Thousands of airmen's lives were saved because we had Iwo as a safe haven to land. The runways were shorter than they would have liked, but between short runways and the ocean, I reckon the choice was obvious.
Cheers!~
Alot of bad things shown about the war, yet there’s many many more terrifying story’s out there not part of the official line.
Such as the German air raid on Bari Italy, a port there we used to unload merchant ships supporting Doolittle.
It was feared the Germans might use ‘mustard gas’ in 43, so FDR had ‘mustard gas’ shipped through there in case it was needed.
After the ship transporting the gas made the harbor, it was caught in the German bombing. The gas was spread throughout the harbor and town, killing many people. Since it was secret it took months to figure out what was killing the seaman, troops, and civilians, as the gas was diluted by the harbor water when the containers broke up.
Another disaster was just before DDay German torpedo boats sunk some of our ships carrying GI’s practicing landings. Many hundreds killed.
A couple of incidents not mentioned in ‘The War’
I didn't say Iwo wasn't a worthwile invasion. But I do remember Burns downplaying it's necessity. Someone pointed out the Pelelu (sp?) certainly did not need to be invaded, but I seem to remember Burns talking about Iwo as if it was a wasted effort, even if he didn't explicity say so. Perhaps I remember it wrong.