Elderly American service men from World War II and Washington and Japanese diplomats were on the smelly, sulfer baked sands of the island of Iwo Jima today, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of one of the deadliest and bloodiest battles in American military history. Following a three day, non-stop, naval bombardment in February 1945, of the tiny island, which did nothing but chip away rocks, and failed to kill any Japanese soldiers dug into caves and rock works, 70,000 American Marines and Army soldiers stormed the island for over a month, suffering 7,000 dead and 20,000 casualities, to pacify it. It was the first of the Japanese home island's taken by the Marines in World War II, and was attacked so an air base could be constructed to permit our B-29 Flying Fortresses aircraft, bombing Japan, to have an alternative landing site when crippled, halfway from their launching at Tinian. Estimates are that over 18,000 U.S. pilots and airmen were saved when their damaged aircraft were able to land on Iwo Jima, after being crippled over the cities of Japan on bombing raids. As for the battle, a suicidal Japanese army of 20,000 men were dug into rock works all over that smelly island, and delivered a deadly blow to the Marines attacking them. Numerous times, after our soldiers moved past an area they thought they had pacified, Japanese snipers would pop up out of holes, and shoot them in the back. The Marines and Army offered no quarter, killing almost the entire Japanese military force on Iwo Jima in the battle, only about 300 were actually captured or surrendered. The battle produced three important events: The most famous picture of World War II was taken of the Marines raising the flag over Mount Surabachi, and would become the symbol of the USMC from the day it was released by the Associated Press photographer, who just happened to look in that direction at the exact instant the flag went up. The mountain offered the Japanese the cover to level enfilade fire down on the Marines swamped on the island's beaches, and unable to move inland because of the entrenched Japanese in the rocks. A special squad of Marines was sent up the mountain on the first day of the battle, solely to raise the flag, and moral of the Marines, who were shocked and pinned down by the ferocious Japanese resistance. It worked. Mt. Surabachi fell quickly, but the Japanese in the rock works were scattered all over that island, and kept appearing without warning to kill unsuspecting Marines, who fought inch by inch, and burned them out of their holes with flamethrowers. The stunning Japanese resistance and refusal to surrender although highly outnumbered, sent a message to Washington, of how hard Japan would fight should America attempt to attack and occupy their home islands in the war. Shortly after the carnage on Iwo Jima, a six month battle on Okinawa would ensue with the same type of ferocity encountered by our forces from the Japanese army. It convinced President Harry S. Truman that the only way to end the war against Japan was to use the newly developed atomic bomb on them, twice, destroying 130,000 in the blink of an eye over Hiroshima and days later Nakasaki. It convinced the Japanese to surrender, and saved an estimated 1 million American soldier casualities, should we have to invade their home islands. Finally, the battle is of particular importance to me personally, as my late father, a USMC Corporal, was shot by a Japanese sniper on Iwo Jima. He was a member of the Third Marine Division, which had defeated the Japanese on Bougainville and Guam before setting out fo the Iwo battle. He was awarded the Purple Heart for the wound. Although President Truman was criticized heavily in some quarters for dropping such a terrible weapon on humanity as the atomic bomb, those were different times, and American lives, hundred's of thousands of them were at stake, as what Tom Brokow called "The Greatest Generation" of American's in his book by the same name. The ones who fought and destroyed Nazi Germany; Fascist Italy and warloard Japan, saving the world. Often asked if he had though of issuing an apology to Japan for leveling the atomic destruction against them, Truman's replay was always the same: "I was President of the United States for the better part of seven years, including World War II, and waited patiently for an apology for Pearl Harbor and never got it." To this day, America still hasn't received that apology. To those who fought, died or were injured on Iwo Jima, and throughout America's wars, today is a special day to commemorate their bravery and sacrifice in one of the bloodiest battles the America military ever undertook. The battle is covered in the mists of history because of the famous flag raising photograph to such an extent that few remember the reason the Marines attacked and pacified it, offering no quarter and receiving none, from the enemy, was to construct an airbase which saved the lives of thousands of American pilots. RIP Iwo Jima veteran's, including Dad..........: Bless you:
