Japanese Iwo Jima eyewitness tells it in his own words

MSN Japan News Manichi ^ | 20 February 2007 | As Indicated

[gunnyg]

"On the morning of February 23, he saw the first U.S. flag go up on Suribachi's peak, followed shortly thereafter by the second, larger flag, the raising of which was immortalized at 1/400th second in Rosenthal's famous photograph. Akikusa's descriptions up to this point correspond completely to American accounts of the event. But what followed afterward appears to contradict the official U.S. Naval version of the battle.

The following morning, as Akikusa relates in his book, "It was not the Stars & Stripes, but the Nissho-ki (Japanese Sun flag) that was waving. Even though the peak was the target of attack from every direction on the island, I thought how hard they must have fought, and tears naturally came to my eyes. The valiant fighters were defending Mt. Suribachi to the death."

The U.S. troops quickly hauled down the Japanese standard and replaced it with their own flag. But early the next morning, February 25, "the Nissho-ki was once again fluttering in the morning sunshine. It was a dazzling, beautiful sight."

"The flag was a different one from the day before," Akikusa recalls. "It was a smaller one, and square. It may have been improvised. The red circle in the center looked brownish, so it could have been blood."

"It may have been made out of a shirt. It moved me to tears. 'Our guys are still up there,' I thought. 'They're giving everything they've got. So will I.'"

"I had hoped to see the Nissho-ki still flying the next morning, but that miracle was not to be," Akikusa writes. "I said to myself, 'Well, I guess that's the end of it.'"

By March 8, the US attackers had turned their overwhelming numerical superiority on Mt. Tamana. Akikusa, wounded in the left leg and right hand, witnessed scenes of incredible carnage. Unconscious from multiple wounds, he awakened in a POW hospital on Guam.

Repatriated after the war, Akikusa called on the families of comrades killed in the fighting. But his visits were not necessarily welcomed.

"Their reactions were about half positive and half negative," he relates. "Many of them told me, 'We've already completed our Buddhist memorial services.' I guess they wanted to put it behind them as quickly as they could."

Shukan Bunshun asks Akikusa if he felt deaths of his comrades in arms was meaningful.

"Considering how this country has been without war for the past 60 years, I think it's commendable," Akikusa replies. "If you regard them as 'sacrificial stones' who caused Japan to relinquish what it sought to become in those times, then I

On the morning of February 23, he saw the first U.S. flag go up on Suribachi's peak, followed shortly thereafter by the second, larger flag, the raising of which was immortalized at 1/400th second in Rosenthal's famous photograph. Akikusa's descriptions up to this point correspond completely to American accounts of the event. But what followed afterward appears to contradict the official U.S. Naval version of the battle.

The following morning, as Akikusa relates in his book, "It was not the Stars & Stripes, but the Nissho-ki (Japanese Sun flag) that was waving. Even though the peak was the target of attack from every direction on the island, I thought how hard they must have fought, and tears naturally came to my eyes. The valiant fighters were defending Mt. Suribachi to the death."

The U.S. troops quickly hauled down the Japanese standard and replaced it with their own flag. But early the next morning, February 25, "the Nissho-ki was once again fluttering in the morning sunshine. It was a dazzling, beautiful sight."

"The flag was a different one from the day before," Akikusa recalls. "It was a smaller one, and square. It may have been improvised. The red circle in the center looked brownish, so it could have been blood."

"It may have been made out of a shirt. It moved me to tears. 'Our guys are still up there,' I thought. 'They're giving everything they've got. So will I.'"

"I had hoped to see the Nissho-ki still flying the next morning, but that miracle was not to be," Akikusa writes. "I said to myself, 'Well, I guess that's the end of it.'" CONTINUED....

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/p20061211p2g00m0dm003000c.html

[gunnyg]

Living Japanese Survivor Eyewitness Account...Iwo Jima Flag Raising, Etc. ???

[wgflyer]

"...witnessed scenes of incredible carnage..."

In this case, I suppose he means Japanese carnage, as opposed to all the other carnage that was wreaked upon soldiers and civilians alike under Japanese domination.

[Buffalo Bob]

Even Ellen Degenerate will orally satisfy this guy at the next Oscars.

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Japanese soldier survivor from Iwo jima? Not bloody likely. Sounds like BULL FEATHERS to me.

[usmcobra]

His life was saved by Americans.

Were it the other way around would an American have been saved in the same way?

[2banana]

To sum up "We got our asses handed to us..."

