Posted on 02/20/2005 9:33:29 AM PST by Rakkasan1
FORT WORTH - Eight days is all Kenneth Phillips expected.
Raymond Rogers figured he'd be on another island, for another mission, in no time at all.
The men knew it would be a tough week, for sure. Every fight had been -- Guadalcanal, Saipan, Peleliu. But after eight days, they thought, Iwo Jima would be theirs.
The two Texans remember well the weeks of pre-invasion briefings that told them so.
But the rosy predictions came to a violent and abrupt end 60 years ago today, when two U.S. Marine divisions stormed the Japanese stronghold of Iwo Jima, a volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean not half as big as Manhattan.
The battle lasted 36 days. More than 6,800 American servicemen died -- one-third of all the Marines killed in World War II -- and an additional 19,000 were wounded in a fight that brought to mind the unforgettable savagery of Antietam or Gettysburg.
Iwo Jima, at least as much as the Normandy invasion of June 1944, defines World War II for the United States because of the extraordinary valor and sacrifice of the troops.
More Medals of Honor were earned on Iwo Jima -- 27 -- than in any other battle in U.S. history. And what is perhaps the war's most enduring photograph was taken on Mount Suribachi, the island's highest point, as six men struggled to raise the U.S. flag.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
worth a read and rememberance...
have you read Victor Hanson's latest book?
he talks of his (uncle?) in the Pacific. It was pretty interesting. Flags of our Fathers was good ,too.
I read Flags of our Fathers (good but a little slow) Bill Ross' Iwo Jima- Legacy of Valor (slow but great historical fact) and Into the Rising Sun.
My father-in-law George H. was a Marine radioman on Iwo Jima. He went in on day one, saw the flag raised on Mt. Suribachi with his own eyes, and went all the way to the end.
And best of all, he raised my wife-to-be!
Thank you Harry Truman, for dropping the Big Ones, so that both my father and father-in-law didn't have to invade Japan!
Pingawinga.
Amen..Re: Truman and Bomb. I was on ship at Iwo...Take
another look at that casualty figure...38 days..and 6,000 plus....and the media then, as now, wringing hands
while real Americans are fighting for their safety
and way of life...just like today..it is beyond my
comprehension to understand the blase' attitude toward
our young and bravest Patriots who are fighting for you
and me ...casualties..yes. Brave, Proud,..I am for them
every step of the way...now and in future !! Jake
Thank you for remembering me and my dad, Martin.
He sent men and materials that could have been used in the Pacific to Europe and left the people in the Pacific just hanging on by their fingernails sometimes, witness Guadalcanal. Just another one of his many mistakes during the war.
Good points!!
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