My father was with a Marine, Joint Assault Signal Company (JASCO) on Iwo Jima. Most of my fathers friends were on Iwo Jima. They rarely talked about their combat experiences on Iwo or any of the other campaigns they fought in the Central Pacific or South Pacific, not even my father. The battle for Iwo Jima is considered one of the largest and bloodiest battles fought during WW ll, including the Western Front in Europe. It's what high intencity warfare is. Iwo Jima was 8 sq. miles of volcanic ash and rock where three Marine divisions of 70,000 Marines took on over 18,000 heavily armed and duged in Japanese soldiers and Imperial Japanese Marines who refused to surrender and fought to the death. Only 216 Japs survived that battle out of over 18,000. 6,821 U.S. Marines and sailors were killed in action while 19,217 were WIA. Iwo Jima was the largest amphibious assault ever conducted by one nation. The Normandy D-Day landings consisted of American, British and Canadian forces. The Okinawa battle also one of the most bloodiest battles ever fought was also an amphibious operation but the British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy were involved. I've crossed paths with over a hundred Marines who fought on Iwo Jima during my life time. When I enlisted in the Corps in Dec. of 68 I noticed for the next few years that all of the Corps flag officers were WW ll vets and most of the field grade officers were also WW ll combat vets who fought on Iwo Jima or Okinawa. I was once TAD to a Marine rifle company when I was in-country who's CO (Captain) was a combat vet on Iwo Jima. Came across a lot of senior SNCO's who were lifers and were WW ll combat vets and many fought on Iwo Jima or on Okinawa. Even came across a few who fought on Guadalcanal in 42 and even one China Marine who were considered to be "Old Corps." For those who are interested. -> IWO JIMA NAVAL GUNFIRE SUPPORT http://www.allworldwars.com/Iwo-Jima-Naval-Gunfire-Support.html Thank you Stanfan for remembering. You earned a Semper Fi.
And Thank You for adding in the exact figures of the battle, I believe more Medal's of Honor were awarded, most posthumously, for service on Iwo Jima than any other American military action in history. I had the estimates only on the casualities in my head. Your comments about the Marine survivor's of Iwo Jima, and most of the WWII battles, and Korea (where I had an uncle fight), and Vietnam, where my boy hood friend was killed, never spoke about the combat they experienced. Oh - they would tell you the funny stories and all WWII combat Marines I ever met had nothing but praise for the U.S. Navy, but we knew nothing about PTSS, known as combat fatigue then, or survivor's guilt. I perhaps gave the wrong impression regarding my father in the original post. He was awarded a Purple Heart for his wound on Iwo, shot from behind in the shoulder, but wasn't killed, and his squad, one carrying a BAR, wiped out the three Japanese snipers who had popped up out of holes behind them as they advanced. That's how Iwo was, Japanese dug in all over the place, one apparently had to have 360 vision to see everyplace they were located, that's why it took so long to pacify it. I still have the Navy Department Western Union telegram to my mother informing her he was wounded, stunning shock to read that thing, even today in my family albums. I also happen to have a Los Angeles Times photograph taken by the AP, marked [Somewhere In The Pacific] of the Purple Heart being pinned on my father, it went around the country, giving his name and hometown, another honored keepsake. He became a police officer and worked to retirement after the war, and rarely ever spoke of it. I had two glimpses into the mentality of those soldiers however. Didn't serve myself, was in Federal Law Enforcement at the time of the Vietnam War and they exempted me: One was in Virginia Beach, Va., where my Dad retired the family to. After a routine check up in the hospital across the street for something, we went to lunch at a diner. Surprisingly, the elderly, decrepit man serving us, who owned the diner, was only 60-some years old. He and my Dad got talking, and discovered their WWII roots. He was a survivor of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines at the start of the war, and was a POW throughout its entire duration. Guy looked like death warmed over from the mistreatment by the Japanese, whose opinion of, they both shared, and isn't printable here. After my Dad introduced me, they forgot all about me, and I listened spellbound, as the two of them immediately went into 1940's conversational speech as if they were 18-year old, young, strong soldiers again. It was the best history lesson I ever listened to in my life. The second incident happened at the Naval Memorial in