ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 19, 1996 TAG: 9606190071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DELRAY BEACH, FLA.
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: Associated Press
MEMO: shorter in metro
Joseph Jeremiah McCarthy, the Chicago firefighter whose charge across a killing field in the Battle of Iwo Jima earned him a Medal of Honor, has died. He was 83.
The war hero had suffered from heart disease the past year, then developed pneumonia about six weeks ago, according to Anthony Forgione of Pompano Beach, a World War II Marine buddy who fought alongside McCarthy in the island-hopping Pacific campaign against the Japanese.
McCarthy died Saturday night at Delray Community Hospital. Burial is set for Monday at Arlington National Cemetery after memorial services today in Chicago.
``I'd rather have one of these than be president,'' President Truman told McCarthy when he decorated the Chicagoan in a White House ceremony on Oct. 5, 1945.
Last year, on the 50th anniversary of Iwo Jima, McCarthy went to Arlington to honor his fallen comrades.
In 1949, McCarthy drove from Maine to North Carolina, paying visits to the families of 26 wartime buddies. Each one of them, he said, had been just as brave as he was on Iwo Jima - but not as lucky.
``He was not a one-shot hero,'' Forgione said. ``He was a hero at every campaign and everything he did.''
McCarthy wished there would never again be a need for battlefield heroes. ``I would hope and pray there never be another Medal of Honor issued,'' he said in 1992. ``I hope and pray there's never any more wars. But we've got to remain strong.''
On Feb. 19, 1945, about 60,000 Marines went ashore on Iwo Jima, an 8-square-mile island of rock, volcanic ash and black sand.
Two days later, McCarthy led his men zigzagging across a 75-yard field swept by enemy fire from in front and on both sides. He took one Japanese pillbox single-handedly, then led the storming of a second.
``I was scared all the time,'' McCarthy said. ``Any man tells you he wasn't scared was an imbecile. But you dealt with it.''
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB