Third Marine Division

Special Footage

Iwo Jima

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Corporal Albert Hugh Baird
[Pending]

Note: right click video and select Loop to repeat.

There are several indicators that the soldier in this video is, in all likelihood, Corporal Albert Hugh Baird lowering himself into a Higgins boat on February 20, 1945 (D+1) in Iwo Jima around 8:30 AM.

1) The video title, “United States 3rd Marine Division go over side on cargo net to LCVP below from attack transport in Iwo Jima, Japan”, description, “United States 3rd Marine Division goes ashore in Iwo Jima” and markers (see screenshot below) indicate that this is footage of the 3rd Marine Division AND, according to the January 1945 Muster Roll 0916, Corporal Albert H Baird was in the Headquarters Company, 3rd Pioneer Battalion of the 3rd Marine Division.

2) Although the quality of the video makes it difficult to see, the visible writing on the bag around the soldier’s waist is “B?i?d” and “A”, where “?” is an unknown character (see descriptive screenshots below), AND, according to the January 1945 Muster Roll 0916, and assuming that the signature is written last name then first or just first initial (see note below), there was only one soldier in the 3rd Marine Division on Iwo Jima with a last name that is short and contains “B”, “i” and “d” and a first name starting with an “A” – Albert H Baird.

Note: exhaustive, regular expression searches against the January 1945 Muster Roll 0916 were performed using various combinations of the visible letters in alternating last name, first name and middle initial combinations and taking into account the relative length of the names. Based on the search results, an assumption was made that the name is actually written as either last name then first or last name then first name initial.

Video sources:
1) http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675071341 @ 00:35.
Note: I am not, in any way, affiliated with CriticalPast.com

2) https://youtu.be/zszJ5_u-9P0?t=35s

Research sources:
1) FindAGrave Memorial 127216504
2) Legacy Obituary 177136447
3) National Archives January 1945 Muster Roll 0916.
According to the muster roll, Albert’s Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) was 533 – DEMOLITION SPECIALIST {Engineer}.
4) Ancestry.com

This is a screenshot from a portion of the previous footage.

After very close, frame by frame, examination using an imaging application to vary contrast, gamma, saturation and sharpness, the signature on the bag around the soldier’s waist does seem to have a short first name starting with a “B” (see next, descriptive screenshot), containing an “i” (dot of “i” visible) and ending with a “d” ( tall portion of “d” visible). The next character is definitely an “A”. The conclusion was made that the “A” is the first name initial. Although it appears to be separated from the next portion of “text” by a space and could be a middle initial, no Muster Roll search results taking all visible text into account were found. Therefore, either the text after the “A” is “lbert” in “Albert” or, because it is so small and indiscernible, not writing at all.

This is a screenshot from a portion of the previous footage.

Although the first letter in the previous screenshot and in most of the footage appears to be a “Z” or “S”, it is actually a “B” as seen in this higher resolution still. The “B” is written similar to a “3” with the bottom loop extending vertically.