Two days before the Marines landed on Iwo Jima, Ensign Joe Artman and other Underwater Demolition Team "frogmen" performed an elaborate daylight reconnaissance of the island's shoreline amid a torrent of gun and mortar fire.
In mid-February 1945, I was a lieutenant (junior grade) serving on the staff of Rear Admiral William H. P. "Spike" Blandy, commander of the Amphibious Support Force for the invasion of Iwo Jima. On the 16th, three days before the scheduled landing, Admiral Blandy's flagship, the USS Estes (AGC-12), was at anchor several thousand yards off Iwo's Mount Suribachi. Alongside was the USS Bates (APD-47), which carried Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) 12.
