Wounded Marines are helped to a medical aid station by Navy Corpsmen and other Marines on the beach. February 1945
Posted on 02/19/2019 5:38:42 AM PST by jmaroneps37
On February 19, 1945, waves of 18, 19 and 20-year-old Marines hit the beaches of Iwo Jima, a heavily defended island held by the Japanese. The importance of taking Iwo Jima and converting it into a major airfield for American bombers, cannot be overestimated. Our planes needed a place to land and be repaired to continue their devastating attacks on Japan; and only courage and blood could secure the landing fields they needed to get the job done.
Those young Iwo Jima Marines who are still alive, are great grandfathers now with the youngest survivors being 92 years old. We don't hear much about them today. But must never forget them.
On that first day of battle, they started out as boys with dreams of cars and girls and what life would be like at home. When they left the island thirty-five days later, they were men who had all but won the war on Japan.
The contrast between these young men and so many of today’s young boys of the same age is painful to contemplate. The Boys of Iwo Jima became men in little more than a month. Many were killed and wounded; but none backed down from their duty. Far too few of today’s young snowflakes would have the courage to put their country’s safety above their own.
America lost 6,821 dead and 19,217 wounded in that battle to deliver final victory and peace to our country. For the most part, those who survived and lived out the war folded back into our society. They lived their lives. raised their families and made America the great country she is today.
Seeing today’s young generation must bring tears to their eyes.
Please remember the men of Iwo Jima in your prayers today and every day.
Reading the history of my Father’s WWII Battalion, their bravery is obvious.
The thing which really impressed me was how capable they were. They were just plain good at what they did.
Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue.
One of my favorite Marines, ‘Manila’ John Basilone, MOH recipient, died on Iwo.
The Boys of Iwo Jima became men in little more than a month.
But yes, Being on Iwo was a big part of who he was. Fished and hunted from his wheel chair. Led a league of wheel chair basketball.
Don’t forget there are plenty of good women and men who are members of our all voluntary military today.
Remembering Sgt Ray Jacobs, the Marine in the first photo/first flag up on Iwo!
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GunnyG@PlanetWTF?
SemperTRUMP.45!
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Ray Jacobs the one w/the radio strappedtohis back.
GyG
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If you see an active duty serviceman today, thank him.
Oh, wait. You can’t. There aren’t any.
Today’s kids are all cocoa-sipping pajamaboy snowflakes.
It has to be true: I read it on the interwebz.
The WW1 generation said the same thing about the Swing-loving generation of 1940. Even the Germans and Japanese mocked the Americans as soft, claiming they would throw in the towel after the first defeat. The Brits got mighty nervous after Kasserine Pass.
Adolescences persists for as long as you're coddled and protected from reality.
Back then a young man could BE a man. Nowadays with all the political correctness nonsense men arn’t sure how they are supposed to act. Plus I’m sure many of those soldiers were scared to death kids who stepped up when they had to. I’ve also heard that alcoholism was rampant in the military but everything looks better in hindsight.
The Greatest Generation. They did not hide in a safe space or fear micro aggressions.
Those 18-20 year old WWII Marines (and sailors and pilots and infantry) all look like they’re 30 in photographs.
They did grow up fast, starting with the Depression.
When they made the film Memphis Belle in 1990, the actors looked like kids wearing their Dads’ uniforms.
And he’s still remembered in his home town.
When I told her "I will never be half the Man your father was" it was clear I wasn't the first guy who'd expressed this entiment: she said her father responded to such comments with "you have no idea how you'd respond if you were in my situation."
Each generation thinks they are the Greatest and the successive lot are a bunch of losers...it happened to the Boomers, Gen X, and now Millenials. And yet, America comprises 4% of the global population but produces 24% of global GDP. SOMEBODY is working.
Articles like this need some aged cheese to accompany the whine. Every generation has slackers. At the same time, I know many Millenials who are of good, Deplorable stock who don't eat pods and thus don't get the attention they deserve. They should be nurtured, cultivated, and brought into the fold - we need every vote and every borderline Normal person to be red-pilled asap.
Don’t forget that that “Greatest Generation” came back from the war and raised the “Baby Boomers”, many of whom were spoiled very much by their veteran parents.
Those Hippy generation Boomers were then sent to Vietnam where they thought it would be Aldo Ray, John Wayne and “Back to Bataan” fight all over again which it was not.
Then those same Boomers rallied the nation to stop compulsory military duty in 1973. Those elder and younger Boomers then had kids who grew up even more spoiled and soft with no sense of duty.
This in turn led to a nation of mostly slugs and enetltlement snowflakes of which we bitch about today but who is responsible if not both the Greatest generation AND their kids, the Boomers?
BTW I am a Boomer...
My wife lost a cousin on Iwo Jima.
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