HOLLYWOOD MARINE, BUT NOT BY CHOICE
Marines who go through recruit training at San Diego are
often called “Hollywood Marines.” This referral comes almost exclusively from
Marines who underwent “real” recruit training at Parris Island.
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| EDWIN CANTER FIRST SAW WW II COMBAT AS A SEA-GOING MARINE |
On my 14th day as rocket crew chief, I was shot
off the rocket truck by a Japanese sniper.
Rocket trucks always drew an angry fusillade of counter-battery fire, so
my buddies knew they had to get me away from the launch site fast.
A U.S. Coast Guard motion picture crew happened to film my
buddies as they tried to move me to a safer place. However, when enemy shells started coming in,
my buddies dropped me and dove for cover.
I was wounded again, this time by shrapnel --
the two Coast Guardsmen were killed.”
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| CANTER BEING MOVED TO SAFER PLACE AFTER BEING HIT BY SNIPER |
Canter underwent surgery on the beach and was placed aboard
a hospital ship which took him to a hospital on Guam. He was later moved to a hospital in Hawaii,
and finally to hospitals in Oakland, California and Norfolk, Virginia.
Even though the film crew perished, the film survived and
made its way into numerous newsreels in the states. The sequence eventually became part of the
1949 movie, “Sands of Iwo Jima,” starring John Wayne.
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| U.S. COAST GUARD FILM SEQUENCE USED IN SANDS OF IWO JIMA CPL EDWIN CANTER KEYED IN NAMES OF EACH ROCKET CREW MEMBER |
Now in his 97th year, Edwin Canter is the most
improbable of “Hollywood Marines.”
His demeanor is much more akin to an educator than Marine –
as it should. After graduating from
Appalachian State University, he served Wilkes County Schools for 35 years –
eight as a teacher, and 27 as a principal.
An undergraduate and master’s degree isn’t all he received
as a Mountaineer. While they were
college seniors, he and a Forest City coed, Ruth Bridges, were married in June,
1948.
One daughter, Rachel Canter Yarbrough, and her husband,
Jack, live in Greensboro. They have two
children – Ryan and Rebecca.
Canter was born on the last day of December, 1920, in North
Wilkesboro, North Carolina, and graduated from Millers Creek High School in
1938.
He hasn’t strayed far from his mountain roots, excluding his
travels as a World War II Marine. He
makes his home nowadays on Brushy Mountain Road in Moravian Falls, North
Carolina.
“I joined the Marine Corps in Winston-Salem on July 7,
1942. After boot camp, I went to Sea
School, after which I went aboard USS Santa
Fe. We entered combat against the
Japanese in the Aleutian Islands in July, 1943.
We bombarded Attu and Kiska initially and supported the U.S. landing at
Kiska in August, 1943. Marines manned 20
millimeter gun turrets on the cruiser -- it wasn’t long before I had a
perforated ear drum. After that, we
spent four months patrolling the area to prevent Japanese naval operations,”
Canter recalls.
After Canter’s tour on the Santa Fe, he completed infantry training at Camp Elliott in California. From there, he shipped out to Camp Beaumont,
on Hawaii’s Oahu Island, where he underwent 4.5 inch rocket training. Upon completion of that training, he was
assigned to the 1st Rocket Detachment, 4th Marine
Division – destinations Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima.
Iwo Jima was the deadliest battle in history for the Marine
Corps, almost 7000 Marines were killed in action. Canter and his Rocket Detachment went ashore
on D-Day, February 19, 1945. Four days
into the battle, the Stars and Stripes went up on Mount Suribachi. Ten days later, Rocket Crew Chief Edwin
Canter went down. Even though the battle
for Iwo Jima would go on until March 26 -- for Corporal Canter, the war was
over.
In addition to his purple heart (he should have been awarded
two purple hearts), his Marine Corps decorations include presidential unit
citations for Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima; Navy unit commendation for Iwo Jima;
and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign ribbon with four stars.
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| ONLY TWO OF CANTER'S IWO JIMA ROCKET CREW SURVIVE "I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO REACH THE OTHER SURVIVOR IN SEVERAL WEEKS, AND I AM WORRIED ABOUT HIM," SAYS CANTER |
It would be difficult for a single Wilkes County resident to
have missed meeting Edwin J. Canter over his 96 years. He was inducted into the Wilkes County Hall
of Fame in 2015.
His associations include the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post
1142, Disabled American Veterans, Wilkes Business and Professional Club,
American Legion, Kiwanis Club, Wilkes County Retired Teachers Association, and
Marine Corps League.
A charter member of the Brushy Mountain Fire Department and
Brushy Mountain Ruritan Club, he is an active member of Wilkesboro United
Methodist Church, where he has been a member since 1959.
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