Morris Semiatin was born in June 1926 in Baltimore, Maryland. He knew in the late 1930s that there was war going on. He went into the service in 1944. He heard about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] on the radio while at home with his parents. He was still a teenager, and did not think he would be a part of the war. He was 18 years old in 1944. He entered the Marine Corps right out of school. He trained at Parris Island [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal, South Carolina], Camp Lejeune [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina], North Carolina and Balboa [Annotator's Note: Balboa, California] before ending up in Hawaii. From there, he was put on a ship for the invasion of Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima; 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan]. They [Annotator's Note: the 5th Marine Division] landed at Iwo Jima and were in combat for 35 to 40 days. He was wounded in the last few days when a Japanese soldier threw a hand grenade into his foxhole. He was put on a hospital ship where he remained until they got back to Hawaii and finally returned home. He was then put in a hospital closest to his home, which was in Annapolis [Annotator's Note: Annapolis, Maryland].

Morris Semiatin volunteered for the Marine Corps [Annotator's Note: in 1944]. His brother was serving in the Army in Europe. Semiatin did not want to be in Europe, so he opted for the Marine Corps because he knew they would be sent to the Pacific. He enlisted right out of high school. He trained at Parris Island [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal, South Carolina] which was tough. The drill instructors were rough guys. From Hawaii, they [Annotator's Note: 5th Marine Division] embarked for Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima; 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan], landing in February. He saw the Japanese as the enemy, and they were tough people who took no prisoners. Semiatin was wounded on Iwo and placed on a hospital ship. Despite being wounded, he had to climb the rope ladder up to the ship. He was transferred to Hawaii to be treated. At the invasion of Iwo Jima, Semiatin saw a big battleship with her 16-inch guns firing salvo after salvo onto Mount Suribachi [Annotator's Note: the highest point on Iwo Jima]. He thought there was no way anyone could survive it. When he got to the beach, he saw rows of stretchers with wounded Americans waiting to be taken back to the hospital ship. Semiatin was only on the island for about a week before he was wounded by a Japanese throwing a grenade into his foxhole. He was a replacement until incorporated as a regular Marine. Semiatin witnessed the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: a now iconic photograph of Marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima]. They thought it signaled the end of the war was near, but when Semiatin got back to Hawaii, they began training for the invasion of Japan [Annotator's Note: Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of the Japanese Home Islands]. They soon heard that the atomic bomb [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] was dropped and they were able to go back home. Semiatin was too wounded to be assigned to occupation duty. He was brought to Annapolis [Annotator's Note: a naval hospital in Annapolis, Maryland] which was near his home and family in Baltimore [Annotator's Note: Baltimore, Maryland]. He was very happy when the war ended. If they had invaded Japan, many more people would have been killed.

Morris Semiatin [Annotator's Note: wounded in the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japan, 19 February to 26 March 1945, while serving with the 5th Marine Division] landed on Iwo Jima and immediately saw wounded troops waiting to be transported to a hospital ship. He lost his rifle, but picked up a submachine gun [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber Thompson submachine gun] from one of our men who was killed. He never fired the submachine gun. He was wounded in his leg within a week, put on a hospital ship and returned to Hawaii, then back home. He knew to keep down low to avoid being seen by the enemy. He only saw them once. He got into a foxhole and there was a dead Jap [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] next to him. From Hawaii, Semiatin went by ship to Balboa [Annotator's Note: Balboa, California] and then took a train back home [Annotator's Note: Baltimore, Maryland]. He was discharged as a PFC [Annotator's Note: private first class] in February 1946. Semiatin was friends with Ira Hayes [Annotator's Note: Ira Hamilton Hayes, a Native American Marine known as one of the men photographed raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima]. He was a quiet guy, and nice to be around. He never got into trouble. Semiatin was in Washington, D.C. for a statue dedication ceremony [Annotator's Note: perhaps referring to the dedication of the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia on 10 November 1954]. He tried to get ahold of Hayes, but he had been arrested for being drunk in Chicago [Annotator's Note: Chicago, Illinois]. Semiatin received a medical discharge from the Marine Corps. Having seen the flag raising on Iwo Jima, he felt proud to have seen history in the making.

When Morris Semiatin was discharged [Annotator's Note: in February 1946], he wanted to become a photographer, which he did. He joined a studio. He did some work at the White House. He is now retired. He is glad he survived the war and feels lucky to have seen history in the making. Seeing the flag raised on Iwo Jima was his most memorable experience of the war. The Marines raising the flag were shot at by the Japanese to try and keep them from putting the flag up. Semiatin joined the Marine Corps right out of high school to avoid being drafted into the Army and sent to Europe. He preferred to go to the Pacific. The drill instructors during training scared him quite a bit. Semiatin did not do occupation duty because he had been wounded [Annotator's Note: while serving with the 5th Marine Division in the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japan, 19 February to 26 March 1945]. He fought for all of the people who depended on the Marines to protect them. He is proud to be a Marine. To this day, he feels that he did his job, along with all other Marines.