#VeteranOfTheDay Marine Corps Veteran John Thurman

October 5, 2022: John Thurman

When John “Jack” Thurman first learned about his great-uncle’s military service in the Marine Corps, he knew that he, too, would serve. That uncle, Walter Torrey, died in the Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918. “When I read all of this about Uncle Walter, I wanted to follow his footsteps,” Thurman recalled in a 2019 interview with The Coloradoan. “I wanted to continue on where he left off.”

Thurman enlisted in the Marine Corps in September 1943.

After completing basic training at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, Thurman was sent to Camp Pendleton, California. There he became part of Carlson’s Raiders, a group of specialized Marine commandos who had trained under Lt. Col. Evans Carlson for combat in the Pacific. In February 1945, he deployed to Iwo Jima with the 5th Marine Corps Division, 27th Regiment. They landed at Red Beach 1 on the southeast coast of the island on February 19. His regiment fought southward, hoping to take the strategic position atop Mount Suribachi. Four days later, the 27th and 28th Regiments reached the summit of the mountain and, after securing the area, the Marines raised an American flag on a long piece of pipe.

Thurman, who was working as a sniper to protect the men as they raised it, remembered the moment well: “To see that flag go up, I tell you, that was an inspiration,” he said in a 2012 article for the Longmont Times-Call. “It got up there and the flag unfurled there in the breeze, the ocean breeze. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. It gave us the inspiration that we were gonna take that island one way or another.” Later, Thurman appeared in a group photo of the men with the flag taken by photographer Joe Rosenthal. He was originally hesitant. “I said, ‘Well I’m 27th Regiment.’ And [his comrade] said, ‘That makes no difference. You’re still one of us.’ Well, that sounded pretty good to me,” Thurman said, “So I went up.” Thurman is depicted on the far left, standing behind Corporal Ira Hayes and raising his helmet.

After Iwo Jima was secured, Thurman returned to the U.S. to recuperate. He later was part of the occupation force on Japan’s mainland and served as a military police officer when the war ended. He honorably discharged as a sergeant in May 1946. For his service, he received numerous medals, including a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

In his later years, Thurman did not discuss his wartime experiences. When his daughter Karen joined the Navy Nurse Corps and learned about survivor’s guilt in her nurse practitioner classes, she encouraged her father to try talking about the war. Since then, he has been active as a public speaker and frequently attends Veterans events and commemoration ceremonies. In 2012, he returned to Iwo Jima with a group of students from Ohio State University as part of a trip sponsored by the Greatest Generations Foundation, a nonprofit that pays for Veterans to return to their former battlefields. Thurman has also attended numerous Honor Flights and is part of the Iwo Jima Association of America. In 2019, Larimer County, Colorado, declared July 27 John “Jack” Thurman Day in his honor.

“I just had a strong feeling, ‘I’m here, and I’m going to do the job,’” he said in a 2020 interview with the Loveland Reporter-Herald. “I’m sure most of the guys felt that way. We’re here, and we’re going to take this island. It took us a month to do it, and it was supposed to take us three days. But we did it.”

We honor his service.

Writer: Sarah Concepcion

Editor: Chiara Hampton

Researcher: Vivian Hurney

Graphic Designer: Grace Yang