USMC Sgt Bill Genaust

Details about those listed as missing or killed in the Pacific, including current search operations.

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PF
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USMC Sgt Bill Genaust

Post by PF »

USMC Sgt Bill Genaust-KIA Iwo Jima 1945.
Daniel Leahy
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Post by Daniel Leahy »

Bill Genaust was the Marine photographer who filmed the raising of the second flag at Iwo Jima.

Sgt William H Genaust, 813945 is currently listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial (Punchbowl). Both the ABMC database and DPMO listing has Sgt Genaust listed as MIA on March 4, 1945.

The following can be found on the Parade.com website:
http://www.parade.com/articles/editions ... featured_0
Instead, he was on Hill 362A, where Marines were mopping up any remaining resistance. With photography impossible, Genaust turned to his carbine and .45 pistol to help his buddies. Genaust and another Marine ducked into a cave to escape the heavy rain. When Genaust turned on a flashlight to check his surroundings, the Japanese hidden in the cave opened fire, killing the two Marines instantly. Other Marines cleaned out the cave with flamethrowers, and bulldozers blocked up the entrance.
...
He was one Marine who immortalized on film his nation’s fight for freedom and his Corps’ honor—though he remains behind, entombed forever on Hill 362A in a forgotten cave without a marker.
The following CNN website also gives details of a current search for Sgt Genaust and other US servicemen still listed as missing on Iwo Jima:
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/182136.aspx
Daniel J. Leahy
Australia

AIR POWER ARCHAEOLOGY
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