IWO JIMA SERMON

Note; Carl Padovano saved this sermon which was in a chest with items he had while on Iwo Jima . The words have special meaning when understood through that light. Men only save items of deep importance when it comes to such experiences. Carl Padovano lived these words to the fullest of his abilities to all who new him. He wanted his life to make an impact on those he taught and coached so the sacrifice of those men he fought beside and died in battle on that volcanic wind swept island would not be forgotten.

Quest Sermon

An excerpt from a sermon delivered by Roland B. Gittleson, the Jewish chaplain of the 5th Marine Division, when he dedicated a cemetery on the bloody, windswept island of Iwo Jima.

“Somewhere in this plot of ground, there may lie a man who could have discovered a cure for cancer. Under one of these Christian crosses, or beneath a Jewish Star of David, there may rest now a man who was destined to be a great prophet. Now they lie here silently in this sacred soil, and we gather to consecrate this earth in their memory…

“Here lie officers and men, black and white, rich and poor… Here are Protestants, Catholics and Jews. Here no man prefers another because of his faith, or despises him because of his color. Here there are no quotas of how many from each group are admitted or allowed. Theirs is the highest and purest form of democracy.

“Any man among us, the living, who… lifts his hand in hate against a brother, or thinks himself superior to those who happen to be in minority, makes of this ceremony and of the bloody sacrifice it commemorates, an empty, hollow mockery.

30,000 dead and wounded 2/19/45 ...3/21/45....................................................................21

credit to Bob Meli