WWII Veteran on His Love for God and Country

February 19, 1945. The battle of Iwo Jima begins, marking a major initiative in the Pacific campaign of World War II. On the island’s volcanic beach, 19-year-old, Corporal Don Graves was a long way from his home in Detroit. Don recalls, “I was only hoping and praying that I could get off that beach. We had to get off that beach. We lost a lot of boys.” 

Don was inspired to enlist in the Marines at the tender age of 16. It was December 8th, 1941, President Roosevelt was addressing the nation. Roosevelt said, “The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by Naval and Air forces of the Empire of Japan.” To which Don replied, “Tomorrow morning I'm skipping school, I'm gonna go down to the Marine Corps office and sign up."

Although turned away because he was too young, Don wouldn’t be denied. Six months later, the day after he turned 17, he marched back into the Marine recruiter’s office and enlisted. Don spent seven grueling weeks in boot camp that prepared him for combat and inspired a deeper love for his country. He says, “The band played the National Anthem and we stood at attention, tears running down our faces. We were thinking of our country and of that flag.”

After boot camp, Don was assigned to an anti-tank unit and was later trained as a flame thrower in preparation for his first combat assignment: Iwo Jima. On February 19th, Don and his squad climbed into a landing craft and headed toward the beach in the third wave of the invasion. As they drew closer they came under heavy fire. Don recalls, “I could hear a noise like ‘whomp.’ I kind of stuck my head out the fantail off the back. They were hitting these landing crafts that we were in. Blowing them right out of the water. It was terrible.”

When his craft landed, Don climbed over the side into the water, struggling to get to the beach under the weight of his 72 pound flame thrower. For the first time in his life, Don called out to God. He says, “Nobody else could help me. I knew that God had power and authority. I knew that. We hit the sand, laid down, face down. I buried my face in the sand. I said, ‘God, I don't know much about you. But if you're real, and you could do for me what people say you can do, and you get me off this island, I'll serve you the rest of my life.'"  

After three days of grueling, exhausting battle, they captured Mount Suribachi. Don remembers looking up from his position. He says, “There was the Old Glory waving away there.” However, the battle for Iwo Jima was far from over. It would take 36 days for the Marines to take the small yet strategic island. The cost was heavy and Don saw many of his friends killed or wounded in action. He became hardened, forgetting his promise to God. He says, “I made that pledge on that beach and never thought of it. Once I got off the beach, it was all over. Now I cursed God. I had a couple of close calls. We all did. You couldn't help it. 22,000 Japanese, 65,000 of us. Killed 7,000 of us. Wounded 20,000.”

Don didn’t see combat for the rest of the war. Discharged soon after Japan’s unconditional surrender, he returned to Detroit, where he met and married his wife, Rebecca. The combat veteran struggled to deal with life as a civilian. Don recalls, “I just couldn't adjust. I began to, I don't know, I began to get a little bit ornery with my family. I had two or three jobs, walked out. I just couldn't settle in. I couldn't stand to be inside locked up. I couldn't stand that.”

To cope, Don started drinking and by 1954, almost a decade later, was on the verge of destroying his marriage and himself. Then in May of that year, a friend called. Don recalls the call, “He said, ‘I want to talk to you, don't you say one word. You are a mess. You're losing your wife. You're losing your best friends. And you're going to lose yourself and you can't help yourself. You need to take my wife and I to this Billy Graham meeting, and you need to be there and you need to hear everything.'"

Don agreed to go and brought Rebecca along. No one was more surprised than Don by what happened next. He says, “The film started. And Billy came on. I started crying and I fell on the floor. Man, I was a mess.” Reverend Graham’s message of repentance and salvation through Christ struck home. Afterwards, both Don and Rebecca went up to accept Jesus into their hearts. It completely changed their lives. Don says, “I fell in love with the Bible. I just fell in love with that blessed book. He put me in the ministry for 32 years. Had a great time and I worked hard.”

Don retired from preaching in 2007 and lost his beloved Rebecca in 2016. Today, at 97, he’s still sharing the good news of Jesus and his love for America. For Don, love for God and love of country run deep. He says, “How do I feel about my country? I love it. I love it. I respect it, because I understand it. I know the history of it. When I look at that flag of ours, you see those red stripes. That represents the blood that was shed for America and for that flag. That's what it represents to me. That's the most beautiful flag in the world.”