By Bill Coate</p><p>Nature Called Just in Time</p><p>The battle for Iwo Jima during World War II is known as one of the most fiercely fought contests in military history. When the shooting was over in March 1945, more than 5,000 U.S. Marines had made the ultimate sacrifice.</p><p>As for the Japanese, just a few survived out of more than 20,000 of their countrymen who died trying to save the island for their Emperor. This handful of Japanese soldiers hid themselves in the nearby caves, refusing to surrender.</p><p>Within 30 days, thousands of Seabees went to work on Iwo Jima building a huge airfield for the B-29 Superfortresses that were coming to use the newly won island for a base from which they could bomb the cities of Japan.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Japanese holdouts from the Battle of Iwo Jima remained in the mountain caves by day and snuck out at night to take revenge by stealth. One of these Japanese soldiers was Sgt. Toshihiko Ohno.</p><p>One night Ohno left the dampness of his cave and slipped down to where the Americans were camped. He was armed with grenades he would use in his surprise attack.</p><p>When Ohno reached level ground, he looked for the largest tent, assuming that would be the American headquarters. It didn't take the sergeant long to find the one he was looking for, and within minutes he was crawling up to the flap of the tent for a peek inside.</p><p>As Ohno lifted the door and looked in the tent, he discovered it wasn't the command post he thought. Instead, he had chosen the mess tent, and there was only one U.S. Marine there &#x97; the cook &#x97; who was fast asleep on a cot.</p><p>Not to be denied his revenge, Ohno pulled the pin on one of his grenades and tossed it under the sleeping soldier's cot. It didn't go off.</p><p>Ohno tried again with a second grenade, and it too failed, making only a hissing sound. With mounting frustration, Ohno threw another grenade in the tent, and it failed as well. All three grenades had been ruined by the extremely damp conditions in his hideout cave.</p><p>Then before he could roll a fourth grenade, providence stepped in to save the sleeping cook's life. A Marine from another tent had felt the call of nature and had wandered out in the night to answer that call. In the process he caught Sgt. Ohno in his act of sabotage and captured him.</p><p>The sleeping American, meanwhile, slept through the ruckus, having survived by a strange twist in time. He most likely never found out that his life had been saved by the dampness of the caves on Iwo Jima and one comrade's need to heed the call of nature in the night.