{"id":6218,"date":"2025-05-21T17:52:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T17:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/?page_id=6218"},"modified":"2025-07-17T18:05:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T18:05:42","slug":"don-graves-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/concert\/featured-stories\/don-graves-story\/","title":{"rendered":"DON GRAVES&#8217; STORY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div  class=\" wp-block-pbs-blocks-row no-image\">\n\n            \n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col no-image has-parallax has-aspect-ratio\" >\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                            \n<div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-media-card has-video\" style=\"background-image:url('https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/13_Jack-Moran-720x480.jpg');\">\n        \n                    <div class=\"responsive_embed\">\n                <div class=\"responsive_embed_inner\">\n                                        <iframe id=\"video_6181\"\n                    width=\"100%\"\n                    allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\n                            frameborder=\"0\"\n                            src=\"https:\/\/player.pbs.org\/partnerplayer\/LXGC-fOoB-r4xiN9aGjZyQ==\/?start=0&amp;end=0&amp;topbar=false&amp;autoplay=false&amp;muted=false&amp;endscreen=true\">\n                    <\/iframe>\n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                \n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col no-image has-aspect-ratio has-blue-background-color\" style=\"background-color:#1c2838;\">\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                            \n<div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-content has-pdt-60 has-pdb-60 has-pdl-60 has-pdr-60\">\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                \n\n<h1 class=\"has-gold-color has-text-color has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\"><strong><strong>IWO JIMA VETERAN<\/strong><\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-text-align-center has-gold-color\">CPL. DON GRAVES, USMC<\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background-color:#e1e7ec;\" class=\" wp-block-pbs-blocks-row no-image has-light-gray-background-color\">\n\n            \n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col no-image\" >\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                            \n<div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-content has-pdt-60 has-pdb-60 has-pdl-60 has-pdr-60\">\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                \n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Don Graves was nearly 17 years old when he heard President Roosevelt\u2019s address to Congress after the attack on Pearl Harbor.&nbsp; After joining the Marines, he was assigned to the 5th Marine Division and sent to the Pacific. Graves was a flamethrower, carrying a 72-pound weapon on his back filled with five gallons of liquid fuel. His platoon, the 28th Regiment, was assigned to take Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima, facing relentless attacks day and night from Japanese troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The bloodiest battle in U.S. Marine Corp history, the battle for Iwo Jima cost the lives of nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines and Navy personnel and caused nearly 20,000 additional casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-huge-font-size\"><\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col has-image has-background-size-small has-background-center-position\" style=\"background-image:url('https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/DON-GRAVES_0001-scaled.jpg');\">\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                            \n\n<p class=\"has-huge-font-size\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-huge-font-size\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<div  class=\" wp-block-pbs-blocks-row no-image\">\n\n            \n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col has-image has-background-size-large has-background-center-position\" style=\"background-image:url('https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Entrance_to_Fifth_Marine_Division_Cemetery.jpg');\">\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                            \n<div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-content\">\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                \n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\">.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\">.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\">.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\">.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\">.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\">.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\">.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\">.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\">.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\">.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:1px\">.<\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col no-image has-dark-gold-background-color\" style=\"background-color:#91816d;\">\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                            \n<div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-content has-pdt-60 has-pdb-60 has-pdl-60 has-pdr-60\">\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                \n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><span style=\"color:#ffffff\" class=\"tadv-color\">Marching through the Marines\u2019 Cemetery to give his buddies and officers a final goodbye, Don Graves noticed a paper tacked up to the archway. Every Marine read it:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left has-medium-font-size\"><span style=\"color:#ffffff\" class=\"tadv-color\"><em><em>\u201cFellas, when you go home, tell the folks we did our best, that they may have many more tomorrows.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background-color:#6D5F4F;\" class=\" wp-block-pbs-blocks-row no-image has-darker-brown-background-color\">\n\n            \n    <div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-col no-image\" >\n        <div class=\"content\">\n\n                            \n<div class=\"wp-block-pbs-blocks-content has-pdt-60 has-pdb-60 has-pdl-60 has-pdr-60\">\n    <div class=\"content\">\n                \n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-huge-font-size\">For More Resources<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/help-military-families\/support-volunteer\/\">Support\/Volunteer<\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalww2museum.org\/\">The National World War II Museum<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-huge-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/national-memorial-day-concert\/concert\/featured-stories\/\">Return to 2025 Featured Stories<\/a><\/p>\n\n            <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n                    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"parent":6174,"menu_order":90,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6218","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>DON GRAVES&#039; STORY - National Memorial Day Concert - PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gold Star families forever carry the pain of having lost their loved ones. 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