Robert Dunlap MOH - Interview

Major Robert H. Dunlap, USMC (Ret.)

Medal of Honor Recipient – Iwo Jima

 Interview By Lance Q. Zedric

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zedric: When did you enter the Marine Corps?

DUNLAP: I enlisted in February 1942. I was graduated early from Monmouth College [Illinois] because of the war and went straight to Quantico, Virginia for Officer Candidate School.

Zedric: Where did you go after OCS?

DUNLAP: I was commissioned at Quantico, and then I attended the Officer’s Training Course there.

Zedric: What was your first assignment?

DUNLAP: My first assignment was the Paramarines at Camp Gillespie, San Diego. We did our parachute training there.

Zedric: Did you deploy overseas with the Paramarines?

DUNLAP: Yes. My first action was at Vella Lavella with the Paramarines. I also got a campaign star for Guadalcanal.

Zedric: Did you see action at Guadalcanal?

DUNLAP: Not action, but we brought in equipment.

Zedric: Did you work with Edson’s Raiders?

DUNLAP: Yes. We went to several critiques where they were talking about what they were going to do. That’s about all there was to it. We didn’t really do anything ourselves. We looked at plans and so forth, but nothing substantial.

Zedric: How long were you with the Paramarines?

DUNLAP: Until they broke up [early 1944].

Zedric: Where did you go after the Paramarines were disbanded?

DUNLAP: We came back home and formed the Fifth Marine Division. We started forming that division in January 1943. We were only in the states long enough to form and deploy. We boarded a ship and were part of the floating Guam reserve. We got a battle star for that even though we didn’t go ashore. Then we went to the big island of Hawaii for R&R and amphibious training with the Navy. We were there about a year.

Zedric: Were you training specifically for the invasion of Japan?

DUNLAP: Well, we knew that we were eventually.

Zedric: Where was your next landing?

DUNLAP: Iwo Jima.

Zedric: What was your objective?

DUNLAP: I was a company commander by that time, and my company was to break its way in from the beach and set up a reserve area. Then we were to wait for further orders. But there was really only one objective—to take the island.

Zedric: Describe the landing.

DUNLAP: We landed on February 19 [1945] and we were in action immediately upon hitting the beaches, which were nothing but black volcanic ash. There wasn’t anything to hide behind and the Japanese were dug in deep. Since my battalion commander landed down near Mount Suribachi, and the XO landed up in the 4^th Division area, I took over the battalion until he returned. That next morning the commander returned and asked how many men I had. I told him that I started with 285 and now had 300. He said, “Where in the world did they come from?” I said, “They just joined me.” We were doing something and they wanted to do something too.

Zedric: As you made your way inland you performed a little reconnaissance mission of your own, is that accurate?

DUNLAP: [laughing] Yes, I did.

Zedric: What prompted you to do that?

DUNLAP: I wanted to see where all this enemy fire was coming from because we were getting so darn much. The Japs were concealed in caves, pillboxes, and bunkers. We couldn’t see them and we were really catching hell.

Zedric: So, in fact, you conducted a commander’s recon [laughing]?

DUNLAP: [laughing] Yes.

Zedric: Your MOH citation states that you crawled 200 yards alone toward the enemy.

DUNLAP: No, I didn’t crawl. I walked. If I had crawled they would have got me because they could see me. They were dropping mortars around me!

Zedric: Was it a fast walk [laughing]?

DUNLAP: More like a run! I didn’t do anything but move forward. That’s just the way it happened. I got out there in front and I walked until I got right at the base of the cliff. There, I saw three big artillery pieces that looked like they were big enough to tear all of us apart.

Zedric: How far were you from those artillery pieces?

DUNLAP: I was close enough that I could have hit them with hand grenades. I saw a lot of Japs beside each gun. I concealed myself in a shell crater and radioed back what I saw.

Zedric: So, you maintained an observation post and radioed the location of the artillery pieces and the troops?

DUNLAP: Yes, and also reported on the morale of their troops.

Zedric: The citation also states that you called in naval fire from your position.

DUNLAP: Yes. I had everything at my disposal. I fired ships at sea, had planes in the air, and had artillery coming in.

Zedric: You have said that the enemy called you by name.

DUNLAP: Yes, they were calling my name the first day. They had intercepted my radio messages and they knew who I was.

Zedric: What were they saying?

DUNLAP: They said, “Come over here and fight, Bobby!” It went on that entire evening. They talked to me real often. They couldn’t pronounce their L’s very well, and kept calling me “Dun-wrap”. It was funny. They thought I had a good speaking voice or something. They wanted to egg me into a quick fight and to draw me out in the open because they didn’t specifically know where I was.

