Posted on 10/22/2010 5:19:17 AM PDT by DFG
More info: When the Japanese fortified Iwo, recognizing that the US would have to take the island..they dug over 20 miles of tunnels all through the island. The Marines weren’t aware of this until they landed. As they moved along the flat plain of the island, away from Suribachi..everytime they came across a tunnel opening, they would first fire flamethrowers inside, then use grenades and charges to collapse the tunnel openings. There may be as many as 10,000 Japanese interred inside these tunnels. The Japanese government will not open them, because of the danger of collapse. To give an idea of how vast, and intricate, and well supplied the tunnel network was, in 1949 ( I could be wrong about the date..it might be later) two Japanese soldiers were discovered. They had eluded capture for years..
As a kid I always found it interesting when the evening news reported a Japanese soldier finally surrendering decades after the war. The last I recall was sometime in the early 70’s in the Philippines.
“Just a thought.”
Thinking without alcohol, with him in the WH, is just too difficult. Downright night fright material.
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