USS Joe Rosenthal advisors and supporters a call to arms

Download, sign and send.

October 9, 2017, is Joe’s 106th birthday and the D-Day, or “Delivery Day,” of our request and petition to the US Secretary of the Navy.

In fact, our letter and petition reached the Pentagon Thursday morning, but clearing security takes a few days. By tomorrow, the package should be on the Secretary’s desk.

We delivered 2,054 signatures with our letter, and over 800 more from the online petition will be delivered electronically tomorrow. I’m hoping by the time the online signatures are delivered, our total will be 3,000 names or more. That should get the Secretary’s attention!

This is the first salvo. Our efforts do not end tomorrow, but simply enter Phase 2. Almost 50 paper signatures have come in since we sent in our request, and they will continue to come in. The online petition will continue to bring in signatures from around the country. Our outreach efforts also continue: contacting veterans groups, making public presentations at libraries and in classrooms, and last week, participating in the 6th Annual Veterans Job Fair at the Marines Memorial Club in San Francisco, thanks to the support of MGen. Mike Myatt.

By tomorrow, our USS Joe press outreach will include Bay Area News Group (the largest publisher of daily and weekly newspapers in the Bay Area, including the San Jose Mercury News and Marin Independent Journal), the Associated Press and the Philadelphia Inquirer. More press will attract more interest and more signatures. It may also get the attention of the Navy Secretary or someone who knows him and brings the USS Joe to his attention. As more signatures come in, we will periodically deliver them to the Secretary, each delivery with a followup request, to keep the issue in front of him.

Phase 2 also includes the participation of every supporter. Now is the time to write a letter supporting the project, why Joe deserves it and why his name should not be lost to history. The names “Joe Rosenthal” and “Iwo Jima,” should be known to every Marine, every Servicemember, and every American. Keep your letter short (one page or less), sign with your rank, title or affiliation, and make it personal—when you served and why this is important to you. Secretary of the Navy Spencer is a retired Marine captain. And say “warship,” not “ship.” We don’t want Joe’s name on a skiff!

You can download a sample pdf letter here. Just add the date, your name and address, print and mail.

Please write and mail your letter as soon as possible. Mail passing through security at the Pentagon can take several days. If you mail your letter Tuesday the Secretary may not get it until Friday or next week.

The Joe Rosenthal Chapter, USMC Combat Correspondents and I remain positive the Secretary will award Joe this honor. With your help now, we will achieve that goal. Many thanks!