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HURRICANE — A Navy veteran and member of the American effort at Iwo Jima is long retired, but has taken to skydiving to spice things up.
Platte Durham Bayles, a former Petty Officer Third Class in the U.S. Navy who watched the now-famous raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima, took to the skies on his 89th birthday — on Friday the 13th, no less.
“Something I always wanted to do,” Bayles said.
Bayles joined the Navy in 1941 as a cook on fleet ships traveling the west coast. Before long, he was cooking on ships in the heart of the Iwo Jima war zone.
“One day we’d be feeding 500, and the next day 2,500,” he said.
On Feb. 23, 1945, the Americans captured Mount Suribachi and raised the flag in what’s become one of the most iconic American military images in history. Bayless was there to see it.
“I have the morning shift, and I was up there getting some air and all of a sudden they’re raising the flag,” he said. “I went, ‘Hey, they’re raising the flag on Mount Suribachi.’"
Back home after the war, he married the love of his life and settled down — but not too much. He said that after seeing President George H. W. Bush go skydiving, he knew he had it in him. It was a fitting birthday celebration for a man who’s never been far from the action.