Zedric: Were you holed up in a shell crater at this time?

DUNLAP: Part of the time. I moved every minute or so—crater to crater.

Zedric: Over how many hours did this go on?

DUNLAP: Twenty-four.

Zedric: What was going through your mind when you were up there alone?

DUNLAP: I just wanted to do all I could do and to get rid of as many of the enemy as possible.

Zedric: Were the Japanese actively patrolling for you?

DUNLAP: Yes, but I didn’t rub shoulders with any of them. I kept moving.

Zedric: Did you return to you lines after the reconnaissance?

DUNLAP: Actually, I just stayed up there. My troops eventually made their way up to me.

Zedric: Were you then ordered to mount an attack against the Japanese and to remove them from the series of hills and cliffs?

DUNLAP: No, I just mounted the attack! I didn’t want to sit there and be a target. We were taking heavy small arms and artillery fire, and I would rather be a moving target.

Zedric: Were you awarded the Medal of Honor for the recon and for directing fire on the cliffs?

DUNLAP: [laughing] I’m just not sure, except that we were getting the job done. I was awarded the Medal of Honor for leading my unit on the assault on the cliffs. My personal action during that first twenty-four hours was just included in the citation.

Zedric: Had you been wounded at that point?

DUNLAP: No, several days later.

Zedric: How did you find out that you were to be awarded the Medal of Honor?

DUNLAP: I was informed in a rather unusual way. I had got shot through the hip on February 26, and was aboard a ship in a full body cast. The next morning a doctor came in and asked, “Do you know Robert H. Dunlap?” And I said, “Yeah, I’m Robert Dunlap”. He said, “Who do you suppose is number one on the major’s list?” I said, “Surely not me because I’m so junior”. He said, “No, you’re number one on the major’s list”. That’s how I knew I was getting the Medal of Honor.

Zedric: Do you recall the official notification?

DUNLAP: No, but it was several days later while I was at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital. I spent nearly a year there recovering from my wounds. I was asked if I wanted to go to Washington to receive it, but I told them that I wasn’t physically able to travel in a full body cast. I had also been hit in the left eye and was wearing a patch. So, I wanted to wait. Several months later, President Harry S. Truman awarded me the Medal of Honor in the East Room of the White House.

Zedric: What were you feeling when President Truman pinned the medal on you?

DUNLAP: I was mighty proud. It was very nice to have received it and I am proud of it. But I am prouder yet of the men who were with me. I had a heckuva good bunch of fighting men and I couldn’t have been any prouder of them than I was then. My battalion, 1/26^th Marines, was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for our part in taking Iwo Jima. Sadly, our casualty rate was terrible. They got most of us [voice cracks]. I’ll never forget those boys. I can still see their faces.

Zedric: What did Truman say to you?

DUNLAP: He was very flattering. He told me what a terrific fighting man I had been and what a fine job I had done—and he knew what a fine job we all had done.

Zedric: Was that the end of your military career?

DUNLAP: Pretty much. I was physically unable to continue. I just didn’t heal and had trouble walking. I returned home and took a teaching job in Abingdon, Illinois. I retired from teaching in 1982.

Zedric: What, if anything, would you have done differently on Iwo Jima?

DUNLAP: Nothing.

Zedric: Your cousin, James Bond Stockdale, is also a Medal of Honor recipient.

DUNLAP: Yes, he was.

Zedric: What do two Medal of Honor recipients talk about at a family reunion?

DUNLAP: [laughing] We talk about our childhood, our family members, our gardens—just simple things.

Zedric: Do you and Jim have a special bond because of your common achievement?

DUNLAP: Yes, I suppose we do. I’m certainly proud of Jim and all that he did, and I’m sure the same holds true the other way.

Zedric: Do you consider yourself to be a hero?

DUNLAP: [laughing] No, not really, but sometimes I do. What I did was really great—but stupid in a way, too.

Zedric: Do you still get a tear in your eye when you hear the National Anthem?

DUNLAP: Yes, I do.

Zedric: What, if anything, do you think people can learn from your experience?

DUNLAP: I don’t know what they could learn. All I can say is to do the best they can at whatever they do. That’s all I did.

 

 

      Lance Zedric (l), and MOH recipients James Stockdale and
    Robert Dunlap (r) at the dedication of the Monmouth College
    War Memorial. June 1985.

 

Copyright by Lance Zedric 1995