Chance Meeting For Two WWII Veterans In South Philadelphia
By Steve Patterson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The United States Marine Corps celebrated it's 239th birthday Monday in South Philadelphia.
But there was a chance meeting at the celebration that was almost seventy years in the making.
It is a birthday party unlike any other.
An authentically South Philadelphia celebration of "Semper Fi."
"I knew the Marine Corps hymn when I was in the womb," a resident said.
For the last 40 years, this mix of honorable tribute and military tailgate has been held outside Cookie's Tavern.
But on this Monday, the Corps' 239th birthday, something even more special happened.
"It was one of the worst battles the Marine Corps ever had," said WWII Veteran Mahlon Fink.
WWII Veteran Mahlon Fink, a survivor of the Battle of Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest in American history featuring 7,000 American deaths, came to shake hands with fellow vets here for the first time.
He's one of the last surviving members of the invasion's 5th Division.
Then special -- turned miraculous.
"I was in the second wave, the first wave all got killed and I was the only survivor," said WWII Veteran Louis LaGioia.
Out of nowhere, Louis LaGioia, a member of the 5th Division's 28th Regiment - you know, the one raising the flag in one of the most iconic war images ever captured - also showed up.
And for the first time in 70 years, two of the war's oldest veterans, in one of the most harrowing battles, were together again -- shaking hands for first time.
(Reporter:) "Did you think you would see another Marine?"
"Never, I thought they were all dead but me," LaGioia said.
Louis' daughter Angela put it into perspective.
"By some miracle this gentleman was out here. And he said 'Oh my God, there is somebody from my division here?' I thought he was going to cry," Angela LaGioia said.
Here, these men are rock stars.
They took pictures, they traded stories -- and for a moment as iconic as any -- they stood shoulder to shoulder again -- for an anthem in their honor.
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