Garth Tanner Erickson

In the invasion of Iwo Jima, the Fourth Marine Division was charged with landing on and securing the Yellow and Blue Beaches – the right of the Marine line, anchoring on the Quarry. Lieutenant Colonel Justice Chambers and the Third Battalion, 25th Marines would be first ashore on Beach Blue 2 and would immediately pivot to the right, attacking strong Japanese fortifications in the Quarry and the Boat Basin. Tough going was anticipated, but nothing could have prepared BLT 3-25 for what awaited them on the beach.

Item Company landed first, planted itself on the rightmost flank of the regimental line, and began inching towards the Boat Basin. They were under heavy fire from 0902 hours until 2330; at the end of the day, they could muster only 2 officers and 130 enlisted men. In the struggle to reach the Quarry, the BLT 3-25 lost 22 officers and approximately 500 men killed, wounded, or missing – all in a single day’s fight.

One of those lost in the first day’s fighting was PFC Garth T. Erickson. He was a combat veteran, having fought at Guam with C/1/9th Marines (Third Marine Division) until a sniper’s bullet sent him to the hospital; he joined I/3/25th Marines after recovering. He essentially disappeared on Iwo Jima – reported as missing in action by his company, with no surviving eyewitnesses to provide further clues or confirm his death.

Nothing else is currently known about PFC Erickson’s fate. He was ultimately declared dead on 20 February 1946.