To begin with, once Tokyo is raided it means that Iwo Jima has been taken by the enemy. It means your father is dead. In other words you–fatherless brother and sister–must depend on your mother. It's pitiful enough to be fatherless children but what happens if you lost your mother? And from now on you must reconcile yourselves to living without a father.

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To Milly Kennedy and to wartime wives and mothers everywhere, the fear that their children might live without a father was constant. She wrote a desperate letter to her husband even as he was nearing Iwo Jima's black beaches.

Dearest Tom,

Here it is, over a week, and no letter, but since I've started re-reading your mail I find that you said in the last one (January 26) that I shouldn't worry if I don't get mail for a while. So far there's nothing in the papers about the Marines doing anything, but your letters aren't coming, so I know that you're either involved with something important or else they're planning something for you. Of course, I may be all wrong, and I won't know until I get your letters.

How I'm hoping and praying that the reason there's no mail doesn't mean you're near the action. Even if I do get mail I know you can't say where you are or where you're going, but with all that time on the train that you wrote about, you must be heading very far away. To the Pacific, no doubt. I wish you could be sent to one of the safe places like Australia or New Zealand or New Guinea.

Every time I see a Marine I look at him not because I'm really seeing him, but because I'm really seeing you. How I wish it were you. So long until next time. All my love, Milly.

FOR 14 DAYS Tom and his fellow Marines cruised toward the island of Saipan. Once there they boarded LSTs (landing ship, tanks) and transport ships for the assault on Iwo Jima. In his last letter home before the battle, Tom Kennedy expressed a poignant courage.

Hello my Sweethearts,

Just one more lonely day slowly coming to an end. I got off early from mess duty tonight, so after showering and shaving, I can write my regular letter to you as I said I always will. No matter how busy we are or how close to the action, my days will always end with a letter to you.

I have a real nice story to tell you about what happened today. Since it's St. Valentine's Day, Father Hammond heard confessions and I went to talk to him. I told him that I have overcome the urge to use foul language and hardly ever curse any more. But what I mostly wanted was to ask him to please pray for me during the fighting. This is my first one, and if He does bring me through safely, let Him do it for yours and the children's sakes. As for myself, I told him I don't care how much I suffer just so long as I can come back home to you three. I then said, "Father, I have said my rosary every single day, just like you asked us to, and I will continue to do so."

He said to me, "My boy, have no worry or fear of not coming through safely. That daily rosary will do the trick. This is my first battle too, so I ask you to pray for me."

Honest Milly, there were tears in my eyes while we were talking. He is a wonderful man and made me feel so good inside. I wish you could know him like I do.

After dinner Father Hammond said Mass and I received Communion again. Believe me, I never was more thankful in my life for the Mass, confession, all the prayers and hymns. They make me feel as if I'm not in this alone. I have you and the children and our families, but I also have a deep, strong faith. How can I miss?

The Marines began their amphibious landing on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. Before the assault troops disembarked, American battleships shelled target areas, and carrier planes swept the island, spraying the beach and airfields with rocket and mortar fire. At first the Marines didn't encounter any resistance, but after the first wave of troops had pounded ashore, Japanese forces suddenly opened fire from concealed positions. From then on, the leathernecks were faced with two foes: a force of 22,000 tenacious Japanese defenders and formidable physical terrain in the form of loose, coarse, volcanic ash that covered the island. Marines floundered trying to gain footing; jeeps and tanks sank into the ground and became easy targets for enemy guns. Japanese soldiers, hiding deep in reinforced concrete pillboxes, blockhouses, and dugouts, wiped out whole companies of U.S. forces with unrelenting artillery fire.

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