No, the argument is from a columnist supposedly basing his column on that Captain's research.
Everyone here can continue to bicker and rehash the decision to take Iwo Jima.
The Facts remain.
1. Iwo Jima WAS Taken by the US Marines
2. The taking of that Island DID save hundreds if not thousands of American Airmen
3. The Japanese DID get their asses kicked in grand fashion.
4. Americans DID use the Island to land crippled bombers.
5. There WILL be a Marine Corps for the next 500 years because of it.
Furthermore
Since the summer of 1944, the Japanese home islands had been reeling from strikes by the new, long range B-29's. The US, however, had no protective fighters with enough range to escort the big superfortresses. many bombers fell prey to Japanese fighter-interceptor attacks. Iwo, with its three airfields, was ideally located as a fighter-escort station. It was also an ideal sanctuary for crippled bombers returning from Japan.
It's pointless at this point to sully the memory of these brave men who took that sandpile by sitting here comfortably in your chairs far from the front, far from any danger and Monday Morning Quarterbacking what the war planners decided on in 1945.
Semper Fi