Today is the 65th anniversary of the landing at Iwo Jima

It would have slipped my mind, had I not met a veteran who was there, while waiting for a prescription to be filled.

He said it in passing, like it was no big deal. "I was just 19, a little kid". It was a big deal, and there aren't many of these brave men left. War was, and still is hell. Mankind, for all our many achievements, sure hasn't learned very much.



"The Battle of Iwo Jima (February 19 – March 26, 1945), or Operation Detachment, was a battle in which the United States fought for and captured Iwo Jima from Japan. The battle produced some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific Campaign of World War II.

The Japanese positions on the island were heavily fortified, with vast bunkers, hidden artillery, and 18 km (11 mi) of underground tunnels.The Americans were covered by extensive naval and air support, capable of putting an enormous amount of firepower onto the Japanese positions. The battle was the first American attack on the Japanese Home Islands, and the Imperial soldiers defended their positions tenaciously. Of the more than 18,000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner. The rest were killed or were missing and assumed dead. The U.S. invasion was charged with the mission of capturing the two airfields on Iwo Jima. Despite heavy fighting and casualties on both sides, Japanese defeat was assured from the start. Total American superiority in arms and numbers, coupled with the impossibility of Japanese retreat or reinforcement, made that there was actually no way for the Americans to lose the battle.

The battle was immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the 166 m (540 ft) Mount Suribachi by five Marines and one Navy Corpsman. The photograph records the second flag-raising on the mountain, which took place on the fifth day of the 35-day battle. The picture became the iconic image of the battle and has been heavily reproduced..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima

at Pearl Harbor have interesting stories to tell.

Shot in the right shoulder, moments after he and other Marines landed.

Semper Fi, Dad!! :patriot:

The Battle - The Land Battle

(February 19 – March 26, 1945)

D-Day February 19, 1945

Shortly before 2am on Feb. 19, 1945, the Navy's big guns opened up on Iwo Jima again, signaling the beginning of D-Day. After an hour of punishment, the fire was lifted, leaving Iwo smoking as if the entire island were on fire. Both Americans aboard their transports and the Japanese in their caves looked to the skies now. One-hundred-ten bombers screamed out of the sky to drop more bombs. After the planes left, the big guns of the Navy opened up again.

At 8:30am, the order, "Land the Landing Force," sent the first wave of Marines towards the deadly shores. Once ashore, the Marines were bedeviled by the loose volcanic ash. Unable to dig foxholes, they were sitting ducks for the hidden Japanese gunners. Heavy fire made it impossible to land men in an orderly manner. Confusion reigned on the beaches. The battle was unique in its setting. One hundred thousand men fighting on a tiny island one-third the size of Manhattan. For 36 days Iwo Jima was one of the most populated 7.5 miles on earth.

Mt. Suribachi, the 550-foot volcanic cone at the islands southern tip, dominates both possible landing beaches. From here, Japanese gunners zeroed in on every inch of the landing beach. Blockhouses and pillboxes flanked the landing areas. Within, more heavy weapons stood ready to blast the attacking Marines. Machine guns criss-crossed the beaches with deadly interlocking fire. Rockets, anti-boat and anti-tank guns were also trained on the beaches.

Every Marine, everywhere on the island was always in range of Japanese guns. The Japanese were ready. The invading US Marines fought above ground. The defending Japanese fought from below ground. The US Marines on Iwo rarely saw a Japanese soldier. Historians described U.S. forces' attack against the Japanese defense as "throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete."



http://www.iwojima.com/battle/battlec.htm