Iwo Jima revisited 60 years later

Marinelink ^ | 2-2-05 | Lance Cpl. Daniel J. Redding

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Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif. (Feb. 17, 2005) -- First in a two-part series

No more than eight square miles ... a third of the size of Manhattan Island ... nothing beyond a pinprick on the map of the world. Yet for 36 days in 1945, Iwo Jima was the focus of global attention during World War II - and a killing field for nearly 6,000 Marines in an epic battle that still defines the Corps 60 years later.

More than 71,000 Marines went ashore in the shadows of Mount Suribachi on Feb. 19 at 8:59 a.m. - none of them knowing that when the battle was over and the island was taken, 22 Marines would receive the Medal of Honor.

"We were the walking wounded," said retired Sgt. Maj. 'Iron Mike' Mervosh, who was with Company C, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division.

Mervosh, who is now 81, added "We weren't afraid to die, but we all wanted to live."

Most of them didn't. Company C began the battle with 240 Marines. Thirty-six days later, after the island was conquered, only 31 were alive to tell about it - and half of those were "walking wounded," Mervosh said.

On that two-mile strip island, Marines had no place to hide as they fought their way up the mountain toward entrenched Japanese fighters. In the only battle of the war where the Marine Corps lost more fighters than the enemy, 17,372 Marines were wounded.

Air and naval gunfire proved nearly useless against the Japanese - who had spent years building tunnels and deep trenches in preparation to defend the island.

"It was the battle of battles," said Mervosh, part of the initial invasion wave. "From the day we landed to the day we left, it never let up. There will never be another battle like it."

When the dust had settled from the first day of engagement, the Marine Corps had suffered 500 casualties - a sign of things to come. Ultimately, one-third of American forces that landed on the island were injured.

The Marines bore the brunt of the carnage in the early days. But there was no turning back.

"By dammit, we were Marines. That's what we are here for," Mervosh emphasized.

For 19-year-old Pvt. Jim Weiry, it was a bittersweet birthday in 1945, occurring in the midst of what was referred to as "hell on earth."

What mattered in the end, said Weiry, 78, was conquering the island.

"We landed there to take the island, and that was what we were going to do," said Weiry, who later became a first lieutenant with the 3rd Marine Division.

The battle continued the Marine Corps' drive across the Pacific Ocean, with the ultimate aim of reaching the Japanese mainland, explained Bob V. Akuilina, a historian with the Marine Corps Historical Center in Washington, D.C.

"Iwo Jima simply could not be bypassed,"Akuilina explained.

Strategically, the island was important not for its size, but for its placement between mainland Japan and the U.S. Pacific forces.

Taking control of the island's three airstrips was crucial for American forces. The island proved a valuable launch pad for B-29 bombing raids over mainland Japan.

"By the time of the battle, the U.S. was able to bomb Japanese home islands. On return flights, however, the planes were disabled, were in dire need of fuel, or they were hit by Japanese fighters and damaged," Akuilina explained.

The island provided an emergency landing strip for the B-29s, allowing them to refuel or be repaired.

Moreover, taking Iwo Jima added the element of surprise to U.S. raids. Previously, Japanese forces on the island tipped off the mainland about impending U.S. raids, Akuilina said.

The island, considered home soil by the Japanese, was important to the soldiers protecting it from foreign control.

"The Japanese fought viciously on Iwo Jima, perhaps more so than any of the other islands," Akuilina said. "As the island belonged to them, the troops fought more personally than ever because it was their own soil."

"They knew they weren't getting off the island. Surrender wasn't an option, Weiry said. "I think they knew they were going to be dead."

But they weren't going easily. They even tried to get inside the Americans' heads.

Weiry remembered back to the cold nights in Iwo Jima foxholes, listening to Japanese soldiers whispering his name, over and over.

"They were tenacious," he said, recalling a battle that was predicted to last a mere 72 hours.

For many, it lasted a lifetime.

But the battle, though exhausting and costly, was part of Marine Corps destiny - a victorious legacy that cast the Corps in stone as perhaps the world's most vaunted warfighting organizations.

A Marine Corps victory on Iwo Jima "was just a matter of time," Weiry said.

And lives. Lots of lives.

Reserve units reorganize quickly and move inland as Landing Vehical Tracks (Amphibious) stand by to give fire support with their 75mm guns and machine guns. Photo by: Official USMC Photo

37mm gun fires against cave positions on the north face of a volcano in support of Regimental Combat Team 28. These light but extremely accurate weapons did some of their best work in the southern part of the island. Photo by: Official USMC Photo

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