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George Wahlen V A Hospital |
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World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient
Pharmacist's Mate Second Class George E. Wahlen
Medical center named for veteran Thursday, November 11, 2004
By Joe Bauman
Deseret Morning News
The Medal of Honor is the highest military recognition an American can receive. Fewer than 3,500 of the medals have been awarded since the start of the Civil War , and fewer than 140 recipients are alive .
Sen. Orrin Hatch, left, Gordon H. Mansfield, George E. Wahlen and Sen. Bob Bennett at the medical center dedication ceremony Wednesday.
Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News
But on Wednesday, George E. Wahlen was given even rarer recognition than the Medal of Honor he earned during World War II : the Salt Lake City Veterans Administration medical center was named after him.
President Bush sent a letter for the occasion.
Hundreds of officials, veterans, family members and media filled an auditorium in the center's Building 8. Others watched a large-screen broadcast in an adjacent room.
Wahlen, an Ogden resident, served in the Navy during World War II as a pharmacist's mate second class attached to a Marine unit. Later he enlisted in the Army and served during the Korean and Vietnam wars. He also worked with the VA for 14 years, helping veterans with their benefits.
He served heroically during the 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima . As a 20-year-old medic, Wahlen was wounded three times and repeatedly risked his life to save others. He refused evacuation and faced tremendous fire to assist wounded Americans.
" . . . Unable to walk after sustaining a third agonizing wound, (Wahlen) resolutely crawled 50 yards to administer first aid to still another fallen fighter," adds the official citation.
On Wednesday, Gordon H. Mansfield, deputy secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, read the letter from President Bush :
"In naming this VA medical center for George E. Wahlen we honor a proud patriot whose extraordinary service in the Battle of Iwo Jima earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor and the gratitude of our nation. And his efforts on behalf of America's veterans reflects the great spirit of our country," the president wrote.
By continuing to provide a wide range of quality medical services to veterans, the hospital will honor their sacrifices and help our nation fulfill its honor to these heroes, the president's letter added.
"I join all Americans in expressing our appreciation to our veterans and I commend others who support these loyal citizens.
"As we work to fight terror and advance freedom around the world, their courage and heroism continues to inspire us. Laura joins me in sending our best wishes. May God bless you, and may God continue to bless America."
The Utahn risked his life "again and again to save lives of others," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Wahlen "saved lives, and did it without even thinking, because he's a true hero who really, really wanted to do what he was sent here on Earth to do."
Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, told of watching a ceremony at Normandy, France, this past June honoring World War II veterans on the 40th anniversary of the D-Day landings. He was touched by the march of veterans across the stage.
At the end of the ceremony, a young French woman who was a guide at the landing beach spoke. "In her 20s, she had no memory whatsoever of any of this," referring to World War II WWII and the reconstruction of Europe that followed.
"But it was as moving as the march itself, what she said, 'Those of us of my generation are determined that no one will ever forget.' "' "
It was in that spirit that the medical center was being renamed after Wahlen, Bennett indicated. "There's nothing more fitting . . . when he's still alive and can be embarrassed by it, for us to put George Wahlen's name on this place."
When Wahlen stood to speak, a standing ovation erupted.
As he listened to the good things that were said about him, Wahlen noted, he remembered the time when he received the Medal of Honor. "And I never expected to be decorated. I couldn't imagine anything like this happening to me.
"But the thing that bothered me when I received that was, 'What about all those people who gave their lives on Iwo Jima or who were very badly wounded. Why aren't they recognizing them?' "
The same sort of thought came across his mind on Wednesday, he added. "What about about all those who are serving their country now?"
Wahlen cited the men and women serving in Iraq who are "going through the horrors of war. I hope that they are getting more recognition, and we're realizing the great job they are doing. I often think about that."
Return to George E. Wahlen Medal of Honor Homepage
The Spearhead: THE GRAY STREAKS of the Central Pacific dawn caught Iwo Jima at exactly 0640 on February 19, 1945. As the blackness dissolved and the outline of the island sharpened, it was caught, too, by something else. Warships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet opened the pre-invasion bombardment. "Streaming toward the transport area about ten thousand yards offshore were the troop-carrying ships of the invasion armada. Aboard, fifty thousand Marines gobbled a breakfast of steak and eggs, then hustled topside for a look at this island we wanted so badly. "Directly ahead Iwo Jimas shadowy land mass sloped up from the sea. Splashes of red flickered along its purplish hump and melted into exploding billows of smoke and dust. Suribachi, obscured by this manmade blanket, gave thousands of straining eyes aboard ship only periodic glimpses of its sharp, vertical cone. "This long-awaited sight heightened the last-minute tension felt alike by veterans of previous operations and by the first-timers counted among the thousands in the landing force. "The men who studied the sharpening scene were thoughtful men, regardless of what they might have said or done. Everything had been done for them that an efficient military organization could dotheir equipment was probably the best in the world; they had been well fed; they had attended religious services; they had been intelligently and thoroughly briefed; they were, and would continue to be, a tough, efficient team. Yet at this moment, each man was alone to think his own thoughts and make his peace with himself. Probably few men who watched Iwo loom before them thought about it as a final resting place or as a place where they, themselves, were apt to receive personal harm or injury. It was always some other poor devil who was killed or woundednever you. The human mind is indeed a strange and wonderful thing. "It was apparent that the landing force had had a lucky break in the weather. The sea was relatively smooth and surf conditions were as satisfactory as they ever are on a small island exposed to the full force of the sea. The sky was clear, visibility virtually unlimited, temperature 68 degrees, and wind eight to ten knots from the north.
Howard M. Conner, The Spearhead: The World War II History of the 5th Marine Division,
Infantry Journal Press, Washington D.C. 1950
On March 26, 1945 at 0800 Major General Harry Schmidt, Commander of the Fifth Amphibious Corps, declared the operation completed thus ending the Marine Corps' combat presence in the Battle of Iwo Jima. He closed his command post, and withdrew from the island on the afternoon of the 26th. The following day troops of 3rd Marine Division trudged to the east beach, and embarked aboard landing crafts that would take them to waiting transports. Fourth and 5th Divisions followed. After 36-days and many nights of bitter fighting against General Kuribayashi's subterranean garrison ensconced in a near impregnable fortress, and their job finished, Fifth Amphibious Corps abandoned the malevolent little island to the U.S. Army.
At 1800 on March 27, 1945 Marine Corps and Navy casualties incurred in the Battle of Iwo Jima were officially reported as follows:
Marine Corps
Official Reports:
Officers
Men
Killed in action
215
4,339
Died of wounds
60
1,271
Missing, presumed dead
3
43
Wounded in action
826
16,446
Combat fatigue casualties
46
2,602
Navy
Official Reports:
Officers and Men
Killed in action
363
Died of wounds
70
Missing, presumed dead
448
Wounded in action
1,917
Including March 26, 1945, Japanese killed and sealed up in caves was 20,703,
and only 216 had been taken prisoner.
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