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

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

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Thank you so much for pinging me...and yes, I'll be sharing pictures and telling stories all day, if you can stand it. : )

[ricpic]

Wow. John Cole. What a poet. He doesn't let you avert your eyes. Is this poem anthologized?

[AxelPaulsenJr]

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

I am confused. You list U.S. personnel total casualities of 28,686 and Marine casualities of 23,573.

Are these seperate figures? Did we have a total casualty number of 52,259?

[Mudboy Slim]

"Patriots' Rally For America IV!!"

"Drop what you’re doing. Pack the car, get on a plane, a train, a bus or start walking. Our troops need your support right now! They’re laying it on the line for us overseas and all they are seeing in the media is hundreds of thousands of anti-war/anti-American demonstrators marching in our streets. As evidenced by this article Anti-war Protests Anger U.S. Troops Inside Kuwait those demonstrations are starting to affect morale. You can do something about that, but it will take time, effort and sacrifice -- a modest sacrifice compared to our men and women in uniform waiting for the the word to take out Saddam and his tyrannical terrorist regime. The D.C. Chapter of Free Republic urges all FReepers and lurkers in good standing, as well as their friends and families, veterans and their friends and families and all others who want to stand up for America and support our troops to join us in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, March 1, 2003 for the Patriots Rally for America IV from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m at the outdoor Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument."

BE THERE or else spend the rest of yer life LYIN' SAYIN' YOU WUZ!!!!

Oughtta be a HOOt...MUD

BTW...has anybody contacted Rush Limbaugh's folks about this?...it's got Dan's Bake Sale written all over it!!

[Chad Fairbanks]

I can handle it... can't speak for everyone else though (but I'm sure they will love to hear them)

[SAMWolf]

58th Anniversary of Iwo Jima
March 6, 2003 through March 14, 2003

Price: $$3295
Tour Director: Warren Wiedhahn, Gary Andrejak and Jim Pilkington
Tour Host: MajGen Fred Haynes, USMC (Ret), Dr. George Gentile and Mr. Cyril "Cy" O'Brien

Apparently you still can go to Iwo.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Ken5050 for the background on the reasoning for taking Iwo. Airstrips played an important role in the Pacific war. The entire Guadacanal Campaign was pretty much centered on capturing/recapturing Henderson field,

[SAMWolf]

We'd be honored. Thanks to your dad for his service.

[SAMWolf]

I am confused. You list U.S. personnel total casualities of 28,686 and Marine casualities of 23,573.

28,686 US Casualties of which 23,573 were Marines.

[SAMWolf]

Iwo Jima

Location: Approximately 650 miles south of Tokyo, Japan.

Size of Island: Approximately 2 miles wide, 4 miles long; 8 square miles

Iwo Jima was the first native Japanese soil invaded by Americans in W.W.II. Approximately 60,000 Americans and 20,000 Japanese participated in the Battle.

The American Flag Raising on Mt. Suribachi took place on February 23, 1945 - the fifth day of battle. The Battle continued with increased intensity for a month more. Almost 7,000 Americans were killed in action at Iwo Jima - more than 20,000 American casualties.

Approximately one-third of all Marines killed in action in World War II were killed at Iwo Jima, making Iwo Jima the battle with the highest number of casualties in Marine Corps history.

Twenty-seven Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded in the Battle - more than were awarded to Marines and Navy in any other Battle in our country's history.

Three of the men who raised the flag in the Joe Rosenthal photo were killed before the Battle was over.

After the capture of Iwo Jima, more than 30,000 American Airmen's lives were saved when more than 2,400 disabled B-29 bombers were able to make emergency landings at the Iwo Jima Airfield after making bombing flights over Japan.

Approximately 132 Americans killed at Iwo Jima were unidentifiable and listed as unknown.

More than 50 4th Division Marines died of wounds aboard ship and were buried at sea.

The U.S. government returned the island of Iwo Jima to the Japanese government in 1968, after the bodies of the men in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Division cemeteries were removed to the United States.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Samwise for sharing your father with us and Cote for providing the link and setting up the pictures.

[ken5050]

Correct.. Guadalcanal had to be captured in order to protect the US lifeline to Australia....ya know slightly off topic, but this weekend was watching some of the newsshows that did interviews with senior American commanders in theater....saw one with a USN ship captain, who when asked if his ship and crew was ready, gave a very PC like statement about, how, if needed, the ship would be tasked by the NCA to fulfill the coalition mandate...I was mentally contrasting it with Halsey's ( or Nimitz's..I forget which) great quote after Pearl Harbor..."The Japanese language will be spoken only in hell!!!"

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Thank you, cote. Very powerful.

I was telling someone this story on Monday:

My dad was part of a medical team working to save wounded Marines in a large shell crater on Iwo; he and another guy were headed out with an empty stretcher, and as they were leaving, they had a little discussion about who would take the front end and who would take the back. They were joking around about it, and they finally agreed who would go first.

They bent down to pick up the stretcher and my dad was knocked to his knees by an exploding mortar shell. The boy (a 19 year-old) on the other end was killed.

It could so easily have been my dad on the other end of that stretcher.

I have great admiration for that 19 year-old. He had a chance to go home a few hours earlier, when he had been wounded in the arm (a "million dollar" injury, they called it). Dad told him to get out of there. Everyone did. He wanted to stay, and insisted on it.

He ended up in one of those graves.

When I think of the hell he surely saw in his short time on Iwo Jima, and ponder that he stayed there voluntarily - the bravery and loyalty in such a young man - it just amazes me.

There were heroes all over that island.

[skeeter]

Thanks... its hard for me to accept that the boys who fought on that hell on earth and the things which took to the streets last weekend were spawned by the same nation.

[SAMWolf]

Yeah it's a shame that it isn't PC to hate the people who are trying to kill you. One of the reasons I got out of the Guard was the PC was killing me, I didn't fit in anymore.

[SAMWolf]

Ain't that the truth!

[RaceBannon]

This is my Mom on the left at the first display of a statue of the Iwo Flag Raising in late 1945 or 46. We believe it is near 8th and I street in DC, she cannot remember. This statue has been removed since, and I would like to know if anyone has ever seen it while in the Corps!