Angelo Ciotta was born in 1925 in Leone, Italy. He came to the United States through Ellis Island, New York, at age seven in 1932. He moved into Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, where his father had a farm. He had left Italy years earlier for more opportunity and to have a better place to raise a family. He does not have a lot of memories of his life in Italy other than school and some family. He did return to Italy when he was 60 and he loved it, but only to visit. He says that people call him Italian American, but he feels he is American Italian. He does recall the brown shirts and black shirts [Annotator's Note: the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale (MVSN), or Italian Voluntary Militia for National Security, was the Italian fascist militia whose members were easily identified by theri black shirts] in Italy during his youth. At seven years old he was just the age to be indoctrinated into the brown shirts. Mussolini [Annotator's Note: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini] had the same kind of youth movement as Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler]. He lost his mother and unborn sister in childbirth in 1935. They lost their farm in the Great Depression when the WPA [Annotator's Note: Works Progress Administration] built La Guardia Airport. His father only leased the farm and they moved into Long Island City where he attend Public School Number 1. From high school he went into the US Marine Corps because the war had broken out. His friends had all joined already as he always had friends older than he was. Ciotta was 17 when he first tried to volunteer. He was turned down twice by the Navy and once by the Coast Guard. He faked his date of birth and registered for the draft. Then he went for voluntary induction, which worked in 1943. Ciotta took his physical and scored a 90 percent. He missed 100, because he had bad feet. He took his paperwork to the same Marine sergeant who had turned him down three times already and pleaded to be accepted. The sergeant told him he was not going to make it as Marine, but he sent him down to Parris Island [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal, South Carolina]. The doctors there also told him "no" because of his feet, so he pleaded with them as well. They told him that the first time he went to sick bay because of his feet he would be put out. He never went to sick bay.

Angelo Ciotta wanted to be a Marine because he knew their history and he had seen the movie "Wake Island" twice. He saw an opportunity to get something better than what he had. At that time, the New York City Police Department had more men than the Marine Corps did. He wanted to be the best. Ciotta was at the Strand Theater in New York City when there was a news interruption saying the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. He did not know where Pearl Harbor was. Roosevelt's [Annotator's Note: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt] speech the next day was when it hit home for him. He knew he wanted to go fight. His father had been in the Italian Army in World War 1. Ciotta faked his age to get accepted on the draft roles. Enlisting as an only child who left high school broke his father's heart. Not having his high school education would ultimately cost him a career in the Marines. He had been asked to go to Officer Candidate School but because he had not graduated, he could not. He was offered to take classes through the Marine Corps Institute as an alternative, but he turned it down. He was just not thinking. He was sent to Camp Pendleton, California to the newly formed 5th Marine Division.

Boot camp was mostly about discipline for Angelo Ciotta. They instill that you are not there for yourself but for the man next to you. It was tough but he managed to get through it. Of the men who went down together, 58 of the 59 were from Brooklyn. Out of 65 men in the platoon, there were six from the South they called rednecks. One guy was nicknamed Snuffy Smith, who just could not be taught anything but was an excellent marksman. He failed boot camp three times before making it through. To break up the monotony, they would play cards and roll dice. This was 1943 and Ciotta was making 30 dollars a month. He bought savings bonds out of it. In 2012, he got to meet some officers and was invited down to Parris Island [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal, South Carolina] to review the graduating class. He loved it and felt like a ten-foot-tall General. He feels that the kids of today get a bad rap. These are all good kids, but good kids do not make the evening news.

After boot camp, Angelo Ciotta was sent Camp Pendleton, California for advanced training. He left there in October 1944 to go to intense training in Hawaii at Parker Ranch [Annotator's Note: Camp Tarawa on Hawai'i, Hawaii] in the mountains. He could not understand why they were climbing hills there for their training. He did not realize they were training for Iwo Jima, Japan. Ciotta was a demolition specialist assigned to Company G, 3rd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division [Annotator's Note: Company G, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division]. He landed on Iwo Jima on D-Day [Annotator's Note: 19 February 1945] in the third wave on Green Beach One at Mt. Suribachi, which was their objective. They had been briefed that it would be a 72-hour operation. The other units were to take the airfields and secure the island within 72 hours and then move out. That is not how it went. It took five days to raise the flag, 21 days for Ciotta to be shot, and 36 days to secure the island. The Japanese could almost cover the whole island without coming above ground. The first Japanese he saw was a dead soldier on the third day. He was being shot at constantly but could not see them. The Japanese were so invisible to him that when asked if he ever killed any, he replies that he does not know.

The ship Angelo Ciotta was on headed to Iwo Jima, Japan, had so many people on board it was bad for him. He got the top bunk but could not stand the smell of so many men. He slept topside in a raft instead. He thanks his lucky stars for the seasoned veterans who were with him. His 14 man squad had eight seasoned paratroopers who took care of them. A Corporal Goff saw Ciotta petrified on the beach when they landed, and literally threw him off the beach. He made him move and that likely saved him. The bazooka man was right next to Ciotta when he got shot. His sergeant, Joe Kroll [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] was killed. [Annotator's Note: Ciotta pauses and wipes his eyes.] Navy corpsman Edward Patch, who was always by their side, was killed too. Ciotta was not prepared for that. He was frightened and he cried. [Annotator's Note: Ciotta cries.] After a while, war kind of becomes routine. You are either going to make it or you are not going to make it. He made foxhole buddies and they looked out for each other. The sergeants were like babysitters. They were the eldest and they looked up to them. First Sergeant Sam Weiner [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] was called Nickel Nose. He liked to play cards and had 23 years in the Marine Corps. Ciotta feels that the youth of the United States came together in World War 2. During the Depression they had nothing, but everyone came together and made it work. Ciotta feels the youth of today will do the same thing. They are making something of themselves. He feels even the more privileged kids will answer the call if necessary.

