[Nifster]

And some gave all....

[fatnotlazy]

Sad thing is if you asked most young people about Iwo Jima, they'd probably tell you it's a new Japanese dish.

[Don Corleone]

I have been to Iwo.(Long after the war). It is an awe inspiring place. To try to imagine the carnage in that battle is to tax the mind to its limits.

[Old Sarge]

Today the great grandsons of the Men of Iwo Jima are largely an embarrassment to themselves and their country.

Yea, verily yea.

[clintonh8r]

It’s Marine Corps, not Corp.

[Chainmail]

Don’t some on this forum. It’s just like any other battle to them.

[Chainmail]

That was, don’t ask some on this forum - they don’t think that Iwo was any worse than any number of other battles.

That damn thing was annihilation, pure and simple.

[iowacornman]

To Honor the day — ask a product of our educational system what war that battle was in. My Son is a history Teacher down in Texas. They are not permitted to teach American History beyond 1900. It is statewide policy to prohibit the teaching of the contribution of the American White Male to our liberty. Ask your high school principal if they are teaching World War 1, world war 2, Korea, Viet Nam , Enduring freedom or any real history in the 20th century. The answer is “no”. Ask why and he will say “Its not on our curriculem” Ask “Why” !!?? Ask any student who did we fight in World War 2 and you will be shocked. — The French— The South —China—

[ConservativeInPA]

Many of the Men of Iwo Jima had not finished high school when ...

I have a great uncle that was 17 when he enlisted in the Marines. (big family battle over that one) He fought on that Jap infested island and was wounded. (A single bullet through the forearm) He spent over a year in hospitals due to infections. He's still kicking today and I am reminded by this post to call him and say thanks.

[llevrok]

I was in Tokyo 20 years ago and at the Haneda (City) airport waiting for a flight to Kobe. In the waiting area were a few old Japanese veterans and some Shinto priests waiting for a flight enroute to Iwo for the 50th anniversary. I was the only gaijin in the waiting area.

I looked at this one old boy, who looked like he could have been in the American VFW complete with similar cap. “50 years ago, you would have tried to kill me and likewise the same in return.”, I thought. “And here we are, today, waiting for a plane south”. He gave me a courtesy bow and I only a acknowledging smile back.

God Bless our Devil Dogs on this day and every day.

[CrazyIvan]

I had the honor of having one of the 27 M.O.A. Iwo Jima recipients as a family friend. I sat at the same table at Rotary with him for years. A kind soft spoken gentleman. I can't imagine what kind of he'll he went through.

[CrazyIvan]

A good essay by P.J. O’Rourke about Iwo.
http://m.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2004/06/orourke.htm

[stylin19a]

22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima. 216 captured.
The rest ? made the acquaintance of United States Marines.

[MasterGunner01]

Iwo Jima was the deadliest battle the Navy-Marine combined arms team had fought to date [19 February to 26 March 1945]. Some 70,000 men (Marines, Army, Navy, USCG) attacked this volcanic island in the Ryukyu Island chain with the intent of securing its three air fields that would be used in operations against the Japanese mainland. The island was roughly pork chop shaped with the extinct volcano of Mt. Suribachi dominating the small end. The ground was volcanic ash that reeked of sulfur fumes. Imperial Army Lt. General Kuribayashi order his men to dig into the island and honey comb it with tunnels and hidden gun emplacements. His 22, 060 men were sworn to take down 10 American for each Japanese life lost. There would be no surrendering and no Banzai Charges. The men would fight the Americans from their under ground lairs until death.

A platoon of Marines made it to the top of Mt. Suribachi on 23 February and erected a small US flag. This small flag was replaced by a larger one several hours later and it was this flag raising the AP War Correspondent Joe Rosenthal’s camera took (and color film shot by Marine Combat Photographer Bill Genaust recorded) that has become iconic. However, the battle to secure Mt. Suribachi continued as the Marines attacked up its slopes to relieve the Marines now occupying its top. Suribachi wasn't secured until late the next day.

The battles to secure the rest of the island and its airfields ground on for 5 weeks. The artillery pounded the dug-in Japanese; the Sherman tanks with flamethrowers burned the vegetation off to expose the firing positions and fired their flaming napalm into the positions they could identify. The rest of the Japanese positions were taken by hunter-killer groups of Marines who advanced on the fortifications with small arms, grenades, flamethrowers, and satchel charges. After clearing the fortification, a Marine tank dozer would bury the mouth of the cave to entomb any living Japanese.

The butchers’ bill was ghastly. Iwo Jima was the only operation against Japan where Marine Corps casualties were greater than Japanese when totaled. The Marines lost 6,821 killed, 19,217 wounded. The USN lost the escort carrier USS BISMARCK SEA to two kamikaze hits; the last carrier loss of the war, with 318 killed and 605 men were saved from a crew of 923. The Japanese lost 18,844 killed, 216 captured, and the rest [3,000] continued to hold out until the last two surrendered on 6 January 1949. Iwo Jima was officially transferred back to Japan in 1968.

Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz said it best: “Of the Marines in Iwo [Jima] Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue.” Uncommon Valor is emblazoned on the Iwo Jima Memorial in Washington, DC.