Dear Fellow Marines, Veterans and History Enthusiasts,
On the 76th anniversary of the invasion of Iwo Jima this 19th of February 2021, I will be discussing my book “Flamethrower: Iwo Jima Medal of Honor Recipient and U.S. Marine Woody Williams and His Controversial Award, Japan’s Holocaust and the Pacific War” on WW2 TV at 1pm Central Time (the link is below). USMC Commandants, Gen. Al Gray and Gen. Charles Krulak, have both endorsed my work and written Forewords for it. Moreover, former CENTCOM commander, USMC Gen. Anthony Zinni, and well-known Marine Corps historian, USMC Col. Jon Hoffman, have also written reviews and endorsed my work. Many Marines will know Hoffman from his famous biography of Chesty Puller called “Chesty.” I believe “Flamethrower” is one of the most thoroughly documented works on the battle of Iwo Jima and Guam of the Pacific War. Moreover, it documents the numerous controversies surrounding the Japanese garrison commander, Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who was a war criminal (facts Clint Eastwood left out of the movie “Letters from Iwo Jima”). Kuribayashi’s horrible career is also put into context of Japan’s Holocaust which claimed a minimum of 22 million lives (twice as many as Hitler slaughtered). Moreover, “Flamethrower” unfortunately documents that USMC Medal of Honor recipient, Woody Williams, probably one of the most famous living Marines today, should not have received the Medal of Honor for the package put in for him. In fact, the Marine Corps of WWII at its highest levels, from USMC Commandant, Gen. Alexander Vandegrift, Fleet Marine Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Roy Geiger, and Pacific Fleet Commander, Admiral of the Fleet Chester Nimitz, and their boards, all REFUSED to endorse Woody’s award due to the lack of evidence. It was pushed through for political reasons, and not because Woody merited the award. When one studies Woody’s life and the medal, one learns that Vandegrift, Geiger and Nimitz all had justification to be suspicious of Woody’s MOH package because Woody has shown himself to have spouted numerous Sea Tales and mistruths about his past throughout his life, not only about his combat exploits, but also about his person and biography. Woody has shown himself to be very worried about these facts since he has filed a Federal lawsuit against me, trying to prevent the publication of this book, something he has been unsuccessful in doing. It is hard to violate our U.S. Constitution and the First Amendment that guarantees the Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech. Many of these issues mentioned here will be discussed during the one-hour interview on the 19th of February. Click here to watch.
Sincerely Yours and Semper Fi,
Bryan Mark Rigg, PhD
