Flamethrower
A Marine Medal of Honor winner has been battling to block the distribution of Bryan Mark Rigg’s Flamethrower (Fidelis Press), the incredible, all-encompassing, controversial and meticulously researched account of the crucial battle of Iwo Jima during World War II and two of its intriguing soldiers, each from an opposite side of the fight.
One of those intriguing characters is Corporal Hershel Woodrow “Woody” Williams, the Medal of Honor winner cited for having strapped on a highly flammable 70-pound pack and entered combat as a surefire walking target. That’s the job and the horror of a Marine Corps flamethrower man.
Rigg documents the battle itself in all its gore, and then the actions, events and controversy surrounding Williams receiving the Medal of Honor. Did Woody get the medal because the Marines felt he merited it? Was political pressure a factor? Rigg leaves no stone unturned.
In the course of examining details of his research regarding Williams, Rigg uncovered “troubling facts that made me struggle with a different sort of battle that many scholars encounter: the pursuit of evidence against interest.”
Not only did Rigg face objections from Williams himself, after Rigg started to see problems with the Marine’s self-reporting that called into doubt the extent of his heroics, but also the grandson of the Imperial Japanese Army’s Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who commanded Iwo Jima and was said to be one of Japan’s toughest leaders.
“This book has been written with much soul-searching, heartache and many a sleepless night,” says Rigg. “I hope you agree that it is far better to deal with uncomfortable truths rather than beautiful lies if we want to learn from history to build a better society.”