[jessduntno]

If you inspect the statue closely and count the number of hands raising the flag, there are 13. When the man who made the statue was asked why there were 13, he said “the 13th hand was the hand of God”.

[MeshugeMikey]

now youve done it some “progressive” wag will read that and demand that the statue may OFFEND some group or another..

[StoneWall Brigade]

True Heroes

[Gay State Conservative]

THE GREATEST GENERATION

[W.]

I read years back in Jeff Cooper's Chronicles a friend of his landed a light plane on the beach at Iwo. He reported back there was nothing left but gun barrels and bones...

[ken5050]

I've written this a few times here in the past, but it bears repeating.....When I was going through Quantico in 1968, we had several senior NCOs on their last duty assignment...as instructors....lifers...30 year Marines, who had fought in the Pacific, and many also in Korea and Vietnam. They talked as lot about the Pacific war...Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo..and we listened..The key point is that anyone who wasn't there has absolutely no idea of what that battle was like..it's virtually incomprehensible to people today. No quarter was given to the enemy, the Marines expected none from the Japanese.

In recent years, some revisionist historians have questioned if the Iwo campaign was even necessary. Just blockade the island, and starve the Japanese out. No invasion needed.

Before the island was seven secure..a severely damaged B-29 ditched off shore. The next day, several more crash landed on the newly captured airstrip, even before the SeaBees could make it operational. Some 3,000 B-29's made emergency landings on Iwo before the war ended. As each plane had a crew of ten...do the math.