South Elgin man's unique relic of Iwo Jima

Walking on the black sands of the island of Iwo Jima, Steve Thompson gingerly carried a rolled-up poster under his jacket as he reflected on one of World War II's most brutal battles.

All around him were American veterans who, 54 years earlier, had fought on the island, each carrying his own harrowing story. Thompson listened to many of those stories and asked dozens of the veterans to sign his poster; he did the same thing a year later, on his second trip to the site of the battle that ended March 26, 1945 - 70 years ago Thursday.

The South Elgin resident estimates he collected up to 150 total signatures, adding to the 250 to 300 signatures already on the poster when he bought on eBay, he said.

"It's a unique poster," the 74-year-old said. "I have never been able to provide proof of this, but I was told only six of those were reproduced."

The first batch of signatures - in black marker - include that of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Joe Rosenthal, who took the iconic image of six U.S. soldiers raising the American flag on the island, Thompson said. The poster was printed for the 50th anniversary of the battle and signed by veterans who fought there.

The rest of the signatures - the ones in red marker - were collected by Thompson during his trips to the island in 1999 and 2000.

Trips to Iwo Jima are limited and often entail getting on a waiting list, said Thompson, who served during the Vietnam War as a stateside Army medic. Visitors arrive in the morning and must leave by nightfall.

"It's not a welcoming place. It's very desolate," he said. "It's nothing but a desolate rock of volcanic ash and sand. It's eight square miles. It's hard to imagine that 70,000 Marines and close to 20,000 Japanese fought for 36 days for a piece of volcanic square rock."

Thompson said he has visited almost two dozen islands in the Pacific Ocean where World War II was fought.

"I have always been interested in the history of World War II, and Iwo Jima was an iconic battle," he said. "I always had an interest in the Pacific, because both my uncles served there."

Thompson said he has brought back several items from Iwo Jima, including shrapnel, sake and beer bottles, and remnants of clothing. Back then, visitors were allowed to take items scattered about the island, but that's no longer the case, he said.

"There's nothing of any great value," said Thompson, a military collector who stores his 2,000 or so items in a warehouse in Chicago, "but I did buy a Japanese samurai sword from Iwo Jima veterans."

His trips to Iwo Jima were especially moving because of all the veterans he met, he said.

"They had so many stories and so much to say. I didn't know I'd learn so much more about history speaking with them, man to man."

Among them was Jack Lucas, who enlisted at 14 by lying about his age and became the youngest Marine to receive the Medal of Honor, he said. After his superiors found out, Lucas stowed away on a Navy ship to the Pacific and ended up at Iwo Jima, where he was seriously injured and almost left for dead.

There was Bill, a soldier who enlisted after the bombing of Pearl Harbor as soon as he turned 18 and survived being hit by, 50-caliber machine gun bullets accidentally fired by a U.S. fighter aircraft, Thompson recalled.

Thompson also collected the signatures of historian Steven Ambrose and author James Bradley, whose father, John Bradley, was among the Iwo Jima flag raisers.

His passion started around age 10 growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, where he and a friend would go to the local military surplus store and buy inexpensive items like helmets.

He and his wife, Dixie, sell military memorabilia at the "Dixie Devil Divers" booth at Antique Market 1 in St. Charles, donating profits to military-related charities. The memorabilia is also used for display at military-related celebrations, with all donations going to charities, he said.

His hope is that it will all end up in a museum and help educate youths about America's history, he said.

"The decades of '40s and '50s are the best years of America. That's when we came of age and we created a wonderful country these kids are now growing up in," he said. "I think it's important they understand how it all started."

Thompson said he hopes to visit Iwo Jima again some day and continue exploring its 16 miles of underground tunnels and caves built by the Japanese.

"There is so much on the island that I didn't get to see," he said. "You have to go there not once or twice, but maybe five times."