CINCPOA Press Release No. 86
For Immediate Release
April 22, 1945
Maj. Gen. Andrew D. Bruce, Commanding General, 77th Infantry Division, whose forces captured Ie Shims, has sent the following message to FADM C. W. Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, and to the Governor of Texas:
After a bitter fight from pillbox to pillbox, cave to cave, and house to house, the 77th Infantry Division placed the American flag on top of the heavily defended pinnacle on Ie Shima on April 21, 1945. A Texas flag was placed on the bloody ridge below the fortress by the Texans of the Division in honor of those gallant Texas men who gathered at Corregidor to remember San Jacinto Day on April 21, 1942, exactly three years ago.
FADM Nimitz is a native of Fredericksburg, Texas.
Maj. Gen. Bruce is a resident of Temple, Texas.