Profile: Maj. Oscar Peatross

Four days had passed since U.S. forces stepped foot on Iwo Jima’s black sand beaches.

It was Feb. 19, 1945, and the battle continued to rage.

The Marines had suffered hundreds of casualties on the heavily fortified island, fighting an enemy force of more than 20,000 soldiers that was largely hidden underground in bunkers and tunnels.

But the Marines pushed on.

So did Maj. Oscar Peatross.

Often advancing only a few hundred meters each day, the Marines finally made their way to Mt. Suribachi.

Upon capturing the mountain – the first Japanese homeland soil to be taken by Americans – men from Peatross’ regiment attached a U.S. flag to an old Japanese water pipe and raised it so the men across the island could see it and know that victory was theirs.

While the island would not be fully secured for nearly another month, the flag raising was the first sign of the ultimate American victory. A Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of the moment has since become one of the most recognizable symbols of the country’s grit and tenacity during times of war.

It would be one of many amazing moments in the career of Peatross, who fought in three of the United States’ major conflicts: World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

The North Carolina native was in the middle of some of the most notable battles of each conflict.

Peatross also fought in the Marine Raider attack on Makin Atoll and the Guadalcanal campaign in World War II and in Operation Starlite, the U.S.’s first major battle in Vietnam.

His service did not go unnoticed. He earned some of the country’s most prestigious military honors, including the Navy Cross and the Silver Star.

“I guess you could say he had a pretty good career, to put it mildly,” said Stephen Wise, curator of the Parris Island Museum.

That career continued when Peatross came home from the battlefield. He served as the Commanding General of Parris Island – where he had served before his deployment to Vietnam – from 1968 to 1971.

Peatross took over at a time when the depot was struggling to maintain recruits, Wise said.

Morale was low because of the unpopular war. But Peatross worked to turn that around, improving retention as well as the quality of Marine recruits, Wise said.

One such recruit Peatross met at Parris Island before he commanded it was Robert Horan, a former chief prosecutor in Fairfax County, Va.

In a 2008 article published in Washingtonian Magazine, Horan spoke of Peatross as one of the biggest influences on his life.

One conversation with Peatross still stands out.

“We find that the Marine Corps is made up of 99 percent Marines and 1 percent bull-------s,” Horan recounted Peatross saying. “In peacetime, the bull-------s tend to be the ones you hear from. But I waded ashore on Guadalcanal in ’42. I looked all the way down the beach to my right and all the way up the beach to my left. There wasn’t a bull------- in sight.”

“And that was Peatross,” Horan told the magazine.

He was also an excellent woodcarver. One carving that particularly stands out to Wise was of a wren perched on a prickly pear cactus.

Peatross, who retired as a major general, also was responsible for organizing the yearly reunions of veterans of the Battle of Iwo Jima.

He also was heavily involved in the Parris Island Historical Society, and would serve as its president before pancreatic cancer claimed his life in 1993.

It was that year that the main Parade Deck at Parris Island – considered by many Marines as the most sacred of depot monuments – was named after Peatross, immortalizing his name and 31-year military career.

“He was one of the Marine Corps’ real heroes,” Wise said.

This story was originally published May 24, 2015 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Profile: Maj. Oscar Peatross."