Louis Burg was born in Brooklyn, New York in January 1921. He served with the 4th Marine Division during World War 2 in combat. His wife and three children were also born in Brooklyn. His father worked in an electrical shop manufacturing electric lights. His mother was a housewife. They were both European. His mother was born and raised in Russia, near Kiev [Annotator's Note: now Kiev, Ukraine]. His father was half Polish and half Russian. He met his future wife when they were ten years old in Hebrew school. He was 22 when they married. She died in June 1950. His family was affected by the Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. They lived in tenement housing and moved from place to place when the rent got too high. He heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] on the radio when listening to a sports game, but did not know where it was. He knew about the war in Europe and that we were sending supplies to Europe [Annotator's Note: under the Lend-Lease Act, the United States supplied Allied nations with material beginning in March 1941 before formally joining the war]. He was working for the federal government, the Internal Revenue Service, in Washington, D.C. He wanted to fly, but his wife would not let him so he joined the Marine Corps out of spite in 1942. He was in a college program, and the Marine Corps was supposed to let him finish college before putting him on active duty, but they did not keep their word and he was not able to finish college.

On 1 July 1943, Louis Burg [Annotator’s Note: who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1942] was ordered to active duty and sent to Parris Island [Annotator’s Note: Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina]. The training was difficult, but he did everything he was supposed to do. He trained with a rifle, and still remembers its serial number, 1965670. After boot camp at Parris Island [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal, South Carolina], Burg was selected to go to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina]. He was selected for OCS [Annotator's Note: Officer Candidate School] and became a second lieutenant on 24 May 1943. At Lejeune, he was assigned to a rifle platoon and went through Camp Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California] and Maui [Annotator's Note: Camp Maui on Maui, Hawaii] to go overseas. He was assigned under Captain Joseph McCarthy [Annotator's Note: then US Marine Corps Captain, later Lieutenant Colonel, Joseph Jeremiah McCarthy; Medal of Honor recipient]. They continued training on Maui. They knew that at some point they were going into combat, but did not know when or where. They were assigned to a ship which sailed across the Pacific Ocean, stopping along the way in Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Mariana Islands]. They eventually learned they were going to a place called Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan]. When he got off the landing craft, he knew he was really going into combat.

Louis Burg [Annotator's Note: a second lieutenant in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division deployed for the Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan] landed on the beach then moved inland. His platoon was under the command of Captain McCarthy [Annotator's Note: then US Marine Corps Captain, later Lieutenant Colonel, Joseph Jeremiah McCarthy; Medal of Honor recipient]. His job was to shoot and be shot at. [Annotator's Note: Burg laughs.] They landed in the late morning. They did not take a lot of fire at that point. One night, someone was yelling for Galabinsky [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling; unable to identify], a corpsman [Annotator's Note: enlisted medical specialist in the US Navy who may also serve in the US Marine Corps]. He remembers seeing a tank blown up. They were headed for an airfield, their objective, when Burg was hit in his left leg. He was tended to by a doctor. He kept the shell that hit him. He does not remember bleeding, or the shell hitting him. He had only been on the island two days before he was wounded. Of the 42 men in his platoon, 39 were hit. The air field was taken on the third day. A landing craft took him to a hospital ship. The shrapnel came out of his leg six months later.