Washington, D.C., the one with the statute of the Lone Sailor in the circular fountain pool on Pennsylvania Avenue. They have a Naval log where you can enter any member of the Navy or Marines who served, and we had put my Dad's name in it, and wanted to observe the memorial anyway. Living 2-hours from Washington, in Virginia, went there a lot, so took my parents up for a 3-day stay to see some of the sights, particularly that memorial. Surprisingly, the lady who was the volunteer on duty in the memorials main display room that day, was the daughter of the Captain of the old USS Maryland battleship. My Dad returned home from the Pacific War on that battleship with a few thousand Marines in 1945. They had been stationed on Saipan, awaiting the signal to mobilize for the final push of the war against the home Japanese island, when Truman dropped the bomb making it unnecessary, thank goodness. My Dad had nothing but praise for the Navy officers and sailors and the Captain, most of them actually gave up their bunks and chow line spots for the combat veteran Marines on the trip home to San Francisco. Dad was delighted to meet the lady, and she was just as delighted to talk about her father, and had knowledge of the Maryland ferrying Marines back to the States after World War II. Said her father considered it an honor. Odd world isn't it? Have nothing but respect for our armed services, particularly the Navy and Marines. Dad in the Pacific. An uncle who went down at Midway on the Yorktown carrier in the Navy and survived. Another who was with the USMC contingent in the Merchant Marines traveling on the convoy Lend Lease ships back and forth to the USSR, made eleven trips without getting torpedoed, that was pushing the odds. Job of the Marines on those convoys was to keep the ship moving instead of stopping to rescue people from the freezing water when torpedoed by German U-Boats. Those convoys to Russia were underneath the Nazi Luftwaffe air cover, and attacked regularly by wolfpack U-Boats, with no supporting American combat ships or planes for 900 miles of open ocean to Russia. Have a retired brother who did his 20-years on Fast Attack submarines; and nephews, one who served on the carrier Theodore Roosevelt, based in Norfolk, and another in the Air Force as a combat photographer, who flew over Iraq during Desert Storm. Some of those Air Force photos of building's being blown up on television were obviously taken by him, so, although I wasn't called to the military, but to law enforcement, a lot of my family was. Thanx for the Semper Fi comment, meant a lot when I read it. The World War II vets are dying off at an alarming rate daily, most up in their late 80's and early 90's now. Dad passed in 1995 of cancer (entire generation that were children in the Great Depression and grew up to fight World War II, all were smoker's). I would hope we never have to see our children or grandchildren in combat again, but the world isn't a very safe place, and that hope is usually not realized. The HBO television movie starring Kevin Bacon called "Taking Chance" about a Marine officer who volunteers for escort duty for a KIA Marine from Iraq, and is so moved by the experience that his travel log is made into a movie, is an excellent behind-the-scenes look at how the USMC operates, and cares for its members. Semper Fi.......STFAN
That is an excellent movie, and is a proud part of my collection. When I first saw it at the exchange while deployed I was hesitant, since a movie with Kevin Bacon did not seem like one I would be interested, but it was on sale and I took a shot (not that we had much selection). And I was greatly impressed, especially with the respect shown by the cast in making the movie. It was not exploitive, and treated it with great dignity. But the Corps is steeped in the lore of WWII. Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa more then anything else are responsible for the Corps being what it is today.
Oops!... Marines: Identities of Iwo Jima Flag Raisers Were Mistaken Jun 23, 2016 — The Marine Corps says one of the six men long identified in an iconic World War II photograph showing the raising of the American flag at Iwo Jima was actually not in the image. See also: 1 of 2 Remaining Doolittle Raiders Dies in Montana Jun 23, 2016 — One of the last two surviving members of the Doolittle Raiders — who bombed Japan in an attack that stunned that nation and boosted U.S. morale — has died in Montana, his family said.
Famous photo is of second flag raising... Corpsman Was Part of 1st Iwo Jima Flag-Raising, Marine Corps Finds Aug 24, 2016 | At 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 23, 1945, six men raised an American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Japan, in a triumphant move that drew a cheer from Marines on the mountain and fanfare from U.S. ships in the waters below. But no photographs exist of this first celebrated flag-raising.
