On Point: Remembering Iwo Jima

Strategy Page ^ | 24 Feb 2020 | Austin Bay

[Rummyfan]

February 24, 2015 From Feb. 19, 1945 (when U.S. Marines assaulted its beaches) to March 27 of that year (the day combat officially ceased), the island of Iwo Jima was hell on earth.

In 2009 I began writing occasional columns commemorating the 70th anniversary of key WW2 battles and events. I dedicated them to the WW2 generation. Twenty-year-old Marine vets of February 1945 are now 90, if they are still among us.

Iwo Jima was on my list of must-cover subjects. By sheer coincidence, my wife and I spent this past weekend in Dallas, Texas, with the sister of a Marine F4U Corsair pilot who was shot down near the island in late February 1945. He survived WW2, but is now dead. I thanked her for her brother's service. She said she believed her brother was supporting Marines fighting on Iwo. Then -- eyes tearing -- she added that she wished he was still alive.

Iwo Jima is one of WW2's more memorable battles. Popular culture certainly treats it as an iconic clash. John Wayne's epic Sands of Iwo Jima is one of many Hollywood fictional treatments of Iwo Jima's terrible reality that inform the collective memory of 21st-century audiences

[rlmorel]

Brutal battle. I heard that for 36 days, it averaged out to a Marine being KIA every seven minutes, and a Marine bewing wounded every two minutes.

[Huskrrrr]

Anyone of the boobs arguing against bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki need to take a close look at the Hell our soldiers went through.

[IronJack]

Wasn’t Iwo the battle Admiral Nimitz described as “Where uncommon valor was a common virtue”?

[Lockbar]

This is the original Large (second) flag that was shown in the famous photo. On display at the Marine Corp Museum. 45 years ago when I was a military police in Germany it was part of my duty to help take down the US Flag in front of Division headquarters several times a week. I still look back at that today as a serious moment in my life as a 18 year old "kid". Back around 30 years ago I toured the USMC museum when it was still at the Washington Navy Yard and saw both this flag and the smaller original first Iwo Jima flag displayed together on a wall, behind glass of course. I was the only person in that part of the museum at the time, and I couldn't move for 5 minutes. I was stunned by the historical significance. How can anybody born here hate this country?

[MrBambaLaMamba]

A distant cousin of mine in the 1st Battalion 28th Marines was KIA on Iwo Jima, he was the end of the line for that branch of the family.

[llevrok]

25 years ago, I was in Japan on business. It was around the 50th anneversary of Iwo.

I was in the waiting area for flights from Tokyo City Airport (Haneda). In that area was a Shinto priest and an elderly Japanese man. The man was wearing a hat that looked much like an American Legion style hat. A veteran. They were on their way south to Iwo for the anneversary ceremonies.

The old man looked at me (obviously, an American) and gave a small smile in acknowlegement.

All I could think was that 50 years ago, we would have been at each other’s throats. And here we were in an airport, staring at each other.

It was a very strange occurance for me.

[Rummyfan]

Our neighbor growing up worked for an Iwo vet who had been blinded there. He started an office supply company and named it after his guide dog. He used to feel our faces when he stopped by.

My dad had a friend who survived Bataan and captivity. You would say he never recovered, drinking himself to death before he was 60.

[LeonardFMason]

BTW, You are NOT supposed to take pictures of this flag. Says it right there in the display.

If you have not been to the US Marine Corps museum in Quantico you are missing one of the finest museums in the world.

10 years ago while touring the Museum We entered a Higgins Boat and was briefed on the pending assault landing on the island of Iwo Jima. Motion, sound and video provide a realistic experience. When the door dropped we were met by an elderly man who talked about the fierceness of the fighting on the island. The way he talked made it clear he was an IWO JIMA veteran. I confirmed it with a simple; “You were there weren’t you?” He simply replied; “I was.”

The casualties suffered at Iwo Jima reportedly caused FDR to recoil in shock.

Uncommon Valor WAS a common virtue during the battle of Iwo Jima.

[Shady]

The Navy Corpsman, John Bradley, was from my Wife’s Hometown. His story documented by his Son in Flags of our Fathers is an excellent way to read about the battle and the horrific results that occurred.

[mumblypeg]

An uncle of mine, now deceased, was fought & was wounded at Iwo Jima.

[MGunny]

Marines have always taken the heavy brunt of casualties. I have always thanked the good Lord above that I have survived for as long as I have.

[Bonemaker]

Fast forward to today. Now we have a Commandant of our beloved, heroic and irreproachable USMC who would have had women taking on Japanese Imperial Marines. Meanwhile, the douche is doing his part for the democrats in obliterating the history of the Civil War. It woudn't surprise me if the prick wanted to do away with the Iwo memorial because it is racist or the flag might offend somebody.

[Albion Wilde]

Crowd Chants “USA!” as Trump Honors Three Veterans of Iwo Jima

[major_gaff]

As a young Marine stationed in Japan in the '80's, I would visit Peace Park
in Hiroshima often and thinking upon the Bataan death march as I strolled
past the monuments to the dead, I would often feel that Japan got everything
they deserved.

[jmacusa]

My late father-in-law survived Iwo Jima with the 4th. Marine Division, but barely. He got ‘’the million dollar wound’’, a leg wound and that got him the hell out of there.

[EMI_Guy]

Yes, having Iwo under our control indeed provided an emergency landing base for B-29s coming back from sorties over Japan. A friend of mine, whose dad was a navigator on a B-29, had to land there due to low fuel. He was thankful for that landing strip.

The author fails to mention Iwo provided a base for P-51 escorts. From there, the Mustangs with their superb range could provide cover for the Super Forts on both legs of the missions.