Angelo Ciotta went ashore on Iwo Jima, Japan in a Higgins boat [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP]. The first day on Iwo Jima was chaotic. They dug in at nightfall and each day they would try to advance a little at a time. He just followed orders. They were walking and a cover popped off the ground and Japanese came up to shoot but was shot instead. Ciotta closed the hole, his first job. Around the fifth day he had to go up and close a pillbox. The team behind him would give him protective cover fire. The opening was only about four inches high. The team would fire into the opening to give Ciotta time to get up to it and put an explosive charge on the box. One place he remembers clearly that he closed was considered a hospital cave. They were settling in for the night and the commander noticed a hole on the side of the hill. Ciotta went up, set the charges, and closed it. He then smelled an awful stench and saw puffs of smoke were coming out of five other holes which were escape tunnels. He closed them all. He was telling a colonel this story later after the war and the colonel had photographs of that spot. Action was considerably different than training was. Ciotta tells people that when he landed on Iwo, he was 19, and when he left it 21 days later, he was 39. War is not a glamorous thing where you wind up with the girl at the end. Not at all.

They [Annotator's Note: Angelo Ciotta and the rest of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division] were moving up the island of Iwo Jima. The Japanese would fire "Screaming Willie" rockets down the hill, and everybody would find any hole they could to hide in. They were receiving fire from up front. Ciotta was not a machine gunner but he had bought a Thompson machine gunner from another Marine. There was a water-cooled machine gun [Annotator's Note: Browning M1917 .30 caliber machine gun] near him when they came under fire. He took it and was firing like crazy, not realizing that continuous firing would pinpoint his location. He was dressed down for it, but he was just shooting back. On 12 March 1944, he was called to the company commander. There was a patrol with six wounded men out in a Japanese fire lane. The commander told Ciotta to go get them. A lieutenant showed him the location. He laid out a plan, went into action, and was hit by the Japanese immediately. He said he would crawl out of there and told the lieutenant to go get the others. He was put on a plane to Guam. He had not known where the actual fire lane was and had gone right into it.

Angelo Ciotta was shot in the leg and evacuated to an Army hospital in Guam. He spent ten days there and then went to Aiea Heights in Honolulu, Hawaii for about six days. He was sent on the SS Lurline to San Francisco then went to a hospital in Newport, Rhode Island. Afterwards, he received a 30 day leave and gained so much weight his uniform did not fit. He ultimately went back to Camp Lejeune [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, North Carolina] for the remainder of his time. He had accumulated enough points to be discharged in February 1946, almost a year after being wounded. He had received letters from the guys in the company [Annotator's Note: Company G, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division] who were part of the occupation force in Japan. One good friend told him that if it had not been for the atomic bomb, they would not have been able to occupy Japan. Yes, the bomb was cruel and inhumane, but he feels that the actions of the Japanese were also cruel and inhumane. For many years, Ciotta had a bitter feeling towards the Japanese. After some time, he came to realize that he cannot blame the son for the sins of the father.

Angelo Ciotta was between Camp LeJeune [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, North Carolina] and home on a train when he learned that the war was over. He could go home every weekend from Camp LeJeune after that for the parties and the cab drivers would not charge them for the rides. Reality set in when the troops started coming home wounded, had amputations, had been prisoners of war and more. They were thrilled the war had ended. Ciotta was discharged as a corporal in February 1946 at Camp LeJeune. He did not sign up for the Reserves and went into business running an Italian delicatessen. A colonel came into his business one day and told him he wanted him to go on the Reserves. He kept on trying for six months, but Ciotta did not want to go to Korea and fight again. General Pace [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps General Peter Pace] and his wife were at a function Ciotta attended. Pace's wife asked Ciotta if he had ever returned to Iwo Jima, Japan to visit. He told her that he had not wanted to go the first time. After the service, Ciotta went to photography school on the G.I. Bill and took some flying lessons as well. He gets a disability pension for his injury. The VA [Annotator's Note: Veteran's Administration] found a problem with his heart and gave him triple-bypass surgery. All of his medical needs are taken care of through the VA. Ciotta feels that the VA is one of the greatest organizations around.

Angelo Ciotta appreciates what some of the vets of today are going through. Back in World War 2 there were Section 8s [Annotator's Note: Category of discharge from the military used for members judged mentally unfit for service]. He did have nightmares after the war, especially when he was drinking. He says that this interviewer has gotten more out of him than he tells his sons. He talks to others who were there because they understand. He is a member of the Iwo Jima Survivors Association. The association started with six men and after five years it grew to 250 survivors. [Annotator's Note: Ciotta tells the interviewer that he has not reached down to the bottom of his soul yet.] The shared experience matters the most. Ciotta did not have difficulty transitioning but he was much older than his years and he thought differently about life than most men his age. He would live his three years of Marine Corps life all over again. Ciotta's most memorable experience was learning how the older vets behaved as they got close to hitting the beach. After the war, some Dutch Marines [Annotator's Note: Korps Mariners; Netherlands Marine Corps, Royal Netherlands Navy] were training with him at Camp LeJeune [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, North Carolina], and he was sent to Camp Davis [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Outlying Field Camp Davis, Onslow County, North Carolina] to teach the Dutch Marines, demolition. He was holding class with explosives all around and one of them started to smoke a cigarette after being told not to. Ciotta told the commanding officer he quit.