At their final monthly meal together, a salute for the few, the proud of Iwo Jima

http://www.omaha.com/columnists/kelly/kelly-at-their-final-monthly-meal-together-a-salute-for/article_a1ca7d8c-f194-5609-98b5-89f19be4fda6.html

By Michael Kelly

They never raised a flag on Mount Suribachi, but three Marine veterans of Iwo Jima raised glasses in a champagne toast to fallen comrades — at a final monthly meal.

On Thursday evening at the Bohemian Cafe, 90-year-old Duane Tunnyhill toasted “our brothers,” those who died in the war and those who survived but have since departed. Iwo vets Joseph “Pep” Vocelka, 91, and Leroy Hanson, 92, joined him.

“We’re dwindling down,” Hanson said. Vocelka said that “it’s been a lot of years.”

Tunnyhill dates the monthly gatherings of Iwo Jima survivors to 1976, the time of a 5th Marine Division reunion in Omaha. Local Iwo vets, regardless of their military division, since have met for lunch at various restaurants.

FULL story at link.