Legacy of Service

Sorry, I'm trying to replay everything that I had in my head. Okay, sorry. Do you want me to just start from the beginning or just pick it up at Tulagi? My name is Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Chambers. I'm the great-grandson of Colonel Justice M. Chambers who received the Medal of Honor on Iwo Jima. So there's a lot of fierce fighting going on in the the enemy counter-attack. He started pulling Marines out of the bed and organizing the defense of the hospital because that's what Marines do. Marines fight. It doesn't matter if they're injured. As long as there's a breath in them, they're going to continue to fight. And they were successful in repelling the enemy's counter-attack. For his actions against the counter-attack, he was awarded the Silver Star. The American front lines had advanced to Guam and Saipan. Ahead now stood Iwo Jima, the most heavily fortified island in the world. Buried deep underground lay 20 years of preparation for murder. 20,000 of their toughest fighting men waited for us to make the first move. D-Day, the beginning of the toughest 26 days in Marine Corps history. He took command of 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines just prior to landing on Iwo Jima. When they landed on Iwo Jima, they landed on the right flank of the island, so over by the rock quarry. Basically, the rock quarry on the right-hand side was perfect machine gun position. Anybody landing on that beach was at risk of being annihilated by mass machine gun fire. It took them eight hours to move just 200 yards into the beach. By the end of the first day, they had lost more than half their officer corps and more than 500 enlisted personnel. When 325 landed that day, they were met by fierce enemy fire. They had to fight for every inch along the way. Every gain that they made was paid for in blood, sweat, and tears. But they continued to fight. They continued to make progress inch by inch. On the third day, he was directing rocket fire against machine gun nests. He was literally picking lance corporals up by the collar and directing rocket fire as battalion commander on the front line. That's when he was hit with machine gun fire. He was immediately evacuated and this time was not allowed to return. Had they not been able to seize that key maritime terrain, the entire landing at Iwo Jima would have been held at risk. For his actions on Iwo Jima, he was later awarded the Medal of Honor by President Truman, and he was lucky enough to have his entire family present with him. I grew up with bedtime stories of my great-grandfather and the Marines of the Pacific. I'd heard about the Raiders. I'd learned about Iwo Jima. These were the heroes that I woke up to throughout my childhood. It was my goal to join the Marine Corps. So I joined the Marine Corps in 2009, and since 2014, I've been stationed in the Pacific. My first unit in the Pacific was Force Recon Company 3MEF. I served as a company commander in 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines. I came back as the operations officer for 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, and now I'm an operational planner at Marine Forces Pacific. So my current job at MAR4PAC is in the G3 as an operational planner. Basically, we put together contingency plans and future plans in case of crisis or conflict in the region. To be honest, it's been pretty humbling to serve in the Pacific, given my family's legacy. I've been able to visit a lot of the same places that my relatives have one day walked. So it seems that in many ways that the Marine Corps is just an extension of my family. We look to the past to kind of see how we can fight our future wars and be at the edge of innovation. MAR4PAC is defining it every day. We're experimenting. We're moving things forward. We're leading the initiatives across the service. This is how we will fight and win in the future. MAR4PAC is a part of it. And wherever the crisis or conflict is, if America calls, Marines will answer the call. They're going to fight. They're going to win, period. History is important. When we look at the battles and the Marines of the past, they give us clues of what we can do in the future. Marines fight and won in the past. Marines will continue to fight and win in the future.