Donate To Iwo Jima Monument West | Iwo Jima Memorial | Iwo Jima Memorial
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MAKE A DIFFERENCE

 

“Some people go through an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference.  The Marines don’t have that problem.”   President Ronald Reagan

 

Making a difference is what our Marines do, every day around the globe, 24/7 defending our nation’s interests and providing humanitarian assistance when needed, saving lives. Right now you have the opportunity to make a difference no matter the amount and be included in the Roll Call of donors that includes Iwo Jima battle veterans, their families, retired Marines and patriots.

 

On Iwo Jima, the Marines were there for each other and all Americans, hoisting our flag on 23 February 1945.  As providence would have it, AP photographer Joe Rosenthal caught the raising of the second, larger flag around noon that day. The image in that photograph went around the US, front page NY Times, Washington Post, in newspapers around the US. It symbolized America was winning and the war might soon be over. In today’s world, it went “viral” and rallied Americans building every tool our Armed Forces needed to win.  Used as the illustration of the 7th war bond drive (May 9-June 30, 1945) around the US, 85 million Americans stepped up and exceeded bond drive quotas by a huge 45%. !! nearing $2 trillion in today’s valuation.

 

The photograph by Rosenthal became an American icon, represented in art work by Felix deWeldon (an Austrian immigrant) in the US Navy.  As a sculptor, he recognized the sheer majesty of the image and created out of Naval base kitchen lards, a material he could fashion into a monument that elated the Marines! The Commandant of the Corps (General A. A. Vandegrift) recognized the significance of the image and arranged to use it with AP’s permission for recruiting, etc.  In 1947, President Truman authorized a Jt. Session of the US Congress to adopted a resolution that when a major monument was built representing the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi, the monument would be dedicated as the USMC War Memorial (10 November 1954).  President Kennedy ordered that a flag been installed to fly 24/7 over the monument as it stands today next to Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington VA.

 

Through a confluence of factors Iwo Jima Monument West (IJMW) was born to fill the void at Camp Pendleton, the jewel of the Marine bases on 125,000 acres along the Pacific with 17 miles of shoreline.  The vision statement pointed out the monument will be seen 24/7 from some 50 million vehicles that pass by each year on the I-5 that parallels the Pacific through the base. Base officials and I agreed upon a site that meets that objective in Feb. 2015 then under the Command of Lt. General Ed Banta.

 

Subject to Dept. of the Navy Gift Rules, IJMW is required to have funds in the bank to gain a final approval.  The goal with cost increases, and 15% to cover the unexpected, is $11 million. Our primary vendor is Fentress Architects whose brilliant job in designing and building the spectacular National Museum of the Marine Corps making the firm the best in the US for this assignment with their knowledge of the USMC and the battle, having embedded staff at Parris Island. The foundry to build the new bronze monument is Bollinger-Atelier, a USMC family owned, in Tempe AZ with its state of the art foundry . They consider this the “most important work of their careers”!! The most unusual aspect of the design is the glass housing in which the monument will reside protected permanently from nature’s elements that impact every outdoor monument that will save the base from high maintenance costs over hundreds of years. IJMW also provides $100,000 to the DON for the maintenance of IJMW that the base can fall back on. The Marine Corps will be the first in the nation to employ the glass system at the home of the lst Marines and 1 MEF in support of the prediction by Secretary James Forrestal in 1945 when he spoke to Vandegrift who wrote in his autobiography (Once a Marine….p. 283): “He (Forrestal) said that the picture of planting the flag on Mt. Suribachi would keep the Marines in existence for the next five hundreds (2445 AD) if nothing else did”.

 

IJMW will be a huge recruiting tool while growing interest in the legacy of the Battle of Iwo Jima easily accessed through the web creating more visitors to the History Museum (MCRDSD).  It will be a constant reminder to those members of Congress in CA of the “uncommon valor” of your Corps when the next DOD reorganization comes along and it will.  The Corps exists based on the will of Congress. With the USMC War Memorial in Arlington, and IJMW facing the Pacific, this symbol of your Corps “winning” for America will be “coast to coast.”  With the MCB versions at Quantico, Parris island and MCB Oahu, Hawaii, it will ring in the Corps’ 250th birthday, November 10, 2025, a gift that keeps on giving.(Note: The monument at MCB was spearheaded by Alice G. Clark, a patriotic civilian).

 

In appreciation for your attention and contribution, we stand together in unity of purpose, Marines and civilians. IJMW will be a legacy multiplier, demonstrating the “uncommon valor” of the nation’s USMC . As written in Iwo Jima: Monuments Memories and the American Hero, (Marling and Wetenhall, Harvard University Press, 1991,pg 149):

 

     In the public mind, the image identified the Marines with an epic moment in American history. A monument would make that moment eternal.  It would remind Americans that the Marines remained inseparable from Americanism – from determination, guts, drive.

 

Donors will (1) receive a letter of acknowledgement for your tax deduction, and (2) will be listed at the site for family to see that you did your part. Note if you wish to make a donation in honor of /in memory of a loved one or friend.

 

HOW TO DONATE

 

VIA CREDIT CARD or PAYPAL

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  • $10
  • $20
  • $50
  • $100
  •  Other
  All donations fully tax deductible: IRS, May 19, 2014

 

BY CHECK OR MONEY ORDER

 

Mail To:

 

Iwo Jima Monument West
3334 E. Coast Hwy, #155
Corona del Mar CA 92625

 

VIA WIRE TRANSFER OR FINANCIAL INSTRUMENT (stocks, etc.)

 

Transfer to:

 

Citibank NA
111 Wall Street
New York, New York 10005,
ABA# 021000089, FBO: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
A/C#: 40553953 for deposit in Schwab A/C#: 21262729 Iwo Iwo Jima Monument West, U/A DTD 11/15/13

 

Iwo Jima Monument West 50l c3 (non-profit) EIN 46-7128553, established 11/15/13.

 

MAKE A DIFFERENCE!