Fourth time at Iwo Jima since 1945, 90-year-old can still hit the beach

By Don Knight He’s 90 years old now and remains the feisty, congenial one-time Marine combat correspondent who everyone calls “Obie.” Cyril  O’Brien hangs his hat in Leisure World, a sprawling retirement community in Montgomery County , Md.   But it’s just a place to recuperate between his frequent trips abroad, mostly to World War II Pacific battlegrounds. Obie has  just returned from his fourth visit to Iwo Jima . He first went ashore there in  1945 as a combat correspondent with the 3rd Marine Division. The Japanese occupants of the island were not pleased with his presence then, but what a difference 64 years can make. This time he was escorted, along with some 140 others, including war veterans from the U.S. and Japan , in vans driven by friendly Japanese guides. They stood on Hill 362, one of the landmarks of this historic battleground, then assembled atop Mt. Suribachi , accessed now by a winding road, stood on the site of the famous flag-raising, walked the invasion  beaches and gathered samples of coral sand. Off limits for tourists is the maze of underground tunnels and bunkers used by the Japanese in their 36-day defense of the island. They are considered too dangerous for exploration. During the day-long tour Obie struck up a conversation with an 82-year-old Japanese, a WWII bomber pilot, who said he was the lone survivor of a strike against the U.S. invasion fleet in February, 1945. This latest  trip to Iwo began on Guam, where one year ago Obie was guest of honor and a speaker at a re-dedication ceremony at the “War in the Pacific National Historical Park .” The site is adjacent to the beaches where Obie and his fellow Marines waded ashore in 1944. Obie turned 90 last January 30. The next night he attended the Lucas CC Chapter monthly meeting at a restaurant in Alexandria , Va.   There was a surprise waiting for him there, a birthday cake and a cold beer. He sipped his beer and blew out a single candle (the fire code prohibited a 90-candle blaze). Obie has his sights set now on Hampton , VA , and the next annual USMCCCA conference in September. As for the recent  birthday he says “I still feel the same today as I did when I was 89. It’s no big deal.”