[sergeantdave]

I'm having a hard time believing this.

All the Marines I talked to who were on Iwo never mentioned a Japanese flying on Suribachi at this period. You would think a Marine or sailor somewhere at sometime would have mentioned this Japanese flag raising, at least in passing.

[Captain Rhino]

I have a friend whose father was a company commander on Iwo Jima.

Based on his accounts, the carnage was mutual.

(By this time the Japanese had three years of experience in being attacked by the Americans and understood how to organize the ground and conduct the defense to inflict maximum casualties even while ultimately losing the battle. This experience is what made the casualties on Iwo Jima and Okinawa so heavy. They, in turn, impacted Allied planning and casualty estimates for Operation "Downfall" (the invasion of Japan) and probably played some role (although how much is disputed) in Truman's decision to use atomic weapons.)

Returning to the father, by Day 5, only a squad or so of the original members of his company remained. The father lasted until about Day 30, when he was seriously wounded in the chest during fighting around a very substantial (i.e., battleship shell fire resistant) bunker complex in the NE quadrant of this incredibly small island.

Although the father recovered and went on to retire as a colonel, he - typical of his generation - did not reveal any of his Iwo Jima experience to his son until the son, then serving as a Marine infantry officer himself, visited Iwo Jima in the mid 1980's.

As a final note on the measure of the ferocity of the fighting, the son noted on his Iwo Jima visit that, except for the beaches (where the sand remains black due to wave action), the "soil" covering most of Iwo Jima appears orange. When you pick up a handful, it turns out to consist largely of rusted steel shrapnel pulverized by repeated shelling and bombing during the battle. He said that there is also a lot of bone fragment lying on the ground. This probably goes a long way to explain why the Japanese government keeps the island closed to visitation by the general public. It is literally an open grave.

[nanook]

No way. She's a muff diver.

[WBL 1952]

He probably did see the japanese flag each morning flying over Suribachi...........but ony because his mind wanted him to.

[RaceBannon]

I have serious doubts about this.....

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

There were some Japanese Rock Island survivors, not many. Most, like this guy were taken unconscious.

I used to work for a guy who was a Jewish-German immigrant (actually refugee) who served in the U.S. Army during the War in the Pacific. He said towards the end they actually felt sorry for the poor Japanese bastards. He saw a Marine shoot a Japanese captive, who unlike most of his compatriots, actually wanted to live. The Marine need to strip search the captive and gestured for him to remove his shirt, in part by unbuttoning his own. When the Marine began to button his, the captive followed suit. The Marine again gestured for him to remove his shirt, the Jap complied, only to start buttoning it again after Marine buttoned his.

After a few cycles of this pantomime, the Marine grew disgusted and shot the captive. Good thing John Murtha wasn't there to witness it.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Were it the other way around would an American have been saved in the same way?

No. No way. The Japs had a very low threshold for killing prisoners.

[ansel12]

"Japanese soldier survivor from Iwo jima? Not bloody likely. Sounds like BULL FEATHERS to me."






"Out of a total Japanese garrison of 21,000 men, only 1,023 men survived, including Akikusa. He was seriously wounded during the pre-invasion bombardment in February 1945 and did not take part in the fighting. Found unconscious in the battle's aftermath, he was evacuated to a hospital in Guam and repatriated the following year."

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

I think we both know the answer to that one.

[wgflyer]

Thank you for that. I enjoyed reading it.

I always find the personal perspectives of people who were there fascinating. I am currently deeply engrossed in Churchill's account. The more I get perspectives contemporary with WWII and events leading to it the more I am convinced that we are, today, heading into some very hard times. History is a great tool if we aren't afraid to use it.

Take care.

[skr]

Perhaps it didn't it matter if the losing flag was in that spot a couple of times. It's the flag that remains (particularly if a photo is taken) that earns a place in history.

[gunnyg]

NOTE:

There has been remarks that the info from this book has already found its way onto the Japanese version of Wikipedia--I have not seen that myself. However, once a story is in print, it assumes more importance, etc.

I would be surprised if this info did NOT find its way, one way or another, into the lore of the flag raising, just as did the story of Rosenthal's pic being "posed" (not so, of course) but was later shown to have been only a misunderstanding as to which picture Rosenthal had been speaking of when he was later quoted on this. He had in fact been referring to his so-called "Gung Ho Shot," which had been somewhat posed. That "posed" story still goes around in some quarters among some not so well versed in all the ins-and-outs of the many faceted flag story.