The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Iwo Jima - Feb. 19th, 2003

http://www.angelfire.com/wa/redwoodsigns/iwojima.html ^

[SAMWolf]

The Heroes Of Iwo Jima

Three days after that (the flag raising), the war was over for Easy Company.

Easy's original total force on Iwo Jima was 310 young men, including replacements. On March 26, Captain Severance led his 50 survivors on a tour of the newly dedicated 5th Division cemetery. And then they traveled by a small boat to the transport, the Winged Arrow, for the trip back home. They had to climb a cargo net to get aboard. Many were so weak that they had to be pulled over the rail by sailors.

When I asked Severance, many years later, exactly how it finally ended, he thought for a moment and then replied: "We had all the real estate."

Severance was the only one of six Easy Company ofhcers to walk off the island. Of his 3rd Platoon, the one that first scaled Suribachi, only Harold Keller, Jim Michaels, Phil Ward, and Grady Dyce came through the battle untouched. Easy Company had suffered eighty-four percent casualties.

Of the eighteen triumphant boys in ]oe Rosenthal's "gung-ho" (1st) flag raising photograph, fourteen were casualties.

The hard statistics show the sacrifice made by Colonel Johnson's 2nd Battalion: 1,400 boys landed on D-Day; 288 replacements were provided as the battle went on, a total of 1,688. Of these, 1,511 had been killed or wounded. Only 177 walked off the island. And of the final 177, 91 had been wounded at least once and returned to battle.

It had taken twenty-two crowded transports to bring the 5th Division to the island. The survivors fit comfortably onto eight departing ships. The American boys had killed about 21,000 Japanese, but suffered more than 26,000 casualties doing so. This would be the only battle in the Pacific where the invaders suffered higher casualties than the defenders. The Marines fought in World War II for forty-three months. Yet in one month on Iwo ]ima, one third of their total deaths occurred. They left behind the Pacific's largest cemeteries: nearly 6,800 graves in all; mounds with their crosses and stars. Thousands of families would not have the solace of a body to bid farewell: just the abstract information that the Marine had "died in the performance of his duty" and was buried in a plot, aligned in a row with numbers on his grave. Mike lay in Plot 3, Row 5, Grave 694; Harlon in Plot 4, Row 6, Grave 912; Franklin in Plot 8, Row 7, Grave 2189.

When I think of Mike, Harlon, and Franklin there, I think of the message someone had chiseled outside the cemetery:

When you go home
Tell them for us and say
For your tomorrow
We gave our today

[SAMWolf]

Final Analysis of the Battle



The Naval bombardment of only 3 days leading up to the invasion was far short than what was required. The Marines had requested 13 days of prelanding bombardment but were denied this request because of commitments to MaCarthur's campaign in Luzon.
The U.S. had underestimated the Japanese strenght on the island by as much as 70 percent.
The change in Japanese tactics was not ever contemplated because of earlier invasions on Saipan, Tarawa and Peleliu. These all had early Banzai attacks that were easily defeated and turned the tide of each invasion. This would not be the case with Iwo Jima. The nature and the difficulty of the soil on the island was never examined before the invasion.
The estimates made on the U.S. casualties was underestimated by 80 percent. 23,000 Casualties out of 70,000 Marines. Over third of the total Marines who participated in the invasion were either Killed, Wounded or suffered from Battle Fatigue.
This would be a strong warning of what was to come with the invasion of Okinawa.


Total Losses

U.S. personnel 6,821 Killed 19,217 Wounded 2,648 Combat Fatigue Total 28,686
Marine Casualties 23,573
Japanese Troops 1,083 POW and 20,000 est. Killed

Q: I have a relative who served on Iwo Jima. How can I learn about his past?"

A:
1. Get his service record from:
Military Records Facility 9700 Page Avenue St. Louis, Missouri 63132-5100 NAVY and MARINE CORPS (314) 538-4141 NARA Facilities

2. From that record you can determine his unit. Just as your identity goes from general to specific--ie, Country, State, City, Street--your Marine or Corpsman was identified by his Division, Regiment, Battalion, Company and then Platoon designation.

3. Send that information to one of the following Divisions, asking for people who knew your relative:
Third Marine Division Association PO Box 297 Dumfries, VA 22026
Fourth Marine Division Association PO Box 595 Laurel, Fl. 34272
Fifth Marine Division Association Dean F. Keeley PO Box 44250 Lafayette, LA 70504-4250

Q: I am looking for a list of those KIA on Iwo Jima?

A: I know of no complete listing. The most complete I'm aware of is at: www.geocities.com/mbackstr2000/dead

[SAMWolf]

'Among the Americans who served on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.'

-- Admiral Chester Nimitz

[SAMWolf]

The State of the Union is Strong!
Support the Commander in Chief
Click Here to Send a Message to the opposition!

[SAMWolf]

Thanks, Doughty!

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Everybody.


Coffee and Donuts
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[Soaring Feather]

Good Morning Sam, everyone.

[CholeraJoe]

Great thread as always, SAM.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Feather, CholeraJoe.

You two having a contest to see who gets here first every morning?

[Soaring Feather]

You two having a contest ?

I guess I won today!

[SAMWolf]

Thank you Cote. Hard Hitting poem and a great ribute to the Marines at Iwo.

[Sparta]

Good morning SAMWolf and thank you for posting the Battle of Iwo Jima. My grandfather was involved in the invasion and he was wounded in the foot in the battle.

[Sparta]

Iwo ping!!

If you want on or off the Western Civilization Military History ping list, let me know.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Sparta.

I'm grateful for your grandfathers service.

[KantianBurke]

Big grateful bump. Once again this is one of the best threads on FR.

[Sparta]

Thank you. I don't want to ruin your day, but you heard about the Germans convicting a conspirator in the 9/11 attacks. He only recieved 15 years total. Germany is truly a pathetic nation.

[Sparta]

Yes this is one of the best threads here. Even though a ping to only a select few, I try to read all of them.

[SAMWolf]

I know, it comes out to less that 2 days per victim.

I almost think France and Germany are in a contest to see who can be head Euro-Weenie.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Sparta, KantianBurke. Appreciate it.