The unknown story of war hero Frank Jirka, a Czech compatriot who lost both legs in the battle for Iwo Jima
In February and March 1945, the Americans fought a bloody battle for the small Pacific island of Iwo Jima. The island of less than thirty square miles, was strategically located, a crucial "stepping stone" on the way to mainland Japan and securing overall victory in World War II. A number of our compatriots fought in the ranks of the American troops and helped make history.
You have probably seen the iconic photo of the Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima, even if you're not very interested in World War II history. Postage stamps and monuments have captured that moment, a feature film was made about the soldiers' fate, and photographer Joe Rosenthal won the Pulitzer Prize for it.
Until recently, it was a little-known fact that one of the soldiers, who was killed in the Battle of Iwo Jima just days after reaching the island's highest point, Mount Surabachi was Czechoslovakian-born Michael Strank.
The discovery of Frank Jirka, grandson of Chicago Mayor Antonin Cermak
While researching the history of Czechoslovaks and Czech-Americans during my stay in Chicago, I came across another interesting name of a fellow countryman associated with the Battle of Iwo Jima: Frank Jirka, who was severely wounded in the battle and had to have both of his legs amputated.
Jirka came from a prominent Czech family, his grandfather was Antonín Cermák, a native of Kladno, who served as the mayor of Chicago in 1931-1933 and was a close friend of the American president Franklin Roosevelt. He had Czech roots from both parents, his mother Eliška (1896-1988) was the daughter of the aforementioned Čermák and Maria Horejší from Lišov in South Bohemia. Although his father, Frank Joseph Jirka (1886-1963), was born in Chicago, his ancestors emigrated to the United States in the second half of the 19th century from Nymburk.
The Jirkas were an important part of an active expatriate community that was concentrated in Chicago in a suburb called Cicero, where Frank Joseph Jirka Jr. was born on July 23, 1922. Shortly after he graduated from high school, war broke out and the then 19-year-old Jirka volunteered for military service in the spring of 1942 and was assigned to the U.S. Navy.
After completing his training, he became a member of the UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams), the Navy's partially forgotten elite units that had been formed in response to previous wartime events:
In November 1943, the Americans landed at Tarawa Atoll, and from the start the operation was fraught with problems: due to poor reconnaissance and timing, the landing boats were stuck on coral reefs, and the soldiers often had to advance hundreds of meters through the water under Japanese fire. In response to the heavy losses, American commanders learned a hard lesson on how to better conduct amphibious operations. Among other things, they established UDT units that were to conduct underwater surveys of the coastline, to determine the depth of the water, the type of seabed in the area , to check for any obstacles in the way (e.g. coral reef) and remove mines.
Iwo Jima reconnaissance and tragic incident
UDT units then played a key role in the invasions of Saipan and Guam, but in February 1945, they faced their greatest challenge: the first Japanese island named Iwo Jima. Jirka was part of UDT Unit 12, which consisted of approximately one hundred men. Formed at Fort Pierce, Florida, from where they moved to the west coast of the US in late September 1944 and on to the Hawaiian Islands for further training. UDT teams approached Iwo Jima on 16 February 1945 and began intensive reconnaissance of the coast.
Team 12 conducted a reconnaissance of four sectors of the landing beaches: the troops were deployed by a landing craft at a distance of approximately 500 yards from the shore, the swimmers, divided into pairs, then conducted a detailed reconnaissance before returning to their vessels to compile the information into maps and reports to be forwarded to higher command for the upcoming landing.
During a reconnaissance mission on the eastern beaches, the Americans faced very heavy enemy fire from machine guns, mortars and cannons, which took heavy casualties. Frank Jirka successfully completed his mission and he and the others were ordered back to the landing craft.
Jirka later recalled: "Just when we were about 400 yards from our beaches (about 366 meters, author's note), all hell broke loose. Mortars, shore guns, machine guns and small arms fire showered us from all sides. Only ten minutes ago, the island looked dead. We tried to call in counter-fire support, but it was futile because we couldn't pinpoint where the fire was coming from. The Japanese had cross-deployed defensive positions, entangled trenches, firing positions and rat-hole-like caves."
Jirka and his shipmate tried to find their landing craft to help identify the enemy targets, but they couldn't find the right ship - instead, another one was now in position, which would later prove fatal.
"We decided to board her and try to guide our artillery fire from her. Before I knew it, I was lying on the deck wounded. I tried to get up, but I couldn't. I didn't feel any pain, so I looked down to see why I couldn't get up. That's when I noticed a pair of severed feet close to my body, without shoes or socks. I thought to myself that they couldn't be mine because I had shoes on when I got on the boat. It was only when I felt a sudden pain that I realized that the torn pieces of skin and bone were all that was left of my feet. Then I crawled to the stern of the bridge, because the place where I had been standing was no longer there. I asked for morphine and injected myself."
Return to civilian life and achievements in medicine
Thus the Battle of Iwo Jima and the entire Second World War ended for Frank Jirka. He was one of the first soldiers wounded in that bloody battle. He became a war invalid with no legs. Despite this, he managed to return to civilian life, continued the family tradition and studied medicine. He became a prominent physician and even became president of the American Medical Association in 1983. He retired seven years later.
Frank Jirka spent most of his life in Illinois and later moved to the Chicago suburb of Barrington Hills.
One of our most important, but sadly also most forgotten, war heroes died on October 2, 2000 at the age of 78.
Jiří Klůc is a Czech historian with a profound interest in the intricacies of 20th-century history, particularly the events surrounding World War II. He graduated from Charles University Prague, and is currently pursuing his Ph.D., focusing on the history of Czechoslovakia and Central Europe during the 20th century. He is committed to helping preserve the stories of Holocaust survivors and War veterans, with the goal of safeguarding their testimonies for future generations.
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