Historic scrapbook identified to Seaman 1st Class Joseph Anthony Damico (1926-2005), a veteran of the 133rd U.S. Naval Construction Battalion who was wounded in action during the Battle of Iwo Jima. Leatherette boards, approx. 15 1/4 x 11 1/2 in. 38 pp, containing 40 silver gelatin images of the Battle of Iwo Jima including the iconic Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, 53 newspaper clippings and 9 tipped-in double-sided newspaper pages, a photo post card from Camp Peary, 2 authentic casualty cards and a casualty card duplicate, a recruit identification card, and 2 letters signed W. J. McNicol on Navy Department official letterhead. 

WITH a Casualty card detailing Damico's wound, an air transport command cabin identification tag, a patient's identification tag from the San Francisco Port of Embarkation, 3 additional silver gelatin photographs from the battlefield, a 3 place mounted bar with American Campaign, Asiatic Campaign and Navy Expeditionary ribbons, an American Campaign medal w/ ribbon and ribbon bar, an Asiatic Pacific Campaign medal w/ ribbon and ribbon bar, a U.S. Navy Commendation ribbon bar, a Purple Heart ribbon bar, a U.S. Naval Reserve dog tag stamped "Damico, / Joseph / Anthony / 250-94-10 / 0 / USNR," a patinated brass mining tag from the mining town of Reitz #4, and a patinated brass mining tag reading "E / 85 / Loader / 482". 

ALSO WITH William Bradford Huie. From Omaha to Okinawa / The Story of The Seabees. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1945. 8vo. Damico is noted on page 65 as having been wounded in action at Iwo Jima.

An 18 year old Joseph Damico enlisted with the 133rd Naval Construction Battalion on 25 September 1943 and trained with the rest of the Seabees at Camp Peary, Virginia. After a transcontinental voyage, the 133rd left for Hawaii on 1 May 1944, where they would stay until New Year's Eve. The regiment, along with the 31st CB and the 4th and 5th Pioneers, were tasked as shore party for the 19 February 1945 invasion of Iwo Jima, designated Operation Detachment. Construction was slow going on the island's difficult terrain, and after 18 days while tasked to the 23rd Marines the 133rd saw the most casualties in Naval Construction Forces history. Damico would sustain a gunshot wound to his lower right leg of 5 March, two weeks after the assault began, resulting in a fractured bone and necessitating his evacuation to a rear base. After another three weeks the United States forces proved victorious. 

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima was captured by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press on 23 February, 1945. It depicts six U.S. Marines raising the American Flag atop Mount Suribachi, three of whom would go on to be killed in the battle. Rosenthal was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Photography for the photograph and it served as the basis for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Additional photographs housed in the scrapbook include views of U.S. servicemen and their deceased Japanese counterparts and vehicles both operational and destroyed.

A fascinating grouping of historically significant images and relics compiled by a firsthand witness to the Battle of Iwo Jima.

[Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] [World War II, WWII, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Adolf Hitler, Allied, Axis, George S. Patton, Air Force, USMC, Japan] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards]