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Dave Elliott Severance (February 4, 1919 – August 2, 2021) was a United States Marine Corps colonel. During World War II, he served as the commanding officer of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines and led his company in the battle of Iwo Jima. During the battle, Severance ordered his 3rd Platoon to scale Mount Suribachi and raise the flag at the summit.
In January 1944, the Paramarines withdrew from Bougainville and returned to San Diego. In February, the Paramarines were disbanded and Captain Severance was reassigned to 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines, 5th Marine Division, where he was appointed the Easy Company commander.
In September 1944, Severance and the rest of the 5th Marine Division left San Diego for Camp Tarawa. In January 1945, the division left Camp Tarawa, stopping for a brief liberty at Pearl Harbor, before sailing west across the Pacific Ocean bound for Iwo Jima. Captain Severance celebrated his 26th birthday at sea.
Easy Company's 2nd Platoon, led by Second Lieutenant Ed Pennell, landed off course and became separated. When Severance told Colonel Harry B. Liversedge that his company was not ready to move out off the beach because his 2nd Platoon was missing, Liversedge threatened Severance with a Court-martial if he did not find his missing platoon in the next five minutes. Severance located the platoon shortly after.
Severance led Easy Company off the beach under heavy fire and played a role in helping to cut Mount Suribachi off from the rest of the island before the day was over. By the end of February 21, Severance's company was positioned at the base of Suribachi.
On February 22, Navy planes bombed Suribachi and Friendly fire Severance and his Marines for the Japanese. Severance was unable to have his location marked with as the bombs continued to fall closer to his position, and he radioed to Colonel Liversedge to stop the bombing. The planes were called off and Severance spent the rest of the day preparing for the assault up Mount Suribachi.
Schrier led his platoon up Suribachi and raised the flag Johnson had given him. James Forrestal, the Secretary of the Navy, arrived at the beach just as the flag was raised. The morale among the Marines greatly increased upon seeing the flag and Forrestal said to General Holland Smith that "the raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years." Forrestal was so excited that he then decided he wanted to keep the flag as a souvenir.
Johnson then ordered Severance to have his Marines lay a telephone wire up to the top of Suribachi. Severance ordered four Marines from 2nd Platoon, Sergeant Michael Strank, Corporal Harlon Block, and Private First Classes Ira Hayes and Franklin Sousley to reel a telephone wire up the mountain from the battalion command post. He then sent his runner, Private First Class Rene Gagnon, to the battalion command post to obtain radio batteries for Schrier. As the five Marines arrived at the command post, Tuttle also returned to Johnson with a 96 by 56 inch flag which he had acquired from USS LST-779. Johnson handed the flag to Gagnon and then told Strank to raise the second flag and have Schrier "save the small flag for me."
Strank then led the small group up Suribachi; where Strank, Block, Hayes, Sousley, and Private First Classes Harold Schultz USMC Statement on Marine Corps Flag Raisers , Office of U.S. Marine Corps Communication, June 23, 2016 and Harold Keller raised the second flag. The second flag raising was captured in the famous photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal. The first flag was brought back down Suribachi and returned to Lieutenant Colonel Johnson, who promptly placed it in the battalion safe.
On March 2, Lieutenant Colonel Johnson was killed by a mortar round. On March 17, Severance began receiving requests to identify the Marines in the photograph of the second flag raising. He ignored the requests as his company was still fighting the battle. One of the flag raisers, Franklin Sousley, was killed a few days later on March 21. Shortly after Sousley was killed, Severance learned that his wife had given birth to a Stillbirth baby.
On March 26, Severance led his battered company off Iwo Jima. A total of 310 Marines and Navy corpsmen served with Easy Company during the battle. Only 50 walked off the island, an 84 percent casualty rate. Severance was never wounded during the battle, and he was the only Easy Company officer to walk off the line once the battle concluded.
After the battle, Severance returned to Camp Tarawa with the 5th Marine Division. He began training a new company in preparation of the invasion of Japan, but then the war ended. He then took part in occupation duty in Japan in late 1945 as the executive officer of 2/28.
Upon retirement, Severance and his wife settled in La Jolla. In the 1980s, he began searching for surviving Easy Company Marines and organized multiple reunions. In the late 1990s, Severance gave a number of interviews to James Bradley while he was writing his book Flags of Our Fathers. Bradley's father, John Bradley, served with Easy Company as a corpsman and was originally identified as one of the flag raisers. Severance had also recommended John Bradley for the Navy Cross for his actions at Iwo Jima.
On February 4, 2019, Severance celebrated his centenarian. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Robert Neller, sent a letter to Severance on his birthday, stating "you played a crucial role in shaping the warrior ethos of our Corps."
Severance died on August 2, 2021, at his home in La Jolla. He was 102 years old and was buried at the Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego on September 15.
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