Louis Burg [Annotator's Note: a second lieutenant in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division deployed for the Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan] went onto the beach where he was shot at. The 5th Marine Division was on their left, the 4th was in the center, and the 3rd Marine Division was on the right. There was no grass growing on the island. Mount Suribachi [Annotator's Note: highest point on Iwo Jima] was on their left. He had been evacuated [Annotator's Note: after being hit in the left leg by a piece of shrapnel two days after landing] before the flag was raised [Annotator's Note: Marines from 5th Division took Mount Suribachi and raised the American flag on 23 February 1945]. Burg was taken via hospital ship to either Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Mariana Islands] or Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Mariana Islands] and eventually went back to Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii] and then Maui [Annotator's Note: Camp Maui on Maui, Hawaii]. He was scared and afraid for his men when landing. He had a sergeant, a good man, who had been on Saipan [Annotator's Note: the Battle of Saipan, 15 June to 9 July 1944]. Burg was a platoon leader of 40-odd men. He was worried about them but not himself. He only saw one Japanese on the island. [Annotator's Note: A telephone rings in the background.] He got off a Higgins boat [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP; also known as the Higgins boat] and thought to himself "This is real combat". He shot at the only Japanese soldier he saw on the island, who shot back at him. The first night on Iwo Jima was very dark. He was afraid of other men around him, and being afraid of being afraid. He remembers taking a last shower on the ship before they landed. He has trouble now remembering going in with his platoon in the first wave.

Louis Burg [Annotator's Note: a second lieutenant in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division who served in the Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan; wounded in action and evacuated to Pearl Harbor then Camp Maui on Maui, Hawaii] was promoted to first lieutenant while in Pearl Harbor. He was then assigned to a mortar [Annotator's Note: a short smoothbore gun which fires explosive shells at high angles] platoon. His recovery took six months, but the pain was still there. The invasion of Japan was in preparation when he got out of the hospital. He had initially been scheduled to participate in the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Okinawa, codenamed operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan; Burg shows the bayonet for his rifle; video cuts to black until 00:52:18].

Louis Burg [Annotator's Note: a second lieutenant in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division who served in the Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan; wounded in action and evacuated to Pearl Harbor then Camp Maui on Maui, Hawaii for recovery] corresponded with his family during the war. He still has the letters. It cost three cents to send a letter at the time. When he returned home, he arrived in San Francisco [Annotator's Note: San Francisco, California]. A lieutenant had gotten him a job as an auditor for the Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. He flew from San Francisco to Los Angeles [Annotator's Note: Los Angeles, California], then on to New York. It was freezing when he arrived. He had a wedding to go to. He was very happy to be home. He remembers seeing his wife, children and parents for the first time when he got back. He has seen a movie about Iwo Jima. He is proud to say that he was not just a Marine, but an Iwo Jima Marine. It brings a special feeling to him. After the war, he went to accounting school at Brooklyn College [Annotator's Note: Brooklyn College in Brooklyn, New York], back to City College [Annotator's Note: the City College of New York, generally referred to as CCNY, in New York, New York], and then went to Brooklyn Law School [Annotator's Note: Brooklyn Law School in New York, New York]. It took him ten years to get his degree. [Annotator's Note: Burg's daughter asks a question from off camera.] Burg confirms what she says, that the first waves met little resistance, as the Japanese were luring them further inland. It was later waves that met resistance. Major General Kuribayashi [Annotator's Note: Imperial Japanese Army General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, commanding officer of the Imperial Japanese Army on Iwo Jima] wrote to his wife to say that he was never coming home. Burg boxed and got the hell beat out of him.

Louis Burg initially wanted to fly planes in the military, but his family did not want him to. His mother tore up his application, so he ended up joining the Marines instead. [Annotator's Note: Burg shows the camera a picture of himself in uniform and his wife at 22 and 23 years old]. His wife died 20 July 2005. They knew each other since they were ten year old. They went to school together. He misses her. He remembers during training jumping into a river with a BAR [Annotator's Note: M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle] and only the butt of the rifle being out of the water. Captain McCarthy [Annotator's Note: then US Marine Corps Captain, later Lieutenant Colonel, Joseph Jeremiah McCarthy; Medal of Honor recipient] was awarded a Medal of Honor. [Annotator's Note: Burg shows a picture of himself to the camera.] Burg had a friend named Chester Winfield Layton Bourne, III. There were only four Jewish officers, including Burg, at Iwo Jima. He has traveled to 50 countries in his lifetime, and all seven continents.