for authenticity.

Second was a bound certificate of appreciation from the Marine Corps.

Third was a Marine medallion, gold-plated and heavy.

And fourth was a small bottle of black sand, scooped from the beaches of Iwo Jima during a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the famous assault, which killed 6,825 American troops and wounded more than 19,000 others, including, of course, Francisco.

Assembled family and friends, with tears flowing down more than a few cheeks, applauded.

"Thank you for your service, corporal," Hejlik said.

"Don't thank me," Francisco replied. "Thank the ones we left over there."

His daughter, Cindy, and her husband, Doug Fohl, came up with the idea for the surprise party. They had heard about receiving memorial flags from a newsletter by U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake.

When Grizzle got wind of the event, he asked the Fohls if he could personally deliver the flag.

"The fact that Daddy's birthday was on Christmas Eve posed no problem whatsoever to Sgt. Maj. Grizzle," Cindy Fohl said. "He told me, 'If his birthday is on Christmas Eve, then he should receive his flag on Christmas Eve.' "

Fohl said her father rarely spoke of Iwo Jima when she and her four siblings were growing up. When he did, she said, he often would hit an especially painful memory and stop talking.

It was Doug Fohl who had been after Francisco in recent years to recollect his time in the Pacific. After watching the 2006 Clint Eastwood movie "Letters from Iwo Jima," Francisco began to open up more, Fohl said, providing more details.

Francisco can recall hauling two boxes of machine-gun bullets up the beach as Japanese shells whizzed past him "like a swarm of bumble bees."

The enemy fired on the Marines "24 hours a day," he said, "and when bullets are flying all around you, you don't think about eating or food or anything."

He was shot in the head once, but the inner lining of his helmet stopped the bullet before it could reach his skull. He also was shot in his backpack, the bullet piercing a Marine cap inside his pack.

Francisco remembers seeing the American flag raised atop Mount Suribachi, a scene famously captured by a news photographer. The picture later won a Pulitzer Prize and has become synonymous with the grit and determination of the Marine Corps.

"Talk about a morale booster," Francisco recalled. "Just to look up and see our flag meant we were making progress. There was hope."

Doug Fohl said s ince he heard the Suribachi story, he gets emotional every time he sees an American flag.

"I know how important it was to him on Iwo Jima," he said, "and that really gets me."

Fohl turned away, his eyes watering, to go hug his father-in-law.

Scott Harper, (757) 446-2340, scott.harper@pilotonline.com